The Grille on Riverwalk Phase II

[Conan71]

I better let Peter Mayo know that it doesn't look like Bradio will get their February booking there

[scanman1]

I've long been a believer that "if you build it they will come".  By this I mean your location (without extreme circumstances- IE Nebraska corn field) is NOT a substantial determining factor to long term success.  Additionally, by "building it" I am referring to the process of  making it the place you want it to be - the type of place a guest will not only try, but one which they will return to, and refer friends as well.  The 3 big factors in the hospitality business are service, product quality, and ambiance.  If all 3 of these are mastered, a one time guest will become a regular who helps grow your business with the most effective, least expensive form of advertising ................. word of mouth.  If you are good enough, guests will come no matter how inconvenient Jenks Riverwalk seems to be located.  
Confession: I have been in restaurant and bar management for several years.  Upon moving from Denver to Tulsa in June of 2009, I found the job market as expected - difficult to break into.  I looked for a start-up company, locally owned, where-in I could enter at ground level and move back up to management.  I bartended at the Grille from the time it opened, until mid November, when I resigned as ......... a bartender.
This venue was run into the ground by the management, more than anything.  To prove that Im not merely a disgruntled employee trying to bad mouth the place, I'll give you specifics of what went wrong in their business:
The big 3 factors to success, as mentioned above are
1.) SERVICE- This was a joke, from the time we showed up for orientation and training (before the Grille was opened).  We had approximately one hour to learn the POS system, computer program with which product is ordered from the bar and kitchen.  This POS system was horrible and it was CLEAR before we opened that it was inadequate.  I warned of some of its shortcomings before we opened, but it fell on deaf ears.  Two weeks after opening, at 8:00 on a Friday night the system was swapped out for a better system.  After that, we opened.  Yeh, it was that simple.  We opened with no training, no levels of expectations, no coaching except for an occasional passive aggressive outburst of anger from a frustrated manager, who was incapable of 'leading'.  The GM said, "we arent a place for people to learn how to do this job.  We want people who can step in and perform without training".  This theory would be wrong, but at least it would make sense if the overwhelming majority of the service staff wasnt completely inexperienced and green.  The average age of the service staff was roughly 20, most of which had little experience, or negative experience.  Thats fine if all your applicants are young, but they must be mentored in the business by capable leadership.  
The GM was absolutely, hands down the most incompetent I've ever witnessed.  She dated one of my fellow bartenders - need I say why this isnt a good idea?  Every Friday and Saturday night, as the place finally started to get rockin', she would "cut from the service floor" her favorite fraternity of employees (all of which were Magoo's transfers) and she would start getting drunk with them on the patio, where she remained until closing time.  We would ring her up a tab for her cronies and her, then she would simply void it all when she was ready to leave.  This isnt a joke - its what literally happened every single week, except one Saturday, where she and her "bar manager" went to Norman to watch OU play.  She simply did not know how to develop staff, nor how to face a problem and make a PROACTIVE business decision about it.  Management floor presence was severely lacking, disabling them from being able to trouble shoot problems and issues.  In this case they could have come up with a proactive solution to the issues, be it food quality issue, or coaching concern with a service staff member.  She fraternized heavily with hourly staff.  She was a REACTIVE manager, rather than proactive.  She was unprofessional in her dealings with employees who need coaching to improve.  The most profitable aspect of a bar, liquor sales, was not accounted for in any way.  They literally never did an inventory to determine liquor %.  Every bartender had a different way they made drinks, and most used different amounts from the standard 1 1/4 ounce industry standard.  Why should they not?  There was no accountability from management.  Here's a little secret:  Sit at the bartop, TIP WELL and your drink will never taste weak or watered down.  Its the guests who sit in the other areas of the building who, depending on the bartender, will get weak drinks.  Not that liquor cost accountability ever happened at the Grille, but if it did, then a bartender tries to make up for lost liquor from the strong bartop drinks, by pouring the ones for the coctail waitresses weaker.  As for me, I poured ALL of my drinks strong at the Grille, so I never had to remake a drink for the coctail servers, and tips were better for everyone.  Besides, nobody seemed to care one way or the other.  
Twice, we had mandatory "all front of house employees" meetings, where-in we were to discuss issues regarding guest complaints and service issues.  For both meetings there was no more than 20% of the employees in attendance, and as expected there was no actual consequence for not being there - just empty threats ahead of time.  So in these meetings the owners would express concern of some service issues they were aware of.  The employees would listen somewhat attentively, as the tone was certainly not jovial.  Then the management, the GM in particular, would start bitching everyone (20% of the actual staff) out, threatening that there was a stack of applications on her desk of people who wanted their jobs.  They had best start doing this, that, and the other right, or they wouldn't hesitate to fire them.  You see, the owners and management at the Grille were aware of the service issues, but they were incapable/ had no knowledge of how to actually lead a staff and how to correct and develop them into the employees they needed.  All they knew how to do was beat the employee with words of disgust, then send them off with their tail between their legs, like a scolded dog, to go wait on their tables.  The other 80% of the service staff pretty much was off the hook from the brow-beating, and thus was never "taught" how to do their job.     *Funny*
2.) PRODUCT QUALITY- Rarely were standards verified in the bar.  When they were, then there was again ............ no accountability.  Drinks were inconsistent and often cocktail servers were too far "in the weeds" to pick drinks up from the service bar in a timely manner, ensuring they were cold and fresh.  As for the kitchen, the food could have been pretty good , but they kept compromising their concept menu due to loss in profitability.  Labor in the kitchen was probably high, though the GM wasn't proactive to ensure labor was kept at a minimum.  Product consistency and standards were non-existent, as was an effective system at expediting food while it was still hot and fresh.  On busy Friday and Saturday nights there was no adequate system at executing and coordinating the production of an order.
3.) AMBIANCE- The building was nice, the equipment was very nice as well.  The sound stage and lighting for the stage was top notch for what anyone could have expected in such a venue.  It did, however lack "character" and often felt like a huge wide open warehouse, without defined spaces.  The lighting for all areas except the stage and bartop itself was merely an afterthought.  Music was sometimes played when a live band wasn't on stage, and sometimes it wasn't.  The music often was odd and didn't fit the demographic of the typical Grille guest.  Often times when there was a live band, the sound was absolutely cranked to an uncomfortable level, while a mere handful of guests played pool, or drank at the bar.  A very common guest complaint would be "hey, could someone play some music that doesn't suck?"  Every once in a while a really good band (Octane Blue, Another Alibi, etc) would take the stage and the musical ambiance of the place would be great.  

Without these 3 important factors (all of which encourage guests to return to your hospitality business),  the place was doomed to fail.  Then  there's the whole back office business aspect of it.  The overhead was incredibly high.  Cost control mechanisms such as liquor cost% were nonexistent, as mentioned above.  Marketing was ineffective.   And employee development was an absolute failure.  
As I began plotting my exit from the place, they were attempting to rebrand themselves as a dance club named The Grille by day, Secrets by night.  On their facebook page (though its different now) their profile picture was a headshot of a very attractive female who once bartended for the Grille, but only days earlier left the Grille to go work for a new dance club opening at the Riverwalk – The District.  Hilarious!  When I put in my notice to leave, I spent about 45 minutes with a wife of the owner, who is somewhat active in the back office aspect of the business, doing payroll and the like.  I mentioned the frustrations as she listened attentively.  Sadly enough, her only defensive comments for the place were ones in defense of her inadequate GM.  In my opinion, the GM was the number one problem.  A GM must ensure that the managers under them are doing their job, and doing so in a professional manner.  When they are not, things go wrong.  When things go wrong you have to solve the problem and come up with a solution.  Proactive, and preemptive measures must be taken to curtail failures in all aspects of the business; service, product quality, ambiance, profitability, etc.
The service manager quit and now is at The District night club at the Riverwalk. The bar manager, since I left the place, got in a tiffy with the GM, because she was harassing him about a relationship he had with a cocktail server.  He walked out on the spot.  The GM, I presume is now out of a job, as her previous position at Magoo's is likely filled.

[dbacks fan]

Thanks for the insight! It's not often to hear a constructive criticism of a business by a former employee. I have to tell you that I haven't been to Tulsa, let alone The Grille, in about 6 years, but from some of the descriptions by people that had, and the video on the website, it looked like it tried to be too many things, and didn't manage to do any of them well, and the thing I noticed was the stage/dance floor right next to the dining area, and from your's and others description of the undefined space inside, it would not be a place I would go for dinner. I like the outside beach bar theme with a stage and dancing, hell they could have thrown in beach volleyball court as well, and kept the inside a dining area and a seperate bar area.

Just my $.02

[scanman1]

They were almost a jack of all trades.  By far, never a master of any. 
Yes, the proximity of the main dining room was in an odd location and resulted in many problems.  This would have been more apparent if management listened to guests and employees, who could have told them this early in their adventure.  This was, however, another major downfall of theirs - they did not seek out opinion of guests or employees.  Employees can be a huge asset from which to gain info, as they're on the front line with the guest continually.
Ideas and constructive criticisms while the place was "save-able" always fell on deaf ears.

[Hoss]

Ideas and constructive criticisms while the place was "save-able" always fell on deaf ears.

That doesn't just happen in the service industry, believe me.  When companies grow too large they then tend to believe the employee doesn't serve as meaningful a purpose.  The problem is exactly the same, just on a larger scale, because then, instead of pissing off 1 employee, you compound it by pissing off hundreds.  I've worked for corps like that.  They usually don't last long.

[dbacks fan]

So has it actually closed? If so, that is one of the shortest openings I've heard of. I've only scene one shorter than that and that one was about 6 to 8 weeks.

[waterboy]

That doesn't just happen in the service industry, believe me.  When companies grow too large they then tend to believe the employee doesn't serve as meaningful a purpose.  The problem is exactly the same, just on a larger scale, because then, instead of pissing off 1 employee, you compound it by pissing off hundreds.  I've worked for corps like that.  They usually don't last long.

I have to agree with that strongly. Only, many corporations last a long time blaming the employees and managers for their problems. Employees and low level managers seem to serve a fairly simple role in business these days. That of being the lowest paid, the scapegoats for failure and of no consequence in success. My closest circle of friends, who are over 50, have all commented that the skills necessary to manage businesses these days (not just how to secure start-up funding and count the money) have all but been ignored or overlooked. Personnel management skills are non existent. You can only get those skills from experience in real world business operations. Like Scanman above alluded to, start from the bottom, gain insight and take those insights with you as you move upward. All parties benefit. Now lower level employees who actually talk with customers, hear their problems and who see the simple solutions that GM's are not privy to are not even considered worthy of anything more than threats and browbeating.  I doubt the Grille is managed much different than other startups around town. I was impressed with the comments by JoeMamma's owner on this forum that indicate he may actually value his workers as much as his himself. Rare.

Unfortunately, often those with real experience, wisdom and creativity are being ignored or kicked aside in favor of technologically savvy, socializing mba's with almost no people skills. Fine if you're running an internet mail order business but a deficit for running people intensive businesses like restaurants.

[dbacks fan]

Well with the number of people looking for work and there is a significant amount in the F&B industry, they can just plow through people to get who they want. There is a place across the street from where I work, a national place called Boston's Pizza, http://www.bostons.com/bostonswall/

they closed on a Friday after lunch, without informing the dinner staff to not show up for work. We had made arrangements with them for a department HH just before Christmas, and someone found out at 4:30 they were closed. Fortunately Buffalo Wild Wings next door extended an offer to us for our gathering and thats where we ran into the people from Boston's who said they had "No clue" the place was closing.

[Hoss]

Buffalo Wild Wings is awesome!  Love that place.

It's ok.  It's more of a novelty than anything else (IMO).  I went two or three times (one in Shreveport, twice in Springfield MO) before they opened the one here.  It feels a little more like TGIF morphed into a sports bar.  Although it was fun at the one in Shreveport (on the Riverwalk there).  I wasn't real impressed with the food.

[Conan71]

Wings are a little splurge I'll do about once every two or three months, if that.

Hooters is still the best wings when it comes to restaurant hot wings.  And no, it's not just the atmosphere.  Personally I find it not much different than the hustle at a strip club, so I usually take a female companion with me so I will get good service, but not annoying service. 

As far as variety flavors I do like BWW and Wing Stop.

[DolfanBob]

Conan I have to agree. H8ters has the best hot wings. I like the crunchy breaded type of wing.
As for the scenery, it is alway's nice but as I have aged. It seems that I am getting less and less of the annoying attention "sniff" "sniff"

[patric]

H8ters has the best hot wings.

"H8ters" sounds like some place that might advertise "the only dark-skinned people you find here are the ones doing the dishes".

I think you meant H00ters...   

[DolfanBob]

"H8ters" sounds like some place that might advertise "the only dark-skinned people you find here are the ones doing the dishes".

I think you meant H00ters...   

Ahh you are right Sir Patric. Your double Os look better than my feeble attempt at h00mour.

[Cats Cats Cats]

I never said I wanted him to fail. And I know he has made his money and is a smart local businessman.

That is why I am so baffled by this move. He's opening in a horrible location, at the wrong time of the year for the Riverwalk with summer ending, and during a recession.

One option I guess would be that he successfully supplants Los Cabos' business down to the other end, or he will have to draw in twice the crowd the Riverwalk is used to pulling.

Can this really be done? Is it the lure of the Los Cabos success that drives men to make these dangerous decisions?

I'm just commenting, not condemning anyone here.

I really wanted to see river development succeed, but the Riverwalk has had so many snags it has frustrated me.

Today, I read the history of the San Antonio River Walk, and learned a few things.

According to their timeline, we have another 40 years before the Jenks Riverwalk becomes successful. And the Jenks Riverwalk is not located adjacent to downtown, like the San Antonio River Walk, so potentially, without drawing a lunchtime business crowd, it may never take off.

As a fan of South Tulsa I never thought I'd say this, but unless the Riverwalk is pulled up and moved to downtown (or they build a new river that runs along 169 and 71st street ) this thing just isn't likely to survive.

--

You nailed it.  Missed the closing comments since it was so close to Christmas and just drove by.  While going to see source code with the 2 other people in the theater.  I did figure out how to get the riverwalk going.  Give the Grille location to Eskimo Joe's rent free for 5 years.  If you can even get them to open a new location.  2 more people came in.  That makes 5 people.  Must be raking it in.  At least the lights on the stairs work in this theater.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Scanman,
It ain't just the restaurant industry.  I have been in several industrial settings very much like that.  Here in Tulsa.

And we are seeing the nationally publicized version in the public sector going on right now in Wisconsin with their so-called "governor".