Blog

People - The threshold to success

July 20, 2010 by Don Fox — CEO, Firehouse of America

As CEO of a predominately franchised chain of restaurants, I often challenge my team to examine the differences between the high and low restaurant sales performers in our system. The variables to be examined are seemingly countless (a number perhaps only exceeded by the number of industry consultants willing to assist with the task).

Certainly, the physical attributes of the site play a key role: Poor ingress or egress; lack of visibility; insufficient parking. The demographic composition of the trade area is a critical element to consider. We do our best to ensure these factors are in our favor before we approve a site, and the team usually has a good handle on how those various factors influence the performance of a site. What I’m really interested in hearing from my team is why performance varies when all other factors are relatively equal.

The very nature of a franchise system dictates that all other factors should be equal. Identical menus, price position relative to the competition, the décor and engineered aspects of the dining experience…these are all threads of consistency that are virtually guaranteed.

So when all else is equal, what is it that really distinguishes the high achievers from the under performers? And what is the common thread that takes a less than optimum piece of real estate, with less than ideal demographics, and turns it into a brand winner?

Every night, when our closing managers lock the doors and leave for home, they leave behind restaurants that are identical in so many respects. And there the restaurants sit, through the wee hours of the night, idle physical plants, all of the same ilk, stocked with identical inventory waiting to be cranked up once again.

What is it that really separates the best from the worst? The answer is simple: It’s the manager and team that shows up in the morning, unlocks the door, and crosses the threshold. The people – your employees - are the lifeblood of the restaurant, and breathe into the brick and mortar the qualities that truly make a restaurant a top performer. Perhaps it is folly even to talk about the performance of a restaurant. In the end, what we are really talking about is the performance of people. The key to superior performance truly lies within the realm of the development and improvement of our people. Perhaps we should always start our examination there, as all else pales by comparison.