5 Steps to Dry an Owners’ Tears

I have a love-hate relationship with onions. I love them in soups, and they are a delicious way to season a sauce. But, on the whole, onions make me scared. Scared shitless really. Here’s why: they are the number one most complained about ingredient at my restaurant. For example, if we accidentally get an onion chunk in someone’s Panino when they have ordered “no onions”, all hell will break loose! And, rightfully so!  We custom make each meal, so the preparation MUST be done exactly to plan.  But, onions are sneaky — and they are often the culprit of our errors.

But, in reality, it’s not this root vegetable’s fault. The fault lies in the system. In the training; in the process. The fault lies in the owner, and in this case that’s me!

My job is to provide someone with a delicious meal, exactly how they ordered it and meeting — no, exceeding! — all of their expectations. My job is to train my leadership team, the cooks, the delivery person who runs my food, and the person who programs the computer system that prints the tickets. And these are simple mistakes, but at the end of the day, the fault of the onions lies directly in my hands. But don’t cry — all of the ingredients to success are able to be deployed!  For my business, and yours! Continue reading to unlock five steps that will no doubt lead you to business sucess.

5 Steps to DRY AN OWNERS’ TEARS (AND HELP YOUR BUSINESS RUN SMOOTHLY)

Step One: Define the process

To begin, we must eliminate errors by understanding the perfect process — and I mean every single step! In the restaurant, we cut the onions on a separate cutting board, wash all boards, knives, etc.  We accurately label the onion and position them onions from everything else, reducing the opportunity for any stray and sneaky onion to be found anywhere it shouldn’t.

In your business, find a way to completely define the successful process.

Step Two: Document the process

Incredibly important: we must document the steps. Write it down or type it up — in detail and plain language.

Step Three: Communicate the process

Tape up the instructions in a way easily read by the team that must carry it out.

In our restaurant, we have instructions for every Panino sandwich — and we literally attach them to the walls where the sandwiches are made!

Step Four: Measure the impact

You must accurately understand if the process is working, or the areas where the process fails. Measuring each step is critical to understand whether implementation is understood, which helps eliminate mistakes.

In our restaurant, we measure the onion mistakes (how many times we get a complaint that an onion is included where it should not have been).

Step Five: Fix gaps and refine the process

Once we have a red flag on our process, we go back to the drawing board to fix it!

My favorite part of helping business owners and leaders is to find the onions — the spots that make them cry. Because, often these irritating, emotion-provoking bits of our business are the things that make us cry the most.  When we attack the solution with these five steps, you’ll cry no more.

Do you have an onion that you need a little extra help peeling? I’d love to be your sous-chef! Contact me to learn how I can help you figure out the right ingredients towards a successful business.