日本にはレストランマネージャーはたくさんいます。
ですが、本当にレストランマネージャーとして、必要なことを理解し、それに必要なツールを適切に使い、適切なチームを作り、利益を生み出す集団に作り上げているレストランマネージャーが、どれだけいるでしょうか？

一つ質問です。

「チームとゲスト、あなたは最初にどちらを見るべきだと思いますか？」

これにあなたは自信を持って、明確な論拠を持って、この質問に答えられるでしょうか？

もし少しでも迷うのであれば、このコラムは是非読んでください。
きっと、あなたの経験で培ってきたノウハウを、より確固たるものにしてくれるはずです。

Point 10

Build loyalty, not the check average

Let's say your typical guest comes in twice month and your average check is 2000 yen per person. Let's also say that you would like a 50% sales increase(who wouldn't?) What are your opinions?

Option 1: Increase the Check Average

You could try to increase your average check to 2500 yen and hope that people would still come in as often as they did before. You might be able to pull this off but I would not want be on it.
Most operators tell me their guests have a certain amount they are comfortable spending in any given situation. Pressure to increase the per person expenditure could result in lower guest counts. Raising the average check is not likely to work.

Option 2: Invest in Promotion

You could invest heavily in promotion but promotion can also be expensive. Every cost you add raises the sales required to net out a 50% increase. Besides, the odds of coming up with a campaign that would produce a consistent 50% sales increase are also pretty slim.
Promotion is usually not the answer.

Option 3: Increase Frequency

What are the odds that you could treat your guests is such a way that instead of coming in twice a month, they would come in three times a month? Pretty good, I'll bet.
Just one more visit a month would provide that 50% sales increase... without any increase in average check and without any increased pressure on the guests or your service staff!
If you can give your guests such a good experience that they come to you instead of patronizing your competition, you cannot help but increase your volume.

The secret is frequency

You see how it works? A 50% sales increase seems impossible, but getting guests to come back one more time a month seems pretty reasonable. And it is.
After all, your guests eating somewhere, why shouldn't it be with you?
Even if guests come in twice a week, one more visit a month is still a 12.5% sales increase, again without any pressure to increase the average check.

Focus on delight

So the safest way to achieve sales growth is to have your guests return more often. In this mode, your goal is to delight your guests, win their trust and earn their loyalty rather than simply trying to increase the average per person sales.
Don't get me wrong – if a guest wants to spend more money, I have no problem in taking it with gratitude and a smile! But it is about time we stopped having such a fixation on how much our guests spend on each visit and started putting our energies toward increasing the number of time they visit!

Higher checks are OK, but.....

Now the two are not necessarily incompatible – it is possible to build both repeat patronage and the check average. However. I place the focus on the human side of the equation because food service is a business based on personal relationship.

I do not believe that success in building the average per person sale will guarantee guest loyalty or repeat patronage nor will it necessarily sustain long term sales growth.
On the other hand, I firmly believe that success in building guest loyalty and repeat patronage will always increase total revenue and sustain it over the long term.

筆者の紹介

ナメグ・メヘルダード
1967年テヘラン生まれ。85年、スイス・ローザンヌで高校を卒業し、翌年テヘラン大学に入学。ビジネスマネジメントで修士号を修め、92年に卒業。95年には社会学で博士号を修得した。ペルシャ語、フランス語、英語、日本語、トルコ語に堪能。97年に来日後、2000年にアウトバック・ステーキハウスに入社。マネジャー、キッチンマネジャーや総支配人を各地の店舗で歴任した。07年にはアウトバック・ステーキハウスインターナショナルから「2007年度のベスト経営者」に選ばれる。08年にT.G.Iフライデーズに入社。09年６月よりオータパブリケイションズにて経営調査室アドバイザーとして外食産業のコンサルティングに携わる。

コンタクト：mehrdad@ohtapub.co.jp