Do you remember the Ford Pinto Case from the 70’s? Ford Pintos had a flaw in their design, and if they were hit in a rear-end collision at a speed greater than 20 mph the fuel tank could rupture, and there could be a fire. Unfortunately, several people were killed in accidents because of this issue.
The reason this case is still talked about today is because Ford management knew about the problem and decided based on cost estimates that it was more expensive to fix the cars than to pay the families of people who were killed in accidents.
What does the Ford Pinto case have to do with running a restaurant today?
We recently conducted a survey of restaurant managers and owners. Here are some of the results:
- 100% of respondents agreed that using checklists would help them run more profitable and safer restaurants.
- 88% of respondents used paper checklists in their operations today.
- 94% of respondents believed that their teams were not completing checklists accurately.
I know that none of us want to be a Ford executive from the 70’s in our restaurants. How could you sleep at night knowing that you aren’t doing enough to keep people safe?
If you conduct checklists on paper, and you are like the 94% of respondents who believe your checklists aren’t getting done accurately you have two choices:
1. You should stop doing checklists altogether; why would you waste the money you are spending on labor having people do checklists inaccurately that you don’t use? FYI: we think this is a bad idea.
2. Or, you should start doing checklists correctly and holding your team accountable using the OpsAnalitica Inspector. Our clients see:
- A 1/2 to 1% decrease in food cost when they conduct daily line checks with follow-up.
- Area managers spending more time coaching restaurant mgrs and less time doing busy work.
- Safer restaurants across the board and have the documentation to prove it.
- Increased manager and employee engagement as restaurants start operating safer and more profitably.
You will never get the benefits of doing checklists: better, safer, and more profitable operations; if they aren’t being completed accurately. The problem with paper checklists is that you can’t hold people accountable.
With OpsAnalitica, we drive accountability by:
- Time/date stamping and geocoding each response.
- Calculating how long it took to be completed.
- Showing answer cadence.
- Tracking who completed the inspection and their answers.
- When checklists were started and submitted.
It is only through accountability and follow-up that you can truly get the ROI on your checklists.
I invite you to download our FREE ebook: Restaurant Profits: It’s about Nickels, Dimes, and Quarters by clicking here.
In this eBook we discuss how using checklists can help you improve restaurant profitability. Get you copy emailed to your inbox here.