SERVICE is an important aspect of the hospitality business. A veteran Chicago restaurateur Doug Roth once said "Good service can save a bad meal. A good 1heal cannot save bad service." It is well known that people who experience bad service often will not complain to management; they sim­ply do not return. It is also known that those same individuals influence ten of their friends, colleagues and acquaintances when they have a bad experi­ence yet only tell two to three if the experience was good.

CDM ET AL is a hospitality evaluation service whose function is to help you evaluate the per­formance of your staff and services. We also help in determining inventory and cost information. Most employees will be on their "best behavior" when the manager or owner is in the room, but the issue is how do they perform normally or with­out constant supervision. Managers or owners cannot cover every square foot of their locations and they are relying on the integrity of each em­ployee to provide top service to every patron.

CDM ET AL's employees are trained simply to "observe"! Many have corporate training in cus­tomer service from companies like T.G.I. Fridays, Marriott, The Palm, Ralph Lauren Polo and Macys to smaller boutique venues like Rock Lobster, Bistro St. Tropez, Pamplona, Milkbar and Rococo.

Many companies will employ services like ours when they recognize problems or notice an in­crease in cost of goods, resulting in lower rev­enues They want someone to be held accountable for this loss. The overall objective is to avoid downward trends in business and revenues BEFORE they occur. Some incidents fall under the category of "accidents" and can't be avoided. How you respond to such events and take ac­countability for all actions within your venue can turn a unpleasant experience into a future op­portunity to reclaim the customer. CDM ET AL can help evaluate your cost of goods, profit per­centages, and inventory levels within any given time frame.

CDM ET AL's EVALUATION PARAMETERS

Staff evaluations - Determine if they are following the rules of the house. This is often referred to as "SP0ITING" when referring to the bar staff. Are they following the rules by collecting for each drink served or recording all drink in the proper manner? Is the money go­ing into the register or the tip buckets?

Attentativeness - Were we greeted and served in a timely manner or did we become invisible while the server made a call or finished "his" meal?

Execution of job - Was the employee pro­ficient at their job or would be better suited in another position? Were they able to explain ambiguous information?

Atmosphere Analysis - Was the room temperate, smokey, properly lit and dressed ac­cording to the management requests? Are the bathrooms clean? (rated as #1 of customer con­cerns in Restaurant and Hospitality Magazine polling.) Was each employee dress appropriately? Were there enough materials and stock to allow proper service and ability to fill orders (liquor & food)?

Consistency - Is each employee read­ing and operating from the same regulations and information? Are the specials, prices, menu se­lections, company histories the same with each server?

Attitude & personality - Are your employ­ees happy to be employed or are they doing you a favor? Are they ready to serve and have the overall look necessary to make the experi­ence enjoyable and trouble free?

CDM ET AL will perform a "pre­interview"with management to determine any ar­eas of concern and can schedule an appointment to perform such an evaluation. It is important to determine the rules and regulations of the venue prior to a complete evaluation. Management can, at that time, tell their expectations of each em­ployment position. It is very important the evalu­ation be unannounced in order to observe employee's "normal" behavior. A written report will be given within the following business day to en­able the management to respond with expediency. CDM ET AL will also provide detailed information concerning any information that may be consid­ered an infraction of company protocol.

INVENTORY CONTROL

CDM ET AL can also assist in the control of inventory information through the evaluation of sales versus cost of goods at the bar. Without knowledge of what your pouring costs are, an accurate evaluation of your businesses operations cannot occur. A physical inventory will be taken within an established time frame to enable you to evaluate your cost against industry standards. It is imperative to measure liquor usage and cost figures to determine if profits are being poured away. Theft can occur in many fashions and not necessarily intentionally. A fluctuation of 2% to 5% in liquor pouring costs can result in the loss of thousands of dollars to you.

Please contact us for an appointment to determine the evaluation needs of your venue.