On my honor…

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

When you make a commitment, you stick to it, right? We’d like to think that everyone follows that mantra, but the truth is, life gets in the way sometimes. Or, sometimes it’s as simple as completely forgetting about something you’ve committed to.

Take restaurant reservations, for example. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that have made a reservation at a restaurant and then completely forgotten about it. Some people are even known to book a reservation at a couple of restaurants to ensure themselves a table, but then forget or decide not to call and cancel one of the reservations.  Sometimes it’s as simple as an inconsideration and the guest doesn’t think about the impact their no show will have on the restaurant.

To guarantee the maximum level of business in a given night, it’s important to take steps to make sure your guests honor their reservations.

Start with a “call-ahead” or “wait-list” system in addition to or instead of taking reservations. Guests can call twenty to thirty minutes ahead of their desired wait time and leave their name. Your reservationist can let the guest know the anticipated wait time.

If no shows are a recurring and troublesome problem, consider asking guests for a credit-card when making a reservation. Establish a deposit policy that lets guests know they will forfeit their deposit or be charged a fixed amount if they do not show up for their reservation. If you are not comfortable asking for a deposit on a regular basis, consider implementing the policy on holidays or other high-volume occasions. Remember, if you request a deposit on a reservation, make sure you seat guests as soon as they arrive so you honor the guest relationship and avoid losing future business.  Consider holding a table for 10 to fifteen minutes before declaring a guest a no-show. If a guest shows you the courtesy of calling to let you know they will be late, hold the table for 30 minutes to acknowledge their consideration.

If you are dealing with a VIP guests, waive their deposit fee or credit card charge to show them you appreciate their loyalty. Consider developing a frequent diner program to help you keep track of your VIP guests.

In addition, follow up with guests who lost their deposit or were charged on their credit card with a phone call or email restating the no show policy and informing them that they were charged because they violated the agreement.

Taking some of these steps can drastically reduce the number of no-shows that occur on any given night and guarantee that you maximize your entire table inventory.

Will you Q?

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Part of my job is educating customers about ways to improve operations so that they can see an immediate impact on their bottom line. Our customers need to run leaner, manage operations successfully and build business consistently. Without the right tools, these tasks are challenging to say the least.

Take, for example, dining reservations for restaurants. Restaurant staff needs a way to manage reservations so that they can take advantage of their entire table inventory. They need the assurance that when their guests go online to make a reservation, they find accurate information and can book a reservation easily. They also need a way to keep guests in their restaurant when they find their requested dining time to be unavailable.

When I’m speaking to prospective customers about reservation management, I ask the following: “Can you rely on the reservation software you are currently using?” The answer is usually “That depends.” For a variety of reasons, customers are unsure. They are spending quite a bit of money on some of the systems out there. There is some benefit to the marketing tools these systems provide, but it’s hard to gauge how much business is lost because guests have been redirected to other area restaurants that may have availability. In some case, there is no benefit at all; rather the restaurant feels it’s something that they need to do because they’ve been told it is good business sense to have some sort of system in place.

We end up discussing things like functionality, integration, marketing, and estimated ROI. Ultimately, I end up walking through the features of our software. What’s exciting is that we’ll soon be able to offer more dining reservation tools for restaurateurs. We will launch ReServe Q, a platform that will allow restaurant guests to make dining reservations or add themselves to a wait list using a restaurant’s website or a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. As part of the ReServe Q offering, we’re forging strategic partnerships with mobile application aggregators and online dining guides to expand marketing reach for restaurants.

Most importantly, we’ve created a tool that will benefit our customers to the fullest with increased business and a better bottom line.

Will you Q?

It’s all in the Details (Part 2)

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

When it comes to details, there are two trains of thought. The first is that they are a nuisance, an annoyance – extra work that gets in the way of the bigger picture.  The second is that details are the foundation of an unforgettable experience or an extraordinary event.

When the details are tended to, the bigger picture goes from ordinary to exceptional. Details can make or break an evening out for dining patrons. Are they seated, fed, and hustled out so the next guest can come in, or are they greeted by name, offered their favorite table or bottle of wine, and treated to personalized, superior service throughout their visit? Was their experience common, like so many others? Or was it memorable enough to bring them back over and over again?

That’s why we designed a product that helps our customers focus on the details. Our software allows them to capture important bits of information. And when our customers are too busy to ask for the details, we remind them. We want them to be able to treat all of their guests like VIPs from the get go because when our customers are successful, we’re successful.

The list of details captured by our Dining Reservation & Table Management software alone goes on and on, but here’s a short list to get you thinking.

• Captures guest preferences, like food and beverage purchase histories, table and server requests
• Gathers historical data such as guest contact information, number of prior and future dining reservations booked, number of no shows and cancelled dining reservations
• Automatically calculates available reservation times based on dining room specific criteria including table inventory, turn rates, maximum seating capacities and other information
• Hostesses stay in the know and in control with accurate wait times for walk-in and advanced reservation guests with automated wait time calculations

Not to mention, automated task lists that keep everybody productive, ensuring no details are missed. All of our software modules automatically prompt users throughout the dining reservation or event booking process to guarantee that absolutely nothing is overlooked and all the information gathered in accurate.

I could go on and on about our software, but you can check out the rest of our website for more…you guessed it…details.

It’s all in the Details (Part 1)…

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

What we’ve found over the last 15 years is that our customers thrive on, and are often overwhelmed by, the details. It’s all of the little things that are tied to catered events or dining experiences that can make our users’ jobs chaotic. From last minute reservation cancellations to unexpected walk-ins, Mr. Smith’s wine preference for his anniversary dinner to a frantic bride’s third menu change in two weeks –  all of these things are important, and when missed or misplaced, can throw everything out of sync.

It’s managing the details, no matter how small, that make our customers successful. By simply paying attention to the minutia, they raise the bar of guest service, manage their operations more successfully and consistently generate revenue.

When new customers call, it’s usually because they are drowning in Post-it Notes and file folders, lost in a sea of scratched up and wrinkled reservation book pages, or simply tired of bouncing between three or four computer programs to get one report printed. They’ve thrown up their hands in defeat and are demanding a better way to do business.

And we know that, as a true solutions provider, we can’t make sweeping generalizations about that individual’s business. We can’t assume they follow the same processes as other restaurants or venues, subscribe to similar business models as industry peers, or service the same types of guests as a local counterpart. We must treat them as individuals and pay attention to the details they share – the very same, very specific details they pay attention to every single day.

But that’s just the beginning. Once we talk with them and learn more about their needs, it’s time to share how our software can help them more successfully manage those details…

Are you in control?

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

How much control do you have over your dining room? Do you know where your guests are in the dining cycle? Like who’s just been seated and who’s been given their check? Are reservations running on time or will you have to make some adjustments that will impact upcoming reservations? Two parties have just walked in without a reservation – can you accommodate them?  

So often, I’ve gone to eat at a restaurant without a reservation, fully aware that both reservations and walk-in guests are welcome. I feel for the hostess who is scratching away at her reservation book, pencil sharpened down to a nub, eraser chewed from stress. She takes frantic glances into the dining room, blows the hair out of her eyes and makes a spur of the moment decision on where to place her newest guest. She’s acting on instinct, information she’s receiving from servers on the floor or, in many cases, she’s just taking a guess.

Her job doesn’t have to be so stressful. She just needs the right tools in place to give her control over the floor. Why struggle with a paper-based reservation book where your hosts or hostesses are manically flipping through pages looking for names and crossing off no shows?

When restaurants use ReServe, the atmosphere is notably different. Staff is relaxed, laughing, talking with guests. Walk-ins don’t rattle anyone. Guests are seated quickly and with smiles. There’s an atmosphere of calm all around the dining room.

Our software offers a ton of features that help restaurants efficiently and profitably manage their dining operations, but most importantly our software provides front-of-house staff with control and peace of mind. You can’t put a price tag on happy, productive employees. And the trickle down effective is remarkable – happy staff leads to a relaxed dining environment and happy guests which leads to repeat customers and recurring revenue. It’s amazing what a little control can do.

One or 100…

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

The question I get asked most often from multi-unit customers is ‘How can I keep track of what’s going on across all of my sites?”

Basically, in order for these customers to successfully manage operations, they need a solid handle on activity in each of their locations. That’s where we come in. From reservations to financial reporting, we’ve helped our multi-unit customers observe, gather, analyze and report on activity across 2 or 200 locations.

For example, McCormick & Schmick’s uses ReServe Anywhere®, our web-based Catering & Event Management software, to manage private dining events across 90 locations. Brunswick Entertainment Centers manages events at 13 locations, Wolfgang Puck Catering implements across 12 sites, Gaylord Entertainment manages events at five venues, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises uses ReServe Anywhere across 33 locations.

What do they do with our software? Quite a bit, actually. They manage multiple event books from a headquarters or corporate location; reporting is centralized, so they can report on the enterprise, region or specific location; and they improve communication between employees and across venues. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. They use our software to keep a finger on the pulse of their business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

So, when a multi-unit customer asks how they can keep track of all everything across all of their locations, the answer we give them is simple – ReServe Anywhere.

Thoughts from a Sales Call…

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Just last week, I was talking to a restaurant manager who had heard from one of his customer’s that when he tried to make a reservation online, the website said the restaurant was booked solid. Taking a chance, the customer drove over to the restaurant and found out there were actually several tables available. The manager was concerned. How often had he lost out on patrons and revenue because his reservation software had given the wrong information? He was frustrated and wanted a better way to manage his online reservations.

Sadly, I’ve had this same conversation more than once.

Part of my job is educating customers on ways to improve operations so that they can see an immediate impact on their bottom line. The manager I was speaking to needed a way to manage reservations so that he could take advantage of his entire table inventory. He needed reassurance that when his customers go online, they find accurate information and can book a reservation easily. He also needed a way to keep customers in his restaurant when they did find their requested dining time to be unavailable.

Could he rely on the dining reservation software tool he was currently using? That depends. How many times had this happened before? How much business was he losing? Why was there a disconnect between the software and his dining room?

I ended up walking him through the features of our dining reservation software. I focused on our Smart Reservation Technology. It’s different from the static slot system that many restaurant reservation books and other software systems use. We take into account the specifics of the dining room and manage reservations based on the actual table inventory, real time! Regardless if those reservations are booked over the phone or with ReServe’s online dining reservation software. I also informed him that, with our software, he can manage all of his locations in one database, so he can report on the information he gathers, cross reference reservations and data across locations, and cross market to customers all from one place. Also, if a customer’s requested reservation time is unavailable, our software offers up alternative times so that the customer stays in his dining room. We talked for quite a while that day and he seemed to feel better by the time the call was finished.

I love these types of conversations.   Sometimes they turn into a sale.  However, for me, the payoff is knowing that I’ve given a hard working restaurateur some peace of mind and a solution that will make a real difference to his business.