Mark Twain noted, “clothes make the man,” and we believe that they help make the restaurant and the experience for customers. A World Class restaurant should choose uniforms or standards that can be represented by its employees.  It should be consistent with the type of restaurant you own and should show that you take pride in the appearance of your staff and business.

One purpose of a uniform is to provide cohesiveness through a group of people. When your staff is “dressed for success” it helps them get in the frame of mind of being part of a team and representing something greater. They set apart your staff so guests can clearly identify who can take care of their need or fix their problem.

As you are establishing a dress code, it is important to remember that, while you want your staff to stand out, you also want them blend in with the atmosphere so that your guests can fully enjoy their surroundings. Consider your stance on tattoos, piercings, and gaudy jewelry—do they add something positive to the environment you are trying to create? Or do they take something away from your World Class establishment? Is your staff going to physically stand out more than the services they provide?

When writing your dress code and appearance policy, remember that rules are set for a reason. It is important for companies to recognize and respect the individuality and creativity of their employees; however, it is vital for employees to reflect the desires you have for your restaurant’s environment and services, as well.

Give your prospective employees a job description during their interview and give them an idea of how their training will go and what will be expected of them long-term. Do you want them to “look, not touch” on their first day? Or do you want them to ask how to perform a task? It’s worth noting that the employees who “look, not touch” will, most likely, not be as proactive on shifts to come, so encourage them to ask questions and learn.

Have an employee handbook. How else would an employee know how to conduct him or herself while employed by your organization? Be as specific as possible about your expectations and guidelines, and even the consequences of not following or adhering to your handbook. An employee handbook is never going to be perfect, and you’ll have to make adaptions to it as new situations arise. Having the basics down, though, will encourage good behavior on behalf of your staff. Make them sign a form that they have read the handbook and understand it. It could save you time and money down the road.

Write down your procedures. Organize them in to position specific operations and training manuals and give the trainee a copy of each manual that they are going to need. Are your servers also going to help with food preparation? They should have a copy of the serving manual and the food prep manual. Are you going to have a specific way of answering the phones? Each responsible employee should have a copy of that manual, as well. Give your employees time to read the manual, then have a manager or shift leader go through it with them and train them step-by-step.

Training is not putting the new employee with a veteran. Training involves a plan and a purpose. We need to change behaviors, and craft our employees into professionals. Your handbook and procedures manuals are a step of your plan and should give the purpose of each position and guideline, without being too wordy. By incorporating written instructions, guidelines, procedures, and expectations, with hands-on training by managers and “veterans,” you will provide a rounded learning experience that will help you reach all of your employees and their specific learning styles.

Remember, training isn’t just having a veteran “showing the ropes” to a new employee. It takes you investing in interviews, writing an employee handbook, and organizing your procedure manuals. Then, spending a little more time in hands-on training, and step-by-step, personal instruction. Give your staff a chance.

At the Gringham Group, we help businesses like yours with these, and similar issues every day. Feel free to call us and discuss your training obstacles any time.

I also receive calls from restaurant owners who are going gangbuster and looking to franchise their concept.

So what’s the difference?

I believe that consumer habits are changing. The fact that people are spending less overall might be true, but it’s also true that they’re spending less at sub-par restaurants. Restaurants that weren’t very good in the first place are the ones losing business.

This is an important fact to wrap your mind around, though it’s not that easy to do. First, take a solid look at your concept and find out if you are offering what consumers are looking to buy. People want to patronize restaurants that are alive, that have energy, that are doing old things in a new way.

If you’re not, then patrons will find another restaurant that is and go there. I am seeing that people are sometimes patronizing these restaurants 1-2 times per week…

…while other restaurant owners sit around and whine about the economy.

I’m not saying this to be harsh, but to deal with the reality of the restaurant business right now. If you’re not having the experience that you would like to have, you need to work on your business, find out what people are looking for, and incorporate it into your restaurant. Most of all, you can never stop improving. You’re either moving forward or moving backward, there’s no such thing as standing still.

Take a look at your competition today and find out if anyone’s doing it better than you. Then take a look at your restaurant and find out if there’s any way to improve your concept. Even little changes can make a big difference.

Business is simple: you have to be the best, promise the best, and then deliver the best — better than anyone on the block, every time.

Typically (maybe it’s because I’m male), I answer, “yes,” regardless of if I actually do know where I’m heading or not.  I usually know the general direction, and I’ll figure the rest out along the way, right?

Unfortunately, I often see this practiced in business, and the consequences are greater than a few wrong turns.

When I ask the question “do you know where you’re going?” I find that most people have an idea, but it’s loosely defined and subject to change at any time.  This is a dangerous place to be.

The lack of a well-defined vision and plan is equal to not knowing what you’re actually working on.  It equals your staff operating in a free-for-all, with each person trying to accomplish their personal vision rather than the vision of the company.

Not knowing where you’re going also results in a decision making process that provides no way to filter decisions.  All ideas should lead towards accomplishing your greater vision, but if you don’t have a vision to work off of, it becomes difficult to make quality decisions.

In contrast, by taking the time to write down your goals and visions, you give yourself something to work towards each day.  It creates a roadmap of how to get there, with landmarks along the way.  Landmarks are those major accomplishments that let you know that you’re still on the right path.

By having a well defined vision, you are also able to show your team where you’re heading, and what it’s going to look like when they get there.  This allows them to work together towards a common goal and take ownership in the company’s success.

So pull over, and spend some time today dreaming.  Envision what it will look like when you have accomplished all of your goals, and write down what that looks like to you.

Incorporate that dream into a vision statement, and then make a map of major landmarks that will prove you’re on the right path. Share this dream with your staff and let them know what’s in it for them if they help you accomplish it.  Then, get up every morning and work towards that goal, until you see it come to pass.

1. It’s the right thing to do.  This is the way the artist receives proper payment for the work they create.
2. You’re required to.  You should always run your business legitimately, no matter the governing body.

With that being said, you have a few options to cover yourself and still give your guests great music:

• Sirius Satellite Radio — licenses are included in fee.  $29 per month.  This is what I do.  I purchased a receiver that automates the channel, volume, and times that it plays the music for about $250.
  • http://www.siriusxm.com/siriusxmforbusiness/learnmore

• Muzak — you pay a company to send you CD or digital files that change every month.  You pick the type of music, artists, etc. and they build custom music.  Each month, you get a change of pace.  I don’t have any experience with this but heard it was around $30 – $40 per month.
  • http://www.muzak.com/sprints/satellite_music

• Pay licenses.  There are many music licensing bodies, although two main ones (ASCAP & BMI).  There is a third one that is prominent as well (SESAC).
  •  http://www.ascap.com
  •  http://www.bmi.com/
  •  http://www.sesac.com/

Essentially, each individual artist is contracted with a licensing body (usually one of the three above) to collect royalties for the music.  You would actually contact these bodies and pay them a fee based on the songs you play and the number of people that hear these songs.  It is possible that you would need to contact another body based on the songs you play, but typically you can pay 2-3 of these and be covered.  This is more work, but I’ve been told the cost is similar, $20 – $40 per month.  I don’t have any experience with this either.

Update – 12/14/11

As of 11/1/11, you have another option!  DMX has partnered with Pandora to give you the ability to play Pandora Internet Radio, including royalties, for $24.95 per month.  You have to purchase a DMX Pandora Player which runs $75, and you can program your channels and you’re off and running.  Learn more at dmx.com/pandora

In a marathon, a runner won’t always feel like they’re winning, they won’t always feel like they’re making much progress, and often it feels impossible to make it to the end.  But the key is they keep going.

A marathoner keeps pressing forward no matter how they feel. They continue to remember their goal, and make every muscle in the body work toward that goal. In fact, at times they must make sure that you don’t think about anything except the goal, because anything else they focus on will distract from the goal — finishing.

The pace can change.  Sometimes they run really fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes they walk, but they are always moving forward.  They don’t ever stop. Every minute, everything they do, is progress toward the finish line.

The same is true in business development.

The goal is not a finish line, but a successful company that runs on systems rather than individual people.  These systems should be able to be duplicated in every area of the business without direct involvement from the owners.

You start out with a goal — to create a successful company.  It seems easy at first and you can’t wait to get started. But in the first mile you realize that it’s not going to be as easy as you thought.  But it’s still a reachable goal!

Just like in a marathon, there will be times when you feel like you can’t go on, but at whatever pace you can, you have to keep making strides towards the goal.

Just like in a marathon, there will be times where distractions block your path, but you have to continue to make strides towards the goal.

I believe that many business owners set out to create this type of a business, but most fall short. The main reason being they become overwhelmed and distracted to the point where they stop focusing on the goal. They spend all of their time putting out fires, and forget to solve problems with systems so that the problem never appears again. They make a long task list, but it never gets accomplished because something else always steals their time.

So what is the difference with the ones that succeed? They spend one extra hour working after everyone has left, to implement a system that will make their life easier. They come in one hour earlier to make sure they get their work done, because they know that they have a lot else going on that week. They refuse to put out fires unless they’ve developed a system that will fix it forever. They pick 1-2 “long term” tasks per week that will develop their business, and make sure — no matter what — that they are completed. They are consumed by the “business development side” even when nobody else understands what they are talking about.

But these guys win.

Sometimes it looks like they’re not going to be able to finish. Sometimes it looks like they’ll never accomplish their goal…but that’s just the part of the marathon that they walk. They never quit moving their legs, they just walk instead of run. They understand that sometimes the walk is needed, but they also understand that they’ll encounter periods where they will be able to run, and in these periods they’ll see their goal more clearly than ever before.

The guys that win never quit moving their legs.

It’s important for you to know that there will be weeks where you are distracted, but you have to keep moving your legs. You may have to come in an hour earlier than your staff gets there, or you might have to stay an hour after your staff leaves, but you need to keep moving.

You need to remain focused on the goal, and know that the extra hour you put in, will gain you weeks in months of free time down the road. Your emails still need answered, your tasks still need completed, your business still needs developed. You don’t have time to stop moving, because if you do someone else will come running up beside you, ready to take over as the best business in town, ready to beat you at your own game.

Commit to developing your business today, no matter what else comes at you. If you don’t have a goal, take some time and write it down. Then work towards it every day of your life. The time and energy sown into your business now will reap endless rewards in your future.

vec·tor/ˈvektər/

• Noun: A quantity having direction as well as magnitude, esp. as determining the position of one point in space relative to another.

ras·ter/ˈrastər/

• Noun: A rectangular pattern of parallel scanning lines followed by the electron beam on a television screen or computer monitor.

Vector art is a group of lines and shapes that makes up an image.  These lines can be stretched, shrunk, cut, or combined to make new images.  The possibilities of transforming these images are endless.

Raster images are typically in the form of pictures.  This is a still image that was reflected through a camera at a specific point in time.  This image cannot be stretched, shrunk, cut, or combined with other images or it will lose the effect that it had the moment it was taken.

Why does this matter?  Typically, when designing things like logos, vector art is needed to be able to add color, stretch, print, copy, or paste.  When using raster images in a logo, you will eventually come to a spot where you cannot use that image, and will have to come up with an alternative solution.

When designing a logo or print materials, I would encourage you to make sure that you are using vector artwork for all logos, text, lines, shapes, and use raster artwork for pictures, product images, or staff.  By doing this, you will ensure that your print media comes out crystal clear and defined every time.

• Reducing stress
• Accomplishing projects
• Success
• Growth in your personal life
• Growth in your career

You probably have many ideas throughout the day, along side your normal business operations. And it is important that you capture, as well as accomplish, those ideas at some point.

Here is a simple three step process to being effective in both time and task management:

1. Filter through the “noise” of conversations, emails, texts, and chats.

In today’s technology saturated world, there are never-ending channels of information constantly demanding your attention.  Therefore, it is important to be able to filter through these channels and extract the action items meaningful to you.  When you have done this for each email, voicemail, meeting, chat, or text, put it on a list (described below).

2. Create three lists for structuring your action items.

This is important because you need to separate your tasks and decide what needs taken care of today, this week, or later this month.  Consider the following options:

1. Calendar –It’s customary to put a meeting on your calendar, but you should also use your calendar for tasks that need accomplished on a specific day.  I often plan out my entire day on the calendar before it begins.
2. Short Term List – Simply a list that can be used for tasks that need completed soon, but not necessarily on a specific day.  I typically make this for tasks that I want to complete inside of the current week.
3. Long Term List – A list of ideas or tasks that I need to follow through on, but not necessarily right now.  I usually try to complete these items within the month, but sometimes this list gets out of control and the time period extends longer.  But on this list, that’s okay!  It’s very important to continue to write tasks on this list no matter how long it gets.  You will catch up eventually, and you won’t leave anything out because you feel like it shouldn’t be on a list anymore.

3. File all emails/voicemails, meeting notes, chats, texts

This is an important step, because many people want to hang on to emails, notes, etc.  It causes stress to try to remember where all of these are, and what needs done from each one if there is no system.

What I do is, as soon as the action or information is extracted and on a list, the document gets filed.  This allows me to feel a sense of security and accomplishment in knowing where the task is located (on a list), knowing that I will complete it (instead of forget it), and knowing that I’ve responded to all of my emails, notes, voicemails, etc.  And if I ever need to reference anything for clarity, I can pull it out of the file and review.

The most important step in all of this is to set up a system that works for you.  Be disciplined about using it and using it correctly, or else your system will fall apart.  But if you follow through, you’re on your way to reducing stress with effective time and task management.

It’s the epitome of the American dream to own your own business.  To be your own boss.  Call the shots.  Make your own decisions.

And if you’re like me (and many others), you’ve left your secure job, borrowed money, opened a business, and immediately made less money than you ever thought you’d make with double or triple the hours and risk.

In a sentence, you’ve just bought yourself a job!

But do you really have what it takes?  Have you taken a moment to ask what you are doing to help your business grow?

I believe it’s extremely important to recognize that the owner of a business, the entrepreneur, is an entirely different position than any other in a company.  It must be viewed independently from all other positions in order for that business to grow and thrive.  It requires a unique skill set and personality traits, and comes with its own learning curve.

First Things First

Simply put, an entrepreneur leads, dreams, and creates.  This should not be taken lightly; as it is the most important role in a business.  He or she casts the vision for where the business is headed.

This is the person who sees the future, and has to create and develop a team that will make the vision a reality.  While the leadership and guidance of an entrepreneur keep the team heading in the same direction, they must also be confident in the systems they create to run the business, rather than always do things on their own.

In many cases, the entrepreneur starts out working alongside their employees, as well as leading, dreaming and creating.  This is okay, but it must be clear that the entrepreneur is working a position in order to create a system or a process for that position.  As the business grows, they must give the role to an employee and move on.  At all times, they must be aware that while they are developing various areas of the company, there is a need to maintain the role of leader, dreamer, and creator.

Owning your own business will carry with it many emotional highs and lows, but there is nothing more fulfilling than watching what you’ve created grow and thrive with you in your rightful position.

The position of visionary, not taskmaster.  The position of entrepreneur, not employee.

Printers are not able to print color to the edge of a page.  At home, your printer always leaves a margin on the top, bottom, and sides of the page.  The same is true for high volume commercial printing.  With this in mind, a printer will print your piece on over sized paper and then cut it down to the correct size.

The “bleed” is a technique which protects the integrity of your image in this process.  It’s the amount of space that the document is larger than the final dimensions of the artwork you want to produce.  If you allow for a bleed, you won’t have to worry about your final piece being altered when the printer cuts it down to size.

When preparing your artwork, you will want to design the background of your piece larger than it actually needs to be by .125 or .25 of an inch.  Leave the text inside of the final dimensions, but make any background colors or images larger than the final dimensions call for, so they “bleed” off the page.

For example, if you were printing a 4″x6″ postcard, you would design it 4.125″ x 6.125″, but keep the text inside of the 4″x6″ bounding box.  You would extend the colors and pictures to the 4.125″ x 6.125″ bounding box.  This would be referred to as a 4″x6″ postcard with a .125″ bleed.

Although any printer should be able to add the bleed to your artwork, this is good information to know and can save you time and hassle down the road.  Over time, you will be able to find higher volume printers that will accept your artwork and therefore lower your prices.