March 31, 2025 • 38 mins
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What happens when convenience collides with hospitality? In this episode, industry expert Chris Tripoli breaks down how restaurants can deliver fast, efficient service without losing the human touch.
In a market where speed and efficiency drive guest decisions, restaurants need more than just great design—they need smart systems. That’s where partners like Restaurant Technologies come in, offering solutions that streamline back-of-house operations so your team can stay focused on the guest. Learn more at go.rti-inc.com/RestaurantLeadershipPodcast.
From drive-thrus to kiosk ordering, guests expect speed—but they still crave connection. Chris shares practical strategies for designing guest-friendly spaces, optimizing labor, and using tech to elevate (not replace) hospitality.
Whether you're running counter service or considering a pivot toward convenience, this episode is packed with ROI-driven ideas that protect your margins and your guest experience.
Resources:
More from Christin:
Grab your free copy of my audiobook, The Hospitality Leader's Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary at christinmarvin.com/audio
Curious about one-on-one coaching or leadership workshops? Click this link to schedule a 15 minute strategy session.
Podcast Production: https://www.lconnorvoice.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today we're diving into a challenge that many
restaurant operators face how toblend true hospitality into the
fast, frictionless world ofconvenience.
It's not just abouttransactions.
It's about creating a memorableexperience for a guest in a
matter of seconds, and thatcomes down to three key areas
that Chris and I are going todiscuss today One, the design of
(00:29):
your restaurant how your spacesets the stage for effortless
hospitality.
Two, service and touch points,where small moments can create
big impressions.
And three, the follow-up,because hospitality shouldn't
end when the guest walks out thedoor.
Today, I'm featuring ChrisTripoli as a guest on the show.
(00:50):
Chris is a principal with theRestaurant Clinic.
He has 45 years of service inthe hospitality industry as a
concept developer,owner-operator, writer, speaker
and advisor to restaurant groupsplanning growth.
He is currently a contentcreator for restaurantownercom
and hosts their podcast, cornerBooth, which features candid
(01:12):
conversations with today'srestaurant entrepreneurs.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
Welcome to the RestaurantLeadership Podcast, the show
where restaurant leaders learntools, tactics and habits from
the world's greatest operators.
I'm your host, kristen Marvin,with Solutions by Kristen.
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
(01:34):
now partner with restaurantowners to develop their leaders
and scale their businessesthrough powerful one-on-one
coaching group coaching andleadership workshops.
Powerful one-on-one coachinggroup coaching and leadership
workshops.
This show is complete withepisodes around coaching,
leadership development andinterviews with powerful
industry leaders.
(01:54):
You can now engage with me onthe show and share topics you'd
like to hear about, leadershiplessons you want to learn and
any feedback you have.
Simply click the link at thetop of the show notes and I will
give you a shout out on afuture episode.
Thanks so much for listeningand I look forward to connecting
.
(02:18):
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(04:07):
Chris, thanks so much forjoining me today.
I am super excited to have thisconversation with you around
convenience and hospitality andwhat that means.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Oh, that's great.
Well, it's a great topic andI'm happy that you invited me.
Thank you so much for puttingme on the show.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Can't wait for our conversation, so I'd love to.
I was brainstorming some ideasyesterday and today and I wanted
to start by just kind ofunderstanding from your
perspective what conveniencemeans to you in today's
hospitality landscape.
When you hear that wordconvenience, what comes to mind?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well, convenience is really.
It's rated as a very, very highcustomer demand now.
So that's the first thing thatit means to me is convenience is
a top priority that all peoplein food service whether you're
large or small, whether you'renew or very well established
you've got to now find a way ofputting into your daily
(05:09):
operations.
Convenience means I don't justwant it, but I want it now.
And in food service you know Ican go back where I remember.
Convenience really meant aconvenience store at first.
I get it, you get gasoline, yougo into this market.
There's things that you don'treally need anyway, but you know
(05:30):
, if you need to use therestroom you're going to have to
pass the powdered donuts and abunch of other stuff that you
don't need and it's there, ofcourse, for our convenience.
Sure, that was our firstintroduction to it.
Convenience really meant homedelivery.
Well, before we got into thirdparty and other things, you know
you always found your favoritepizzeria that would home deliver
(05:52):
.
There's always the famousChinese takeout, but it was
really restricted to things likethat.
However, it's grown now towhere convenience pretty much is
touching everything in foodservice, and so it is.
It's a significant prioritythat everyone has to react to
and deliver on.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
It's not a new concept, right?
Like you just mentioned,Convenience stores have been
around for a long time.
I remember going to SonicDrive-Thru when I was little,
grabbing a quick, having the carout and help you right.
That was convenient.
You could eat in your car rightthen and there right.
In-n-out's been doing this forso many years and, yeah, like
(06:33):
you said, pizza restaurants werekind of the first ones to put
delivery on the map.
There's always been, you know,in my younger days, when I would
, when I was drinking or late,you know, after a late night out
, the taquerias always had24-hour drive-thru.
So this isn't a new concept,but it's more in demand now than
we've ever ever seen before.
(06:54):
Do you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's true and it's broadened more spectrums.
So you brought up a really goodpoint.
Convenience in terms of foodservice was at first seen in
quick serve, fast food.
If we go way back, it camereally after the you know,
second World War and the idea ofthe expansion of the
infrastructure, the developmentof suburbs.
We were spreading out and sofood service was responding by
(07:19):
saying why can't we give foodthat's quick, fast, out the
window in a drive-in?
Some of the early players youknow I'm going way back now but
you know in the late 50s, theDairy Queens, the Sonics, the
Colonel coming out of Kentuckyselling franchises, ray Kroc
buying McDonald's from theMcDonald Brothers in Southern
(07:40):
California but all of that wasmeant to be.
Food can be done withconvenience.
First Everyone knew it wasn't atotal meal replacement.
Back then Everyone knew thiswasn't meant to be a
well-balanced meal, it wasn'tmeant to be seven days a week,
it was meant to be in your cargoing to and from wherever we're
(08:01):
going, because we're so spreadout.
Now we're developing malls andsuburban shopping centers and
you know and those kinds ofthings that along the way you
zip in and get something to eat.
That's how, you know, foodservice was first developing
convenience and so.
But you're right, today,convenience really now, is sort
(08:24):
of just empowering the user tobe able to get what they want
within their lifestyle.
And we're finding that all overevery demographic, Younger
people in apartments arethinking about food and they're
going to their handheld deviceand finding whatever their
favorite third-party deliveryfirm is and scrolling through
(08:44):
DoorDash to see yes, that's whatI want tonight Bingo.
And so it's totally differentthan its inception, but it's
really working.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It is really working.
It's funny.
My husband and I orderedDoorDash for the first time last
week, just not feeling well anddidn't want to get out.
And just, you know, it's kindof funny.
I've kind of poo-pooed, I think, being in the independent space
when third parties were comingout, kind of poo-pooed the whole
thing.
I'm like no, we love theexperience, we love going out,
but just to kind of try it, youknow, and it is super convenient
(09:17):
, and our order showed up, youknow, right on time.
We got alerts along the way.
I mean, we felt like there weremoments of hospitality within
that experience.
Hey there, podcast friends.
I hope you're enjoying theseimpactful conversations and
leadership insights I'm bringingyou each week.
Before we dive back intotoday's episode, I want to take
(09:39):
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Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
And I think in order for peopleto be competitive, especially
in the independent space today,they've got to really keep this
(10:22):
in mind and in every stage ofthe touch points with the guests
.
And I'm curious from your 45years in the industry and
through your concept developmentand owner-operator mindset,
when someone is looking atopening a restaurant, whether
it's counter service or well,let's focus on the convenience
(10:45):
and the convenience aspect.
So if someone's opening acounter service style, uh
concept, what, whatopportunities would you
encourage them to look at to beable to offer hospitality at so
many different touch points inthe experience?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
God, that's a great question and you're right,
everyone is challenged with that.
But if you're getting involvedin the industry at this point
and your concept is a counterservice or type by some type of
you know, quick serve, there aretwo or three areas right at the
beginning that you really needto be, you know, designing
(11:22):
correctly for it.
The idea of, like you know, acar side pickup or an order
online, a run in a grab and go,whatever terminology we use it
can't be looked like as it's anadd on.
The customers are expectingthis to be a significant part of
the concept.
So let's make sure that, fromthe back of the house, we're
designing in a way where we canhandle multiple orders, we can
(11:43):
handle good quality product,keep the temperature right, room
for packaging, room for makeupand on the service side, there's
actually an area there that'swelcoming, you know, that has
the shelves there for the onlineorder pickup or the order ahead
pickup up.
(12:10):
So we're sending the message toour guests that we're here to
serve you in no matter whatprofile you're bringing to us.
You want to come through thecounter?
You want to order and sit in?
Perfect, maybe.
You want to sit outside?
Let's have some of that seating.
Maybe you're just a grab and go, let's make sure we have that.
So that's the design part.
Now, however, from an operationstandpoint, we got to make sure
that we don't ignore that youmentioned how do we develop
(12:32):
hospitality in this?
And I think that's the biggestchallenge, because hospitality
is kind of creating that bond.
It's creating that feelingwhere people are feeling happy
that they were there.
So that means we still have toreach out and do something.
Many people have sort of coinedthe phrase now how to deliver
five-star service in fiveseconds, because that's all you
(12:54):
got.
Love it.
Somebody's coming in.
Let's say they're orderingthrough the counter.
You know all you've got is agreeting.
Hopefully you've got someeyeball to eyeball contact, some
suggestive selling, compliment,the order and then, of course,
the number comes up and you'redelivering to the table or
you're paging and they're comingup.
(13:15):
That's the in-house hospitality.
Now I see many people addingsteps to that the walk through
the dining room, the pre busing,the offering to refill that
self-serve drink, the thank youand opening the door when they
leave.
You're still inventing touchpoints, even though you're
limited service, even though thepeople came there basically for
(13:35):
the convenience of making aquick decision, eating quickly
and leaving, but you're stillinventing those touch points.
And the last thing is, how dowe do that for the grab and go,
for the third party delivery?
I see some people doing somereally inventive things with
what they put inside the bagsthe little thank you notes, the
little menu cards, thepromotional piece that reminds
(13:58):
them to what the specials mightbe next week.
So you know, hopefully youenjoyed your lunch delivery
today and here's what we'redoing next week.
You know, please order on ourwebsite, yada, yada, yada kind
of thing.
So you're having to do, youknow, things a little bit
differently than we did yearsago in order to insert your
(14:18):
hospitality within theconvenience.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, there's.
So I mean there's so manyimportant points in what you
just talked about with designingthe back of the house and the
front of the house to make surethat you're catering to every
single person that wants to comein.
Like you said, it's not.
You know, I think we talked somuch about niching down to a
specific audience and you can dothat within your neighborhood
and the menu that you'reoffering, right, and how you're
marketing your business.
(14:41):
But once that guest comesinside the space, you want to be
able to have a little somethingfor everyone, right, and make
sure that they can, they canexperience what they want to.
You know, at their, at theirspecific level and I think
there's a lot of people outthere that I'm seeing this doing
do really really well, andthere's a lot of people that you
can tell are just not puttingany thought into it whatsoever.
(15:05):
And I think when you said youknow five star service in five
seconds.
For me it's really, when I walkinto a space, whether I've been
there before or it's new thedesign is so important because
it tells you exactly where to goand then, once you've placed
your order, without being told,you know exactly where to go
pick up your order.
I think that's super, superimportant.
So you're anticipating theguests needs, right.
(15:27):
Step one here.
Step two here.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I think you're a hundred percent right.
People need to feel welcome.
No one wants to feel uneasy.
If someone walks in and goes,okay, now what do I do?
See, that means we've alreadymessed up on step one.
They need to walk in and feellike, okay, glad I'm here, I
know where to go.
I see the menu board.
There's somebody there smiling.
Hey, I've even heard some realinteresting stories of people
(15:53):
that are doing kiosk ordering byjust having what they might
call a floor ambassador,somebody that's walking the
floor.
They will come up to them andsay welcome and you kind of
usher them to the kiosk, answertheir questions, compliment what
they're ordering, you know.
So this way, something as whatcould be considered cold, as I'm
(16:15):
just hitting buttons in orderto order my food, still gets a
little touch point, still getsan opportunity to show some
appreciation and information.
People might have questions.
It's an opportunity to upselltoo.
You sure you don't want adessert here?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Let me show you the screen.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I love it.
Yeah, so you know.
So we can't forget to do thosekinds of things.
That's the industry we're in.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, I was going to ask you about kiosks
specifically because I have onlyencountered one business with a
kiosk.
I don't see a lot of them here.
Maybe I'm just not going to theplaces that have them, but I
was curious from yourperspective how you've seen
hospitality infused in thekiosks, and it sounds like the
ambassador.
Is it right Somebody to helpguide you through that?
(17:01):
Answer questions just make thatexperience with tech a little
bit easier.
Is there anything else you'veseen that's working?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Well, I've seen the other side.
I've seen the other side.
That doesn't work.
Quite frankly, the nationalbrands I mean, I won't name
anyone in particular, but Ithink they're the ones that
really need a little injectionof hospitality, because you
can't walk into a nationallyknown brand.
You're familiar with them, youknow what to expect.
You go there because it'sconsistent.
(17:32):
You like whatever the shake,the frosty, the seasoned fries,
whatever the reason that broughtyou there.
But now there's a counter thatused to have two or three POS
stations, which also means twoor three people.
Now instead there's kiosks andyou don't see anybody.
If you look around the corner,you might see somebody hustling
loading up bags for thedrive-through.
They look over their shoulder,they see you.
They might wave, but they leaveyou on your own.
When you punch it in, you get anorder.
(17:53):
If you don't punch it in,you're never going to see any
food.
Nobody walks by.
Hello, boo, would you like toadd that?
No one confirms.
Okay, I see you ordered.
It's 146.
Here's the monitor.
Your food will be ready inabout 10 minutes.
There's just no sense ofconfirmation, and that's bad.
Then you've got some growingcompanies I'm going to use
(18:16):
Pepper Lunch as an example, thatswitched to kiosk and has the
ambassador.
So you walk in and you see, oh,look, there's the kiosk here,
yeah, but there's somebody therethat waves Hello, somebody
walks by.
How can I assist?
Oh, you've been here before.
So what's your favorite?
Oh, you're going to get this.
Hey, did you save room for this?
Come on, how nice is that?
It's great.
(18:36):
Yeah, everybody has to realizewe still have to find ways of
making the guests feelappreciated, and leaving them
alone to just do nothing butgrab and go on their own does
not show any appreciation.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Chris, do you think that hospitality can exist in a
kiosk environment if there isn'ta human present?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, it's harder.
But yes, Now, what you'retalking about is things like
what I have seen some people do,which is all in the way they
put notes in.
If you have very little contact, if someone's just coming in
grabbing, leaving no personalcontact at all, then it's a
little bit harder, but you cando it.
(19:26):
Those people ordered online orthose people ordered you know,
through their handheld, theirtext, so you've got that data.
You can do a follow-up thankyou text.
Some concepts do that.
They'll have somebody that youknow at the end of the afternoon
is sending out.
Thank you so much for yourorder.
You know we hope we met yourexpectations, and then add a
(19:49):
little blurb about why youappreciate them coming in and
what's the $7.99 lunch special.
Some people have personalizednotes that I see them put in the
bag because they know thatthere isn't anybody right there,
so you may not see anybody.
So then you go out and you openup the bag and, oh, look at
this, I got a little card andit's got a logo and it's got a
little stamp Thank you.
(20:09):
Some restaurants even have themanager at the beginning of the
shift personally sign them.
I've been to restaurants wherethe chef signs a thank you note
for bringing their food home.
So you have to kind of look anddig for something inventive and
you have to try to stilldeliver a touch point,
especially if it's not in person.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, I love that concept of offering a touch
point after the guest has leftthe building, and that's a
beautiful way to continue tonurture them and bring them back
, which is what it's all about.
Unlock the skills to transformyour leadership with the
Hospitality Leaders Roadmap Movefrom ordinary to extraordinary,
packed with practicalstrategies to lead with
(20:58):
confidence and create lastingimpact in your restaurant.
Visit kristinmarvincom slashaudio to download your free
audio book today Is is there acounter service concept out
there that you've seen that'sdoing this really, really well?
That's that's offeringhospitality with convenience
really well uh, let's see.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yes, I mentioned um one, um uh with a pepper lunch.
Uh, they're going to grow.
They'll be in your neighborhoodin arizona, uh, soon.
I think they're in california,utah, nevada.
They're heading east, uh,growing pretty rapidly.
They've been successful inother countries already and, and
, yes, they um, uh, they've gota really good you going.
(21:43):
Other than that, there are somesay more smaller, regional
concepts that put a lot ofenergy into their building,
their design, even thoughthey're counter service.
One concept is called a velvettaco.
Yeah, and they're growing.
(22:03):
And also I've seen that atTorchy's.
Torchy's tacos.
Telling you a little bit aboutmy dining habits here, we seem
to like those gourmet, you know,over the top tacos, but I also
(22:25):
feel like as a consumer, I enjoygoing to places where I see
that Close by to me there is asmaller, independently run
company run by a gentleman namedLevi Good, multiple concepts,
cantina concepts, but hiscounter service barbecue concept
is what started him offoriginally.
And you know I still go thereand see that even though, again,
(22:47):
you're walking in the door,there isn't a host or hostess,
no one's telling you where tosee you go through the line, uh,
but there's tremendoushospitality in the way people
greet you behind the line,describe the food, do suggestive
selling, walk the dining roompre-bus.
On your way out there's a tinylittle grab and go, you know,
gift kind of thing that you justhave to stop at because they
(23:09):
set it up so nicely.
So before I know it you'regrabbing some seasoning or
logoed shirts, aprons orordering a pecan pie or
something, and that's allbecause they've got a neat
little setup and somebody isthere most of the time.
So I applaud efforts for thosecompanies and others like them
that can be counter service andhave convenience as one of the
(23:33):
attractiveness to the diningexperience but still add
personal touch.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, I agree, there's a couple independent
locations here in town that Ijust love.
One is our favorite barbecueplace, bashful Bandit, and they
again design.
You walk right in the menu'shanging on the wall and the
counter's right there, and assoon as you walk in there's a
person facing you that is goingto start cutting the brisket for
you or ordering or preparingwhatever meat you want to have.
(24:00):
But they're making eye contact.
The minute you walk in the doorit's hi, how are you?
Let me know if you have anyquestions on the menu.
And then again, everybody'sfriendly all the way through the
line.
You get your sauce, you pay,you get your drinks.
Everything is just veryconvenient.
And then we've got another onein town.
Well, I'll go back to BashfulToby.
The owner does a wonderful jobof working the floor and just
(24:22):
checking in with people, and youknow it's a very casual
environment, picnic tablesinside and just.
You know he'll do a great jobof making sure everything's
great.
But then just engage in aconversation Like where do you
guys live, you know?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
And you brought up a good point, because sometimes
then you're remembering the name, you're bonding with the owner.
Long before this becamecommonplace I'm talking a couple
of decades ago there was areally good concept and it's
still in existence today.
It's a basic big gourmet burgerplace that also serves other
(24:53):
items.
But 20 some years ago he openedup.
He ordered at the counter.
People talked to you behind thecounter but he had ambassadors
on the floor.
People were pre-busing,suggestive selling, adding to
your ticket if you wanted to getdessert.
I'm talking about a place calledPappas Burgers.
Chris Pappas and the entirePappas family are sort of known
for their hospitality.
They've got multiple concepts,but since we're talking about
(25:14):
convenience, I'm going to honein on their counter service
concept.
And I think he may have been alittle nervous because 20 some
years ago maybe almost 30 nowwhen he opened this, he was
already an established fullservice operator doing very,
very well, so I'm sure he hadthought about that.
How are we going to do thiscounter service thing?
When people normally come to ourseafood restaurants or our
(25:36):
Mexican restaurants, they getvery good table service and
maybe that was the reason why itworked so well.
Right now, of course, it'scrawfish season and where I live
that's a big deal, and so myfavorite tiny little raging
Cajun place has been thereforever and ever and ever.
You go up there, you order bythe pound, you get a bucket and
again it's counter service, soyou don't have that traditional
(25:58):
hostess at the door you knowbartender waving at you that
kind of thing.
You go, you order at thecounter, you get a number, you
wait for them to pay you.
But it isn't just a cold,non-service environment, because
they talk at you through thecounter, they're suggestive
selling.
Someone's on the floor, there'sa lot of thank yous, so you
still leave feeling like thefamily that owns this cares.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And the family that owns this cares.
Yeah, I prefer counter service,where you order, you sit down,
you get without.
I don't like the pagers ornecessarily the number.
I mean I know they have to havea number on the table sometimes
, but I love counter servicewhere people are bringing you
the order, not where you have togo back up and get it, because
I think you know again, this dimsum place we have in town, go
(26:43):
Dim Sum, is incredible.
They will come over to you andbring your food out.
You know as it's prepared.
So there's two or threeopportunities to touch the table
.
Every time they're bringingsomething new and this place, go
Dim Sum, does an incredible jobof not only making sure that
you've got everything that youneed and bringing something to
you if you need it, but theyalso tell you this sauce goes
(27:05):
well with this right Becausethey've got the little caddy on
the tables with all theofferings.
So they are suggesting how tomake that experience even better
and I just love it takes twoseconds.
It's the same person that rangup our order.
It doesn't seem to be anyadditional staffing and there's
so much engagement that canhappen at the table.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
See, and hopefully that's what the listeners are
beginning to make a note of.
Gosh, how can I do that in myconcept, I maybe don't have
sauces with my dim sum, but whatdo I have If I walk through
there?
What should I be suggesting?
How could I be showingappreciation when the guests
leave?
Should I be doing maybe afollow-up with something with
the texting?
You know, there's something thatpeople can do that will feel
(27:45):
natural and be modified intotheir concept, I think, and
adapt it, you know, in thatmanner.
I mean, obviously we haven'ttouched on the fact that we all
got thrown into having to do abetter job at this because of
COVID.
So pre-COVID, you know, 20, 30years ago, there was still the
need because counter service wasaround and people were trying
(28:06):
to find that balance between,you know, the convenience that
you're demanding and the servicethat you're deserving.
Then COVID comes, like, youknow, a five gallon bucket of
gasoline dumped on a fire andeveryone was thrown into it,
whether you were really preparedor not.
And I think there's sometremendous lessons that full
service, you know, diners andfull service concepts got out of
(28:29):
that.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Where do you see the trends moving forward?
Are you going to see morecounter service, more
convenience?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Well, yes, I think part of that is it's a growing
consumer demand.
People are enjoying the factthat they can manage their own
time.
You know order, sit where Iwant.
I've already paid leave when Iwant.
It's a lifestyle, and so I dosee that growing.
I think the other reason I seethat growing too is from a
restaurateur standpoint.
(29:00):
They see not just the growingdemand but they also see it as a
way of combating cost.
It's very expensive now findingreal estate, negotiating leases
.
That's why you're noticingrestaurants are smaller.
People are becoming moreefficient, finding ways of using
less labor, fewer people doingmore things in less square
(29:24):
footage, and so part of it isconsumer demand and I think the
other part is it helps theoperators operate more
efficiently.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, labor is a huge concern Going up in Arizona,
going up in Colorado, you know,just so, so expensive.
And a question that I get oftenfrom operators is you know I
can go to counter service and Ican take away servers, right,
but the servers aren't makingyou know that's not where the
heavy dollars are from the laborperspective and I'm curious to
(29:53):
know your thoughts.
Are you seeing anybody outthere that's saving on back of
house labor in a conveniencemodel and, if so, how are they
doing that?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Well, yeah, and that is the challenge.
And you know what?
And they are by making surewe're just becoming better
operators.
I think the better operatorsare the ones that are saying how
can I be true to my concept?
Whatever it is Italian offering, mediterranean, asian, whether
it's Greek food or the basicAmerican burger, philly
(30:25):
cheesesteaks, whatever it isthat you're doing, that, you
know, already fits in aconvenient mode and it's already
counter service limit.
What isn't working that's onething that people are challenged
by is becoming more effectivewith fewer items or finding a
(30:46):
way of doing more things butwith the main product you
already offer.
So maybe you've got, like youknow, a menu board that looks
like it's got 28 items, butyou're working with three or
four items that are just verycreatively presented in multiple
fashions.
That helps the kitchen area withprep production storage.
(31:06):
It also helps you with lessopportunity for waste.
So those first three are directlabor.
If you can have less prepproduction, if you can make
larger batches of fewer thingsthat last longer, you might find
that your prep department cango from two people to one.
You may also find that it'sbetter to cross train.
I'm a big, big promoter of that.
(31:27):
You know fewer people but theyfeel more valuable when they
learn and do more things.
So the grill person can fryBoth grill and fry can also do
prep.
The person who's doing dish isalso bussing Guess what?
The dish busser can also prep.
So that means the more they'retrained, the more valuable they
become, the longer they stay.
Because one of the biggestproblems with labor is what we
(31:49):
hear from people saying findingand then retaining people is
let's study that menu and findways of cross-utilizing product
so that we can lessen a lot ofthe kitchen labor.
And second is let's make surefrom service to kitchen
production we're cross-trainingso fewer people are able to do
(32:11):
more things.
That should lower our laborwhen it comes to the cost of
selection and training and thenalso help with retention.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, I love that.
You've just got me thinkingabout the opportunities to
upsell, right, you kind oftalked about that with whoever's
behind the floor, ambassador,that's on the kiosk, or whoever
is behind the POS helping ringthings in for you.
Right, the cashier makingsuggestions?
Hey, do you want to add on adessert?
But I wonder what theopportunity is once you've
(32:42):
seated and you want to have twoglasses of wine, three glasses
of wine, a bottle of wine.
I see a lot of counter servicerestaurants now that have a full
grab and go type of barsituation.
Right, they've got theirmocktails, they've got their
wine, they've got cannedcocktails.
How do you, how do you suggestthat people in counter service,
you know, capitalize on theopportunity of having guests
(33:06):
seated in your space?
If you don't have servers,what's the opportunity to upsell
the beverages there?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well, some of that is with design and the grab and go
.
I've seen some people have agood increase in specialty
beverages, whether they'realcoholic or non-alcoholic, but
just their specialty beveragesthat are pre-made, as well as as
desserts, by switching theactual counter line where people
have to walk past that beforethey get to the POS and order.
(33:35):
That's a small design touch.
It may work for some, may notwork for some.
I think the other thing thatreally works well is that idea
that counter servercross-trained to be what you
might want to call anon-the-floor ambassador that is
able to walk with a handheld.
These things are getting soreasonable now.
Pos has really been helpfulbecause I remember when these
(33:57):
things used to be big, clunkyand more expensive.
Now they're more fluid andactually less expensive.
So to have your POS at thecounter but also have a handheld
so that you can walk the floor,compliment what people ordered,
see how they're doing withlunch and suggest, hey, I can
grab this for you.
Or did you save room for thebanana pudding?
I can easily get it for you,because people are reluctant to
(34:20):
get up, go back and order again.
We're working with a clientgreat client has a really good
restaurant, has started growing,actually has three units now
and has realized that that theydo a tremendous in-house bakery.
Pastry Looks beautiful, peoplewill hang around the line and
(34:41):
stare at it, but what happens is, once they get their food and
sit down, hardly ever are theymotivated to get up and go and
order the dessert.
So we work on them ordering it,you know, ahead of time.
So that's sort of an education.
Staff love it, it's good,suggestive selling.
But I like the people on thefloor Because, see, even if you
walk up and say I can get thisfor you, even if they say oh no,
(35:02):
that's fine, I'm full, whatever, it's still a touch point.
So that's fine, I'm full,whatever, it's still a touch
point.
So just because you hit four orfive tables and four out of the
five said no, thank you, thatdoesn't mean you don't hit the
five.
And one out of the five iswonderful.
So I do that with handhelds andpeople roaming the dining room.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
I find that hospitality stops with handhelds
when two things happen One,there's not wifi available,
where the handheld needs to belike on a patio, which again
speaks to your element of design, so operators need to be
testing these things.
And two, when the server isjust not well-trained on the
handheld, when they are frozenand they stop making eye contact
(35:40):
and they stop talking.
It just goes so awkward soquickly, and I really would
encourage operators that arelistening to this to make sure
that you are giving ample timefor those people to be trained
and really comfortable in thehandheld, because I've had some
great experiences where you'retalking to somebody making eye
contact almost like the handheldisn't there, but when the
(36:01):
handheld becomes that hugeroadblock and like the only
thing that you can see happeningat the table, for me, that's
just where the experience startsto go downhill.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head.
You know, we are stillincumbent on the fact that, no
matter what we do withtechnology, no matter what
you're doing with your product,it's still a people business.
So, yeah, whether your peopleare on the floor or behind the
counter, people need information, people need to be trained,
people need continued training,reminding, motivation every day.
(36:31):
So it's a people business.
Just because we have lesspeople doesn't mean managers get
off the hook.
Still about training.
Still about reminding.
Still about walking behind them, congratulating when they did
something well, taking themaside to say you missed an
opportunity over here.
That's still our job.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, absolutely, I love it.
Chris, thank you so much forthis conversation.
This has been just supervaluable and really really
appreciate your time.
If anyone is interested in,that's listening and wants to
get ahold of you, how do they,how do they find you?
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Oh, there's a couple opportunities that you can have.
You can go to the websitetherestaurantcliniccom.
That's a website, a small groupof industry specialists that
help with independent operatorson performance, leadership,
staff training etc.
Cornercom.
(37:29):
I'd be remiss if I didn'tremind people of that website.
A lot of your listeners mayalready know of it.
It's just a really good sourcefor information and education If
you're the small independentoperator.
There's webinars there that wedo.
They also sponsor my podcast,corner Booth.
So you can go to a Corner Boothor just strictly email me
directly Corner booth.
Or just strictly email medirectly Chris C-H-R-I-S at
Chris Tripoli.
(37:49):
That's T-R-I-P-O-L-Icom.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Love to hear from you , love it.
Thanks, chris, and I'll put allthose links in the show notes
for anyone that's listening.
Thank you all so much for yourtime this week.
That's going to do it for us,and please share this episode
with anyone that you know in therestaurant industry.
That could benefit, and we'lltalk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Thanks again.
Today we're diving into a challenge that many
restaurant operators face how toblend true hospitality into the
fast, frictionless world ofconvenience.
It's not just abouttransactions.
It's about creating a memorableexperience for a guest in a
matter of seconds, and thatcomes down to three key areas
that Chris and I are going todiscuss today One, the design of
(00:29):
your restaurant how your spacesets the stage for effortless
hospitality.
Two, service and touch points,where small moments can create
big impressions.
And three, the follow-up,because hospitality shouldn't
end when the guest walks out thedoor.
Today, I'm featuring ChrisTripoli as a guest on the show.
(00:50):
Chris is a principal with theRestaurant Clinic.
He has 45 years of service inthe hospitality industry as a
concept developer,owner-operator, writer, speaker
and advisor to restaurant groupsplanning growth.
He is currently a contentcreator for restaurantownercom
and hosts their podcast, cornerBooth, which features candid
(01:12):
conversations with today'srestaurant entrepreneurs.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
Welcome to the RestaurantLeadership Podcast, the show
where restaurant leaders learntools, tactics and habits from
the world's greatest operators.
I'm your host, kristen Marvin,with Solutions by Kristen.
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
(01:34):
now partner with restaurantowners to develop their leaders
and scale their businessesthrough powerful one-on-one
coaching group coaching andleadership workshops.
Powerful one-on-one coachinggroup coaching and leadership
workshops.
This show is complete withepisodes around coaching,
leadership development andinterviews with powerful
industry leaders.
(01:54):
You can now engage with me onthe show and share topics you'd
like to hear about, leadershiplessons you want to learn and
any feedback you have.
Simply click the link at thetop of the show notes and I will
give you a shout out on afuture episode.
Thanks so much for listeningand I look forward to connecting
.
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(04:07):
Chris, thanks so much forjoining me today.
I am super excited to have thisconversation with you around
convenience and hospitality andwhat that means.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Oh, that's great.
Well, it's a great topic andI'm happy that you invited me.
Thank you so much for puttingme on the show.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Can't wait for our conversation, so I'd love to.
I was brainstorming some ideasyesterday and today and I wanted
to start by just kind ofunderstanding from your
perspective what conveniencemeans to you in today's
hospitality landscape.
When you hear that wordconvenience, what comes to mind?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well, convenience is really.
It's rated as a very, very highcustomer demand now.
So that's the first thing thatit means to me is convenience is
a top priority that all peoplein food service whether you're
large or small, whether you'renew or very well established
you've got to now find a way ofputting into your daily
(05:09):
operations.
Convenience means I don't justwant it, but I want it now.
And in food service you know Ican go back where I remember.
Convenience really meant aconvenience store at first.
I get it, you get gasoline, yougo into this market.
There's things that you don'treally need anyway, but you know
(05:30):
, if you need to use therestroom you're going to have to
pass the powdered donuts and abunch of other stuff that you
don't need and it's there, ofcourse, for our convenience.
Sure, that was our firstintroduction to it.
Convenience really meant homedelivery.
Well, before we got into thirdparty and other things, you know
you always found your favoritepizzeria that would home deliver
(05:52):
.
There's always the famousChinese takeout, but it was
really restricted to things likethat.
However, it's grown now towhere convenience pretty much is
touching everything in foodservice, and so it is.
It's a significant prioritythat everyone has to react to
and deliver on.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
It's not a new concept, right?
Like you just mentioned,Convenience stores have been
around for a long time.
I remember going to SonicDrive-Thru when I was little,
grabbing a quick, having the carout and help you right.
That was convenient.
You could eat in your car rightthen and there right.
In-n-out's been doing this forso many years and, yeah, like
(06:33):
you said, pizza restaurants werekind of the first ones to put
delivery on the map.
There's always been, you know,in my younger days, when I would
, when I was drinking or late,you know, after a late night out
, the taquerias always had24-hour drive-thru.
So this isn't a new concept,but it's more in demand now than
we've ever ever seen before.
(06:54):
Do you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's true and it's broadened more spectrums.
So you brought up a really goodpoint.
Convenience in terms of foodservice was at first seen in
quick serve, fast food.
If we go way back, it camereally after the you know,
second World War and the idea ofthe expansion of the
infrastructure, the developmentof suburbs.
We were spreading out and sofood service was responding by
(07:19):
saying why can't we give foodthat's quick, fast, out the
window in a drive-in?
Some of the early players youknow I'm going way back now but
you know in the late 50s, theDairy Queens, the Sonics, the
Colonel coming out of Kentuckyselling franchises, ray Kroc
buying McDonald's from theMcDonald Brothers in Southern
(07:40):
California but all of that wasmeant to be.
Food can be done withconvenience.
First Everyone knew it wasn't atotal meal replacement.
Back then Everyone knew thiswasn't meant to be a
well-balanced meal, it wasn'tmeant to be seven days a week,
it was meant to be in your cargoing to and from wherever we're
(08:01):
going, because we're so spreadout.
Now we're developing malls andsuburban shopping centers and
you know and those kinds ofthings that along the way you
zip in and get something to eat.
That's how, you know, foodservice was first developing
convenience and so.
But you're right, today,convenience really now, is sort
(08:24):
of just empowering the user tobe able to get what they want
within their lifestyle.
And we're finding that all overevery demographic, Younger
people in apartments arethinking about food and they're
going to their handheld deviceand finding whatever their
favorite third-party deliveryfirm is and scrolling through
(08:44):
DoorDash to see yes, that's whatI want tonight Bingo.
And so it's totally differentthan its inception, but it's
really working.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It is really working.
It's funny.
My husband and I orderedDoorDash for the first time last
week, just not feeling well anddidn't want to get out.
And just, you know, it's kindof funny.
I've kind of poo-pooed, I think, being in the independent space
when third parties were comingout, kind of poo-pooed the whole
thing.
I'm like no, we love theexperience, we love going out,
but just to kind of try it, youknow, and it is super convenient
(09:17):
, and our order showed up, youknow, right on time.
We got alerts along the way.
I mean, we felt like there weremoments of hospitality within
that experience.
Hey there, podcast friends.
I hope you're enjoying theseimpactful conversations and
leadership insights I'm bringingyou each week.
Before we dive back intotoday's episode, I want to take
(09:39):
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(10:02):
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Thanks a million for beingawesome listeners.
And I think in order for peopleto be competitive, especially
in the independent space today,they've got to really keep this
(10:22):
in mind and in every stage ofthe touch points with the guests
.
And I'm curious from your 45years in the industry and
through your concept developmentand owner-operator mindset,
when someone is looking atopening a restaurant, whether
it's counter service or well,let's focus on the convenience
(10:45):
and the convenience aspect.
So if someone's opening acounter service style, uh
concept, what, whatopportunities would you
encourage them to look at to beable to offer hospitality at so
many different touch points inthe experience?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
God, that's a great question and you're right,
everyone is challenged with that.
But if you're getting involvedin the industry at this point
and your concept is a counterservice or type by some type of
you know, quick serve, there aretwo or three areas right at the
beginning that you really needto be, you know, designing
(11:22):
correctly for it.
The idea of, like you know, acar side pickup or an order
online, a run in a grab and go,whatever terminology we use it
can't be looked like as it's anadd on.
The customers are expectingthis to be a significant part of
the concept.
So let's make sure that, fromthe back of the house, we're
designing in a way where we canhandle multiple orders, we can
(11:43):
handle good quality product,keep the temperature right, room
for packaging, room for makeupand on the service side, there's
actually an area there that'swelcoming, you know, that has
the shelves there for the onlineorder pickup or the order ahead
pickup up.
(12:10):
So we're sending the message toour guests that we're here to
serve you in no matter whatprofile you're bringing to us.
You want to come through thecounter?
You want to order and sit in?
Perfect, maybe.
You want to sit outside?
Let's have some of that seating.
Maybe you're just a grab and go, let's make sure we have that.
So that's the design part.
Now, however, from an operationstandpoint, we got to make sure
that we don't ignore that youmentioned how do we develop
(12:32):
hospitality in this?
And I think that's the biggestchallenge, because hospitality
is kind of creating that bond.
It's creating that feelingwhere people are feeling happy
that they were there.
So that means we still have toreach out and do something.
Many people have sort of coinedthe phrase now how to deliver
five-star service in fiveseconds, because that's all you
(12:54):
got.
Love it.
Somebody's coming in.
Let's say they're orderingthrough the counter.
You know all you've got is agreeting.
Hopefully you've got someeyeball to eyeball contact, some
suggestive selling, compliment,the order and then, of course,
the number comes up and you'redelivering to the table or
you're paging and they're comingup.
(13:15):
That's the in-house hospitality.
Now I see many people addingsteps to that the walk through
the dining room, the pre busing,the offering to refill that
self-serve drink, the thank youand opening the door when they
leave.
You're still inventing touchpoints, even though you're
limited service, even though thepeople came there basically for
(13:35):
the convenience of making aquick decision, eating quickly
and leaving, but you're stillinventing those touch points.
And the last thing is, how dowe do that for the grab and go,
for the third party delivery?
I see some people doing somereally inventive things with
what they put inside the bagsthe little thank you notes, the
little menu cards, thepromotional piece that reminds
(13:58):
them to what the specials mightbe next week.
So you know, hopefully youenjoyed your lunch delivery
today and here's what we'redoing next week.
You know, please order on ourwebsite, yada, yada, yada kind
of thing.
So you're having to do, youknow, things a little bit
differently than we did yearsago in order to insert your
(14:18):
hospitality within theconvenience.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, there's.
So I mean there's so manyimportant points in what you
just talked about with designingthe back of the house and the
front of the house to make surethat you're catering to every
single person that wants to comein.
Like you said, it's not.
You know, I think we talked somuch about niching down to a
specific audience and you can dothat within your neighborhood
and the menu that you'reoffering, right, and how you're
marketing your business.
(14:41):
But once that guest comesinside the space, you want to be
able to have a little somethingfor everyone, right, and make
sure that they can, they canexperience what they want to.
You know, at their, at theirspecific level and I think
there's a lot of people outthere that I'm seeing this doing
do really really well, andthere's a lot of people that you
can tell are just not puttingany thought into it whatsoever.
(15:05):
And I think when you said youknow five star service in five
seconds.
For me it's really, when I walkinto a space, whether I've been
there before or it's new thedesign is so important because
it tells you exactly where to goand then, once you've placed
your order, without being told,you know exactly where to go
pick up your order.
I think that's super, superimportant.
So you're anticipating theguests needs, right.
(15:27):
Step one here.
Step two here.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I think you're a hundred percent right.
People need to feel welcome.
No one wants to feel uneasy.
If someone walks in and goes,okay, now what do I do?
See, that means we've alreadymessed up on step one.
They need to walk in and feellike, okay, glad I'm here, I
know where to go.
I see the menu board.
There's somebody there smiling.
Hey, I've even heard some realinteresting stories of people
(15:53):
that are doing kiosk ordering byjust having what they might
call a floor ambassador,somebody that's walking the
floor.
They will come up to them andsay welcome and you kind of
usher them to the kiosk, answertheir questions, compliment what
they're ordering, you know.
So this way, something as whatcould be considered cold, as I'm
(16:15):
just hitting buttons in orderto order my food, still gets a
little touch point, still getsan opportunity to show some
appreciation and information.
People might have questions.
It's an opportunity to upselltoo.
You sure you don't want adessert here?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Let me show you the screen.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I love it.
Yeah, so you know.
So we can't forget to do thosekinds of things.
That's the industry we're in.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, I was going to ask you about kiosks
specifically because I have onlyencountered one business with a
kiosk.
I don't see a lot of them here.
Maybe I'm just not going to theplaces that have them, but I
was curious from yourperspective how you've seen
hospitality infused in thekiosks, and it sounds like the
ambassador.
Is it right Somebody to helpguide you through that?
(17:01):
Answer questions just make thatexperience with tech a little
bit easier.
Is there anything else you'veseen that's working?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Well, I've seen the other side.
I've seen the other side.
That doesn't work.
Quite frankly, the nationalbrands I mean, I won't name
anyone in particular, but Ithink they're the ones that
really need a little injectionof hospitality, because you
can't walk into a nationallyknown brand.
You're familiar with them, youknow what to expect.
You go there because it'sconsistent.
(17:32):
You like whatever the shake,the frosty, the seasoned fries,
whatever the reason that broughtyou there.
But now there's a counter thatused to have two or three POS
stations, which also means twoor three people.
Now instead there's kiosks andyou don't see anybody.
If you look around the corner,you might see somebody hustling
loading up bags for thedrive-through.
They look over their shoulder,they see you.
They might wave, but they leaveyou on your own.
When you punch it in, you get anorder.
(17:53):
If you don't punch it in,you're never going to see any
food.
Nobody walks by.
Hello, boo, would you like toadd that?
No one confirms.
Okay, I see you ordered.
It's 146.
Here's the monitor.
Your food will be ready inabout 10 minutes.
There's just no sense ofconfirmation, and that's bad.
Then you've got some growingcompanies I'm going to use
(18:16):
Pepper Lunch as an example, thatswitched to kiosk and has the
ambassador.
So you walk in and you see, oh,look, there's the kiosk here,
yeah, but there's somebody therethat waves Hello, somebody
walks by.
How can I assist?
Oh, you've been here before.
So what's your favorite?
Oh, you're going to get this.
Hey, did you save room for this?
Come on, how nice is that?
It's great.
(18:36):
Yeah, everybody has to realizewe still have to find ways of
making the guests feelappreciated, and leaving them
alone to just do nothing butgrab and go on their own does
not show any appreciation.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Chris, do you think that hospitality can exist in a
kiosk environment if there isn'ta human present?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, it's harder.
But yes, Now, what you'retalking about is things like
what I have seen some people do,which is all in the way they
put notes in.
If you have very little contact, if someone's just coming in
grabbing, leaving no personalcontact at all, then it's a
little bit harder, but you cando it.
(19:26):
Those people ordered online orthose people ordered you know,
through their handheld, theirtext, so you've got that data.
You can do a follow-up thankyou text.
Some concepts do that.
They'll have somebody that youknow at the end of the afternoon
is sending out.
Thank you so much for yourorder.
You know we hope we met yourexpectations, and then add a
(19:49):
little blurb about why youappreciate them coming in and
what's the $7.99 lunch special.
Some people have personalizednotes that I see them put in the
bag because they know thatthere isn't anybody right there,
so you may not see anybody.
So then you go out and you openup the bag and, oh, look at
this, I got a little card andit's got a logo and it's got a
little stamp Thank you.
(20:09):
Some restaurants even have themanager at the beginning of the
shift personally sign them.
I've been to restaurants wherethe chef signs a thank you note
for bringing their food home.
So you have to kind of look anddig for something inventive and
you have to try to stilldeliver a touch point,
especially if it's not in person.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, I love that concept of offering a touch
point after the guest has leftthe building, and that's a
beautiful way to continue tonurture them and bring them back
, which is what it's all about.
Unlock the skills to transformyour leadership with the
Hospitality Leaders Roadmap Movefrom ordinary to extraordinary,
packed with practicalstrategies to lead with
(20:58):
confidence and create lastingimpact in your restaurant.
Visit kristinmarvincom slashaudio to download your free
audio book today Is is there acounter service concept out
there that you've seen that'sdoing this really, really well?
That's that's offeringhospitality with convenience
really well uh, let's see.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yes, I mentioned um one, um uh with a pepper lunch.
Uh, they're going to grow.
They'll be in your neighborhoodin arizona, uh, soon.
I think they're in california,utah, nevada.
They're heading east, uh,growing pretty rapidly.
They've been successful inother countries already and, and
, yes, they um, uh, they've gota really good you going.
(21:43):
Other than that, there are somesay more smaller, regional
concepts that put a lot ofenergy into their building,
their design, even thoughthey're counter service.
One concept is called a velvettaco.
Yeah, and they're growing.
(22:03):
And also I've seen that atTorchy's.
Torchy's tacos.
Telling you a little bit aboutmy dining habits here, we seem
to like those gourmet, you know,over the top tacos, but I also
(22:25):
feel like as a consumer, I enjoygoing to places where I see
that Close by to me there is asmaller, independently run
company run by a gentleman namedLevi Good, multiple concepts,
cantina concepts, but hiscounter service barbecue concept
is what started him offoriginally.
And you know I still go thereand see that even though, again,
(22:47):
you're walking in the door,there isn't a host or hostess,
no one's telling you where tosee you go through the line, uh,
but there's tremendoushospitality in the way people
greet you behind the line,describe the food, do suggestive
selling, walk the dining roompre-bus.
On your way out there's a tinylittle grab and go, you know,
gift kind of thing that you justhave to stop at because they
(23:09):
set it up so nicely.
So before I know it you'regrabbing some seasoning or
logoed shirts, aprons orordering a pecan pie or
something, and that's allbecause they've got a neat
little setup and somebody isthere most of the time.
So I applaud efforts for thosecompanies and others like them
that can be counter service andhave convenience as one of the
(23:33):
attractiveness to the diningexperience but still add
personal touch.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, I agree, there's a couple independent
locations here in town that Ijust love.
One is our favorite barbecueplace, bashful Bandit, and they
again design.
You walk right in the menu'shanging on the wall and the
counter's right there, and assoon as you walk in there's a
person facing you that is goingto start cutting the brisket for
you or ordering or preparingwhatever meat you want to have.
(24:00):
But they're making eye contact.
The minute you walk in the doorit's hi, how are you?
Let me know if you have anyquestions on the menu.
And then again, everybody'sfriendly all the way through the
line.
You get your sauce, you pay,you get your drinks.
Everything is just veryconvenient.
And then we've got another onein town.
Well, I'll go back to BashfulToby.
The owner does a wonderful jobof working the floor and just
(24:22):
checking in with people, and youknow it's a very casual
environment, picnic tablesinside and just.
You know he'll do a great jobof making sure everything's
great.
But then just engage in aconversation Like where do you
guys live, you know?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
And you brought up a good point, because sometimes
then you're remembering the name, you're bonding with the owner.
Long before this becamecommonplace I'm talking a couple
of decades ago there was areally good concept and it's
still in existence today.
It's a basic big gourmet burgerplace that also serves other
(24:53):
items.
But 20 some years ago he openedup.
He ordered at the counter.
People talked to you behind thecounter but he had ambassadors
on the floor.
People were pre-busing,suggestive selling, adding to
your ticket if you wanted to getdessert.
I'm talking about a place calledPappas Burgers.
Chris Pappas and the entirePappas family are sort of known
for their hospitality.
They've got multiple concepts,but since we're talking about
(25:14):
convenience, I'm going to honein on their counter service
concept.
And I think he may have been alittle nervous because 20 some
years ago maybe almost 30 nowwhen he opened this, he was
already an established fullservice operator doing very,
very well, so I'm sure he hadthought about that.
How are we going to do thiscounter service thing?
When people normally come to ourseafood restaurants or our
(25:36):
Mexican restaurants, they getvery good table service and
maybe that was the reason why itworked so well.
Right now, of course, it'scrawfish season and where I live
that's a big deal, and so myfavorite tiny little raging
Cajun place has been thereforever and ever and ever.
You go up there, you order bythe pound, you get a bucket and
again it's counter service, soyou don't have that traditional
(25:58):
hostess at the door you knowbartender waving at you that
kind of thing.
You go, you order at thecounter, you get a number, you
wait for them to pay you.
But it isn't just a cold,non-service environment, because
they talk at you through thecounter, they're suggestive
selling.
Someone's on the floor, there'sa lot of thank yous, so you
still leave feeling like thefamily that owns this cares.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And the family that owns this cares.
Yeah, I prefer counter service,where you order, you sit down,
you get without.
I don't like the pagers ornecessarily the number.
I mean I know they have to havea number on the table sometimes
, but I love counter servicewhere people are bringing you
the order, not where you have togo back up and get it, because
I think you know again, this dimsum place we have in town, go
(26:43):
Dim Sum, is incredible.
They will come over to you andbring your food out.
You know as it's prepared.
So there's two or threeopportunities to touch the table
.
Every time they're bringingsomething new and this place, go
Dim Sum, does an incredible jobof not only making sure that
you've got everything that youneed and bringing something to
you if you need it, but theyalso tell you this sauce goes
(27:05):
well with this right Becausethey've got the little caddy on
the tables with all theofferings.
So they are suggesting how tomake that experience even better
and I just love it takes twoseconds.
It's the same person that rangup our order.
It doesn't seem to be anyadditional staffing and there's
so much engagement that canhappen at the table.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
See, and hopefully that's what the listeners are
beginning to make a note of.
Gosh, how can I do that in myconcept, I maybe don't have
sauces with my dim sum, but whatdo I have If I walk through
there?
What should I be suggesting?
How could I be showingappreciation when the guests
leave?
Should I be doing maybe afollow-up with something with
the texting?
You know, there's something thatpeople can do that will feel
(27:45):
natural and be modified intotheir concept, I think, and
adapt it, you know, in thatmanner.
I mean, obviously we haven'ttouched on the fact that we all
got thrown into having to do abetter job at this because of
COVID.
So pre-COVID, you know, 20, 30years ago, there was still the
need because counter service wasaround and people were trying
(28:06):
to find that balance between,you know, the convenience that
you're demanding and the servicethat you're deserving.
Then COVID comes, like, youknow, a five gallon bucket of
gasoline dumped on a fire andeveryone was thrown into it,
whether you were really preparedor not.
And I think there's sometremendous lessons that full
service, you know, diners andfull service concepts got out of
(28:29):
that.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Where do you see the trends moving forward?
Are you going to see morecounter service, more
convenience?
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Well, yes, I think part of that is it's a growing
consumer demand.
People are enjoying the factthat they can manage their own
time.
You know order, sit where Iwant.
I've already paid leave when Iwant.
It's a lifestyle, and so I dosee that growing.
I think the other reason I seethat growing too is from a
restaurateur standpoint.
(29:00):
They see not just the growingdemand but they also see it as a
way of combating cost.
It's very expensive now findingreal estate, negotiating leases
.
That's why you're noticingrestaurants are smaller.
People are becoming moreefficient, finding ways of using
less labor, fewer people doingmore things in less square
(29:24):
footage, and so part of it isconsumer demand and I think the
other part is it helps theoperators operate more
efficiently.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, labor is a huge concern Going up in Arizona,
going up in Colorado, you know,just so, so expensive.
And a question that I get oftenfrom operators is you know I
can go to counter service and Ican take away servers, right,
but the servers aren't makingyou know that's not where the
heavy dollars are from the laborperspective and I'm curious to
(29:53):
know your thoughts.
Are you seeing anybody outthere that's saving on back of
house labor in a conveniencemodel and, if so, how are they
doing that?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Well, yeah, and that is the challenge.
And you know what?
And they are by making surewe're just becoming better
operators.
I think the better operatorsare the ones that are saying how
can I be true to my concept?
Whatever it is Italian offering, mediterranean, asian, whether
it's Greek food or the basicAmerican burger, philly
(30:25):
cheesesteaks, whatever it isthat you're doing, that, you
know, already fits in aconvenient mode and it's already
counter service limit.
What isn't working that's onething that people are challenged
by is becoming more effectivewith fewer items or finding a
(30:46):
way of doing more things butwith the main product you
already offer.
So maybe you've got, like youknow, a menu board that looks
like it's got 28 items, butyou're working with three or
four items that are just verycreatively presented in multiple
fashions.
That helps the kitchen area withprep production storage.
(31:06):
It also helps you with lessopportunity for waste.
So those first three are directlabor.
If you can have less prepproduction, if you can make
larger batches of fewer thingsthat last longer, you might find
that your prep department cango from two people to one.
You may also find that it'sbetter to cross train.
I'm a big, big promoter of that.
(31:27):
You know fewer people but theyfeel more valuable when they
learn and do more things.
So the grill person can fryBoth grill and fry can also do
prep.
The person who's doing dish isalso bussing Guess what?
The dish busser can also prep.
So that means the more they'retrained, the more valuable they
become, the longer they stay.
Because one of the biggestproblems with labor is what we
(31:49):
hear from people saying findingand then retaining people is
let's study that menu and findways of cross-utilizing product
so that we can lessen a lot ofthe kitchen labor.
And second is let's make surefrom service to kitchen
production we're cross-trainingso fewer people are able to do
(32:11):
more things.
That should lower our laborwhen it comes to the cost of
selection and training and thenalso help with retention.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, I love that.
You've just got me thinkingabout the opportunities to
upsell, right, you kind oftalked about that with whoever's
behind the floor, ambassador,that's on the kiosk, or whoever
is behind the POS helping ringthings in for you.
Right, the cashier makingsuggestions?
Hey, do you want to add on adessert?
But I wonder what theopportunity is once you've
(32:42):
seated and you want to have twoglasses of wine, three glasses
of wine, a bottle of wine.
I see a lot of counter servicerestaurants now that have a full
grab and go type of barsituation.
Right, they've got theirmocktails, they've got their
wine, they've got cannedcocktails.
How do you, how do you suggestthat people in counter service,
you know, capitalize on theopportunity of having guests
(33:06):
seated in your space?
If you don't have servers,what's the opportunity to upsell
the beverages there?
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Well, some of that is with design and the grab and go
.
I've seen some people have agood increase in specialty
beverages, whether they'realcoholic or non-alcoholic, but
just their specialty beveragesthat are pre-made, as well as as
desserts, by switching theactual counter line where people
have to walk past that beforethey get to the POS and order.
(33:35):
That's a small design touch.
It may work for some, may notwork for some.
I think the other thing thatreally works well is that idea
that counter servercross-trained to be what you
might want to call anon-the-floor ambassador that is
able to walk with a handheld.
These things are getting soreasonable now.
Pos has really been helpfulbecause I remember when these
(33:57):
things used to be big, clunkyand more expensive.
Now they're more fluid andactually less expensive.
So to have your POS at thecounter but also have a handheld
so that you can walk the floor,compliment what people ordered,
see how they're doing withlunch and suggest, hey, I can
grab this for you.
Or did you save room for thebanana pudding?
I can easily get it for you,because people are reluctant to
(34:20):
get up, go back and order again.
We're working with a clientgreat client has a really good
restaurant, has started growing,actually has three units now
and has realized that that theydo a tremendous in-house bakery.
Pastry Looks beautiful, peoplewill hang around the line and
(34:41):
stare at it, but what happens is, once they get their food and
sit down, hardly ever are theymotivated to get up and go and
order the dessert.
So we work on them ordering it,you know, ahead of time.
So that's sort of an education.
Staff love it, it's good,suggestive selling.
But I like the people on thefloor Because, see, even if you
walk up and say I can get thisfor you, even if they say oh no,
(35:02):
that's fine, I'm full, whatever, it's still a touch point.
So that's fine, I'm full,whatever, it's still a touch
point.
So just because you hit four orfive tables and four out of the
five said no, thank you, thatdoesn't mean you don't hit the
five.
And one out of the five iswonderful.
So I do that with handhelds andpeople roaming the dining room.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
I find that hospitality stops with handhelds
when two things happen One,there's not wifi available,
where the handheld needs to belike on a patio, which again
speaks to your element of design, so operators need to be
testing these things.
And two, when the server isjust not well-trained on the
handheld, when they are frozenand they stop making eye contact
(35:40):
and they stop talking.
It just goes so awkward soquickly, and I really would
encourage operators that arelistening to this to make sure
that you are giving ample timefor those people to be trained
and really comfortable in thehandheld, because I've had some
great experiences where you'retalking to somebody making eye
contact almost like the handheldisn't there, but when the
(36:01):
handheld becomes that hugeroadblock and like the only
thing that you can see happeningat the table, for me, that's
just where the experience startsto go downhill.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Well, I think you hit the nail on the head.
You know, we are stillincumbent on the fact that, no
matter what we do withtechnology, no matter what
you're doing with your product,it's still a people business.
So, yeah, whether your peopleare on the floor or behind the
counter, people need information, people need to be trained,
people need continued training,reminding, motivation every day.
(36:31):
So it's a people business.
Just because we have lesspeople doesn't mean managers get
off the hook.
Still about training.
Still about reminding.
Still about walking behind them, congratulating when they did
something well, taking themaside to say you missed an
opportunity over here.
That's still our job.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, absolutely, I love it.
Chris, thank you so much forthis conversation.
This has been just supervaluable and really really
appreciate your time.
If anyone is interested in,that's listening and wants to
get ahold of you, how do they,how do they find you?
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Oh, there's a couple opportunities that you can have.
You can go to the websitetherestaurantcliniccom.
That's a website, a small groupof industry specialists that
help with independent operatorson performance, leadership,
staff training etc.
Cornercom.
(37:29):
I'd be remiss if I didn'tremind people of that website.
A lot of your listeners mayalready know of it.
It's just a really good sourcefor information and education If
you're the small independentoperator.
There's webinars there that wedo.
They also sponsor my podcast,corner Booth.
So you can go to a Corner Boothor just strictly email me
directly Corner booth.
Or just strictly email medirectly Chris C-H-R-I-S at
Chris Tripoli.
(37:49):
That's T-R-I-P-O-L-Icom.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Love to hear from you , love it.
Thanks, chris, and I'll put allthose links in the show notes
for anyone that's listening.
Thank you all so much for yourtime this week.
That's going to do it for us,and please share this episode
with anyone that you know in therestaurant industry.
That could benefit, and we'lltalk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Thanks again.
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