An exciting and craveable menu is nothing without the right operational steps that will help you execute it. In this month’s Ops Talk, Deborah Holand shares her suggestions for the most critical foodservice metrics and how to effectively track them.
I’m trying to build some standard operating procedures for my store managers around foodservice. What should we track on a daily, weekly and monthly basis?
It’s often said that what you don’t know won’t hurt you. However, in foodservice, the opposite is true. If you’re fighting the same battles you were at this time last year, it’s time to review your operations and plan a new course for exceeding your benchmark goals.
Operations excellence is within your reach when your daily shift procedures are focused on executing performance standards that are higher than your customer’s expectations. Focusing on the primary control points of the business will immediately identify the root cause of any issues and help you react with the most productive use of all your resources, before profits decline.
For example, tracking daily out-of-stock (OOS) counts will tell the story about many areas, such as lost sales, poor inventory order levels, poor merchandise rotation and possible customer service issues. If OOS is out of control, excessive waste and labor cost usually follows.
If you’re fighting the same battles, it’s time to review your operations.
To help you set effective procedures, here are four common traits to remember, using the acronym MAPS:
Measurable: Procedure must be accurately quantified and consistently compared long term. Volatile key performance indicators (KPIs) such as comparable sales and customer counts should be tracked daily, trending from the same time period last week, month and year.
Accountable: Track controllable costs, productivity measurements and safety standards daily, and report running weekly trends against month-end forecasts. Talk about high standards and reward excellence. Food safety requires hourly tracking and 100% compliance.
Profitable: To affect financial results, procedure tasks and reporting efforts must be timely and relevant. Tracking daily sales, OOS, cost of goods, waste and labor as a percentage of sales, and focusing on weekly and monthly running totals, is the foundation for discussing performance challenges.
Sustainable: Tasks must be executable every day and every shift, no matter who is working the shift. A habit forms in 21 to 30 days, so be diligent and persevere.
If you want to see double-digit growth each year, set procedures using the MAPS strategy and your standards will become the catalyst for change and powerful fuel for business growth.
Deborah Holand is chief consultant and owner of Foodservice911. com, specializing in new concept growth strategies. Have a question for Deborah? Email awestra@winsightmedia.com, subject Ops Talk.
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