W.H. Bender & Associates. Restaurat And Food Consulting.

September 15, 2014

Speed of Service is a critical factor when “delivering brand” to Guests. When and how did I learn about this topic? Long before the National Restaurant Association started ProStart there were some school districts teaching home economics classes in high school. I attended Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland.  I decided to take a two period Foodservice class in my junior and senior years that were taught by Laurine Mennell. During class one day Mrs. Mennell mentioned that a new restaurant was opening and I should apply for work. So the next Saturday I drove to the construction site on Old Georgetown Road and applied at the trailer in the parking lot of a new Jolly Ox/Steak and Ale Restaurant.

I was hired for my third job during the pre-opening phase of Jolly Ox #2113 by General Manager Allen Bailiff. It was couple of weeks away from opening as the 19th unit for Steak and Ale, started by Restaurant Industry Icon Norman Brinker. I was fortunate to work with some high school friends as we opened the Rockville unit. I also made many new friends as Rockville was the training restaurant for the east coast and soon became a high sales Average Unit Volume (AUV) for weekly Sales

Steak and Ale Coffee Mug

We listened as Allen, Tom Hays, Ass’t Manager or Area Supervisor Carl Hays soon to become the Vice President of Operations, asked questions or provided leadership and coaching to us. They kept asking about “ticket times” and how long was the “wait” for Guest seating. These questions were used to teach us what was important to the restaurant and to our leaders. We all focused on achieving and and having the “right” answers for them each shift.

A punch clock timer was positioned on the pick-up line on a stainless steel shelf. When steaks were plated by the broiler cook (visible behind the salad bar) to be carried out and served individually by our “old english” waiters with tongs, the cook punched the dupe ticket hard copy in the clock. This is obviously before Point of Sale Systems as Steak and Ale had NCR class 5 cash registers at that time. I observed when Allen, Tom and Carl were working a shift they kept close attention to the tickets that were punched or were hanging and what ticket times were running. If it was important to them, it was important to us.

Rock My Restaurant

Co-Hosting Rock My Restaurant with Eric Norman, FCSI of MVP Services Group made it necessary for us to review our careers for important learnings we have experienced and use for show subject matter. We both felt Speed of Service was important as a stand alone topic to include in the first season. Executive  Producer and Digital Guru Paul Barron coined the term Fast-Casual as described in The Chipotle Effect. Speed is really in the DNA of the restaurant industry whether you are new to the industry or have years of experience.

Foodable WebTV

Foodable WebTV has completed a FREE INDUSTRY REPORT on Speed of Service and it’s available to download at Foodable Labs. In this report you will learn:

• Top 10 RSMI Brands for Speed
• How a Restaurant Operator Can Shift a Consumer’s Value Perception
• Service Expectation Times for Each Restaurant Category
• How to Increase Speed of Operations Without Sacrificing Quality

Stay tuned to Foodable WebTV and Rock My Restaurant for the new season that starts in October. Please contact us if we can provided any further information on this important topic. Keep Rocking – and that means you @ProStart Students across the United States!

William H. Bender, FCSI is the Founder and Principal of W.H. Bender & Associates in San Jose, California. He is a co-host of Rock My Restaurant on Foodable WebTV. Follow on Twitter @WmBender and Like on Facebook.