All Blog Posts Tagged 'service' (228)

I know that fuel prices are up and margins are thin in the airline business. The airlines are struggling and we all know it.  I heard the following story from a friend of mine the other day that I felt compelled to share with you.

My friend is like a triple medallion,…

I think it’s safe to say that we can all remember what it was like seeing Star Wars for the very first time. The image of the opening credits cascading at the opening, the Imperial ship coming from the corner of screen then stepping into the Cantina Bar to a world of far out aliens and a groovy jazz beat.

But can I share with you one of the oddest things that stuck with me about that film…

I'm Back.....

Today I am inspired by Michael Atkinson's post on June 2 in our corporate blog  "Seriously Dumb--We May Be Peaking" and reflections of my over 25 years in Silicon Valley seeing many "Seriously Dumb" ideas and waves of IPO's of the same of whether in our industry the service companies that go public actually deliver value to…

Proper staff scheduling is extremely crucial for providing excellent restaurant dining room service. There are 2 basic concepts that can improve restaurant service immensely. In every way, a balance must be achieved by matching labor needs to the forecasted business.

The first concept is the "on call waiter" who can be scheduled for any shift necessary. The "on call waiter" function is to call the restaurant about 1/2 - 1 hr. before the work shift commences food service to see if…

I believe that everyone should work as a waiter at one point in their life.

Not because the money is pretty darn good or because you get one shift drink that can turn into two or three if you are good chums with the bartender. Rather, they should become a waiter to learn the true value of great customer service and its rewards.

It worked for me and I can say, with no ego but…

Stroll the aisles at your local supermarket and you may find yourself wondering if you just entered a grocery store or a popular restaurant chain’s dining room.  TGI Friday’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Taco Bell, and PF Chang’s are just a few restaurants who have licensed retail versions of their menu items to…

I, like many other Americans, tuned in to watch the final episode of Smallville this last Friday night. For those not familiar, it is the story of Clark Kent growing up in Smallville, Kansas and his life lessons and upbringing that lead him to become the Man of Steel.

 …

Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

Our mission is to support our stores so that they are able to do what is most important in retail — serve our customers' needs.

The mission…

I’m wondering when a chain of full service restaurants is going to do it.  I’m certain it’s just a matter of time before one company goes against the advice of their legal counsel, pretends they are Nike and just does it.  The one that goes “all in” will reap huge rewards because the others will be too afraid to pull the trigger.  If I ran a restaurant or a chain, I’d do it tomorrow.  Yea, I know that’s easy for me to say...

I’m talking about…

So, I'm on vacation in Ft. Lauderdale Florida this week and had no laptop to write my blog, so, I did a video blog instead. I did have an HP Notebook but I may as well have been on a 1st model of the Bell telephone!

So, my subject was on what?

On customer service standards in Florida of course! Tune in. Tune on. Turn to your video screens!

See my next video that will be a lot faster in speach patterns when I get back to NYC!…

To understand the restaurant business, one must take into account the unique balance and consistency between hard elements and the soft elements involved. Often times a restaurant will have a greater emphasis on one area, but totally forget the other area only to find out too late - when they are out of business altogether.

 

The hard elements (restaurant hardware parts) are items such as location, menu design, restaurant/kitchen design and layout, décor, ambiance, computer systems,…

I am a big geek. I think you can tell that from previous posts. One of the things that got me started on my road to Geekdom was of course everyone’s favorite nerd crush, Star Trek, and yes, I do own a purring Tribble thank you!

But what always attracted me to the show was not the unidentified…

Recently I was having a conversation with my son who just happens to be a server.  He’s been serving for 3 or 4 years and has experienced decent success (enough to live on his own, pay his bills and enjoy a few beers with his friends now and then).  Because I have a passion for customer service and for my son’s success, I was interested in…

The staple of the superhero mythology is, there’s the superhero and there is the alter ego. Batman in reality is Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern is Hal Jordan, Spider-Man is really Peter Parker. When that character wakes up every morning, he’s Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man.

And it is in…

What do marriage and customer service have in common?  Let’s start with the obvious.  They are both about relationship.  They both require interaction.  They are about human emotion and feelings.  I’m sure you can add to the list. 

Just for fun, let's begin by examining the 3 phases of marriage. The following account is based on hearsay not…

Starbucks and Meijer is probably enough said but as usual I can’t help myself.  I visited both today and I want to share my observations.  

My Starbucks experience was rather typical.  It was 8:00am and the place was buzzin.  Baristas with smiles on their faces crankin out java at record speed.  I had a meeting with a former colleague and we…

Restaurant Service Consulting, by definition, is a review or evaluation of the restaurant dining room service system. This means, "how the dining room runs" which includes all of the service tools provided (or to be provided) by the management.

These tools include readable floor diagrams, seating coordination, menu descriptions, properly done staff schedules, sidework postings and a whole host of other things.

 

There are two main aspects to the Restaurant Service Consulting…

This weekend as the media and music savvy minds gathered in Austin Texas for the South By Southwest Conference to marvel at the advancements we have made with our technical evolution, Mother Nature gave us a reminder of who is really in charge of this planet and how frail we are as humans.



For all our…