Chameleons and the…Challenge of change Kitchens are interesting workplaces. They can be pretty hectic and are often filled with loud even angry sounding voices that reflect the urgency of getting the food prepared, plated and delivered. And the folks who inhabit them are sometimes pretty high strung – especially the head chefs in those otherwise […]
Training by…The numbers Like most things in our world, there’s a proven, time tested method of training anyone to do almost anything. And that includes teaching them skills ranging from from racking dishes to complex tasks like programming a laundry machine. Proper training consists of four steps – the first of which is to explain […]
Our favorite thing…Or not so much? Training machine operators is a job we do so often that we’re likely to “mail it in” rather than giving it our best. Let’s be honest, doing it over and over year after year gets old. And that can result in a kind of lackluster approach to it. But […]
He’s right, you’re wrong…But is that it? If Silent Sam is at one end of the difficult customer spectrum, then know it all Niles (or Nancy) solidly anchors the other extreme. This is the person who disputes just about every utterance you make and always seems (or purports) to know more about whatever you’re saying […]
Natural limits and…Living with them If we consider the wide array of market skills we could master, it can get intimidating. The reality is that for most of us we’re probably masters of two or maybe three big areas – and that’s totally sufficient for our sucess. But being really accomplished in more those two […]
That iron nemesis…And thwarting it Depending on where that iron problem is, there might be some pretty easy ways to deal with it. Let’s start with that laundry account who get dosed with a blast of it from an old iron water main every Monday morning after they’ve been shut down for the weekend. That […]
Failure is…An option Whenever we consider a taking a big step it’s both natural and frankly prudent to have some trepidations. Take that decision you made to initially go into the business as an owner. You probably fretted over it because you knew that many, or even most, new business ventures end in failure. And […]
Iron clad solutions…sleuthing vs. solving Too many of us have chased our tails too often (and maybe for too long) unsuccessfully dealing with linen and terry that’s occasionally (and unexplainably) yellow. Initially we were convinced it was the result of either some phantom food or medicine stain, or that it was “drier burn” only to […]
What inventory…Really can tell us If we’re prospecting an on-premise laundry the one thing we need to get our eyeballs on are those linens stacked on storage shelves. That stock pretty much tells the whole story and it can guide our best approach to making the sale. If that peek discloses linens and terry that […]
Open those peepers…and open more business When it comes to “eyeballing” as a method to diagnose an operation’s shortcomings, the on-premise laundry tops the list. As we were all taught early on, linens are supposed to be white, bright and fresh smelling. If any one of those conditions isn’t in place, there’s a problem. We […]