SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Restaurant SmartBrief — tracks feedback from restaurant owners and managers about current trends and issues.
Last week’s poll question: Do you seek advice from a restaurant consultant?
43.06% — My restaurant doesn’t need a consultant.
38.89% — My restaurant has sought advice from a consultant in the past.
6.94% — My restaurant currently is seeking the help of a consultant.
5.56% — My restaurant plans to seek a consultant.
5.56% — My restaurant uses consultants, but I don’t work directly with them.
I reached out to a couple of restaurant consultants to hear what they’re up to and how they can help.
Name: Jeffrey Summers
Company: RestaurantWorx Coaching & Consulting
Market: Dallas-Fort Worth
Most operators don’t have enough expertise to solve most of their problems with operations, profitability, people or marketing, let alone enough specific expertise to help innovate their business and take it to the next level. The right consultant does.
The right consultant can, if utilized effectively, impact both sides of the equation – costs and profits. They can:
- Help you solve operational issues that have been plaguing you for a long time. How many times can you “fix” food cost? Why are labor costs still a problem? When are you going to move beyond what’s broken so that you can work on actually creating?
- Help you understand how to build a better and more successful business. How many times do you say you never have enough time to work “on” your business?
- Help you execute better. There’s a process to building success in the restaurant business. Are you on the right path for you? How long have you been struggling to find “the answer”? What is the best answer for your business right now? A year from now?
- Help you understand the importance of marketing and develop the best strategy for your business, which builds long-term success. This is the No. 1 reason 66% of all operators go out of business within their first three years of operations.
- Help you stop relying on “hope” as an operational strategy. “I hope this marketing works.” “I hope this solves our problem.” “I hope we find the right people to staff our shifts.” “I hope our training works to help build our business.” “I hope people like our new menu.”
- Help you go beyond “best practices” and move toward “best results.” My definition of insanity is doing the same things everyone else is and expecting better results.
The one item of pushback I usually have to address is, “But they’re too expensive,” and my response is always, “Compared to what? Failure? Less business than you want or deserve?” Like anything else, you should be expecting a measured ROI from your investment.
Name: Karen Rosenzweig
Company: One Smart Cookie Marketing
Market: Seattle
Imagine having a direct conversation with hundreds of people who have the power to influence thousands of other people to dine at your restaurant. Or turning your chef into a local star through her direct conversations with people about the food she is cooking, seasonal specialties and events at your restaurant.
What foodie doesn’t want to have a direct line to the chef or owner?
As a social media consultant, I partner with restaurants to establish that rapport and build real relationships with their friends and followers. Restaurants care deeply about loyalty, repeat business, and of course new customers, and social media provides a fun, creative, rapid way to accomplish those goals.
Restaurants use my consulting services to incorporate social media tools into their overall marketing efforts and rely on my bigger-picture view of how others in their industry are doing it and how to replicate that success. On any given day, we might draw upon my experience to create an exciting Twitter contest, on another it will be sharing insights to maximize visibility on their Facebook business page, and yet another day, we might debate the worthiness of a Groupon offer or Foursquare campaign for their restaurant.
Remember the TV show “Cheers” and the theme song refrain, “You wanna go where everyone knows your name”? That’s what foodies want from their restaurants — they want that direct line, acknowledgment and the feeling they are part of the family. Oh, and great food helps, too!
Three industries use social media particularly well, given their time-driven nature, the mobility of their clients and the “experience seeking” factor that their fans all share — food, sports and travel. Diners are always on the lookout for deals, inside info, recommendations and new experiences — and so teaching restaurants how to master the tools that reach those fans is the heart of my business.
My job as a social media consultant is to monitor the latest marketing trends, tools and tactics that blend well with my expertise to cook up a perfect recipe for success, just for that restaurant.
Are you a restaurant consultant or has your restaurant used a consultant? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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Being a Hospitality Consultant based in New York City, I find that existing restaurateurs often have trouble seeing the "Forest through the Trees" and although as the survey states they feel that they do not need a consultant, most could benefit from the outside influence of one. Whether it is shopping the store, menu creation, marketing assistance, or an unbiased opinion, I feel that everyone can utilize another set of eyes within their operation. The great thing about consultants is that you can listen to them or not and it is only a long term commitment if the operator wants it to be. Feel free to go to the Smith Hospitality Group(Smithhospitalitygroup.com) for further information.
Choosing a the right consultant is important – one that has been (and is currently) in the trenches of social media for restaurants and the food industry is key. There is much to learn and not every business will have the same goals, market or tools required. Good points here Karen and Jeffrey.
Hm, in the same newsletter Smartblogs reveals that "The U.S. restaurant industry lost 5,551 locations last year". Restaurateurs should use wise consultants, those whose recomandation leads to an estimated positive impacts on trafic and on gross profit with the help of factsn figures and simulations. I work in France where consultants have a poor image and restaurateurs always ask "how much will that cost me" intead of "how much will I gain". Thierry Poupard http://www.service-attitude.com
Hi Thierry !
I also work as a consultant in France but specialized in bars.
Bartenders in France always think "how much will it cost" and even before that I sometimes hear:
"Who are you to teach me my job?"
Despite this I get 20% min. gain on the ones who are intelligent enough to trust in changes.
Actually with 6 bars closing each day In France they don't even realize they're going to close and cthey continue to "blame the dog" instead of trying to change.
Quentin Lacomère http://qlc.fr.nf
Restaurant owners have three approaches they can take:
1)The restaurant owner can be an expert in marketing, IT, human resources, finances, hospitality, service, menu development, security, design, etc.
2)The restaurant can afford to hire full time staff with experience in all those areas.
3)The restaurant can conserve cash and get experienced consultants to give them bandwidth and problem solving assistance when they need it on an a la carte basis.
If you think hiring a professional is expensive, think what it will cost to hire an amateur.
I spent over 25 years in restaurant marketing and I am convinced that I can add value to restaurants looking to improve their marketing. I have many successful clients that I have worked with over the years. I always tell them that they can do most of what I will do for them but it often will take them twice as much time and money. Michael Sick (www.GetTheSickness.com)
I am in total agreement with Jeffery. I am also a consultant currently, but in past capacities have opened over 130 restuarants covering independents to franchises. I have always employed consultants because the risk of failure is to great. An independent voice and set of eyes is always worth the price. I get far too many calls from prospects seeking help but problem is too far along to provide any assistance other than a smooth winding down of business. So the small cost of the consultant is far wiser than the loss of someone's life saving.
Thanks Rebecca. I appreciate the opportunity in this forum to talk about our profession and our industry and one of the most misunderstood and abused yet critically important tools for helping operators build success.
Having been inundated with questions and comments all day, I need to address one of the most important issues people have been commenting on. Cost.
As Bob Krieger and Michael Sick have pointed out, the cost of not asking for help can mean the difference between success and failure. But too often, egos and the desire to go down with the ship, get in the way.
The cost of any program or process you utilize in any attempt to grow and prosper has to be measured against a qualified ROI. Of course it doens't make sense to write a check for $10,000 and expect to receive any return that is less than the actual investment, but if you receive $25,000+ in value (any combination of cost savings or increased profits) then you should consider writing more checks or seeking even higher levels of return for your investment. This process should also be laid out beforehand and the metrics and methodology for determining it should be in place prior to any engagement and agreed upon by the operator and the consultant. Anything less is unprofessional and unreliable.
Can a consultant guarantee a particular result? No consultant can and if they tell you they will you need to run just as far away, as fast as you can. A professional will try to influence your decision making process any way they can but at the end of the day it's up to you, the operator, to do the work on your business.
Studies show that CMO are those CxO with the shortest tenure; they have tremendeous difficulties to prove the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.
How can an outsider have it easier? especially when it has financial implications to the expense of the company!