Membership Means Business Blog

Did you know that if you improve the way you receive deliveries, you also reduce hazards before they enter your establishment? Here's a general guideline on receiving deliveries:

• Train employees to inspect deliveries properly.

• Plan for shipments. Make sure there are clean carts and dollies and enough room is available in storage areas before receiving shipments.

What can go wrong with your restaurant's roof? First and foremost, a problem can occur if the roof in question wasn't built to hold the equipment that restaurateurs need and want. A lot of times a restaurant goes into a commercial space that was not originally designed to be a restaurant. All of a sudden you have the weight of mechanical systems and remote refrigeration installed on a roof that was not designed for such uses.  

Roofs can also spring leaks, especially when the operator has made penetrations in the structure for refrigeration lines, duct work and the like. Restaurants usually have a large number of rooftop units for kitchen vents, cooler compressors, and air conditioners.  This means there are a lot of flashing details for curbs, vents and pitch pockets, and these are the most common sources of problems on any flat roof.

More importantly, those kitchen vents expel animal fats, which always end up on the roof as a greasy mess. Most commonly-used roofing materials are eaten away by animal fats.

Cleaning isn't a daily event, but something that needs to continue throughout the day. That said, major cleaning cannot be accomplished during busy shifts, or in many cases, when the restaurant is open for business. Make a list of the cleaning functions by day part - in this case, after-hours and during business.

After-hours. The frequency and scheduling of cleaning duties will depend on the amount of business and the hours of operation. Normally most cleaning is accomplished after the kitchen has stopped preparing and the dining area has finished serving food. In a 24-hour operation, cleaning must be scheduled around peak service periods, such as after 1 p.m. and before 4:30 p.m., or after 8 p.m. and before midnight, and again after 3 a.m. and before 5:30 a.m. These are periods when cleaning will not unreasonably interfere with food preparation or service and exposes the least number of employees or customers to the cleaning process.

During hours. In all operations, one key to maintaining a clean and safe working environment in an efficient manner is to provide continuing cleaning support throughout the workday. Trash cans should be emptied so they don't overflow and spills cleaned up so they aren't tracked throughout the entire facility.

Most restaurants and foodservice establishments have several types of storage in their facilities. The most common are refrigerated, frozen, and dry storage. As a foodservice manager, your task is to ensure the optimal conditions for each.

For example, for frozen storage:

• Set freezers to a temperature that will keep products frozen

"Big Dave" Ostrander, a successful independent pizza restaurant operator and pizza restaurant consultant, has learned a few things from his experience that he originally shared with Restaurant Startup & Growth magazine readers. According to Ostrander, they include:

1.     Quality counts. I am convinced that the world doesn't need another mediocre pizza place. There are thousands of them. To succeed and prosper in this niche you must emulate the big chains, in terms of operational efficiency, without making cookie-cutter, boring pie.

2.     Hire the best advisers you can afford. Your accountant must truly understand how restaurants differ from every other kind of business they advise. He or she must hold you accountable for your financial decisions and challenge your ideas. You must have a great lawyer and computer professional on call.

To evaluate labor productivity, you need to properly analyze labor costs. Three critical benchmarks include:

• Covers per labor hour

• Labor cost per cover

• Labor cost per labor hour

Employee productivity, which drives employee scheduling, is determined not by revenue but by customer counts or "covers." The "covers per labor hour" is perhaps the most "inflation-proof" indicator of labor productivity compiled by a foodservice operation because it is not distorted by the way sales are affected by price increases and discounts.

Voluntary turnover was higher last year than in 2010, partly because of the economic recovery, according to CareerBuilder's 2012 Job Forecast.

Although employers plan to offer incentives to retain their best talent, it takes more than high salaries and attractive benefits build a passionate workforce. Find out how some restaurant owners boost retention:

• Hire people who want to be there. "The best thing we can do to combat high turnover is to ensure that our hiring process focuses on hospitality-minded individuals," says Michael Inwald, president and founder of Cheeseboy: Grilled Cheese To Go. "It is incredibly difficult to coach someone into developing a passion for food and customer service."

• Confront problems at the right time. Jeff Flancer, owner of Flancer's Restaurant in Gilbert and Mesa, Ariz., says there is a right and wrong time for confrontation. "Employees don't need to be rattled before or even during the shift. After the rush, that's when you can compliment and correct employee behavior."

• Build a culture of collaboration. Glenn D'Amore, who oversees 15 Silver Diner stores in the Washington, D.C., region, says management isn't afraid to get their hands dirty. "No job can be beneath somebody," he says. "If the cooks need help, we'll help cook. If the dishwasher needs help, we'll wash dishes. This is how respect is built."

• Praise first, criticize second. People love to hear they're doing a good job, and they're much more open to receiving feedback if you first point out what they do well.

• Promote from within. Workers will be more loyal and want to stay around if they feel there are opportunities to move up. Nearly 80 percent of Silver Diner managers worked their way up within the company, D'Amore says. However, before you promote from within, you need to prepare workers and train them to take on more duties, he says.

This content was provided by National Restaurant Association partner Career Builder. CareerBuilder and its niche restaurant website, JobsOnTheMenu.com, provide NRA members access to the best talent at a cost effective price. Call (877) 513-4867 to learn more about special pricing for NRA members.

Thermometers are the most important tools managers have to prevent time-temperature abuse in your operation. It is important to know how to use and care for each kind of thermometer. When it comes to maintenance, always follow manufacturers' recommendations. Here are a few simple guidelines for using thermometers:

• Keep thermometers and their storage cases clean.

• Calibrate thermometers regularly to ensure accuracy.

• Never use glass thermometers to monitor the temperature of food; if they break, they can be a physical hazard.

• Measure internal temperatures of food by inserting the thermometer probe into the thickest part of the product.

• Wait for the thermometer reading to steady before recording the temperature of a food item.

Get more information on the uses and maintenance of thermometers from the ServSafe® program at www.ServSafe.com.

Reducing portions of proteins and expensive items can help cut down on costs, but you have to do so strategically so as not to look like you're "being stingy" to your customers. Cutting just an ounce off a portion can save dollars and your guests will hardly notice.

Bumping up other sides like delicious vegetables and interesting grains can offset reduced protein portions. Creative presentation in general can "bulk up" a dish and create a visual appeal. Try carefully slicing perfectly cooked meats and serving them over unique vegetables and grains with interesting garnishes, rather than just slapping a hunk of meat on a plate.

Changing plate sizes can also do the trick. A smaller plate can make the protein and garnish look bigger than it is, and for many customers, that's more important in terms of creating a value proposition. Fine-dining restaurants these days can serve much smaller portions if they can back up the brand with higher-quality ingredients, creative cooking and presentation, and a chef-driven approach. In those cases, less is more.

Having an incompetent, careless, or disorganized bookkeeper exposes you to all sorts of risks. It puts the accuracy of your financial information in serious question, it can make you an easy target for fines and penalties when you're audited by any number of possible federal and state agencies, and it makes your business more susceptible to theft and fraud.

One way to get a quick read on what kind of bookkeeper you have is to ask to see your latest bank reconciliation. As the owner of a low-margin business that deals with a large number of small (often cash) transactions, you must have assurance that your bookkeeper or accountant is preparing accurate and timely bank reconciliations.

First, when you ask for your bank reconciliation, do you get that deer-in-the-headlights look? Do you notice some hesitancy or the "why" question? Do they appear to be a little overly protective of "their" work? (Note: The bank reconciliations are yours, not theirs.) If you notice any of the above red flags, contact your outside CPA immediately and have them investigate and determine the shape your books are in and the likelihood of any fraud.