March at Small Biz Mentor sees a sub theme of what small businesses can learn from the food industry.
Many food industry businesses are themselves small businesses.
I've been fascinated by Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, a reality TV series. Seeing behind the scenes gives you an insight into the economic realities of a restaurant.
In last night's episode, Ramsay worked with staff at Sebastian's, an Italian restaurant in Burbank, California, to help turn things around.
This was an explosive episode with a clash of two strong personalities - Ramsay and Sebastian, the owner and chef.
Issues As Ramsay Called It
- complicated menu with too many choices
- staff time taken to explain the menu
- customer confusion with ordering
- staff confusion resulting in wrong orders
- cost of complimentary food to make up for errors
- 95% of food used was frozen not fresh
- business was losing money
- owner's resistance to change
Strengths
- enthusiastic staff
- great manager
- good location near studios
- known in the area for pizzas
- spacious with an outdoor area
- 2 wood fired pizza ovens (but not used)
Ramsay's solution was to play to the strengths
- simplify the menu
- specialize in pizzas
- use fresh ingredients
- add ambience
- use the wood fired pizza ovens
However, even on the big relaunch night, Sebastian couldn't accept the new menu, and mid way through service instructed staff to abandon the new menu and use the old one.
The result was confusion in the kitchen until the new menu was reinstated, and things got back on track.
What happened next?
One advantage with seeing the series here in Australia, some months after it airs in the US or UK, is being able to follow up on what happened next.
According to some reports, Sebastian changed back to a modified version of his original lengthy menu after the show was over. If you've visited the restaurant, maybe you can fill us in.
Did the Kitchen Nightmare show help turn around Sebastian's small business nightmare? Whether you're a reality TV fan or not, I've noticed these intense experiences are often good opportunities to learn.
I'm interested to know whether reality TV helped this restaurant long term or not.
What are your thoughts?
» The Little Pizza Cafe That Could - Take Aways For Any Small Business from SmallBizMentor
Watching other small business owners in action and learning from their strengths and mistakes is very instructive.Our March sub theme looks at the food industry. Last week my husband and I went to a favorite pizza and pasta cafe. It's... [Read More]
Tracked on: March 23, 2008 10:51 PM | Permalink to Trackback