Speaker 1: 0:08

Today we're diving into a challenge that many restaurant operators face how to blend true hospitality into the fast, frictionless world of convenience. It's not just about transactions. It's about creating a memorable experience for a guest in a matter of seconds, and that comes down to three key areas that Chris and I are going to discuss today One, the design of your restaurant how your space sets the stage for effortless hospitality. Two, service and touch points, where small moments can create big impressions. And three, the follow-up, because hospitality shouldn't end when the guest walks out the door. Today, I'm featuring Chris Tripoli as a guest on the show. Chris is a principal with the Restaurant Clinic. He has 45 years of service in the hospitality industry as a concept developer, owner-operator, writer, speaker and advisor to restaurant groups planning growth. He is currently a content creator for restaurantownercom and hosts their podcast, corner Booth, which features candid conversations with today's restaurant entrepreneurs.

Speaker 1: 1:15

I hope you enjoy this episode. Welcome to the Restaurant Leadership Podcast, the show where restaurant leaders learn tools, tactics and habits from the world's greatest operators. I'm your host, kristen Marvin, with Solutions by Kristen. I've spent the last two decades in the restaurant industry and now partner with restaurant owners to develop their leaders and scale their businesses through powerful one-on-one coaching group coaching and leadership workshops. Powerful one-on-one coaching group coaching and leadership workshops. This show is complete with episodes around coaching, leadership development and interviews with powerful industry leaders. You can now engage with me on the show and share topics you'd like to hear about, leadership lessons you want to learn and any feedback you have. Simply click the link at the top of the show notes and I will give you a shout out on a future episode. Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to connecting.

Speaker 1: 2:18

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Speaker 1: 3:14

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Speaker 2: 4:23

Oh, that's great. Well, it's a great topic and I'm happy that you invited me. Thank you so much for putting me on the show.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Absolutely, absolutely. Can't wait for our conversation, so I'd love to. I was brainstorming some ideas yesterday and today and I wanted to start by just kind of understanding from your perspective what convenience means to you in today's hospitality landscape. When you hear that word convenience, what comes to mind?

Speaker 2: 4:47

Well, convenience is really. It's rated as a very, very high customer demand now. So that's the first thing that it means to me is convenience is a top priority that all people in food service whether you're large or small, whether you're new or very well established you've got to now find a way of putting into your daily operations. Convenience means I don't just want it, but I want it now. And in food service you know I can go back where I remember.

Speaker 2: 5:21

Convenience really meant a convenience store at first. I get it, you get gasoline, you go into this market. There's things that you don't really need anyway, but you know, if you need to use the restroom you're going to have to pass the powdered donuts and a bunch of other stuff that you don't need and it's there, of course, for our convenience. Sure, that was our first introduction to it. Convenience really meant home delivery. Well, before we got into third party and other things, you know you always found your favorite pizzeria that would home deliver. There's always the famous Chinese takeout, but it was really restricted to things like that. However, it's grown now to where convenience pretty much is touching everything in food service, and so it is. It's a significant priority that everyone has to react to and deliver on.

Speaker 1: 6:12

It's not a new concept, right? Like you just mentioned, Convenience stores have been around for a long time. I remember going to Sonic Drive-Thru when I was little, grabbing a quick, having the car out and help you right. That was convenient. You could eat in your car right then and there right. In-n-out's been doing this for so many years and, yeah, like you said, pizza restaurants were kind of the first ones to put delivery on the map. There's always been, you know, in my younger days, when I would, when I was drinking or late, you know, after a late night out, the taquerias always had 24-hour drive-thru. So this isn't a new concept, but it's more in demand now than we've ever ever seen before. Do you agree with that?

Speaker 2: 6:56

That's true and it's broadened more spectrums. So you brought up a really good point. Convenience in terms of food service was at first seen in quick serve, fast food. If we go way back, it came really after the you know, second World War and the idea of the expansion of the infrastructure, the development of suburbs. We were spreading out and so food service was responding by saying why can't we give food that's quick, fast, out the window in a drive-in? Some of the early players you know I'm going way back now but you know in the late 50s, the Dairy Queens, the Sonics, the Colonel coming out of Kentucky selling franchises, ray Kroc buying McDonald's from the McDonald Brothers in Southern California but all of that was meant to be.

Speaker 2: 7:43

Food can be done with convenience. First Everyone knew it wasn't a total meal replacement. Back then Everyone knew this wasn't meant to be a well-balanced meal, it wasn't meant to be seven days a week, it was meant to be in your car going to and from wherever we're going, because we're so spread out. Now we're developing malls and suburban shopping centers and you know and those kinds of things that along the way you zip in and get something to eat. That's how, you know, food service was first developing convenience and so. But you're right, today, convenience really now, is sort of just empowering the user to be able to get what they want within their lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 8:30

And we're finding that all over every demographic, Younger people in apartments are thinking about food and they're going to their handheld device and finding whatever their favorite third-party delivery firm is and scrolling through DoorDash to see yes, that's what I want tonight Bingo. And so it's totally different than its inception, but it's really working.

Speaker 1: 8:54

It is really working. It's funny. My husband and I ordered DoorDash for the first time last week, just not feeling well and didn't want to get out. And just, you know, it's kind of funny. I've kind of poo-pooed, I think, being in the independent space when third parties were coming out, kind of poo-pooed the whole thing. I'm like no, we love the experience, we love going out, but just to kind of try it, you know, and it is super convenient, and our order showed up, you know, right on time. We got alerts along the way. I mean, we felt like there were moments of hospitality within that experience.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Hey there, podcast friends. I hope you're enjoying these impactful conversations and leadership insights I'm bringing you each week. Before we dive back into today's episode, I want to take a moment and reach out and ask a small favor. That would go a long way in supporting the show. If you've been loving the content I'm providing, please take a moment to leave a rating and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Not only does it make my day, but it also plays a pivotal role in helping the show grow.

Speaker 1: 9:57

Your reviews boost my visibility, attract new listeners and encourage exciting guests to join me on the mic. So if you want to be part of my show's growth journey, hit that review button and let me know what you think. Thanks a million for being awesome listeners. And I think in order for people to be competitive, especially in the independent space today, they've got to really keep this in mind and in every stage of the touch points with the guests. And I'm curious from your 45 years in the industry and through your concept development and owner-operator mindset, when someone is looking at opening a restaurant, whether it's counter service or well, let's focus on the convenience and the convenience aspect. So if someone's opening a counter service style, uh concept, what, what opportunities would you encourage them to look at to be able to offer hospitality at so many different touch points in the experience?

Speaker 2: 11:02

God, that's a great question and you're right, everyone is challenged with that. But if you're getting involved in the industry at this point and your concept is a counter service or type by some type of you know, quick serve, there are two or three areas right at the beginning that you really need to be, you know, designing correctly for it. The idea of, like you know, a car side pickup or an order online, a run in a grab and go, whatever terminology we use it can't be looked like as it's an add on. The customers are expecting this to be a significant part of the concept. So let's make sure that, from the back of the house, we're designing in a way where we can handle multiple orders, we can handle good quality product, keep the temperature right, room for packaging, room for makeup and on the service side, there's actually an area there that's welcoming, you know, that has the shelves there for the online order pickup or the order ahead pickup up. So we're sending the message to our guests that we're here to serve you in no matter what profile you're bringing to us. You want to come through the counter? You want to order and sit in? Perfect, maybe. You want to sit outside? Let's have some of that seating. Maybe you're just a grab and go, let's make sure we have that. So that's the design part.

Speaker 2: 12:25

Now, however, from an operation standpoint, we got to make sure that we don't ignore that you mentioned how do we develop hospitality in this? And I think that's the biggest challenge, because hospitality is kind of creating that bond. It's creating that feeling where people are feeling happy that they were there. So that means we still have to reach out and do something. Many people have sort of coined the phrase now how to deliver five-star service in five seconds, because that's all you got. Love it. Somebody's coming in. Let's say they're ordering through the counter. You know all you've got is a greeting. Hopefully you've got some eyeball to eyeball contact, some suggestive selling, compliment, the order and then, of course, the number comes up and you're delivering to the table or you're paging and they're coming up. That's the in-house hospitality.

Speaker 2: 13:17

Now I see many people adding steps to that the walk through the dining room, the pre busing, the offering to refill that self-serve drink, the thank you and opening the door when they leave. You're still inventing touch points, even though you're limited service, even though the people came there basically for the convenience of making a quick decision, eating quickly and leaving, but you're still inventing those touch points. And the last thing is, how do we do that for the grab and go, for the third party delivery? I see some people doing some really inventive things with what they put inside the bags the little thank you notes, the little menu cards, the promotional piece that reminds them to what the specials might be next week. So you know, hopefully you enjoyed your lunch delivery today and here's what we're doing next week. You know, please order on our website, yada, yada, yada kind of thing. So you're having to do, you know, things a little bit differently than we did years ago in order to insert your hospitality within the convenience.

Speaker 1: 14:21

Yeah, there's. So I mean there's so many important points in what you just talked about with designing the back of the house and the front of the house to make sure that you're catering to every single person that wants to come in. Like you said, it's not. You know, I think we talked so much about niching down to a specific audience and you can do that within your neighborhood and the menu that you're offering, right, and how you're marketing your business. But once that guest comes inside the space, you want to be able to have a little something for everyone, right, and make sure that they can, they can experience what they want to. You know, at their, at their specific level and I think there's a lot of people out there that I'm seeing this doing do really really well, and there's a lot of people that you can tell are just not putting any thought into it whatsoever.

Speaker 1: 15:05

And I think when you said you know five star service in five seconds. For me it's really, when I walk into a space, whether I've been there before or it's new the design is so important because it tells you exactly where to go and then, once you've placed your order, without being told, you know exactly where to go pick up your order. I think that's super, super important. So you're anticipating the guests needs, right. Step one here. Step two here.

Speaker 2: 15:29

I think you're a hundred percent right. People need to feel welcome. No one wants to feel uneasy. If someone walks in and goes, okay, now what do I do? See, that means we've already messed up on step one. They need to walk in and feel like, okay, glad I'm here, I know where to go. I see the menu board. There's somebody there smiling. Hey, I've even heard some real interesting stories of people that are doing kiosk ordering by just having what they might call a floor ambassador, somebody that's walking the floor. They will come up to them and say welcome and you kind of usher them to the kiosk, answer their questions, compliment what they're ordering, you know. So this way, something as what could be considered cold, as I'm just hitting buttons in order to order my food, still gets a little touch point, still gets an opportunity to show some appreciation and information. People might have questions. It's an opportunity to upsell too. You sure you don't want a dessert here?

Speaker 1: 16:32

Let me show you the screen.

Speaker 2: 16:33

I love it. Yeah, so you know. So we can't forget to do those kinds of things. That's the industry we're in.

Speaker 1: 16:39

Yeah, I was going to ask you about kiosks specifically because I have only encountered one business with a kiosk. I don't see a lot of them here. Maybe I'm just not going to the places that have them, but I was curious from your perspective how you've seen hospitality infused in the kiosks, and it sounds like the ambassador. Is it right Somebody to help guide you through that? Answer questions just make that experience with tech a little bit easier. Is there anything else you've seen that's working?

Speaker 2: 17:08

Well, I've seen the other side. I've seen the other side. That doesn't work. Quite frankly, the national brands I mean, I won't name anyone in particular, but I think they're the ones that really need a little injection of hospitality, because you can't walk into a nationally known brand. You're familiar with them, you know what to expect. You go there because it's consistent. You like whatever the shake, the frosty, the seasoned fries, whatever the reason that brought you there. But now there's a counter that used to have two or three POS stations, which also means two or three people. Now instead there's kiosks and you don't see anybody. If you look around the corner, you might see somebody hustling loading up bags for the drive-through. They look over their shoulder, they see you. They might wave, but they leave you on your own.

Speaker 2: 17:51

When you punch it in, you get an order. If you don't punch it in, you're never going to see any food. Nobody walks by. Hello, boo, would you like to add that? No one confirms. Okay, I see you ordered. It's 146. Here's the monitor. Your food will be ready in about 10 minutes. There's just no sense of confirmation, and that's bad. Then you've got some growing companies I'm going to use Pepper Lunch as an example, that switched to kiosk and has the ambassador. So you walk in and you see, oh, look, there's the kiosk here, yeah, but there's somebody there that waves Hello, somebody walks by. How can I assist? Oh, you've been here before. So what's your favorite? Oh, you're going to get this. Hey, did you save room for this? Come on, how nice is that? It's great. Yeah, everybody has to realize we still have to find ways of making the guests feel appreciated, and leaving them alone to just do nothing but grab and go on their own does not show any appreciation.

Speaker 1: 18:52

Chris, do you think that hospitality can exist in a kiosk environment if there isn't a human present?

Speaker 2: 19:04

Well, it's harder. But yes, Now, what you're talking about is things like what I have seen some people do, which is all in the way they put notes in. If you have very little contact, if someone's just coming in grabbing, leaving no personal contact at all, then it's a little bit harder, but you can do it. Those people ordered online or those people ordered you know, through their handheld, their text, so you've got that data. You can do a follow-up thank you text. Some concepts do that. They'll have somebody that you know at the end of the afternoon is sending out. Thank you so much for your order. You know we hope we met your expectations, and then add a little blurb about why you appreciate them coming in and what's the $7.99 lunch special.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Some people have personalized notes that I see them put in the bag because they know that there isn't anybody right there, so you may not see anybody. So then you go out and you open up the bag and, oh, look at this, I got a little card and it's got a logo and it's got a little stamp Thank you. Some restaurants even have the manager at the beginning of the shift personally sign them. I've been to restaurants where the chef signs a thank you note for bringing their food home. So you have to kind of look and dig for something inventive and you have to try to still deliver a touch point, especially if it's not in person.

Speaker 1: 20:29

Yeah, I love that concept of offering a touch point after the guest has left the building, and that's a beautiful way to continue to nurture them and bring them back, which is what it's all about. Unlock the skills to transform your leadership with the Hospitality Leaders Roadmap Move from ordinary to extraordinary, packed with practical strategies to lead with confidence and create lasting impact in your restaurant. Visit kristinmarvincom slash audio to download your free audio book today Is is there a counter service concept out there that you've seen that's doing this really, really well? That's that's offering hospitality with convenience really well uh, let's see.

Speaker 2: 21:19

Yes, I mentioned um one, um uh with a pepper lunch. Uh, they're going to grow. They'll be in your neighborhood in arizona, uh, soon. I think they're in california, utah, nevada. They're heading east, uh, growing pretty rapidly. They've been successful in other countries already and, and, yes, they um, uh, they've got a really good you going. Other than that, there are some say more smaller, regional concepts that put a lot of energy into their building, their design, even though they're counter service. One concept is called a velvet taco. Yeah, and they're growing. And also I've seen that at Torchy's. Torchy's tacos.

Speaker 2: 22:08

Telling you a little bit about my dining habits here, we seem to like those gourmet, you know, over the top tacos, but I also feel like as a consumer, I enjoy going to places where I see that Close by to me there is a smaller, independently run company run by a gentleman named Levi Good, multiple concepts, cantina concepts, but his counter service barbecue concept is what started him off originally.

Speaker 2: 22:44

And you know I still go there and see that even though, again, you're walking in the door, there isn't a host or hostess, no one's telling you where to see you go through the line, uh, but there's tremendous hospitality in the way people greet you behind the line, describe the food, do suggestive selling, walk the dining room pre-bus. On your way out there's a tiny little grab and go, you know, gift kind of thing that you just have to stop at because they set it up so nicely. So before I know it you're grabbing some seasoning or logoed shirts, aprons or ordering a pecan pie or something, and that's all because they've got a neat little setup and somebody is there most of the time. So I applaud efforts for those companies and others like them that can be counter service and have convenience as one of the attractiveness to the dining experience but still add personal touch.

Speaker 1: 23:38

Yeah, I agree, there's a couple independent locations here in town that I just love. One is our favorite barbecue place, bashful Bandit, and they again design. You walk right in the menu's hanging on the wall and the counter's right there, and as soon as you walk in there's a person facing you that is going to start cutting the brisket for you or ordering or preparing whatever meat you want to have. But they're making eye contact. The minute you walk in the door it's hi, how are you? Let me know if you have any questions on the menu. And then again, everybody's friendly all the way through the line. You get your sauce, you pay, you get your drinks. Everything is just very convenient. And then we've got another one in town. Well, I'll go back to Bashful Toby. The owner does a wonderful job of working the floor and just checking in with people, and you know it's a very casual environment, picnic tables inside and just. You know he'll do a great job of making sure everything's great. But then just engage in a conversation Like where do you guys live, you know?

Speaker 2: 24:33

And you brought up a good point, because sometimes then you're remembering the name, you're bonding with the owner. Long before this became commonplace I'm talking a couple of decades ago there was a really good concept and it's still in existence today. It's a basic big gourmet burger place that also serves other items. But 20 some years ago he opened up. He ordered at the counter. People talked to you behind the counter but he had ambassadors on the floor. People were pre-busing, suggestive selling, adding to your ticket if you wanted to get dessert.

Speaker 2: 25:05

I'm talking about a place called Pappas Burgers. Chris Pappas and the entire Pappas family are sort of known for their hospitality. They've got multiple concepts, but since we're talking about convenience, I'm going to hone in on their counter service concept. And I think he may have been a little nervous because 20 some years ago maybe almost 30 now when he opened this, he was already an established full service operator doing very, very well, so I'm sure he had thought about that. How are we going to do this counter service thing?

Speaker 2: 25:34

When people normally come to our seafood restaurants or our Mexican restaurants, they get very good table service and maybe that was the reason why it worked so well. Right now, of course, it's crawfish season and where I live that's a big deal, and so my favorite tiny little raging Cajun place has been there forever and ever and ever. You go up there, you order by the pound, you get a bucket and again it's counter service, so you don't have that traditional hostess at the door you know bartender waving at you that kind of thing. You go, you order at the counter, you get a number, you wait for them to pay you. But it isn't just a cold, non-service environment, because they talk at you through the counter, they're suggestive selling. Someone's on the floor, there's a lot of thank yous, so you still leave feeling like the family that owns this cares.

Speaker 1: 26:20

And the family that owns this cares. Yeah, I prefer counter service, where you order, you sit down, you get without. I don't like the pagers or necessarily the number. I mean I know they have to have a number on the table sometimes, but I love counter service where people are bringing you the order, not where you have to go back up and get it, because I think you know again, this dim sum place we have in town, go Dim Sum, is incredible.

Speaker 1: 26:45

They will come over to you and bring your food out. You know as it's prepared. So there's two or three opportunities to touch the table. Every time they're bringing something new and this place, go Dim Sum, does an incredible job of not only making sure that you've got everything that you need and bringing something to you if you need it, but they also tell you this sauce goes well with this right Because they've got the little caddy on the tables with all the offerings. So they are suggesting how to make that experience even better and I just love it takes two seconds. It's the same person that rang up our order. It doesn't seem to be any additional staffing and there's so much engagement that can happen at the table.

Speaker 2: 27:22

See, and hopefully that's what the listeners are beginning to make a note of. Gosh, how can I do that in my concept, I maybe don't have sauces with my dim sum, but what do I have If I walk through there? What should I be suggesting? How could I be showing appreciation when the guests leave? Should I be doing maybe a follow-up with something with the texting?

Speaker 2: 27:42

You know, there's something that people can do that will feel natural and be modified into their concept, I think, and adapt it, you know, in that manner. I mean, obviously we haven't touched on the fact that we all got thrown into having to do a better job at this because of COVID. So pre-COVID, you know, 20, 30 years ago, there was still the need because counter service was around and people were trying to find that balance between, you know, the convenience that you're demanding and the service that you're deserving. Then COVID comes, like, you know, a five gallon bucket of gasoline dumped on a fire and everyone was thrown into it, whether you were really prepared or not. And I think there's some tremendous lessons that full service, you know, diners and full service concepts got out of that.

Speaker 1: 28:32

Where do you see the trends moving forward? Are you going to see more counter service, more convenience? What do you think?

Speaker 2: 28:39

Well, yes, I think part of that is it's a growing consumer demand. People are enjoying the fact that they can manage their own time. You know order, sit where I want. I've already paid leave when I want. It's a lifestyle, and so I do see that growing. I think the other reason I see that growing too is from a restaurateur standpoint. They see not just the growing demand but they also see it as a way of combating cost. It's very expensive now finding real estate, negotiating leases. That's why you're noticing restaurants are smaller. People are becoming more efficient, finding ways of using less labor, fewer people doing more things in less square footage, and so part of it is consumer demand and I think the other part is it helps the operators operate more efficiently.

Speaker 1: 29:32

Yeah, labor is a huge concern Going up in Arizona, going up in Colorado, you know, just so, so expensive. And a question that I get often from operators is you know I can go to counter service and I can take away servers, right, but the servers aren't making you know that's not where the heavy dollars are from the labor perspective and I'm curious to know your thoughts. Are you seeing anybody out there that's saving on back of house labor in a convenience model and, if so, how are they doing that?

Speaker 2: 30:04

Well, yeah, and that is the challenge. And you know what? And they are by making sure we're just becoming better operators. I think the better operators are the ones that are saying how can I be true to my concept? Whatever it is Italian offering, mediterranean, asian, whether it's Greek food or the basic American burger, philly cheesesteaks, whatever it is that you're doing, that, you know, already fits in a convenient mode and it's already counter service limit. What isn't working that's one thing that people are challenged by is becoming more effective with fewer items or finding a way of doing more things but with the main product you already offer. So maybe you've got, like you know, a menu board that looks like it's got 28 items, but you're working with three or four items that are just very creatively presented in multiple fashions.

Speaker 2: 31:02

That helps the kitchen area with prep production storage. It also helps you with less opportunity for waste. So those first three are direct labor. If you can have less prep production, if you can make larger batches of fewer things that last longer, you might find that your prep department can go from two people to one. You may also find that it's better to cross train. I'm a big, big promoter of that. You know fewer people but they feel more valuable when they learn and do more things. So the grill person can fry Both grill and fry can also do prep.

Speaker 2: 31:36

The person who's doing dish is also bussing Guess what? The dish busser can also prep. So that means the more they're trained, the more valuable they become, the longer they stay. Because one of the biggest problems with labor is what we hear from people saying finding and then retaining people is let's study that menu and find ways of cross-utilizing product so that we can lessen a lot of the kitchen labor. And second is let's make sure from service to kitchen production we're cross-training so fewer people are able to do more things. That should lower our labor when it comes to the cost of selection and training and then also help with retention.

Speaker 1: 32:19

Yeah, I love that. You've just got me thinking about the opportunities to upsell, right, you kind of talked about that with whoever's behind the floor, ambassador, that's on the kiosk, or whoever is behind the POS helping ring things in for you. Right, the cashier making suggestions? Hey, do you want to add on a dessert? But I wonder what the opportunity is once you've seated and you want to have two glasses of wine, three glasses of wine, a bottle of wine. I see a lot of counter service restaurants now that have a full grab and go type of bar situation. Right, they've got their mocktails, they've got their wine, they've got canned cocktails. How do you, how do you suggest that people in counter service, you know, capitalize on the opportunity of having guests seated in your space? If you don't have servers, what's the opportunity to upsell the beverages there?

Speaker 2: 33:12

Well, some of that is with design and the grab and go. I've seen some people have a good increase in specialty beverages, whether they're alcoholic or non-alcoholic, but just their specialty beverages that are pre-made, as well as as desserts, by switching the actual counter line where people have to walk past that before they get to the POS and order. That's a small design touch. It may work for some, may not work for some. I think the other thing that really works well is that idea that counter server cross-trained to be what you might want to call an on-the-floor ambassador that is able to walk with a handheld. These things are getting so reasonable now. Pos has really been helpful because I remember when these things used to be big, clunky and more expensive. Now they're more fluid and actually less expensive. So to have your POS at the counter but also have a handheld so that you can walk the floor, compliment what people ordered, see how they're doing with lunch and suggest, hey, I can grab this for you. Or did you save room for the banana pudding? I can easily get it for you, because people are reluctant to get up, go back and order again.

Speaker 2: 34:25

We're working with a client great client has a really good restaurant, has started growing, actually has three units now and has realized that that they do a tremendous in-house bakery. Pastry Looks beautiful, people will hang around the line and stare at it, but what happens is, once they get their food and sit down, hardly ever are they motivated to get up and go and order the dessert. So we work on them ordering it, you know, ahead of time. So that's sort of an education. Staff love it, it's good, suggestive selling. But I like the people on the floor Because, see, even if you walk up and say I can get this for you, even if they say oh no, that's fine, I'm full, whatever, it's still a touch point. So that's fine, I'm full, whatever, it's still a touch point. So just because you hit four or five tables and four out of the five said no, thank you, that doesn't mean you don't hit the five. And one out of the five is wonderful. So I do that with handhelds and people roaming the dining room.

Speaker 1: 35:20

I find that hospitality stops with handhelds when two things happen One, there's not wifi available, where the handheld needs to be like on a patio, which again speaks to your element of design, so operators need to be testing these things. And two, when the server is just not well-trained on the handheld, when they are frozen and they stop making eye contact and they stop talking. It just goes so awkward so quickly, and I really would encourage operators that are listening to this to make sure that you are giving ample time for those people to be trained and really comfortable in the handheld, because I've had some great experiences where you're talking to somebody making eye contact almost like the handheld isn't there, but when the handheld becomes that huge roadblock and like the only thing that you can see happening at the table, for me, that's just where the experience starts to go downhill.

Speaker 2: 36:10

Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. You know, we are still incumbent on the fact that, no matter what we do with technology, no matter what you're doing with your product, it's still a people business. So, yeah, whether your people are on the floor or behind the counter, people need information, people need to be trained, people need continued training, reminding, motivation every day. So it's a people business. Just because we have less people doesn't mean managers get off the hook. Still about training. Still about reminding. Still about walking behind them, congratulating when they did something well, taking them aside to say you missed an opportunity over here. That's still our job.

Speaker 1: 36:49

Yeah, absolutely, I love it. Chris, thank you so much for this conversation. This has been just super valuable and really really appreciate your time. If anyone is interested in, that's listening and wants to get ahold of you, how do they, how do they find you?

Speaker 2: 37:03

Oh, there's a couple opportunities that you can have. You can go to the website therestaurantcliniccom. That's a website, a small group of industry specialists that help with independent operators on performance, leadership, staff training etc. Cornercom. I'd be remiss if I didn't remind people of that website. A lot of your listeners may already know of it. It's just a really good source for information and education If you're the small independent operator. There's webinars there that we do. They also sponsor my podcast, corner Booth. So you can go to a Corner Booth or just strictly email me directly Corner booth. Or just strictly email me directly Chris C-H-R-I-S at Chris Tripoli. That's T-R-I-P-O-L-Icom.

Speaker 1: 37:57

Love to hear from you, love it. Thanks, chris, and I'll put all those links in the show notes for anyone that's listening. Thank you all so much for your time this week. That's going to do it for us, and please share this episode with anyone that you know in the restaurant industry. That could benefit, and we'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 2: 38:10

Thanks again.