TOTAL FOODSERVICE VIRTUAL MAILBOX
with
Robert Kuzara
January 2007
Q. 20 % of customers produce 80% of our business. How can I find out what is driving those 20%?
A. The use of features comprising a Virtual Office system allow for the collection of computerized data from a number of sources within your operation to be collated into a comprehensive picture of what brings in your best customers.
To identify that 20% and their preferences, invite your regular customers to join a "members club," so that when they dine a code can be assigned to their table and their orders tracked. Food and wine trends can be followed, and comments from guests can be recorded. Periodic reports can be generated and trends highlighted.
The noted preferences can also be used to create special events and features for the core client base, for example wine or food tastings, which can also be advertised to draw in a larger audience.
Q. Staffing is always a problem. What is the best way of notifying everyone if an employee is out sick?
A. Automated systems can be put in place that allow for the absences to be noted in the computer for payroll and personnel records. At the same time a program can be created that will automatically notify a chain of employees by e-mail until a replacement is confirmed.
Q. With menus set in advance, how do I avoid the problem of not catching a sudden and unnoticed increase in the price of an ingredient or other item that might cut into my profit?
A. A computerized inventory control system is the most efficient way to track cost and volume of supplies on a daily basis. As orders for goods and services are placed, prices can be checked instantly against prior orders or contracts and any deviation from those benchmarks can be flagged and displayed as an exceptions report.
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TOTAL FOODSERVICE VIRTUAL MAILBOX
with
Robert Kuzara
February, 2007
Q. We're a small, long-established restaurant and we would like to expand our market by setting up a website. How do we get people to look at our site?
- P. DeMarco, E. Hartford, CT
A. A website actually talks to two different audiences. The first is a human audience consisting of visitors logging on to your site. The second audience consists of computer programs called "search engines" that crawl through your site, looking for information that will help them produce the right matches to search queries.
I would strongly recommend the use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the process of carefully studying and modifying the attributes of a website in order to improve its position on one or more search engines, allowing you to tap a much wider audience. Looking at it from another perspective, SEO allows your target audience to find your website using search keywords that are most relevant to your product or service.
Consider the following statistics:
• Search is the second most popular online activity, next only to email
• The #1 way through which people find new websites is through Search Engines
• 4 out of every 5 Internet users use a Search Engine daily
• Up to 85% of all users discover websites via search engine queries
Q. How do we handle an increasing volume of telephone calls, tying up our lines and annoying customers who might be left on hold for a long time, get a constant busy signal or dont want to leave a message on an answering machine?
M. Simpson, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
A. In today's automated world, customers appreciate a personal touch. Rather than resort to automated responses, or worse, lose potential customers, a now-cost-effective solution is the use of Call Center Services. A highly trained staff of communication professionals can provide a consistent and efficient way for you to meet the demand of high volume call telephone activity. A live phone answering service allows your customers to hear a pleasant professional voice that can answer their questions, take reservations and provide timely and responsive customer service. This service can be integrated to a number of Internet answering and order taking service programs, keeping you constantly updated through computer messaging.
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TOTAL FOODSERVICE VIRTUAL MAILBOX
with
Robert Kuzara
March, 2007
Q. We currently own a successful medium-sized, upscale suburban restaurant. We have been offered the opportunity to purchase a similar existing restaurant in a neighboring town. How would a virtual office system help to combine these two operations into a single entity?
L. Reed, Danbury, CT
A. The virtual office would allow for each restaurant to submit all operational data, such as sales, purchasing, labor, product usage, etc. to a central system on a daily basis. Adapting existing computer systems at each location into one combined system, managers and staff would input information as do currently. Overnight, a team of accounting professionals combines the information, and creates a single set of books, which will give you an instant "year-end" print-out of you financial status on a daily basis.
In addition, the system can create combined inventories to be used to create a single point of purchase and a single point of payment. Inventories at both locations are tracked on a daily basis and combined to permit buyers to efficiently make larger bulk purchases at lower cost. Accounts payable, credit card transactions and cash flow are also controlled from one central location. Cost and profit centers can be set up, again updated on a daily basis, to provide the corporate head office staff and owners with a constant real-time picture of both operations on an individual and joint basis.
Economies of scale can also give you an advantage in other areas of virtual services as well. It will be possible to set up a centralized, live-operator reservations service covering both locations. A centralized reservations system can efficiently display up-to-the minute individual table reservations and function space availability, allowing your staff to cross sell both restaurants. Joint and individual marketing materials can be created by teams specializing in graphic and website design at substantial cost savings. These teams can also create a single "brand" for you, highlighting the features of each restaurant and the overall combined operation.
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TOTAL FOODSERVICE VIRTUAL MAILBOX
with
Robert Kuzara
April, 2007
Q. I'm putting together my business plan to open a small restaurant, and I would like to get an idea of what the advantages of outsourcing my back office would be, as opposed to putting together an in-house staff. Wouldn't I have more control by going in-house?
- K. Laughlin, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
A. In an ideal world, yes. You would be able to find the perfect well trained loyal employee that shows up for work everyday with no time off for holidays, vacation, sick days and has a spouse that has full coverage health insurance and is willing to work only the time required to do the work required.
With the time and money constraints facing any new business owner, it makes more sense to find someone else to do it better, faster and more economically than to begin by building the staff and infrastructure yourself. Because of new technology advances, you now have the same opportunity to take advantage of the possibilities open with the use of outsourcing for many functions, allowing you to focus on the development your core business and keep your overhead as low as possible. The most successful businesses of today have gone to outsourcing, and now have time and money to spend on differentiating themselves in the marketplace. For 20 years Fortune 500 companies have used outsourcing as a strategy to gain, and keep, a competitive edge.
State-of-the-art web-based tools and world-wide delivery centers have made possible a complete range of "come-to-market" programs for every size and type of business. Teams of accounting, marketing, web-design and communications professionals, with years of expertise in managing successful brands, are available to support all back-office functions at a fraction of the cost of in-house staff.
As an example, outsourced accounting can dramatically cut operating overhead and increase profits by utilizing the following:
• Vendor invoices and orders transmitted electronically
• Financial operating statements provided daily
• Governmental requirements (including meals tax, employee withholding) filed automatically
• Disbursements handled through electronic banking
• Inventory control produces suggested purchase order each morning
• Payable systems produce suggested daily disbursements
• Employee absences noted, and substitutes notified electronically
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Robert Kuzara, a specialist in business design and development, is founder and president of Center for Business Planning, an international provider of virtual office support. A frequent guest speaker on Globalization and Outsourcing, he is a published columnist for a number of trade journals, and has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and several industry publications. He is a cum laude graduate of University of Massachusetts School of Business, and holds degrees in accounting and computer science.
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