One
of my favorite projects was 3½ months as the general manager of a
country club while a search was under way for a
new GM.
My
goal was to improve the performance of the dining and grill rooms,
increase diner volume, and grow revenue from this area of the club.
To
record sales, each area had
a terminal for the central a
point
of sale (POS)
system. Each
night after the club closed, the POS was closed out and reconciled.
My first night, the bartender, who typically did the close out,
helped me learn the process and printed
the tape with
details of the close, including the gross receipts for the day.
When
we were done, I took the tape and asked his estimate of the gross
receipts amount – he said he had no idea. I asked for his best
guess – I showed him the amount...he was way off. The next night he
was closer and after about a week he was within a few hundred dollars
of the actual amount.
The
next night, as I was locking up the club, the bartender did the close
out and was waiting for me with a Cheshire
cat smile – when I
went to start the close, he was standing there holding the tape, with
a hand over the gross receipts figure. His
smile got bigger when he ASKED
ME for an estimate of
the receipts for the day! After a quick mental review, I told him the
figure – it was within $75 of the actual amount.
I
told the bartender that having an accurate feel for the receipts is
important – the same is
true for general costs as well.
I gave him an estimate of
the daily combined
labor cost for servers, cooks, bartenders, and other dining
staff – he immediately
said – on Tuesday we
don't even take in
that much.
My
turn to have a huge smile as he says that
knowing costs and receipts
gives him
some
tools to manage our operations better. How I ask? The bartender,
standing a little taller, says we can have fewer staff on hand for
the lighter days, or send them home early based on the diner volume –
servers, cooks, and others. Also we could do some specials or
deals to promote more activity on the light days.
He
got it – make adjustments in the cost and revenue sides of the
ledger to better balance operating results. By
knowing how the receipts and costs relate, and honing his ability to
accurately estimate the key figures, he became more valuable to the
club.
With
his new outlook, the bartender was making a greater impact on the
club's bottom line and in a short time was promoted to a more
responsible role (and more $$).
1 comment:
This works even better when you ask people what THEY can accomplish over the next week. After some initial fumbling, people become deadly accurate and don't let normal pitfalls stop them. Then they start achieving more, every week, just to see if they can.
This is a key to building high performance, resilient organizations.
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