Interview Transcription Below
What’s going on in the mind of your customer? today I have with me a guest that is going to share some insights about the food service, operation, somebody that has, extensive experience working in the hospitality, running and opening outlets, restaurants, franchises and many other things. And many of you who market and sell to, to the FNB at the Hawker channel are going to really enjoy today’s segment.
I have with me special guest. Yes. sorry. Yes. How are Roberts? How are you doing? Waterfront. Fantastic. Abdulla, tell us a little bit about, how did you get involved in the, FNB, industry? Well, it started as a passion because, I was 18 years old, and I used to go to the restaurants, see, I was fascinated with all what’s happening in the restaurant.
And I always thought that there is something more to what we are seeing. so many details, things to take care of. interaction, building an experience. And since I love to connect with people and deal with people, I, said that hospitality is my key. I want to be in the hospitality of. So, I start working and studying at the same time.
And I started in the hotel industry where I learned all the techniques that you need, the right, skills. And I hear you and I am 26 years, still in the industry, passionate about it and enjoying what I’m doing. Wonderful. I love what you said, where you were. You were attracted by the love of serving people.
creating an MBA. You mentioned an environment. And so? So, a lot of time, we do not understand this. If you’re selling to the food service industry, a lot of the, the operators are driven by this insight, you know, so they really are all about serving clients, providing them with the best experience, provide them with the best, cuisines.
And you and I had dinner, few, maybe a month or so ago at the restaurant that that you are that you operate with a very, very nice. I can still remember I love the, the pictures. I have some pictures. Maybe we can. We can show them. Will be great. Well, we can, we can show that here.
So, anyway, and then you worked in the hospitality and then you mentioned in the hotel industry. Yeah. Okay. So, fine. let me ask you a direct question. so, you’ve dealt with salespeople, yes. So, they are coming to sell you something. Oh, okay. and not always. Okay. So, tell me how in your in your mind, you know, when someone is coming to sell you something, what are some of the things that make one salesperson stand out from another salesperson?
Basically, when you find someone that is aiming to connect with you, so many people, they come, they start talking about their product, directly, without the proper introduction, you don’t feel the connection and you feel it’s going to be a waste of time or you end up telling them, you know what? Send me your profile. I’ll have a look.
I’ll get back to you. But whenever a person comes to you, he wants to know the person that you are. He connects with you. Then you will find some passion together to discuss about. And then you will be, willing to listen to what he is saying. And, to see if there might be an interest in the product that is selling.
Amazing. And what you just described there is, again, we know that people buy from people they know, like and trust and you know, so know liking. So, one of the elements of liking is finding commonalities. So what you describe someone that we have can we can find something in common and for our audiences in the yet again, this ability to build rapport and research your customer and understand who they are, what, what are that interest, their goal or their motivation and then genuinely, if you have the same, interests and motivation, then that can become a point of camaraderie or friendship that gets built and at the end, it’s a lot
easier to buy from someone. You liked it somewhat that 100% you don’t, you don’t like. And then we go from knowing, liking and then trusting. So, in your mind. Right. So, you give someone a try. Right. But then but then how do you then make them or how have they become the go to person in your, in your mind?
So basically, first they managed to build the connection, which is great. Then you we want to see all the promises that they told you about in their pitch, and then you start observing if they’re, it’s getting materialize or just their words or promises and based on the deliveries, you will understand that this is person who is reliable.
I can work with, I can trust, so I can come up, if, I need some help with other products, he can give me a resource. he can be, like, confidant for me. Or he had just a person. I use an expression. I learned the previous, no action, talk. Only I thought we just all talk and no action.
Exactly. So, what is very interesting. So, what you said is. Okay, I want to see if a lot of the promises materialized. So here, being reliable, doing what you say you’re going to do, being able to, why is this important for you as a, as an FNB, outlet manager? Because I, basically have been what, I’m taking a service to be able to provide a service to my customer, my guest.
I like to call them guests. So, if I, when I give them the right product, the beautiful experience. So, I need to have, the right material with me. So, in case he did not deliver on time, or the product was listed there on my menu, then, for certain periods. Sorry, we don’t have it, be, supplier.
not bring it, not bring it. So, at the end, I become, really, at a weak point with my guests, and I cannot show them this beautiful experience. when I started, talking about, the ingredient that, I’m using from the sales, so it affects me. Look, so I again, here, understanding the concept of, you know, if you are in the business of serving food and or food service.
So, if you’re not serving food, you must make sure that you have the food to serve. Yes. And if you’re in the food service business, you need to make sure that you’re serving those that are serving the food. So it is, it’s something that, that is there. So, thank you. Thank you for this insight.
And, really, we sometimes underestimate that. you know, there’s a big, I would say, correlation or a comparison that wrongly happens where some of the this, let’s say, manufacturers that sell in a retail outlet and then the same manufacturer would sell also to the hawker channel. Yeah. And the retail outlet, God forbid, if you are out of stock.
Okay, you might lose the safety, but your, your consumer that the guest in your case be finds a replacement product. Yeah. But in this case when the food service once listed on the menu, you cannot 86 as we call it, 86 to remove it. Yeah. So, we cannot remove it from our item. There is no excuse to say when a guest come.
Sorry, we don’t have it today because we did not receive it. Right. It’s not acceptable at all. And todays in our words. no guest accepts another service. They want an exceptional service because there are lots of competitor competition on the market. And if you want to add some, do you need to offer a genuine a product and create a beautiful experience without having the right material?
You guys’ network. Would you accept some, some service? Would you accept a service that is not as per your expectation, especially about food? I don’t know about you, but. But I get to be personally picky. Yeah. You know, so if I am picky, I’m sure you know the answer to how you would feed that. It is.
Imagine if you are a guest to come to the restaurant. You ask for a certain item on the menu, and they will tell you, sorry, we don’t have it. Then the second time they come; sorry you don’t have it. Then you lose this, this guest. Yeah. So, it’s very essential. Whatever material you put on your menu to make sure it’s available 100%.
Well, I’ll. I’ll build on that. I was just in, in the, in the, I was in Saudi Arabia, and I tried a nice wrap from it, from a place. It was delicious. The first day I was doing a training and the next day they brought, I said, this is a good bring it again because it was light.
They brought the wrap the next day. Now it was available. But guess what happened? It was spicy black rabbit. But the first day there was no spike. It wasn’t that spicy. What? I was like, oh, I then cakes. So, honey, you have this. Tell us a little bit about the concept of consistency and how that’s so what the role that’s consistency play in a food service outlet for sure.
consistency is an important factor. Yes. And this is why, we create recipes and what we call them piece technique. So, when the chef or, fish means it’s like a little, list paper, paper. Sufficient of how safe processing is that? so basically, when the chef and the food and beverage manager are creating, a, an item on the menu.
So, they list all the ingredients that they are available, the exact amount that you need to put in this dish and the product and, the product from the right supplier. Because if you change, for example, a cream, it will change the whole taste. It could change the spice from a supplier. Maybe the other one has it with a strong taste and strong flavour.
It also changes the whole experience. So, the quantity of what you put in based on the supplier or based on the brand is going to give you a variation of the taste. And that is going to, and this is what happened to me, maybe the other hundred percent you. I was like, oh, that is no, oh, Rose, I’ll give you as much as much.
Okay. So, my son, Christopher, the eldest, once, I wanted to persuade him to, to come with me to a, to a new year. New Year’s Eve party. And I told him I he loves Lebanese food. I said, and they, they have a buffet. They brought in a, you know, Lebanese cuisine.
He looks at me, he goes, pop is the chef Indian. You know, because, of course, of course, I no longer recommend them. Please. Sorry. No, no, prejudice there. But sometimes that changes the, it affects the flavour. Otherwise, that gets, delivered. So, once you set your recipe card, then you ask, certain people that they know they are foodies, they love to eat, to come and taste, this dish for you.
And you get your, their feedback, so or, another, criteria we use, our top selling guest or, Favorite guest that we have that they come often. listen, we have an amazing dish that we have introduced, and we’d love to, have your opinion and we get their feedback as well, and we start collecting end point tuning, the recipe until we find the best, taste, the Favorite one that everyone likes.
And prefer. And then we said, okay, guys, this is what’s going to be the recipe card. Now let’s do a training. So, because, you know, if you if you read the recipe card and then you do it, it’s totally different. Yeah. So, there are skills here. what you need to do, the oil need to be heated or not because it’s affected the flavour.
so, they will go with the chef through all the, the process and the steps to understand how it’s been cooked. prepare. And once it’s ready, they do a trial first time signing time to ensure it’s consistent and they close. So, this is called simulation. You know, you know, and what you know, I just watched a movie called First Man.
It’s about Neil Armstrong going into space. Right. And he was simulating how to land this rover, you know, how to land it. And he was on the I, not on the earth, but practicing. And he watched he goes into these things and of course, when you are practicing, you’re enhancing the execution. Right. And so, I love the level of detail in here.
So, and that the recipe was tested, the ingredients were tweaked, but once it goes into the menu basically that’s the that’s the that’s the map. You are on stage. You are on your base. You cannot, improvise on the, on the day. You cannot improvise, changing something because you’re going to affect the result. Right.
So, imagine after all this effort that you’ve done, then he will come to you. Sorry. It’s out of stuff. and you start promoting it. Train your waiter to upsell it, to speak about it in your social media, and then. Sorry, without that, it’s not there. So, I think here this really gives a lot of insights because, especially I think the, a lot of the salespeople on the ground experience this.
But what I love about what you said is a lot of the word that happens in the background. So, we better understand the food and beverage professional, understand that word, understand how critical these steps are, because they’re all about experience. They’re all about giving their guests the best possible Flavors, the best possible food. They’ve tested it. They know it wins.
Exactly. You know they’re going to play the song, but there is no water. There is no card that happens. The card is gone. And they cannot play that. That song. Wonderful. That’s, that’s very, very powerful. Thank you for sharing this, beautiful example in here. Are there other things that only an FM manager or somebody who is from the industry would, wouldn’t, would know or help us better understand the potential customer and help us and know more.
The FM manager so we can serve them better. Anything on your side for sure. thank you for this question, Matt. it’s basically there are several professional people they can use the word sequence of service with hospitality. Sequence of service with hospitality. Yes. Please tell me. So, this, secret of service. It’s the steps that you need to do to achieve and reach a certain point.
the hospitality is about, giving the right feeling for the guest. It’s what’s the guest feels out of this experience. And this is the most important. This is where you will be differentiated from other industries about the feeling, the experience that you give to discuss. Because we can all eat in our, houses, right? Yeah. But we come to the restaurant for a certain experience.
All right. So, this expert once, it’s about, how you get it from the ambiance, from the way of welcoming, from the way of doing and upselling, or suggesting a new, new item that never been tried. the passion when you are explaining about the food or the beverage, how it’s, built up and that creative.
So, these all are, the show that you do, the presentation, because you see, now, most of the restaurant, they do some service, the tables, they, they bring in, let’s say a flaming, a flaming dish, for example, for smoking data with, ice. So, they are all becoming part of the experience.
And this is the true definition of hospitality. By giving this insightful experience for, the guests coming not only just we need to welcome them, and we need to take them to the table. Then we need to offer the menu. Those are secrets of service. And unfortunately, 7 or 8 professional people, they mix the secrets of service with hospitality.
So, if I can maybe read between the line, the sequence of service let’s say is, is what needs to be done. Yep. Step one. Step two, step three. Hospitality is how you’re doing it 100% exactly. You know how you’re doing it. How are you showing up? I’m going to tell you a story yesterday. Yesterday I’m again coming back, in the airport.
and I’m in the lounge, and, you know, there is someone in the. Sorry, in the toilets. There is someone in the toilet in these lounges, right? That cleans and does whatever you know, and I, I arrived early to the airport. There was a 10:00 flight, and I was there like at seven. So, I go to the restroom the first time.
Maybe when I first got there writing was, he had he was super motivated, super excited. Right. so, he’s like, okay, the bathroom is full. Just two minutes. I know, you know. So, he was quite engaging. He made the show was like, okay, you know, not bad. And then upon leaving, of course, before going in, he goes and he does the toilet, you know, but what’s interesting is, the second time.
Okay, how about, you know, I spend that two hour and I’ve been going to the, the before I go to the kitchen. Right. So, the second time I come in and it’s two hours later, the enthusiasm of this guy had not stopped. Well, so same thing. I go in and, I and again there was a line and okay, few moments somebody will come.
I’ll just please wait. I’m like, okay, I’m getting it. I’m getting this guy. And, again, the toilet opens. I go in and I got very and I’m hearing, I’m there. I’m eating him talking with a kid. Well, I’m know he’s talking with the kid. He’s saying my name is. What was his name? My name is I want to say Denzel, you know, because it’s like it was very.
My name is, I am, I am I am, he said I am, I am Pooja Denson boy. I’m his brother. Right. Or something like that. I’m two. that’s that. Okay. And I go out and I said, I thought I told him, how long have you been here? He said six months. I said, why are you here?
He said, they have family back at home. Well, I have family and I have kids. And I said, man, thank you so much. You know, you made me smile. Amazing. And guess what happened with you made me smile. I took my hand in my pocket, and I gave him a small smile visible. Oh, thank you sir.
You don’t have, you know if you want something from others. You know we all want something. Mothers. Nothing happens in life by yourself. You need. So, what comes first is giving. That’s the law of reciprocity. You’re giving value. You’re giving service when the sorry, when the hospitality outmanned, when the outlet, owners, provide this service. The what then the how, the how.
And, you know, you got this vibe. You get this culture that gets built exactly the on the inside. So, I just thought of sharing about remains is just. That’s a big thank you for sharing this room. But this comes, to something that I happened to that anything you put your heart in it while doing it comes with passion.
The result, the outcome, it will be amazing. So whenever, you are working, and you work from your heart to make sure that this guest is really enjoying the experience, when you are serving it, the outcome, it will be tremendous. It will show, because you touch his heart. It’s coming from your heart. Just like, wow.
Coming from our heart to your heart. This message is from our heart to your heart. Hundred percent coming back to the steps up the side or steps of service. And we have the hospitality. So, what and how, what’s the objective of providing the best steps and the best hospitality and the best service? What’s the driver? the ultimate outcome for an outlet owns.
Amazing. Thank you for this question. Basically, as we started in the beginning that nowadays guest, they don’t tolerate another service. They won’t always an exceptional service. And so, when you do an exceptional service, the guests will become your ambassador. So, we’ll be talking about to him. He’ll be making you free, marketing about the product, about the feeling, about the taste that they got, about the smell.
he received the wrestler. So as an FMB expert, if you manage, to materialize and, deliver what you are promising on the ground, by the service, by the plate that you are providing, by presenting, the dishes and the beverage and the, providing a good service. Amazing service. Not a good service.
An amazing sound, amazing service to the guests. Then you out stand among your competitor, and the guests keep coming. The result? to make profit. I’m driving it, and I know empty turnover continuity. Let me tell you this story. Rum is, basically, I also consulted in several projects, in FB. So, part of, the exercise that, I took before I go and sit and talk, and the meeting, I go and try the experience as a guest.
Oh, this is very powerful. I think, we can learn from that. Continue. Yes. So basically, there were there was one client here. Can you have a coffee shop? So, I went to the coffee shop. the way to. Okay. What you like to drink. So, I went to the comfort zone, coffee? latte.
then hit my order. He went. He provides me the. I served the latte. Then suddenly, in the background, I start hearing fibro sol. So, I said, okay, what’s so critical? I look to the decoration. It was industrial, but I didn’t feel anything. So, it was an average experience. Then I went and sat with the owner, and we spent like four hours.
I was just listening to the passion and the research that he has done on this, Oxford. And he spoke about cloth. So beautiful thing that it’s, Caribbean, outlet that is, there should be, Caribbean me with a music. he went into details into the coffee, beans. Why? this is an Ethiopian.
Brazilian. What? You will get the taste. so, I was so amazed, but somehow, they failed to transmit this passion to the people. To other people. And this is where the gaps, happens when we do lots of research. And, really, you work hard to understand better business and provide, the best outcome for, the, I guess, and you fail to pass it, to pass this knowledge to your people.
I think this example is it’s a beautiful story where, sometimes owners of outlets, leaders of businesses create the strategy. And the issue is not in the strategy, it’s in the implementation because they the strategy gets implemented by the people. And there is a breakdown in that communication. And the way of ensuring that consistency is all about repetition and it’s all about training and it’s all about immersing people in what good looks like.
It’s very hard for someone if this gentleman doesn’t know what Caribbean music is, he’s putting two is because this is his, you know, maybe he’s Lebanese and he end up putting fake roots, you know, but misses completely the boat misses that. It’s becoming a disaster. Kills the whole experience. And you talked about the objective is to stand out, to create continuity, to you know, and then today you have a massive amount of competition.
I was talking with an outlet owner in Saudi Arabia. I said, how is business? And he said that he said, it’s good to, but not as good as before 2020. Just, I said, why not? Guess what? He’s only because got lots of competitor. I saw them on petition and on that and that and lots of competition.
So today, as you rightly said, the guests have a choice, and you can make a mistake one time. Two can make a mistake two time. But after a while, will you keep going to a place that serves you a good coffee today, or serves you a good lasagna today, or serves you a nice whatever? The sandwich. You know, it was a falafel.
Then it became a spicy falafel that went, where did you go back to him? It’s like, no, thank you so much, you know? So, so really, that that’s critical. So, what I’m getting from you is giving service, you know, that that service element and that consistency drives frequency. Yeah. Because today I heard this, quote and correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this quote applies to a lot of principles in life that to succeed in a food outlet, I think to succeed in any business, you have to be patient and you have to be generous.
Yeah, I love that patience and generous. Yes. Generous means you must give a lot more than what you’re getting. So, if you pay, let’s say ten, and then someone gives you something equivalent of 15, it’s like, wow, that was worth it. Yeah. So, you feel good on the inside. Patience is because if I eat today, I pay, you know, a hundred riyals, you your margin, you know, your food cost at 30%, your operation at 30%, and you’re left with 30%, you know, so something like that.
It’s only 33 riyals. That’s all what you’re going to make from this one time. Yeah, but how many time is a person today? There are six different consumption moments. You have breakfast? Yeah. Morning snack. You have lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack and plus all the other things in between coffees and that are detected at that. So, someone can eat six times out of the house.
But how many of them they’re going to eat out compared to eating in? That’s totally up to you. As an output operator, you as a as sales professional understanding of how to guide your, your clients to, to make or capture the biggest share that is possible from you from your customers. Make sense on the percent of wealth that let me move on to the to the other element.
So, we know today that when a customer wants to go to an outlet, I least I go to an outlet. When I go there and I’m looking at the menu, I’m thinking much. And I usually in my mind there is this, there is this voice saying, what’s new, right? What’s new right now? When I don’t find anything new, I go to what’s safe, what’s comfortable, what’s what, what I’m what is safe.
What I know is safe. Right. so, this is the these this are the drivers, right? So, so tell me a little bit about how can, an outlet, keep innovating and why is this important in your, in your mind then. And what happens if it doesn’t happen. basically, as you said, you will go always for a comfort food.
Well, but if you are going to a certain restaurant to want to live an experience, you want to taste something in you, you want to get the feeling, in this restaurant, to try, a new item, new product. So, basically, always it’s important to keep, to maintain your, main menu. The people that they like their door and they are coming for it and to maintain the taste because, your loyal guests can know you change, the type of cheese in the hotel.
I mean, so what about what, he can know. I had the client telling me gummies if the cream is unavailable, I will prefer to tell my customer. Sorry. Today we don’t have this item. Because if I change the cream and they the taste changes, then I’m going to have a bigger problem. I was like, wow.
You know. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt you there. No, no, not at all. it’s well, so, it’s on the subject. Yeah. So, basically, you need to maintain, the food that the people like, and they are keep coming. And from time to another, you need to open, the innovation for the chef to create 1 or 2 dishes and that keep change on like the basis, just to taste, to, introduce a new service to the client.
so, I’ll tell you one story. I was doing a market study in Singapore, and there was this restaurant that you go inside, and you said you don’t provide anything in the table. No soul, no pepper, nothing. The waiter comes to you. Are you allergic? for certain food? No, I’m not perfect. What, you prefer to eat, meat?
fish? Or chicken? You tell them. Okay. I’ll bring you whatever helping you. You eat it. So, you start thinking, like eight, nine courses, with a small bite. You cannot get the depth. And with every bite, you feel like there is a festival in your mouth. Something that’s happening. You are exploring taste. You’ve never tried it before.
And it was really this guy. Yeah, he was so confident in this product. So, he will tell you, you will eat what I will give you. Only and I went this happened in 2017. Till now I can remember the taste of this product. You mentioned something about, you know, bring new ideas to the chefs because they will maybe change and update a menu, maybe once or twice a month.
You know, if I remember what you said. Can you elaborate a little bit more? Is, you know, what’s that? Why is that important? And is this the right frequency or if anything else you want to add? Basic. It’s not changing the whole menu because you have your own menu, which has the feeling, from the concept that you are created.
So, this one must be always available and consistent in the taste. Right. What you will do, you will give the chef a margin, to adapt the taste of the local market is in and innovate, and come up with new plates and, and to have something always, new on your menu and to have, why is having something in your important.
Because if you come the first time you enjoyed it, the second time you enjoyed it, third time you want to try something else, then something new. Why? I just said 100%. It’s helping. meet the consumer. expectations 100%. So, there is always something new happening. So, they want they are eager to taste the most, 2 or 3 dishes that the chef created.
And, in the beginning, you asked me about, how the salespeople can help us. Yes. Sometimes, for example, in Saudi market, there is no alcohol. It’s not allowed. So, they created the brand where you can find the gin, 0% alcohol while having the same bottle of the gym. You need the same buckle of the whiskey.
And they went far beyond, the product they are offering. They start offering, a mixologist services, providing, recipes to the I can be expert, so they can use based on their menu, to train their team, using their product. So, guess what? We got stuck with this product. We love to deal with this product.
We trust those people because whenever we want to create a new beverage, we come to them, even though our people, they are expert in creating. But still, we look for something new because they know the market. they’ve been dealing with several, concept, so they know what’s the most common, need at the trends. Exactly.
Right. And, you can have it for free. as a support you can have. You know, you said this is critical, you know, do you have time to keep up, to come up with all these innovations? You’re running the business; you’re serving is time becomes an issue. definitely. Especially in the family, business.
There is lots of things to take care of from the product. the inventory, the tables, the guests complain is, there are several things that are on your plate. So, whenever a salesperson comes to you with those innovative, ideas, you are attached to them, attracted to them. Please give me more. I want, help me because it’s a free support to you.
as if he’s part of your team, giving you the support to clear the. So, we talk about, creating value, being proactive. Now, being proactive. So, to sell is to be of service. we know the service industry loves to provide service. So, we as sales professionals want to give them that service. and do we wait for the customer to say, hey man, can you give me something new?
Or you say, you know what? Now the seasons are changing, and the Flavors will change. So now we’re going into winter. Maybe chocolate, maybe cinnamon, maybe, you know, these the almond, you know, is warmer. It’s so. So, you really come with the ideas, with the insights based on the seasons. And you, you can have, I guess that our four seasons in the year, there’s at least four times where you could innovate if it’s a beverage.
idea. I’m just thinking thank you for bringing this, it reminds me of this concept that, quarterly changes the whole theme of his, of his menu of is up on you. Yeah, but its, glass is decoration. fall, season, winter season, spring, summer. And you can see the reflection in their, mojitos in their, beverage and their, these are, they are offering in the sandwich they are opening.
So, it’s something, creative. And, if you can do it and keep up with the latest. So, you’ll offer something new to your, your clients. It’s amazing. Amazing, wonderful that that has been, been quite insightful. So new is helping the outlets to be relevant, to stay relevant, to attract customers. Now, the other element of doing business and or growing sales is something called the average spend.
Yeah, the average spends. So, tell me a little bit what goes on your mind. as a, you know, as a, as an outlet, owner, manager, leader to help drive the average spend. And what is this average spend? Yeah. concept. So basically, you want to benefit the maximum from the guests coming, inside us. but at the same time, you want you don’t want to impose yourself or oversell or, mess up with this guest experience, because really, it’s all about the guest experience.
Correct? So, instead, you want to transform it to an experience. so, you look, for example, you start your, by taking the order. Would you like a sparkling or still water? You are giving a choice to the guests. not having water or not having water, he must choose, one of the items. Right.
Here you go. You did your sales. We call this an alternative option. So, when you say yes or yes, you’re giving them that option? Yes. And then, the suggestion that you will, first, you listen what they want, to order and then in case they didn’t, order salads or appetizer, you, you, notice you ordered, a beef.
Let me suggest the salad. It goes very well with it. And it’s, new item. And you explain about it in a way that to let the guests feel that I so badly want to taste it because of the way that you describe. It’s 100%. So, all these elements help to build the average. okay. Yeah.
And build the revenue of them. So, it’s something that you need to constantly with your staff, you need to do yourself a little bit of research to find the ultimate and the best way to present your product, while aligning always with your concept, values, your concept, mission and vision. So, they will go hand in hand.
whatever you are promising, you are delivering on the ground. I love it. So, the way of upselling. So first you need to have the items in the menu. So, if the menu is limited, there’s little upselling or cross selling that can happen. But it’s not about just upselling or cross-selling. But now we’re becoming, connoisseurs. We’re becoming, you can say, advisors for our guests that are coming in.
I saw that you’re having this. You know, you mentioned this, the steak. What really goes well with it is, you know, not this nice y salad, but maybe try this rock out with, with cheese salad with, whatever. You know, this could go very well. So really, then you’re giving these suggestions, and is it important for.
So here we have two things. We have sales professionals that are coming to the outfit. So is it important for them to know what goes with what. And then the other part is of course the staff the waiters. Yeah. You know so what’s your take on that. both. They are very important. First, the waiters, they need to know their products very well.
And I tell you that’s very rare. It’s very rare, in this part of the world, for the waiters to know their products right. It happens that they know. And when they know their products, what it’s really because they can talk about, this is Chateau from France. It’s eaten. it’s grass fed. It’s that, you know, you’re like, okay, I want to try that, you know, and imagine if they are doing this from their heart and putting their passion in.
Yes. So, they become an amazing, sellers up to that. And having all the products available all the time with these special and innovative items from here. And then. Yeah, it helps a lot. and this one, it’s been great to look at the various elements. So, there is a, a process to attract sales.
There’s a process to drive experience, the guest experience. And the two of them, the experience brings sales right. we spoke briefly about the concept of the out of stock, but I’m sure there are other challenges that the FB professionals face. Can you tell us about a little bit on what goes on, or what are some of the challenges that are behind the scenes that could be insightful for our audience?
So sure. Thank you for this question. it’s so basically your main duty as it can be manager, is to look up for the people who are on the ground, look up Marie mean, to check on them on a daily basis to make sure that they are really motivated, to make sure that they are putting a smile on their face, that to motivate them, to ensure that they are going to give their best.
So, this is goals. By having a daily meeting, if you come and see someone who said, hey, what’s happening man? Tell me more about it. And then once he talks about it, he feels really so he can forget about it. And now he coups on the on the work. And, when, as his manager, you offer some support for him or just sometimes people, they want someone to listen to them.
You don’t have the whole time to listen to everyone’s problem. but at least by noticing this and, by coming directly to the employee. What’s happening? checking that, the briefings are happening daily. Just five minutes to motivate the staff. keep stressing on our strengths. in this, in our restaurants, so they feel motivated and to always bring them to the objective of driving revenues and creating a wonderful guest experience, because it’s all about wonderful guest experience.
And we always say, as FMB expert that we don’t want our guests to leave unhappy or unsatisfied. And really, this one, it requires lots of observation. You need always to read your guests to check what’s happening with them. Their gestures can tell a lot. If they didn’t finish, they it can tell a lot. So, you need to ask open question.
there are techniques to do to do it. because really you don’t want a guest leaving and putting you a bad review, at the Google interview. And that’s, you know, so, whatever wrong you can do, whatever wrong that happened in your restaurant, it appears directly you can do so. I don’t know why. Yes, yes.
So, you don’t want to swim. So, you must keep looking up, for yourself to check the guest complain. What’s happening, what the people are talking about to, because you need to listen to the people. Sometimes it’s good to be on the ground to make, table visits, to listen about the feedback, connect with our, your guests that they come often there.
The one thing that paying your bill. I’m not a person. Yeah, that’s not paying your salary. It’s not only a job from 9 to 5. Really? It requires lots put from yourself. And if you don’t do it with passion, you are. You are not patient as well as yourself. You know, the beginning. You will not succeed.
It will become a burden. And everything you do with passion. It’s not that then the work it is. It’s just a hobby. It’s that. It’s just. It goes on. You don’t feel the pain. So, you know, when you were talking, what’s coming to mind is you said, look after your people notice. Your people go on the ground.
talk with your guests, talk with your clients, and I. The message today is, this doesn’t just apply for a food service out that this applies for almost any business. So, whether you are a sales leader, you are a business owner, you are managing a team, taking the time to notice your people to talk with your people, to have a little huddle.
What’s going on? What’s happening? go. And talking with customers, understanding their own issues. Challenges? How is my team supporting you? Not supporting you. So, really, you know, we call this, observation first step in design thinking, as you go and you do your, your observations, right. Then from those insights, you then generate, you know, what else you need to do to drive, to drive things forward.
So, so this has really been quite insightful in the same thing that happened, you know, in the foodservice outlet can happen in any other business. And at the end, isn’t it all about, giving value to others? I think, it was Zig Ziglar who said, something that stuck with me a long time ago to get what I want, I must help someone get what they want first.
Absolutely. And if I, If I help you get what you want, eventually we will get what? What we want. So, after that. So that’s it? Abdul has been a pleasure to be with you here today. and, up, I guess, until next time. Until next time. Yeah. Thank you for this lovely, pleasure.
So, again, as you know, sell more, so faster and profitably.
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