Will decreasing my existing staff help increase my bottom line?

I recently read a Business Journal article that Red Robin spokesman Kevin Caulfield said. “To remain a strong and growing restaurant brand, Red Robin’s priorities and choices for where we dedicate resources must also change, so we are resetting our organization for the future of our business and the changes include the elimination of some positions in the field and at the home office.” We all know that cutting staff during your slower time is a great money saver. In this case Red Robin is cutting their bussers and expediters. I thought as I read this article that this was a bad idea so I decided to take my grandson to Red Robin for lunch in Avondale, Az.

We had extremely slow service however the food was good so I tried to look past it. At the end we ordered the Donut Ring Tower. We waited almost 15 minutes for the dessert to come to the table. I could see the server standing in the hot plate line waiting. Of course because no expediter (food runner) he couldn’t go tend to his other tables because he had to wait in line in order to get the donut ring tower while it was hot. My question is, should your customers be the ones suffering for you deciding to cut staff?

Our dirty dishes were never removed from the table. Obviously if there were bussers they could’ve picked them up or maybe when the server came to the table on two other occasions he could’ve picked them up. My question to Red Robin is should you put more money into training if you want staff to take on other positions?

When we were leaving there were 4-5 dirty tables just in our area of the restaurant. Who knows how many there were in the whole restaurant. There was a lobby full of people waiting to be seated and this was at 3:00 pm on a Saturday. Another question would be, how much money are you willing to lose if those people choose to go elsewhere where there is no wait?

I would love to hear your thoughts on how your restaurant is cutting costs this year?

If your restaurant is one that is doing well where have you decided to put your money?

We at The Hart Experience can help you see where you can cut costs and where you need to improve. We do customized business development assessments and mystery shops to give you a fresh perspective of how to increase your bottom line.

Let’s make 2018 the year of quality customer experiences…

Contact Debbie Hart, The Hart Experience 602.717.3271 or Debbie@thehartexperience.com www.thehartexperience.com