What is the Restaurant of Choice?
Steve and Nancy Butcher own the modest Nutcracker Family Restaurant in Pataskala, Ohio … a typical small town diner and gathering spot, seemingly nothing special. One weekend in 2005 they had an electrical fire and the original restaurant burned to the ground.
On Monday morning, their neighbors showed up to help them rebuild. The community simply felt the town wouldn’t be the same until they had the Nutcracker back in their lives and took it upon themselves to make that happen. The new restaurant was built … and Steve was elected town mayor!
Do you think there would be that level of community support if a typical chain restaurant burned down? More to the point, would YOUR patrons instinctively show up to help rebuild YOUR place if such a tragedy struck? They would if you were truly their Restaurant of Choice.
If you were their Restaurant of Choice, it would mean they think of you as THEIR place. They feel a personal connection to you and your staff. They trust you to always be working in their best interests. They know the names of most of the crew and the staff knows theirs.
They feel comfortable, like old friends when they come in. And even though they are more like family than customers, they know you never take them for granted and consistently work hard to earn their continued patronage.
Becoming the Restaurant of Choice is a high honor to shoot for … and you can’t get there by following a formula or a checklist. It takes a combination of seamless service and personal caring … hospitality … delivered in a way that keeps you financially viable.
This book is about what it takes to do just that. Written in The Restaurant Doctor’s conversational style, it is the coming together of many of the ideas he has espoused over 50+ years as an operator, consultant, and perpetual student of the industry.
Here’s why the principles in this book should be important to you:
What does it take to become the Restaurant of Choice?
It starts by grasping the important difference between service and hospitality (Chapter 2)
Would you like your staff to have more passion about the work they do?
It could happen … IF you can clearly articulate a larger purpose (Chapter 3)
Might sales improve if your service levels were consistently memorable?
They will if you properly reverse-engineer your service (Chapter 4)
Do you know all the ways you and your staff are innocently sabotaging your service experience?
You will if you pay attention to theses common service stumbles (Chapter 5)
Would it help if most of your people problems just seemed to disappear?
They can when you understand the link between climate and behavior (Chapter 6)
Do you (and your staff) know how much it REALLY costs you to lose a regular guest?
Everyone will be shocked when they see the numbers laid out for them (Chapter 7)
Will your guests patronize you - at full price - even when times got tough?
They will if you are their favorite restaurant (Chapter 8)
Do you know how your business is REALLY doing … every day?
You will if you monitor just seven of these numbers (Chapter 9)
Could you have a staff waiting list while your competitors scramble to fill shifts?
You can if you have a reputation as the best employer in town (Chapter 10)
… and this is just the tip of the iceberg!
