[00:00:00] Speaker A: In a post Covid world, hygiene is more important than it was five or 10 years ago. And you know what also is more important now in a post Covid world? Operational efficiency. Because it's been harder to find people, it's more expensive to keep those people. So we need them to be more efficient at what they do. We're gonna talk to Dottie Haynes today from Torc usa. Gonna talk about all the products they have.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Really.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: This is not a conversation about torque. It's a conversation about. About the operational effectiveness and efficiency that is required now to succeed in the year 2025 and beyond. I had a great conversation with Dottie. She's a lifer in this industry.
She knows a whole lot drawing from her own experience here to help us get better at what we do. All of that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy. There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown.
Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close and this is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast dedicated to helping you build a more profitable restaurant. Each week I leverage my 25 years in the industry to help you build that more profitable and sustainable business. I work with owners and operators all over the country through my Mastermind program. It's called the P3 mastermind. And I also wrote a book, it's called the Restaurant Marketing Mindset. You can get that book for free. You just pay shipping. It's $3.92 for me to ship it to you anywhere in the United States. You get that by going to our Instagram page. Right? So our account is estaurantstrategy. Just send us a DM with the word book. B O O K. We've got an automation set up that will automatically respond and send you the link to get your book. My book? The Restaurant Marketing Mindset. For free. It also comes with free 30 day access to our foundations program. So this is an online course resource bundle. You get a monthly masterclass and so much more. You get that free for 30 days and then it turns into a $97 recurring payment. Uh, we've got hundreds of people already.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: That program.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: It's an incredible opportunity. A real, a real set of resources for people that are growing their business. It's free for the first 30 days. It ends up being a nice compliment to the book. After that, it's $97. You are free to cancel? Absolutely. Whenever you want. You get to that end of the, you get to the end of that free month and you want to be done with it, fine, just let us know and cancel. Go do that. Get a free copy of the book. You'll get free access to the Restaurant Foundation's program. You do that by visiting our Instagram page, estaurantstrategy, and we will send you the link.
Now, Torque understands that expectations for food service, sustainability and guest experience are higher now than ever before. That's why Torque provides products and services that help restaurants meet those demands. With more than 50 years of global food service expertise, Torc can help you keep up with hygiene standards and food safety guidelines in all areas of your business. Front of house, back house restrooms and drive. From expressnap, the world's favorite napkin dispenser, to multipurpose cleaning towels that clean smarter and high capacity restroom dispensers that reduce runouts, Torque offers better hygiene for better guest and staff experiences. You can check them out and get more
[email protected] restaurant that's T O R K USA.com restaurant and yes, you're going to find that link in the show notes.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: So my guest on today's show is Dottie Haynes. She is the marketing director of for Horeca, which is hospitality, restaurants and catering. If you're not in the know for a company called Essidy, you may not know Essidy, but you do know one of the brands she helps over and see and manage its Torque. Torque products are everywhere, not just in restaurants, but on the consumer side. You might have them in your home, you might have them in your restaurant. They've been a supporter of this show for a long time because I think what they do is really exceptional. We're here to get daddy's perspective because she gets to peek behind the curtain of so many different restaurants and she thinks more deeply about this than I think most of us. So I want to, I want to get, I want to get her take Dottie. Welcome to the show.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me, Chip. I appreciate it. Glad to be here.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I'm glad to have you. So I really meant what I said, is that you think, I'm sure, more deeply about a lot of this stuff than we do. And you know, my audience here is a bunch of independent restaurant owners and operators. Famously, they have to wear a lot of hats. They are, yes, the chef, yes, they are general manager, but they are also the, the super. They are the maintenance. They are hr. They are Marketing.
And when it all comes down to sort of the, the, the stuff below, that sort of falls by the wayside.
And I think we both know it shouldn't. And I think probably a lot of the listeners here know it shouldn't. You get to the best part about my guests is they, they get to peek behind a lot of curtains. And a lot of the listeners here, a lot of independent restaurant owners are siloed, right? They feel like they don't have a broad network. They can't just like go next door, knock on the door, ask people questions because they're, they feel there's competition and all of that. So the unique value that I think you bring and so many guests bring here to the show is you get to peek behind the curtain of a lot of different restaurants. So when it comes to this area, when it comes to what you do and what you've seen right now, what do you think is the biggest opportunity for restaurant owners to make a profound impact in the efficiency and the operation of their restaurants? Again, when it comes to what torque does and what you do?
[00:06:06] Speaker C: Oh, that's such a great question. And it's such a big question because there are so many opportunities in the industry right now for restaurants to make an impact in the market and with their guests.
I would say just from what I've seen, having talked to so many operators and having been in the industry for some time now, is that there is a lot of opportunity within hygiene and hygiene management within a restaurant operation to not only improve staff satisfaction, but also improve the guest experience. And a lot of operators that we've spoken to in the, you know, over the course of time are investing in other areas of the full house. There are, there's a lot of challenges in the market, right? So any potential investment typically happens in more of those front of house or kitchen impacting roles, right? But when you think about areas like the restroom and the indications that the cleanliness of the restroom has an impact on guest experience such that if they perceive that the restroom is dirty, they're also going to think that the kitchen is dirty and the overall restaurant operation is not a hygienic experience, and that will actually negatively impact their willingness to return to the restaurant, right? So that is something that directly impacts the bottom line of your restaurant and your potential long term viability and profitability as a business.
So, you know, I've talked to so many operators that have said that, you know, a nice restroom is a nice to have.
It's so much more important than that. You know, you think about hygiene in the kitchen. The restroom is a direct reflection in the customer's mind or in the guest's mind of the kitchen. So you want to make sure that your restroom reflects what your kitchen looks like, or you're going to run the risk that you're going to start driving people away.
We also have research that shows that guests will not go to a restaurant that has negative reviews online of the restroom, so they will actively avoid those locations. So. So it's so important to make sure that your entire full house is reflective of what's happening back of house, because that is going to ultimately impact whether or not your guests will return.
So when you say the biggest impact, I think that it's an underrated. It's an underrated area of the full house. We know there's food safety protocols that have to be adhered to, and of course, many restaurants focus on that, but it goes beyond the kitchen, and that's one of the things that it's so important to focus on if you really want to take advantage of those opportunities.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it's really interesting. And I always think about this, like, I think of, like, the menu is such an opportunity, for example, and I'm going to use this to extrapolate out. But everybody comes into the restaurant at a different time of night. They sit in a different part of the room, maybe in different rooms within the restaurant. Some people are there just having a quick meal before they go to the movie. Some people are going, you know, grabbing food after a long day of work. Some people are there to celebrate. Some people in a nice restaurant, they're not all there to celebrate their birthday. Again, everybody. There's. There's closing dinners, there's anniversaries, there's birthdays. There's first dates, there's fifth dates. There's. There's all different reasons why somebody might go to a nice restaurant or a casual restaurant. There are different reasons why somebody. Right, I need a quick bite on my way back from home before I relieve the babysitter or I need to quick bite after dance or soccer, you know, and I got a full, you know, carload of kids and all that. Like, everybody's there for different reasons. And again, they sit in different parts of the room or in different rooms within the restaurant. But the one thing they all get is the menu, right? That the menu is the thing that they all come in contact with the other thing. And it's always struck me as, this is the bathroom. Everyone's going to use the restroom at Least once over the course of their meal. And just like the menu just like it's going to impact. I'll give a perfect example. Yesterday. So before we hit record, we're recording this right after the Thanksgiving holiday we sort of skipped all the turkey dinner and we ended up going upstate. Me, my wife and, and our son went upstate to go skiing. It was just like re rented a little cabin in the middle of the woods and we went to this restaurant on our way out of town and it was like the best breakfast in the Adirondacks. Okay, great, fine. We went in there and you walked in and it was like toast and bacon. And they roast their own coffee right there in the middle of the restaurant. So it was like roasted coffee, toast, bacon. All you could smell was great. And you had to wait in lot. There's like a, there's a crowd for a table. And it just like, it was like. It was perfect, right? It was, the food was actually really great. It was, it was perfect. And one by one we all went to use the bathroom as we left and the bathroom was horrible. Number one, there was no lock on the door. So that, that, you know, sort of like made for not a great. But like the bathroom was. And the bathroom was our last impression of the place because we came in, we smelled it, we had a great meal, we paid, we all use the bathroom before we hit the road for a five hour trip back down, back down to where we live just outside of New York City. That was our last impression. And we all talked about it. We all met. My son even mentioned he's nine and he said that was so gross. Now I get it, they're busy, they didn't really have time to. But like it sort of speaks to what you guys do. So back up here for just a second and talk a little bit about like Torq. Right? So Torque is this massive company that does so much talk about the intersection and how restaurants would probably best know it or how they might know it and should know it.
[00:11:37] Speaker C: Oh sure. So we are a leading professional hygiene brand. We supply products that range from high quality napkins to hand towel dispensers. We also offer sanitizer and soap and surface cleaning wipers. And just knowing that hygiene plays such an important role to business success, we really focus on helping our restaurant customers deliver great guest experiences by creating these products to help them manage a clean, efficient, sustainable and of course food safe operation. So that's how they should know us. We are in all of that professional hygiene space. We are one of the top brands in the world for this type of. These types of products. Excuse me.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about your background. Talk to me about how you came to torque and, and what you've learned in your time since. Since working so closely with sort of the brand and with the different restaurants that. That you sort of partner with.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: Sure. So I've spent the better part of my career in some level of food service, whether it be working for restaurants or pubs or caterers. Even worked in food service manufacturing for a bit. But during this time, I also worked in both B2C and B2B, experiential and brand marketing. So a little bit of the best of both worlds, in my opinion. So now I get to kind of combine all of those competencies and really focus on helping, you know, restaurant businesses be more successful and also be able to focus on the health and well being of those in the industry. So pretty excited to feel pretty blessed to be in this space.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. I think something that I find myself talking about this a lot this year, it was like, sort of, you know, like effectiveness and efficiency. Right. Like, are we doing the thing that needs to get done and are we doing it as effectively, efficiently as possible? Because in this example. Right. Cleanliness. Cleanliness. Cleanliness of the bathrooms is important and we also don't have time to worry about it too much. So when we go in and clean up the bathroom, it's got to happen quickly so we can get back to all the other things we need to do. Manning the register, bringing food, cleaning table, resetting table. Because we got a crowd of. Crowd of people up the, up at the front door. Is that, I mean, so much of what you guys do has efficiency in mind. Like that again, we think of like the, I think of the napkin dispensers. They're so, they're so closely aligned to the brand and what you guys do. Like, they're easy for a guest to take, they're easy to reload for the staff member. So I can send a host who's worked with me for maybe, you know, who's worked at the restaurant for 14 minutes and I don't have to like, specifically train her on what to do. It's just here's where the, you know, here's where the refills are. There's like, just go get it done. Like, right. She can, she could do it really easily that way. Does that make sense?
[00:14:28] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. And you know, in this business, I mean, you've worked in the restaurant space for a long Time as well, the seconds count. So it goes back to how quickly can we get these things done? How can we make it easier? Because any. Any way you can streamline this and save staff time, they can then take that time and focus on your guests. Right. So that's really what we are focusing on is how can we create a more efficient. How can we create more efficiency for operators? How can we streamline these tasks? How can we offer them resources to do more with less? Because we know labor is such a huge issue too, right?
[00:15:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:05] Speaker C: You know, so it's. How do we take these just incremental improvements so that we can make the operator and the staff's life just a little bit easier, so then they can take that and focus on guests and make that, you know, create that great guest experience.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: So you just tripped on something really, really important. And I don't want to. And I don't want to go away from that. I want to drill down a little bit deeper if we can. You.
You brought up this idea of having to do more with less. And I think since the pandemic, right. Over the course of the pandemic, restaurants really learned how to do more with less. And I think now out of necessity, we have to maintain that. We have to be able to work more efficiently. So how has that specifically impacted what you guys, as a company, the products that you've put out or the way that you put them out? How is the new needs of operators informed what you guys are putting out and how and how you're talking about it? Does that make sense? Sure.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's shifted our focus a bit. Right. So rather than focusing on kind of a single.
A single improvement or a single need, now we're focused on, okay, how can we take these multiple needs or how can we take these multiple tasks and innovate in order to achieve it with the same or better level of efficacy, but with less time, with less effort, with more convenience, with consideration to what the staff is going through day in and day out? So it's really put the staff and how they impact the guest experience at the forefront of our innovation so that that type of thinking goes into everything that we. That we are creating. Thus, you know, go forward in that what we're testing because we want to make sure that we are delivering what staff need in order to free up time and also build a more efficient operation for the restaurant.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Thousands of restaurants across the country use Kickfin to send instant cashless tip payouts directly to their employees bank accounts the second their shift Ends. It's a really simple solution to what's become a really big problem. Because let's face it, paying out cash tips to your workers day after day, shift after shift, is kind of a nightmare. Tedious tip distribution takes managers away from work that matters. It's hard to track payments, which leads to accounting and compliance headaches. Plus, cash tip outs create the perfect opportunity for theft. And there's never enough cash on hand to pay out the tips. So managers are constantly making bank runs. Bottom line, there's never been a secure, efficient way to tip out. Until now. Meet Kickfin. Kickfin is an easy to use software that sends real time cashless tip payouts straight to your Employees bank accounts 24-7365. Tipping out with Kickfin gives managers and operators hours back in their day. It makes reporting a breeze and protects your business from mistakes and theft. And guess what? Employees love it. So it becomes a really powerful recruiting tool. Best of all, restaurants can have Kickfin up and running overnight. Employees can enroll in seconds. No hardware, no contracts, no setup fees. Get in touch today for a personalized demo and see how restaurants and bars across the country are tipping out with Kickfin. Visit kickfin.com demo and that link will also be in the show notes.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Can you give me an example?
I'm wondering if something comes to mind immediately of like how, like how this new world over the last three, four years has specifically informed or influenced a product you guys have brought to market or something you've continued to like iterate on.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: I would say that the new world again with that focus on doing, you know, doing more with less. You know, we've looked at some of our products and said okay, what can we do to give this more power?
So you know, recently we launched a 2 in 1, 2 in 1 scouring and cleaning cloth. It's a food service wiper that is scrubby on one side. That's a technical term, right? Scrubby on one side and smooth on the other. So it basically takes the benefits of two separate cleaning materials into one and enables your staff to clean multiple surfaces, multiple areas without having to change out the wiper. Now it is also reusable so you can reuse it depending on the, you know, the type of task that you're using it for. You can rinse and reuse or wash and reuse and then it's disposable. So it's a much more efficient product. But it's also a bit more sustainable because it can be reused. It's not just a one time use.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's sturdy. Those things are sturdy. And we, you know, back in the kitchen, we get really good at using, you know, one rag for the entire shift or one rag for the entire day. And the stuff we use to wipe up a spill, you know, a saw spill and stuff like that isn't necessarily the thing that we should do to really scrub down our, our station, for example, for a cook station in between turns, right in, in between big hits. And that's, that's what happens, right. Like, we get a big push, we put out all the food and then we sort of reset, right? We, we reset our mees. We, you know, we wipe down whatever we need. But sometimes it's just, it's getting it back to, like, back to looking really good the way it was at, you know, 4:30 when you, when you finish prepping your station.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: Yeah. You know, in my earlier years I worked at an ice cream shop and you know, the food service towel I offered carried in my apron, which I probably shouldn't talk about because that thing was probably disgusting.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: I know.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: You know, you would try to clean the table, but then you'd have fudge that was basically welded to the table. And I think to myself, you know, you're using a lot of elbow grease to get that off. You know, how much easier would it have been if I'd had something that had some type of scouring component? That way I'm not, you know, not only ruining the top of the table, but also spending a lot of time that shouldn't have been spent cleaning tables.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: I totally agree. Again, I, you know, having spent so long in restaurants, and I spent a majority of my career in fine dining. So cleanliness is, cleanliness is paramount. And in fine dining, you get people who have worked in this industry for 20, 30, 40 years, and then you get people who've worked in it for 20, 30, 40 minutes. I mean, truly. And for the part of my career, about 10 years I spent at the front doors of maitre d in New York City opening and running Michelin starred restaurants. And so I was usually in charge of sort of the reservationists, the hosts, and the Koch team. And again, all of them, they were young, they were college kids, they were green, they were sort of overwhelmed because many of them had never, you know, worked in a restaurant or dined in a restaurant of this level. And we sort of had to teach them what they needed to do. And there's a lot to do. We can't have six people at the front door. It's like me and two others. And they're always doing stuff because we have to do bathroom checks every 20 minutes. So that's the men's bathroom, the women's bathroom, and sort of like the accessible, you know, we're all family, you know, restroom. We have to, you know, be wiping down the bar at all times. Yes, the bartenders are responsible for it, but they're responsible for wiping down the bar stools, the chairs that, you know, there's anything dirty under the chairs, they are responsible for doing. I mean, there's, there's a lot they were responsible for on a minute to minute basis over the course of the night.
So making sure to have stuff that, that looks good, customer facing. You talked about that rag. Using that yet? Rag for hours, hours at a time. It's just. Yeah, I mean, not a, not a great thing.
So I know the importance of this and being able to give them the tools that they're going to know how to use so I don't have to babysit them further. Because there's more than enough babysitting requests required for a team, for members of the team that are. That are that green. Does that make sense?
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. So. And yeah, any, anything we can do to make it easier. And that's really what we're focusing on. More efficiency in the operation with time and ultimately helping the staff be more satisfied working in the restaurant and in turn, ultimately delivering that great guest experience is really, you know, what we focus on and what we strive for every day.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: You know, it's really funny is that my, my mom, we went to go visit my parents a couple weeks ago. They live outside of Philadelphia. And so we went, me and my son went because my wife was out of town. So my son and I went, we spent the weekend with them. And they've got Torque handheld dispenser in their powder room on the first floor. And I went, I said, oh, this is really funny. Hey, I'm, you know, we're had a lot of conversations with Torque over the last several months. Well, over the course of our stay that weekend it ran out and my mom was gonna go replace it. And I said, and my son, my son's at that age where he just like likes helping out and stuff like that. He's like, I'll do it. So she showed him how to do it and he's like, let me know if it needs to be done again. She's like, no, it's good for a while. Like we're. It's good for a while. But like he the idea again that like even a nine year old could do it and he found particular joy in being able, in being able to do it. But like, it sort of like speaks to the point. It started the conversation over the course of dinner one night. I said, oh, so you have no idea what a big deal that is in a, in a restaurant space because I basically have a staff of nine year olds. Right. Like, and I don't mean that in disparaging, it's just that there's so much they have to learn when they're new and there's things where I just like, I don't like here, just do it. Like it's intuitive, like just, just go get it done, you know, so that they're not coming in and going, hey, I just wanted to check the bathroom and we're out of blah, blah, blah. It's like, you know what has to get done. There's so many things that they will come back to me and say, hey, what do I do in this instance? I say, you're right, we haven't talked about this. I, we have to do xyz, but some of that other stuff I just need, I just need handled. I need you to come in and know what you're supposed to do and how to do it.
[00:24:51] Speaker C: Absolutely. And you know, if you think about it too, we, we talked about the importance of the restroom on guest perception. Right. The easier you can make that to maintain, the better it's going to likely be. Because as you just said, you've got a lot of, you've got a fairly transient workforce, you've got a fairly young workforce, you've got to have to come in and just do it. And oftentimes this is such a fast paced environment that you just, you need to find those seconds to just send them into the restroom and clean it up and get it done. You know, again, the more efficient that is, the more likely it is to get done. The more convenient, the more intuitive, the better. And you know, actually we do have some research that shows that, you know, 77% of staff actually are happier if they can manage this more efficiently, if their cleaning tools are easy to use, if they're accessible, if they're convenient. That all goes into their overall job satisfaction. And again, labor being so important, you want to retain them, therefore you want to make them happy.
[00:25:52] Speaker B: Well, and so, okay, I think it's a great, it's a great point. I'm glad you took us here. So let's drill down a little bit deeper into that because will use this as an opportunity to move from front of house to back a house because obviously we know, you know, guest facing areas are important and you know, using our front of house staff as efficiently as possible, there's so much they have to do. But let's talk about back of house because it's never been harder than it's been over the last three years to find and retain back a house staff. And retention is high. You know, where the need for retention is high at a time when it's never been lower.
And because labor is getting more and more and more expensive, we are again having to do more with less. And talk to me about it because you guys have done a lot of research and I want to drill down here. You talked about this like satisfaction score. 77% of people say that factors into their sort of their happiness on the job. But to talk to me, talk to me like we take that to its natural conclusion.
We think, hey, people just care about what they get paid or, you know, or how they're treated. But it goes beyond that. Is that fair to say?
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Yeah, it does go beyond that.
It is fair to say that what it comes down to is that it's really important for restaurants to take a very comprehensive approach to each area of the full house, not just the kitchen, but of course the front of house and restroom areas. There should be a specified set of practices and of course solutions provided to eliminate any workflow gaps, any, anything that can be done to increase efficiency. And again consider with consideration to staff satisfaction because they are, they're there day in and day out and they've got to get through all of these tasks and deliver with the guest and manage the hundred other things that are on their list. And the easier we can make that, the more, the happier they are and chances are the longer you will retain them. So again, it's pretty simple practices. Just making sure that dispensers are easy to access, easy to refill, that they're, that they do stay stocked, that the inventory is available and that they perform like they should because it always helps when something works.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: I always use this example, I always use the car wash example, right? Like think back to, think back to your own experience. You know, as many times as you've gone to a car wash, right? And we're going through the car wash, we pay for the car wash and we got to tip the guys because they're, you know, they're giving some real love to the outside of the car. I don't know about you, but I've never Like snuck a five dollar bill or a ten dollar bill into the can. I've never been sneaky about it. I always get really obvious and I say, thanks guys and I hold up the 10 and I sort of flap it like a flag. And I make sure that they know, like, I appreciate you and I'm making sure. Right? Like it's not enough to do a nice thing. I guess that's my point. Perception is reality and you have to make sure that they know. I think this, I think this becomes an opportunity if we're going to run a profitable, sustainable, efficient, you know, operation that I think making sure your team knows. I didn't just get anything. I thought deeply about this restaurant and your experience and your ability to do what I need you to do in this restaurant. Like, I didn't pick this product or I didn't buy this willy nilly. I thought, I thought about it and I thought about your job and how it was going to make your job easier, that I think there's an opportunity here aside from choosing products that will help you accomplish this thing. But make sure people know, this is what I need you to do. This is how you have to do it. This is why it matters. And beyond that, and this is why I chose it. Because I know I need you back at the podium or I need you back on the line. So when we get through a push, I need you to wipe this down, dump your pans, get your new stuff reset, because we're going to do it again. And I know that the faster you can do that, the better chance you have of going and getting a drink of water and sitting down for five minutes in between the first and second seating. And that's why those five or 10 minutes matter. If you can do this, get this done quickly, I know it affects your job.
I think there's an opportunity to make sure that people know that you did stuff purposely, deliberately, with them in mind. Does that make sense?
[00:30:16] Speaker C: Yes, it does. And it goes even beyond that. So think about how often a staff member has to wash their hands. So, so often you see restaurants buy just the basic soaps that are pretty abrasive, pretty harsh. Just gets the job done, right? But when you've got somebody with, well, somebody with sensitive skin or eczema, atopic dermatitis, those soaps can be really harsh and hard on your hands. So purchasing something that's gentler or dermatologically tested, that actually shows, yes, I care about your experience here, not just for staff, but also guests.
It shows that you took that extra care that you actually care about the well being of your employees. And it also encourages them to practice good hand hygiene. So it's those little incremental changes that can make a huge difference.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: I love that. Well, it's so funny because again, coming from the world of fine dining, we think so deeply about the, how the guest is going to interact with the restroom. Right. So we do think about the scent we put in there. We do think about the kind of hand towels we have in there. We do think about the kind of soap that gets loaded, the lotion we're going to put in there, whatever it is. And you bring up a really good point that like the guests, the guests understand, they go in there and they say, wow, man, this is, this is really nice in here. Right. Hopefully they have that experience.
But being able to have that same sort of exchange with your staff member. Then we go, you know, my life a bartender for 10 years, you know, the number of times she's washing her hands throughout the, the shift and it would, and she, and it would get really, really dry. Like she couldn't put enough lotion on her, on her hands overnight. It's, it's a really big deal. I'm so glad you brought that up.
[00:31:58] Speaker C: Well, as someone who does it has, has had experience with eczema, I can certainly appreciate it. I can. I've also experienced the cracked hands. But it's, it always took it as a necessary evil working in the space. But it doesn't have to be like that.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's funny, there was so Nick Kokonis who used to be partners with Grant Atkats out at the Alinea Restaurant Group. And he since sold his share of the company. He's backed out of it. He's the founder of Talk, the reservation system. So he's done a lot for our industry over the last 10 or 15 years. But interestingly, he came from like the finance side of things. So when he came in, I heard a really, he gave a really great interview once and he said, you know, I was the guy who just kept saying why, right? People say, oh, we're going to do blah, blah, blah. Why? Why do we have to do it that way? And he said, what's interesting is that 85% of the time we did it a certain way because it really was battle tested and it was the best, most efficient, most cost effective way to do things. He's like, but that 15% made all the difference because he would say why? And people would sit and look at each Other and say, you know, I don't know. I think it's just because we've always done it that way. He said, okay, so what are all our alternatives? And what you're talking about is that there are alternatives that if we just say, like, well, why do we do this? Why do we have it like that? Why or why can't it be. Why can't it be better?
I think why is a really powerful question. And especially in our industry where it's like, we learned it from somebody. Learned it from somebody, learned it from somebody. And 30 years ago, we didn't have, we know better. We didn't have as good products. We just had one supplier. Like, you went here for paper, you went here for, you know, dry goods, you went here. But now we, now we have choices and we have an opportunity to, to be deliberate with, with what we do, how we do things. And, and again, this last piece, which is, I think we've tripped upon here, which is, you know, being able to explain, you know, and this is why we, this is why we did this. We didn't, you know, we didn't just have our, you know, have our, have our rep send us stuff. Like we went and sourced this stuff and we went and looked and tried different things out. And same way we do with plates, which we see what a plate looks like in the dining room, we see how it feels to, you know, cut a steak with a certain kind of silverware. Like being able to source these, source these products, these items strikes me as, as a cool opportunity we get.
[00:34:25] Speaker C: Well, I think you also touched on something there. When we talk about the whys, there's a lot of assumptions in the industry just based on, you know, some historical references, maybe some past experiences. But things have evolved and they are changing in two areas. Actually, I want to talk about inclusive hygiene in the restroom for a moment, but I'm going to table that for just a second. Sustainability is an evolving topic in this industry. And the assumption that I've seen thus far is that any sustainable issue, any sustainable initiative, is just going to cost more. It's going to be, you know, a drain on the margin. And unless we have to, we can't do it, or unless our guests are absolutely demanding this, we can't do it. But interestingly enough, there are several sustainability initiatives or sustainable practices that could be instituted in a restaurant that will actually save you money down the long run, and not just an increased business, but in saved inventory, inventory costs. So those are some of the assumptions that we're looking at and saying, okay, how can we dig into this and help operators understand that if you're looking at this opportunity to not only grow your business among the sustainable base, you can also save some money in operational efficiency.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it. I love it. Dottie, I've loved this conversation. I want to be really respectful of your time. Last words of wisdom again. You got a whole bunch of independent restaurant owners and operators. That's primarily our audience here.
And I think this is, this is a crowd that has been underserved for too long. I started the show almost six years ago with the express purpose of trying to help this group of people run more profitable, more sustainable businesses. So you got a bunch of open ears. Any, any last words of advice for them?
[00:36:14] Speaker C: Don't discount the importance of the restroom to your overall business. The cleanliness, the inclusivity of your hand hygiene resources. It's so important to your guest experience, to your staff experience, and can really have a direct bottom line effect on the profitability and repeat business of your restaurant. So want to call that out and you know, I just wish everybody the best and great success. Thank you so much.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: Funny you said. No, listen, I've loved this conversation. You said this idea of repeat business. And I'll, I'll finish off the last word here. I've gone on record numerous times of saying customer retention beats out customer acquisition every single time, 100 out of 100 times.
If you've got a restaurant that's been open for, let's say, a year or more, I think you've got all the guests you actually probably ever need that.
Not saying we shouldn't put some effort into customer acquisition, but if we put the appropriate amount of time into customer retention in actually making sure people have a great experience, making sure people know that they're welcome back and invited back. And I think that's sort of like the underbelly to this whole conversation of like, let's make it so that, I mean, you know, talking about this restaurant we were just at yesterday and we had a great experience and it breaks my heart that this is the thing we talked about getting in the car to head home. This is the thing that they couldn't have possibly known that I was going to have this conversation, you know, 24 hours later.
But it matters. It makes, it makes a difference and it impacts the guest experience. And ultimately then what I care about is that it impacts the bottom line of the owners and operators that run these businesses. Dottie, I really appreciate your time. Where can people go to connect with you and to learn more about Torque, all of the Torque products that are out there.
[00:38:03] Speaker C: So you to learn about Torc and all of our fantastic and innovative sustainable hygiene products, you can go to torqueusa.com restaurant and to find me on LinkedIn. It's under Dottie D O T T I Haines H A Y N E S Perfect.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: We will include as always, all of those links in the show notes so you won't have to dig to dig very far. Dottie, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your day.
[00:38:28] Speaker C: Thank you so much. Chip. I appreciate your time. Have a great day.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: Once again, I appreciate you guys tuning in. Hope you got a lot out of this conversation. Hope you got a lot out of the Torque products. Undoubtedly you are using some of them or many of them in your operation. If you want to go learn more, obviously torqueusa.com I got Dottie's information in the show notes. If you want to go connect with her at LinkedIn. And as always, if you are struggling to generate consistent, predictable 20% returns that I want to have a conversation with you. You start that conversation by setting up a call. RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com schedule. You'll chat with me or someone from my team. We'll get to ask a lot of questions of you and your restaurant. Find out what's going on. You'll get to ask us a lot of questions so you can find out more about the coaching program we run. It's called the P3 mastermind. There are currently more than 165 people enrolled in the program. We put another 200 through the program. Bottom line is the work works. It's no pixie dust, nothing magic, no silver bullets. Just good, solid practices. Simple systems you can put into your into your operation to make you more money.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Again.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com schedule to start that conversation. Appreciate you guys being here. Thank you very much. I will see you next.
