Ken Burgin

Restaurant Productivity

Sales & Marketing

Yuk Factor – Simple Things That Customers Dislike (and don’t tell you about)

February 2, 2018 2 Comments

We get busy, or need to cut expenses, and it doesn’t take long before shortcuts start with cleaning, maintenance, repairs and service. Here’s a bunch of familiar items – we’ve all done it, but please find a better way. Most customers don’t complain, they just stop visiting… and tell their friends – these are the opposite of Quality Signals. PRINT and share with your team – they will find more! Sticky things – unwiped tables,

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Working on my elevator pitch as Silver Chef’s Community Manager

January 27, 2018 No Comments

With my new role as Community Manager at Silver Chef, there’s the need to explain my slightly ambiguous title to people who ask about it. Or be ready to go beyond hello at an event, when most Australians seem to make ‘what do you do’ the ice-breaker question. A recent session with the marketing team had us working on our elevator pitches, and struggling to keep them short, jargon-free and interesting. Here’s my one-sentence version, and

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How ‘Quality Signals’ Silently Promote Your Restaurant and Bar

January 21, 2018 4 Comments

They’re the small, carefully chosen elements that, one by one, tell people that this is a quality business. Different people will notice different things, so one won’t be enough. Here are some of the ‘quality signals’ I’ve noticed in the last few months at different restaurants, cafes and bars… Fresh flowers – a big bunch, not a small one Good quality uniforms and aprons in staff – looking new, not washed 1000 times. Matching your

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10 Restaurant KPI’s to Measure Sales Strength and Weakness

January 18, 2018 No Comments

Whether it’s sales, productivity or costs – your performance is in the numbers. Most Point of Sale systems offer hundreds of report options, but unless the sales are grouped in the right way, the results won’t show you useful information. Here’s a bunch of useful Sales KPI’s to see how well your business is performing… Number of Customers. Simple! A good measure of popularity, but how do you count them if there’s a cafeteria line

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Let’s Help This Cafe Add Some Pre-Opening Excitement…

December 20, 2017 2 Comments

It’s big opportunity missed – this shop is due to open as a cafe, but they’re keeping the good news well hidden. What could they add to this wasted publicity space? Essential information – website, phone and email address in large print. Facebook and Instagram address, with a request to ‘checkin’ and ‘like’. Run Facebook local ads, targeted to the neighbourhood – look what’s coming! How to get on the email list – when they

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Are you making one of these common mistakes with your Voice Mail message?

December 12, 2017 1 Comment

I cringed when I heard Nancy Friedman the Telephone Doctor describe these 5 clunkers – I’m changing my message today! In the video below she outlines 5 dumb but common messages that need to be improved, and she also asks, when was the last time you checked your own message? And let’s not get started on restaurant phone answering and voicemail – lots of work needed there!  

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Restaurant Decoration

7 Low-Cost Restaurant Decoration Ideas

December 5, 2017 No Comments

When you deal with thousands of customers a week, everything is on a BIG scale – and the decorations should be the same. If you want to make an impact, here are 7 ways to get people talking and photos being taken (and shared). Great restaurant decoration creates great of mouth! 100 balloons. Don’t waste money on helium to have them floating to the ceiling. It looks great, but the next day they’ll be sinking to

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Positioning is why people don’t ‘get’ your special food concept

November 29, 2017 No Comments

Feel like eating out? Let’s go to a Thai place – red curry, stir fry, fish cakes… mmm Or maybe Mexican – spicy beans, tacos, burritos… yum! What about that new Filippino place? Or the Ethiopian one? Huh?? Most people are fairly conservative in their tastes, and 8/10 want the same as last time. They may range across Pizza, Mexican, Thai and Subway, but each of these concepts has a clearly defined position in our brains

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4 Overlooked KPI’s for Restaurant Management Control

November 24, 2017 No Comments

Apart from the weekly sales, F&B costs and wage totals, these 4 additional figures will give an accurate, honest snapshot of how things are working, and what’s possible for improvement… 1. Spending per Customer: it’s a simple figure and I find most operators don’t check it. Or they guess. Divide the total sales or sales in a category by the total number of customers – simple. It’s often less than you think, and a reason

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Getting it right with Sponsorship Applications…

November 22, 2017 No Comments

Do you have an endless stream of community groups asking for sponsorship and donations, way more than you can afford? Or maybe you are after sponsorship from a liquor or food company for an event. Most sponsorship applications are poorly thought out, offering few tangible benefits to the sponsor. They talk about how worthy they are, and offer ho-hum ‘opportunities’ of logo placement, banners, mentions and dinner invitations. But no mention of how the sponsorship

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