102: Restaurant Staff Productivity VS Efficiency, What's the Difference?

Well, good afternoon. My name is Adam Lamb and we are on another episode of turning the table. Today's topic is gonna be efficiency versus productivity. And I'm sorry for that little thing with my cell phone as always, you know, gotta make sure that it's muted. I'll do that right now, or I'll just power it off. Thank you.

for restaurant operations

in support of the hashtag

new restaurant culture.

And people might get a little nervous when I talk about the new restaurant culture, as opposed to like, well, what's wrong with the old one? That's a great place to start. So the whole idea behind naming the show, turning the table is covers double on Tre again, kind of a smart ass way of speaking to not only the way that we've done things in the past, but how we intend to do things in the future.

doesn't have their productivity figured out is an empty

table. So very often

sometimes you'll go into a restaurant and that table will be.

Clearly have been sat in there's, you know, glasses and empty dishes on the table, but there's not staff

to go ahead and bust that and to turn the table very often

the solution to a lot of restaurant operations. Isn't cutting back on staff. Isn't raising the prices, but is looking for the missed opportunities of revenue that are there present on a table that can't be sat. If that makes any sense and turning the table also has a connotation to, we

want to flip the script about how restaurants operate not necessarily speaking about what

you are doing in your operation, but the way that you look at your operations perspective is everything. And that's probably why the only reason that you would ever hire a coach or a mentor is to. Have somebody hold you accountable to what you say you're gonna do,

and to offer

a perspective that's different than yours. Now, the problem with that is that a lot of times we're absolutely wedded to what we believe it's served us so far. And it's hard to give that up. So how do you go ahead and do that? Well, first off you have to be willing to be coached or you have to be coachable. Speaking for myself only the only time I was ever coachable

is when I stopped believing my own. because I looked at my results and the results were not getting any better. As a matter of fact, they were progressively getting worse and worse based upon the way that I was viewing, not only my position, but the way that I ran my businesses.

change. And as long as you're

engaged in that type of behavior you're being a victim to your circumstance and nothing ever changes. At least it didn't in my life.

So turning the table has

a couple different connotations and. We were kind of smirking to one another about like,

yeah, that's kind of cool. Huh. Anyway, so our objective is to turn the table on not only the industry, but on the way we view

and interpret the industry. And that very often comes from the data. Now to most people in the restaurant industry. I was just I want to give a big shout out to being Oliver because I was speaking to him right before we got on the show who is a coach and mentor to operators who

want to go beyond, you know, just managing their business to actually leading it.

And again, we were kind of commiserating around some of the same stuff and realizing that as long as there's commiseration, there's really no. You know, if it's a, if it's a bubble and all of us have the same opinion, then there's no growth there. And growth very often comes from pain. And as much as we, or I moved away from pain and towards

pleasure,

I was never gonna get to the crux of my problem. So

the question is how painful do things have to be in your operation before you are willing to consider an outside perspective or opinion? Now? The reason that we benchmark 60 don't deal with opinion is because it's subjective. That's why we always rely on the data because the

data

tells the story. Doesn't tell the complete story. It just tells a portion of the story. Now, Bing and I were talking about how most of the people in

the industry are creative.

I made the point that typically people in the restaurant industry are highly sensitive, which is kind of funny because some of the hardest people I've ever met are in this industry or like they that's the that's the armor that they need to put on in order to get through a specific shift. So the fact is is that if you are in the industry in any capacity, just get over it, man, you're sensitive, you're sensitive soul, or else you wouldn't be in service to other people give a shit like.

as individuals and

professionals that we would subjugate

ourselves to?

And very often subjugate our desires and things that we want for our life.

Why do we actually put those lower on the totem pole and put others higher? Well, because we

like to be in service because there's

something that we get. emotionally from serving others. That's not a bad thing.

It's a good thing. It's empathy. It's compassion. It's

to put a bluntly love,

no other reason why we should do it. And so after

a while in the industry and you build up enough thick skin, then you realize that you need to put that armor on every day to come into work. However, if you start to look around and things haven't changed and they look the same as they've always done. At what point do you say I'm gonna tap out. I need to check out. I need to talk to someone else. Talk to someone else whom I appreciate who I look up to, who I respect just this just yesterday

afternoon. I booked a coaching

client, somebody who I've known for quite some time and have always been willing to talk to listen to them on the phone. Not necessarily coach them, but just kind of listen to what they have to say. And they got to a point where they said, Hey, I could really use some coaching. I was like, great. I'm ready to go. The difference between

coaching and empathizing is

to give you a short description. I was consistently trying to coach and tell my kids what to do until I realized that very often what I said went against the grain and they did the exact opposite because they wanted. Learn from their own experiences, which is great.

she knew what to do, that she had the resources, the emotional intelligence to figure her way

out. And so I just loved her up and within a day or so she figured it out and she is now leading a life that I could never imagined for. Both of my daughters are doing incredibly well. They're making their way in their own life, on their own speed, but it wasn't because anything I taught them or told them it was because I was just willing to be empathetic, be a ear be a shoulder. That's not the same thing as coaching and mentoring. And so the first question I always have are, are you coachable?

you willing

to consider another perspective? And that's a powerful moment. And the second question that I then ask is, do you trust me? And I've had to ask that question of many members of my family only to find out that

some people said, no,

I don't trust you. Based upon the way that you've showed up and whatever story that they had in their mind. And it was incredibly painful to do that, to ask and then to listen. And I just sat in the fire. I didn't make them wrong for what they were feeling, cuz how could I possibly do that? It's the way they feel. Can't tell them that they're wrong for that.

And so I used those

opportunities to kind of GERD myself for my own self growth and do my own work

first, which is

why I'm able to be here now, why I'm so. Grateful to be part of the benchmark 60 team

which consists of, I think

now 10 or 12 different people, all who have

a primary focus in their businesses that is complimentary to benchmark 60. So when we bring

benchmark 60

to your operation, there is yes, the data based. Forecasting and managing of productivity and

workload for your staff,

but there's also the opportunity to dive into

other things, other

areas of concern how you're doing

insofar as recruiting. Are there people on your staff that would love leadership ex training? Is, is there anybody who works in a. Retirement community, because we have specialists on board who specifically focus on those market shares.

So within the benchmark 60 family, there is someone who has a particular speciality that can serve you. If that's what you're looking for. But very often

it starts with an empty table that I can't get bused and

working really, really hard, and I'm not seeing any results and I'm frustrated. And I gotta figure out a way out of this. And then what we do

is we come in and we ask for four data points and we plug those into a matrix. And then we sit down

and have a conversation. And again, this is not opinion. This is not about us telling you what to do the fact of the matter. you know, your business better than anyone else. So it would be imp prudent at the least and insulting at the most for us to come in and say, well, we think you need to do this, or we think you need that. No, no, no, no, no. We respect you as the professional in that particular organization who is in the position because of

their ability, their intelligence and their

And their ability to manage and motivate their staff. But the problems that are exist in the restaurant industry are not about motivation. They're not about inspiration. They're about really concrete issues. First off is why can't I retain staff? Why are people jump and ship for 25 cents an hour here in Nashville, North Carolina, where I live, that's a reality. If you go to the MIT living wage calculator you can go by state by county and by city to figure out what exactly is a living wage.

If you happen to have one child and a single parent, most

restaurant jobs don't pay anywhere near that. So, which is why most of the people don't live here in Nashville. They live outside

of the community and then they have to add on a

stressful commute because. Of all the bedroom communities they're popping

up outta Asheville, which is kind of crazy to say, but there are bedroom communities popping up all outside of Asheville.

The roads have become unmanageable. So now they're in the middle of this multi-year

expansion of every road that leads to Asheville. And now your commutes are three to four times longer than what they should. So your staff is

stressed by the time they get there. And they're stressed when they leave. So the question is, is why are my staff leaving

for 25 cents an hour? Is it really about the 25 cents

an hour? I was working with a young lady who came into my office and said, listen, I need to get a raise. And I said, listen, you are at the top tier. Of your job classification. You're at the top end of a salary cap at that position. And there's nowhere for you to go, unless you want to take on a supervisory role and do a lot of hot food. And at that point she was the magician in the, in Garma, Jay, she handled everything, but she was comfortable there. So she's on the verge of tears and

I. Asked a question

that fortuitously popped in my mind, I is this is this really about need

to make more money?

Like what is the issue? And then she, all the, you know, everything broke down and it was about the fact that she could

not afford insurance based upon how the company had set it up for her children. One was in college and one was still young. And so I was able to assist her by finding an outside

insurance company that had. Better plans than what

existed at the facility. And within about several weeks you know, I checked back in with her and she had made the phone calls and done her due diligence and secured insurance for her and her children. And all of a sudden that changed everything for her. Now, not every situation is gonna be the same way, but very often.

The answer is not as apparent

as just throwing more money at it. There are many ways in which to

increase staff retention and to create a point of attraction for potential new hires in every single town across this country and in the world, there's always one operation in that city or town that everybody on the street knows treats their people better than the others. I

often use the Jim noble example from RO around

Raleigh where noble Jim

noble has created this little empire of several different restaurants. He has he has a food pantry

for the poor he's very faith driven. So a church involved, the point being is that Jim has put out a. Statement to all his managers that says, if anybody

comes in to apply for a position and that position is filled, but they have the right attitude. Don't let, 'em get out. The building. We'll find a place for them. Now. I bet it wasn't too long after he started instituting that, that everybody on the street

figured out that if they really wanted to get taken care of or be valued as a team member, then all they had to do was show up

on the door of noble restaurants. Fantastic. It doesn't always come down to money. There are things that you can do right now to ensure better staff retention and become a point of attraction. Before I get there, I want to talk about efficiency versus productivity.

We, as a culture, as a profession, as an industry, whatever term you want to use, we have had to become more efficient. It's been hammered into us because of a lot of times forces from outside

our market. Right. Whether it was

COVID, whether it's now all of a sudden you know, supply chains are broken, all these different things. If you're in a market where you can't get your orders more than twice, twice a week, and you can't go to down the street to do a pickup, then you have to get really efficient at how you order your food and how you manage that. If you are low on staffing, then you're gonna get really efficient at moving those pieces around.

How powerful would that be?

If you could. Put everything into your matrix. And this is the, the beauty about benchmark 60 benchmark. 60 is not a solution that you keep on forever. We teach you how to actually manage this yourself so that you can be your own guru so that you can be your own hero so that you can be the one that everybody

looks to as, wow. They really take care

of us. Because they're protecting our workload. Two of the biggest reasons why people will leave. Number one, lack of communication. Number two, that their workloads are too much. What if you knew by moving around just a few pieces. Hey, Rodney. What's up brother? Thanks for joining us. I didn't know if this could show up. Yeah. So please, by all means post your comment, suggestions, smart ass remarks in the chat. And I'll make sure at the end that we have time to, to

to address those. Thanks, Rodney. Really appreciate you showing up, man.

So imagine if you could proactively forecast accurately. Who you're gonna put where, so that they can be not only as effective as they can, but also as productive they can to a degree. Like there's a number that you'll come to understand in benchmark 60 that you never want to go above because as soon as you see that number, you know, that everybody was overworked

and

stressed. Jim likes to use this example

of, he was talking to a district manager and a general manager, and there was a productivity number that was really,

really high. And the district manager said,

wow, man, that's fantastic.

We need to have more days like that. And the general manager

was shaking his head and he's like, no, we can't have another day like

that. A district manager said why? He said I was three people short. I worked the full shift as the general manager, and then had to work the entire night as the bartender because the bartender showed up. And at the end of the night, we lost two people who, who walked out because it was too, too busy. They couldn't handle it. How many of us have seen as we're sitting in a restaurant, a server crouched, or standing in a side station, almost on the verge tears, because it's just too much.

decision, whether to go to the doctor or

send their dog to the vet. And so they send their dog to the vet because

they love the dog more. It happens.

There are companies out there now who are providing pet insurance. Can you believe that pet insurance who would've thought of that? the problem is, is that as we rise in the pyramid of supervision, we start to disassociate ourselves from what it's actually like to be on that line position to actually have to do that commute from Hendersonville all the way to Asheville, because it's not in our direct line of sight, so to speak. And it's a tragic, it's a tragic thing, but it's also a part of our.

to provide you with a solution that supports you, not only in the short term, but in the long term that you can self-manage and create

the culture and the community, the internal community within your organization, that will support your growth. Without necessarily giving away margin or profit or any of that stuff. What if it was like all those little pennies? I had a operations manager called Ron ager, who was a maniac because as the service would come through the kitchen door, the breeze would blow off all the Bev naps off the tray and he would scramble around picking up those Bev NATS because he kept saying it's 7 cents.

your staff. They'll never have to wonder about why people are leaving because they won't, they won't

leave because they know that you're protecting them. And in this day and age safety in the workplace, Is something that

no one really talks about, especially in restaurants, OSHA, forget it.

But it's also about emo, you know, the physical safety

is one thing, but the emotional safety is something also like,

can you imagine what it would feel like to be able to provide a solution to that, that

staff member who is struggling to find insurance? All

it takes is little time. So, again, as a cost, it's actually costing you something because there's a direct value dollar value to your time, but really what's it gonna cost you man, to go that little bit farther, we want a stronger commitment from our staff members to be able to grow our business. What you get to understand is that they require a

deeper commitment from you. Protecting them protecting the workload. Protecting the working environment

is job one to produce a internal community and a culture that anyone would wanna work in. Pretty cool. Huh? All right. Let's check the chat. See if there's anything in there. Love to show my dude more people need, especially in our industry. Well, that's why we're doing it, brother. Every Thursday at. at

12 noon Eastern time.

The idea is to provide some ideas so that you can walk right back into your operation. Check in, talk about it and maybe implement something that can shift your culture, your workplace culture immediately. Because if folks, if staff see that you're making an effort. They might be okay with not

necessarily seeing the results. Not all of us are so wired that we need instant gratification, even though that's the industry has trained shamed and conditioned us into, but there's also

a benefit to delaying gratification and being able to communicate effectively, consistently daily so that people know what you're doing and why you're doing it. And to what end you want

by doing it

again, takes a little bit of your time. Gonna cause you to be vulnerable and transparent, which some people are not comfortable with. And I would say, yeah, I hope you get over it because there are folks right next to you

right now

that need you, that need you in your highest and your highest intention

in order to provide a community in which they

feel valued, respected, cared for heard. And it's nothing, it's nothing new. This is all stuff that we all wanted. Isn't it's what you wanted. It's what I wanted. So we get to band together to create a community, a culture, an industry far better than when we found it. So that's it for today for turning the table. My name is Adam Lamb. I so look forward to seeing you next week, please like share and comment and we will see you. Next

week and here's a little outro. Okay.

See you.