Faster, Faster, Faster
How can we make this happen in the restaurants so our drivers are not feeling it on the road?
Well, Ready for Revenue is a good place to start. Time and time again I, Guy Maddox, go into restaurants during evening peak periods and there is no R4R completed. We should have R4R completed for a Monday and Tuesday just like we should for a Friday. But Guy, our sales are down. So what! You're still going to sell certain items that you have prepped for the day. Why not complete the process and sauce and cheese some of it. Don't over-do it and throw it away but use prep planing to help decide how much is needed.
Those who do prep well run better service because they understand that R4R is the backbone of the kitchen and not just another check mark on a check list. What reports can you use? Let's start with these:
Prep Plan Report
Previous Week Product Sales
Previous Day Product Sales
Many people say "well, it doesn't take long to sauce and cheese a pizza". That might be true with one order on your screen. Let's say it's crunch time, 6:15 on a Tuesday night. You have one cook scheduled. Before they can make a pizza that's on the screen he (or she) has to sauce and cheese the dough. They may have to go to the back to get a Thin (perforated) pan. They have to wash their hands. They may need to go to the dish room to get the correct spoodle or cheese cup. They may have to fetch product from the cooler because R4R (which includes filling the maketable) was not completed. Now, what about the other 5 orders that just popped up behind that one. How much longer will it take to get to those orders because the R4R was not completed? Are those customers not as important? Oh, by the way, the last order has 2 Stuffed Crust and a Lasagna pasta on it and there are none prepped and no sauce pre-heated. What's the production time on that order going to be? ...and the ones that are surely going to pop up after that one because now you're behind?
Over the last couple of years we have lost focus on getting the orders out the door with a driver in less than 19 minutes. Do we want to get the order to the customer in 30 minutes? Yes! How can we do this? Let's start with a little of the following.
R4R :
Sauce and Cheese daily
Pre-top when needed
Prep pasta's daily
Prep WingStreet products daily
Fill the maketable in the afternoon
Have all needed utensils and pans in place and ready to use so the cooks don't have to leave the maketable
Fill the retarders with dough (thins too)
Coaching Speed Daily:
Make sure drivers understand the word "HUSTLE"
Have the maketable team focus on "IN THE OVEN" in less than 3 minutes
Have the Cut Table call out production times all night
Make sure everyone knows the focus to get the order out the door in 19 minutes
Make sure shift managers push their production team daily to make it happen with communication
Know where every pizza stands during a rush
"Driver in / Driver Out" so managers can focus on getting them cashed out and back on the road
Post Driver Audits daily and see drive times improve (mark the good and the bad with drivetimes, waits, and production times). Don't just hang it there.
These are just a few things we can do to increase our speed. There are many more but these are the vital few that really count. We have lost focus on this very important part of our business and I truly believe it is showing in our sales. We need to tell every customer 30 minutes or less. Every time. All the time. We need to make it happen so we get their repeat business.
It's easier to take care of a current customer than it is to win a new one. Hopefully everyday we are doing what we can to win new customers but if we lose our current customers, it will always be an uphill battle. A battle that we may not win. Just because we're Pizza Hut does not mean they will return. We need to serve a quality product in the least amount of time to keep winning our current customers. That's why R4R should be completed. EVERYDAY - EVERY RESTAURANT.
