OK so...
Here are what I believe to be the two main staples of any Hospitality Business in contemporary society and even more so in the future. Ultimately almost all businesses but for now. Hospitality. These two staples are: How you market your brand and Your people. From Recruitment to Development, to them moving on. This concept, as many others; Compliance and Stock Control for example talked about a lot and there are so many courses and Textbooks that try and enforce this in your environment but the two main issues are that they tend to lack follow through and they focus too much on trying to make it black and white.
I've seen too many big chains and even small businesses trying to act like big chains that try and put these things in place in such a text book fashion that it loses all meaning. People now more than ever before are so much less black and white that failing to treat people on an individual basis and really understanding what makes them them is such a huge downfall.
I truly believe that everything we do has to become more personalized as the world seems to be reading all the same Text Books, taking the same expensive Courses and believing the same crap. As the world becomes so much more diverse, the majority of Corporations with in it fail to understand and are going in the opposite direction. The most consistent team I had was for about 18 months when we were working through a Venue Golden Age, if the team was 20-25 members then at least 15 of those members were there for these 18 months where we consistently nailed pretty much every target given and hit every bonus. The Golden Age itself lasted two years but the last six months were a slow decline. In these 18 months, not one single key member of staff called in sick. In 18 months. Consistent Stock Surpluses, Incredible run on Brand Standard Audits and Mystery Shoppers. Everybody worked hard, we went out together all the time, some of them slept together, it was a fantastic time to be alive. I will mention that it is healthy to have some turnover in the team to stop people becoming stagnant, this will be delved into further on my post about pro-active recruitment.
I also touch on this in another Blog but the only thing can not be copied is your Team. Another Venue can open up next door, be a carbon copy of your Business Model and knock 10% off everything. Your Venue is your Venue, it's very likely that someone can always open a nicer one, they can follow the exact same specs as you, they can even throw more money at it than you, what they can't do is copy your Team or Culture. They can try. They can poach them obviously, but I've never seen someone get poached who didn't want to get poached. It is up-to you to build the Culture with in your Business which would get people to stay, and that includes paying them fairly.
You always have to think about how someone else can you put you out of business and whether or not the Team you have is the one that is going to get you through anything. Having a consistent and loyal team will help build a consistent and loyal customer base. Which should be the primary goal. As well as controlling your Payroll line due to minimal training costs, perfected efficiency and SOS within the team will maximize revenue through efficiency and it is paramount that you do not underestimate the benefits of a core team due to their synchronization with each other. A GROUP of star players will very rarely beat an experienced TEAM.
The driving force for which I believe I am going to succeed is in that no-one else will care about their Team as much as I will and then together we will change the game.
Taking on Staff who are 18-25 is an incredible opportunity to help people develop as people as well as members of staff. How they are treated in their first job can effect how they treat people for the rest of their career, whichever industry they choose to go into.
Hope this helps, let me know what you think in the comments.
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