Sunday 1/4/15 recap

Written By: Dusten

LY Lunch Sales:1941
Projected Sales: 2121
TY Lunch Sales:2650
+/- :529 over projected and up 37% over Ly
Lunch Covers:151
Avg PPA:17.55

LY Dinner Sales: 3821
Projected Sales: 4104
TY Dinner Sales: 3429
+/- :-675 under projected and down 10% from LY
Dinner Covers: 137
Avg PPA: 25.03

Weather: Sunny and chilly during the day and then a big drop in temp at night. This is my favorite time of year in Austin.

Any Special events going on?:Jersey tells me it's the REI garage sale. Beyond that I have no idea... last day of Free Week.

Who worked?: LUNCH: Amanda, Clair, Joel, Camacho CL, Jason FR, Dena SA
DINNER: Camacho, Joel, Amanda, Stephanie, Clair CL, Jason SA, Hiroe FR and Dena host.

Flow of Business, Cuts and Ticket Times:
Lunch was busy, but not out of control, however things felt somewhat chaotic. Servers seemed to have issues finding their rhythm. The kitchen was pretty obviously flustered from being short-staffed. Dena has SA'd before but... we'll get to her later. We went on a wait before 1pm. We stayed on wait almost until close. Weekend lunches seem to facilitate guests hanging out a little longer than during the week. I felt like sales would've been higher even, if tables could've been turned faster. Had a Katsu Teishoku take 40 minutes to hit the table. The table consisted of a mother and daughter, who ordered the plate plus an extra katsu filet. Apparently the filet went out but the plate wasn't made due to some sort of miscommunication. I comp'd the plate and that totally smoothed things over. Had a bento that took a while to go out. We 86'd bentos very early due to lack of tofu and kara-age. I think Joel's was just the last of the bento orders that were made. I cut CLair at 2:20pm, Mandy at 2:40. Kept Joel on pretty much until the end.
Dinner seemed promising but I think the cold snap kept the crowds away. We only went on wait for maybe an hour. It died of significantly at 9pm and that allowed me to do some cuts. Camacho and Mandy were first at 8:30. I waited until 9pm to cut Joel and Cut Stephanie at 9:15. 

Steve got a Med Men's white T-shirt before dinner started. I told him we'd take it from him check.

Specials? 3 clams, 4 bento, 11 smoking sashimi

3 Staff members that stood out (why/how): LUNCH:
*Joel was off today. At one point it took him 7 minutes to greet a table and that was before I made any cuts. I asked him was the problem was and he just told me a nother table had a lot of questions. I saw no sense of urgency in him at all today. Even after getting the drink order fot the table that waited so long just to be acknowledged he causally saunters to the server station. There were a couple of times that I and other's would ask "where is Joel" because, well his tables needed him and he wasn't around. And if I have to smell his f*@#ing feet one more time as he changes his shoes in the office I'm gonna flip. I told him to get out of the office to do that. I have to tell him to do that every time. Why isn't once enough?
*Dena drove me up the wall during lunch...make that all day. She told me early on that she has SA'd here a time or two before but never had any formal SA training. So throughout the shift I backed her up and helped buss and reset tables. My problem with her lies in when offering any sort of advice regarding her job duties (SA or otherwise), I'm met with some sort of snarky attitude or any response other than "yes" or "ok" for that matter. If someone doesn't know how to do the job and I offer insight as someone with experience and acting manager, I really don't find it productive to have them ask "well why can't I do it MY way?" The answer is because "your way" is slow, inefficient, sloppy, unprofessional and WHY am I even explaining myself?? I could see any direct approach to the issue was getting me nowhere so I simply encouraged ALL of the servers, if they see her standing around mouth agape and staring off into space (which happened a lot early on) to find waters and tables for her to attend to... and at that point they were all over her. I helped buss and reset tables. She mentioned to me once, "you're always beating me to the tables." It wasn't long after that she shaped up a bit. I realize there is a lot to take in and learn for new people, but again, one can't learn without listening when being given explicit simple instruction.
Dinner she hosted and was only slightly better and only for a short while. I couldn't count how many times she needed to go to the restroom but I'd say there were at least 2 or 3 times she didn't tell anyone and I found out by noticing customers standing at the host stand wondering if anyone would be around to seat them. Again, no amount of, "hey maybe as the host you shouldn't leave the stand for a few minutes at a time in the middle of service while we are on a wait without letting anyone know," could be mentioned without a scoff and a snide remark. It was slow enough and I was worn thin enough that I cut her early. I know it probably sounds like I'm picking on her, but there have been too many WTF moments today. Maybe tomorrow will be different, for someone else.
*Clair did very well today. She was first cut but had a table that kept her here long after she was done. Camacho was also a big help in directing junior staff members as well ad helping buss tables and keeping waters full. She had a long day and never once complained. I'm glad she is back. I spoke with her at some length about some of my frustrations tonight and she mentioned a very palpable disparity between the hosts we had when she started and their level of involvement on the floor (Koki and Shawn) and the host we have now that once they figure out their very basic duties, they do very little else besides surf the internet on the iPad.
*Stephanie and Mandy had a bit of an issue over cuts today. Apparently Steph picked up a shift for Mandy and Mandy picked up a shift for Krystin and there was some confusion over who would be cut when. Mandy asked to be cut 1st for dinner before we opened for lunch. Stephanie was the only one who wasn't a double, but wanted to be cut 1st tonight. Mandy has a family issue with her Grandmother and wanted to wait until the end of her day to call and find out so as not to affect her work performance. Stephanie has to be in Bastrop at some ungodly hour in the morning. Either way there was a bit of tension, but it was resolved quickly enough and without further incident. Drama-rama and Kome Sushi Kitchen.

Any VIP's in? some friends of Take for lunch. some upper management folks from Uchi came in. Sent them some Kama pieces and Take sent them coffee and dessert.
A kid from Sa-Ten (Jonathan) came in tonight with his lady friend. Stephanie waited on them. They ordered 2 rolls. A midnight sun and a surf & turf I believe. They got the EMP day off discount and had a Kome bucks card for $15... which brought their check down to a whopping $1.77. Stephanie brought them back their check. Jon says, "oh no, I thought the Kome Bucks would have covered it," and then promptly informs Stephanie that he has no money and wasn't planning on tipping either. Seriously?? He's gonna be real popular at the employee excursions. Anyways, this swell and considerate fella's date covered his tab. She left Stephanie $5. She sounds like a keeper, Bro.

Kayo came in with Kenta for dinner. Kayo mentioned that she wants all of the condiments on the tables for lunch and dinner. Done.

Comps& Void Detail: recovery comp for Katsu teishoku. Take bought lunch for Jason Camacho for his loss last night. I got 3 separate $15 kome buck cards. b-day dessert apple pie spring roll, voided a trio roll that was cancelled.  

R&M needs?:I feel like at at the very least, the cord for the ipod could be replaced. as often as the ipod likes to shut down, we seem to be having issues with the thing even connecting to the receiver through the USB cord.

86'd items/ need more? Meibo