“Failure? Does it Exist?”

Were you upset when your favorite restaurant was closed? I know I was when Todai, a buffet restaurant, closed in Daly City and Concord. I remember my favorite experience at Todai was eating those delicious sushi and colorful crepes. If I want to eat at Todai, I have to go to other franchises in California that are located in San Jose and Orange County, but these locations are too far away.

You may be wondering why some restaurants closed their business. One of the common reasons that most people believe is the recession because they believe that as the economy changes, businesses also change. This may be true, but Lorri Mealey points out that some restaurants in the past have failed even before the recession. In Lorri Mealey’s article, he lists ten reasons that restaurants fail within their first three years, but I will point out five of them.

Can you see me?

The first reason that restaurants fail is the location which is a big decision that owners have to make when starting a business. According to Mealey, this is really important because a bad location has an impact to the restaurants’ future. “Poor visibility, no parking, no foot traffic, or maybe being cursed are just a few of the problems associated with a bad restaurant location.” I agree with him because owners have to choose a location that can create customers’ awareness of the restaurants. For example, the location is supposed to have no trees or building blocking the restaurants, so customers can see them when they are on the road or a mile away. Also, I want to add that the owners have to be aware of the competition around the restaurant’s location because they have to compete against other restaurants for the same customers. For example, there are two Chinese restaurants on the same street and they both serve similar foods, so this creates competition. When finding a property to open a restaurant, owners should do some research on the property by making sure there is no barricade or competition around the area.

The second and third reasons are that restaurant owners hire poor managers and the owners do not work. Mealey emphasizes “if you want to own a restaurant, but not work in it, then don’t expect to get paid.” It sounds like he is angry because he knows some owners take advantage of their own restaurant by not putting their hearts and soul into it. They may let their managers do all the work, and get all the credits and money from the managers’ hard work. Even though an owner hires a manager, the manager may not know how to operate the restaurants properly. Sometimes the manager may not know how to lead the employees, and solve problems on their own. For instance, in one of my posts on Kitchen Nightmare, the restaurant was not successful because the three owners lacked management skills and could not solve their problems, so they had to rely on Chef Gordon Ramsey for help and advice. The solution to these problems is that owners should take more responsibility for their restaurants and should hire managers who have work experience in the restaurant industry.

Travis Rodgers Now!

The fourth reason is owners do not watch their cash flows and it may result in closing the restaurants. It is a risky business in operating a restaurant because owners have to rely on the customers to come and spend their money on foods. Without customers, there is no cash flow coming in the restaurants for the owners to pay their bills and taxes. If the owners do not pay their taxes, the government has the right to close their business and probably sell it. “It can also cause the state or other local government to shut down a restaurant completely if taxes aren’t paid.” The solution to this problem is to make sure to keep an accounting book, so the revenues and expenses are balanced. Mealey’s suggestion is to “make sure you have enough cash to cover big expenses, like food orders and payroll, every week, along with all the other bills that come with a restaurant.”

The fifth reason is that bad customer service can cause the restaurants to lose potential customers. From my previous post about my interview with my professor, he says that customers’ satisfaction is important because this results whether or not the customers may come back. Mealey also explains that bad customer service causes customers not to come back, even if the foods taste good. “And they don’t bother return to restaurant they think have bad service.” The solution to this is to train employees to maintain high quality of customer services, so the customers may feel welcome and comfortable within the environment.

When starting and running a restaurant, it is a complicated business because owners and managers have big responsibilities daily. They have to remember to maintain high quality of service to exceed customers’ expectations, maintain high quality of foods that are appealing and delicious, keep track of cash flows, and hire experienced managers with leadership qualities.

Keeping Everything Clean

Most customers who come to a restaurant always see the front of the house in actions with servers and hosts providing the services. Now, this post will give you, the readers, behind the scenes of restaurants, such as concerns about sanitation. As a future restaurant employee, I have to learn about food safety and sanitation because we want to prevent any lawsuit by our customers from happening.

Sanitation is important, so owners and managers are responsible for cleanliness in their restaurants. Before serving foods to the public, they have to go through certain procedures daily. They have to make sure the inside of the dining rooms and kitchens are cleaned, and employees wash their hands before services. If nobody is aware of these procedures, the owners and managers are responsible to notify their employees about these procedures by writing them down and posting them on the employees’ notice board. These procedures are preventative actions against foodborne illnesses.

Food Poison Journal

Everyone in the restaurant, including servers, has to wash his or her hands before serving foods to the customers. This may seem obvious to everyone in the restaurant industry, but some people still ignore this simple procedure and customers are not aware of it. You never know what the employees have touched before coming to work; they may have eaten breakfast or have fixed their car. In Dell Richards’s article, she explains that some employees do not wash their hands, so this causes Shigella, a foodborne illness that is contagious. “Shigella is spread through food contamination from dirty hands, from someone who didn’t follow basic hygiene essential to the well-being of the fast casual industry.” Even though it may be the servers’ fault for not washing their hands, the restaurants are still responsible for the incidents when lawsuits occur; they are supposed to make sure that servers follow the procedures.

Richards also gives suggestions of what restaurants should do to prevent lawsuits against any foodborne illnesses. One of her suggestion is to buy “systems with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensoring now monitor individual employees in real time. Some of the systems can be set to give instant alerts when an employee has not washed his or her hands or used a hand-sanitizing solution.” I think this RFID is effective, but it is expensive. Some restaurants, such as independently-owned or family restaurant, cannot afford to buy it. Another suggestion is that one employee monitors everyone in the restaurant by making sure they wash their hands before each service. Richards says “monitoring is the only way to make sure that all employees are complying with HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) guidelines for food preparation and handling.” I agree with her because this is effective and cost-efficient; I believe it is better to have someone of a high standard, such as a host, to supervise the employees to wash their hands.

This video demonstrates how to wash our hands. Although everyone knows how to wash his or her hands, this video explains why we need to wash our hands before eating a meal. This is important especially for servers and other employees in restaurant because sanitation is important for the guests if you want to avoid any lawsuits. I hope you enjoy it while you learn how to wash your hands.

Commercial Refrigerator

Restaurants have to clean their refrigerator daily to prevent cross-contamination and maintain it in good condition. Everyone knows that we store raw and left-over foods in the refrigerator to preserve them, and we rarely clean our refrigerator at home. It’s a different story for restaurants since they need to clean their refrigerator for customers’ safety. In Greg McGuire’s article, he explains about keeping a commercial refrigerator clean and in good condition, so it may last longer. “Wipe dust and dirt off coils and the compressor regularly to maximize life cycle and efficiency.” This is one of the reasons why restaurants need to clean refrigerators by keeping it in good condition, so maintenance is important as well. Another reason is the restaurants do not want dust and dirt from the refrigerator in the foods, and raw foods that are weeks old; it may create cross-contamination, even though the food is cooked. McGuire’s article about cleaning commercial refrigerator also applies to walk-in refrigerator because they both have the same purpose which is to store foods and need to be cleaned daily.

Walk-in Refrigerator

From my previous post based on my interview with my professor, I ask my professor about sanitation. He says that sanitation is very important because restaurants need to be concerned about the public health. He recommends that restaurants need to be careful when handling foods to prevent cross contamination, and employees need to wash their hands before service. In the kitchen, refrigerators also need to be cleaned and checked for maintenance daily. His suggestions are similar to the articles that I read and I recommend restaurants should follow them.

I think this post may help restaurants to succeed in business and they need to try and follow the procedure in keeping their restaurants clean, so they can prevent lawsuits from occurring. It seems like a lot of work to do before every service, but in the end it will pay off and be worth their time.

"Whatever you do, you have to have passion for it or you won't do your best."

- Chef Paula DaSilva

Kitchen Nightmares

Do you watch Kitchen Nightmares? Well, I actually watch it because Chef Gordon Ramsay, a professional celebrity chef, gives advices to the viewers. I also find the television series helpful for restaurants with similar problems because they can learn from Chef Ramsay and have a chance to make changes to their own restaurants. You may recall the phrase, “You can learn from your mistake,” but from watching this show, you can learn from the restaurants’ mistakes that may occur.

Viewers discretion is advised because there are languages that may be offensive.

The Boken Online

This video shows three owners who lack management skills in their restaurant. When there are three owners, it is easy to assume that there is good management because more people help to manage the restaurant. As you can see, the lack of management has caused the owners to be unaware of their quality of food which is not good; the only good thing about the restaurant is the customer services from the servers.

From all the episodes I have watched, I believe that Chef Ramsay’s strategies are useful in the restaurant industry. If there is a problem in the restaurant, the best solution is the owner or the manager discussing the problems with his or her staffs, such as the servers and cooks, because they understand the problems that are occurring in the restaurants. For instance, the servers may know that the customers are always complaining about the foods not coming out of the dining room for hours or the cooks do not have an updated equipment to cook the foods properly.

In the end, Black Pearl was closed because it went back to its original state with the same lack of management and the owners did not follow Chef Ramsay’s advice. Also, I cannot believe they sold the Lobster Claw Machine!

If you enjoy watching these videos or want more tips from Chef Gordon Ramsay, you can watch Kitchen Nightmare every Friday night at 8pm on FOX.

Real Life in a Restaurant Industry

By now, you may have already read my opinions about restaurant management based on different articles. Now, let’s learn from a real professional. I choose to interview my wonderful professor who has worked in the restaurant industry because he enjoys teaching by sharing his real life experience with his students.  He allows me to post this on the blog to share what I learn with my readers.

Delicious Overseas Dishes Made by My Professor

My professor had experienced in working and operating a restaurant, so he knew the restaurant industry well. His first experience was operating and managing a restaurant overseas with his partner. Later, he opened and consulted some concepts with restaurant owners, employees, and others on restaurant issues, problems, and management. When he came to the United States, he worked in institutional and student-organization restaurants during his graduate studies. He also worked for off-premise catering company by making meals for parties, school campus, and medical company.

I ask him several questions about problems that restaurants face, and his answers are interesting. Restaurants face technical problems, such as stoves breaking down or other equipment does not work. It is important to fix this equipment immediately because it helps the business to operate and serve the customers faster. The most common problems that have occurred to him are customers’ complaints or satisfaction issues because customers sometimes complain about the quality of the foods. When they are not satisfied, they may not come back. To solve this problem, we should “listen to the customers and value them” because we want them back.

Since I know that there are internal and external problems in the industry, I am curious about which problems occur often. According to my professor, they both often occur during an operation on different daily basis. External problems can affect the operation because vendors may not have fresh ingredients that the restaurants want. On the other hand, internal problems can be the employees’ issues. My professor believes that internal problems are more important than external because they affect the success of the operation in the restaurants by having employees with passion to make the services successful.

Even though my professor misses working in restaurants, he loves to educate his students by sharing his real life experience. His interesting class has inspired me to pursue a career in the restaurant industry. This is an interesting experience for me to interview my professor because I get to learn from his perspective.

Respect Vendors, They Are Not Invisible

Systematic HR

Most people like us assume that vendors are sellers who supply restaurants and other businesses with goods which they need to serve the customers. But a recent post I read by Heather Turner has challenged my assumptions about vendors. “Businesses may not realize it, but many times a vendor is actually, or may potentially be, a customer of your business. And in addition they can be the influencer of others, both positively and negatively.” Vendors are actually the same as any regular customers. Like regular customers, they eat in your restaurant or buy your products. They form opinions about the quality of your business; they tell their friends whether or not your business is worth the price.

In Turner’s blog, she explains that vendors are customers, too. She also describes that she has witnessed a situation where an employee and a vendor have an argument. The vendor tells her that she will not come back as a guest because she does not like her visit. Even though restaurants provide good foods and services, they somehow may treat vendors poorly by arguing with them about certain problems that are related to the business agreement. For example, Turner “witnessed a poor wine vendor get pinned like a butterfly in between two partners exchanging verbally poisoned darts at one another.” This means that the vendor has been in the middle of the argument between the two owners. This situation has made the vendor uncomfortable, and may spread the words that the owners are mean and can’t solve their problems professionally.

I agree with Turner that we should respect vendors because they are people who may be the restaurants’ “potential guests.” These people are just like us who want to look for something to fulfill our needs and wants. When we go to restaurants, we want them to satisfy our hunger and mood.

I think reputation is very important to restaurants because they need to rely on their customers to make money. Since reputation is important, restaurants have to keep their images positive inside and outside the restaurants. Vendors are examples of a setback outside the restaurants because they can tell other people about their experience through word-of-mouth. If the comments are negative, the restaurants may have a problem of losing customers.

The solution of avoiding a bad reputation from vendors and other customers is that employees have to respect them and do not lose their temper. No matter what happens, the employees are supposed to represent and set a positive view for the restaurants. If there is an argument between the vendors and employees, they should work it out by discussing the problems professionally and respectfully.

As a future restaurant employee, I should treat everyone with respect, no matter who he or she is because anyone I meet may be a potential customer. Since vendors are customers, your friends, family, and neighbors may be customers, too. Turner’s blog gives me an insight that you never know when vendors can bad mouth about your restaurant or cause you to lose customers. So, respect vendors as if they are your customers.

Yelp!

Do you know where to go for your birthday or other special occasions? How do you know where to find a good restaurant? Do you look at newspapers or the Internet? Since we live in an era with advanced technology, most people surf the web to find good restaurants to eat. People may use Bing to search, but the most common website is Yelp, an online review of restaurants, dentists, shopping malls, and other service-oriented businesses.

I used Yelp to search for popular restaurants, such as Hard Rock Café, and it was really helpful to me. The reviews for Hard Rock Café were all positive about the services, but there were mixed reviews about the foods. When I went to Hard Rock Café at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch, I ordered a cheeseburger with French fries. The burger was not what I expected; it tasted a little burnt. Service was great because the server knew what I wanted before I called him, such as refilling drinks. I thought it was worth my time like some reviewers wrote because I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere.

New York Times

After customers leave the restaurants, they are sometimes afraid to share their experiences with the restaurants about their foods and services. Yelp is a good way for previous customers to communicate with other people online. These reviews are posted and read by many people from all over the world. These reviews also can be about how they feel, whether or not the foods are good, and how the employees in the restaurants treat the customers.

When restaurants have a problem and do not know what it is, they often ask customers to fill out a survey. Other times they give customers their contact information, so customers can mail or email their experience or concerns. Both of these methods are good, but they are a waste of money, time, papers, and resources. How many people are willing to take the time to do the survey, and mail or email their feedbacks? Yelp is a better method because it is easy to use and people feel more comfortable by sharing their experience with others online.

Since Yelp is open to the public, restaurants should use it to their advantage. It is easily accessible online and provides customers’ comments. By reading the comments, restaurants can try to make changes, such as training their employees, improving management team, keeping sanitation in and out of the kitchen, and creating improved policies based on the problems.

I recommend everyone to use Yelp to find a good restaurant to eat. If customers do not directly give feedbacks about their experience, it does not mean that there is no problem. I also recommend restaurants to read comments about them, so they may understand what customers are thinking and try to make changes to solve the problems if necessary.