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Not like all the others.

Nov 09, 2011

In Southern California there seems to be a Mexican restaurant on every block. Big and small, chains and singular, high end and hole in the wall, they all work hard to survive and thrive.

Certainly, one begins to feel that they are all pretty much identical right down to décor and menu. So, how does one make a restaurant stand out in such a mass crowd?

The answer is the level of service and hospitality shown to the guests.

Recently, I stopped in at a little Mexican restaurant in Anaheim just up the road from Disneyland. There are several other Mexican restaurants in the vicinity, one of which is just about next door to the one I chose. The place I selected looks quite plain and empty in front, but the large parking lot behind was packed, as was the restaurant itself. The interior was bland, the food was tasty but, not outstanding. They offer large portions for a very good price and that is the rule. Still, many other places could boast the same.

The difference came the moment I walked in the door. I was immediately greeted warmly by the hostess, who quickly showed me to a booth. Before I could blink there were generous helpings of chips and salsa and a glass of water. The waitress, smiling and cheerful, greeted me with a welcome and a menu, and then left me alone to decide on the fare.

She returned a few minutes later to take the order with the same cheerfulness, even though it was obvious she was heavily worked with the packed restaurant.

During the course of the meal she checked in regularly to refill iced tea, water, chips, salsa and ask if there was anything needed. She showed up automatically with take home containers. Not waiting to ask first, she came prepared.

Needless to say, she received not only an excellent tip, but I took time to find the owner and compliment her service.

It is also needless to say that in the multitude of restaurants vying for my attention in the area, I will be revisiting this seemingly unremarkable Mexican restaurant because of the one remarkable element that stood out so very much…service.

What makes your restaurant stand out from the crowd?

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The Show Must Go On

Nov 07, 2011

Offer Impeccable Service

What is impeccable service? Let’s start with a genuine, friendly and sincere greeting. After handing the menus to us, the server showed that he knew the complete menu and all the specials inside and out. His steps of service were perfection. I even joked with my companions that our server would be “by the clock” and coming to our table right about NOW to see how we were doing. He was right on cue.

Our meal was great and portions tremendous. It proved so vast that we couldn’t finish it all. Our server appeared, without asking, with a large recyclable container, one that you might get from a specialty store. Tied to it was a card with the restaurant logo and web address along with a short Thank You note personally signed by the server. WOW!

How About You?

Do any of these elements appear in your restaurant? You clearly see how all the little things done differently that brings repeat business. Let me review the elements that offer a have a dramatic impact on your restaurant.

1. Answer any call by the second ring. And put a smile in your voice.
2. While setting reservations, ask the caller if it is their first time and if there is a special occasion.
3. Call and confirm the reservation on the day of or perhaps the day before.
4. Alert you staff of any guest special event so the customer can be greeted personally.
5. Create a doggie bag a branding situation and add a special card signed by the server, manager.
6. Offer a free dessert on special occasions.
7. Always invite your customers back!

Remember, there are really only 3 methods to drive your sales.

1. Obtain brand new customers
2. Increase the number of visits by existing guests
3. Build ticket size

The most laborious and slowest method to move sales is focusing on finding brand new customers. The quickest and cost effective manner is to increase regular visits and enhance ticket spending. The 7 steps listed above will almost guarantee repeat guest business and clients will spend much more when they return.

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Food prices rising affecting consumers and business owners alike

Nov 02, 2011

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department this week, they are expecting retail food prices to increase 3.5% to 4.5% this year.
This is a large forecast from stable food prices we have been experiencing and quite an acceleration from a small climb of only 0.8% in 2010.

The expected increase will be biggest since 2008.

The Wall Street Journal article reports, “Restaurant chains are having a harder time passing along their higher ingredient costs, as consumers opt for the cheaper alternative of eating at home. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, retail grocery prices were 6.3% higher in September than a year earlier, while retail prices of food eaten away from home were up 2.6%.”

If you are struggling with higher food costs, please contact Synergy, we can help.

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Synergy in the Kitchen with LYFE Kitchen

Oct 23, 2011

Our very own Danny Bendas interviewed on set on the LYFE Kitchen grand opening from CBS San Francisco:

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Enjoy the flavors of Fall this October during vegetarian awareness month

Oct 21, 2011

Attention all foodies: October is the official month to commemorate eating vegetarian. All you meat-lovers, here’s a refresher on what exactly it is to be a “vegetarian.” Vegetarianism is a diet that consists only of a plant-based diet, like vegetables, fruits and grains and sometimes seafood and eggs.

There seems to be a general misconception that practicing vegetarianism equates to eating bland and boring food—this is very far from the truth. The reality is, is that eating vegetarian can be extremely flavorful and very healthy if you understand the proper combinations of food, spices when preparing and cooking a vegetarian meal.

Here’s a tasty and easy recipe for “polenta with sugo finto,” a rich meatless ragu, which you can prepare to celebrate vegetarian month.

Don’t have time to cook? Pick up some fast-food. No, that wasn’t a joke – there actually is tasty, healthy vegetarian fast-food and it isn’t just a salad. LYFE Kitchen, the new healthful fast-food chain launching this month, has a host of vegetarian and vegan menu options available all year and all day long. They have “steel-cut oatmeal and spinach-and-goat-cheese egg-white frittatas for breakfast; vegan corn chowder and arugula-based farmers market salad for lunch; “unfried” chicken and eggplant parmigiana for dinner; and organic California wine and beer — for somewhere between $4 and $18.”

LYFE Kitchen's Farmer's Market Salad - Organic arugula, strawberries, red peppers, walnuts, pickled red onions, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette

Try some vegetarian options this month and you’ll see what you’ve been missing!

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October 2011 Newsletter

Oct 20, 2011

Synergy

Greetings!

Can you feel it? The holiday season is in the air. The period from Halloween straight through to the New Year can be a boom or a bust, depending on your attitude and how well you plan for it. Profitable and energizing, or stressful and poorly organized—the choice is up to you.

We also offer some thoughts about why some older chains fail (like Friendly’s, which recently went bankrupt), while others (can you say In-N-Out Burger?) become icons, as well as an update on where the whole sustainability thing is going.

To your success,

Dean and Danny

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Lessons from the Chains: What Becomes an Icon?

Friendly’s declares bankruptcy, while other heritage-brand chains barrel on—and the dance of who makes it and who doesn’t twirls on. One chain is viewed as being behind the times, the other is all about them.

By all rights, Friendly’s (which was founded in 1935) could be a cult classic. The Friendly’s menu, after all—with its burgers, SuperMelt sandwiches and over-the-top ice cream sundaes —is comfort food central, and we all know how popular comfort food is right now. Why isn’t Friendly’s an icon, instead of a struggling old-timer?

Look at the popularity of In-N-Out Burger, which has been around since 1948—not such a big age difference when it seems that both are now part of a long-ago past. And if it seems unfair to compare a full-service, family-inclusive restaurant with a drive-thru concept that has all of four items on the menu—three of which are burgers—how to explain the fervor with which some people regard Cracker Barrel? The 42-year old Southern-themed chain made it handily to the top 10 in a recently released survey by Market Forces of consumers’ favorite casual dining restaurants. I have hipster Gen Y nieces and nephews who like nothing better than to go Cracker Barrel and chow down on hashbrown casseroles and sausage gravy—the same ones that revere Dairy Queen over the latest high-tone gelato palace.

This brings up the whole interesting point about why some older chains achieve a kind of retro-classic status, while others simply start withering away and dying. Denny’s declares itself “open, honest and friendly since 1953,” and in fact the chain has embraced its own Eisenhower-era, dawn-of-the-Baby Boom, everything-was-possible-back-then roots.

You see it in the menu, with such over-the-top new hits as the Mac ‘n Cheese Big Daddy Patty Melt, and with post-Millennial touches like sophisticated use of social media, hip ads, and webisodes featuring comedians like Jason Bateman, Sarah Silverman, and Will Arnett. Even the way Denny’s pushes its open-all-night status appeals to college students and the young guard, helping to ensure the chain’s continued popularity. This “America’s Diner” positioning that started it all is still brilliant as we head into 2012.

Or take White Castle, which set the stage for creating America’s first hamburger chain with its debut in 1921. Like Denny’s, White Castle also pushes its all-American heritage —not just with a website timeline that intersperses opening dates with events like the repeal of Prohibition, but more importantly by sticking by its iconic sliders, even as it adds breakfast and jalapeno cheeseburgers. The fact that just about everyone else in the world has adopted and adapted the mini-burger trend is rampant proof of the Castle’s influence.

Want help making your restaurant company will stay around long enough to become an icon? Contact Synergy Consultants for a free consultation.


What Sustainable Means Today

New hear this: sustainability is moving out into the mainstream. A new report by Forum for the Future declares that businesses of all kinds should be offering more sustainable goods and services by 2020, no matter what the economy does, or risk being seriously out of step with reality.

In fact, what seemed like a fringe movement just a few years ago has moved out into the mainstream to become a distinct marketing advantage. But what does sustainability mean in the context of today’s restaurant operations? Is it local sourcing? Green design? Recycling? Corporate social responsibility (aka CSR)? “Cleaner,” less-processed food? Offering gluten-free or vegan options?

It’s all that and more. And it’s not just high-end chefs at haute-cuisine restaurants that are leading the charge. Efforts range from initiatives to implement more energy-efficient operational systems, to full-scale farm-to-fork programs, and encompass operations at every conceivable price point. For example:

Riverpark Farm, Tom Colicchio’s newest project in New York City, aims to become the city’s “most urban farm”—using a site where building development is stalled due to the economy. The 15,000-sq.-ft. plot, which will be moved to the rooftop when the tower is eventually built, provides vegetables, herbs and flowers for the adjacent farm-to-table restaurant.

• Bon Appetit Management, already a leader in the sustainable sourcing arena, has just instituted the industry’s first “fish-to-fork” program, with clear guidelines for sourcing and utilizing wild, farm-raised and underutilized species.

• A KFC unit in Indianapolis has been awarded the state’s first LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, reflecting the highest rating for energy efficiency, environmental friendliness and productivity.

Dunkin’ Donuts has engaged in a pilot program to evaluate the energy efficiency of its coffee brewing system

• Over the past two years, the Souplantation chain has implemented a number of different programs to reduce waste and decrease energy use, including serving food on reusable dishes, installing low-flow water systems, and boosting recycling, in addition to offering more vegetarian items

All this, despite the fact that many consumers are still confused about the meaning and import of certain sustainability tenets—they may understand “eco-friendly,” but “fair-trade” is another matter. No wonder there’s a movement afoot to implement One Green Score, a universal sustainability rating.

Having taken a lead in the adoption of sustainability practices, the industry also needs to help educate consumers about what they’re doing, as two McDonald’s franchise groups are doing with interactive multimedia and other efforts that explain what makes them green.

And make no mistake: Employees need to get on-board as well. Companies that have instituted clear sustainability policies and practices—and share them with all team members—tend to benefit from more employee engagement and buy-in.

MORE READING
Forbes, “Sustainability from the CEO Perspective”

Where food comes from: The Food Dialogues


Tip of the Month

To learn more about how restaurant operators can join the sustainable food movement, download the report “Responsible Restaurants: How Operators Can Leverage True Sustainability to Their Advantage” here.

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LYFE KITCHEN’S FIRST “SERVICE” DAY PROVES SYNERGY CONSULTANTS #1

Oct 20, 2011

For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Dean Small – 949-499-5776
LYFE KITCHEN’S FIRST “SERVICE” DAY
PROVES SYNERGY CONSULTANTS #1

Palo Alto, CA – Successfully opening a new restaurant concept is always a challenge. Adding to the stress of LYFE Kitchen’s first day open to the public was the fact that its Palo Alto location is to be the first of numerous locations across the United States over the next few years. Enter, Synergy Restaurant Consultants.

Hand-picked by LYFE Kitchen’s CEO, Mike Roberts, early in the concept development process, the Synergy team influenced and/or engineered everything from the menu to the kitchen design to training the service staff, and everything in between. Their sixteen month long involvement resulted in a “WOW Guest Experience” on opening day that was “out of the park” successful.

“At the end of the day, in the restaurant business, success is measured by how well you execute, in every aspect of your food, beverage and hospitality strategy”, commented Dean Small, Founder and Managing Partner of Synergy Restaurant Consultants. “How well each component of a restaurant is executed is how we measure our success.” In preparation for the big day, Small and his partner, Danny Bendas, actually cooked alongside what would become the permanent kitchen staff, coaching, mentoring and helping the LYFE team streamline their process to insure consistency and flawless execution.

Synergy Restaurant Consultants is best known for its ability to scale restaurant concepts and has supported over 200 National Restaurant chains both domestically and internationally.

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And the hottest new business in Palo Alto goes to…LYFE Kitchen

Oct 13, 2011

LYFE Kitchen, the newest healthy fast-food chain founded by former McDonald’s president, is all the buzz lately! This week marks the fast-casual restaurant’s week-long grand opening celebration and already people can’t stop talking about it! And now, LYFE Kitchen is featured on Yelp.com as a “hot new business” in Palo Alto. Please join us this week at 167 Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto – the Synergy team will also be on site working with the LYFE team.

Synergy Team at LYFE Kitchen Soft Opening
Synergy Team at LYFE Kitchen Soft Opening

Wednesday, October 12: LYFE opens its doors! Join LYFE for dinner after 4 p.m.

Thursday, October 13: Lunch service starts at 11 a.m.

Friday, October 14: Breakfast is served fresh at 7 a.m.

Tuesday, October 18: Official grand opening with featured chefs, Tal Ronnen and Art Smith as well as LYFE ambassadors Janet Evans and Drs. Anthony Cardillo and Armand Dorian at 11 a.m.

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New level of customer service caters to man’s best friend

Oct 06, 2011

Hot Dogs, hamburgers and Milk Bones? Doesn’t sound like your typical kids menu – That’s because these items are for your four legged friend and not your kids! Within the last few years more and more store and restaurant owners have been catering to customers traveling with their dogs. By offering hospitality services for pets, such as handing out free treats and putting out fresh water bowls, businesses can entice more people to stop by their shops. Some restaurants are even allowing specific seating areas complete with dog friendly menu items where dogs can dine with their owners. The extra attention is just another way for business owners to offer unique customer service that distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.

Here are some great restaurants offering fun and unique services for both pet owners and their pets:

dog-friendly-restaurants
Here are some great restaurants and events offering fun and unique services for both pet owners and their pets:

The Forge in the Forest
Fifth and Junipero Avenues
Carmel, California 93940
831-624-2233

Diners will find an extensive menu of American and International cuisine that also includes vegetarian and low carb choices, a full service bar, and a variety of California-grown fine wines. This dog friendly restaurant offers a special doggy menu and a private patio for guests with canine companions. Dogs must be well mannered and leashed.

Check them out at: Forge in the Forest

Cafe Limelight
1016 Cedar St.
Santa Cruz, California 95060
831-425-7873

Dogs are always welcome at Cafe Limelight. Our outdoor patio with plenty of shade provides a great place for you and your best friend to dine together. In fact we love dogs so much they even get their own menu!

Check them out at: Cafe Lime Light

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More restaurant chains offering healthy kid menus from First Lady’s health initiative

Oct 03, 2011

The statistics are quite staggering — in the United States, nearly one-third of children are considered overweight or obese. This coupled with the fact that Americans are spending more than half of their food budget on fast-food makes for a strong case toward healthy menu options for children.

In light of first lady, Michelle Obama’s anti-obseity initiative, Darden Restaurants (whose popular chains include LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and Olive Garden) has restructured it’s kid’s menus. Children’s food choices will no longer offer fries and sodas, but instead more healthful offerings like fruits, vegetables and low-fat milk.

The cutting-back on foods high in sodium, fat and calories extends also to other famous restaurants. Some big chain such as Chili’s, Denny’s and Burger King participate in a program called Kids LiveWell where they list menu items that meet healthier criteria.

Menu scrutiny is not limited only to kids’ meals — by next year, federal law requires chains to list each dish’s calorie count.

If you feel your restaurant menu needs a healthy makeover, please contact Synergy.