Behold the Power of First Approach

Summary

Podcast Title: RESTAURANT STRATEGY
Host: Chip Klose
Episode: Behold the Power of First Approach
Release Date: December 26, 2024

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Introduction

In the latest episode of the Restaurant Strategy podcast, host Chip Klose, an industry veteran with 25 years of experience, delves into the critical role that servers and bartenders play in boosting a restaurant's profitability. This episode, titled "Behold the Power of First Approach," focuses on actionable strategies to enhance server performance, ultimately driving higher revenue and achieving consistent, predictable 20% returns.

Leveraging Servers and Bartenders for Increased Revenue

At the outset, Chip emphasizes the importance of utilizing servers and bartenders effectively, as they are the front-line representatives interacting directly with guests. He introduces the concept of the Server Playbooks, a series of 10 free videos designed to empower restaurant staff to maximize their impact on check averages. Chip mentions:

[00:00] Chip Close: "If you're serious about increasing top line revenue in your restaurant, I think you have to get better about leveraging your servers and your bartenders. They have the most direct contact with your guests and so they can make the largest impact on increasing check average."

Introduction to the Server Playbook: First Approach

The focal point of this episode is the first playbook, "First Approach," which outlines the initial interactions between staff and guests that set the tone for the dining experience. Chip articulates that the first approach is not merely about greeting guests promptly but doing so with authority, confidence, and a strategic intent to enhance sales.

Sterling Douglas on Return on Time

Midway through the episode, Chip introduces a segment featuring Sterling Douglas, co-founder and CEO of Chowley, who discusses the concept of Return on Time (ROT). Sterling underscores the significance of optimizing time spent on high-impact activities, particularly for smaller operators managing one to three locations. He states:

[03:24] Sterling Douglas: "Everybody talks about ROI, like return on investment and a lot of restaurants do that when you're a smaller operator... your time is actually your biggest resource. And making sure that you're spending time on the things that are getting maximum impact is critical."

Sterling elaborates on the challenges of maintaining an optimized online presence, particularly with platforms like Google, highlighting the extensive time required to manage metadata and ensure accurate restaurant information. His insights reinforce the episode's overarching theme of efficiency and strategic focus in restaurant operations.

Deep Dive into First Approach

Returning to the main discussion, Chip provides an in-depth exploration of the First Approach playbook. He outlines four primary opportunities in a full-service setting to impact the check average, with the first being the initial interaction with guests.

Key Strategies for Effective First Approach

1. Timely and Authoritative Greeting

   • [01:04] Chip Close: "Building more profitable and sustainable restaurant. I also work with owners and operators all over the world through my P3 mastermind program."
   • Chip stresses the importance of greeting guests within the first two minutes with confidence and authority, setting a professional and inviting tone.

2. Initiating Beverage Orders Early

   • Instead of waiting to provide menus and water, servers should prioritize taking drink orders immediately. This tactic not only starts the revenue stream early but also engages guests in a way that can lead to additional sales.
   • Chip recounts a personal anecdote about Elaine, a seasoned waitress from his past, who effectively bypassed traditional procedures to secure early drink orders, thereby increasing sales and table turnover.

   [04:49] Chip Close: "Every time you come in, you tell them what's going to happen next, and you tell them what you need them to do now."

3. Creating a Sense of Urgency Without Rushing

   • Chip clarifies that bringing urgency to the initial greeting does not mean rushing guests but rather guiding them smoothly through the dining process. This approach ensures efficiency, especially during peak hours, enhancing the restaurant's ability to serve more guests without compromising quality.

4. Psychological Tactics to Encourage Spending

   • By asking guests to choose between options like bottled or tap water, servers can subtly influence purchasing decisions. Chip notes that consumers are more likely to order the first or last item they hear about, leveraging this to drive sales.

   [03:20] Chip Close: "You can make better, faster and more profitable decisions, drive consumer traffic, raise check average and ensure consistent guest experience across all of your locations."

Implementation and Adaptation

Chip provides practical steps for implementing the First Approach strategy, encouraging adaptability to fit the unique dynamics of each restaurant. He emphasizes the necessity of training servers to:

• Greet guests confidently and outline the immediate next steps.
• Prioritize taking drink orders before distributing menus.
• Maintain control over the table's pace, ensuring a smooth and efficient dining experience.

[04:49] Chip Close: "You have to put them at ease. You need to let the guests know that you are in charge, that they are in great hands, that you're going to take care of everything."

Benefits of the First Approach

Adopting the First Approach strategy offers multiple benefits:

• Increased Beverage Sales: Early engagement leads to more drink orders, boosting overall revenue.
• Enhanced Table Turnover: Efficient service allows for quicker table rotations, maximizing seat utilization.
• Improved Guest Experience: Clear communication and confident service create a positive dining atmosphere, encouraging repeat business.

Chip concludes by reiterating that the First Approach is a foundational strategy within the Server Playbook, offering significant opportunities to drive restaurant profitability through strategic service enhancements.

[04:49] Chip Close: "Number one, you should be able to get water sales. Number two, you have to get the first beverage sales because the sooner you get the order, the sooner you can get those drinks on the table."

Conclusion

"Behold the Power of First Approach" serves as a comprehensive guide for restaurant owners and operators aiming to elevate their service standards and financial performance. By leveraging the strategies outlined in the Server Playbook, particularly the First Approach, establishments can optimize their interactions with guests, leading to increased sales, higher check averages, and more efficient operations. Chip Klose effectively combines practical advice with real-world examples, providing listeners with actionable insights to transform their restaurant businesses.

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Notable Quotes

• Chip Klose [00:00]: "If you're serious about increasing top line revenue in your restaurant, I think you have to get better about leveraging your servers and your bartenders."
• Sterling Douglas [03:24]: "Your time is actually your biggest resource. And making sure that you're spending time on the things that are getting maximum impact is critical."
• Chip Klose [04:49]: "You have to put them at ease. You need to let the guests know that you are in charge, that they are in great hands, that you're going to take care of everything."

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For more insights and access to the Server Playbooks, visit restaurantstrategypodcast.com and check the show notes for additional resources.

Transcript

[Chip Close]

If you're serious about increasing top line revenue in your restaurant, I think you have to get better about leveraging your servers and your bartenders. They have the most direct contact with your guests and so they can make the largest impact on increasing check average. So how do you do it? I put together something called the Server playbooks. These are 10 videos that you can access for free. You will find that link in the show notes. And to show you the power of these playbooks, I'm actually sharing the first playbook on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy. There's an old saying that goes something like this.

You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never.

See, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking. Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in.

My name is Chip Close and this is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast dedicated solely to helping you build a more profitable restaurant. Each week I leverage my 25 years in the industry to help you do just that. Building more profitable and sustainable restaurant. I also work with owners and operators all over the world through my P3 mastermind program. This is a group coaching format. Right now We've got over 150 members enrolled in the program, spread across four different groups. The program works. The impact we're making is real. So if you have a busy restaurant but struggle to generate consistent, predictable 20% returns, then set up a call with me or someone from my team. You go to restaurantstrategypodcast.com schedule grab some time on the calendar. We'll we'll get to learn more about you and your restaurant. You'll learn more about the program, ask some questions about it to see if you're a good fit again. Restaurantstrategypodcast.com schedule and yes, that link is.

In the show notes.

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That link is in the show notes now.

Sterling Douglas is the co founder and CEO of a company called Chowley. Chowli does so much for this industry and I want you to hear a.

Little bit from Sterling.

[Sterling Douglas]

We talk a lot to our restaurants about this idea of return on time. Everybody talks about roi, like return on investment and a lot of restaurants do that when you're a smaller operator, when you're one, two, three stores and and as the owner or kind of the lead operator, your time is actually your biggest resource. And making sure that you're spending time on the things that are getting maximum impact is critical. And so when I think about operators and I think about optimizing for Google and making sure that that's done, it's less about the money, it's more about the time that it takes. Because not only the one time, kind of like set up and fill out all the fields, there's constant upkeep and Google changes it so often there's a bajillion different metadata fields that you can put on there. And the way that Google tends to rank whether your restaurant shows up is how much information you have given them because they believe that the more information you give them, the more the customer wants to see it. Right? And typically the more data you have on Google, the more likely you're going to be to answer that question and give the information that consumer is looking for. And that's what Google loves.

[Chip Close]

If you want to learn more about Shauli, go find the link in the show notes.

Hey there, what's going on? Chip close here. We're talking about the server playbook. When we talk about the server playbook, we're talking about ways to get your servers, managers and bartenders to generate more revenue in your restaurant. That's more revenue for you and also for themselves because they're tipped employees so they get a percentage of every dollar they generate. Remember, when it comes to increasing revenue, there's only three ways to do it. We can sell more of the product, we can increase the price of the product, or we can sell a variety of products in our restaurants. That means Getting more butts and seats, getting each of those butts, each of those people, to spend more or to sell a variety of different products. Right. Different day parts. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or off site catering, or private dining or merchandise. Right. Those are all different products that we sell. And we utilize our servers in very key ways. I said in the intro video that there are really only four opportunities in a full service setting to impact the check average. And I truly believe that number one is first approach. And this one's going to focus in entirely on first approach. Here's the thing. In a lot of restaurants, we have those steps of service and we know the importance of greeting a table, let's say in the first two minutes. But aside from just getting there within the first two minutes, there's a specific way that we should be greeting them. So this is really, really crucial. When you greet them, you have to have your servers greeting the tables with authority, with confidence. They set the tone. When we're talking about first approach, it actually has a great deal of impact in the t turn time, right? So one of the things to note about first approach is that we don't turn tables faster in the last 15 minutes, right? We turn them faster in the first 15 minutes, which, which means how quickly we greet them and the energy and the urgency that we present. Now, I'm not talking about rushing people, but greeting them again with authority and confidence, Telling them what they need to do next is absolutely imperative. If a server is late to the table and they're, oh, hey, how you doing? It's good to have you guys. How's everyone? Okay, good, good, good. If they come in with that energy, then this, then the guests go, oh, okay, I don't have to go anywhere. I can sit and relax. And maybe on a Tuesday evening at 6:15, that's fine. Cause you're not gonna turn the table. But on a busy Friday night or Saturday night, on a busy Sunday brunch, you need to keep things moving because your ability to turn tables means your ability to generate more. So really important, when we talk about first approach, I'm not talking about rushing anyone. What I am talking about is again, bringing a sense of urgency, confidence and authority to the table. You can do a whole lot if a server greets that table confidently, right? One of the big things on first approach in a full service setting is you need to put them at ease. You need to let them know, let the guests know that you are in charge, that they are in great hands, that you're going to take care of Everything. And most importantly, you need to get a drink order. So now I talked to a bunch of clients, right? If you greet the table with menus and a water pitcher and you water everybody and then hand out the menus, I want you to stop doing that. A trick I learned way, way, way, way, way back. Back when I was waiting tables, my very first waiting tables job in New York City, I worked with woman in in particular. Her name is Elaine. I talk about the Elaine playbook all the time. She was. So she would go over to a table and pretend like she was flustered. Pretend like she was like a little behind, a little bit in the weeds. And she'd go over and she'd say, hi, how's everyone doing? I'm so sorry, I was just stuck at another table, but I didn't want you waiting. I'm going to be over with menus in just a second. But listen, what can I get you from the bar? And then she would find the thirstiest person at the table, and she would look directly at them and say, sir, what can I get for you? Sir, it looks like you know what you'd like. And he says, oh, yeah, just an old Fashioned would be great. And then she looks for the second thirstiest person at the table and would take their order. And then on and on and on. Once a person or two starts ordering, the rest of the pins will fall, I promise you. Now, this first restaurant was a fine dining restaurant. We always had to take the females orders first before the men, right? And we had to start with older women, then younger women, and then men. But usually the thirstiest person at the table is one of the men. And she was really good about bypassing procedure, bypassing the way we were supposed to do it, because she knew if she could get those dominoes to fall, she could get the pins to fall, that she would make more money, that the restaurant would make more money. So on first approach, we had to bring over the menus, a wine list and a cocktail menu. We had to deliver a menu to everyone. We had to leave the wine list on the table and prop up the cocktail menu. And then we would welcome everybody. We would ask somebody if they want a drink. But what happens is when you give menus out and you put a wine list in a cocktail menu, everybody has reading material. Everyone's eyes go down, they start studying the menu, or somebody picks up the wine list and they are not ready to receive the next thing you're ready to ask for them, you're ready to ask them. Here's the crucial part. Every time you come in, you tell them what's going to happen next, and you tell them what you need them to do now. Right. So the key to Elaine coming over and pretending to be flustered, and she said, hi, folks. I'm sorry, I was stuck in another table. I'm going to bring menus over in just a minute. But I wanted to see if I could get you started with a cocktail from the bar. Maybe a glass of champagne. Sir, what would you like from the bar? And he would order, and the next person would order, and she had the drink order. Then on first approach, and she would say, great, I'm going to give the. I'm going to get the bartenders working on that. Like I said, I'll be right back with the menus. And tell me, what kind of water would we like for the table, Bottled water or tap water? Right. And back then, we had a very specific way. We had to ask for still tap or sparkling. They want it tap, wedged in the middle. Because there is significant data that shows the average consumer is more apt to order the first thing or the last thing that they heard. So that was really sort of like psychological, you know, digging. You don't have to do that. The key is to ask them what you want them to do now, tell them what's going to happen next. And then again, if you come over and start po. Pouring water, they're like, oh, they don't need a drink because they're hydrated. They got water here. They got something to fidget with. They have something to sip. Right? So that's why we don't do that first. First thing we do is say, hi, welcome. My name is Chip. I'll be taking care of you. I'm gonna bring menus over in just a second, but I wanted to start you off with something from the bar. Would anyone like a cocktail or a glass of champagne or a beer? Whatever it is for your restaurant, that should be it, right? And then you say, great, I'm gonna get the bartender working on that. I'll be right back with some menus. Oh, for water, did you prefer tap water or bottled water? Now you've gotten so much of the business out of the way. Hopefully you've sold a bunch of cocktails. Hopefully you've put them at ease because you've greeted them. You're right there on time. You've told them what you're doing. Now what's going to happen next. So you've shown your authority. You've shown that you are in control. You, you're telling them, I know, I know what you want. You want the menus next, that will come. And again, hopefully you get a water order. So instead of just, you know, flat, you know, you know, you know, flat pouring tap water, hopefully maybe on some of these tables, you've gotten a sale for a 7, 8, 9, $10 bottle of water. Once they have one bottle of water, they're going to keep drinking bottled water all night. Because most places don't usually switch to tap. Most guests don't switch to tap. That's how you do a really solid first approach. You do that, you get in the habit of that. Even in a fast paced place, even in a sort of a casual family style restaurant, you do that, you'll be really well off, right? Even if you came over and you greet it with the menus and you said, hey, how's everyone doing? My name is Chip, I'll be taking care of you. Got the menus here, but first I wanted to see who would like something to drink, something from the bar. Before you give them the reading material, ask the question. So then you get the order, you write it all down, and then you hand out the menus. That's totally cool. That's totally cool as well. You can amend this, you can amend this step of service to fit your restaurant. But just by being efficient, you're probably losing sales. So when it comes to driving more revenue, first approach is an incredible opportunity. Number one, you should be able to get water sales. Number two, you have to get the first beverage sales because the sooner you get the order, the sooner you can get those drinks on the table, the better chance you have of them finishing that and moving to a second beverage, which we'll talk about in a future video. First approach represents an incredible opportunity for you to set the stage, set the pace, and get a couple of sales early. That's the first playbook here in the server playbook.