For Bars, hotels and restaurants, individual or chain
DEEP PROFESSIONAL AUDITING ON OPERATION SIDE OF YOUR ESTABLISHMENT
With our long experience and our perfect knowledge of the industry operational side, we are without any doubt the most appropriate persons to dig up problems and details in your establishment that are slowing down the financial development of your business and which can have a bad impact on your customers.
FBSTI can make a full survey of your establishment.
We see, we watch, we check and control for you in order to spot points that could be improved or required your attention and identified specific training needed or ungent actions needed to be put in place.
Habits and routine makes most of the people blind and gently habits and routine are taking your business down. FBSTI will discretely study your place and your employees; we will see the running of your establishment when managers are not there. FBSTI can also make a survey of the all chain in order to leave you the possibility to standardized the good points to all the establishments of your chain, and make everybody knows about the bad points raising in some places.
INTRODUCTION
FBSTI is a Swiss academy specialized in high standard restaurant management all over the world
Our professional auditing teams all have hands-on experience in restaurant operations, giving us a significant edge in the quality, accuracy and detail of our Mystery Guest Reports.
There is nothing better than the eyes of a professional to play the role of the mystery guest, as those eyes will go far further into details. Our professionals know the different rules and technics of the restaurant industry which is not the case of a regular customer who will miss out some important points
DOING AN AUDIT OF THE OPERATIONAL SIDE OF YOUR ESTABLISHMENT
IS IMPORTANT AND CRUCIAL
FOR THE FINANCIAL FUTURE OF YOUR COMPANY AND THE SATISFACTION OF YOUR CUSTOMER.
DO NOT WAIT UNTIL IS TOO LATE,
DO IT WHILE IT IS STILL POSSIBLE TO REACT AND MAKE ADJUSTEMENT
OUR GUIDELINE:
We have the function of observer; see it all is our duty.
We will remain objective throughout our entire visit and the positives and the negatives points will be detailed the same way.
The nature of our visit will be kept confidential at all time through our stay.
We will blend into the surroundings with the principal objective to keep our anonymity.
To do so we will keep the following rules:
- We will never fill in forms or take notes anywhere apart in our bedroom, our car or outside the premise. Under no circumstance notes are going to be taken in front of staff or others customers.
- Under no circumstances we will reveal our identity not only inside but also outside the establishment, even to customer or person external to the establishment. People from our office, or close to us are going to be aware of the confidential aspect of our visit and if it is necessary or urgent to get in touch with us, they will be able to do so without revealing our anonymity.
- All written documents and information that we going to fill during our stay will be kept coded on hard drive without the possibility for any people to see or to read them.
- The name, address and phone number of our office are not going to be seen anywhere and our office is not going to be called from an hotel phone but only from a mobile and outside the place.
- To give our stay the most credibility possible we will represent and look as businessperson, a family (husband, wife and kids), tourist, etc. To be confirmed with you
In order to complete our cover, it is necessary to respect some requirements such as:
– To be dress appropriately according to the place observed and the time of the day.
– To use only cash or private credit card for any payment.
– Drink in a reasonable manner is accepted. The unique reason is to observe the service of it and take the opportunity to get closer to the staff to observe their saying and their attitude.
– We will remain calm and polite whatever mistakes or inappropriate attitude we will notice.
– We will mention the name of all the person we will meet in our visit and if those persons do not wear a badge or if it is too difficult to read their name then we will make a precise physical description of them (allowing you to recognize them) or if we have the possibility without any risk we will take a picture of them.
For the perfect coordination and obtain better results, to avoid all sort of leak, the day of our booking and the dates of our visit are not going to be tell to anyone, not even to managers, owners or commissioning person. Date will be chose depending of the manager, owner schedule. If they are away, we will be closer to the reality.
when the cat is away, mice are playing
After the visit, the commissioning persons will receive a consistent report, which could be passed on to the persons and the establishments concerned.
A discussion between the observer and the commissioning persons and the managers will be organized in order to complete if necessary the remark made in the report.
You will find below a few ideas about the different sectors we will assess in your establishment. (this is just a sample of what and how we are auditing)
The detail and the way of scoring stays confidential but you will find here a summary on the extent of our observations.
If there are some points that are not in this guideline and you are wishing to add, please do not hesitate to tell us and we will do the necessary.
The standard of service is different from one place to another. So, some points will have to be change and adapt according to your criteria and to the leading line of your establishment
- The booking
In the measure it is possible, a booking will be made mainly by phone to see how booking is handle and sometime by direct visit to the place. We will check how the booking has been handle, name, taking notes, requirement and demand well noticed, attitude and pleasure given by the staff, explanation on direction and location done properly and clearly, general information on the restaurant and opening time….
On the top of all the usual demand makes during a booking, we will prepare with you a list of special requests
- Arrival
Using the direction send to us or/and the one finds on your brochure to determine if the direction to the restaurant were accurate and easy to use.
On arrival close to the entrance, we will take precise notes of the exterior and the reception area.
Greeting and welcoming, first impression and the general atmosphere of the area (smell, looks, sound, general state of the place, general feelings left by the place and the staff).
Information use by the staff on the booking. Such as use of the name of the person, review of the booking and presentation of the staff and the place.
On arrival, we will ask for a number of details about the establishment and service available. All will be recorded.
At this point we will try to put the staff in difficult situation in order to see how assistance is given and handle.
- Public toilets
All these facilities will be checked periodically throughout the visit. Hours, details and place of the checking will be recorded. Places will be checked at different time of the day (gents and ladies)
In each time, cleanliness and equipment will be checked
We will verify that the toilet rolls and the hands towels are correctly folded and display. We will also verify the constant water temperature
- Restaurants
We will make sure that we do use any of the facilities offered making detailed inspection of the entire restaurant.
We will compare the place to the expectation establish with you, a marking of the general standard of the restaurant will be made.
During or after the mystery guest action depending of the situation and the possibility, the all restaurant will be check, tables, chairs, equipment stage and cleanliness, position, in good condition and working, condiments offered to customers, …..
We will also make a judgment on the general comfort and the decoration of the room.
- Special requests
All along our visit, some special requests will be made in order to observe the way they are handled and the efficacy of the service.
The date, time and the name of the person dealing with the request will be written down on our reports.
We will observe all stages of the request handling, the time it took, the attitude of the person dealing with the request (kindness, obligingness) and we will note if objectives have been reached.
- Pre-diner drink (if available)
We will go to the lounge/bar or the most obvious place where customers usually goes to take a pre-diner drink.
We will take a seat expecting a table service. If after 10 minutes no service is offered then we will go to the bar to order (we will make sure that it is mention in the report according to the number of people needed to be served and the number of bartenders)
We will order a drink, which required some preparation or some information cocktails, establishment specialty, single measure.
We will observed the way they will be made, served, the attitude of the bar employees at the time, the general atmosphere of the place, the cleaning of the place, the tidiness of the table and the bar, the welcoming, the billing, the flexibility of the service, the following up of the service, the use of our name in the conversation, if we are offering another drink, a promotional offer (the selling aspect of the barman), if the restaurant menu has been offered while we are her, if some appetizers have been served or proposed.
- Main restaurant diner
We will be extremely observant on timing and staff names. Timing will be very important and useful for further analyses.
We will register the number of customers on that special evening as well as the name of the person who will welcome us and take us to our table.
Based on the expectations listed with you we will check the general standard of the restaurant room.
We will observe the staff, their knowledge, their confidence, their skills, their advises, their attendance and their initiative, the welcoming offered, the courtesy, their attitude and behaviour in different situation we will create.
We will also concentrate our view on the service itself in order to evaluate the technical aspect of the service: deficiency, mistakes, organization of the service, the timing during the service and to do the different task, fluidity, and the tidiness of the service.
We will take the liberty to put your waiters and waitresses in difficult situations in order to see their reactions and their capacities to handle stress and delicate moments
- Desserts and wine
Wine, mineral water, desserts and coffee will be ordered to evaluate the way they are proposed and served.
Then again, the timing of the service will receive all out attention as well as the technique of service (crumbing the tables, suggestions, opening of bottles, upselling and accompaniments, etc.).
We will also observe and study staff gestures, attitudes until our departure and the way employees are saying good bye and good night.
- Food quality
We will give our professional opinion on the way food is served, presented, on the freshness, the quality of the ingredients, the temperature, the colour, the texture, the variety, the choice on the menu and the cost (quality and quantity ratio)
Some comments will be made on the general atmosphere of the meal and the memory this meal will leave on our observers.
- General checking of all the restaurants
As long as Food and beverages performance is important for every establishment, we will assess all restaurants and bars of your company.
We will check the general aspect of them (tidiness, decoration, light, music, temperature…).
We will evaluate the attitude of the staff (smile, courtesy, welcome, communication, involvement and body language).
We will do the same with the quality of the service, from arrival, the order to the farewell, from the skill and knowledge to the use of the service rules, methods and procedure, from the different item served (aestheticisms, quantity, taste) to the accompaniments served or offered
We will observe the up-selling techniques of the staff and the general feeling of our stay.
- Product knowledge
We will take the liberty sometime all along our stay, in a discreet manner, to ask several questions about the establishment. Each time, the date, hour and person will be written down on our report.
The questions could be on internal matter such as history of the establishment, opening hours of a department, owners and managers, food specialty or on external matter such as the closest chemist, train or flight timetable, local attraction, cab companies.
We will check the rapidity and the exactness of the reply given.
We will evaluate the staff and their attitude in handling the request and also if they are trying to exceed our expectation with the help given
- Check out, Departure, Billing
The bill will be checked and control according to our daily consumption.
Questions will be asked in case of omission, over billing or simply in case of unclear statement.
Different ways of payment will be use, up to the point to put the staff in a difficult situation
The date of departure, the hour and the person dealing with us will be noticed in our report.
We will observe the staff, their attitude, their courtesy, their kindness, their professionalism, their efficiency, the rapidity and the help given.
We will comment on the clarity of the bill and also on what will be said during departure (the warmth, inciting to come back, proposition for future booking, personal attention, …)
- The team
We will control the teamwork in your establishment. Harmony of work, spirit, complementarity, fluidity between the different departments, ability to work together under pressure and stress.
- General atmosphere, ambiance
This sector covers our overall perceptions and opinions on the establishment during our visit.
This part will be completed at the end of our stay after our departure.
If it is possible, we will make some sort of complaint during or after our visit in order to evaluate the different stages and the way it will be handle.
We will make comments on the most positive points and the most negative points of our visit in the different departments such as F&B, kitchen, maintenance, outside.
We will check the general comfort and the deficiency of your establishment. We will make some comments on the facilities offered and some advised on the facilities we are expecting to find in your establishment.
We will concentrate on the attention given to the customer and the general atmosphere.
We will ask ourselves a few questions:
- What memories our visit left us?
- Are we going to recommend the place to friends or colleagues?
- Are we ready to come back (even if we have to do a detour for it)?
- Upselling skills
We will observe all forms of selling in your establishments from the bartender trying to sell another drink to the advice and recommendations from waiters of the different restaurants.
We will let you know the different omissions, the weak and successful points of your internal selling.
We will define if the up selling is smooth, aggressive or too annoying.
- Badges (depending of the policy of your company)
For all person wearing their badge, their name will be written down as soon as they will
interact with us. For all others, their description will be made and if possible a
picture of the person will be taken. Taking the name of the people is not to have a direct
consequence of the employee job, but just to inform you of the people needing to be
spoken to and where training should be implemented.
- Grooming
We will check if all members of staff are neat and tidy at all times
We will do with you a list of the physical and uniform aspects required for males and
females in the different departments of your establishments and then during our visit we
will check if the list has been respected.
- Interpersonal attitude
We will observe the attitude of your employees in contact with customers whether in
direct contact or just meet through a corridor.
Politeness, courtesy, eyes contacts, body language, help will be evaluated.
CONCLUSION:
This is there just a sample of what we will check for you in your establishments.
You are welcome if you want us to add some points in this list or if you want us to concentrate our attention on particular aspects.
Each point will be detailed with you prior to our visit.
A couple of weeks after our visit you will receive a full report with all our observations
A discussion about the overall feelings of our stay as well as about different important points noticed will be set up with you at the end of our visit.
Under no circumstances will our identity should be revealed to your staff until we decided to do so.
For the audit to be complete and relevant we will have to visit each place at least 2 times even 3 times.
2 times is the minimum for us to be able to see each restaurant working at lunch time and at dinner time. We will have to find a way, during the mystery guest action or after, for us to have a full access of each corner of your restaurants. We will also need to find time to spend in the different restaurant outside the service hours in order for us to control the mise en place, the setting of the restaurant, and the work fluidity.
FBSTI, will also make a survey of the customers satisfaction of each restaurant. This will be done discretely outside restaurants on a panel of identified customers.
The same will be done with the staff at the end of the audit in order for us to collect comments they might have toward the management team and toward the company as well as comment they might have on the improvement of their working place and environment.
After the audit of your establishment, with a clear idea of the quality and the running of all your standard operating procedures we will help you to put in place (if needed) the necessary training with the idea to improve the quality and efficiency of your establishments, your standard and your employees.
FBSTI can put in place the most convenient training and the most accurate according to the need of your company.
FBSTI can adapt and run those training according to your establishments and your schedule (additional cost)
For a full quote please contact us:
info@fbsti.com
+41 79 934 69 59
For more information about our sectors guideline, please download the PDF: