LY Lunch Sales:1341
Projected Sales :1531
TY Lunch Sales:1817
+/- :$286 over projected and 35% over LY
Lunch Covers: 98
Avg PPA: 18.54
LY Dinner Sales: 3106
Projected Sales : 4116
TY Dinner Sales:4558
+/- :47% up from LY and 442 over projected.
Dinner Covers:161
Avg PPA: 28.31
Previous Days Labor: 22%
Previous Days Comps: 4%
Controllable Comps: 4.7%
Weather:warm and slightly cloudy
Special events?: Nat'l blueberry popsicle day.
Who worked:
Lunch: Sayo, Lindsey, Mandy Johnny CL, Junko H, John SA and Sigele FR
Dinner: Sayo, Sophia, Stephanie, Miho, Camacho CL, Miho SA, Hiroe FR, Samara and Cindy both H/CKTL.
Flow of Business, Cuts and Ticket Times: Lunch was pretty solid. We were nearly full just after noon and had a slight wait. Sushi bar stayed vacant for a while, until Junko convinced a few to sit there. I cut Sayo at 1pm, after which Johnny stayed pretty busy. I didn't make another cut until 1:40pm for his sake. Ticket times were good, despite what anyone else might say...
I was ringing in the most elaborately modified roll I've ever heard of at Kome (that's another story) for Johnny's table, when Junko came to tell me there was an upset customer from B3 at the host stand. I greeted the gentleman and he told me they only had an hour for lunch and they had waited "45 minutes" for their food. That seemed really odd so I checked out the send time on their food. It was sent 12 minutes prior to the time I was speaking with him. I looked at the iPad and it said they had been seated 14 minutes prior. I very specifically remember them waiting in the lobby for a table while the sushi bar was nearly empty and asked Junko then if none of those people wanted to be sat immediately. She just shrugged as a response.
I apologized to the man and told him that every indicator I had to go on, including my own recollection told me that he had only waited about 12 minutes for his food and was sat no more than 15 minutes ago. He said that there was no way that could be true. I countered by stating that Junko is the most diligent host we have and she doesn't waste time to put a table on the chart.
He said that they would have to take their food to go, so I made sure they got all the containers and packaging needed. They left Mandy a zero tip. Mandy corroborated my recollection by telling me that was her most recent table and they hadn't been there long at all. I really don't know how to handle a customer outright lying to my face and expecting some sort of compensation other than swiping their card and getting them on their way. I would anticipate a negative review and it will be 100% BS.
The roll, if memory serves correct was a california roll without kanikama or sesame, adding hamachi, softshell crab and masago. As servers we do our best to accommodate special requests from customers, but treating the sushi bar like you're ordering a subway sandwich seems a little extreme.
Anyways, I charged them $12 on top of the price of the cali roll, $7 for the softshell, 2.5 for the masago and 2.5 for the hamachi (nigiri prices). UPDATE: the last time I heard of this roll being requested, it was Sophia's table. Just spoke with her about it. She reminded me that these people are neighbors to Take and Kayo. If memory serves correct, the first time they came in, they sat at B7 and made fools of themselves. I think Elizabeth was managing and wrote about it extensively. Take and Kayo were present at the time and Kayo made the distinction clear, "They are our neighbors, not our friends."
Dinner: Really tame by comparison to lunch. Slow start. Really slow. Didn't go on a wait or get a pop until after 8pm. Stayed on a short wait until just after 9pm. I cut Cindy, Sophia and Sayo at that point. Cut down to Miho and Camacho at 9:30pm.
There was a problem with the 86 board tonight. Cindy looked at the board before the servers had updated it. Sake-toro was 86'd for lunch time only but still marked off for most of dinner. Take asked that the menus are completely cleaned at the end of each service. I would add that the hosts check the 86 board as one of their last opening duties, and double check with the opening servers that the board has been updated.
3 Staff members that stood out (why/how):John has a great presence on the floor. He is engaging with customers and most importantly, does not stop moving. He recognized some people from Rooster Teeth- a multimedia production company that is "big with [his] generation." Anyways he greeted them, shook everyone's hand and went about his job. Pretty cool.He needs to work on his "irrashaimase."
Mandy handled the table (B3) with poise and professionalism, helping them pack up their food and recieving a zero tip. Took care of her lunch today. She was just as surprised and confused by their claims of waiting 45 minutes for food as I was.
Sayo pulled off a good double today. She was pretty rough this morning... totally self inflicted last nigth and got sympathy from no one for it. She toughed it out, had a good break and came back to serve a good dinner shift.
Any VIP's in?
Lunch: Tara and Kelvin, Rita from Glazer's with their regional director, Chris. The Rooster Teeth folks and the people from B3 who apparently are from 45 minutes into the future.
Dinner: Shawn Cirkiel and his kids. Roger and Masa (?) from Uchi.
Interviewed Lauren today. She was early to the interview, which is almost enough for me. She mentioned wanting to start at the host stand and hopefully move into serving. A lot of her experience seems to center around beverage making, so cocktailing should be good for her. She did mention being vegan and not drinking alcohol, while admirable, may put her at a disadvantage in many sales situations here. She seems very nice and plenty capable.
Comps& Void Detail: seaweed salad that wsn't made. DNL lunch takoyaki- nothing wrong with it. Table just didn't like it.
recovery for edamame that Miho forgot to ring in. Poisson Cru for A7 from Take- owner comp. Owner comp takoyaki and shishamo. B-day parfait. $15 kome bucks from a guest invited by Joel. Bday apple spring rolls.
R&M needs: Grace brought to my attention (outside of work, she was off today) that the arrangement with the cocktail/host position puts pretty much anything she would be making hourly, into her taxes. Now that she is serving, she says she isn't receiving a paycheck despite her hourly rates from the support staff positions. I'm not proposing anything here. Just raising the issue. She is the only server I know of that cocktails with any frequency.
86'd items/ need more:We are apparently missing a few scales. Sophia brought this to my attention. Jersey says there were as many as six when he left for his vacation. As I understand a few were only semi-functional, but there were definitely more than just one. Maybe they've been moved from their normal storage spots?
Great notes! What a day. To address a few of your concerns:
ReplyDelete1- the liar: Yeah, people are real dicks sometimes. They are. Plain and simple. So what I have learned in my experience with this is to let them say what they want to say, let them really get it all out. State what you know is true (like you did) then do everything you can to get them out of the restaurant as fast as you can. People like that don't deserve to have a nice experience after blatantly lying to your face, nor do they deserve any discount for doing so. You did the right thing and unfortunately Mandy had to suffer the consequences.
2- Grace's paycheck. Yes I can split her pay into two checks from here going forward so that it does not absorb her Host hourly. It's what I do for you and your manager shifts, Dusten :)
Furthermore! About the modified roll- If we were in the middle of our lunch rush I would politely decline that, stating that the sushi bar is very busy and it takes some extra time for them to make specialized rolls. Yes I remember that table well....
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