Just outside Chicago, there’s a restaurant that Forbes ranks as the highest-revenue single-location restaurant in the U.S. ($24 million NOT including alcohol). It seats 700 people, has a staff of 300, serves 2,500 meals on average days and nearly twice that on peak days).
How do they do it? The short answer is “not by accident.”
In EOS®, we teach that there are Six Key Components® to any business: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process and Traction. This restaurant may be good at all of them–I don’t know. But from the moment you pull into the parking lot, you can’t help but see that they are exceptionally good at Process and People.
The entire place runs like a well-oiled machine that has been designed to maximize throughput while delivering a great customer experience. The parking valet is free. They could generate a little revenue if they charged, but it would slow things down. They want you out of your car and in the restaurant because that’s where the real money is.
They don’t take reservations, which keeps things simple but also means that unless you get there early, you’ll have to wait. There are separate waiting lines for parties of different sizes. This helps them fill empty tables more efficiently. No one has to run up and down the line of waiting people asking, “Is there a party of four? Party of four?”
And somehow the lines keep moving, while you’re surrounded by lots of action. So, like Disneyland, it doesn’t really feel like waiting.
Just as their processes are very clearly defined, so are employee roles. Line directors keep incoming customers moving. Waiters take orders, servers deliver them, bus staff clean them up. There’s even a dedicated spill cleaner. Everyone clearly fits the culture (you feel it in the experience they deliver). Everyone is well trained, and each function is staffed so that every employee can concentrate on his or her job and not get pulled into someone else’s.
Everyone you encounter fits the culture and is great at their job. This is the EOS® definition of “Right Person/Right Seat.” It is clear that anyone who fails either test won’t be there very long.
Most restaurants run like a clunker. This one runs like a race car.
Your business can, too. You need to define roles unambiguously, so that each person knows exactly what they’re accountable for. You need to fill those seats with people who unambiguously fit your culture and have the ability to knock the job out of the park. And you need to define, document and implement strong, effective processes that “systematize the routine so your people can humanize the exceptional.” You can do this in your business, too.
EOS® provides proven, effective tools to make this happen. If you’d like to learn more, let us know and we’ll be happy to show you how.
