Domain:

Atomistic Skill:

3
3.5

Supervising
Monitoring

Skill:
I can monitor guest service levels, daily sales trends, and daily
reports of guest satisfaction.
Level:
Well enough to improve service levels to maintain a five star service
facility and receive a 92.04% satisfaction level on customer service surveys.
Conditions: If I Have
Trained service staff in proper uniform
Trained kitchen staff
Point of Sale Computers (POS)
Menus, promotions, and ingredient guides
Company guides for five star service
Computer, network connections, printer, and paper
Food and beverage supplies
Customer service feedback surveys
Gracious Hospitality Index (GHI) report
Daily sales reports and corresponding goals
Knowledge:
BusinessDictionary.com defines monitoring as: Supervising activities in
progress to ensure they are on-course and on-schedule in meeting the objectives and
performance targets.
Restaurants require continuous monitoring of daily and hourly functions to ensure
the highest profitability. As with most businesses, profitability is usually the single most
important factor of longevity. If I business is making money they will remain open. But if
the store is losing money, it is likely to be closed down. There are numerous reports
that monitor the successfulness of a business. As guest service coordinator I must
know how to read these reports and interpret what they are saying to implement
change. Monitoring these specific reports on a daily basis can help ensure that the
restaurant is profitable. Reports that I must monitor are the Daily Labor Budget, Daily
Sales, Guest Counts, Kitchen Display Reports, Bar Display Reports, and Daily Staffing
Levels. Each report has a specific area of the business that can affect profitability. As I
monitor each report I am responsible to notice trends that are both positive and
negative. The three reports that directly reflect the revenue in the restaurant are the
Daily Labor, Daily Sales, and Guest Counts. Daily Labor reports how many staffing
hours are used each day and if that number is in line with the budget. Monitoring this
report allows for adjustment to the budget if sales are down. Guest Counts report how
many guests are in the store each day. If guest counts are down, then it is highly likely
that sales will be down and that the labor will be too high. For instance, if daily sales
are projected to be $4500 on a Friday; $1500 for lunch and $3000 for dinner. Labor is
budgeted at 15% of total sales or approximately $675 for the day. Lunch sales are only
$1030 which pushes labor up to 16.7%. This can be corrected several different ways. I
can trim back the numbers of persons on the clock for the dinner shift; but this is Friday
and it is usually busy. I can hope that the sales increase for dinner to make up for the
BAAS PLA 12/05/12

Somerville, Hunter

Monitoring

shortage but the store has been down every night by 20 guests and that averages to
$400. Or third, allow all staff to come to work and if the shift is slow, ask for volunteers
to go home early. The last option is usually the best answer unless it is the end of the
month and there is no other way to make up for lost sales or over budget labor hours.
Kitchen and Bar Display reports are indirect methods for calculating profitability. As I
look at the two reports I am to look at the average time it takes to make an item.
Monitoring long ticket times and who was working that shift can help me to discern the
cause of the problem. Long ticket times can influence guest satisfaction. Tickets that
are cleared too quickly can indicate the item was not made, not made according to
specifications, or was allowed to sit without being delivered promptly to the table.
Service levels in a restaurant can fluctuate with varying demands placed upon
the service and kitchen staff. As guest service coordinator I must monitor the service
levels and the flow of guests in the restaurant. Excellent service directly reflects
whether or not a guest will return to dine again. If I have budgeted and scheduled
according to the company projection and the store has an unusually high volume of
guests that day I may not have enough servers to meet their needs. High volumes of
guests unexpectedly can also slow down the kitchen. As food production slows because
there are not enough kitchen personnel to perform all the tasks it takes longer to
prepare food. Slow arriving food in a busy restaurant can be frustrating to the guests
and to the server. I must monitor these trends within a shift and from week to week. On
a single shift that has a relatively higher number of guests means that I must first move
servers to sections in which they can operate more efficiently. I must also try to call in
servers to help meet the needs. If there are no servers that can come in to work, I must
then allow the bartender to take tables. If business is extremely high then I will either
have to help serve tables or help the kitchen or both. I must be flexible in order to still
interact with guests and not place myself in a position such as cooking that I cannot
leave in order to speak to a guest. Monitoring shifts and the flow of guests requires
perception and knowledge of events and happenings close to the restaurant.
Monitoring also requires me to be able to act quickly to prevent a drop in service levels.
Guest Satisfaction is monitored in several ways in a restaurant. Guest feedback
directly to me is one way. Two other ways are daily reports from the Guest Survey
Index and the Gracious Hospitality Index. Guest feedback is always great in the sense
that it allows me as guest service coordinator to fix problems immediately. Feedback
also allows me to offer praise to servers and kitchen staff when they have done an
exceptional job. Indirect measures of service also have to be monitored. Guest Service
Index (GSI) is a survey process in which the guest completes a survey online or by
telephone. They are asked to rate their service based up timeliness of the server,
friendliness of the server, whether their food was prepared correctly or not, and the time
that it took to complete their meal. They are also asked to rank whether they would
recommend my restaurant to a friend. Each respondent is given $3.00 off their next
meal. Gracious Hospitality Index (GHI) is a measure of how well a server is performing
their job. The GHI measures a servers tip percentage. The company average tip
percentage is 17%. A server is required to meet or exceed this benchmark.
Percentages below this level are considered to be below standard in service. GHI also
measures the amount of items offered to the guest to increase their dining experience.
For instance, GHI can measure the number of different types of drinks that a server
offers their server. If a server does not suggest any drinks, this report only calculates by
chance what the guests have ordered without suggestions. Assume a server asks every
table, What may I get you to drink? Any drink guests order is random and recorded in
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Monitoring

the report. The next server asks every table, May I start you out with a fresh mango
tea or a top shelf margarita? Not every table will order an alcoholic beverage but they
definitely will order a fruit tea. This server has a higher GHI category in Suggestive
Selling Dollars. This server is considered to be giving better service because he / she is
offering more choices to the guests. Monitoring guest service is essential to keeping
guests happy and the restaurant profitable. By having the tools to monitor the different
aspects of satisfaction and service levels allows me to have an overall picture of the job
that my servers are performing.

BAAS PLA 12/05/12

Somerville, Hunter

Monitoring