Monthly Archives: August 2009

Darden Restaurants

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Who's Your DaddyBear with me for just a few short minutes here to enhance this introduction. Suppose an associate invites you to discuss a business proposition over lunch and recommends that you meet him at your local Darden Restaurant. What comes to mind? Total blank? Don’t recognize the name? No Darden Restaurants in your vicinity?

Let’s try another scenario. Your associate invites you to meet him at the world’s biggest and most successful casual-dining operation in the world. Now what comes to mind? Another total blank? No idea as to where to head? Let’s clear the air.

Both locations are one in the same and when you arrive you’ll immediately recognize the restaurant. However, don’t look for the name Darden on the marquee. Darden is the name of the parent company. The name you may recognize can be found in this list:

  • Olive Garden
  • Red Lobster
  • Longhorn Steakhouse
  • Bahama Breeze
  • Seasons 52
  • Capital Grille

This famous group of brands make up the family of Darden Restaurants which happens to boast the following:

  • It is the country’s largest full-service restaurant operation.
  • It is the 29th-largest employer in the United States.
  • It is a pioneer of what’s known as “casual dining,” which accounts for 39% of all sit-down restaurant meals.
  • It generated $6.7 billion in revenue last year.
  • It owns and operates 1,770 restaurants.
  • It employs 180,000 loyal staff members.
  • It proudly boasts one of the few African-American CEOs in the Fortune 500, Clarence Otis, the 53-year-old son of a janitor from Watts, the Los Angeles neighborhood that made headlines for the California riots of 1965.
  • It boasts a $100 million state-of-the-art headquarters in Orlando.
  • It serves more than 400 million meals a year (which happens to be the equivalent of feeding the entire U.S. population, with seconds for residents of California, Florida, New York, and Texas).
  • It has tripled its stock price in the past year.
  • It plans to add as many as 55 restaurants in the coming year.

All of this takes place at a time when the average American family has, for budgetary concerns, reduced the number of times they experience sit-down meals in restaurant out to 79 per year, 16% fewer than 15 years ago, according to industry analysts.

Even though you may not be familiar with the parent company, Darden Restaurants has been around for 70 years. Bill Darden, the founder, was just 19 years old when he opened his first restaurant in 1938. At that time, no one would have guessed what the future might hold as Darden’s first attempt at success was a simple lunch counter in Waycross, Georgia, with a mere 10 stools, two booths, and curb service. Remember those days? Darden called the place “The Green Frog” and promised “service with a hop!”

Today his dream has grown to include:

  • The Red Lobster consisting of 690 restaurants producing annual revenues of $2.63 billion. It boasts: “The taste of wood-grilled seafood.”
  • The Olive Garden consisting of 689 restaurants producing annual revenues of $3.08 billion. Its philosophy: “When you’re here, you’re family.”
  • The LongHorn Restaurant consisting of 322 restaurants producing annual revenues of $885 million. Its proud of “The flavor of the West.”
  • The Capital Grill consisting of 37 restaurants producing annual revenues of $235 million. People visit there to “Be wined, dined, and dazzled.”
  • Bahama Breeze consisting of 24 restaurants producing annual revenues of $135 million. Come there to “Feed your island spirit.”
  • Seasons 52 consisting of 37 restaurants producing annual revenues of $45 million. Here you can find “Seasonally inspired healthier dining.”

It once owned Smokey Bones but sold the 127-restaurant chain after deciding it lacked national appeal.

Darden Leadership operates its major brands as test labs, sharing the best ideas and even personnel, while maintaining their distinctive identities. This approach is rather unique to the industry but has proved to be very successful. More than 1,400 executives and support staff share energies in its $100 million state-of-the-art building in Orlando.

As a result of its belief that the direction of its business is based on understanding customers, it has invested in a great deal of customer research. It’s obviously paid off in a very positive ROI … something its competition should consider. Most see this kind of research as a cost rather than an investment and have diminished their efforts in this area.

COO Drew Madsen said its research revealed that “People come to a restaurant for both physical and emotional nourishment. The physical is the food; and the emotional is how you feel when you leave.”

To address this revelation, Olive Garden executives began tying everything to a mythical Italian family, adopting the tagline, “When you’re here, you’re family.” New locations were designed to suggest Italian farmhouses, with a large family-style table similar to those found throughout the Italian countryside. Executives even formed a partnership with actual Italians: Olive Garden’s Culinary Institute of Tuscany (CIT).

Eleven times a year, Olive Garden sends 14 top employees, many of whom have never set foot in Italy, to spend a week in an 11th-century village in Tuscany and learn from Sergio and Daniela Zingarelli, a husband and wife who operate a restaurant, winery, and inn. The couple and other local experts expose the Americans to everything Italian such as pressing olive oil, how to layer flavors in a Bolognese sauce, how to buy fresh vegetables at a market, and how to prepare a multicourse Italian meal. Since 1999, some 850 employees have attended CIT, and 80% of them are still with the company.

Darden has a very simple one-minute rule: Food should arrive at the table within one minute of being ready. To achieve this goal at every location, they must find the best mix of independence and collaboration, often relying on the latest technological breakthroughs such as Guest Forecasting, Kitchen Monitors, and Meal Pacing software. While all of its chains may use the same technology to pace their cooking and predict their dinner traffic, and they may serve shrimp from the same Thai fish farm, but each brand needs to remain distinctive. There’s an art and science to this to achieving the necessary balance to attain success.

Over the past two years, Darden has reduced unplanned hours by more than 40% and trimmed excess food costs by 10%. This kind of performance explains the phenomenal execution, achievement, and growth Darden has enjoyed and the potential it has for continued success.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Perplexing Economy Stimulates Action

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Continuous chaos on so many levels in the U.S. has resulted in a variety of reactions by both businesses and individuals. It’s interesting to observe the vast differences in strategies as this country faces the most challenging economic environment in decades.

Difficult times lead many to innovate, others to take risks never before contemplated, and still others to lay low, do nothing, and focus on hope as a strategy.

Let’s take a look at some examples of innovation, change, risk-taking, and action which are currently taking place as a result of those who have chosen not to wait until the dust settles. These examples may be very successful or may fail miserably … time will reveal their fate. However, they evolve from the hearts and minds of those who refuse to wait for others to determine their fate.

Is It a Gamble to Land at Miami International Airport?

Knowing that I fly a great deal, people often comment on how exciting it must be to travel across the country from airport to airport. Well, they’re absolutely right—for your first few months of travel. After that, it becomes boring, frustrating, and often exhausting. Although the food has improved, it’s still far from ideal. The lines are long, the delays have become customary, the waiting areas are uncomfortable, and there is little, if anything, to do while you wait. That may all soon change.

USA Today has reported that the Miami-Dade County commissioners voted 8-3 to allow slot machines at the Miami International Airport. The devices will be located beyond security checkpoints and would potentially allow the county to recoup some of the money that the airport is hemorrhaging. At present, the operating cost of the airport is $600 million and could more than double in the next six years. The slots could provide a much-needed revenue stream.

The airport will realize a new, much-needed revenue stream, passengers will have something to do waiting for the typically delayed Miami flight, and a few people may even win a few dollars. However, if you’ve ever been to Vegas, Atlantic City, or one of your local casinos, you certainly know the annoying sound of a group of slot machines mocking, in unison, the fate of the losers. Airport sound tracks are bad enough with PA announcements, screaming children, and people yelling into their cell phones. Now we can add the sweet, soothing tones of dozens of slot machines!

One last thing … if this endeavor is successful, however that may be defined, you can bet it won’t take long before every major airport in the nation will be following suit. So hunker down, make earplugs a travel staple, figure out how to get rolls of quarters through security, and adapt to another change in our chaotic lives.

Are You Ready for a McSpark?

On this blog, we’ve discussed the innovative efforts of McDonald’s to maintain its leadership in a very competitive industry. (May I Take Your Order Please?; History in the Making – “Bites or Bytes”?) We’ve discussed its order-taking technology, its revolution to the breakfast market, the addition of sofas, fireplaces, WiFi, and large screen TVs, and its addition of boutique coffee offerings. To have watched McDonald’s evolve during difficult economic times can only make one ponder what may be next. You may be surprised!

Apparently, a new North Carolina McDonald’s will include, believe it or not, electric vehicle (EV) recharging stations, part of the ChargePoint network. Now you can enjoy your Extra Value Meal and Latte Macchiato while your car battery is being recharged. Consider the cross-marketing potential … it’s endless. Current EVs take a couple of hours to recharge, so McDonald’s has a captive audience to buy meals, desserts and boutique coffee drinks while they get comfy on a sofa, work on their computer and take in a ball game in front of a cozy fireplace while they wait for their recharge. Look for discounts on fill-ups with meals. Anything’s possible at Mickey D’s. And with more than 30,000 locations worldwide, what company is better placed to establish a recharging network? Before you know it, McDonald’s will be refueling those new green vehicles that have been retrofitted to run on french fry grease. Laugh today for the day will come when you look back on the good ole days of the simplistic Happy Meal.

Flying RyanAir – Better Get in Shape!

RyanAir is a combination of court jester and Scrooge McDuck in the airline industry. It cuts corners to save dollars like nobody else and yet its ideas challenge you to take RyanAir seriously. I told you about its “no frills” philosophy in a previous article (Boo Hoo – Can’t Afford the Loo!), which included charges for food, soft drinks and even water; it hawks bingo cards and duty-free goods during its flights; its seats do not recline, there are no seat back pockets and it offers no window shades; and it is considering charging to use the bathroom.

Now RyanAir has done it again. It has announced plans to cut costs even further by getting fliers to carry all their bags and suitcases through security departure lounges and directly to the plane rather than checking them in. They can carry aboard one piece of hand luggage, but leave any other baggage beside the aircraft to be loaded into the hold. They then pick it up the same way on arrival.

RyanAir chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “You can bring unlimited bags as long as you can get them through security. What it means is no more waiting at the carousel, no more losing your bags, no more wasting your life in over-priced airport terminals.” The move—scheduled for next spring—would mean a plane would need just one baggage handler, instead of five, he said. It is expected this will save RyanAir approximately $42 million a year (American currency).

But wait … it’s far from finished! Ireland’s RyanAir, along with Spring Airlines, a four-year-old carrier that calls itself China’s first low-cost airline, is seeking permission from their government aviation regulators to reconfigure their planes to allow some stand-up seats! Standing passengers would be safely strapped to stools or railings and would, of course, pay less than their conventionally seated fellow travelers. Talk about “Standing Room Only”!

Removing seats to accommodate standing passengers could increase capacity on domestic flights up to 50%. Even if standing passengers paid lower fares, the result would be an increase in revenue per flight. It would also let airlines lower costs by allowing them to offer fewer flights and employ fewer works.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

New Drucker Book References AchieveMax® Article

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When it comes to Peter F. Drucker, people fall into one of two categories.

  1. They have no idea who he is and have probably never heard of him at all, OR
  2. they’re well aware of his many accomplishments, his major impact on the business community and are more than familiar with the majority of his 39 best-selling books.

Many books have also been written about Peter Drucker. One of the most recent is titled A Class with Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World’s Greatest Management Teacher. Author William A. Cohen is a graduate of Drucker’s executive Ph.D. program in management at Claremont Graduate University. In the bibliography of this book, Cohen references an article we wrote for our AchieveMax® newsletter on the subject of MBWA (Management By Wandering Around).  If you’d like to review that article you can do so at “Does MBWA (Management By Wandering Around) Still Work?” We’re certainly honored to be mentioned in a book associated with the man known as “The Father of Modern Management.”

For those of you who may not be familiar with Peter F. Drucker, let’s take a closer look.

  • Peter Ferdinand Drucker was a writer, management consultant, and self-described “social ecologist.”
  • He was arguably one of the most influential management theorists in the world.
  • Drucker’s 39 books have been translated into more than 30 languages.
  • He made eight series of educational films on management topics.
  • He also penned a regular column in The Wall Street Journal for 20 years and contributed frequently to the Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Economist.
  • He also explored how humans are organized across all sectors of society—in business, government and the nonprofit world.
  • His writings have predicted many of the major developments of the late 20th century, including privatization and decentralization; the rise of Japan to economic world power; the decisive importance of marketing; and the emergence of the information society with its necessity of lifelong learning.
  • In 1959, Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” and later in his life considered knowledge work productivity to be the next frontier of management.
  • During his long consulting career, Drucker worked with many major corporations, including General Electric, Coca-Cola, Citicorp, IBM, and Intel.
  • He also consulted with notable business leaders such as GE’s Jack Welch; Procter & Gamble’s A.G. Lafley; Intel’s Andy Grove, Edward Jones’ John Bachmann; Shoichiro Toyoda, the honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corp.; and Masatoshi Ito, the honorary chairman of the Ito-Yokado Group, the second largest retailing organization in the world.
  • Drucker was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 9, 2002. He also received honors from the governments of Japan and Austria.
  • He continued to act as a consultant to businesses and non-profit organizations well into his nineties. Drucker died November 11, 2005, in Claremont, California, of natural causes at 95.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

To Succeed, Sweat the Small Stuff

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For some time now, there has been controversy surrounding the popular theory which suggests that we “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.”

Richard Carlson, Ph.D., was considered to be one of the foremost experts on happiness and stress reduction. As the author of 30 popular books including the runaway bestseller, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and it’s all small stuff, he showed millions of people how not to let the small things in life get the best of them.

Apparently, Carlson’s advice struck a nerve with readers worldwide as his book was an instant success!

  • The book made publishing history as USA Today’s #1 bestselling book for two consecutive years.
  • The title spent more than 100 consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.
  • The book is considered one of the fastest selling books of all time.
  • In 2004, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff was voted one of the top ten most-read books in the past decade!
  • 26 million books have been published in 35 languages in over 130 countries.

However, in spite of all of this success, Carlson’s advice was often misunderstood. His focus to readers was how not to let the small things in life get the best of them. That advice, of course was right on the money. Many people, however, interpreted the message to be more along the lines of “don’t waste your time and energy on details.” This interpretation certainly IS NOT the author’s message, and those who have adopted this philosophy have done themselves and others a major disservice.

In today’s chaotic and competitive environment, attention to detail has been the decisive factor determining success or failure for many organizations across industries. It will certainly continue to do so.

Think about some of the things that aggravate customers today—sometimes to the point where they take their business elsewhere.

  • Having to hunt down a waiter for more coffee or the check.
  • Not receiving a genuine welcome or prompt greeting.
  • Waiting too long on hold when making reservations.
  • Waiting too long for service.
  • Having to stand in line.
  • Personnel lacking product knowledge.
  • Phone calls transferred several times.
  • Unclean silverware or glass.
  • Apathetic personnel.
  • A filthy bathroom.
  • Lack of eye contact.
  • Lack of a simple smile.

I think you would have to agree that all of these examples could be considered “small stuff,” “details,” “the basics.” Yet more people switch loyalties and alliances for reasons similar to those listed above than they do for what may be considered as major concerns.

The “big stuff” occurs less often, demands immediate attention, and is seldom repeated. The “small stuff” is seldom noticed by those who should address such issues, seldom seems to be addressed, contributes to a lasting “image,” and is often discussed among customers who have little tolerance for such lack of concern.

Note that successful organizations in all industries today are indeed training their people, communicating a philosophy, and focusing on the importance of “sweating the small stuff” to insure customer satisfaction and future success. Big things happen when you do the little things right!

If asked, how would your employees respond to the need to “sweat the small stuff”? Do you know?

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.