36 : How to Create Successful Change in Your Restaurant : The 7 Step Guide

If you've recently implemented a new system in your restaurant but your team isn't executing it as expected, this episode is a must-listen for you.

Today, I'm going to uncover the secrets to successfully managing change in your restaurant. I'm going to discuss what change management is, why you should use it for your restaurant and walk you through the seven-step process of how to create change in your restaurant.

I'm Christin Marvin, and in this latest episode, we're slicing into the meat of change management for restaurants. From technology upgrades to menu makeovers, I'm laying out a seven-step process that guarantees to keep your team not just afloat, but swimming with confidence through the waves of transition.
 
Here's how I roll in this week's episode:

00:00:08- Managing Change in Your Restaurant

00:08:42- Navigating Restaurant Change Management Successfully

00:19:00- Effective Rollouts for Successful Teams

Tune in to discover how to blend leadership, communication, and preparation into a recipe for successful change that ensures the whole crew, from the executive chef to the busser, is ready to plate up excellence.

Click here to download your 7 Step Guide to Successful Change and share with your management teams. 
 
Thanks so much for listening!

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Curious about one-on-one coaching or leadership workshops? Click this link to schedule a 15 minute strategy session.

Transcript

Christin Marvin: 0:08

If you're a restaurant owner operator who has just created a new system and rolled it out to your team and they are not executing it to the level that you thought they would or that you wanted to, then you're going to want to tune into this episode today. Today, I'm going to uncover the secrets to successfully managing change in your restaurant. I'm going to discuss what change management is, why you should use it for your restaurant and walk you through the seven-step process of how to create change in your restaurant. No matter what you're changing from technology to a menu, change to a benefits package, any change in your restaurant this tool will help you be really successful. Welcome to the no Hesitations podcast, the show where restaurant leaders learn tools, tactics and habits from the world's greatest operators. I am your host, Christin Marvin, with Solutions by Christin. I've spent the last two decades in the restaurant industry and now partner with restaurant owners to develop their leaders and scale their businesses without wasting time and energy, so they can achieve work-life balance and make more money.

Christin Marvin: 1:37

This podcast is sponsored by ScheduleFly. Schedulefly provides a simple, web-based and app-based restaurant employee scheduling software, backed by legendary customer service. If you are using pen, paper, excel or fancy scheduling software with tons of bells and whistles that you don't use. Schedulefly is perfect for your business. When I was a regional manager handling seven locations, schedulefly was our go-to for scheduling. It's, hands down, the easiest platform that I've ever worked with, and their employee scheduling tool is awesome for shooting out mass messages about crucial restaurant updates. Visit scheduleflycom and mention the no Hesitations podcast to learn more and get 10% off. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Christin Marvin: 2:22

I've been working with a client on scaling their business. They have a couple of locations and are looking to open one a year for the next three years and we have been looking through every aspect of their operations and creating systems for how to ensure that operations are flowing really smoothly. Their product is really consistent. The team has been trained really well so they can execute recipes very consistently, offer an incredible guest experience and ensure that their locations are really clean, on top of scheduling and numbers and all this good stuff scheduling and numbers and all this good stuff.

Christin Marvin: 3:09

So throughout this process I've experienced that the owner had some frustrations with some of the current systems that we've created. And digging into those frustrations, I understood, as we were kind of building a relationship together, that the problem was not with the system, but how the system was being rolled out. So it was really clear to me that we needed to go through the change management process conversation and discovered. You know, I discovered with a client that they were really unfamiliar with what this process was and the system was, and doing some further research. You know I I have really understood that through my experience working for a really fast growing full service restaurant company for seven years. You know we were at six locations and had little systems put into place, but we grew from six to 48 locations in seven years. You know we were at six locations and had little systems put into place, but we grew from six to 48 locations in seven years. So we really created systems around every single aspect of the business and I feel like I'm an expert now in change management because of how many systems we created and how quickly we expanded and it felt like we were rolling out something new every single month. And so we really had to make sure that every single one of our leaders and our teammates, from the leadership perspective to the dishwashers, were all in favor of the change, really understood the change and knew exactly how they could execute it.

Christin Marvin: 4:41

So today I am going to take you through exactly what change management is, why you should use it in your business, and then walk you through the seven steps of the change management process. So let's talk first about understanding what change management is. Change management is a really structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams and organizations from their current state to a desired future state. We know in the restaurant business that we hate change, which is ironic to me because the restaurant business is different every single day, which is what I love about it. In the context of the restaurant industry, though, change management can involve anything from implementing new technology, new menu changes to restructuring operations or adopting some sustainable practices.

Christin Marvin: 5:33

So why should you use change management in your restaurant? There are a few different reasons here, so three specifically. The first one is to minimize resistance. Change again. Like I said, not a lot of people in the restaurant business love change, right, but change. So change often meets resistance, especially when you're growing your business and you have to change so many things. Every single change that you throw at the team just feels more and more scary, and it can really start to break down trust with the team and create a lot of uncertainty about the direction that the business is going. The success of any change initiative really depends on how well the resistance is managed in your company. Change management really helps to identify potential sources of resistance and provide strategies to address them, ensuring a smoother transition. So it really helps you be proactive, which is really really important, right? Because the last thing we want to do is be reactive in the business. The second reason why is to maintain operational continuity.

Christin Marvin: 6:35

Implementing changes in your restaurant without a proper plan can really disrupt your operations and impact the guest experience, which you don't want to do, right? You're implementing change, you're creating a new system, because you want to enhance something and make it better, right? So you really want to be careful that the opposite does not happen. Change management really ensures that changes are integrated seamlessly, minimizing disruptions and maintaining a positive guest experience. You ideally want to make sure that this is so seamless that the guests have no idea that this is happening, right? The third why here is enhancing employee engagement. Employees are the backbone of any successful restaurant. Change management involves communicating effectively with your staff, making sure that you're involving them in the process and providing the necessary training and support to ensure that they can adapt to the changes successfully. Without them, this won't be successful, right? All the work that you've done behind the scenes can completely fall to the wayside if they're not bought in.

Christin Marvin: 7:35

So let's talk a little bit about the change management process. So there are seven steps. The first one is assessment and planning. So begin by really evaluating what the need for change is in your restaurant. Identify specific areas for improvement, such as menu updates, operational enhancements or guest experience improvements. Make sure you develop a comprehensive plan that outlines the goals, the timelines and potential challenges associated with the proposed changes. Right, you may have a lot of things in your business that you need to change, but you want to be really careful to prioritize those. Again, throwing too much at a team can really shake things up and have some really negative consequences for your team, for turnover, for cost of goods, your labor costs and your guest experience. Right? The second step is stakeholder engagement. So make sure that you're engaging your restaurant staff at all levels in the change process, communicate openly about the upcoming changes and encourage the team's input and feedback.

Christin Marvin: 8:42

In a restaurant setting, involving your chefs, servers, kitchen staff is crucial for a successful transition, right? Something? It doesn't matter what it is, if it's a POS change or if it's a menu change, it's going to somehow impact every single person in the restaurant. So it's really important that you communicate with everyone. Make sure again, they've got buy-in, they fully understand the process and they know what's coming at them. Doing these things will help them feel like you're offering support to them, which is really, really crucial during times of change.

Christin Marvin: 9:18

Hi everyone, before we dive back into this week's episode, I'd like to take a moment and invite you to head on over to kristinmarvincom slash change to download your guide to how to create successful change in your restaurant. This seven step guide can be a great tool if you're currently rolling out a new system in your business or in the process of creating a new system and want to ensure you save time and energy during the rollout process. Feel free to share this resource with your teams. Again, you can download the guide at kristinmarvincom slash change. If you'd like additional help navigating through the process, feel free to reach out at kristinlmarvin at gmailcom, and we can schedule a 30-minute meeting to chat. Now back to the show. Thanks so much for listening.

Christin Marvin: 10:10

The third one is communication and training. So craft a clear and concise message to communicate the changes to both your staff and your guests. Provide comprehensive training to ensure that your restaurant team is well prepared to implement the new procedures or new menu offerings. This step is really essential for seamless adaptation to the changes, whether they involve a new menu or updated service protocols. Think about questions that your teammates are going to ask or that your guests are going to ask. That your teammates are going to ask or that your guests are going to ask. And you can do this by hosting a staff meeting and talking about these changes and starting to get some questions from the team and asking them what they think guests are going to potentially ask. They know their guests so much better than you do, right? They're spending so much more time with them, so get as much feedback as you can and then make sure that you're implementing those questions and answers into your training program, because chances are not just that one person is going to have that question right.

Christin Marvin: 11:10

The next step is implementation. So roll out the changes gradually, allowing your team to adjust without feeling overwhelmed, may you know? Again, one important thing here to remember is it takes humans anywhere from 21 to 30 days to make something a new habit, right, and if you think about your teammates only working sometimes two days a week, three days a week, four days a week. It's going to take everybody different times and to learn and adapt to these new habits. So just make sure that when you're planning out all these changes, that you leave some time in between for people to learn the skill and really develop the skill. It takes time.

Christin Marvin: 11:50

So, for example, if you're introducing a new POS system, let's say, make sure that you're implementing this during a less busy period to minimize disruptions or start by testing the new product in one location before you roll it out to all locations. We did an extraordinary amount of testing when I was in the high volume brunch business and we would test something in a restaurant for, I think, 30 to 60 days at least to make sure that we got all the kinks out before we rolled it out company-wide. Because just imagine the headache of rolling something out to six locations at the same time, or 20 or 40 or 100, if you have not really taken the time to work out all the kinks, to get feedback from your team, to get buy-in from your team, from your guests. It can really be disruptive. So testing even for a week or a couple of weeks is really something that I would recommend. It also is a really awesome development tool for your team to go to a management team and say, hey, we've got something new. We want you to be the ones to really test this out and give us some feedback. That's a wonderful way to empower your team and develop your team and also create a training team or training location for your company, for sure. But testing really ensures a smooth transition and reduces the likelihood of operational hiccups, which again impacts you, impacts your teammates and impacts your guests.

Christin Marvin: 13:19

The next step is monitoring and evaluation. So you want to regularly assess how well the changes are being integrated into your restaurant operations, monitor feedback from both your customers and your staff. Get in there, ask your team what's going on, look at your data, look at your guest reviews, go in and talk to your guests as well. The more feedback that you can get around these systems, the more it's going to set you up for success for the next thing that you're going to roll out. This step of monitoring and evaluating the process is really vital for identifying any issues early on and then making sure that you're making those adjustments to enhance the overall effectiveness as the change. I think it's really important. How quickly you react to something speaks a lot about your leadership when you roll something out like this. If you are getting feedback from your teams that they are experiencing hiccup after hiccup after hiccup, and you don't act quickly on those things, you really start to lose trust and that is only going to impact you in a negative way the more and more things that you roll out to them. So just be really aware of that.

Christin Marvin: 14:30

The next step is adaptation and continuous improvement. So recognize that the restaurant industry is dynamic and ongoing adaptation is essential. Continuously seek feedback, make data, specific decisions and be open to refining your strategies. Don't make decisions based on emotion. Make sure that you're using your data for sure. This step really ensures that your restaurant remains agile and responsive to evolving market trends and customer preferences. The last step is take time to celebrate and recognize your team. Acknowledge and celebrate the successful implementation of changes. Recognize the efforts of your team and highlight the positive outcomes. This step not only boosts morale, but also reinforces a culture of adaptability within your restaurant and encourages future positive transformation. Again, if you hit this out of the park and your team is completely bought in and they feel like they can give you feedback and they feel like they're heard and you're making the necessary changes in a timely manner to set them up for success. Next time you say, hey, we're going to change this, they're going to be like hell. Yeah, we know how to do this. This was a great experience last time and it's just going to get better and better and better.

Christin Marvin: 15:52

So, after basically going through all these steps with my client, we went back and looked at, during the process of rolling out, we were rolling out. What system was it? Oh, cleanliness in the locations. We went back through this process and we said, okay, let's detail step one, step two, step three. Where were we? And we realized that we were stuck in step three and that we hadn't really gone any further than that. And so we went back and I challenged him to pull the managers in for a meeting, take them through this whole process so that they clearly understood what the vision was for this system to be successful and how to get there and how they'd be using the change management process in the future, and then to just go back through these steps again and roll it out again. There's no shame in that, right, you know.

Christin Marvin: 16:46

I think what had happened was we created this system and then it was just simply emailed out to the team, and so nobody understood the why they weren't bought into it. They didn't understand how to go execute and I would say that you know part of this is also when you're doing your training with the team that they need training right. That's a very important step here. When you've got a new system, even if you design it with a manager, go in and do a once through walkthrough with your manager to ensure that the system's working, it feels good and that you two are both aligned on exactly what you want to see and what success looks like with the system. So once we did that, everything was. The barriers just started to fall out of place and the team really understood why the changes mattered and they were just super excited again to be empowered to roll something out that and join forces together. They did it as a group because they only had a couple locations and were excited to roll something out that was going to help the business be cleaner and help the team the entire team have more buy-in and again have clear expectations on. This is what cleanliness looks like in this organization, and here's your role and responsibility in ensuring that these locations are really clean. So it was much more smooth and successful the second time around.

Christin Marvin: 18:11

We know that change is inevitable in the restaurant industry, but how you manage it can really determine the success or the failure of your business. This change management process is such a powerful tool that empowers restaurant owners to proactively navigate and capitalize on changes, which ensures a positive impact on operations, staff morale and customer satisfaction. So I would really challenge you if you have recently rolled out something in your restaurant or you're getting ready to go through these steps, reach out to me. I do have a PDF guide on each of these steps. Go down each one and really be thoughtful about did I do this or did I not do this? Bring your managers in, have a conversation with them. Educate them on this process.

Christin Marvin: 19:00

You can roll something out again if it's not successful there's no harm in that. But if you plan for this before you roll something out, it is gonna save you so much time, so much energy, so many hiccups with the staff and again boost morale and build trust with your team and open up communication which is the goal of any restaurant and building amazing teams. So I hope this was enlightening for you and I really appreciate you listening. If you'd like more weekly leadership tips, please subscribe to my newsletter at christinmarvin. com/ blog, and I will look forward to talking to you next week. Thanks, everybody.