Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] There's one statement, one thing that we are all guilty of saying to all, pretty much all of the guests in our restaurant that is killing your business. What is it? It's this. Thanks so much. Have a great night. If you get rid of that one statement, that one thing that will change your business, I'm going to talk to you about what you replace it with. On today's episode of Restaurant Strategy.
[00:00:23] 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. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
[00:00:54] Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close. This is the Restaurant Strategy podcast. We put out two episodes every single week. We are quickly approaching 600 episodes. Can you believe it? We launched this thing in the spring of 2019. It's like a little engine that could get an incredible community out there. To all of you guys that make this show part of your week, thank you very much. I want to talk about the Restaurant Profitability Summit. There's a lot I do, there's a lot to talk about, but the Restaurant Profitability Summit is the big event I put on every single year. This year it happens October 18th, 19th and 20th in Minneapolis. This is two days in a room together, right? So VIP ticket holders get a welcome dinner with me on Sunday night, right? But then everybody gets education all day, Monday and Tuesday, a big party on Monday night, everybody. Doesn't matter if you do general admission or VIP tickets, you get invited to that party. Food, open bar, a great time to connect with me and my team. The Restaurant Profitability Summit is the only event like it in the world. I put this on because I go to a lot of conferences, trade shows, conventions, and I just wasn't having someone take me from A to Z, right? Really walking me through. The Restaurant Profitability Summit is interested in making you a more profitable restaurants. So specifically, day one deals with the expense side cogs and labor. How do we manage those two massive controllables? And day two is all about revenue. How do we manage revenue for an operations perspective, how do we do it from a marketing perspective? AI is going to factor prominently into the two days, I promise. And for the first time ever, we have a headliner. Chef Gavin Case and two time James Beard Award winner is going to join me on stage on Monday afternoon to talk all about growing his little empire in Minneapolis. The three restaurants. He's got the two James Beard Awards and specifically how he thinks about success, profitability and sustainability. Meaning building a sustainable restaurant that can grow and survive year after year after year. You get your tickets by clicking the link in the show notes. The restaurant Profitability summit happens once a year. It's our chance to converge all together, be in a room, all you and a whole bunch of other restaurant owners. Me, my team, chef Gavin Case. And again, that link is in the show notes.
[00:03:01] What's the food cost for your third best selling entree? You don't know. But with Margin Edge, you could know instantly. Margin Edge is a complete restaurant management software that we recommend to every single P3 member, anyone looking to improve their profitability. With Margin Edge, you just get to snap pictures of your invoices and you get real time data for every area of your business. You get to see plate costs in real time. You get a daily P and L. You know, I love that your inventory count sheets are automatically updated.
[00:03:30] What happens is that Margin Edge saves you a ton of time and it lets you make better informed decisions. I got a client, Gather brewing. They were P3 member for a better part of a year. They started using Margin Edge last year and within one month, I'm telling you, 30 days, their food costs went from 38 to 28%. Massive savings that those 10 points dropped straight to the bottom line. Trust me, there's a reason I recommend Margin Edge to so many my clients, so many listeners, so many P3 mastermind members. It's because it works. I know it works. If you've been listening for a while, you know, I talk about it. If you're interested in learning more or you want to see how Gather brewing went from 38 to 28%, they put together an incredible video. Video. Head over to margin edge.com/chip again, margin edge.com/chip. As always, you'll find that link in the show notes.
[00:04:20] Okay, so, you know, this is something I talk about a lot. The, the one line that I think is killing your restaurant is that thing. Thanks so much. Have a great night. See, what is when you pay the check, right? When a guest pays the check and say, you know, and you say, you know, is this all settled? And the guest says, yeah, it's all, it's all set. And what does the server say? Server says, oh, great, thanks so much. We'll have a great night. And then when the guest gets up from the table, you know, the busers say, thank you, thank you, have a great night. And then the host goes, thank you, have a great night. The manager Say, hey, thanks so much. Have a great night. Everybody says, thanks so much. Have a great night. And it loses all meaning. We're just being really polite.
[00:04:56] Congratulations. We're being really polite. You know, there's this thing in business. It says, don't be polite, Be direct.
[00:05:02] We don't have to prove that we're the politest. We have to prove that we're the most hospitable, the most caring, the most dynamic, the most energetic, that there's a reason to come here. But just, you know, it's like when you'd leave. Listen, I came from the theater world, right? And so you, you know, you come in, you say hi to everybody, big smiles, you put your music down, you go over with the accompanies, you stand in the center of the room, you wait to be acknowledged, and you sing your song. And they say, well, thanks so much, Chip. He said, oh, you so much. Thank you, thank you. And the ones that leave the room like that, thank you, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. Right? The ones that are really polite, they lose. Those are the ones that lose. When you sit in auditions and you watch actor after actor after actor after actor, one after another coming into the room, you start seeing the. The heavyweights. They don't come in thinking for the space.
[00:05:47] They come in and say, this is what I do. So I do really well. If there's place for it in your show, I'd love to be a part of it. And if not, I get it, I'll find something else.
[00:05:56] And so that's how we have to operate. We can both be hospitable and have a chip on our shoulder, you know, a small chip on our shoulder that obviously we've earned. When you say, thanks so much, have a great night. You're just being the politest person in the room and who cares?
[00:06:13] I dare you, as one of my mentors, dared me to ask the question you actually want to ask the question that actually helps you, the one that helps them. See, here's the deal. When you say, thanks so much, Have a great night. I worked with a mentor who said, why do you say that? I said, well, I just. That's how you say goodbye to people. He said, no, that's how you say goodbye to people. That's not how everyone does. It's certainly not what you have to do. And I was like, oh, crap. I never. Never thought about it that way. And he's like, when you say, have a great night, you're just wishing and hoping, but you actually can't impact the rest of their night. Every time they come in the restaurant and they're here for an hour to three hours, we can impact their evening. We can make sure they have a great night. As long as they're here, we can do our job and make sure they have a great time. As soon as they leave, there's nothing I can do.
[00:06:59] So to make sure their lives are better, we have to get them back in here because then I can, I can affect the change.
[00:07:07] One of the themes we come back to on this show certainly is that profitability is not just one big move, but rather it's a series of better decisions made consistently. And one of the biggest places those decisions show up is in labor. Right Work helps restaurants stop treating labor as a guessing game. Their platform helps operators forecast demand, build smarter labor models, schedule more efficiently, and you get to see where labor is helping or hurting profitability. For restaurant strategy listeners, Right Work is offering free onboarding, which includes a free labor model build out, plus you get three months free of Right Work usage. Go to right dot, work slash chip. That's right dot, work slash chip. And yes, you'll find that link in the show notes.
[00:07:51] So thanks so much. Have a great time, have a great night. Doesn't help them. I don't know, maybe their cabbie is going to smell, maybe the doorman's going to be rude at their hotel. Maybe the. There's nothing we can do.
[00:08:03] As long as they're here, I can make sure they get great food, great service, are in beautiful, in a beautiful environment that they don't need for anything, and that we're really personable and engaging. As long as they're here, we can make sure all of that stuff happens. As soon as they leave, there's nothing we can do.
[00:08:21] Thanks so much. I hope the rest of the night is as good as this is. And my mentor said, and you know what? It probably isn't because we're really great here. This restaurant's really great.
[00:08:30] So what we really want to do in order to make sure that their lives are better, the only time we can affect a change is when they're here. So ask the question you actually want to ask. Thanks so much. When are we going to see you again? Thanks so much. Can we make another reservation for you? Thanks so much. What are you doing tomorrow night? What are you doing this weekend?
[00:08:47] Are we going to see you next week? Next weekend? Let me just get something on the books.
[00:08:51] So this mentor that I worked with, he was French and he would stand in between the dining Room and the front door. And he would almost block people as they were leaving. He said, hey, thank you so much. How was everything tonight? That was great. It was perfect. Perfect. So when are we going to see you again? They'd be like, oh, we'll see you. No, no, no. Let's get something else on the books.
[00:09:09] See, what happens is when you invite them back, you're making people feel welcome. Come on back. We love it when you're here, which is true. Our business survives and thrives the more we get people to come back.
[00:09:24] But it actually says, you matter.
[00:09:26] I want to make your life better. I can make your life better when you're here.
[00:09:30] So he said, don't ask the question or don't say the thing that you can't affect. Thanks so much. Have a great night. Hopes and prayers. Nothing we can do. And they leave the building.
[00:09:42] Leave the building. There's nothing we can do. As long as they're here in the building. We can affect a change.
[00:09:46] So ask the question you actually want, which is, number one, you're inviting them back. It's like when you ask people for a second date. They feel wanted and needed and seen and important.
[00:09:54] They are all of those things. So let's just ask that question.
[00:09:58] Also.
[00:09:59] Also, something really interesting thing happens. Most human beings only think about a week or two in advance, right? They don't have much room in their head. So you say, you know, when are we going to see you again? Immediately they're thinking, what am I doing this week? What am I doing next week?
[00:10:14] And it works this way, right? So as you're listening to this, when I say, hey, what are you doing this weekend? Anything interesting?
[00:10:20] Immediately you're thinking about the plans you have this weekend.
[00:10:23] And I say, what about next weekend? You doing anything cool next weekend? Half of you aren't going to think about it because you haven't made plans or you can't think out that far ahead. So I don't know. I'd have to look at my calendar. And if I say three, four, five weeks out, if I say, hey, what are you doing five weeks from now? You're like, I have no idea.
[00:10:39] Unless you are going to be on vacation in five weeks, unless you are going on some fancy trip that is very present in your mind, you have no idea what you're doing.
[00:10:50] Most people just think about what they're doing the rest of the week and then next week. So when you say, thanks so much, when are we going to see you again? They're immediately only thinking in the next two weeks. So I always say when you say, and this is told to me, and it has borne out, and I know this data to be correct. So the person who taught me said, thanks so much. When are we going to see you again? Can I make another reservation for you? He said, four out of five people will say no and they will leave. But one out of five people will say yes because they'll think they're like, oh, actually, honey, you've got those clients that you were going to entertain on Thursday or, oh, hey, babe, you had the. You know, your sister was coming in with her husband next weekend. We weren't sure where we were going to go for dinner before we went to go see the movie or before we went to go see the show or whatever it is. We wanted to take them out for dinner that Saturday night. We didn't. We should come here. This meal was fantastic. They would love it here.
[00:11:37] They will think about what they have coming up quickly.
[00:11:40] So four out of five people will say no, which sounds like an 80% failure rate.
[00:11:45] Really. A 20% success rate is all you need because at scale, it changes your business. When you ask if you've got 40 or 50 reservations, if you ask every single one and you do the math, let's say 40 reservations, 10% would be four, 20% would be eight. Eight of those. If you got eight of those tonight to rebook for sometime in the next two weeks, it changes your business.
[00:12:12] Because when you do it again tomorrow and the next night and the next night and the next night and the next thing, again at scale, it changes your business.
[00:12:20] If I said, hey, if I could show you a way to get 20% of your people to come back sometime in the next two weeks, would you do what I show you? This is usually how I do it when I consult with restaurants and they go, well, sure, I said, great. It's going to feel like 80% failure rate, but you need to focus on 20% success rate. If you could get 20% of tonight's reservation book to come back in the next two weeks, would you do what I showed you to do?
[00:12:43] And usually they say, yes, and I say, great. It's gonna be near impossible because you have to scrub the following words from your vocabulary. Thanks so much. Have a good night. You're not allowed to say it. Instead, you have to say, thanks so much. How was everything? When are we gonna see you again?
[00:12:57] Can I make another reservation for you? And four out of five people are gonna shoo you away and walk out the door. But one in five will think of something they have coming up, will think of a reason that might bring them back here. And you put those reservations on the books and that changes your business.
[00:13:17] That's one of the stories I tell more than almost anything else. It's a simple, stupid, free tactic that actually works and will change your business.
[00:13:28] That's it, guys. We're almost to the end of these stories. This was number I don't know on the list. 18 of 20. So two more to go. For what it's worth, these last three are my favorite. This one next week, this one the next episode, and the following are my favorites. I save them for the end for a reason. It's the story I tell more than anything else. It's the tactic I give more than anything else. And guess what? It's also the most ignored tactic that I give because people think it's just too stupid to work. It's too simple.
[00:13:57] But when you actually are engaged and engaging and you ask the question that actually matters, it changes your business again. I appreciate you guys being here week after week. If you want to learn more about the mastermind that I run, the group coaching program, it's RSProphit.com you can go learn about that and all the stuff we do. If you want to get your tickets to the Profitability Summit, it's October 18th, 19th and 20th. You click the link in the show notes. Thank you very much, guys and I will see you next time.
[00:14:27] Sam.
[00:14:56] Sa.
