Do It Again

It’s Friday, and you know that it means today’s post is food related.   OK, so it’s actually going to be a business lesson we can learn from the food business but what the heck. Well, maybe we should begin with something from Steely Dan?  These lyrics summarize my thinking and the challenge inherent to any food operation:

You go back jack do it again
Wheel turnin round and round
You go back jack do it again

To me, the hardest thing for any restaurant to be is consistent. Think about the meals you cook. You need to find ingredients that are up to your standards. You need to time the prep time and the cooking time so that all the dishes are neither over cooked nor raw. All the dishes need to be delivered at the same time. That’s really hard for a home cook, and you’re just worried about serving tonight’s meal to your family or guests – generally not a lot of people.

If you’re in the food business you need to do that a hundred or more times a day, each and every day. The best restaurants accomplish that through great training and great teamwork. While good equipment plays a role, the reality is that bad training and bad management are what kills many a good cook’s business.

The food business is one where there are almost endless choices, so one bad experience brought on by the kitchen or the front of the house having a bad day can devastate a customer base. Do it again indeed!
Your business and mine are no different. Our customers, rightfully, expect that they will get their orders delivered on time to that standards they expect each and every time. What have you done to get your people thinking that way? Is execution and consistency top of mind or is it just something that kind of happens?  Something to ponder this weekend  as you’re over the grill.