The Cost of Staying Still

Knowing something needs to change and actually changing it are two very different things. This week's submissions come from operators who are sitting on problems they've already identified. A stale menu, a mismatched manager, a first visit experience that isn't earning a second one. Three honest conversations about what's keeping them stuck and what to do about it. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Every restaurant has a suggestion box collecting dust somewhere near the host stand. This show is a different kind. Operators send in their real challenges, staffing, costs, culture, systems, anonymously, and we talk through them on air. If you've ever felt like your operation is running you instead of the other way around, you're in the right place. I'm Ryan Hornebrook, founder of Elevated Restaurant Solutions, and this is the suggestion box. Welcome back to episode three of the suggestion box, where real operators, real owners, real industry pros send in their real challenges and we talk about it in real time. My name is Ryan Hornebrook, founder of Elevated Restaurant Solutions, where we help independent restaurants lower their costs without losing their labor force or losing their quality. If you would like to have a conversation about the challenges that you see, you can head to Elevated Restaurant Solutions.com to start a conversation. And if you would like to send in your challenge for the suggestion box, you can email that to the suggestion box at elevatedrestaurant solutions.com. All of the submissions are anonymous. So please do not hesitate if you are experiencing a challenge that you just want some insight on and some help with. Three episodes in, and we've found that often the symptom and the source are not in the same spot. If you have a retention problem, chances are it's not a payroll issue. If you have a volume issue, chances are it's not a pricing issue. Bottom line is a lot of the times that you're experiencing symptoms, that is not the area that the problem that's causing those symptoms derives. So we'll probably get more into that this week. And I don't think I want to spend too much time uh talking about it because I'd like to get to the issues at hand.

A Stale Menu

SPEAKER_00 2:11

So the first submission reads I haven't touched my menu in two years. I know some items are selling and some are probably costing me more than they're worth. But every time I think about changing it, I talk myself out of it. I'm worried my regulars will push back. I'm not sure what to replace things with. And honestly, it just feels like a massive project. So I keep putting it off. Is it actually as important as I think it is, or am I overthinking it? I'm gonna go ahead and say you're not overthinking it, but I understand the hesitation because a menu feels personal, especially in an independent restaurant where the owner, you know, builds it from scratch. I'm sure you had a lot of play in what is on that menu, and maybe it did well when it all first came out, but things change. Um, you know, you said it's been two years. I personally try and audit a menu four times a year. People eat differently in different seasons. Now, I understand that, you know, I'm in the United States. So I'm in the Northeast in New Jersey. I understand that the eating patterns in New Jersey are different than the eating patterns in California, because California experiences different seasons than New Jersey. But the point is that typically people are eating and drinking differently in January than they are in July. So I try to take a 90-day product mix every season, the beginning of every season. Usually I'm a month ahead because I want to plan it for the launch of the new season, but I'm checking what worked, what didn't, and what kind of work that could be tweaked depending on cross-utilization of items, um, contribution margin, uh, everything that goes into menu engineering, which would be a more in-depth sit-down. But the macro level of what I'm talking about is actually auditing the menu four times a year. Now, you haven't touched this in two years. I guarantee there's some stuff on there that hasn't necessarily sold or done well that could probably be tweaked or eliminated. Now, the fear of regulars pushing back is valid, um, but usually what I find is that it's overestimated because you know, regulars are more adaptable than operators give them credit for, um, especially when the change is framed well. You know, it's not we talked about this last episode, but you don't just change prices, change menus without, you know, creating an experience around it or without making it feel different or elevated, or it's an elevated experience for the guest. Meaning, I was just talking to an owner the other day, and they hadn't raised their prices in, I don't know, it had to be, I think it was five years. It was probably shortly after COVID, but they had to raise prices because they weren't doing well. And I looked at the menu before he raised prices, and I looked at the menu after he raised prices, and the menu was exactly the same, just with prices increased. I said, Did anything change here? Like in terms of dishes, in terms of presentation, in terms of uh ingredients, and he said no. And he said he did that on purpose because he wants to release a new menu in spring, or at the end of spring, I'm sorry, going into summer that uh is gonna feel like a new experience. Okay. That's fine, and I think you should do that, but in the meantime, we still have a solid two or three months until that time. You can't expect somebody to come in and that's been in your place before, because remember, we're looking for how to capitalize on people that are already in the restaurant to bring them back, to invite them back. We want return customers. They are the biggest advocate for your restaurant, they are marketing, they are advertising, they are your revenue, they they are the success of the business model, that and your staff. But you can't raise prices without changing the experience and expect them to say, well, yeah, I get that makes sense. No, that would never happen. We talked about it before with the cab. If I take a cab for $10, drives me 15 blocks, I come back later, it's $20, drives me 15 blocks, nothing changed, I'm gonna be annoyed. I'm gonna feel betrayed, like scammed. But if that second trip around, I get to control the temperature in the car, I get the auxiliary cord to play my own music, and I get refreshments and it's an elevator experience. Sure. It feels like a different ride. They didn't add that much. But so it's it's how you frame the changes. The regulars really aren't gonna, if anything, they're gonna be like, oh, it's awesome. This thing hasn't nothing's changed in years. I'm glad they're finally doing something. You don't even have to change that much, just frame it like it's new and exciting for the for the guest. But to answer the question directly, yes, it does matter. It is as important as you think it is, and you're not overthinking it because a stale menu is a slow leak, typically, in multiple places at one time. And I'm gonna tell you three of those places, ready? One, the items that don't sell still take up kitchen space. You still have skews in your kitchen that you're ordering and keeping in inventory because those items are still on the menu, and maybe somebody orders them six times a week. Those aren't free to keep. You bought them and they're expensive to hold and they waste over time. If you don't sell enough, you got to figure out ways to use that product. Otherwise, out the door. Two is the ingredient costs have definitely shifted in two years. So when you costed that dish in 2023, it was probably more profitable than it is right now in 2026. Everything has increased. Uh, the third spot is how many items are on your menu? You know, a crowded menu slows the kitchen, increases error, dilutes the identity. Uh, it's it's hard for servers to help guide the guests to what they want. Guests take a look at a huge menu. They can't decide what they want, so they find something safe and they order that. So there's a lot of menu engineering that goes into creating a good experience and creating a profitable experience for you. I was just at a spot the other day. I'd never been there before, everybody was raving about it. This menu was massive. Uh, it was an open kitchen concept, so I watched everybody on that line. Went for lunch, met one of uh my buddies for lunch, and we were talking about it. They had like 20 handhelds, they had winks, they had 30 appetizers, they had a sushi section, they had a dim sum section, they had a pizza and flatbread section. I mean, come on, what are we doing? Listen, if it works, it works. Have something for everyone, but it was just it's just too much when you're that crowded. I the font was so small, I couldn't read anything. And it was dark in the place, and the menu was black, and it was thin white writing. I left a card and we'll see what happens. I'll try and find somebody to reach out. But my point is if there's too much on the menu, it's gonna create friction for your guest and for your staff. Now, the massive project that you're talking about is probably keeping you stuck. I get it. But a menu audit doesn't have to be a full redesign. When I say that I audit four times a year, I'm not saying ditch the whole menu, start fresh. I typically try to stay above, you know, you could I say twice a day. If it doesn't sell more than twice a day, now obviously that's not a rock solid rule. That's just a little benchmark to start out with. But you could pick your own number. But if it doesn't sell twice a day, you know, get rid of it. Or rework it to make it sell twice a day and take things into account like how profitable is it? What's the contribution margin? What does it look like at Friday at 7:30 when there's 35 tickets in the window and everybody is drenched in sweat trying to get through the night. All those things have to go into uh into consideration. But if nothing else, at least pull the product mix and start with the data. You could start a conversation by looking at that. Now you might be thinking that your guests are coming back because the menu hasn't changed, so that's why you're afraid to change it. But I'm gonna reframe that and I will say that they're coming back because the experience is consistent and worth it. Your staff is good, the environment is good, how they feel is good. Doesn't necessarily have to be what's on the menu, it could be how they feel in your place, could be one of the many factors. And honestly, one of the best ways to find that out is to poll and talk to and have conversations with, I would say, 10 of your regulars, 15 of your regulars, and just say, hey, listen, what do you absolutely love on the menu? Because I know it hasn't changed in a while. We're thinking about doing some redesign, and your opinion is uh very highly valued because you've been a loyal patron for X amount of years. That'll do two things for you. That'll give you really good intel and it'll boost your client relation. It'll boost the relationship with your customer because they will feel extremely seen and valued. They would honestly probably invite people back because they'll feel like they have equity in the menu. So I would start with this everything we just talked about. Start with your POS, pull 90 days of a product mix, and sort it by volume, and the bottom 20%, just say 20%, uh, by sales. That's your starting point of not deleting. You don't have to delete everything, but that's where you start to question. I would uh cross-reference the volume against the margin. You know, there's the the square where it's low volume, low margin, low volume, high margin, high volume, low margin, and then high volume, high margin. Um low volume, low margin, obviously it's an easy cut. The middle two are kind of could be tweaked, and high volume, high margin is an obvious, you know, shining star. Make sure that that one is front and center. Um, you don't have to redesign the whole thing, edit, maybe pull three to five items, tighten up the language, change the description, adjust two or three prices, you know, just make it feel like a different experience. When a regular asks about it, or if they ask about a missing item, it's a conversation. That's all. Nobody's gonna go to the review section and you're not gonna wake up with 45 negative reviews because you took off the French dip. If somebody asks the questions, just have an answer ready and move on. I just posted this the other day. Uh, the menu is supposed to be a living document, it's not like a monument or a time capsule of everything you've ever done. So the cost of not touching the menu isn't zero. Doesn't mean that it doesn't cost you anything to not change anything. It's just invisible until it's not. It's a slow leak that you can't see yet. So,

Mismanaged Manager

SPEAKER_00 14:50

all right, the next one's about a different kind of avoidance, one that's a little more personal. It reads, I have a manager who's been with me for three years. The staff likes them, they show up, they work hard, they care, but they're not a good manager. They avoid conflict, they won't hold the team accountable, and I have to keep stepping in to do what they should be doing. I've had the conversation a couple of times, but nothing changes. I don't want to lose them as a person, but I'm not sure I can keep them in this role. I don't know what to do. This is an incredibly hard situation in hospitality leadership. I just went through it at uh one of the places that I worked uh in the last couple years. So loyalty and longevity create real emotional weight, right? Like it's it's you're these are people that you learn their families, you learn their um likes, their dislikes. A lot of the times they become family. They feel like family because in this industry, you see the people you work with more than you see your family most of the time. So you uh create this attachment. And when you want to hold somebody that you care that deeply about accountable, it becomes incredibly difficult to separate the personal from the business. I completely understand that. I get it. But the fact that you've had this conversation and nothing changed is important. It's a decision problem. They have a decision to be better, to make the changes that you're asking to be made. Um doesn't sound like this is a bad person. It might just be a misaligned role. Because you're managing around the manager instead of managing the manager. So you're playing leapfrog with what their responsibility should be. And every time you step in, you're teaching everyone in that building that the manager's authority isn't real. Um, there's a version of this where that manager was never set up properly for the role. I don't know that to be true, but it could very well be that there were no clear expectations. Uh, could be that training was kind of, you know, it's been three years, so maybe training was different when they started. And maybe there was no training, um, or there was no how to have hard conversations uh or no defined authority. And what looks like a performance problem now might actually be an onboarding problem three years late. It's just a delayed reaction. Uh, I'm not saying that's the case. I'm just saying it could very well be a possibility. Uh, I don't know without, you know, a little more context. There's also a version where the manager simply isn't built for accountability work. Some people are great at execution and terrible at enforcing. I mean, depending on where you put them. If maybe they're great in the window during peak times, they're just a machine. They touch every plate and they're great with quality control and they're great at organizing the line, keeping ticket times uh moderate and appropriate. But the minute they have to deal with uh enforcing something or disciplining something, they disappear and it seems like they aren't um the right person for the job, but it's just you're forcing them into the wrong job. You know, keeping somebody in the role out of loyalty, that's not kindness. It's setting everyone up to fail slowly in front of the whole team. You know, you're almost doing them a disservice if they can't perform at that same level. I think before you make any decision, you need to get specific. What does good management actually look like in your operation? Is it written down anywhere? Is it documented? Is it repeatable? Uh, if it's not a procedure or if it's not a standard, if it's not documented, then you've actually never given them a real target to hit. They don't know what they are or aren't supposed to be doing. It's a guessing game every day. Nothing set in stone. The role's not created to uh the fullest extent. I would uh also have a conversation, um, one more conversation, but this time make it a deadline conversation, not a feedback conversation. Uh I would lay out exactly what you need to see uh in order for the relationship, the working relationship to stay intact. Here's the time frame I need to say it in. Here's what needs to happen, and here's what happens if it doesn't happen. Um I'd consider uh is there a different role for this person? Um, you know, maybe that maybe they're not the manager uh that you're looking for, but they could be a shift lead or a trainer or floor support or somewhere where their loyalty and their work ethic are assets without requiring them to do the thing that they're not wired for. Um and honestly, I mean, at the end of the day, if after a real structured time-bound uh chance, nothing changes, um, then I mean the decision kind of makes itself. Uh, you know, it's you can be respectful about it, but I'm sure that if this is the actual case, the team already knows what the situation is with this manager. The team is already aware. They've been working with it, they've all seen it, they're just watching to see if you see it too. They're waiting on you to make the leadership call that everyone else is already aware of. So uh unfortunately, tolerating the wrong fit in a leadership role doesn't really protect anyone. Um, it kind of just spreads the cost across the whole team. And it hurts not only that person, it hurts your progress, it hurts your growth and development, hurts everybody's growth and development because the cohesiveness of the unit uh is hindered. So um, yeah.

One and Done

SPEAKER_00 21:25

All right, the last one today is an operator who's doing everything right, uh, except for one thing they've been ignoring for a very long time. They say our food is great, our regulars love us, but new guests don't come back. We're not getting any new faces turning into repeat business. I've looked at the reviews and they're mostly positive, but something is off, and I can't really figure out what it is. I'm starting to wonder if it's something we're doing on the floor that I might not be aware of. Um, okay. This uh the Instinct that something's happening on the floor that you're not aware of is probably certainly correct, um, which is good self-awareness and worth following up on. Um, because if you feel like you're doing everything right and your regulars are coming back, they're obviously coming back for a good reason. Maybe they already bought in. Um, and the food could be great. There's a lot of factors that bring people back, you know, good food, good ambiance, good environment. It could be something pretty to look at, it could be proximity to something that they're already doing. It could be um the staff, it could be um any number of things. It doesn't have to be just one thing. So your food might be great, um, your ambiance might be great, but uh the fact that the new guest is what you're finding it hard to retain is most certainly something that's happening on the floor. It's probably um, you know, inconsistency uh could be depending on the person that's serving you. Maybe different people have different ways of guiding the guest and delivering the experience. Um, because positive reviews don't mean that the first visit was great for everyone. You know, most people who have a mediocre experience, they just don't come back. They don't necessarily all go to write a review about it. A lot of people do, and you'll see those. But um, yeah, I don't know. I just feel like this is a consistency problem, you know. Um, because if your regulars are coming back and they love the food and the food is great, they're gonna get the best version of the restaurant because the staff knows them. They know their presence, they know their preferences, they give them the benefit of the doubt. If uh there's an attitude difference or a behavioral difference, um, you know, new guests, they get whatever version of the restaurant shows up that night. And if the service standards aren't consistent across the team uh members and across shifts, whether it's day shift, night shift, server A, B, or C, depending on who's working, if that's not consistent, that's a lottery. So some guests that are new are gonna get great service uh if everything goes well, if the um if the conditions are right, if everybody's on a good page, if the regulars were treating everybody well that day, if the weather's nice, it could be a bunch of different factors. But um the things that turn a first visit into a second one are almost never about just the food. They're usually about, you know, I had a great experience, the server was phenomenal, food was good. You know, nobody's gonna come back if the food's bad, but it's not the only reason people come back. I would say more times than not, people are coming back because they had phenomenal service, felt seen, felt appreciated, uh, felt like they were part of the show, felt like they were part of the experience. Um, you know, and it starts when people first walk in. A guest who waits too long to be acknowledged gets handed off between servers, has to flag somebody down once, you know, everything's forming an impression, and the food alone can't reverse that. So if you have good food, it's not gonna reverse bad service. So I would say almost positively, without actually being there on the floor, that it's a consistency problem of service. Uh, you got to rally everybody together and hammer in the point of this is why we do what we do, not just what we do. Because your Tuesday afternoon crew is not gonna be the same as your Friday night crew. Might be the same. When I say the same, um, I mean in terms of energy and vibes overall. Um, you got to keep that same level of hospitality on Friday night as you do on Tuesday afternoon, as you do on Monday morning, as you do on Thursday, happy hour, et cetera, et cetera. Because this is 2026. So guests are more selective about where they spend, how they spend, why they spend. They're not just gonna forgive a mediocre first visit because the food was good. The whole experience has to earn the return of that guest. So if I were you, I would do a silent audit, sit in your dining room on a busy night, be a secret shopper, and watch as a stranger, not the owner, and notice what the guest actually experienced. Put your feet in their shoes. I'm a huge, I will always tell that to everybody I work with. Approach it from the other side, approach it from the side that you're trying to solve the problem. I would look at how new guests are greeted versus regulars. Is there a pattern there? Obviously, the regulars are gonna get greeted with uh an elevated energy, and new guests are it's gonna be a little tentative, but treat everybody like they've been there before. If you treat everyone like they've been there before and you're happy to see them again, they're gonna want to come back. It's almost psychological. Um, I would also build a first visit standard, document it, put it on paper, you know, so that way you can coach it and train it, and you could even audit the process yourself, change things as things come up or enhance it, make it better. But it doesn't need to be a whole welcome packet. It could be a short, clear set of things that happen every table, every time, regardless of who's serving, you know, acknowledging within 60 seconds, checking back after the first bite, close with an invitation. All those things are pretty set across the board. How you deliver those messages is your culture. How the tone in which you do it. Because the goal is to make the first visit feel as good as the tenth every single time. So if you go in treating somebody's first visit like their 100th visit, and it's still and it's positive every time, that sets the standard. You have to train the team on it explicitly, not as a script, but a standard. Genuine hospitality is not delivered through a script and a spiel. It's making people feel good intentionally with your attention and your care. You can't build a guest base on a great product alone. You build it on a consistent experience that earns the next visit and the next visit and the next visit and the next visit. Because guess what? Your menu's gonna change. I hope it does. Your menu is gonna change as as the seasons change. I would say that that is where your problem lies, and uh you should check there first. So here we are. This is the end of episode three. And again, three different problems sitting in the same place, that the source is not necessarily where you think it is, which is the whole operating thesis of this show. If you have something that you are challenged with uh currently, and you need some different insight or you want some help talking it through, but you don't want to reach out to anybody to talk about it, you can absolutely send it in to the suggestion box at elevatedrestaurant solutions.com and we can talk about it on air. I am incredibly grateful for the people that did submit this week because whenever you submit, it gives us something to talk about and it opens up the doors for other people who might be passive listening and passive um participating, that maybe it gives them a different perspective indirectly and helps somebody else out. So I'm trying to, the more and more I do this, I'm finding that I'm building a community of just people that want to talk through their challenges without feeling judged. It's hard. This whole thing is hard. So uh you're not meant to do it alone. You rely on your team, you rely on your guests, and you rely on help whenever you need it. And uh I'm happy to be that help for some people. So um if you would like to reach out for some direct consulting help, I would absolutely welcome a conversation. You can go directly to info at elevatedrestaurant solutions.com, and I'd be more than happy to have a conversation about your operation and learn about your business. And uh, if nothing else, for you to possibly vent out your problem uh or issues or challenges. Um, it's what I'm here for. So thank you again to everybody that participated. This has been episode three of the suggestion box. I look forward to seeing you soon.