The Lombardi Viewpoint
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| Dennis Lombardi |
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— Five Critical Areas
— What Fast Casual & QSR Can Learn From Each Other
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Restaurants, Bring Down the Decibels!
Someone else has noticed what has become a personal peeve of mine: restaurants that are way too loud. The Feb. 3 Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on the topic called “Pass the Salt … and the Megaphone.” In my viewpoint, there has been a slow-but-noticeable trend to noisier restaurants (even after accounting for my increasing age). Maybe you have had the same expe ...... Read More
Comments (6)Practice Makes Good and Bad
I was talking with my wife the other day and, and as always, found her insights and wisdom very worthwhile. She has been a life coach for 15-plus years and has an ability to see the real issues, not just those on the surface. She really caught my attention with the comment, “What you practice, you get good at.” At first, I thought what she was saying was just a variation on th ...... Read More
Comments (0)Don't Make Your Restaurant A Vaudeville Act
(This is the 5th post in a series on the five critical areas where managers go awry.) The fifth and final management performance issue deals with managers not caring about anything beyond their own specific areas of responsibility. These people make sure their own worlds operate smoothly, without sufficient regard to the bigger picture. Think of the unit manager that does not promote people when ...... Read More
Comments (0)Don't Fire That Manager Just Yet
(This is the 4th post in a series on the five critical areas where managers go awry.) Some managers, both unit level and above, can have difficulty in achieving stated goals and objectives. The organization’s response is often to make a personnel change. But before drawing the conclusion that the manager needs to be “off the bus,” it might be wise to understand underlying iss ...... Read More
Comments (1)Teaching Managers to Embrace Change
(This is the 3rd post in a series on the five critical areas where managers go awry.) Avoiding change is human and very understandable, but dangerous - even for a brand. We spend a great deal of time planning how to implement changes, but we rarely plan for resistance. Unit-level resistance to change is more common, but it’s the corporate-level resistance that is the most harmful. It coul ...... Read More
Comments (0)Are Your Managers Leaders?
(This is the second post on of the five critical areas where managers go awry.) All too often, corporate management assumes that a successful unit-level manager is a good leader. Unfortunately, that isn’t necessarily true. Many unit-level managers “run good numbers” but do not have the skill needed to be effective in more-senior positions. If you are seeing missed goals, team ...... Read More
Comments (4)5 Management Issues You Should Know About
I just read an interesting white paper entitled "Five Critical Management Derailers: Symptoms and Remedies," authored by HR consultancy Profiles International. The paper is not industry specific, so I thought that you might benefit from it, too. The paper identifies several common management-related issues that that are prevalent in all industries and details concrete and constructive ways to add ...... Read More
Comments (5)Knowing What’s Important for Navigating a Brand
The depth sounder on our sailboat stopped working this spring. Although this is an annoyance, it’s not a critical issue, so I decided to wait until the end of the season to correct the problem. However, many of our guests on the boat asked worriedly about the nonoperative sounder. I tried to explain that I am not as concerned with how deep the water is directly under the boat ...... Read More
Comments (4)Is Ownership Mentality Trainable?
I was in a midmorning meeting with Ken Reimer, co-founder and co-owner of Baker Brothers, a 15-unit deli concept based in Dallas. About 20 minutes before the unit opened, in the middle of our conversation, Ken excused himself, unlocked the front door and invited in two people who turned out to be from out of town who wanted to get something to eat. He got them a cup of coffee and helped them ...... Read More
Comments (1)Will QSRs Become the More-Healthful Alternative?
If and when a federal menu-labeling law is implemented, the big restaurant chains will likely see lots of articles focused on their menu items’ caloric content (not to mention the items’ saturated-fat, carbohydrate and sodium counts!). The longer-term impact of the labeling law is more difficult to forecast. Consumer research told us that customers wanted nutri ...... Read More
Comments (3)Update on Random Acts of Kindness
Last month I wrote about Random Acts of Kindness. Since then, you’ve shared a number of "acts of kindness," such as helping a family that lost its house to a fire or coming to the aid of a patron in need. Thanks–it is good to hear about these things. Of course, many chains already actively support various social programs and charities. I recently read about Church’s Chicken&#x ...... Read More
Comments (0)Could the Phrase “I’m From the Government and I’m Here to Help” Be True?
Remember that Ronald Reagan quote: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help"? Well, from my viewpoint, it may be true. I wrote a post last September proposing an active push for a national menu disclosure law, to save us from potential local disclosure requirements similar to legislation Philadel ...... Read More
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