How to be a good vendor / partner #2

How to be a good vendor / partner #2

I am continually amazed at how a great deal of companies miss opportunities to take good care of their customers. They miss what to me seem like really obvious ways to keep customers happy.   When you have a service provider (we are all that in many ways) that really understands what good customer service is about you never need to look in another direction. Providing great service takes a thoughtful approach to figuring out who your customer is and what they need. Even if your customer doesn't know what they need.


I think it was Stephen Covey who wrote about  "seeking first to be understood". Its a great phrase and has a lot of actionable ways to use this simple thought. To me this means asking what your customers need,  keep asking and act on what you learn.

1. What do your customers really need from you?  You may think you know the answer but have you asked?  I find it very, very rare that a service or goods supplier begins by first asking what I want out of them, our relationship and whatever service or product they are providing. I find that many people assume they know what others needs are and how to meet them. After all its what they do. In their minds they may be thinking that they have been in this business for many years and have many customers and may even pride themselves and this knowledge and tell prospective clients they should hire them because they do know these things.  While your experience gives you a base of information don't assume you already know what they need.  Start by asking questions and probing for information you can use to meet their needs. Every person is different and all of us have different needs. They may be short handed in a particular area of a company and you may see  a way to make sure they get help to bridge a gap making you easier to do business with. lets say you are talking to a  person who is a one man / women show. Maybe they are a sole proprietor or maybe its just that they are a control freak. Maybe they are over their head and need help to stay afloat.   To them opening one more email in a day is a terrible thing.  lets say you sell products to them and it requires some communication and there are some problems that may be all their fault in reality. However, instead of thinking of  it that way try to come up ideas to make it easy for them.  That's the key, think of ways to make it easier for them, not you.  Maybe instead of sending them emails it would really help them for you to provide a cloud based document folder they can access and you can keep detailed information just for them there. You would never know this if you didn't ask and probe for ways you can meet a need.   look for creative ways to help them. You want them to think of you as "the Bomb" right? well be the bomb and figure out what their personally type is and fill in the weaknesses. This is harder than it sounds and requires careful listening.  In the restaurant business a vendor needs intimate knowledge of what is happening in the restaurants. There isn't a cash register at the office and a smart restaurateurs focus is on his guests. So get in there and find out what's going on. I had a dish machine guy once spend an entire busy night at a unit to help me figure out what was causing a problem we had. He knew what I needed. 

2. It isn't enough to ask once what a customers needs are. You have to do it on a regular basis.  Make sure to revisit your customers to check specifically on their needs on somewhat regular basis. Assuming you are doing this to begin with you shouldn't need a deep probe all the time.  However things changes and needs change so make a point to ask careful questions. Ask about any and all processes that are related to the services or goods your provide. Maybe you will find out some thing that you could help save them time by completing on your end. Maybe you will find that a competitor does something a better than you. When you go to this type of meeting don't do this in a social setting or at lunch.  Make sure they know you mean it and want to learn.

3. Get feedback on your performance.  You need to find out exactly how they view you and your company.  Ask for honest, blunt feedback on your performance and that of your companies associates.  Be honest if there were some mistakes made that could have been handled differently. suggest solutions for anything you could have done better.  Come prepared with information.

4. Figuring out how the way your customer wants to communicate not the way you do is what you need to keep in mind.  Everyone does things differently. So your job is figure out how they like to be communicated with.  Here's an idea: Ask them.  If they perceive you as a person trying to help them they will probably tell you.  Maybe they hate being sent multiple emails (this one is me) and would prefer you to summarize all the things you have going on with them together on a regular basis. However, some people may want you to text them at all hours to give them incremental updates. Whatever it is they like figure it out and do it that way.  Point again is do it their way not yours. Recently I had a supplier send me a video clip email attachment giving me a verbal update on things we had going on. there was few things I needed to see and she showed me them too. It was awesome.  I asked about it she said she just uses the camera on here laptop and did it in minutes. Some people are visual and some are not.  There are other aspects to communicating you need to figure out.  Some people want a single source communication. ( I admit this is me too usually).  I find it challenging when I get communications from a suppliers associate that I don't know. Or even if I do know them and they don't know my communication preferences. Its possible to bring other into the mix but do it carefully.   They need all that carefully learned information you have to be ready.


Ask and you shall receive! amen

 

the bad and somewhat better salad

 I have salad on the brain a lot lately as I have been working on projects with a salad concept that is trying reinventing itself in a big way. In the last few months I have visited a lot of places that either specialize in salads or are known to make good ones.  I also have had a bunch of really bad ones.  I really don't understand the bad salad.  It doesn't really take that much effort to make a decent salad. I have always been amazed at why so many restaurants have terrible salads.



 Here is what Delta considers a steak salad as part of the first class meal service. umm, not so much.  They have also been doing a burger and a cheesesteak lately too but thats another topic.   I think they call these "Chef Inspired" creations. 
Go back to chef school please..  On the chef inspired topic,  what the hell is that supposed to mean anyway. Its either made by a chef or it isn't.  I know a CEO who keeps using the term and its super annoying.  there hasn't been chef in his kitchen for so long he must be referring to the fryers as the chef

 

 This picture is from a casual dining pub type place and has the mandatory small tomato slices, cucumber, onion and of course the shredded cheese. Props for tomato slicing effort. Only thing worse is unsliced cherry tomato all alone on the side of the plate.  typically the plate is too small and stuff goes flying. 

The worst is using shredded lettuce. This picture is far better than what the shred usually looks like but I didn't want to order one. Shredded lettuce just makes a bad salad.   I worked for a concept in the past that made a "Philly Cheeseteak Salad" at the time that meant taking the insides of a philly and laying on the shredded lettuce we had in bag for the sandwich toppings. It was terrible.  I assume they have since improved the quality a great deal but at the time it seemed like good plan.  live and learn. 

  

 

 

Now here is an example from a very cool polished quick casual dining concept.  Of course it cost $10 but its really good.  this to me is the best I see anywhere.  Great flavor, great texture and presentation.  I would go here all the time if it was close to me.  Like many other hipster places they don't serve coke.  only the artisan soda's and other stuff people that look like they belong in the 1890's are always drinking. 











There are however a bunch of places making good salads to order quickly.  Here are a few examples and some impressions.  Just my opinions however..

 

 Salad Works makes a good salad and heavily relies on this large glass case to show off the fresh ingredients.  To me , the locations feel very cartoon like in color and finish.  I don't feel like I am in an environment where they are making my food in store.  I imagine a Lego truck bringing in everything in the morning and dropping it off.  I am sure that is not the case and the salads they make are good. Its just not a wow to me. 

Freshii has a similar start clean look and makes good salads and wraps.  Again, while the product is good but there isn't any merchandising and I don't have an overly freshii feeling in these units. 








 Sweet Greens is a cool looking place that thank god went away from painting everything green.  one thing I noticed overall is that for the obvious reason all the salad places have green as the prominent color.  I like green and all but I was thinking if I squinted my eyes I wouldn't know which concept I was in.

I like the concept Chop't a lot as far as salad

places go. the way it works is a little troublesome

when its busy which is when you would want to be there its a little hairy to deal with.  they assign you a person and that person makes your salad and finishes it. that part is cool its just hard to move around.  here is a little video where I was trying to get through the process.  I kind of felt like I had no choices in the process even though I did if that makes sense.   the end results was tasty but the chopping things makes the texture all the same which I didn't like as much. 

I am currently working on a few versions of salad concepts both in both large and small formats so let me know where the best of the best are.  My big learning's in this so far are much like I always get to:

1. Don't try to do to much. Do a few things really well. all my favorite places have only one thing in common.. they all and I mean all have small menu's

2. Set up a place where I would want to work.  you can't expect it to be like the fish market in Seattle if you wouldn't like to be there everyday.

3.  Don't over step the abilities of those that will be running it form the executives on down. Handing someone a tool they can't use isn't helping them and won't give them success.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pet Peeves

pet peeve definition

1. n.
   a major or principal annoyance or complaint. : Dirty dishes in restaurants are my pet peeve.

I , like many in the restaurant industry have a bunch of pet peeves when at dining at restaurants.  Just ask my wife who has to put up hearing about everything everyone is doing wrong everywhere we eat.

1. Don't come to my table and ask "how are you guy's doing?" or even worse as we are departing say "thanks guys".    I am not sure why this bugs me so much but it does. Its kind of like the whole "I'm good" response to me.  When someone asks me if I want something I would never say "I'm good" instead of no thank you.  I drove my son crazy with this.

2. Never put a check presenter in your pants.  Now, one would think this is common sense right? Why do people think its ok to put a check presenter down their pants at the small of the back?  I don't really want to handle something that has been down your pants now matter how cute you are.

3. Say "your welcome" when I say thank you not "no problem", " all good" or any other  thing that doesn't mean your welcome.

thanks  I have more but its even annoying talking about things that are annoying.

How to be a great supplier to growing restaurant companies

On many occasions I have been asked by well-intentioned people wanting to provide goods or services to a restaurant company’s development program how they can gain more business. My least favorite question has to be "how can I earn your business?".  while its often well meaning its also pretty obvious if you are paying attention.  Over the years I have developed some responses to this question and thought I would put a few thoughts out there.

Understand what your customers  do in the real sense

If you have never opened a restaurant then it’s understandable you wouldn’t know how difficult it is. It is very stressful and takes a lot of people a huge amount of work. Keep in mind what might be happening on site when something doesn’t show up or doesn't happen when it should. It’s a big deal. One time I remember being on the phone with someone who had sent something to a new location and they didn’t seem to get why I was so upset that it hadn't been send specifically to my attention. They said “Fed Ex says it was signed for by Johnny, so it must be right there.” Looking around, I saw no less than 100 people involved with numerous tasks of training, last minute touch-ups and a bunch of other things and I thought "You really have no idea who your customer is here, do you?"

My point with this example is that things that may seem inconsequential to you is probably a lot bigger of deal to your customer.

This is Ziggy. He may look calm, but he is about to open a multi-million dollar business where he is personally responsible for everything. He has over 100 employees. He is a mentor, a father figure and a true leader. Every second that he has to deal with something other than providing great service to his guests is not only difficult, it hurts a lot of other people at the same time. In just about any restaurant company the two weeks before an opening is completely off limits to any activity other than training. Even the smallest inconvenience interrupts training and that is unacceptable. When I was a trainer, I knew every time I said the words “it won’t be like this when we’re open” meant the trainees weren't getting the training they needed. So don't be the supplier sending in someone with a ladder during this time. Get it done on time.

Take responsibility for things in your control from A to Z
A few years back, I had the pleasure of working with some great people Famous Dave’s of America and they had a phrase that permeated many aspects of the way they did business. They called it "being famous". When I first began working there, everyone was saying "be famous" this and "have a famous day" and "famous, famous, famous"...ugh, enough with the famous already. It sounded like a lot of hooey to me at first. Later, thinking about it lead me to being better at what I did. For me, being famous means a lot of things, but perhaps the most important aspect is taking personal responsibility for things in your control. That means everything from A to Z. For a vendors and suppliers providing goods and services to restaurant companies, there are a lot of specific ways the rubber meets the road on this:

1. Be my only contact. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to get a call from someone other than the person I ordered from. Deliveries are a good example. Sometimes I'll receive a call from a person I don't know saying “I have this box (they don’t know what is in the box) that needs to go to (name of company) and I need the delivery address." Now, there is no way I gave someone an order for anything without giving them a delivery address and probably an on-site contact to receive the delivery. But even if I had, it’s the vendor’s responsibility to personally make sure all these details are firmly established before anything is headed to a location. If a vendor intends to delegate any part of doing business with me, they better make sure it’s completely invisible to me. And there are even worse examples. How about a person who calls saying they have an order for a sound system and want me to review the installation and answer questions? Wait a minute. I have already done this extensively with the person I ordered from. Why do I have to go through it again? That's a vendor I won’t be calling again.

2.  Be involved in the whole process.  If a vendor sold me something and has to call me to find out if I received it or if the install went alright, than we have a problem. If it was me, I would know the day it was to be installed and how it went and I wouldn’t do it by calling my customer. I would have known ahead of time who would be dealing with it on-site and would have made sure the install went well. Then I would send my customer a summary telling them how it went that day. I would do this no matter what I was selling, be it a light fixture, a toilet or even something as small as a box of pagers.

3. Invoice smart.  This is huge pet peeve of mine. If you send an invoice for something, it better  clearly outline, in simple terms, what I'm being billed for. It should be addressed to the person who sent you the PO or the person who ordered it from you. If I'm being invoiced for a partial payment list the agreed upon price, what this payment is for, and the balance. You wouldn’t believe how much time I have to waste following up with vendors and sorting out the billings. It costs money for us to sort out your unclear billings.

4.  Take time to understand the schedule.  Be in contact with the right people on the ground and make sure you fully understand the time schedule involved. If you need help on-site to unload something or have any needs, they need to communicated to the right people. Putting a line on your order saying it’s the customer’s responsibility for something doesn’t get it!

      I recall talking to a supplier once about why some furniture didn’t show up and his telling me all about the person doing the shipping and how it was "out of his hands". He didn’t seem to get it when I told him I didn’t care about anything he had just said. I ordered the furniture from him and he was the only person responsible for its arrival. I was, of course, also thinking this would be the last time I would be having this - or any - conversation with him at all after this project.

Add Value
Adding value is one of those phrases people use a lot, but it’s a good one. Adding value to a restaurant company begins with understanding what they do. If you want to provide something to a restaurant company, and you think you get it because you have been to a bunch of other people's restaurants and already know what they need, then you are missing a big opportunity. There are a hundred examples of this, but I recall one equipment rep who not only attended openings to make sure everything was perfect (without being asked), but also kept himself involved by being at the  restaurant many mornings to work with the kitchen staff and really see how they were using the equipment. That intimate knowledge kept him completely in the loop on any new products and how the equipment could be better utilized. Who would ever look for another supplier when you have one providing that kind of attention? That, my friends, is adding value.

These simple things aren’t groundbreaking and there are many more ways to know your customer, to get involved with their business, and make yourself a real partner to their development program.

 One of my favorite books by a restaurant industry person is Danny Myer’s book “Setting the Table”.  I like it so much because it talks about getting involved with those you do business with. 
In the case of a restaurants its our guests and our employee's. the same thing applies however no matter what you do.  Danny really demonstrates what real service and hospitality is all about. He points out that good service is about the technical way things are done. For example, you are seated quickly and on time for your reservation, your food is delivered at the perfect temp and that bottle of wine is opened with just the right amount of care. True hospitality is the way you are made to feel about the service you are receiving. Have you ever been to a restaurant that made you feel like a king? That’s more than just bringing the food out well, that’s true hospitality. Apply those same principals to what you do. Even something as small as providing a box of pagers is an opportunity to become an irreplaceable partner.

NAFEM Show in Orlando this year

As I do every two years, I attended the NAFEM (National Association of Food service Equipment Manufacturers)  show in Orlando last week. I go to this show for a few reasons, the biggest reason is to see the new innovations in equipment and things that I can use in the designs I am working on.  I seem to always find something at this show and the NRA (National Restaurant Show) that I may not have found otherwise.  Another big reason I attend is to foster and maintain the relationships with manufactures in the industry.  OK blah blah blah right?    This year I found a few things I thought were pretty cool:

So this badly taken picture is of a two Viking Salamanders mounted on a range.  I think I first saw Vikings commercial line two years ago or last year at the NRA show.  The stuff costs a fortune (but probably not if you are comparing to the highest end equipment) and it is awesome to look at.  This salamander is completely open at the sides which would make really easy to use.  all the surfaces are designed to be very easy to clean.  I looked closely at the range and the burner area is in a large pan that has no fasteners or sharp edges. No one else has a range like that.  I don't know anyone using any equipment from this line yet but I am hoping I have a project where it make sense to put a cooks line in. In the mean time I am thinking my house would be a good plan.

This exhaust hood is made by Halton whom I have always thought was at the top of the innovators list in exhaust.  I wish I had a picture of this how it would be used in a real setting.  its a small exhaust unit that would be perfect for upfront saute in front of guests. the filters are in the box and it would then be exhausted out from there.  The glass surface at the bottom is mounted above an induction unit unit and allows great exhausted but doesn't block the view at all.    since this unit will require very little cfm of exhaust it is very efficient and wont require much air to be available from an HVAC unit to supply air.

This is rear view of a mobile heated holding cabinet made by Cres Cor.   it is powered both by small propane tanks and a solar panel for the controls.  You can also plug it in if there is power available.  This cabinet is going to be very popular with serious caterers who have events where power is very hard to come by.  One small 16.4 oz (camping size) bottle of propane will last 7 or 8 hours.  There is also a back-up bottle built in.   The big rubber wheels are great for those all terrain gigs.

 This is a beer tap and handle design by Mircomatic.  Recently I worked on a bar design and had an impossible time finding small handles that would provide a uniform look and more importantly be mounted so the bartender could reach over the huge  thing and serve the guests sitting on the other side. The picture bellow is what I ended with with which wasn't bad as most of the beer companies had small handles but as you can see its still not as clean a look as it could be.

       

Here is a little shout out to those trying to make a booth of restaurant equipment not look like say a pile of restaurant equipment.    These folks did this whole spider thing. I was too scared to go in so I can't say whats in there.  But yes Drew (my kid) I know what shape the ice is.  He thinks its very funny that I know what ice machine a restaurant is using by the shape of the ice and tests me often.  

One final thought on convention going.  Wear your most comfortable shoes and turn down the fourth night cap.  You can't party like a rock star anymore bucko.