It’s a common concept that I throw out now and again; a simple solution to many challenges that chefs face: cost of goods, intensive amounts of labor, inventory, waste and spoilage, and a cloudy identity for your restaurant. How do we escape the trap of costs that our out of control, consistency that is a flip of the coin, and guests who find it difficult to trust your product and service? The answer is: keep it simple! Now, this is not a concept void of challenges, but it is, none-the-less, a step towards success.

         Sure, every chef wants to knock customer socks off with variety and execution, with something for everyone, and with a menu that can rival the competition. The problem is that bigger is not necessarily better and variety only counts in your favor if you can deliver it consistently.

         Remember how intrigued you were to walk into a classic American diner with four pages of menu items offered throughout the day? Everything from eggs every way to lasagna, prime rib, “fresh” fish, steaks, chops, and a classic cog au vin available at 9 a.m. or 9 p.m. Did you ever wonder how they maintain their inventory, their product freshness, and the authenticity of such a plethora of choices? Success in restaurants is based on a few critical factors:

THE MAGICAL EIGHT

• Plan for total utilization of ingredients
• Plan a menu that is tuned into the market
• Control waste
• Be consistent
• Hit the right flavor profile
• Develop a well-trained staff who are on the same page
• Create value experiences
• “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.”

-Dr. Scholl

An over-simplification? Maybe, but if you adhere to these factors, your odds of success are far greater than your chance of failure. Sure, I know some would like to add location as critical, yet location without the other “magical eight” will never carry you over the finish line.

As a good friend of mine would say: “So, here’s the thing…”

[]       KEEP YOUR MENU SMALL and GREAT! Too many items will pull you away from a focus on excellence. Make your menu a taste of the very best from your repertoire. Food, with your signature, with heart and soul, items with history dipped in the essence of experience and garnished with flavors, aromas, and textures that stand above the crowd. No losers on your menu – only winners that guests would drive an hour to experience. You can do it!

How small is small? Maybe six entrees with room for a nightly feature or two. Maybe, a best of six item menus that rotate monthly. Just don’t try to impress people with anything and everything. Your goal should be to attract customers who TRUST that whatever you serve will be extraordinary.

[]       PLAN FOR AN ELIMINATION OF WASTE. As they say in the hog industry: “We use everything but the oink, and we’re working on that.” Bones for stock, scraps of meat for burgers and charcuterie, aged out fruit for jams and jellies, eggshells and coffee grounds for compost, vegetable peels for stock, etc. You get the picture. This is part of the menu planning process.

[]       TUNE YOUR MENU TO THE MARKET. Do your research. What is missing in the market? Is it a particular ethnic cuisine that the market craves, a different approach to quality, a flavor profile, or service experience? Sure, your preference comes into play, but designing a restaurant menu simply to please your desire to cook a certain type of food is not the best approach. Giving the customer what they want is a much safer bet than the Steve Jobs approach of: “the people don’t know what they want until I tell them what they want.”

[]       WORK FOR CONSISTENCY. Consistency equals trust and trust leads to return business. This is a Cardinal rule in the restaurant business.

[]       HIT THE RIGHT FLAVOR PROFILE. In terms of food – style brings customers in, presentation grabs their interest, aroma stimulates their hunger, and flavor rules the day. Service, however, brings them back time after time.

[]       A WELL-TRAINED STAFF. The most important contributor to business success is training. Training leads to competence and competence to confidence. It is that feeling of confidence that builds customer experiences, higher check averages, and excited return guests. Training is an ongoing process that extends beyond orientation and acclimation to your system. Training should include a steady process of building a base of knowledge that sets your staff apart from the pack. Learning about the source of food, the way that you care for preparation, the background of the restaurant and the area where it sits, wine pairing, beer pairing, coffee knowledge, reading customer body language, how to upsell, etc. Make it a protected line item in your budget.

[]       CREATE VALUE EXPERIENCES. Guests who believe their investment in a dining experience is worth it will look for opportunities to return and even more importantly, convince others to do the same. It’s not about price point; it’s about value creation. Everything counts in building value: Touch (textures), Smell, Sound (noise levels, background music selected, even the sounds of food – sizzle platters for steaks, clink of wine glasses, pop of a champagne cork, crunch of a crusty bread), Sight (ambience of dining room, lighting, presentation of food, dress code of service staff), Taste – of course, the ultimate contributor to vale.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

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