Before large restaurants existed, waiter would complete process of order taking and delivering of food. Today, food runner can be implemented (additional middle man) relieving waiter of this time consuming and sometimes painstaking process. The waiter must share a percentage of his tip with runner, but in return his job is eased because food is delivered for him- allowing extra time to work more tables and up sell to customers thereby increasing sales. Though, it does remain waiter’s responsibility to check table for additional diner needs-- either while food is being placed by runner or shortly thereafter. The tip-out to runner is usually 10-15% depending on service system, but well worth it if waiter sales can increase by 20-30 %.

The main point is food runner addition improves delivery service efficiency while being cost-effective (if sales increase outweighs payroll increase). Properly integrating employees into dining room with exact middle man connections always makes for smooth service flow. It’s not a matter of just blindly throwing extra employees at a service problem, but organizing best system possible with minimal amount of labor.

Adding middle man can sometimes streamline operations in such way that it becomes irresistible and impossible to ignore. Always, demand arises when delivery routes of a service system become overloaded.

>Richard Saporito, President, Topserve Inc. www.topserveconsulting.com info@topserveconsulting.com 888-276-4808

How to become highly productive is too much to cover thoroughly in a simple article, but we can touch on some good ways to start improving your energy management.

Nutrition: Most nutritional experts agree that eating a number of modest meals throughout day is much better than a couple of big ones. Don’t forget to include protein with every meal.

Stress: There are no such things as stressful situations. It’s our reaction to events that causes us to feel stress. You know what works best for you to reduce your feelings of stress. Set time aside to take care of yourself throughout week. If you don’t take time, soon enough you’ll have no choice due to health issues.

Physical Fitness: Do I really need to go into this? Doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

Attitude: Our attitude colors our view of our past, our present and our future. Most people allow world to determine what we hear and see, which determines how we see world in general and how we see our own world specifically. Start to take control of what you mentally and emotionally feed yourself. Cut out negatives (like news on TV) and start introducing positives (like listening to personal growth tapes or CDs).

Another critical key to effective energy management is to understand many positive implications of stretching our abilities and then taking time to recover and rejuvenate. Regular recovery and rejuvenation are essential to becoming highly productive. I can’t stress enough impact that regular rejuvenation can have on your energy, attitude, creativity, enthusiasm, and spirit.

Let me finish by getting back to client example I started this article with. My client wanted to know how, or if, he could be as highly productive on a daily basis as he was on day before his vacation, and my answer was yes and no. The yes part of answer is that you can be highly productive on a regular basis, day after day, by managing your energy and things that influence it. On other hand (the “no” part of answer), it’s impossible to be highly productive without allowing your body, mind, emotions and spirit to recover and rejuvenate regularly. Remember, when we’re tired we tend to slow down, make more mistakes and have a harder time being creative. After all, main reason vacations exist is to allow us to recover and rejuvenate. You can accomplish more, with less effort and more creativity by backing off from time to time to recharge. Choosing how and when to recharge throughout week is another story…

To recap what we’ve discussed in this article, key to being highly productive in any endeavor is to manage your energy. By attending to your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs you can accomplish more with greater enthusiasm, greater creative and greater enjoyment than ever before.