Featured Blog Posts – November 2010 Archive (23)

1. First and foremost, thank you for taking your time to watch this as I feel confident that the message will genuinely help you.
   
   
2. Please make yourself comfortable with a snack and/or drink (as this video just surpasses the 10 minute…

Hi, all -- last year I filled this space with some predictable, and some less predictable, reasons to be thankful we’re connected with the restaurant and food industry. Some of you responded on the web site, and more in emails, with supporting, or additional, thoughts, and for that I’m most appreciative.…

I was inspired by Bill Campion's post, so decided it was time to chime in.

If I were a Manager....

I would make sure the back dock looked just as clean and organized as the front door. Delivery drivers should get the same courtesy as our guests.

I would consider the type of volume and business when making a schedule. Yes, Friday nights are…

We all know those people. The words come tumbling out of their mouth without much reason or purpose...they just blab on and on, unaware that their audience is quickly shutting down. We have also heard that “an unexamined life is not worth living”. Your restaurant’s tweets shouldn't be any different. Some of you have chosen not to join the Twit-o-sphere while others jumped in tweet first.

If you’ve been tweeting or want to…

As owners and managers, we are sometimes blinkered as to the actual experiences being had by our customers as we delegate more and do our “top level” thinking. With this in mind, now is a good time to sit down with your staff and remind them of this list of 20 things they should never do. Maybe you have other suggestions too? Let me know in the comments.

1. I would start the service experience by introducing myself to the customer in a special way. Here are a couple of examples:…

In my previous Fohboh post, I outlined five lessons to be learned from McDonald’s marketing for McRib. One was “Consumers, not you, own your brand.” I still think that’s true, but apparently I should have phrased it “Consumers, not you, own your brand, so let’s be careful out there.”…

Two years ago, the Restaurant Finance Conference fell (choice verb?) just after the capital market cataclysm of September 2008. As I’ve noted before, the mood was so unsettled that man suggested Zombie costumes be issued. Last year, their was still considerable uncertainty -- and accompanying gallows humor -- but as one reader noted at the time, “we’re still here”; there was at least a general…

We just returned from the 2010 Restaurant Finance and Development Conference. We will compose a longer. more detailed blog post, but we did wish to highlight a few themes:

(1) the conference was bigger and more diverse than last year. It seemed that the number of franchisees showing off their brands had multiplied by a factor of four from 2008/2009 levels.

(2) the bankers and PE firms were present in force... they say money is available...and they…

WOW! Just got back from the People Report Conference in Dallas and my jaw is still firmly planted on the ground. I’m searching for the adjective to describe the event. Not sure I will ever find it. Scintillating, Fascinating, Awe-Inspiring, Outta This World, Off the Charts, Molecule Rearranging, Inspirational, Motivational, Mind-Boggling, Flabbergasting? String em together - MAYBE. Any…

This is too good not to share.

One of my favorite neighborhood restaurants in Boston’s South End posted this on their facebook wall this evening:

Customer forgot doggie bag w leftovers. Too far away to come back and get them. Now wants gift certificate to replace them. Thoughts?

I love the fact that they post these real-life snippets. It’s genius marketing, and it lets people know what reality is on the firing…