Getting Cheaper on Expenses

Modern hospitality has to use various ways to reduce expenses without affecting the Client, and I believe that the following will "light up the spark again" guaranteed:

1.-Plan ahead, you cant drive a business like a headless chicken, you need to focus on "getting back to basics" to project the future, but beware, you can't do this on your own, there's a team involved and it's one of the most precious resources you have, you have always tree major elements that need attention:
+Client satisfaction (comments and mouth to mouth advertisement campaign).
+Owners satisfaction (financials).
+Staff satisfaction (if you have a well motivated team, service will surface on its own).

2.-Walk troughs, if you don't know what is going on on your floors, you won't be able to transform and to cut down expenses (this comment goes mostly to Controllers and GM's).

3.-Get your executives to work the floor (it may sound strong), but if the executive team works as one, great things can happen, it's a task, would the Customer be waiting for a Sales Director or the Chief Engineer or even the GM to greet them while checking in and WALK THEM to their room??? that will be for sure a pleasant surprise for the Client, it will give them a sense of team effort, concern and warm hospitality (this gets translated into mouth to mouth marketing allowing you to reduce marketing expenses).

4.-Use a sustainable way of thinking, it's cheaper to get local ingredients, materials and resources. Just think about it, Guests are looking for local experiences, why don't deliver it to them?

5.-Cross training, why does a Maid or a Waiter have to concern on other departments activities? Because every action a department performs will for sure affect other departments operation and expenses (remember that a Restaurant or Hotel is like a big family and everything you do comes around).

6.-Use your vendors, be on top of them for the best quality at the best price, negotiate, build a relationship with them, as businesses are made among people and not companies (companies are the pure result of it).

7.-Enhance seasonality, you will buy better quality at the best all year round costs, be present at local events, boards and associations, you will demonstrate that your hotel or restaurant is present and open for new deals (this reduces travelling expenses).

8.-Turn around your inventory, I can guarantee that your warehouse is full with "long time no see" elements that will allow you to reduce cost, effectiveness, plus you will have more space for the important materials that will add value to your Client.

9.-Energy is one of the most common sadly misunderstood expense, don't look at the meter, look over from where is leaking (burning stoves all day long, water faucet open for defrosting beef (it should have been taken out from the freezer yesterday but somebody forgot it), aim the sprinklers directly to the plants, not the pathways, turn computers and printers off while not in use, don't turn all light when waiters are setting their tables, turn them on for your Clients (those are the ones that pay for it), don't wash your pots and pans with extra super water pressure (I'm sure that with a nice scrub and the correct detergent will do the magic), use the nature elements, open up the windows if a nice breeze is blowing, if it rains, you can take advantage of it to clean halls and some floors and can refresh the landscape without further effort.

10.-Get everybody involved, by having your staff with their feet on the ground, you will be getting ideas from where you thought you couldn't get any.

All Inclusive Exposed Part I

All inclusive resorts seem to be the ultimate answer for modern and trendy travelers, however it can also be the ultimate and most terrifying nightmare for those who manage the food and beverage department, breaking your heads figuring out on how to control costs, trying to cut back everywhere, spending one whole day per month through fatal inventories, squeezing the last drop of juice.

For those who doesn’t know how and All Inclusive works, for every single Guest, you have a pre established budget, let’s say that you have $15 dollars per Guest per Night, $10 is destined for food and $5 for beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), remember, unlimited food and beverages for $15 buckaroos, breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, late snacks, margaritas, beers etc. but just remember when you go to a bufette to have lunch, you probably won’t eat breakfast so you can fill every last space of your hungry stomach, now figure that out for 24 hours.

That is certainly awful but read further for a few very cost effective measurements that will allow you to gain your yearly juicy bonus:

---Every single cent counts, cents make dollars, so try to save as many as you can, and I’m not suggesting on buying cheaper, reuse some diminishes for stocks or soups.

---Monitor each day your forecasts, as this changes all the time, that way, your warehouse requisitions will be more close to reality.

---Hire the greatest Pastry Chef; you would prefer people stuffing out with bread and cakes (cost effective as normally desserts are around a 7% cost vs. retail price) than with beef fillet.

---Usually All Inclusive offer a buffet, make sure to arrange dishes in a strategic way, at the beginning, set spectacular salads, with lots of toppings and dressings, don’t get cheap on vegetables, make them look fresh, crunchy, bright and colorful, this will attract the Guest eyes easily.

---If you host breakfast buffet, cook the best waffles and hot cakes, as well, make sure to include all sorts of sweet toppings, marmalades, fresh fruits (seasonal), whipped creams (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry), hot caramel, hot condensed milk, at the end, make sure people drool just at the mere sight of it, and also make sure it is sweet enough, as people would want to get their thirst quenched, with GALLONS OF ICE COLD WATER (instead of many pina coladas).

---You can’t possibly guess how much alcohol there is in a frozen cocktail, so fill in the blanks.

---Send your waiters during day with trays full of snacks such as chicken wings, deep fried tacos, quesadillas, nachos, chips; but be careful, as salty snacks gives you thirst that you will eventually would like to thirst, so think logical, 3 minutes after the snacks waiter, send another with frozen beverages (ice always costs less than juices and alcohol). By the end of this experience, people would be so full that they will end up asking just one or two courses during dinner.

---At the same time people are sitting for having dinner, make sure your Chef sends them a nice plate of appetizer (flour based), but make sure it is the most delicious appetizer they will ever have, this will prevent of over asking for dishes you will end up throwing half into the trash.

Stay tuned for part II…