Do you know when your “Prime Time” is? Many restaurants do 50 percent or more of its
business around 15 hours per week. Though yours may be more or less, follow the logic
here to maximize the return on your time and efforts.

If your restaurant does 50 percent of its business in the following hours: Monday thru
Friday from 11:30-1:30, Friday 5-8, and Saturday 12-2, then logic would follow that:

You have your absolute best employees working these shifts

You have your absolute best managers work these shifts

You and your managers gear up and focus extra hard for these short bursts of big
business

Supplies are stocked and ready

An extra dose of hospitality for the guest is delivered

If you nail the Prime Time business hours, over 50 percent of your customers will leave
saying wow! Following the example above, the question you have to answer is this: Is it
easier to wow 50 percent of your customers in 15 hours or the other 50 percent in the
remaining hours of operation?

Obviously, we want to have all of our customers receiving a great experience. However, if
you are not there yet, the logical place to maximize the efforts is during Prime Time. Once
you move the staff to a new level here, focus on the next 15-hour block (it may be an
additional 20 percent of your business) and so on.

A few hints for success:

Prepare the staff mentallyPre-shift huddle, role play, pick a key item to sell/prepare
during this time slot, get them psyched for the big game.

Prepare physicallyEnsure you are ready to hit this time slot with momentum proper
staffing, stocked items, cashiers have change and all supplies, clean restrooms and kitchen
floors, and so on.

YOU lead the charge out frontGet the team pumped, constantly communicate each 15
minutes on the status of your sales, service times, etc. Set goals to achieve.

Reward the employees who work these shiftsWhy should an employee get $7 an hour
to work an $800 hour and get the same $7 an hour to work a $200 shift?

You have a chance to make or lose the most money during this short 15-hour Prime Time
window. Take the steps to ensure you put your best show on during these time slots. Take
a page from TVpull out all the stops during these hours and reap the benefits!

T.J. Schier is service professional, consultant and speaker with over 20 years experience in operations and training. Founder and president of Incentivize Solutions and podTraining, T.J. has helped numerous clients enhance their service and training programs and spoken to tens of thousands of managers, franchisees and operators in various fields. Visit http://IncentivizeSolutions.com/ for more info motivating today’s employees, training today’s generation and delivering outstanding guest service; or http://podTraining.us/, a unique new system and the foundation of ‘i-learning’ - using the device of today’s generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.

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