Effective Inventory Management

Mismanaged inventory is a silent profit killer. Excessive inventory costs you because you could have done something more profitable with the sitting money, while inventory run outs cost you in terms of food cost. And running out of staple items is simply poor management.

Yet there are four simple solutions of which the first one is about completing a regular undistracted inventory count. Allow yourself time to do it properly, not in the middle of a dinner rush or staff training.

The second solution is about valuing each inventory item in terms of days. When you divide your item count by your daily usage, you get an inventory count in terms of days. For instance, let's say that you have 235 chicken breasts and that your average daily usage is 25. So you have 9.4 days worth of inventory. Do you really need that much inventory? With 2 or 3 deliveries a week, you can reduce your par and the cash flow sitting in your walk-in.

The third solution is about food production. Instead of projecting your usage in count per day, project in terms of percentage of guests. For instance, instead of saying "I will need 5 chicken for Monday", say "10% of my guests order chicken on Mondays". So when your guest count increases, your par increases. When your guest count decreases, your par decreases too. By connecting your food projections to your guest count projections, you will eliminate excess inventory when revenues go down and, you will not run out when your revenues increase.

The fourth solution is to develop your menu in a consolidated manner, thus making sure that each inventory item is used in multiple recipes. Excessive single use items are time consuming to track, take too much space in your storage and will likely expire on your shelves.

So eliminate distractions, evaluate your inventory in terms of usage days, tie up your food production to your guest count projection and develop your menu in a consolidated manner.

Value of Training in Restaurants

From my observations, most operators do not see value in training. Even if they do have a training program, it is often treated as a "download program" by managers who don't understand value in education either. Training in restaurants is too often delivered by people who do not want to train, filled with shortcuts and without performance metrics. Then operators say that there is no ROI on training, when they don't set up effectiveness measuring tools.

A comprehensive training program needs to include management training not only in operations but in leadership, in communication, in risk management and in public relations. A restaurant manager with a high school diploma who can't spell right or talk in public, he will make a poor trainer. Managers who think that education is a waste of time, they will make poor trainers too.

Kitchen training should include presentation, flair, professional curiosity, guests relations and ethics, even at an Applebee's or a Denny's restaurant. The level of culinary sophistication of the American public has refined tremendously in the last three decades. Restaurants need to catch up without necessarily becoming presumptuous.

Dining room training needs to include attention to detail. For instance, bringing a glass of soda with the beverage dripping from the sides, that's poor service. A server, who does not understand the difference between egg white and low cholesterol eggs omelets, is a poor server.

Training helps is the consistent delivery of perfect service and food quality. It helps reduce food and labor costs. And it improves organizational effectiveness.

Proper training reduces food costs by way of the server who can explain recipes to guests and by correctly entering food orders. Part of performance management, restaurant operators need to quantify comps per guest count, voids per shift and the value of errors to sales ratio.

Proper training reduces food costs by way of the cook who properly executes recipes. At a popular steakhouse that serves over a dozen different steaks, they always have a steak inventory discrepancy at the end of the night. They produce some items instead of others.

Proper training reduces labor cost because it is a dominant factor in employee retention. As an example, I know of the case of a restaurant operator who has reduced management training from 12 weeks to 8 weeks and started hiring managers at $5,000 less because it is an employers' market. But the management turnover rate jumped from 30% to 150%. So instead of reducing management training cost by 40%, it just tripled.

Training is thus an important business factor in the restaurant industry, but not the only one. Operators need to measure their training effectiveness and correct their systems inefficiencies.

CPKI Changes Ownership

Already a highly competitive environment, the restaurant industry has been going through many changes in the last couple of years. Some concepts have disappeared (ex. Bennigan's), others have restructured under bankruptcy protection (ex. Bakers Square), others again were spinned off (ex. Romano's Macaroni Grill). California Kitchen Pizza has just been acquired by Golden Gate Capital for $21.6 million or $18.50 a share for an 88% equity.

Golden Gate Capital has now become a group including On The Border Grill, Romano's Macaroni Grill and recently CPKI. In the last twelve months, Burger King Inc., Steak & Shake and Western Sizzling have also changed controlling ownership.

In Schaumburg, California Kitchen Pizza is located at 1550 E. Golf Rd., (847) 413-9200. They are open on weekdays from 11 AM to 10 PM, on weekends from 11 Am to 11PM and on Sundays from 11 AM to 9PM.

Applebee's Press Release

LENEXA, KS--(Marketwire - 05/27/11) - Applebee's Services, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a lease agreement with EHD Holdings, LLC and will move the company's headquarters and Restaurant Support Center to 8140 Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Mo. The move is scheduled to take place by Sept. 30, 2011.

"We've been a strong corporate partner in the metro area for 25 years and we're looking forward to continuing that partnership in our new home," said Mike Archer, president of Applebee's Services, Inc. "We're happy to have found a building that meets the unique business needs of our company."

The company currently has approximately 350 Kansas City metro-based team members at its Restaurant Support Center. Also moving to the same building will be the 38 team members of Centralized Supply Chain Services, LLC (CSCS), an independent purchasing cooperative for Applebee's and IHOP restaurants.

"Our company has unique space and office needs including the ability to build a state-of-the-art culinary center, collaborative workspaces and large meeting rooms," said Archer. "We're really pleased with the new location and the benefits it offers our team members and the organization."

In April, Applebee's announced it was searching for a new space more appropriately sized for its needs.

"We have a rich, longstanding relationship with the metro area," said Archer. "We're happy to launch the next chapter of our business so close to the first Applebee's in the Kansas City area."

MEDIA CONTACTS: Nancy Mays at 866-546-9958 and Melissa Racer at 913.529.9374


Source: Applebee's website. Image: Applebee's logo from website.

Denny's Press Release

First Quarter 2011 Summary:

• Opened 18 new units, including 12 Flying J Travel Center conversion sites and 2 units at university locations at Auburn and Kansas State Universities.
• System-wide same-store sales decreased 1.7% with a 1.3% decrease at company units and 1.7% decrease at franchised units.
• Same-store guest count decrease of 1.1% was impacted by not repeating a 2010 Super Bowl promotional event and the Easter-Spring Break calendar shift.
• Franchise operating margin of $19.7 million grew $2.3 million, or 13.2%, compared to the prior year quarter.
• Franchise operating margin, as a percentage of franchise and license revenue, increased 4.5 percentage points to 63.0%, compared with the same quarter last year.
• Net income of $4.1 million, or $0.04 per diluted share. Net income was impacted by $1.4 million in expenses associated with re-pricing the Company's credit facility, $0.5 million for a one-time franchisee settlement, and $0.5 million for an unfavorable workers' compensation claims development.
• Adjusted income before taxes* of $6.2 million was also impacted by the one-time franchisee settlement and the unfavorable workers' compensation claims development.
• Re-priced $290 million credit facility, reduced outstanding term debt by $10 million during the quarter, and increased availability under the revolver by $10 million.
• Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program for up to six million shares, after completing the three million share repurchase program previously announced on November 9, 2010.

For more information: contact Whit Kincaid at 877-784-7167 (Investors Relations) or Liz Brady at 646-277-1226 (Media Relations).

Source: Dennys.com website. Image: Logo from Denny's' website.

How to Retain Employees Without Increasing Labor Costs

This question is pertinent to our economic times. Many companies like yours are looking for ways to attract, motivate and retain quality employees without necessarily increasing labor expenses. In truth, to retain quality employees with financial strategies solely would not retain all your employees and, non-financial strategies don't always have enough traction to make everyone stay. So in the end, a measured combination would likely be the solution. Yet, this is what has worked for me in the past:

First: Defend your employees: sometimes customers are obnoxious, supervisors are abusive and employees are rude. So take the stand and publicly defend and support that employee on the receiving end. A customer who is belligerent to your employees is also likely to badmouth and disrespect your company. And not all customers are worth keeping at any cost.

Second: Protect your employees: Even in less hazardous industries, accidents and safety accidents happen. Raise awareness and help them prevent work related accidents. Show your employees that you are concerned and diligent about their own safety.

Third: Reward positive decision making: Employees who have gone the extra step to analyze a business risk, to craft a new policy or, to come up with a new solution to an old problem, they did it without being paid. So the money is not necessarily relevant in these cases. That is when reward such like being included in leadership teams or like additional valuable responsibilities would have a fuller weight. Let them choose which additional responsibility they would want and give it to them.

Fourth: Fair and consistent treatment: Everyone understands what fair and consistent means regardless of the education level. Ask any five year old. This concept is basic yet employers don't seem to pay notice. Fairness and consistency make the company and its leadership appears predictable and safe in a positive manner.

Fifth: and Do not seek to retain everyone. Not all of your employees need to be retained. Allow for a natural exodus. Some people will move on because it is time to move on and that is not necessarily bad for the employee or the company. So determine and accept that a portion of your employees will go no matter what you do. If you spend too much time and energy in retaining them then (1) you would only delay the inevitable and, (2) others would ask why are you so clingy?

Image: http://www.rantzaupartners.dk/assets/images/illus/iStock_000007412021Small.jpg

To give or not to give the answer keys.

In matter of training, most managers would also want the answer keys while others would argue that the answers are in the training so that the keys are not necessary. Which method is the best?

First, I would say that supplying the answer keys with a training quiz makes great sense, because they allow you:

1. to prevent discrepancies between training materials and test questions: sometimes questions are misformulated and give room to confusion. On the other hand, sometimes the answer key is wrong too.

2. to prevent misunderstandings due to translations: in concepts that translate their training materials in other languages, sometimes questions formulated in one language may generate a different answer than in another language. Answer keys give also a clue on the intention of the question.

3. and although training materials are supplied, usually there is no time allocated for training. And so the new menu rollout is taught on the run while doing 1001 other things. In this condition, it is more efficient to go directly to the point. Of course this is not an ideal training condition, but the reality is that it is the most efficient.

From my experience, the majority of trainings in restaurants are incomplete because:

1. they don't take in consideration employees' schedules. For instance, someone who only works one day a week needs more training than someone who works five days a week. Because the second one has the opportunity to practice and to visualize new menu items, while the first employee's opportunity is only in the forgetting.

Another example is that I used to work for a concept that only trained on new items on Saturdays. So if you didn't work on that one day, you had no clue of what you are selling to the guest on your next shift.

2. the training is set up as a secondary activity. While some companies don't even pay you while in training, others don't have competent and willing trainers, and others finally train you as the trainer is doing something else. And so the training is condensed to "downloading" information from someone who doesn't want to train to someone who is overwhelmed by the flow of new information.

3. training is considered a task that needs to get done and filed away. In reality, training needs to be ongoing whether it relates to menu training, safety training or policy & procedure training. Retention rate is just as important and equally relevant as the original quiz.

By assessing how much do employees and managers retain a month later, a quarter later and so on, you need to maintain their engagement and indirectly improve their productivity. A knowledgeable employee is one who becomes more confident and secure about his/her work environment and job competencies. Drop the training and your employees will stop caring for your guests.

Truly, an efficient training has to be:

1. repetitive: in order to solidify knowledge and competencies

2. measured: to better understand your training efficiency (materials and delivery methods)

3. correlated to productivity and customer satisfaction metrics: because one doesn't train for the sake of training. The end goal, if it is productivity and customer service, needs to be correlated to your strategy. You need to understand if you are achieving your mission and corporate vision with your training program. If not, then change. If you do, then keep doing what you are doing. Inspect what you expect from your staff!


I am a firm believer that a proper, complete and relevant training is always possible provided that you have secured materials, competent people and an appropriate environment. I also maintain that the benefits of a solid training do have a positive impact on: guest satisfaction, employee satisfaction, productivity, employee turnover, food cost and brand image.

Photo from: http://www.globalnlptraining.nl/

How can restaurants compete with wine retailers?

This day was inevitable. As large discount and grocery stores are expanding their selections and, producers are in search of more distribution channels, it is but a matter of time before they negotiate deals. But restaurants have seven ways through this situation without being left out:

1. Compete with retailers on pricing: the restaurant guest still gets the benefit of a social event topped with good wines in a great setting

2. Carry undiscovered estates: Illinois, for instance, produces nice wines that do not figure on big box retailers because they are small estates. Regional wines producers are also small enough to be able to customize flavor profiles for you.

3. Develop own private branding: select wines you like most or develop your own blends and sell them under your own brand.

4. Import international regional brands: Tunisia and New Zealand produce great wines. Romania and Bulgaria produce great dessert wines. Greece and Turkey have been producing for a long time. They have been overshadowed by French, Italian and German wines when the US wine market was small.

5. Diversify into non-grape wines: Personally, I love Korean plum and raspberry wines. But consider strawberry, prunes, apple, peach and blueberry wines. The US market is embryonic but with great potential. Non-grape wines are more expensive (higher margins) and relatively undefined. This means that bottle sizes, flavor profiles and pricing are still undetermined for most people.

6. Develop a new distribution method: most who buy wine are required to go to the store to select. But with proper liquor licensing, one can deliver wines just the same as delivering food. Imagine a couple being able to order a great meal from their favorite restaurant and a matching wine. So that even if the retail store carries the same wines as you do, they won't be delivering the same service.

7. Restaurants and Wine shops could create cooperatives that would buy an exclusive selection (instead of products): for instance the particular year of a particular producer, a particular variety of a particular brand etc. By purchasing contractual "exclusivities", upscale restaurants could still maintain their cachet.


This said, wine sold by the glass at restaurants still presents a comfortable margin and the guest does have to buy the whole bottle.



Photo source: t31mo from flikr.com

How to improve employees' engagement?

Employee engagement faces challenges in a workplace in pursuit of ever higher productivity metrics, with limited resources and the necessities of a politically correct society. We can easily make up a directory of excuses why it can't be done. In most managed workplaces, there is no agenda for employee engagement or not enough concern for it.

In truth, it is a matter of leadership. If leadership is the set of abilities and skills that gives someone the vision and charisma to influence a group of individuals towards a common goal, then leadership fails when employees' engagement fails.

In the restaurant industry, for instance, there is a definite lack of leadership at the unit level. Managers concern themselves with food cost, liquor cost, ... and labor cost, when in fact they should be more focused on employee engagement for three main reasons.

First, if they truly paid attention to their costs in order of importance, labor cost should come to the first place. If they add up direct wages, indirect wage expenses and training expenses, they would realize that labor mounts up to half their sales and more. So if they were to spend their time in proportion of their cost structure, employees’ engagement would certainly become a priority.

Second, other costs such as food, supplies, non-ingredients, risk management and even energy costs can be related in function of labor. A qualified and motivated cook is more likely than not to operate a clean and efficient kitchen. But this requires proper interviewing and selection procedures, complete orientation and training programs and, an engaged leadership with a vested interest beyond metrics. All of this is about the employee. And the same goes with theft, waste, breakage and other leaks than mount up to 5%-8% of annual sales. But if managers were to become relationship-oriented leaders, they would ripe long term profits in terms of cost savings.

Finally, if leadership concerned itself with their connection with employees, it would better understand their frustrations and motivations. This presupposes a good dosage of emotional intelligence; which is the ability to read, interpret and act upon non-verbal communication clues. And with that emotional intelligence, leadership would have a better grasp on how Maslow's hierarchy of needs applies to their own employees' motivations and sense of purpose within the organization.

So, as we understand that management leadership is essential in prioritizing labor related cost, in total cost containment and, in staff motivation and sense of purpose within the organization, we can grasp how leadership is the common denominator in all solutions to employees' engagement.

But leadership skills, when they don't figure in the manager's total performance evaluation, don't compute in his own work ethics. Furthermore, since leadership values are not taught in this specific environment, how could we expect managers to behave as leaders?

I view the solution, to improving employees' engagement, as the teaching of leadership skills to front line managers. If it is expected of them, they will come though. Make them understand that the measure to which they treat their employees, their employees will treat the customers.

Photo: www.naukrihub.com

Why most managers don't have leadership skills?

This is a great and relevant question in today's business environment. Here, I would like to offer six perspectives:

1. Technical skills v. conceptual skills: As people are promoted from lower ranks because of their technical abilities, they find themselves in unchartered territories when conceptual skills become predominant. It is the change in the nature of their job that renders them incompetent. I knew Regional Directors in restaurant concepts who were proud to have started as dishwashers. But how is one function relevant to the other? If it wasn’t for the need to demonstrate that they were self made men in the fashion of the wild west, they might realize the absurdity.

2. Leadership styles and effectiveness are often omitted from performance reviews and business statements. If they are missing, they must not be valued.

3. To teach leadership, you must first be a leader. In a blind leading the blinds environment of unvalued leadership, there is no-one to teach it right and there is no-one to know the difference. Soundbite leadership seminars and fast-food leadership literature have blurred more than defined authentic leadership.

4. Task-oriented v. relationship-oriented leaderships. A relationship-oriented leadership concerns itself with emotional intelligence, succession planning, talent development and career planning. It is the nature of the relationship between each leader and his followers that determines the business' success.

On the other hand, a task-oriented leadership is principally focused on metrics, ratios and charts; thus turning a blind eye to the hierarchy of needs, motivational theories and workplace satisfaction principles.

5. Nature v. Nurture debate. Although some believe that leadership abilities are qualities one is born with, others would argue that leadership can be taught. Both sides have their valid points.

But we need to understand that if one believes that leadership is a God given ability, then there is nothing one can teach. And that's why leadership doesn't get taught by some leaders.

In counterpart, if one believes that leadership can be taught, they tend to popularize it whether or not the receiver gets it or not. You can only teach a bird to fly because the bird has the abilities to fly without possessing the skills just yet. But you cannot teach a cow to fly for with all the good intentions, she will never succeed.

The difference resides in a truthful and exhaustive evaluation of who is the candidate and if the skills to be taught do match the individual's abilities.

6. Finally there is the dichotomy between management and leadership. Most confuse that the higher the management title, the higher the power, the higher the leadership. But that is not true.

While management concerns itself in the implementation and the follow-thru of processes, leadership is about strategic vision, charisma and conceptual skills. Furthermore, as the first one is more influenced with short-term consequences, leadership is long term by nature.

In conclusion, the question on the lack of leadership skills in management is a current and real concern, but also complex. Therefore a true answer is a bit complex too in the sense that it is multifaceted, multidimensional. I would love to read your comments.

Photo: compassionate-news.blogspot.com

A regretable experience.

Today I have experimented with a Canadian goat brie cheese. And so this is what I wrote them:

This is to report that this cheese is the most disgusting, foul, vile smelling cheese in this universe right along with Vieux Lille, a French blue cheese of the utmost revulsion.

Repulsive, offensive, nasty and smelly are other adjectives that come to mind.

I would advise you to seal the remainder of your inventory in hazmat containers, nuke'em at an extremely high temperature and send them to an inhabitable planet in a far remote galaxy.

I understand that this might seem a bite extreme and quite expensive. But the salvation of mankind is at stake. Any other disposal method would contaminate water tables, air and worldwide ecosystems thus creating an irreversible ecological disaster.

For God, for country and for her majesty the Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and, her Great Commonwealth, do not allow anyone else to consume this repugnant, nauseating and revolting product.

Have you no heart, Gentlemen, for callously and insensitively offending mankind? Have you no shame? This is one of those things we wish we could disinvent for it is a reminder of Dark Ages and Barbary. Please, I implore you; get rid of this gift of Satan himself from the darkest recesses of evil minds.

Please, don't stay apathetic, soulless and thick minded to my plea for the liberation of all mankind from this horrendous unholy creation. Please Gentlemen!

Please! Oh noble Canadian neighbours do destroy all your inventory of this product. A mistake has been made, I understand. Repent yourselves for what you have done. Repent!

If you have ever loved your mothers, your grandmothers, your sisters and your wives protect them from shame, disgrace, dishonor and infamy for having produced such calamity.

Oh, horror! Oh, misery! Oh, atrocity! My heart is bleeding tears of despair for the Armageddon predicted hath come upon us. Oh, God of Abraham! Oh Zeus and the divinities of the Parthenon! Oh, son of Mary! Deliver us from this infamy. Save our Children from ever tasting such ignominious mortification.

Aarrgh!



Woolwich Dairy Inc. (Head Office)425 Richardson Road.Orangeville, OntarioCanada L9W 4Z4ph. 519 941-9206 fax 519 941-9349

Photo: www.darefoods.com, not related to this article. I chose their photo solely for esthetic reason.

Is it illegal for a prospective employer to request your pay stubs?

It is not illegal in the U.S. because information on your pay stub do not mention anything in relations to your civil rights. This said, there are two exceptions:

1. if your pay stub gives information about your marital status or the number of dependants in relations to your medical benefits. This is equivalent to asking you if you are married or if you have children. This information can also be deduced from your tax filing status

2. if the job you used to have is essentially/materially different from the one you are applying for. This is equivalent to asking you a question that is not work related.

This said, if potential employers insist on former pay stubs, there is nothing forbidding you from deleting what you don't want them to know. For instance, you can black out any or all information related to your medical plan or tax filling status.

Remember that your pay rate, your job title, your name, your social security number, your start date and your final date are not privileged information.

Photo: www.sommet.com

How to implement a successful sexual harassment policy?

This is a great question because companies are no longer monocultural. Your employees are going to be different on a primary (i.e. age, religion...) and secondary (i.e. position, education level... ) levels. An effective sexual harassment training needs to be developed within the context of diversity and, that diversity needs to be included in the company culture.

When you visit large corporations' websites, you'll notice that they brandish their diversity programs and initiatives. Yet if go to justia.com , you'll find out that there are 13,900 pending employment related lawsuits filed in the last calendar year in Federal district courts. And when you add Federal Circuit courts, State courts and regulatory agencies, over 100,000 pending lawsuits, since last year, about sexual harassment and other diversity issues. So what's the deal?
Many diversity programs have failed because business leadership has viewed the issue to be managed, to be shaped to fit the organization. Diversity has been mandated by laws, consent decrees and lawsuits and, so the “problem” is to be managed as part of a risk management equation and, leveraged by the marketing and public relations departments. Therefore the subject gets to be massaged in order to reduce risk exposure and maximize the return on the training investment that they have to do.

The human resource department or the training department, in conjunction with corporate counsel, devises a packaged “diversity in a box” program. And then it becomes an administrative procedure “please sign here…here…initial here...and here. Thank you, we are now covered” kind of mentality. But is this what the government and the civil right activists had in mind? Of course not.

Sexual harassment programs, and by extension diversity too, are not meant to be a method of managing conflicts but rather a new organizational model that enables individuals, that reduces psychological noises and preserves social identities. Our 21st Century American society is no longer monochromatic. It has become a multicultural environment of minorities. And it is an evolutionary necessity for businesses to not only recognize the change but also to embrace it.

People, by virtue of birth and socio-economic environment, already belong to a culture that they cannot disassociate from. Values, semantic differences and perceptions determine people’s motivations and their work ethics. These are integral features of their personality. And so, managers need to recognize these dimensions in their decision making process and in their own communication style. A computer managed training doesn't address these communication noises. Diversity without inclusion does not work because that wouldn’t support a synergy of creativities and talents.

So now, how do we go there from here? Well, the same way that individuals belong to cultural, religious, social and professional groups, they are also part of a business. The same way that they learn proper etiquette, negotiation skills and ethics from those groups to be applied within them, they can learn diversity in the workplace as another form of culture called corporate culture. Employees can acquire necessary skills about compassion, respect and acceptance of others. We can do this by reducing communication barriers through proper training and through individual diversity leadership initiatives that would cement bonds between employees.

Once they have internalized values associated with diversity, they know what to do to enable a co-worker and know what not to do to dissuade undesirable behavior. Diversity would no longer be an issue. In conclusion, I would like to finish by saying that any lasting sexual harassment training cannot solely be managed by an online course or a videotape. Human trainers are necessary to convey the human aspect of the issue and because people learn differently and that, the computer can not accomodate.

What to do if an employee is pregnant?

Companies, that I have worked for, never gave anything to a pregnant female employees for two dominant reasons:

(1) In compliance with Title VII Civil Rights Act and other Federal and State anti-discrimination legislations, a person should not be treated differently based on his/her protected status: age, race, nationality, citizenship, sex, gender orientation, marital status, military discharge or disability. Therefore to give a pregnant woman a gift, because she is pregnant, is the same as giving her money because she is a woman. This is a form of preferential treatment based on gender/sex; a discrimination.

Furthermore, even if you convince yourself to give said gift and, later on, another pregnant employee were to get pregnant but either doesn't get anything or gets a gift of lesser value but happens to be of a diferent race then, you would have discriminated based on race -another protected status.

(2) Pregnancy is determined as a medical condition in US employment law. And as such, since an employer may not disseminate any information covered by an employee's medical records, you may not discuss her pregnancy to any third party. And what you may say to the employee is covered within the Family and Medical Leave Act. As an employer, you can't even keep her doctor's note in her employee file.

Furthermore, if you give anything to an employee with a certain medical situation, in spirit of fairness, you would have to do the same with any medical condition. It's a matter of workplace performance and motivation. You need to be consistent. Now, let's say that she has a difficult pregnancy and that, following complications, she were to loose her child. What would you do? After each medical situation, will you give her a gift? Your kindness could quickly turn into a financial nightmare for your business. So what can you do?

For instance, you could wait that she makes her situation public. As she does, you can congratulate her in public and in such creating an opening for employees to relaxe a moment to be happy for her. You can ask her if she requires any reasonnable accomodation: work schedule flexibility, tasks reassignments, time off, modify workspace or help her through her government mandated rights and corporate policies. But in no way you should give any book or advice on any medical or legal subject. Just stay clear. And do not promise anything not covered in writing by your company policy as stipulated in the employee handbook.

Photo: http://www.thomchild.com/

Weber Grill on Meacham Road.

In the past few years, there has been in Schaumburg a development of restaurants ambitiously upscale but with modest achievements: Sal & Calvao, ZED 451, Davis' Fishmarket and Pete Miller's. While they oversold their respective brands, they fell short in the execution process. Weber Grill on Meacham Road is now making a similar mistake.

On Friday, I decided to try this restaurant for the first time. As I arrived at about 03:40 PM, there was no host at the entrance but two cooks, one of the seated at the counter, who were busy talking. It is only when I approached them and asked them if they were closed that, one of them went to get a hostess. She came chewing her lunch. But no-one greeted me.

The server, David, came and started reciting the specials as if he was on fire. And so I ordered an Iced Tea ($2.50), a side Caesar Salad ($6.50) and a BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich with Mashed Potatoes ($10.95). The side salad was not your typical 4oz romaine lettuce in that it was twice larger than custom. The beef brisket was great in a uniquely sweet BBQ sauce, after removing the fried onions on top. I pushed them to the side because they were chewy and cold and, took away from the brisket. The garlic mashed potatoes were disappointing because of a blend taste and a glossy appearance. The portion size was, just as with the salad, over sized where 4 ounces would have been plenty.

And of course I mentioned some of this to the server but the manager, who was in the dining room, was never contacted nor did he ever come. Yet I was the only guest in the dining room. Finally for dessert, I ordered one scoop of ice cream to offset the overwhelming taste of the BBQ sauce; just one scoop. And I heard the server talking to the cook about it, but the cook refused to scoop only one scoop. I got two scoops instead which ended up being wasted because I was not hungry for them.

In all, beverage included, I estimate the whole meal to have weighted about 50 oz, or a little over 3 pounds. Who eats 3 Lbs of food for lunch? While the over portioning is designed to inflate the guest check average, the wasted food is upsetting in difficult economic times. For a comparable lunch, the following competitors would have been a better option:

1. Outback Steakhouse: offers 6 sandwiches priced from $8.49 to $9.79, with an average

at $8.94;

2. Rosebud: offers 3 sandwiches from $8.95 to $9.95, with an average at $9.62;

3. TGI Friday's: has 13 sandwiches on the menu between $7.19 and $11.39, with an

average at $8.28;

4. Applebee's: features 17 sandwiches from $6.99 to $9.99 averaging $8.08;

5. and Houlihan's: has 13 sandwiches from $7.95 and $8.50 with an average at $8.30.

With 11 sandwiches at an average price at $11.19, Weber Grill offers fewer options than most restaurants in the area at the highest price, after Ted Montana, even though they did not raise their prices in the last year.

While visiting the three most popular restaurant reviews websites, Metromix, Yahoo and Yelp, I found out that since 2006:

- 5 people rated this restaurant a 1;
- 5 people rated this restaurant a 2;
- 8 people rated this restaurant a 3;
- 9 people rated this restaurant a 4;
- and 10 people rated this restaurant a 5 out of a maximum 5.

Although most people rated a 5, 70% of them were in 2006 and 2007, and only one rating for 2009. On the other hand, 80% of those who voted a 1 were in the last 2 years. The average grade from all three websites is a 3 out of 5, a good mark but not in measure with their higher pricing ambition.

In all, the service and food taste are in dissonance with a certain decorative elegance. Furthermore, the menu only offers one type of cooking technique with unsophisticated accompaniments and sauces. I have had similar BBQ Beef Brisket sandwiches at Fox and Hound or at Pa and Ma restaurants in Tennessee for $6.

Restaurant operators, in general, need to understand that although they can attract some customers to walk in once with brand image or with novelties, if they don't put in value and efforts, guests won't come back. At this visit, I spent $28.14 (all included) but it was definitely not worth $18.

Weber Grill has already closed down its first two restaurants: the Palatine location opened in 1983 and, the Wheeling location opened in 1988. And do you remember those four restaurants I mentioned in my introduction? They are all closed down. If this Schaumburg location doesn't want to share the same fate, management would need to work on service (this is a service industry after all), plate presentation and pricing strategy. Overall, this restaurant at this time deserved a 2 1/2 out of a 5 because it was clean, the noise kept to a minimum and I had a great BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich.


The location is at 1010 N. Meacham Road, Schaumburg, IL 60173. (847) 413-0800. Their main offices are at 200 East Daniels Road in Palatine, IL 60067. (224) 836-2731 (fax).


Sources:

http://chicago.metromix.com/restaurants/contemporary/weber-grill-restaurant-schaumburg/reader-review/146351/view#d6d2f0facef1f96fddae87b557d92372
http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=35148150&csz=Schaumburg%2C+IL&sortreviews=1&from=10#reviews
http://www.yelp.com/biz/weber-grill-restaurant-schaumburg
http://www.webergrillrestaurant.com/
http://www.herzog-camping.de/Transfer/ebay/bilder/logo_weber_4ct.jpg

TGI Friday's on Tuesdays.

On Tuesday, I decided to visit TGI Friday's on Golf Road. And I was pleasantly surprised because I was in and out in less than 30 seconds (minutes really) while enjoying a complete delicious dinner. Servers carry this PDA like device in which they enter orders, and guests can make payments at a lightning speed.

My first course was a side salad ($2.69) that could qualify as an entree by itself. A large bed of fresh iceberg lettuce topped with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, diced tomatoes, croutons, red onions, and a novel way to put the dressing in between. Most places would put your dressing on top or on the side. This side salad came with a garlic bread which I enjoyed very much because most corporate restaurants don't serve you bread with the salad, not even a cracker with the soup.

My second course was a flat iron Steak ($11.29) with extra grilled key west shrimp ($3.99). The 8 oz cut was an unbelievably tender and juicy sirloin smothered in a buttery burgundy wine sauce. I would expected something like that at a premium steakhouse, but at a corporate chain for less than $25 that was an exceptional value. This steak came with lightly crispy onion rings served on a separate boat dish. That was a great touch because they didn't get soggy by the time I got to them. As an extra, I ordered a fire grilled shrimp skewer. I could taste the flame.

The food quality and the service were impeccable and flawless. My server Michael and his teammates were on top of it. And the hostess, at the beginning, was this happy teenage girl who seemed to have fun at her job.

This said, the only aspect I did not like was the level of noise even though it is expected at a Friday's, Barnelli's or Fox and Hound on a weekend night. Had I been with a company, this would have seriously irritated me. I thought that at 5PM on a Tuesday, it was a bit much.

The menu is definitely focused. It features 16 appetizers prized from $6.19 to $13.99 with an average at $8.22. Unique items are the Parmesan Crusted Sicilian Quesadilla ($8.69), BBQ Pork Ravioli Bites ($6.59) and the Jalapeno Poppers ($6.39).

The dinner menu includes 29 single-protein dinners and 9 double-protein dinners. In the first category, you'll find 8 chicken dinners ($8.19 - $11.99), 8 beef dinners ($9.99 - $16.49) and 7 fish dinners ($8.69 - $11.99). The second category includes 3 chicken-seafood dinners ($12.49 - $14.29) and 1 chicken-pork dinner at $5.99. But if it's ribs that you want for dinner, I would recommend you Ruby Tuesday's instead.

Some of the unique items are the Prime Rib Stroganoff ($9.99), the Dragonfire Chicken ($8.19) and the Baby Back Ribs ($15.99) in addition to the Jack Daniel's brand dishes.

Since their menu strength is the concentration of selection and of prices - nothing off the road - their weakness includes: no vegetarian dinner and only steamed broccoli as a healthy side dish. Dinners are extremely high on animal protein which makes them unbalanced. The menu does feature a three item "Better for you" section but two of them are categorized as "low carb" without reference of what that actually means. A truer health conscious section ought to include lower portion items, vegetable protein items and more balanced meals. That steak with the burgundy sauce was my entire day's protein and fat allowance.

Overall, this experience at Friday's was great. But if you visit Yelp.com, this location only scored an average of 3.0/5.0, a good grade.

Location: 1695 E. Golf Road. Schaumburg, IL 60173. 847-397-2433

A few links about TGI Friday's:

http://www.tgifridays.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGI_Fridays

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20090401/bs_prweb/prweb2290354_1

Spring up your menu.

Spring is upon us, so this is a good opportunity for restaurant operators to revamp their menu without necessarily affecting their concept.

Some of the spring fruit and vegetables are:

Asparagus: used particularly in Northern Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese cuisines. You can also use it as a substitute for broccoli such as in stir frys. My suggestion would be a side dish of Tempura battered Asparagus served with a shrimp dinner.

Bell Pepper: used in all Mediterranean cuisine and Chinese as well. My favorite is the stuffed bell peppers Tunisian style. Either you can stuff them with ground beef, onion, garlic, parsley, oregano, black pepper, eggs and EVOO and into the oven or, in a cold version with a tuna salad mixture.

Lemongrass: essentially used in Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. With some cilantro, lemongrass can be used in preparing chicken and beef satay peanut marinades.

Apricot: Because it has quite a fragrant aroma and such a naturally sweet taste, I see multiple applications for this Mediterranean fruit. My favorite iced tea recipe calls for the flesh of an apricot in water. Raise the temperature and let it sweat for half an hour. Then use that water to brew your favorite tea leaves or bags for one minute only at a maximum of 150 degrees. Finally, put your brew with the tea bags in your freezer for half an hour. When perfectly cold, add some rose water and voila.

Cantaloupe: Beside the multiple dessert applications, I suggest to use melons instead of tomatoes in a salsa (Mexican cuisine), but add some rice vinegar to balance excessive sweetness. Or use it as substitute for mango in the classic Indian Mango Lassi drink.

Spring also sees the growth of herbs like oregano, sage, basil and rosemary. You can incorporate them into your salads. For instance take a classic caesar salad, add some freshly chopped basil with the romaine, substitute toasted chopped almonds for the croutons. So here you have a revamped side dish without efforts. Then make it an entree with grilled oregano chicken or grilled dill salmon served with a small cup of a light soup or a consomme.



For more information, here are links to some sources:


http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/healthy/nutritiousdishes/springvegetables

http://www.naturalhub.com/vegetable_gardening_in_spring.htm

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/spring-vegetables/

http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--3898/spring-vegetable-medley.asp

http://www.honeybell.com/retail/category/spring_fruits_2.aspx

http://www.uabhealth.org/16174/











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