144 Ways to Walk the Talk
This book is perfect for those people who are constantly on the run and do not have time for wordy advices about how to run their businesses or become great leaders. I read 144 Ways to Walk the Talk and screened the following advices for application in the restaurant business.
Dedicating a couple of hours every week in acquiring technical knowledge is vital in the very rapidly advancing restaurant business. This includes learning new cooking techniques, cost-saving measures, inventory management, customer management at peak hours, accounting, maintaining restaurant P&L, quality control, training of personnel, etc. It is also very important to do a review of the competition, at least in the neighborhood, just so to know what you’re up against and whether or not there is a need to up your game or not. It could be with respect to the food you serve, the ambience, or even operations of the restaurant. Staying in your own nutshell and not keeping an eye out for competition or innovation will only take your business down, without you even knowing it. (Harvey & Alexander, 1997)
Another mantra to go about is to set standards for your team and telling them that nothing but the best would work. You need give your team members concrete goals to set, e.g. reduction in the number of dishes being returned for the chefs; waiting time for customers for food and for seating for servers and greeters respectively. This will give them the motivation and energy to work rather than a mundane outlook towards everyday work.
Lastly, it is important to recognize and reward your restaurant personnel. You can provide weekly or monthly bonuses to chefs for devising a new recipe that would be the next hit in your restaurant; server of the month award, etc. These simple awards will boost their morale and you will see a shift in their performance.
Work Cited
Harvey, Eric L., and Alexander D. Lucia. 144 ways to walk the talk. Dallas, Tex.: Performance Systems Corp., 1997. Print.
