lil dave's lil life

[SuuPRlim]

Mark obviously you'd be verrrrrrrry welcome

Yes Norway is Lumpy, I would go back but I'll need to save up first haha - now I realise why whenever you see Norwegians anywhere they are going nutso everything is free.

Ty shippy - great advice, actually I am re-doing the drinks menu as we speak, Ill give that a go for surrrrre. Wine sales been a big it lately, in 2015 the restaurant sold £3700 worth of wine, since March this year been just over £8500, no vodoo magic here either - put on a nice wine list and had the staff start asking people if they want wine

I've worked with quite a few restaurants and there is one thing everyone seems to get wrong, and that's prices - its one of the most crucial elements to the business and you'll be surprised how many people just "stick it at £15" or such when it needs a huge amount of thought, how you price stuff greatly influences what people buy. I have my own theory on it which has proved pretty successful.

Thanks for responses, I still love blonde gutted im no poker player and have nothing pokery to add anymore but enjoy the interaction!

Anyone have any questions?

[SuuPRlim]

The trick with staff complacency is engagement. First is to create max engagement in the product they are selling, this is not fish, this is hospitality. Every guest walking through the door is unique so the experience starts afresh, it could be someone's birthday, an anniversary and the team have this exciting opportunity to create a wicked experience for people. I get a lot of success by empowering staff, coaching them about how influential they are in creating experiences for regular people. Next is to create max engagement about fulfilling potential. All staff, particularly young people, have aspirations to be as good as they can be in life and you can tap into that natural desire to get better with effective coaching. Who wants to waste their potential by underperforming in the things they choose to do?

How engaged are the team in hitting the £15k target? Do they know how they improved SPV by £5.40? Or how they're going to improve it again? Any incentive for hitting the target? Creating engagement, ownership in the performance of the business and offering incentive to grow is the best way to get a team to perform. I mean shit, you're team have more than doubled turnover, you better have taken them out for slap up meal mate!

Oh and the trick with TripAdvisor is to ask people who have positive experiences to review, we hand out little business cards. I mean Casanova said the reason for his success with the ladies was simply because he asked.

Awesome post MANTIS just had a mini a-HA! moment reading this.

I'm doing a training session tomorrow and I'm going to completely change the way I will approach it after reading this seriously.

EMPOWER AND ENGAGE!

I'll be sticking a metaphorical stake into Brad as I deliver it!

[SuuPRlim]

goes without saying btw if anyone from Blonde is ever in Leeds and want to come see me then I would be delighted

[booder]

Terrific post , thanks for sharing.

[POWWWWWWWW]

Great read! Loved Barca as well, can you remember the names of the 2 restaurants you went to?

[SuuPRlim]

Arola the tapas place, i asked for the cocktail list and the bartender came out and made me my own cocktail, served in the funky glass - I love that stuff.

Second night went to a Spanish restaurant had Paella, cant remember the name, I had lobster was really good, actually interesting thing they served it a whole lobster then cut it up in front of me, meant it was still in its shell but easy to pull out with a knife and fork, never seen lobster like that before. Laura had a squid ink paella it was awesome.

Third night Enoteca, Laura raves about it, my experience was kinda ruined but the place service etc all looked amazing.

I thionk the secret to good food in Barca is staying away from the water front.

[Mohican]

Find it hard to stick with long posts but read every word and loved it - you write so well. Glad things are going so well in all areas mate, keep it up! Will have to get you back into gambling with some crazy TV show related bets soon

I like these deeper stacked posts.

[77dave]

The trick with staff complacency is engagement. First is to create max engagement in the product they are selling, this is not fish, this is hospitality. Every guest walking through the door is unique so the experience starts afresh, it could be someone's birthday, an anniversary and the team have this exciting opportunity to create a wicked experience for people. I get a lot of success by empowering staff, coaching them about how influential they are in creating experiences for regular people. Next is to create max engagement about fulfilling potential. All staff, particularly young people, have aspirations to be as good as they can be in life and you can tap into that natural desire to get better with effective coaching. Who wants to waste their potential by underperforming in the things they choose to do?

How engaged are the team in hitting the £15k target? Do they know how they improved SPV by £5.40? Or how they're going to improve it again? Any incentive for hitting the target? Creating engagement, ownership in the performance of the business and offering incentive to grow is the best way to get a team to perform. I mean shit, you're team have more than doubled turnover, you better have taken them out for slap up meal mate!



Oh and the trick with TripAdvisor is to ask people who have positive experiences to review, we hand out little business cards. I mean Casanova said the reason for his success with the ladies was simply because he asked.

Awesome post MANTIS just had a mini a-HA! moment reading this.

I'm doing a training session tomorrow and I'm going to completely change the way I will approach it after reading this seriously.



EMPOWER AND ENGAGE!

I'll be sticking a metaphorical stake into Brad as I deliver it!

Have you ever heard the story about JFK and the janitor?

Amazing the power of a motivated team.

[baldock92]

Definitely about giving an incentive for the staff, as I presume they're in a minimum wage/ near minimum wage job. My first job yeard ago was an evening job at mcdonalds (someone has to) after sixth form, where there's no real incentive to work hard- whether you give a shit and work hard or decide to play dodgeball with frozen chicken nuggets you're paid the same. If there was incentive such as the person who works the hardest, sells the most etc gets to go home an hour early with full pay, or maybe an extra tenner in their pocket you should see an increase in performance, and it creates a fun competitive spirit among the staff as well.

Sounds like it's going well though! It's got me craving a cod and chips...

[Rexas]

Not even having a cheeky go on the darts Dave? You've changed :p

Not that I've ever managed anyone, but I kinda feel like the answer to motivating staff is usually incentives. I don't think it's realistic to assume that all the members of your staff actually care that much about the business itself, but if you offer them more selfish reasons to perform well then imo you give yourself a good chance of a positive response. One of my old bosses would buy us all lunch if we hit certain targets at the end of the week, or we'd all go out for a pint on him, or he'd stick on a cash bonus/crate of beer for the person performing most above expectation, and it had a noticeable effect. After all, do you really expect people to work really hard whereas they could work less and get the same return? In my first job, when I started I was super motivated and worked hard, really wanted to learn etc, but after a few months when I realized that I was actually not going to get anything for putting in that effort, and that everyone else around me didn't give a shit (this obvs had a lot to do with it as well), it became increasingly difficult to motivate myself.

Just my two cents

[JohnCharver]

Great diary. Wouldnt put all the effort into the restaurant you have to tarnish it with dodgy trip-advisor reviews. Often read reviews of places on sites and its so clearly not real or from someone whos opinion is laughable/ overly enthusiastic/ unrealistic and detracts from what the place does offer. Place looks great, you are rightly proud of it, dont take reviews personal, its all business (know its difficult esp when someones being petty or outright lying/wrong.). When someone writes a review for any reason its a free read, a free insight into how someone thinks, use the free info, take out the feedback/facts and ignore the pettiness/spiteful parts.

If you are keen for reviews hand a small discount on next visit for reviews. Pretty much win, win- you get real reviews, and people comeback.

[Karabiner]

Loved that long post David and pleased that everything is going well.

The restaurant looks great and I'm determined to get up there this summer.

Do you really fillet the whitebait?

[redsimon]

Is there another chain called the Fisherman's wife? edit just seen the others in chain are wife's/Wives

I love your responses to the bad feedback, anyone turned up to claim dinner with you yet?

[SuuPRlim]

Is there another chain called the Fisherman's wife? edit just seen the others in chain are wife's/Wives

I love your responses to the bad feedback, anyone turned up to claim dinner with you yet?

The money-man behind this project has a chain called The Fisherman's Wife, he's my old boss I used to work for when i left school, wonderful guy I'd crawl over crushed glass for him

The similarity between the two is prolly a bit close in hiensight though

Thanks - actually 3 people in the last week with one more booked in! Let the good reviews flow

[SuuPRlim]

Great diary. Wouldnt put all the effort into the restaurant you have to tarnish it with dodgy trip-advisor reviews. Often read reviews of places on sites and its so clearly not real or from someone whos opinion is laughable/ overly enthusiastic/ unrealistic and detracts from what the place does offer. Place looks great, you are rightly proud of it, dont take reviews personal, its all business (know its difficult esp when someones being petty or outright lying/wrong.). When someone writes a review for any reason its a free read, a free insight into how someone thinks, use the free info, take out the feedback/facts and ignore the pettiness/spiteful parts.

If you are keen for reviews hand a small discount on next visit for reviews. Pretty much win, win- you get real reviews, and people comeback.

You're absolutely right, exactly the way to look at it a free insight into the mind of a potential customer - gotta learn not to take it quite so to heart when you get slated in public for something you pour your sole (hahahahaha) into... Good life lesson for me there.