Free Coffee - Yes Please

First of all, can we all agree that the majority of guests have now come to expect that there will be an in-room coffee maker in their hotel room, regardless of the brand?

That’s my belief. 

I think guests now associate in-room coffee as just another room amenity, like shampoo and soap.  They assume when they walk in their room that they will find some sort of coffee maker waiting for them, and that, depending on the brand, it may be anything from basic to extravagant, with the simplest of coffees or the addition of potentially elaborate offerings of various teas and other hot drinks.

Unfortunately, I also think the same is true of the coffee provider.  That is to say that there is a wide range of the level of attention or importance, or lack thereof, that this in-room amenity receives from hoteliers depending on whether they see this as an opportunity to elevate the level of guest service and guest loyalty, or, if it is simply viewed as an unnecessary and irritating expense.

This is apparent in many ways, not the least of which is the type and brand of coffees being offered out there in the hotel world.  As a guest, I myself have experienced everything from brown coloured water masquerading as coffee to Starbucks (which I admit to being a fan of).

You can tell a lot about the level of importance placed on the coffee service by the type and condition of the coffee maker and the coffee “caddie” and its contents.

I stayed in a hotel not long ago that offered a simple basic in-room coffee service.  Being the organizational freak that I am, (according to friends and co-workers over the years), I like to prep my coffee before I go to bed, so that I can simply push the “on” button as I stumble by on my way to the shower.  I did so in this instance as well.

When I got up, en route to the shower, I pushed the button as usual, and off I went.  When I returned to the coffee maker about 10 minutes later, there was about a half a cup of coffee in the pot, where there should have been 2 cups.  I checked the reservoir and it was empty.  I carefully pulled out the filter basket to find it filled to the rim with boiling hot water.  Obviously it was clogged or blocked in some way.

I was running behind by now, and I decided I would mention this problem to the concierge on my way out, unfortunately, when I entered the lobby, there were line-ups everywhere, so I left for my meetings, thinking I would call the hotel later, during a break.  The day got away on me, as did the evening, and I never called before returning to the hotel quite late that night.

Before bed, I gave my coffee maker the once over, I couldn’t tell if it had been replaced or not, but obviously the room attendant would have seen what happened and had it fixed or replaced, so I prepped my coffee and slid between the sheets.

Next morning, push button, have shower.  Return to check the state of my much-needed coffee.  Too bad for me, half a cup in the coffee maker, probably another half a cup spilled over onto the counter, and a basket full of boiling water.

Needless to say, I was disappointed, but what was most apparent to me, and the greater source of my disappointment, was that my room attendant obviously saw in-room coffee service as a pain in the rear, and as such was not even slightly concerned that my in-room coffee maker was malfunctioning, which left me to question both the commitment to guest service at this hotel, but also, to question what message had been passed on through the ranks with respect to the importance of providing this guest amenity with a level of commitment and professionalism that mirrored the brand commitments of this hotel.

Bottom line, if you’re going to provide a service, then it should be reflective of your commitment to your guests, and be viewed and treated with a level of commitment from you that demonstrates to your employees that EVERY aspect of a guests’ stay has the potential to create a defining moment and nothing should be left to chance when it comes to creating and providing that which has an impact on your guests experience.

There are no second chances to create a great first impression.

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A Great Server Creates an Equally Great Experience

Don’t you just love it when everything seems to come together in perfect harmony to create an exceptional experience?

It’s what we strive for, certainly, with every guest that walks through our doors, and I had just such an experience recently, thanks to a truly exceptional server.

A very good friend of mine contacted me a few weeks ago.  Told me she would be coming to town for a quick business trip – did I have time for dinner?

First of all, I wouldn’t have missed that opportunity for anything, she’s become one of my very best friends over the last several years, and her visits are a highlight for me, whenever I am fortunate enough that she pops into town.

We have had great meals and service in the past at a place called Joe Forte’s Seafood & Chop House, here in Vancouver, and, they happen to have the best Cobb Salad that either of us have ever had in our lives, as well as specializing in providing a good and diverse selection of raw oysters, which we also both enjoy, so there was no discussion about where we would go – we were destined for Joe Forte’s.

I won’t bore you with all the particulars of what we ordered, because that really isn’t the point here, although I will say that, as always, the oysters were exceptional, but what really made the difference in our experience, from the moment that we were first approached at our table, was our server, Cheryl.

If you looked up “perfect server” in the dictionary, Cheryl’s picture would be there, or it certainly should be, and as we went through the evening, I was struck by what an exceptional job she was doing, at every moment, and I might add, while managing a very busy section in what was, as always, a full restaurant.  We were certainly not her only table, although we were made to feel like we were.

Cheryl was knowledgeable of the menu, in every sense, and she was equally well versed on the wine list, and the all-important selection of raw oysters available that evening, and while those attributes certainly contributed to a successful dining experience, it was, more than anything, the way in which she adapted her service to perfectly suit what we wanted, from what I’ll call a time, attention and timing perspective, and if you’ve ever experienced this, you know exactly what I mean.

That seemingly uncanny ability to know when to approach the table, how often and when, to recognize that we were engaged in great conversation and not in a hurry, at which point she offered to delay our main courses after our oysters, to give us some additional time to chat and catch up, but again checking back with us enough to let us know that she had certainly not forgotten us, but without being annoying by checking in too often or at the wrong time.

I could say a lot more about what Cheryl did to make our evening enjoyable, but the point is this – it was apparent that she was a dedicated, engaged and empowered professional server.  Someone who takes pride in being of service and does not see serving in a restaurant as “something to do until I find a real job,” but rather the opportunity that it is – to provide exceptional service that creates an equally exceptional experience, time and time again, and I have no doubt that Cheryl leaves all of her guests with this impression.  Joe Forte’s is lucky to have her.

And I would be remiss if I did not extend credit to the owners and/or managers at Joe Forte’s because they have obviously created an environment where Cheryl can do what she does best.  She could not have done everything that she did for us that evening, both in the way of her service, and, the modifications that she managed for both of our entrées if she was not fully supported to do so.

A great leader empowers and enables his staff, provides them with the tools and support necessary to do their job, and then, once they have everything that they need, gets out of the way so that they can harness their own greatness, and pass that on to our guests, creating consistently exceptional guest experiences. 

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Executive Chef – Aint What It Used To Be

Used to be it was enough for an Executive Chef in a hotel to be a great cook, someone who could consistently put out attractive dishes, that tasted good, while also having the skills to deal with multiple outlets, potentially putting out different kinds of food, and a reception and banquet for 1,000, all at the same time, without losing your cool.

Well, truth is, lost of them did in fact lose their cool as well, but back in the day, everyone put up with that too for some inexplicable reason.   (I can still recall working in a hotel where I have to referee a battle between an angry executive chef and some poor underling who had inadvertently spoiled a sauce, at which point the executive chef had thrown a fair sized sauté pan at him, narrowly missing his head).

I can also still recall having a conversation about the situation with my general manager at the time and having her tell me to lighten up: “he’s a chef, if that’s the worst you’ve ever seen, then you haven’t seen anything.”

But that was many years ago, and the culinary playing field has changed along with every other discipline in hotels, (or any business for that matter), as people came to understand and value their employees and work to foster positive relations that would not tolerate those kinds of behaviours.

Aside from the issues of employee relations, there was a much greater influencer at work that has forever changed the role of the executive chef – the Food Network.

Along comes the Food Network showcasing all of these interesting and in some cases flamboyant chefs scurrying about in their respective kitchens in various cities around the world, and suddenly, those people that were responsible for putting beautiful and delicious food in front of us had a face, an identity, and now, we wanted to know more about them.

As a result, you suddenly had more patrons under the impression that there was some kind of a culinary magician at work behind the scenes, and, they also assumed that these same culinary geniuses were always to be found in their kitchen.  (It never occurred to them that someone initially crafts a menu, perfects the recipes, etc., then trains a series of line cooks to reproduce their masterpieces when they’re not there, which, when it comes to the celebrity chefs, is most of the time).

Regardless, for the mere mortal executive chef, his or her role had forever changed.  Now, you had guests asking to meet the chef, asking if perhaps he could come out into the dining room, so that he could be properly thanked for what had been an exquisite meal, and, at the same time, you had owners, or perhaps general managers, recognizing the value of this kind of a seemingly spontaneous appearance in the dining room, at which point someone decided this was now to become a nightly occurrence.

Now, the executive chef had a new role to add to his or her other duties – public relations, but there is no arguing that it has worked.  People love it when the chef puts on fresh whites and comes out of the kitchen and gracefully moves from table to table, inquiring about how everything has been proceeding so far, and asking if anyone has any comments or suggestions.  It makes them feel special, important.

Everyone has always appreciated a good server for their ability to take good care of the guests at their tables, adjust their service to the many different needs and moods of their clients, while also doing an awesome job describing the items coming out of the kitchen, but the guests know that he isn’t the one doing the cooking – that’s the guy that they want to meet.  Well, now, more and more often they’ll get to do just that.

And if you’re opening a new restaurant, who do you want making the circuit of morning news shows, cooking up little samples and tasters for the hosts of the show?

Executive chefs – now half culinary genius, half master of public relations, perfecting their recipes and their 30 second sound bites.   Hmmmmm, who’s hungry?

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What Does the Future Hold for Hotel Restaurants?

Not that long ago, I wrote that hotel dining is dead, (“Hotel Restaurants.  Put a Fork in the, “Cause They’re Done”), for all intents and purposes, as it has historically existed, and I haven’t changed my mind, but that leaves the question of what will fill the void?

Hoteliers have a number of issues that they’re going to need to deal with, if they want to successfully answer this question, and the answer will likely be largely affected by their various locations, and the answer is not going to come cheap.

A number of years ago I found myself faced with that question.  The hotel where I was working had a “fine dining room” and an all-day restaurant, as well as a lounge, room service and extensive catering facilities.

Catering did very well, and we had an enviable reputation in our market for putting out excellent banquet meals.  Similarly, we had an excellent reputation for our facilities and our service.

Both the fine dining room and the all-day restaurant put out very good food, and the service was exceptional, but both rooms only managed a modest capture ratio and it was clear that the majority of our guests were going out for lunch and dinner, and we were not attracting very many locals to eat and drink in our outlets.  

It was clear that a number of things had to be done to improve results, and I did take action that immediately improved the food and beverage departmental profitability, but it was equally clear that in order to produce the kind of results that we were looking for, we needed to produce an extensive food and beverage redevelopment plan.

While we worked to improve the food and beverage departmental results, with what we had, we worked to compile the necessary data to support the redevelopment plan and we came up with a price tag for the necessary renovations, as well as the costs of new menus, uniforms, glassware, dishes, and kitchen modifications.

Simultaneously, we set about to meet with all of the staff to find out what our guests had been saying for the last couple of years about what was missing in their dining experience at our hotel, and we paid particular attention to where the bellmen and concierge staff had been directing our guests, in response to their requests for other places to dine, locally, and armed with all of this we came up with our concept, followed by a contest amongst the staff to choose a name for our new restaurant.

I was fortunate to have a very supportive owner and he subsequently approved our plan, and the funds necessary to carry out what we proposed, and we set about to create a destination restaurant and bar in our hotel.  

One of the keys to its success, in my opinion, is that we based everything on opening and operating a free-standing restaurant, an independent restaurant that would be able to compete in the local marketplace, that just happened to be in a hotel, but it would not be a hotel restaurant in the traditional sense.  Not that we didn’t think of our hotel guests as important, quite the contrary, but we didn’t build the restaurant around them, but rather to include them.  We created a place where they would want to go even if they weren’t staying with us.

My owner was rewarded for his support.  As promised in our redevelopment proposal, we increased overall food and beverage revenue by over 25% over the next 3 years, and departmental profitability went from - 5% to + 18% during that same period.

Hoteliers are going to need to determine what would make their guests want to eat and drink in their restaurants and bars, and at the same time attract the locals as well, and that will take looking at things in the way that they have not traditionally done, and making some tough decisions about what works and what doesn’t.

Fundamental to this process will be the need for hoteliers to ask themselves; “what would I do if it was my hotel, my money, my business on the line?”  A question that should be at the forefront of every decision, but this is not always the case.

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Fine Dining - The Death of an Era

Earlier this week the news was all a buzz about 2 major restaurants, owned by renowned chef Daniel Boulud, that announced that they would be closing in the next few weeks.

Daniel, and his partners, were quoted as having blamed the closing on the “perfect storm” of economic factors, which they have been unable to overcome, and certainly I can empathize with restaurant and bar owners who have had to deal with the new HST, and the tougher drinking and driving laws that have recently come into place.

Everyone knows that the profit margins in restaurants are low, and in particular if your restaurant’s food to liquor ratio is quite high.  At least if you are serving higher percentages of liquor, beer and wine, you have the benefit of higher yield from beverage sales to at least somewhat offset the low profit margins from food sales, but if the majority of your sales is food, good luck.

The other friend of the successful restaurant is volume.  If you can turn the restaurant over two or three times an evening, the majority of the days that you are open, and assuming a decent average check as well, you are doing well.

Regardless, some restaurants will make it, and some will not.  As I sited in my previous post; “Opening Soon – Are You Crazy?” 80% of all new restaurants do not survive past their second anniversary, but these two restaurants had several good years under their belt at this point.

I believe that they were doomed to failure for another reason – a failure to adapt from what was “fine dining” to what a truly memorable dining experience has become.

People are no longer looking for white table clothes and fine linen napkins as the definition of the environment of an exceptional dining experience.  In fact, I would argue that in many, many cases, the sight of an overly formal “dining room” can be enough for people to turn around and promptly exit stage left in search of an alternative location.  Who hasn’t been turned off by finding themselves in an overly formal room, where you feel like you need to be in a suit and tie and that whispering is the only form of acceptable conversation over dinner.  The serving staff looks like they have just come from the opera and everything about the restaurant screams pretentious.  

What people are looking for are any one of a number of variations of a simple common theme; good, fresh local ingredients, prepared and presented in a unique and captivating manner by knowledgeable and friendly staff, highlighting and celebrating the region where the restaurant is located.  Sure, the setting plays a role, but not one of pretentiousness, but rather a clean, warm and inviting room where people feel truly welcome and comfortable to settle in for a while, to enjoy the company of their friends and family in an environment where the food is the star, not the room.  It’s about the experience.

That’s the formula for sustainable success in the restaurant business today.  The time for table clothes and stuffy rooms where you feel like you need to pass a social status test in order to enter is over.  Special occasion restaurants, as many of these tend to be, are not sustainable.  If it takes an anniversary or other special occasion, for everyone to feel the need to dress up to go out for dinner, that won’t be enough to keep people coming through the doors, and your days are numbered.

Fail to adapt and you face extinction.

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Mini Bars - Major Problem

I checked into a 4.5 star hotel not long ago and was surprised to be handed a key to the mini bar along with my room keys, as part of my check-in package.

It struck me as odd, with all the advances that we have made in so many areas of the hotel business to think that there is still a place for these dinosaurs in a hotel.

Then, as I was proceeding to my room, I thought, well maybe what they have done is taken the mini bars that they already had and they have re-stocked them, to reflect the more health conscious traveller, taking advantage of the fact that they had these mini bars anyway, so why not appeal to the healthier traveller with some more up to date offerings.  No such luck.

Imagine my surprise when I popped open the mini bar door and found what I might just as easily have found 15 years ago – miniatures of scotch, gin, vodka and so on. Really?

I could not help but wonder why anyone would want to have mini bars in their hotels anymore?  (Or why they ever did for that matter).  They have never been money makers, not with all of the associated labour required to stock and re-stock them, as well as the challenge of keeping stock fresh and properly rotated.

And then there’s the issue of theft – guest and employee.

As sad as it is, there have been instances where employees have been caught drinking from mini bars and replacing their consumption with water.

And guests, who either take out a vodka or a gin, drink it and refill it with water, the oldest trick in the book, or they simply dispute that they drank anything, accusing the hotel of not having properly checked and re-stocked the bar after the last check out, which unfortunately, also happened on occasion.

In short, mini bars are just more trouble than they’re worth.

When I was a front office manager many years ago, I hated mini bars for a number of reasons.  I hated them for the extra labour we spent posting, re-posting and correcting charges, when we could have been spending that time with our guests, enhancing the service experience.  And I hated them for what they did to our impact on guests’ experiences, when we presented an otherwise happy guest with a copy of their bill to view before settlement, and they got upset about the mini bar charge on their account that they were adamant was not theirs.  We would apologize and remove the charge of course, but the damage was done – many guests thought this was some attempted cash grab and would get very upset.

And then there were the calls to dispute charges applied to guests’ accounts after they had checked out.  Holy molie was this group ever upset.  How dare we charge something to their credit card without their permission, I’ll never stay there again, and on and on.  I’m sure we must have rebated a full 80% or more of the late charges that we applied to guests credit cards, and every time we did so, we negatively impacted our guest satisfaction scores.

The fully automated systems worked better, but they were of course significantly more expensive to purchase and install, and they weren’t fool proof either.

Guests would remove a bottle or something for some reason, then put it back in the fridge and not realize that these programmable vending-type mini bars had automatically processed a charge onto their account when they first removed the bottle, not until they went to check out anyway.

Or one of my favourites, people travelling with a baby or other small children who would remove all of the contents from the mini bar, in order to use the mini bar as a fridge, and then just about have another baby on the spot, when they went to check out and saw that they had a $250.00 mini bar bill.

Given all of this, and the many other negative impacts that I have left out, why would anyone still want to have “traditional” mini bars in their hotels?

Is there really any place for the traditional mini bar in today’s hotel and the hotels of the future?  I think not.

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Opening Soon - Are You Crazy?

There is a restaurant on my daily running route that I have noticed under construction for the last six months or so.  It’s a new build, from what I have seen, which is to say that it isn’t one of those oh so typical situations where someone is going in to take over the location of the last restaurant that failed, minimizing their investment, given the presumption that there is already a kitchen, a bar, etc…

Any of you that have been involved in construction know that the cost to take a shell of a building, and then add everything required, to turn it into a functioning restaurant (or Hotel) is considerable.  It’s probably 10 times more expensive than taking over a failed location, throwing a fresh coat of paint on the walls, making a few other improvements, slapping on some signage and announcing your new concept to the world.

For months now I have been running past this location, taking note of the construction, the various trade vehicles coming and going, and like many others, I have been wondering what is coming, and, when it would open.

Just to put this into further perspective, I should tell you that this restaurant is not located in the heart of the business or tourist district.  It is on a busy street with strong vehicular traffic, and I would guess, little foot traffic on an ongoing basis. 

A couple of months ago now I noticed that they had placed several large banners on the building that said “opening soon,” leaving me to wonder just how soon they would be opening.  I’ve seen instances where owners have erected signage such as this six months or even a year before the location was scheduled to open, hoping to create awareness in the community, a curiosity, a level of anticipation.

My question was answered, at least partially, today, when I ran passed the restaurant and saw that the brown paper was down from the windows, the interior appeared to be largely completed, and, the most telling sign – the bar was fully stocked.  

Presumably, this restaurant will open within days, in the latter half of December, which leads me to wonder one thing about the owner – is he or she rich, or crazy, or both? 

Why, in heavens name, would you open a restaurant just after everyone has done their pre-Christmas entertaining, and spending, and just as those same people are about to go into their annual self-imposed freeze on spending, while they assess the damage from Christmas and sit around calculating how long it is going to take to get their credit cards back under control.

No one is spending money in January, or at least not on discretionary items like dinner out with family and friends.  How could someone not know that?

I was involved with a company once; where I was brought on to open a Hotel, among other things.  When I first arrived I was told by the owner that he wanted to open the Hotel in November of that same year, and my immediate question was why?

Why would you want to open at a time when business is historically slow for the destination and remains slow until probably April or May when things traditionally pick-up?

Why would you want to endure months of negative cash flow, high labour costs, made even higher by the fact that you would be open over Christmas and New Year’s, requiring you to pay additional statutory wage costs, and on and on? 

It made no sense – a point that I was able to make clear after producing several budgets for the owner, based on opening at different times, and of course taking into account that there were still financing costs that needed to be taken into consideration, if we delayed opening as I was suggesting.  Regardless, it was clear that the right answer was to delay opening, which we did, resulting in a very successful, and appropriately profitable, first year of operations.

So, back to the new restaurant opening in my neighbourhood.  Do they know something that I don’t?  Have they found the secret to opening in a mediocre location, at a time of year when everyone is curtailing their spending? 

Or, has the owner got deep pockets?  I sure hope so, because in as much as I do not want to see anyone go out of business, I cannot help but think that these people have set themselves up with a significant challenge as they open their doors and try to make it in the fiercely competitive restaurant business.

Statistics show that 80% of all new restaurants do not survive past their second anniversary.  In North America, restaurant failure rates are much higher simply because most are under-capitalized and in many instances owners or managers fail to understand all aspects of the business. 

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Hotel Restaurants. Put a Fork in Them, 'Cause They're Done

I recently read an article posted by Bill Marriott of Marriott Hotels and Resorts fame, entitled; “The Dish on Hotel Dining Trends,” where he spoke to some degree about the bygone era when Hotel Restaurants were a popular dining choice. Remember that?

I think we can all recall, as Bill does in his article, when we used to get all dressed up for that special brunch, or lunch or dinner at the grand Hotel in our respective city. It was a big deal.

Bill would have us believe that Hotel restaurants are making a comeback and that is where I have to take exception to his comments.

I would agree, that there are some exceptions to the rule here, there are some exceptional restaurants in certain Hotels, in certain cities, where the restaurant has achieved its own stand-alone reputation as a great place to eat, regardless of the fact that it is in a Hotel, and I take my hat off to those restaurant and Hotel operators.

But please Bill, Hotel restaurants still have MILES to go before they will enjoy the success of the entrepreneurial independent restaurants that can be found in the major destination cities, where there is considerable competition for the local (and Hotel guest) diner.

There are a number of reasons why I disagree with Bill on this:

1. Hotel companies, the big chains, are still trying unsuccessfully to either take a cookie cutter approach to dining in all of their Hotels, or, they are trying to align themselves with celebrity chefs to lure diners in. As a result, Hotel restaurant menus are boring, and, the celebrity chefs don’t stick around.
2. Hotels get caught into believing that they must be all things to all people when it comes to food and beverage service in their Hotels, and as a result, they are all too often guilty of having large, bland menus that don’t specialize or excite people.
3. Hotel people think like Hotel people, not like independent, entrepreneurial restaurant operators, and, if and when they go outside their comfort zone and actually hire an entrepreneurial restaurant operator, their first mission is to “Hotelize” them, which effectively serves to crush their independence, and they quickly realize that there exists a huge gap between what they were told that they were hired for, and what they are REALLY supposed to do, now that they have the job.

So what do they do? Conform, so they can keep their job. And what do we get? More of the same. Surprise !!!

4. Hotel companies need to get serious about food & beverage in their Hotels, and this won’t happen overnight. It took decades for Hotels to realize that they should make money in food & beverage, that it wasn’t enough to make all your money in rooms division, and subsidize losing food & beverage operations.

Hotels need to completely revisit food & beverage operations in their Hotels. They need to make some difficult decisions and they need to let go of the past.

None of us can exist as “special occasion” restaurants where we go for our Grandfather’s birthday, or to celebrate our wedding anniversary or some other special occasion.

Want to know what works? Actually, you already know, you just need to commit to doing something about it. You all know of at least one, if not more, restaurants in your city that have a line up almost every night, if not every night. What are they doing that you’re not? What are they offering that you’re not?

Put your ego in check and give the people what they want, and you just might make a profit in food & beverage along the way as well.