Community Involvement (4/4)

Think about your particular restaurant. What makes you unique? Perhaps you have a pizza delivery concept. Make the most of your expertise in delivery. You should be the one everyone thinks of when they need a picnic catered or a fraternity fed. After all, you know more about delivering a hot, fresh meal across town than anyone. Use that knowledge to promote yourself and your restaurant. Group Tour of Your Restaurant. This program is especially geared toward elementary school classes but can be of interest to scout groups, day care centers, church youth groups, and kindergarten and junior high school age children. The first step is to notify the various groups by letter, inviting them to your restaurant. Once you receive a favorable response, schedule the tour for early morning or early afternoon, or whenever your business is at its lowest point. Several days before the tour, call the group’s leader and confirm the tour date and time and the number of participants. On the day of the tour be sure you have scheduled enough labor to enable the tour leader to give all of his or her attention to the group. If you are running the tour yourself, you will need someone to handle your regular duties. Don’t let the tour interrupt your normal business procedures. Begin your tour with a summary of the history of your restaurant and some of your particular menu items. Discuss the increase in eating-out trends or the responsiveness of restaurateurs to the public’s concern about nutrition. Starting at the desk, begin moving through the restaurant and explaining each area and its use. Include the storage areas, the walk-ins and the prep areas, Ask questions of the children. When you point out a case of cheese, ask if anyone knows how many pounds of cheese your store uses in a year. In the manager’s office, explain the necessity of keeping an accurate count of how many customers you have each month and how much food needs to be ordered to cover that number. Ask if anyone knows how many dogs you sell in a month. Now move to the main kitchen area and explain each piece of equipment, comparing it to the size or number that the child is familiar with at home. Emphasize the experience and knowledge your chefs and cooks need to prepare the high-quality food your restaurant offers. If you have planned to feed the group a special treat, let them watch it being prepared. You might allow a few of them to wield the pastry tube or put pepperoni on their pizza. Finally, don’t forget to tour the clear-up areas, highlighting the many steps you take to ensure a perfectly sanitized restaurant and a healthy work environment. Move the group back to the dining area of the restaurant and, while they are enjoying a taste of your excellent cuisine, ask for questions. Be sure you answer each question honestly; if you don’t know the answer, admit it and tell the child you’ll call his or her teacher later in the week with the answer. Make sure you do call! Thank everyone for coming and give each child a personalized certificate plus a coupon valid the next time their family visits your restaurant. You should also present the adult group leaders with a coupon or a free meal card.