WA S H I N GTO N
March 2015
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SECRET INGREDIENT FOR RESTAURANT SUCCESS THE
WINDOW INTO
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CREATING HOSPITALITY
AND ALSO...
LOCAL RESTAURANTS MOVE people upward
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Inside Features
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WA S H I N GTO N
March 2015
M
A
G
A
Z
I
N
E
SECRET INGREDIENT FOR RESTAURANT SUCCESS THE
GLIMPSE
A INTO THE
PAST,
WINDOW INTO
THE
FUTURE
+
BACK-OF-THE-HOUSE’S
IMPORTANT ROLE IN
CREATING HOSPITALITY
AND ALSO...
LOCAL RESTAURANTS MOVE people upward
March_2015.indd 1
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ProStart: A glimpse into the past, a window into the future
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Hospitality: The secret ingredient for restaurant success
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Back-of-the-house’s important role in creating hospitality
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Local restaurants move people upward
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Executive chef, what is your dream?
Other stories
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www.warestaurant.org
2/18/2015 4:08:17 PM
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Lex on Tech: Will drones fly their way into the restaurant industry?
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News Briefs
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WRA President and CEO: Lifting people up!
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Your Government Affairs team in action: state and local
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Member Spotlight: Frasers Gourmet Hideaway
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Calendar/New Members
28
Marketplace
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Improve performance with results focused training
On the cover
Hospitality — you can’t run a successful restaurant without it, but what is it? And how can you build an environment that encourages this essential ingredient to restaurant success. This issue of Washington Restaurant Magazine helps your restaurant reach its full potential and shows how our industry is training the next generation of hospitality specialists through ProStart.
March 2015 | 5
Lex on Tech EDITORIAL STAFF Publisher, Anthony Anton Executive Editor, Lex Nepomuceno Managing Editor, Paul Schlienz Contributing Editor, Andy Cook Contributing Editor, David Faro Contributing Editor, Stephanie Davenport Research Editor, Sheryl Jackson Art Director, Lisa Ellefson WRA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chair, Phil Costello Stop n’ Go Family Drive In Vice Chair, Chad MacKay El Gaucho Hospitality Secretary/Treasurer, Mark Chriest Oki Developments, Inc. Immediate Past Chair, Bret Stewart CenterTwist, Inc. WRAEF President, Gary Sutter Northern Quest Resort & Casino WRA EXECUTIVE TEAM President and CEO, Anthony Anton Vice President, Teran Petrina Director of Government Affairs, Bruce Beckett Director of Communications & Technology, Lex Nepomuceno Director of Education, Lyle Hildahl Director of Internal Operations, Bekah Cardwell 510 Plum St. SE, Ste. 200 Olympia, WA 98501-1587 T 360.956.7279 | F 360.357.9232 www.warestaurant.org
Letters are welcomed, but must be signed to be considered for publication. Please include contact information for verification. Reproduction of articles appearing in Washington Restaurant Magazine are authorized for personal use only, with credit given to Washington Restaurant Magazine and/or the Washington Restaurant Association. Articles written by outside authors do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Washington Restaurant Association, its Board of Directors, staff or members. Products and services advertised in Washington Restaurant Magazine are not necessarily endorsed by the WRA, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the WRA, its Board of Directors, staff or members. ADVERTISING INQUIRIES MAY BE DIRECTED TO: Ken Wells Business Development Director 425.457.1458 kenw@warestaurant.org Washington Restaurant Magazine is published monthly for Association members. We welcome your comments and suggestions. email: news@warestaurant.org, phone: 800.225.7166. Circulation: 6,310.
6 | |www.warestaurant.org warestaurant.org
Will drones fly their way into the restaurant industry? By Lex Nepomuceno, Executive Editor Earlier this year, a Singapore-based restaurant chain, Timbre, announced that it will be implementing drone waiters as a way to deal with the country’s growing service staffing gap issue. In fact, prior to the drone rollout, several wellestablished food establishments closed their doors because of local manpower shortages and increased costs. Instead of closing its doors, the forward-thinking restaurant decided to turn to flying robot waiters that can carry over four pounds of food to customers. The drones utilize infrared sensors embedded throughout the restaurant, as well as sophisticated mapping software tailored to busy food establishments in order to navigate and deliver to each table. Such an elaborate drone system will likely go through some growing pains; recently there was a drone that crashed into a customer’s face at a TGI Friday’s in New York. However, all pioneering innovations start somewhere and it is better to get an early jump now as business owners face challenges such as increasing labor costs, regulatory burdens and entitlements. It is important to note that owners of the Timbre restaurant/bar don’t intend to use the drones as a way to replace human workers. They are focusing more on “workplace optimization” where the flying wait staff will supplement existing human teams. This will allow the restaurant to focus its human staff on higher skilled/ higher paying endeavors such as making cocktails and customer service. Although the restaurant doesn’t expect a full rollout of the drone wait staff until later this year, the idea of drones flying around a busy restaurant may seem like an absurd concept. More than 40 percent of the American public are actually against private ownership of drones, and privacy advocates have consistently presented examples where flying robots with cameras would threaten privacy rights. Drones are right up there with Google Glass in terms of public acceptance. However, when looking at unorthodox implementations of technology, restaurateurs shouldn’t just look at the hardware itself, but at what the technology represents. Will this type of trend help your business attract customers? Will it help improve operations? Will it help you control costs? Will it help you to ultimately provide a better customer experience because your valued staff can focus on higher value tasks such as following up with diners or making sure the orders are prepared properly? The dining area is a very busy place and finding ways to automate certain tasks may help the human wait staff ensure a five-star experience for customers. Another reality is that restaurant operators will need to find ways to run a leaner and more efficient business if they are unable to profitably pay for major jumps in wages and benefits. Applying creative, technological solutions is certainly better than cutting back hours or even closing the doors. When looking at technology, remember Moore’s Law, which basically states that processing power for computers will double every 18-24 months. Yes, drones, robots and automated kitchens may be rough around the edges now, but imagine where it will all be in 3-6 years. Surely, you expect your restaurant to still be around at that time, so why not get the jump on the competition and imminent labor challenges now? At least, be prepared. ■
Primary Source of Information | News Briefs WRA releases 2015 edition of HERO Manual The new 2015 edition of the WRA’s HERO Manual is now available. The HERO Manual contains information, supplies and opportunities to promote, protect and improve your business. And as your business grows, we hope this manual grows with you. WRA wants to maximize your success as a restaurant operator. We hope the HERO Manual helps you do just that. This year we have made extensive updates to the HERO Manual -– everything from completely new sections to revisions of old sections to reflect changes in law and agency rulemaking. Additionally, we have undertaken a thorough survey of the entire manual and made typographical, spelling and formatting changes where necessary. Among the completely new parts of this year’s HERO Manual are sections on the minimum wage, service charges, breastfeeding, Affordable Care Act reporting requirements, religious accommodation, e-cigarettes and the caterer’s license. We are sure this will be a great resource for our members. To check out the latest version online, go to http://warestaurant.org/hero and use the password “wramember” to access the publication. ■ Congratulations to state Restaurant Neighbor Award winners Restaurants serve. People. Careers. Communities. That’s why the Washington Restaurant Association is proud to announce its state winners of the acclaimed National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s (NRAEF) Restaurant Neighbor Award. This award celebrates the outstanding charitable service performed by restaurant operators throughout the U.S. Our state winners are: Starbucks, Seattle (Large Restaurant Category), for its innovative College Achievement Plan that provides affordable college education for its employees; El Gaucho, Seattle (Mid-Size Restaurant Category), for its donation of more than $3,000,000 to charitable causes since its inception in just over a decade; and Fraser’s Gourmet Hideaway, Oak Harbor (Small Restaurant Category), for its extensive involvement in community service, feeding more than 3,000 people with its 2014 Community Harvest Celebration (Thanksgiving dinner) and 8,000 people at its 2014 Oak Harbor Pigfest, raising and donating $87,000 to charities over the last seven years, and taking an active role in mentoring the Oak Harbor High School ProStart team of awardwinning culinary arts students.
Additionally, Kevin Parker (Dutch Bros. Coffee, Spokane) is receiving the prestigious state Cornerstone Humanitarian Award. The winner of the Spokane Realtors’ 2013 Citizen of the Year honor, Parker makes tremendous contributions to charities including the Children’s Organ Transplant Association and Generation Alive, sits on several community boards and serves in the Washington State House of Representatives, representing the 6th Legislative District. ■ Minimum wage: Seattle loses 100 jobs to Nevada We were sorry to see Cascade Designs, an outdoor recreation gear manufacturer, announce this week that it is moving 100 jobs - 20 percent of its workforce - later this year to Reno, Nevada. Unfortunately, with Seattle’s recent hike of its minimum wage to $15, we fear that other companies will find it difficult to do business in Seattle, and move to states with more reasonable wage policies. Read the full story at http://wra.cc/ mag0315b. ■ Restaurants applaud bill to clearly define seasonal employment under ACA The restaurant industry is pleased with the introduction of the STARS Act of 2015 in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would align the definitions of seasonal employment in the Affordable Care Act and streamline the applicable large employer determination process. Under the current health care law, the definition of seasonal employee versus seasonal worker varies, complicating the already burdensome compliance process. Hopefully, the bill will receive quick passage in the House and move to the Senate. Both sides of the political spectrum need to move forward on this important fix. ■
March 2015 | 7
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Industry Outlook | WRA President and CEO
Lifting people up! By Anthony Anton, President and CEO
Giving people a start is one of the cornerstones of our industry on so many levels:
ÐÐ Many immigrants, including my grandfather, opened
ÐÐ
ÐÐ
Anthony Anton, President and CEO
Students learn successful communication and customer service skills, business math and forecasting, workplace and food safety procedures, nutrition, receiving and storage practices, to name a few. Students completing 400 hours of industry work experience and passing both ProStart exams can attain a nationally recognized Certificate of Achievement, applicable toward scholarship opportunities and tuition reductions.
restaurants as the most available path to the American Dream and opportunity to control their own financial security. Many professionals used the flexible nature of the industry to WRA works with state agencies to put themselves through school ProStart helps the industry reduce the barriers to hiring the kids to launch the career of their remind the public that we who participate in this educational dreams. give our communities a opportunity. And of course, most Americans fabulous starting point for got their first job in a restaurant Labor is trying to define restaurants as new workers. And these back when they were a teenager; dead-end jobs with no hope for a great they gathered valuable opportunities are alive and future in order to secure additional experience in beginning well today. wage and workplace regulations. customer service skills, work ProStart helps the industry remind the ethic, being part of team, public that we give our communities workplace safety, showing up ready for work and so a fabulous starting point for new workers. And these much more. opportunities are alive and well today.
My guess is that 99 percent of those reading this article fall into at least one of starting points listed above. And yet, the realities of today’s economy, regulatory environment and wage laws are putting a bigger squeeze on these starting points. ProStart is just one way WRA is fighting to keep these opportunities alive. In 33 high schools across Washington, ProStart is a two-year hospitality program that develops culinary techniques and management skills in today’s students. The industry-driven curriculum links classroom learning with hands-on experience to develop the best and brightest talent in tomorrow’s restaurant and foodservice leaders. With support of community-minded industry members, Washington’s ProStart program reaches more than 1,500 high school students per year. ProStart gives students a platform to discover new interests and talents, and it opens the doors for fulfilling careers in the hospitality industry. Industry operators serve as mentors and provide support for ProStart students by helping them make a real connection to their goals and their future.
You can help the WRA define who we are as industry and support today’s youth by engaging in the ProStart high school your area. There are several ways in which a little of your time can make a big difference.
Mentor – Whether one hour a year or one a week,
simply connect with local ProStart students and educators to help advise classes, speak on industryrelated topics, prepare a team for competition, host a field trip to your business and use your knowledge and experience to help our students succeed. Sponsor – The WRAEF has many events that support your local ProStart program. Hire – Give ProStart students priority as ready-towork candidates, and help them gain the hands-on experience they need to succeed. They need a chance to get started in life, just like you did. Contact the WRA office or your area coordinator to learn about how you can continue the industry tradition of giving people a great start. ■
March 2015 | 9
Your Government Affairs team in action: state and local By Stephanie Davenport, Contributing Editor State government update The 2015 legislative session has been in full swing since January 12. This has been another busy year with a multitude of legislation and ideas flooding the Capitol. At the time of this writing, more than 2,000 bills have been introduced; the majority of these bills will never receive a hearing. On any given week, prior to March 11, the Government Affairs team is tracking, and engaged on, nearly 200 pieces of legislation that would impact the restaurant industry. They attend hearings for up to 89 bills per week. On the first cut-off, March 11, the pace of bill introduction slows, but the pace of hearings continues. Due to the fast moving nature of this process, the best way to keep up-todate with what is happening is to subscribe to our weekly email Hot Off the Grill. You can subscribe by emailing Stephanie Davenport at StephanieD@warestaurant.org. Thus far, two priorities of the 2015 session are minimum wage increases and removal of the 17 percent fee on purchases of liquor from retailers. Two bills were introduced this session that would change how minimum wage is calculated in the state. House Bill 1355 and Senate Bill 5285. Both pieces of legislation aimed to increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour, phased-in over four years. The WRA helped legislators introduce legislation that would remove the 17 percent fee on sales of spirits from stores to restaurants. House Bill 1343 and Senate Bill 5301 both address the fee and have strong bipartisan support. Local government update With the progression of important issues surfacing on the local level, WRA, over the last year, added two local government coordinators. In previous editions of this magazine, you have met Morgan Hickel and Samantha Louderback. Our GA Team has had a full-plate of local government work in the last month. For more information on these bills and others, you can view our latest Hot Off the Grill by scanning this QR code with your smart phone. http://wra.cc/hotg2015
10 | warestaurant.org
WRA President and CEO Anthony Anton and WRA member Joreen Brinkman meet with Sen. Mark Schoesler at this year’s annual Hill Climb. SEATTLE Minimum Wage The draft rules and frequently asked questions table of contents for Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance have been released. The rules help clarify any component of the law that is vague or in need of further definition. Significant progress was made during the rulemaking process on issues important to the hospitality industry, and the draft rules reflect that progress. The minimum wage ordinance goes into effect on April 1. New Composting Requirements The Seattle City Council passed an ordinance last September prohibiting food from Seattle’s residential and commercial garbage. The law went into effect on January 1, and enforcement will begin on July 1. All commercial establishments that generate food waste or compostable paper will now have to subscribe to a composting service, compost their food waste on-site or self-haul their food waste for processing. After July 1, a commercial property will receive a warning notice if their garbage contains more than 10 percent recyclables or food waste. Upon the third notice, the property will receive a $50 fine. Preparing for the 2015 Seattle City Council district elections This year, all nine Seattle City Council members are up for election. Seven members are elected by district, while two run “at-large” (city wide). With these elections, the hospitality industry has a huge opportunity to make an impact on the council and to build key relationships. The deadline for candidates to get on the ballot is May 15. The Seattle Restaurant Alliance partnered with the Seattle Hotel Association to form The Hospitality PAC for the purpose of effectively engaging in this year’s city council
elections. We will work hard to help elect local leaders who understand the challenges local restaurants face, and will make good decisions for the hospitality community. TACOMA Tacoma’s Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance was heard on January 27, in a City Council meeting that lasted six hours. Many representatives from labor came to testify on a variety of amendments to the ordinance. Most of the amendments aimed to increase the amount of paid time offered. The Council heard public testimony after each amendment. By the end of the night, the Tacoma City Council voted and passed the proposed ordinance, 8–1. Now that the City Council approved the Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance, the rulemaking process becomes very important. The WRA will continue to work closely with the Tacoma/Pierce County Chamber of Commerce to make sure the voices of the business community and our WRA members are being heard during this process. SPOKANE There have been recent stories in the media regarding paid sick leave in the Spokane area. The WRA is working closely with the Spokane Chapter and other business allies. A local radio station reported that the Spokane Human Rights Commission has made paid sick leave its priority for 2015, and claimed that the City Council will take up the issue in the weeks ahead. Since paid sick leave ordinances in other cities have moved fast, the WRA is taking this claim seriously. Seattle and Tacoma have now both passed city ordinances that mandate paid sick leave for employees. Seattle’s ordinance mandates 8.67 paid sick days per year with a maximum of 13.5 days allowed to be carried over to the next year. Tacoma’s ordinance mandates three paid sick days per year with a maximum of 40 hours allowed to be carried over to the next year. ■ March 2015 | 11
Tarte au framage blanc, Newport High School’s dessert entree at the 2014 Boyd’s® Coffee ProStart Invitational.
ProStart: A glimpse into the past, a window into the future By David Faro, Contributing Editor Twenty years ago restaurants across the United States had a problem. “For years and years, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) asked owners and managers what kept them up at night and what issues they were worried about” said Monica Miller, a senior program manager for the NRA. As time progressed, one answer kept consistently creeping up that list. As Miller put it, “All of a sudden in the 1990s, the inability of employers to find skilled, focused and ready to work employees became a major concern.” What hospitality professionals were essentially saying to the NRA was this, according to Miller: “They no longer could easily find great workers.” Let’s break this down and make it real. You are a manager at a restaurant, and are trying to successfully grow your business. More customers means that you need to hire more staff, but when you put out the word that you are hiring, either nobody shows up or, worse yet, the people who do show up have no experience. Additionally, prospective employees arrive with no real understanding of what it’s like to work in a commercial kitchen or thriving front of the house operation. So, you make a blind choice, trusting and anticipating that you can help take a fresh recruit and turn him or her into a professional food service employee. Oftentimes, it seems like a long shot. You hope your hiring process helps to select serious entry level employees who have a real desire to succeed, but there is only so much about a person that you can learn in a 15 minute interview, right? So, you roll the dice, take a chance and sometimes you make a good choice. Other times you are dead wrong. The kid you hired because he wore a tie to the interview? You find out quickly that the tie was the best thing about him. Sadly, you only discover this when it is too late, and the recruit turns out to be more of a liability to your operation than a productive member of your team.
12 | warestaurant.org
It’s a dilemma because running a successful restaurant starts with good hiring. If you don’t have a clear vision of the caliber of employees that you are bringing into your business, there can be some serious associated risks as a result. Miller says these were risks that the industry took seriously around the mid 1990s, when it set out to address the problem. The mission was to locate and train the hospitality workforce of the future. According to Miller, it was a big task that required a big idea, and the NRA took a careful look at what was out there for training. In the 1990s, traditional home economics classes were on the decline in public schools. The increased attention given to the issue by restaurateurs nationwide was an impetus for the NRA to look closely at the problem. At first, the industry began to audit its training programs and looked to identify what existed at the time to help entice talented, skilled workers to choose restaurant and foodservice careers. The answer the industry came up with? In a word, nothing.
The goal was to come up with a real and potent solution to the declining availability of a ready-to-work labor force. “What we came up with is ProStart,” said Miller. “We decided to grow our own.” That’s the key to the whole program. The idea is that ProStart is a training regimen developed by the industry for the industry, and if this is an article about ProStart’s inception, that key point cannot be forgotten. ProStart is the answer that we gave ourselves. The concept of uniting the industry with the classroom continues to gain respect today and is one of the most respected models for career and technical education around. It was a great achievement when ProStart came to fruition. Hospitality professionals and hopeful students were integrated through the first curriculum, and it took hold and began to grow and blossom.
As interest grew and more classrooms began utilizing the texts, the curriculum was published in Level 1 and Level 2, and it was later revised and re-released in a second So, in an innovative move, edition. For the third edition, the industry embarked the curriculum changed to on an initiative to develop Foundations of Restaurant its own training program Management and Culinary Arts, to teach secondary which remains the title today. Kentlake High School puts the finishing touches on their school students about the In the intervening years, the composed chicken Cobb at the 2014 Boyd’s® Coffee ProStart opportunities available in ProStart name has evolved into a Invitational. foodservice. The second step nationally recognized brand, and was to equip them with the skills needed to access these jobs. is used to refer to the entire program. This involved research, data collection and the piloting of local, organic programs to train students in culinary arts and With the curriculum established and states beginning to restaurant management. formally participate in the program, several critical funding opportunities converged that fostered significant growth One of the first steps taken was to send out a massive and helped the program gain momentum and recognition questionnaire to more than 5,000 restaurant managers in state and federal circles. These funding sources included across the country. It asked hospitality professionals to seed money provided to participating states through what identify the core skills and competencies that a person needs was then the Hospitality Business Alliance, which later to succeed in a restaurant job - from front line employees became the National Restaurant Association Educational right on up to management. Foundation (NRAEF). State governments also offered funding through their respective “business-industry The NRA convened focus groups, brought together partnership” funding programs. Finally, the ProStart secondary school administrators, teachers and industry program received significant support through federal representatives, and embarked on what Miller called, “a funding under the Department of Labor’s High Growth Job pretty mammoth undertaking.” Training Initiative. March 2015 | 13
Miller describes the confluence of stakeholder synergy at the time as being “The perfect environment for the program to come to life.” It’s worth noting that while several industries were able to attract federal dollars, the restaurant industry is among the few that used the money to scale its program and remain viable after the funding was no longer available. This is a significant achievement, made possible through state educational foundations adopting the program and fueling its growth. ProStart’s success is regarded as a model of industry, classroom and government partnership. Let’s unpack this notion on a practical level. What does “made for the industry by the industry” actually mean? Well, for a seasoned chef, it means that when a ProStart student comes into their kitchen armed with a two year ProStart Certificate of Achievement, that chef can be confident that although it might be the first time the student has actually applied for a real job, this applicant is also armed with the prerequisite knowledge needed for success. If you have any doubt about this at all, the best way to drive the point home is to attend one of the state level ProStart Invitational competitions. The air is electric. Students demonstrate incredible knowledge through their cooking and management plans. The final dishes and restaurant management strategies rival many of our state’s best menus and concepts. After a short time at any competition, it quickly becomes obvious that ProStart teaches kids to be in “The Zone” as well as how to be a valuable employee at the same time. Students are incredibly focused, and they demonstrate quickly that they have been educated thoroughly in everything from knife skills to portion control. More importantly, students reveal that they are ready to jump right into your operation as a trained member of your staff. What does it cost you to train entry-level employees in your restaurant? How long does it take for them to get up to speed? A year? Longer? With ProStart graduates, it takes no time at all; they arrive ready, willing and possessing an already established desire to cook great food and manage a restaurant concept efficiently. Chef Eric Hellner of Seattle’s Metropolitan Grill knows the power of a ProStart education. “ProStart students are more advanced from a culinary standpoint than a kid off the street who wants to work, but has no idea what he is getting into,” said Hellner. “There is certain confidence that comes from the kind of education
14 | warestaurant.org
Students of Bonney Lake High School assemble their winning dishes at the 2014 Boyd’s® Coffee Prostart Invitational. that ProStart students get. That confidence is worth so much in a kitchen like mine. When you have servers and managers breathing down your neck and screaming at you on a busy Friday night, that’s a lot of pressure. ProStart students learn to encounter that pressure before they run into it professionally.” It’s obvious that Chef Hellner takes ProStart seriously. In 2014, he was named the ProStart Mentor of the Year in Washington state. That was the same year he also accompanied his team and their instructor Chef Kahale Ahina, from Bonney Lake High School, to a first place win at the state ProStart Invitational in Spokane. It didn’t end there though. Bonney Lake placed fifth overall in the national competition in Minnesota, and confirmed once again the value of the program for students in Washington state. In 1997, six schools in Illinois decided to participate in the first pilot program for ProStart. The program started with 100 students. By 2001, the program had grown to 19,000
students in 30 states and territories. By 2015, with the recent addition of Kentucky, in 2014, ProStart programs are operating in 49 states. North Dakota is the only state left today without a participating school. What started as a program with only 100 students almost 20 years ago, now boasts 109,750 students nationwide.
Have you considered hiring a ProStart student? Watch this video to listen to a former ProStart student talk about how the program helped jumpstart his career and why he is now a mentor.
“We know that not all of these students are pointed towards lifelong careers in hospitality,” said Miller, “but we also know that the NRAEF, in partnership with many state associations and participating schools, has created a viable tool for preparing a significant segment of the workforce of the future.” ProStart teaches poise under pressure. ProStart teaches organization. ProStart gives hope and direction to students looking to successfully enter the workforce across the country. Most importantly, however, ProStart is the answer to the real concerns that restaurants had in the 1990s. In short, they needed a trained and ready workforce. ProStart gives them that in abundance, and in doing so, gives a whole lot more to kids and communities than terrific food. So, the question you should ask when you are looking for entry-level employees, is how can you connect with ProStart students? How can you entice them to come and work for you? The first step is by becoming a mentor like Chef Hellner. That way you can integrate directly with students, give something back to your industry, and at the same time, possibly make the biggest difference of all. You might help to change a kid’s life, giving hope, and all the while, your kitchen, your industry and your state will be the better for it. For the last two decades, ProStart has been a sound resolution to a number of issues that hospitality professionals face every day. Now it’s time for you to become a part of the solution. The Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation invites you to discover the program as a mentor, as a teacher and as an employer. Explore ProStart and, at the same time, explore the future. ■
http://wra.cc/prostart0215a
Listen to the full interview with Senior Project Manager Monica Mills from the National Restaurant Association here:
To become a ProStart mentor or to find out anything you would like to know about ProStart participation, contact the Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation by visiting www. wraef.org or by contacting WRAEF ProStart Program coordinator Bernadette Irish at 360.956.7279 or by emailing her at bernadettei@warestaurant.org.
http://wra.cc/prostart0215b March 2015 | 15
Hospitality: The secret ingredient for restaurant success By Paul Schlienz, Managing Editor
HOSPITALITY
is front and center in the restaurant
industry – or at least it should be.
Restaurant operators use the word a lot and think they already have it because they are, after all, in what’s called the hospitality business, but do they? Like love, this intangible factor so central to a restaurant’s success is difficult to define. Again like love, you know it when you feel it, but it can’t be taught like you teach job skills, and therein lies the problem. “We say that we’re in the hospitality business – that’s kind of the shorthand for it – but it always struck me that the thing that was most missing in the hospitality industry was hospitality,” said The Restaurant Doctor™, Bill Marvin, a prolific author, speaker and long-time industry consultant. “You can get a decent meal and be reasonably well-served in most restaurants, but there aren’t a lot of places where you come away with a real warm, fuzzy feeling like it actually mattered to somebody that you showed up. The industry desperately needs to rediscover hospitality, but it doesn’t know it yet because it thinks it already has it.” While most restaurant operators have the best of intentions, many struggle with how to help their staff to “get it” about the mindset of caring. Marvin is convinced that they’re frequently getting it all wrong when it comes to hospitality. “So much of what operators do is focused on getting people into the place,” said Marvin. “They’re throwing discounts and coupons around like crazy just to get fannies on chairs. Getting them in may 16 | warestaurant.org
build sales, but getting them to return over and over again builds a business. My approach is to operate in such a way that people will patronize you – at full price – because they want to, because you are their favorite place!” Marvin should know. He’s a veteran of the hospitality industry who began as a restaurant dishwasher at age 14, and has owned and operated full service restaurants in addition to managing food and beverage operations in hotels, clubs and institutions. Hospitality and service: Not the same thing Marvin contends that one of the first misconceptions to overcome is the idea that hospitality and service are one in the same. “People will say ‘hospitality,’ but then they’ll talk service and they think they’re the same,” said Marvin. “They may be related, but they’re really quite different. Service is what you do. It’s about serving from the left, clearing from the right and not spilling wine on the table. It’s about timing and temperature. Service is very systematic. You can plot it out, you can schedule it, you can train it. But you can do all these service tasks perfectly and still leave your patrons feeling unimportant.” For him, service is efficiently doing what’s expected. In contrast, he says, hospitality is about doing what is unexpected and uniquely personal to that guest in that moment. In a nutshell, service is what you DO. Hospitality is how you ARE. “Hospitality is personal,” said Marvin. “It’s about how you are with people. Everything else is just mechanics. Hospitality is a feeling others get when they are with you.” Marvin sees hospitality as the result of truly caring about the many little things that contribute to a guest having a memorable experience in your restaurant. Clean restrooms are not hospitality, but it would be inhospitable if they weren’t sparkling clean. You’d never invite important guests to your home without making sure the place is clean and inviting, would you? Why should it be any less critical for the guests you invite to your restaurant? “So hospitality really becomes the way you look at life, the way you are in the world,” said Marvin. “It’s not just about how you deal with your guests, but about how you are with your staff, how you conduct yourself on the planet … and that’s a high calling.” Creating an hospitable environment So, how do you encourage your staff to be hospitable? According to Marvin, you can’t just legislate it into being. “You won’t get hospitality by making a policy about it and you can’t teach hospitality like you teach job skills,” Marvin said. “Hospitality is not a series of actions; it’s the manifestation of
an innate human capability. They’re either coming from that hospitable place or they’re not.” So, while you can’t teach hospitality like you teach job skills, you don’t have to. The ability to be hospitable, like the ability to fall in love, is in every human being. Marvin’s experience is that when an operator creates a positive environment for restaurant workers, good things – including hospitality – will happen naturally. “It starts by treating your staff the same way you want them to treat your guests,” he said. “Never do or say anything to your staff you wouldn’t say or do to a paying guest. What they see is what you will get. If you want your crew to listen, you must listen to them. If you want them to dress neatly, dress neatly. Want them to show up on time? Show up on time. You are the role model whether you want the job or not and hospitality begets hospitality. He goes on to explain that anything you do that contributes to good will and trust will raise the level of your working environment. In a positive climate, you will naturally see teamwork, caring, high productivity and a pleasant feeling on the job. On the other hand, he contends, anything you do that contributes to fear and insecurity will lower the level, and in a negative climate, it’s every man for himself. Hospitality is impossible at that point. Too many operators spend their time dealing with behavior that is merely a symptom without ever understanding what it is a symptom of. Once you understand the principles at work, Marvin says, the people part of your job gets surprisingly easy. Is it worth it? He reminds restaurateurs that every impression experienced by a guest – positive or negative – is created by individual members of the staff. “It’s the care and feeding of the geese that lay the golden eggs,” said Marvin. “People will act as a team when they see that their own best interests are served by everyone else winning as well. That is a very natural consequence of a positive climate. When you get that right, everyone is on the same page. They’re doing a great job because it’s fun for them. It’s not work at all. What you’re really creating when you talk about a high performance team is an environment where people who want to perform at a high level can do that.” While there is much that staffers can learn from operators, Marvin insists that managers need to be open to what their staff can teach them as well. “My perpetual question to operators is, ‘What did you learn from your staff today?’” Marvin said. “The most important management skill you can develop is the ability to listen and to actually take action on what you learn. Respectful listening will do wonders to improve the climate.” ■ March 2015 | 17
Back-of-the-house’s important role in creating hospitality By Andy Cook, Contributing Editor
Hospitality is the guiding force of the front-of-house. Whether it’s the hosts, servers, bartenders and/ or bussers you see bustling about a fullservice restaurant or the person at the counter and those keeping the dining area clean in quick service, these are the people responsible for projecting the value hospitality adds to the experience of the restaurant guest. Right? It’s true that of all the people whose efforts are critical to the overall health and wellness of the many facets of foodservice – the workers who interact with the guest are certainly where the rubber-hits-the-road in regard to hospitality. These are the people who interpret – in real time – the fluid expectations of guests and creatively adjust their efforts to meet or exceed them. By far, these are the people who receive the lion’s share of the credit (or blame) for a restaurant’s hospitality efforts. Shift your attention toward those working behind-the-scenes and you’ll see a whole crew of unsung heroes of hospitality making all the efforts of the smiling busybodies in the dining room possible. In some instances, it’s obvious; many full-service eateries have an open kitchen design where all the efforts of the cooks are on display. We like that as restaurant guests; for some of us, it’s entertainment to watch a busy kitchen crew walking the line between order and chaos. It’s also fun to chat it up with the dangerous dudes who hold sharp blades and play with fire. Scott Fraser (this month’s Member Spotlight) designed his restaurant with seats facing the kitchen, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I can’t imagine cooking without an open concept – it’s the best of both worlds,” said Fraser. “We get to create and serve, it adds a dynamic to what we do.” 18 | warestaurant.org
This is hospitality. Whether the kitchen is on display or not, the back-of-the-house’s efforts are essentially just as hospitality driven as the frontof-the-house. These hard working culinary professionals do a lot to move the engine of hospitality; in many ways, what they do goes unnoticed – unless they don’t do it. They balance the portions and ingredients for maximum effect, they decorate the plates with a pleasing aesthetic of edible merchandising if not a bona fide artistic expression, in and of itself. They fine tune each dish to put it in line with the diner’s special instructions (X on the side, sub this for that, easy on the blank, allergies.) Add to all that, these people are masters of multitasking; able to synchronize every detail of every dish; cooking time, side dishes, station of production, etc., and having the variety of each table come together within moments of each other. They don’t do it because it’s easy; they put out the effort because it adds to the value of the diner’s overall experience. There are diners out there, myself included, who seek out a restaurant with counter service overlooking the kitchen, if not a table or two in the back-of-house. In the age of the celebrity chef, people are more in tune to the efforts of the back-of-house; they crave it. There are countless websites and a score of televised programs devoted to food preparation. For some, an ordered dish is simply not ready for consumption until a picture of it has been immortalized on social media. With minimum wage rising locally and across the country, combined with the low profit margins of the industry, many restaurateurs are looking for ways to balance the income inequity between the front and back-of-house. Whether it be tip pool reform, in the macro, or tip out to the kitchen, in the micro, many restaurateurs are showing they care about and are aware of the back to front efforts of hospitality. ■
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March 2015 | 19
THE LARGEST FOOD AND BEVERAGE EXHIBITION IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
A Taste of Innovation at the Northwest Foodservice Show
A
s a restaurant and hospitality professional interested in a fresh look at the newest industry developments and products, there is one place for you to find it all: The Northwest Foodservice Show. Now in its 53rd year, the Show is the largest food and beverage expo in our region. Attendees from every segment of the industry visit the tradeshow to sample the finest foods and beverages, try out the latest kitchen equipment and network with industry peers while browsing over 400 vendor booths.
international flavor profiling and fabulous dining experiences that translate to your bottom line. To further enhance the educational focus, the guest chefs will interact with the audience and provide “hands-on” learning opportunities.
EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS Hungry for more? The Northwest Foodservice Show also offers Educational Seminars that are free to attend and scheduled throughout both days of the Show. Learn new tactics and best practices on a number of different topics important to the foodservice industry from recipe costing and menu engineering to team building and leadership. All speakers are industry experts and available to answer your personal questions in a more intimate roundtable setting after each seminar. Full session descriptions and speaker bios are available on the Show’s website.
INTERACTIVE KITCHEN At the heart of the Show is the bustling and bubbling Interactive Kitchen where some of the region’s best chefs will share their “tricks of the trade”. With a strong focus on providing a value-added learning opportunity, the chef demonstrations will align with the recent “What’s Hot 2015 Culinary Forecast” by the National Restaurant Association. Whether you are a chef, kitchen manager, or restaurant owner, you will learn culinary techniques and operational enhancements that can contribute significantly to both financial and operational success. The featured chefs at the Interactive Kitchen will combine a local taste with a global perspective emphasizing sustainability,
will also be providing samples of their prepared dish during each demonstration. The Interactive Kitchen will keep you coming back for more. Demonstrations will take place every hour-on-thehour. For the full schedule, visit NWFoodserviceShow.com.
And what could be better than trying the latest food trends yourself? To tantalize your taste buds, guest chefs
Take advantage of these valuable educational opportunities at the Northwest Foodservice Show and refine the way you run your business. Attendee registration is free online through April 17, 2015. Visit NWFoodserviceShow.com to sign up today!
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This is our Member Spotlight section. Are you a member with a story you want told or a celebration to be shared? Email us at andyc@warestaurant.org.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Member Spotlight: Frasers Gourmet Hideaway By Andy Cook, Contributing Editor Scott Fraser is an Oak Harbor community leader and the proud owner/operator of Frasers Gourmet Hideaway. He’s also a 13 year ProStart mentor, and he’s deeply involved with large-scale local charitable events. With Washington’s ProStart competition on the horizon at the time of this interview, our ongoing message of how restaurants serve their communities, and this issue’s theme of hospitality, Scott Fraser has something to say on each topic. WRA: Every restaurateur has an interesting backstory regarding their path into the industry. As I understand, you jumped from a career quite different than foodservice. Scott Fraser: I was in construction, working in Vancouver, B.C., in the mid ‘80s. On a whim, I attended the Culinary Olympics when it came to town. Seeing food as an art form blew my mind! It captured my imagination, and I just couldn’t let it go. It inspired a big life choice. I quit my construction job and enrolled in a culinary school run by French chefs, and launched my career from there. WRA: How did you get from 1980s Vancouver, B.C., to modern day Oak Harbor? Scott Fraser: I’ve been living and working from Oak Harbor for 23 years now. Frasers Gourmet Hideaway is actually the second restaurant I’ve owned. Eight years ago, I pulled from my construction background and set to work constructing the building that Frasers is located in, and tailored it as my dream restaurant. WRA: Tell us about Frasers. Scott Fraser: The Frasers menu is Northwest fine dining. We feature creatively designed fresh and local seafood, steak, pork and other rotating creations. We seat 84 comfortably with eight seats lining our open kitchen design. WRA: The back-of-house’s contribution to hospitality is often overlooked. Why did you decide to put your kitchen not only on display, but on stage? Scott Fraser: Personally, I can’t imagine cooking without an open concept – it’s the best of both worlds. We get to create 22 | warestaurant.org
and serve, it adds a dynamic to what we do and that eliminates what can (sometimes) be monotonous work. For our guests, it’s like being in the kitchen. They like to see/experience what we do and how, and it’s fun to share our trade and demonstrate our skills. People are interested. WRA: You’ve been a ProStart mentor for more than 13 years; how does that work for the students? Scott Fraser: I mentor through Oak Harbor High School. Typically, I meet with the students in November, and we get rolling right away. As we approach the February 28 state competition, we hold in school competitions looking for our ”varsity team” of four who will represent the school. Oak Harbor High has won the state championship, I’m really proud of these kids! I’ve even hired a number of them. My opening sous chef at Frasers was a ProStart student of mine. WRA: What do you get from this ongoing commitment? Scott Fraser: Introducing culinary skills to these young people, sparking a passion that lights up their imagination is my favorite part. You get a sense that you’ve changed their lives; they’ve changed my life! WRA: You’re also integral to a few local charitable events. Tell us about your bigger efforts. Scott Fraser: Every year for Thanksgiving, I get involved with Oak Harbor Community Harvest, now serving over 3,000 people with hundreds of volunteers. It’s dedicated to Keith Bartlett, the events founder, who sadly passed away while working on its third annual offering. I’m also involved with the annual Oak Harbor Pigfest. It’s quickly become the premier Northwest barbecue competition. Last year, 19 teams competed, feeding over 6,000 people and raising $87,000 for food banks and other local charities. WRA: Thank you Scott! ■ Frasers Gourmet Hideaway: www.frasersgh.com Oak Harbor Pigfest: www.oakharborpigfest.com
Local restaurants move people upward By Sheryl Jackson, Research Editor
In Washington, one out of every 34 people work in a restaurant. Local restaurants get people moving upward and promote employees within their ranks. In a survey of 5,100 current and former restaurant employees:
Nine out of 10 managers, supervisors and chefs say their first job in a restaurant was entry level.
Ninety percent said they believe restaurants are a good place to get a first job. Restaurants provide a strong pipeline of entry level jobs and training. Starting in an entry-level position employees learn applicable skills like: teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking. As they have more time and training in their position more opportunities present themselves. More than any other industry, the existence of multiple restaurants in nearly every community gives people a chance for upward mobility and career growth.
GENERAL MANAGER
CHEF HEAD COOK LINE COOK (FULL SERVICE) LINE COOK (FAST CASUAL) ENTRY LEVEL KITCHEN (DISHWASHER)
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CREW/HOST/ HOSTESS (QUICK SERVICE)
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$11.68 Starting $10.74
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March 2015 | 23
Executive chef, what is your dream? By Lyle Hildahl, WRA Education Foundation Director
Ferris High School, located in Spokane, competes at the 2014 Boyd’s® Coffee ProStart Invitational–just one example of a school to connect with.
I was in Spokane a couple weeks ago, working with our Eastern Washington partner high schools in a pre-competition practice in preparation for the state ProStart Invitational on February 28. One of the mentors, Matthew Dircks, executive chef of Spokane’s Clinkerdagger Restaurant, was sharing with me that he had received one of our scholarships a while back and how much it meant to him. He was able to finish his degree at Spokane Community College and is now living his dream as an executive chef at a well-known full service restaurant. Then he mentioned that he has the opportunity to give back by helping other Spokane kids reach for their dream. Pretty cool, huh?
What is mind tripping to me is that his restaurant, Clinkerdagger, is also the restaurant where I started my career in 1976. It was called Clinkerdagger Bickerstaff and Petts, back then, owned RUI, the same company that owns it today. Shorter name, same restaurant. The executive chef that trained me was Bill Miller, current owner of the Longhorn Barbecue, in Spokane. Bill’s daughter chaired the WRA’s Spokane Chapter for three years. Clinkerdagger and the Longhorn Barbecue have been strong supporters of the Education Foundation and ProStart for many years. So, where am I going with this, you might ask? When you are reading this article, the 2015 Boyd’s® Coffee ProStart Invitational will be history. Two teams will be heading to Anaheim, California, for the national competition. Will it be one of the schools that Matthew Dircks mentored? I don’t know. What I do know is that coaching these kids was a way for Matthew to not only give back, but to continue networking in an industry he is passionate about to continue his journey. 24 | warestaurant.org
So many individuals helped me alone the way to inspire, motivate and challenge me to grow and be the best I could be. We have more than 2,000 high school juniors and seniors with dreams like Matthew’s – to be a chef, a manager or an owner someday. They are looking to you for advice, inspiration, motivation and a spark that encourages them to continue on their journey. Here is the list of ProStart schools. Please find one to connect with. These young adults want to hear from chefs, managers, owners, suppliers, manufacturers...
Almira Coulee Hartline High School Auburn Mountainview High School Bonney Lake High School Bothell High School Chief Leschi High School Ferris High School Heritage High School Illwaco High School Ingraham High School Kentlake High School Lakes High School Lewis & Clark High School Lincoln High School Marysville School District Mead High School Moses Lake High School Mount Si High School Mount Spokane High School Mount Tahoma High School New Market Skills Center Newport High School Northwest Technical & Career Academy Oak Harbor High School Puyallup High School Seattle Skills Center @ Rainier Beach Shadle Park High School Rogers High School Roosevelt High School Stadium High School Tekoa High School Walla Walla High School West Seattle High School West Valley High School ProStart: Building careers, training our future, mentoring students. ■
速
INDUSTRY CALENDAR March/April
NEW RESTAURANTS
Training
Anglea’s Restaurant, Tacoma
Mar. 24
ServSafe® Manager, Fife
Mar. 26
ServSafe® Manager, Eastsound
Apr. 7
ServSafe® Manager, Seattle
Apr. 9
ServSafe® Manager, Olympia
Apr. 13
ServSafe® Manager, Everett
Apr. 14
ServSafe® Manager, Kent
Meetings Mar. 10
Spokane Chapter Meeting
Mar. 24
Board Development Conference Call
Mondays at 10:30 a.m.
Government Affairs Committee Conference Call
Apr. 7
Executive Committee Meeting
Apr. 21
Finance Committee Meeting
Apr. 26
EF Spring Board Meeting
Apr. 26
MSC Board Meeting
Apr. 27-28
WRA Spring Board Meeting
Events Apr. 25
Spokane Cork & Keg Festival
Apr. 26-27
Northwest Foodservice Show
Mediterranean Gyro Grill, Federal Way Bell + Whete, Seattle Mucho Burrito, Tukwila Boulevard Tavern, Olympia Papa Murphy’s Pizza, Oak Harbor Cinnabon, Seattle and Auburn Pizza Time, Olympia Dairy Queen, Bellingham, Cordata, Fendale, Lynden, and Mount Vernon D’Lara Mediterranean Grill, Tacoma and Auburn
Pizzeria La Gitana, Yelm Prairie Lanes, Yelm Red Lion River Inn, Spokane
Domino’s Pizza, Tacoma and Puyallup Right Spot, The, Fife Evelyn’s, Clear Lake Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Renton, Tukwila, Redmond, and Issaquah
Road Runner Express Espresso & Cafe, Yelm
Flamin’ Joe’s Inc., Spokane
Roberto’s Venetian Trattoria & Bar, Seattle
Garden to Gourmet, Yelm
Round Table Pizza #481, Renton
Jemil’s Big Easy, Seattle
Rustica, Oak Harbor
Las Margaritas Grill, Covington
Uptown Lounge, Yelm
Luna, Spokane
Zola, Spokane
Maristas Coffee, Federal Way
NEW ALLIED MEMBERS Advantage Waypoint Dan Cummens Spokane, WA 99202-5031 722 N Regal St 5095891416 dan.cummens@asmwaypoint.com www.asmwaypoint.com AWP is a Foodservice partner brining manufacturers and their customers together. Our unique approach to building volume is based on “joint success” for the operator, distributor and for our manufacturing clients.
26 | warestaurant.org
Gordon Thomas Honeywell LLP Seattle Craig Wright cwright@gth-law.com 600 University Suite 2100 Seattle, WA 98101-4161 206.676.7500 www.gth-law.com
THANK YOU!
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MEDICAL AND DENTAL COVERAGE The Washington Restaurant Association designed a health care plan just for WRA members. The Hospitality Industry Health Insurance Trust (H.I.H.I.T.) enables business owners in the hospitality industry to provide affordable healthcare benefits statewide. Contact Amber Hahn at 877.892.9203 for a FREE quote.
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11/6/2013 11:57:29 AM
Ask the Expert | Restaurant Profit Coach
Improve performance with results focused training By Rick Braa, CHAE
Q:
As we begin hiring for our busier season, we are reexamining our training practices. In the past, it seems like we were constantly chasing our tails as business rapidly improves. I’d like this year to be better than years past. What needs to change to improve performance?
A:
Training is the number one opportunity for improving performance in any business. It’s also the one discipline treated as disposable. When times are busy the excuse is there is no time to train. When times are slow the excuse is there is no money to train. Training is an investment just like a new piece of equipment. It’s not something to be shelved in good or bad times; it’s something to constantly be sharpening. Reading through training material from organizations provides a sense of what that organization is all about. Some material is technical and detailed, other material is philosophical and brand-based. Great training, written or not, inspires results and delivers the brand promise to the employee resulting in technical excellence and an enhanced guest and employee experience. The following should expected of every training system: Employees take ownership of results. In John Rossman’s The Amazon Way: 14 Principles Behind the World’s Most Disruptive Company, the author points to a story in the early days of Amazon that has become a symbolic gesture used by Jeff Bezos to illustrate the difference between an owner and a renter. During one of Amazon’s first holiday parties, the committee in charge of setting up the party realized it didn’t bring a stand for the Christmas tree. In a pinch, one of the people in attendance decided to nail the tree to the floor rather than making a trip to get a stand. The reasoning was that the location was a rental. An owner would never nail a Christmas tree to the floor of a facility he or she owns, but a renter would. In the restaurant business, if someone is renting rather owning, there are many things that are nailed to the floor at the expense of the guest, the restaurant and the crew. Training open communication and commitment to ownership of results keeps the nails out of the floor. Employees understand the context or the “why” of what they do. Context provides insight and understanding for decision making. Checklists are put into place to limit incompetence and ensure that everything is complete. There is nothing wrong with checklists; those with proper
30 | warestaurant.org
context don’t need them. They understand what is needed to function properly and why something is done. Part of contextual training is cultural as well. Make sure you have a clearly defined purpose, behavioral values, teamwork norms and high execution expectations. Put as much training time into the cultural part of the job as the technical side of it. A training system based on context leads to understanding. What you understand you never forget. What you know may be forgotten. Employees experience continual training. When hiring people, the No. 1 answer to the question, “Why do you want to work here?” is professional growth. The best companies possess the best people because people want to grow through experience. While hiring outside talent into an organization is always an option, most successful companies develop talent from within the organization. It’s difficult to hire and develop from outside especially if the pace is swift. Employees generally evolve with a company; make sure training supports their evolution. Managers should receive the largest amount of training. When managers are trained in both coaching skills and technical skills, their employees are learning; employees’ performance improves by 42 percent, according to Wilson Learning. Teaching and training every day and constantly upgrading knowledge in the workforce is an equal opportunity for all companies. The expectation is continual improvement, knowing there is no limit to excellent performance. Well trained, engaged employees produce three times the amount of work of those that are non-engaged. The result is a thrilling workplace producing quicker table turns, increased check average, higher guest engagement and frequency all contributing to higher sales and a sustainable model. ■ For more information on improving profitability and driving performance, contact AMP Services at rbraa@ampservices.com. Rick Braa is the co-founder of AMP Services, an accounting and consulting firm specializing in helping companies grow profitability.
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32 | warestaurant.org