“Just the facts”

How, better yet why do we do the things we do in the hospitality industry, might be one of the things that goes overlooked. We follow trends, read an article or ask AI to come up with our next step. Seems like the right thing to do because everyone else does it and they have a line out the door. And until now I would have agreed with you to an extent, but after a recent conversation I had the other day, my why might be modified.

Yesterday I went to a new Cape Verdean restaurant that I have heard nothing but rave reviews about. Now it was close to closing time and the selection was slim, but there were enough offerings to make a couple of meals to take home. 

While I was there I had an opportunity to speak with the owner, an incredible young Cape Verdean woman, who not only gave me her background story but shared with me a philosophy so basic and relevant that it is hardly ever used.

Now to quantify what I am going to say, let me tell you about her credentials. The restaurant is her passion, her mother is an experienced chef who worked her way through many of the fine restaurants in Portugal. She spent many hours growing up alongside her mother in the kitchen, the restaurant is a reflection of her family. Sounds familiar, but what is extraordinary about this lady is that she holds a Ph.D. in business and economics and currently teaches several entrepreneur classes at a nearby college. Needless to say I took our brief conversation more as a consultation than mere chitchat. 

While we were talking I mentioned that I tried to look the restaurant up online, as we all tend to do, and I asked, seeing how the restaurant had been open for nearly two months, why she did not have any online presents. Her response was simply DATA.

It must have been the look on my face, because it wasn’t long before she elaborated. She explained to me that everyone goes in with a preconceived notion of what is going to work, based on nothing but their own experiences. Now experience does play a crucial part in any endeavor, but usually those experiences are in a different controlled environment. But what happens when you change the environment, do your experiences also change?

She went on and mentioned that most restaurants start off with a soft opening, but that data is kind of skewed because it is usually friends and family, who as we know don’t want to hurt the relationship, so never really give us a truthful opinion.

Instead she just opened, put out the big wavy flag saying now open and ran with it. After a couple of weeks the word was out. Now she had some baseline data. The original hours were from 7 am to 8 pm, she soon found out that the stress on her staff offset the revenue coming in, so the hours quickly changed. She was able to evaluate her menu offering and make adjustments to meet the request of her guest. Now there is something to work from, hard numbers to support or dismiss what was once an idea. Nothing was cast in stone, or better yet floating in the digital atmosphere.

But being me, I brought up her lack of a digital footprint, her response was simple. All of her successes and (for lack of a better word) failures would have been magnified, and her data would not have been authentic. Now that the restaurant has been open for several weeks, her next step will be her online present.

So how does that help you? I have been going back to that question since my conversation, and I think I have an answer. 

Our world has become so analytical, the algorithm your phone uses to come up with the right video or meme is constantly using your own data to get you hooked on an endless loop of nonsense.  

If data works everywhere else, why aren’t we using it more in the kitchen. Nowadays even an antique POS system can produce valuable information to help drive us forward. Unfortunately most of us just focus on the daily sales, but what if we looked deeper.

What if we did a weekly analysis of how individual items sold, this would not only tell us which items we need to prep more, but maybe guide us in replacing items that don’t sell, to reduce inventory and waste. Look at times orders were placed to staff properly, we may find out that we don’t need a full shift on at certain times.

I know nothing revolutionary here, but right now is the perfect time to view our data. The year is over half way gone, summer only has one month left and depending where you are located it is either the end of the busy season, or it is time to fire it up. There is no better time than right now to streamline your operation, and fight the overwhelming increases in expenses.

How about instead of looking elsewhere for your answers, you look at what you already have in hand and let the data decide your direction.

If you would like more information on data driven decision making, or would just like to share your opinion with us, feel free to reach out.