Guest Article: NOW SAY “YES” - Jon Wool, President/Owner, Finesse Cuisine

In my last post here, I declared that we should say “No” to opportunities that will compromise our company’s vision, integrity, or profitability. This post inspired a big positive response from industry friends, but several asked how to best qualify when to say “Yes.”  It’s a great question!

There are many qualitative reasons to say “Yes” to an opportunity, but sound business decisions are always supported by accurate Pro formas and Profit and Loss statements. This holds true for everyone, including the creative thinker, the rainmaker (euphemism for the independent, fast-charging, commission-hungry, and client-pleasing sales person), and anyone inclined to impetuously sidestep standard cost accounting.  I confess: I was guilty of this approach for the better part of my career.

Such behavior is rarely intentional; it is simply a reflection of the uninformed or undisciplined mind. In managing Finesse Cuisine and working with consulting clients, I have found that one solution is to create a compensation plan that in part rewards everyone for achieving specific financial goals. An even more effective approach, however, is to educate your staff to understand events in financial terms and concepts.

Periodic companywide evaluations of real event P&L’s will help you decide when to say “No” and when to say “Yes.” Even hourly employees should get into the act. You may be surprised by the great suggestions your porter, dishwasher, or driver offer on ways to economize.  And they will feel great when they see how they add essential value to the company’s well being. When evaluating event Pro formas and P&L’s becomes an everyday exercise, everyone is empowered to justify activities and pricing to clients, managers, and colleagues alike. The added benefit is that your Accounting Department will be better able to forecast cash flow.

Just as professional athletes, artists, and musicians still practice basic fundamentals, you will find it helpful to regularly run through the following topics with your management: 

• What is a business?
• What is a Pro forma?
• What is a Profit & Loss Statement?
• How do Expenses impact Contribution Margin?
• What is the difference between Event Contribution Margin and Net Profit?
• How can a P&L shape decision making?
• What are your Company Fixed Costs?

Just like a basketball player practicing free throws or a jazz pianist running through scales, having these conversations reinforces the fundamentals of your company’s business.

It is the job of all managers to control and understand how costs affect them directly and why the P&L is essential. Armed with financial understanding, you can evaluate each opportunity’s value and potential risks.  Knowing all the right information helps you know when to discard the “Just Say No” rule and when to feel confident offering a wholehearted “Yes!”

JON WOOL

Plan For The Slower Months with Demonstration Maketing

What can we do to make cold calling “warmer”? How can cold calling bring in more dollars? How can we give a salesperson a reason to do cold calling? One answer to these questions is to offer group tastings to your marketplace. The mission is to invite potential customers to a location to taste your food and see the power of your presentations.

Decide on a geographical area you wish to draw prospects from. It could be a suburb, a building, a city, an industrial park, etc.

Find a location close to that area that will let you use their facility to hold a sampling open house for people in the area. You probably need a location that will hold 100, people including your buffet set-ups. Carpet stores, automobile dealers, theater lobbies etc. all work well. Most of these places will let you use their place free since you are helping them become acquainted with the area’s buyers also.

“Hi, my name is Bob Smith and I’m the owner of ABC Catering. We’re looking for a place to set-up catering buffets and serve about 200 people some samples of our food. Would you consider letting us use your showroom to invite these business people to come on our invitation? In this way, these people will also be introduced to your location and your products.”

Pick a date for your sampling open house. Wednesday just might be the best day for it, but other days can work just as well. Your invitation will tell potential clients to come between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Now it’s time to go out and canvas, email or call prospects in the area selected!

Here’s gist of the marketing message that you place or say in an email blast, letter, postcard, phone call or in person:

“ABC Catering wishes to introduce our catering to those who haven’t used us so we can build our business. We want to invite some people from your company to come to our free food tasting next Wednesday at the USA Carpet Showroom. Each company may have up to five people attend.”

At the open house, offer samples of your entire product line from simple box lunches to whatever. In some cases, you should have some buffets just for show. Be sure to demonstrate your Wow! factors of presentation. This system of marketing cold calling has helped many caterers increase their business dramatically. It gets everyone in the company involved in an exciting promotion.

DON'T EVEN THINKN OF MISSING THE GREATEST GATHERING OF CATERERS IN THE WORLD!

Roman's Tips For Managers - Part #3

23. Lead a healthy lifestyle focused on weight control and exercise.

24. Be a positive roll model for others.

25. Never underestimate the competition.

26. Never tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind.

27. Remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

28. When in doubt, trust your intuition.

29. Be confident and comfortable, but not complacent.

30. Keep your ear to the company grapevine.

31. Recognize that no one is indispensible.

32. Take your job very seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously.

33.  Don’t do it because it feels good; do it because it’s right!

Roman's Tips For Managers - Part #2

12. Be curious and open-minded.

13. Be an active listener.

14. Be a mentor to someone on the way up.

15. Celebrate the personal and professional accomplishments of your staff.

16. Use “we” rather than “I” when talking about the firm.

17. Keep all promises.  Don’t promise more than you can deliver.

18. Strive for total quality/continuous improvement at all times.

19. Look at problems as opportunities.

20. Bring more humor into your company.

21. Use the K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple... stupid) whenever possible.

22. Say “I don’t know” when you don’t.


NOTE: If you didn’t receive this blog post directly to your computer via your email without needing to login to my blog site, then you should take a moment and register to get my posts automatically without going directly to the website. Simply input your email address in the field directly under my photo in the top right margin of my blog site.  You will receive an email to reconfirm and you are done

Roman's Tips For Managers - Part #1

1.  Stand behind your staff in times of stress and crisis.

2.  Treat others the way you want to be treated.

3.  Be especially considerate to front-line staff.

4.  Dress for success.  Look professional.

5.  Improve your oral communication skills.

6.  Praise in public.  Criticize in private.

7.  Carefully manage your time.  Its your scarcest and least renewable resource.

8.  Remember:  Success is getting up just one more time than you fall down.

9.  Don’t ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.

10. Remember, friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.

11. Maintain an optimistic outlook.

Discussion Points For Meetings - #8

1. The written agreement/contract for an event needs to explain what is going to happen as well as what might happen.  


2. When sending proposals and bids, always give the client a deadline to guarantee the quoted prices and date selection. After the deadline for a client's response, everything starts from the beginning.        

3. You will sell more catering when your marketing messages demonstrate what your catering will do for your client and their guest not just what your catering is.

4. Happy staff are not necessarily productive staff.

5. In case of accidents or illness, an event manager should have emergency phone numbers to call to alert company management and also the injured staff person’s family.

6. Have you checked and serviced your trucks and vans lately? 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: If you didn’t receive this blog post directly to your computer via your email without needing to login to my blog site, then you should take a moment and register to get my posts automatically without going directly to the website. Simply input your email address in the field directly under my photo in the top right margin of my blog site.  You will receive an email to reconfirm and you are done

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BRING ON THE DECEMBER RUSH!

Example Of A Catering Field Procedures Manual

What follows is a sample selection from one of the best policy and procedure manuals I've ever seen detailing what staff needs to know when working at off-premise events. Just thought our readers would like to have a look. Below is just one small section dealing with heating at events. While this is a policy and procedures manual it also teaches those who wish to know how to do things better.

Heat Sources

ABC Catering uses many different methods to cook or heat foods at off-premise events. It depends on the situation at hand. Is there a kitchen available for us to use? What type of menu do we need to heat? Here are some of the ways we accomplish the task when a kitchen is not available for us to use:

1. Portable electric convection ovens. These are used primarily to heat passed hors d’oeuvre. Plug them in as early as possible to make sure that the electrical system in the home or office can take the amps drawn by the ovens. These ovens become very hot on all sides, including top and bottom. Leave several inches of clearance on all sides of these ovens. Protect all counter, and tabletops by placing cardboard under the oven. Always use the ovens at full power since they are opened so many times during the evening. The aluminum half-pans we use are slightly too wide to go easily into the cavity of the ovens. Simply bend up the ends and they will fit. Do not put parchment paper into these ovens. Since the ovens often are jostled about, the doors don’t stay closed all the time. Be sure to watch for this. When breaking down, be sure that the ovens have cooled.

2. Charcoal grills. These are used at large outdoor events to cook large quantities of chicken, pork, steaks, tenders, etc. It is important to light the grills as soon as possible. It takes about two hours for the large mass of charcoal these grills use to burn down to proper cooking coals. Later, coals should be added a few at a time. Only reload one section of the grill at a time, so that three-fourths of the grill area is useable at full strength at all times. It takes careful planning and attention to make sure that the re-coaling remains smooth and consistent throughout the day. The grill takes several hours to cool. As the coals burn down, remove as many coals as possible and deposit them in the steel can provided for used coal disposal. Keep the lid on the can as tight as possible to smother the fire. Do not pour water into burning coals unless all food is packed away and the general area is free of guests. Special Note: When using a grill, or other cooking method, you need to have one of our portable fire extinguishers close by.

3. Cassette burners burn butane gas. The fuel comes in a can similar in size and shape to an aerosol can. The can gives between two and four hours of heat, depending on how high a flame is used. Since there is no obvious indication when the can is empty, you need to check frequently to make sure the flame is still on, sounds silly, but it’s important. These burners are used for pasta and risotto stations on a buffet and for heating sauces in a field kitchen. They also heat pans of oil to be used as deep fryers. Before packing a gas burner, be sure to let it cool completely. Turn the pan support upside down. Disengage the can from the cooker.

4. Electric induction stoves. These are the same size as the butane cookers. They use 110-volt electrical power and are used in the field kitchen and sometimes on guest stations. The tops of the burners don’t get hot to the touch, except when a pan has been on them for awhile. These burners are powerful and cook very quickly. They use special pots and pans that will be in the same packing box as the stoves.


NOTE: If you didn’t receive this blog post directly to your computer via your email without needing to login to my blog site, then you should take a moment and register to get my posts automatically without going directly to the website. Simply input your email address in the field directly under my photo in the top right margin of my blog site.  You will receive an email to reconfirm and you are done