HK Restaurant Thoughts

Some thoughts from the places I went to in HK
40 Gough St - very helpful staff to flag me at the entrance and guide me to the private dining room.  Service was unobtrusive, but efficient.  My water was always filled.  Food did not all arrive at the same time (linguine came out first) but the delay was not significant.  Decor was stylish.

Cafe Grey - The view is always great from up there.  WAter was always refilled, staff were not super attentive.  One forgot the request from Bec for milk for her tea.  Presentation of the food was quite good, but it can be seen that certain items (like the pear salad) were overdoused in the italian dressing, making it look less fresh.

Goldfinch - A solid restaurant, value oriented.  Decor hasn't changed, since they used the restaurant for filming "2048".  Service is friendly, efficient.  Treating elders better is a good thing. Roasted pigeon was great, moist and crispy. Fries were terrible.

Coast - Very Australian feel, light woods.  Staff were friendly, although they messed up the food for me.  It came to the table before the waiter realised the issue, should have been picked up before that point in time.

Quinary - Cocktails presentation was very good.  The truffle fries were very tasty.  Waiters disappeared for long stretches of time, most likely because of the number of orders they needed to process, and cocktail making is a slow process.  Decor was classy, dark timbers, dark corrugated iron, beautiful leather couches, good lighting.  Tough to be the owner in that situation, as you want your guests to be treated the best.

Hei Chin Rou - I got there late, so food was coming already.  Yum cha always delivers.  I didn't find any issues with the service, although our cokes took a while to get to our table.

I think I am too blase about a lot of these things, as in I don't mind if the food is a bit sloppy, or the waiter is a bit late.  My tolerance for such "mistakes" is very high.  I need to improve my own standard of quality in order to enforce it on my staff so that others whom may have higher standards than I, will appreciate the efforts that we have done.

Checklists

Quote from David Allen's "Getting Things Done":
The degree to which any of  us needs to maintain checklists and external controls is directly related to our unfamiliarity with the area of responsibility.

I need to get back on this track and manage the information I am getting on setting up the restaurant.

Restaurant Realisations

Interviewing more staff has the benefit of a crash course in learning about restaurant tips and realisations about our own place:

• Role play is important for staff training.  How do we simulate those situations where staff will have to react quickly and well to issues that a customer brings up?
• Having someone with setup skills will help us get through this first month of operations.  How do we set ourselves up for success?
• There should be little or no divide between "Front of House" and "Back of House".  We are all one team.  It goes to the extent that the servers should know what all the food tastes like and is made up of.
• We have to be proud of our food in order to upsell it.  
• The hard part with a new restaurant is finding a proper place to train the staff, given that any other kitchen will be different to the kitchen that we will use.
• Everyone has an opinion for a restaurant because everyone has been to one.  Be prepared for the barrage of (good and bad) advice.
• Cooks love the freedom of a small restaurant.  We have to make sure our kitchen manager knows that they will be constrained by a set menu.
• Any breakages / variance in beverage sales need to be reported.  It may sound harsh, but sometimes the waiter must pay in order to learn.  I am unsure about this one, not sure about the culture that this will bring to our restaurant.
• Our kitchen manager must be about execution. quality and consistency.  It is like an army in the kitchen, everyone has to know their place.

Finding the Right People for F&B

We had another round of interviews for Restaurant Managers today.  It was good to see some candidates that had potential, within the salary range we were looking at.  Jo's question challenged me, are these the people I expected?

I had pictured people that were more upbeat, a bit more willing to learn and understand what we are trying to do with the company.  The people I am meeting seem more clinical, detached.  No doubt some of them have the technical ability, I'm just not sure of their emotional capacity.  How "can do" are these people?  Would they take the right initiative when given the opportunity?  Would they go the extra mile to provide that level of hospitality that we are aiming for? It's so hard to tell this from just 45 min with one person.

Are we essentially dealing with a different culture of people?  I'm thinking back to when I prepared for an interview, I would have approached it with a lot more engagement, striving to understand how I can add value to the company.  People don't seem to care as much.  The cynic in me would equate that to the failure rate of the F&B industry!

We have to be able to adapt to the situation, to recognise that even with this difference in culture we can still get those people to achieve the goals we set for them.  It is still early days for this round of interviews, perhaps we will get more quality as we go along.  I want to find someone where providing hospitality gives them energy.

Opinions

In my conversations with my business partner, I fundamentally believe that he has a stronger vision for the future.  Hence I am willing to follow that lead, and execute based on that vision.  Our current vision of moving "up" the food production chain to get back to primary agriculture is a good one, as I do think that food (processes, technology, markets) will grow rapidly in the next decade, especially around south east Asia.

Now in this F&B business, he does have a lot more domain knowledge, and hence has been taking the lead in the financials and the setup.  I'm caught between thinking that I'm asking too many stupid questions but without the necessary understanding to provide valuable feedback.  And generally I'm not that outspoken a person, with strong views, so I am tending to keep those opinions to myself.

When there are clashes of opinion, I do allow Jo to take the lead on the decision.  What I have noticed though is that he would lead to a decision that is not where I am thinking, but would, upon reflection, move closer to my viewpoint.  It's a strange thing, but does show that we are both willing to let other opinions shape our decisions.

I do know that I need to have a stronger view of how I want the restaurant to run, especially since I am the general manager.  Have to know where the centre is so I can guide everyone there and realign them when they are off track.  Having my thoughts validated through a revaluation of a decision means that I know my opinion is moving us to the right place.

Job Hunting

Or rather employee hunting!

Just started working on the job descriptions for the staff that we should be hiring.  I am drawing/copying a lot of inspiration from the book "Setting the Table" by Danny Meyer.  It talks of an enlightened hospitality, and delves into detail regarding the types of staff, and particularly managers that we should be hiring.  This is what I am writing for the job description.


The candidate displays the following Attributes:

• Infectious positive attitude.
• Self-awareness and how they can add value to the company.
• Long term view of success, that tomorrow dollars still counts.
• Sense of abundance to other staff and our guests.
• A trust of staff to do the right thing.
• Approving patience and tough love.
• A character that will command respect, not demand it.
• Ability to focus on customer service, to write a great “last chapter” of a client’s experience with the restaurant.

So what does this mean?  It means that we want our managers to be the source of inspiration for our staff.   They should embody "hospitality", where hospitality is there when something is done "for" you, hospitality is not there when something is done "to" you.
I need to start visualising scenarios how this would play out.  Thinking of things like a dropped plate, a double booking, guests who are trying to make a theatre show, the regular Sunday couple, a badly cooked plate of food, etc.

With the restaurant manager role, I do think of a "da jie" manager, an older women who would be the heart and soul of the restaurant, but whom has the ability to keep those young waitstaff in line.  I think she would be a good compliment to my managerial style.

How do you capture a vision of proactive service?

Alcohol Supplies

So I had my first meeting with an alcohol supplier, Moet Hennessy Diageo.  It is, as with all things in this business, a learning experience.  Some key points:
1. An American ribs and casual dining restaurant would not likely to have significant amounts of wine consumed, and even the type of wine that is consumed would be on the lower scale.

2. What wines one does carry will reflect in the image of the restaurant.

3. Given the general heat and humidity, white wines should be more crisp and refreshing (which would be the ones coming from NZ, Australia etc) compared to the white wines from Europe.  I have a feeling that this was the sales guy doing his pitch.

4. Advertising and promotions can be provided as working capital, but the restaurant must then hit the volume targets.  There is some kind of "clawback" clause for the supplier to get the money back from the restaurant. For us, I think this will be unknown for the first 6 months, so we should consider just nett purchases, or performance based bonuses.  The other option is that they drip feed you capital for specific items like uniforms, or menus so you don't get the whole working capital straight up.

5. I need to understand these wine offerings better.  I cannot tell the difference between all the different types of wines available.  Perhaps it's more of "what is a good wine that will go with the dishes that we are serving?"

6. There is alcohol that you purchase for house pours and then there is alcohol that you purchase to sell by the bottle.  If you have one brand of house pours, then you cannot utilise a competing brand in the same category.  Of course if he supplier does not stock a category, you're free to buy from whomever. But for wines, there is no category.  You can only serve their white or red.  I assume this depends on the restaurant's buying power.

7. We should look at reinforcing our image with American wines and spirits.

8. Contracts where there is performance bonuses or A&P subsidies are at least 1 year long.

9. Looking at wines in the low $20s range for this restaurant.

10. MHD doesn't do their own deliveries, they work with suppliers to execute the order.  However, suppliers do not provide the A&P subsidies.

Overall, I think we don't suit MHD as their range is too high.  Need to keep looking.

New Beginnings

I resigned from my job.  2 month's notice, starting 8 May 2012.
I'm embarking on a new business adventure.  At least it's with a familiar face.
A ribs franchise restaurant in Singapore, 4,500 sqft, 200 seats.
6 months of looking,1 month of negotiating, and now 4 months to get this restaurant built and ready for trading 17 Sept 2012.  Estimated investment: SGD $1m.

My restaurant experience is zero.  But I have a passion for hospitality, to meet and serve new people, to give them an experience that they will remember.  I'm willing to learn, I want to build a culture and a team and I want to make some money!

I'm happy that Jo is on board.  He does have much more experience in this field, and knows what to look for,  I need to start taking ownership of this place, it is as much his investment as it is mine.  I'm the general manager, I have to set the tone, the vision and the direction of the operations.

4 months to go.  Let's make every day count.