Life Advice from a Journalist's Perspective....

 Savannah Guthrie , UA alumna and NBC News reporter who did work locally at KVOA Channel 4, gave a speech to the 2011 Class, and I think it applies to us all.

The heart of Savannah Guthrie's address centered around four points of “unconventional advice” for life post-graduation.

First point: Be afraid. Knowing it’s possible to fail pushes you to accomplish more.
“A little bit of fear is good for you, for the simple reason that it leads to over-preparation,” she said.

Second: Believe you might succeed more wildly than you ever imagined.
“We think small to avoid bigger failures,” Guthrie said. “Don’t settle.”

Third” Seek out uncomfortable situations.
“Sometimes that big leap is going to give you air sickness,” said Guthrie, who recalled turning down a prestigious clerking position after law school for an uncertain return to television news.

Fourth: Slow down. Success doesn’t come all at once.
Guthrie talked about reporting for a small-town television station and how every journalist was looking for the perfect resume-booster — an “escape tape” — to get them to a bigger city. What she said she didn’t realize was that every day she spent in the trenches, shooting her own film and writing her own scripts, she was preparing herself for success down the road.

“I’m glad the first politician’s staffer to chew me out was a local politician and not the White House,” she said.
“So, be afraid, uncomfortable, unrealistic and slow. There, I send you out into the world,” Guthrie said, with one last pointer — call your parents once in a while.

Where Do Groceries Come From?

I remember listening to the radio as a child, and hearing Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “King of the Road”…Groceries have taken a new turn today with the apps, and the online ordering, and since we are a hurry up society, and in keeping with the ease of convenience why should groceries be any different. Out here with Safeway you can order online and have it delivered to your house, now Wal-Mart does it also with the exception that the price you see online is the same price you see in the store.

They use the same principles that we used when I sold Broadline Groceries with US Foodservice, you could set up an order guide and a shopping list and place your orders and never really see your Sales Rep. I recently was allowed to observe Schwan’s the grocer that drives up to your house in a truck also offers a online ordering component. They still come to your house every 2 weeks but give you the ease of being able to order at your leisure.

I was pleasantly surprised about the eagerness of the young man I observed. People were very giving in relation to allowing him into their homes and their lives. Their products are very nice and give you a sense menu planning with a no fuss, no muss prep and serve.

In today’s society this is where we have come to. As a young child I also recall a Coffee man and Milkman coming to the house to see Mrs. Juell. And the use of a trucker’s wallet (which I thought was very cool) I also recall a Dry Cleaner delivering to the house across the street. Fast forward 40 plus years, and similar to when I sold food where I placed your order via a wireless laptop and it would show up the next day. Today the Schwan’s guy drives to your house via a Garmin, and takes your order, knowing if he is out of a product on his truck, and if you pre-ordered an item from last time, and he goes to the truck and places your order in a bag and delivered to your door, and you pay with cash, check, or a credit card, which he swipes on a reader on his hip and it prints a receipt.or if you have a pre-paid order and are not home he puts it in a freezer bag with dry ice and leaves it at your door…and he goes on the next stop.

The funny things I noticed are that they do a majority of their business between 4 and 8 pm. And they can make more than 1 stop on a street but not in sequence, and will be on a street 3 –4 times in a 2-hour window depending when a person is home. After 8 pm however I noticed that with 5 calls only 2 stops resulted in sales, in a business sense I think that the 8 to 9 window was not beneficial in a quadrant time analysis.

Back to when I was growing up, like many, my mother would spend the day cleaning and prepping for dinner. It’s not like that today, it’s about how quick we can get it done and move on to what is next. What is the price we pay for Convenience? Where do your groceries come from?

Which Tools Work Best…Building a System that Works…

I was reading an article the other day that said you should have basic tools for home repairs and you need a good measuring tape, a good hammer, a screwdriver, and adjustable wrench. This applies to Hotels and Restaurants also. I do some things around the house and I have learned that you need to do a lot of things before you start.




There is planning involved, the right tools, do you need help? , Doing planning is the diagram for success; it’s like a blueprint. It’s the misen place, like using a recipe card to make a dish. If you pass up an ingredient the recipe will not turn out as anticipated. If you don’t snap a chalk line when building a block wall your lines won’t be straight. By planning you establish objectives, a goal, where you it will go, how you want it to end.

To “DO” something is to bring it together, whether it’s drawing a play in the dirt, it’s mixing the ingredients together so it has a base. In a hotel or restaurant you implement a system to drive a service level, raise the bar, to operate at a higher standard.

After you start a system, like a car engine, after driving for so long, you need to “Check” it, by testing your staff, you can check to see if you are on course. You also do this while you monitor your staff; you can see where you may need to make adjustments, by assessing this you can like building the wall, move it until it’s plumb, (or straight). In a recipe you taste it to see if it needs a pinch of salt or pepper to balance it out.

By being proactive and making changes after you plan it, do it, check it, you go back and modify it. When I was with a Luxury group and we wrote a training manual and implemented it, we met after 6 months and made changes, tweaked it. Sometimes a plan comes out and you have guidelines and some freedom to move around and make it fit. Then again there are those places that have a cookie cutter plan.

Make sure you have the right tools to get your operation running smooth, menus, design, cost factors, forecasts and labor, budgets, training plans. Having the right tools make the job easier, make you money, save you money, and make you a success.


Put us on a retainer. Use us as Executive Management. Cost Controls, Inventories, Service analysis. Have us to create a system for you to get to the next level. Need an Objective viewpoint of your Hotel & Restaurant Operation development. Save $$ on OSE and FFE for Construction and Renovations

It’s All in the Planning…Plan the Work, Work the Plan..

When I look at operations, I find it interesting that there are those that need to re- focus there energy in the sense that they don’t have a system in place that if they did it would save time and money. A lot of systems don’t interface, and thus the link does not happen the way it is supposed to and if it did the work world would be a much easier place. As a Division head, and before that a department head, I strove to create systems that made an operation run much smoother, and gain labor in the process.


There are those that will if implemented correctly, and maintained will make your work life easier, and able to move into and take on other responsibility, and IF done correctly will make a corporate hotel environment flow easier as well, and give a snapshot as to where there are leaks in the boat so to speak.

I recall that during studying Leadership in the Private Sector at Rappahannock Community College in Warsaw, VA in 200, through The Tides Inn, we reviewed and critiqued 3 movies and figured out the Leadership aspects, the movies were 12 Angry Men, Hoosiers, and Apollo 13. I loved the scene in Apollo 13 where Ed Harris spills the contents of a box and says, “We need to get them home using only the things in this box”.

We are still currently reviewing putting out a program in which you can after a discussion with us, deciding what your needs are, can install systems and teach the applications, and leave the disc. It’s not a patch for a leaky boat, but like a bilge pump, that will get you back on your way to delivering great service at a cost that will reflect at your bottom line.



Put us on a retainer. Use us as Executive Management. Cost Control, Inventories, Service analysis. Have us to create a system for you to get to the next level. Need an Objective review? Hotel & Restaurant Operation development. Save $$ on OSE and FFE for Construction and Renovations.

Wait There's More...

In today’s market lodging and restaurants faces the “perfect storm” of economic factors, which they have been unable to overcome and learn to navigate through. It seems some are finding remarkable success with the intersection of the three circles, great product, outstanding service, and exceptional experience all part of the elusive Holy Grail.



Sutter & Pine Hospitality has an inclusive array of talents in the lifeboat to survive such a storm that will cover all your F & B cost containment and Divisional Manuals, Job Descriptions and Training. We also provide Operational expertise with all components on the Rooms Division side as well. Outside of the sphere of operations we look at properties from all angles with this in mind.

 
 
We are currently reviewing putting out a program in which you can after a discussion with us, deciding what your needs are, can install systems and teach the applications, and leave the disc.

Patching a Roof is Like Restaurant Operations..

Where I live it is a usual occurrence to paint your roof to ensure that that it reflects the sun’s heat and the monsoon and helps with keeping your home cool and your utilities.


Hotels usually try to things that reflect the property and make sure it works properly and efficiently. There is a home that is near my home

I did interview there a couple of years ago after leaving the Hilton,

I interviewed with the GM who was very pompous, , and at the time his AGM was the Chief Engineer. I found that odd but I’ll get back to that later. They were having problems with their new concept.

When you re-do your roof there is prep work which is like prep work you do in a restaurant. You have to trim and bushes that are along the roofline then you wet the roof and apply a compound called TSP, a chemical that helps clean the roof and helps the new paint cling better. You scrub the roof and rinse. After it dries you can patch the areas that need it by applying roof adhesive, laying a mesh patch and applying more adhesive.

The GM gave me 5 things he felt were problems, and asked me my opinion. I answered them. They asked me to bring my wife over for drinks and observe the operation and write a report. I did this without
reimbursement, regardless the hotel went through a very public expose on a poor health department inspection. It appears that the hotel is still trying to finds it’s way.


Sometimes when people do their roofs they don’t repair the roof with a patch they take shortcuts and just paint over the problems and this leads to other problems with the roof down the road. If done correctly a roof painting can last over 3 years.

You have to wonder if the AGM was a Food & Beverage Director since the hotel is now searching again for a combination position of Executive Chef/Beverage Manager charged with the Restaurant operation.

I recall the GM telling me that the hotel had issues with keeping the 3 rings of the circus going, like a juggling act they had to comply with the flag, they had to do as the owners asked, and stay inline with the management company.

If hotels don’t take care of the main issues and training then there could be problems that persist like a leaky roof. It is better to fix it right the first time rather than have to do it twice.

Do you need help Saving $$, Making $$...Do you need a Food & Beverage Professional. Contact Me.

It’s Not the Service It’s the Customer…

Or is it ?………There are some points to be made. I believe that it’s the perception, but it goes past how we dress.(see USA Today) I have said before that we live and work in a judgmental society. In my hotel career we are made to resemble bankers. I understand that because we don’t want to scare the guest.


It’s how the guest is perceived. It also goes with how they interact.

From the stogy ones who can’t understand how the hotel can accept rock bands. But can we differentiate a young millionaire from an old one?

I think that guests or customers need/should, as Mom would say, “Mind your manners”. If you recall being told if you were in a friends house if you answered the phone “Smith residence, May I ask who’s calling?”

I have heard recently from a CSR, where due to the economic conditions which still grip businesses and use strategic moves to try and keep the bases covered. Sometimes within an assigned area a person will work two areas.

When a phone rings they might not get to it immediately.

· One customer answers a phone next to a do it yourself help computer for goods located within the store. The customer answers; “Hello, No I don’t work here, I can’t help you. Goodbye”.


· Another time different area, a customer answers the phone in a similar set up, “Hello, No I am a customer, I was walking by and answered the phone because it was ringing” Goodbye.”


· A major retailer has a location in a large mall with a separate entrance and the back entrance into the mall that doesn’t open until 10 and with the stated conditions the mall registers are posted with a sign that states they don’t open until 10am. A customer used the overhead paging system “Customer service to the front for a customer check out” not only once but also twice. The staff was already in the front. A supervisor went back there and dealt with the customer.


How many times have we been in a restaurant and the hostess is away from the stand and the phone rings, and rings and rings. Do we get up and answer it..I hope not, as much as we are trained to do so.


As for the dress codes, do what you feel but dress appropriately. Use common sense. And give each other the respect they deserve. As it was said, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”