Saturday 3.7.15

Written By: elizabeth

LY Lunch Sales: $2688 (SxSW Day 2 LY!)
Projected Sales:   $2884
TY Lunch Sales:  $3128
+/- : +16% LY and +$244 PS
Lunch Covers: 183
Avg PPA: $17.09

LY Dinner Sales: $ 6791 SxSW Day 2 LY!)
Projected Sales:   $7897
TY Dinner Sales:  $8138
+/- : +20% LY and +$241 PS
Dinner Covers: 267
Avg PPA: $30.48
 For the day: $11,266 +19% LY and +$485 PS and it's not even SXSW yet

Previous Days Labor %:  12%

Previous Days Comps %: 2% controllable comps were .32% Wow. pretty good.

Weather: Warmer. Mid 50's low 60's.

Any Special events going on?:

Who worked?:
Lunch: Lindsey, Joel, Sophia, Johnny CL. Jason FR, Nate SA, Grace Host
Dinner: Naoto, Mandy, Clair, Alex, Dusten CL. Nate/Ruthy Host, Jason SA, Hiroe FR

Flow of Business, Cuts and Ticket Times:
Lunch: Steady all shift- short spurts of 10 minute waits, but otherwise just really steady. No major ticket times, though I know Jersey had his hands full with Shin back there. The only "issue" i could say arose was A2. Got sat and I just cut Lindsey. I told Sophia it would be hers, and she stopped by and told the woman she would be right with her. Just as Sophia was headed back, the woman got up and started storming off. I caught her in the lobby and told her that I apologize for the delay and I would be happy to get her started. I somehow convinced her and she sat down. Sophia was right there to take her order. I had her Pork katsu on the fly and it was out in a matter of minutes! Amazing job by Daniel there. I think after she got some food in her stomach she felt bad and apologized to Sophia. She left happy, and full.
Also, just having an issue with some folks thinking the Bento comes with a salad and rice. I added to shift notes to let guests know when they order the Bento, the salad that comes with it is the Soba and there is no side of rice that accompanies it.

Dinner:
For some reason I have a feeling we're going to be dealing with a lot more "drunks" this year during Sx than we have in previous years. Tonight we had a party in the PR at 8:30 and at least 3 were pretty tipsy. Then it became apparent that they were drunk and Naoto had to cut them off (more about that later) But then I just got a call at 10:45 asking what time we closed and I told them 11 and their reaction was pretty slurred. Aaron also text me tonight that he had to cut off 3 ladies at Contigo (which rarely happens) so it seems like people are partying pretty hard. Just a heads up. Maybe something to add to the shift notes for the staff to be a little more aware of how much their table has had to drink.

Now, about the night. We went on a wait at 5:45 and got off the wait a little after 10pm. Had 3 parties in the party room, all sit according to their time, so that was good. It was pretty smooth at first, but then we hit quite a few speed bumps. First, to the start the night off, around 6:30 a 4-top walked out (after placing their drinks on the sushi bar). They said they were quoted 30 mintues and had already waited 50 and weren't sat yet, and had to leave in 25 minutes anyway. They were pretty pissed. I was aware that they were over their quote time (@42 minutes) but they were quoted 30-40 and were the next to be sat. I tried to explain that to them but they were dead set on leaving. I didn't even get into the whole "25 minutes to eat" debacle anyway. I did offer them my name should it show up on Yelp somewhere.

Then there was the woman who complained there was too much ice in the Moscow Mule. I made her a new one. She was happy, and actually once she was sat and ate, she was very pleasant and even gave me a hug on her way out.
It appears to me that all day today, there have been some very "hangry" people. I don't know if that has become socially acceptable now, but man, do I see it more than ever. 

Then there was the guy that set off the Alarm and called emergency services by leaning up against our alarm panel. He said he thought it was for the AC unit. So the alarm was blaring, and I went over and got it shut off (which for a second I froze and forgot what I was doing, then remembered, oh duh you just have to put your security code in) But because of the way he leaned on it or whatever, he ended up triggering the Emergency call system, so then over the speaker (which is very loud) came the operator. I didn't realize this at first, then I saw him trying to speak to her and I politely shoved him aside. The operator asked what the emergency was and I told her it was a false alarm. She asked if she should call off the emergency crew and I said yes. Then she asked for the verbal password. I told her I have a lobby full of people and that I can't really say. She then asked for my phone number and would call me. I gave it to her, but then she said "oh you're listed after the emergency services, I can't call you. You have to call us" and I said okay what's the number, then she gave me the wrong one. Then she gave me the right one. All the while this is happening, it's happening very loudly because I can't turn the speaker down. It was pretty horrible. My friend Bill Norris came in during that time, but upon being told it would be over an hour wait and then seeing what was going on in the lobby he signaled to me that he would just come back another night.

Then there was the 8:30 reso. It was 10 then grew to 12 and I think they squeezed 13 in there. They were young, early 20's (but over 21) and ordered a few items to drink, including a bottle of sake. While Naoto was pouring a beer for someone across the table, I guess those sitting on the bench were cuing up their Asahi glasses with chopsticks and before I knew it I heard the banging on the table. I immediately went in there to discourage them from continuing but before I could one of the guys dropped his sake glass into his Asahi glass and broke the Asahi glass all over the place. I was pretty pissed, I'm gonna be honest, and I didn't hesitate from being stern with them about this. They continued to be really rowdy at which point Naoto recognized that he needed to cut off the ones sitting on the bench, which he did, without incident. They continued to be pretty raucous the rest of their time here, and at one point because so loud (shouting and banging on the table) that I went in there and told them that they need to keep it down, we are a restaurant, not a bar on 6th street. They finally left, and one of the girls that was in there (I think it was her birthday) apologized for her friends, saying this was one of her favorite restaurants and would like to be welcomed back again. She said this to Ruthy and Ruthy relayed this to me.
During that entire thing, we were hitting our peak with wait times. Ruthy was SPOT ON all night except for 2 parties she quoted 1:15, and another 1:30 and the first ended up waiting about 1:30 and the other ended up waiting about 1:45. For the group waiting 1:30 (Jarred) They were previously waiting at Bar Flys but because their time was coming up soon they came back to wait. So they were waiting in the lobby for even longer, and I offered to buy them a round of drinks. Sauv Blanc, Hot Sake, & Kansai Mule. Done, done, and done. Then the other 5 top that waited 1:45 I just brought some Miso Soups as soon as they sat. Both were grateful and incredibly patient. The Jarred Party I actually sat at a made up table. B5 was open as was B4, so I hoised B5 up and planted it next to B4 and boom, 3 top, done. Yeah, I'm doing a lot of "boom" and "done" here because, well, it was that kind of night by 10pm. The last table was at around 10:30. What a night, what a night.

Everyone ready for SxSW?? 

Specials?
Aburi All Star: 24 (totally should have added this to the menu!)
Veggie Special: 11
Smokin' Sashimi: 12
Tsukiji Carp/ set: 6/ 6

3 Staff members that stood out (why/how):
*I was a little annoyed with Johnny early on in the lunch shift. I was in the service station and he was making drinks, and I saw he had a pint glass with ice in it and almost completely full, and I asked what was in the glass and he said sake, for the Bloody Mary. I told him the pour was way too much and he said that's how he always does it. And the proceeded to tell me that it's mostly ice, and its probably not that much. This is not the only altercation I've had with servers about the amount of sake they put in the Bloody Mary. I'd like to have everyone use the measuring cups that I got for the drinks. I feel like everyone has really gotten away from it and started becoming their own bartender, and I've just had it. Leary, if you could add to the shift notes that all "mixed" drinks are to be measured out. Use the Marked Flute for all Bellini's and Sparklers, and use the sake measuring cup for all sake cocktails otherwise.
* Grace was really helpful in bussing tables to help Nate out at the end when we didn't have a steady flow of people. She bussed the entire party room too. Glad to see her take some initiative. (on a side note, I did ask her not to wear a sweatshirt to work- that was her top today.)
*PM- Alex was super helpful in bussing tables in her downtime, and also watering tables.
*Naoto was on his toes with the parties and his section. Great great work!!

Any VIP's in?
Lunch: Chi and family, Toshi's fam was in, , Robin's husband (or boyfriend?)
Dinner: Harmon with Wife, baby and 4 friends. Drako family. Nagisa & husband and family.

Comps& Void Detail:
FNF for the above mentioned (minue Chi and Harmon)- 50% off Guest Changed mind for some nigiri pieces that went out that they said they didn't order but would eat. Had some voids here and there from misrings but that weren't made. Bought Jason SA's dinner (kome bucks) for being a bad-ass. Recovery drinks for the underquote. Guest DNL for an Endo. Kitchen Error on a 30 minute Harumaki at the beginning of Dinner service.


R&M needs?:
The tan high chair has some loose screws and the wiggles (no, not the colorful singing group) , so I ditched it.
Can we get a pretty little box built around the alarm panel so the aforementioned story doesn't happen again? This is the second time someone has leaned up against it and set it off. The first time it happened was a few weeks ago and I got to it before it dispatched the emergency services.

86'd items/ need more?
I noticed last night and then Clair said something today: the spicy tuna tastes very sesame oil like. I know that there is sesame oil in the spicy tuna but that is a very prominent flavor. Might wanna check it out.