Restaurateur
Saveliy Libkin

One of the food rating systems acts in Great Britain.

Any food rating system is controversial. The most famous is the Michelin Guide, which rates restaurants for comfort and also for food via the coveted Michelin Stars. A one star Michelin restaurant is likely to be very fine indeed, while three stars (the best) is an accolade handed out only to a few dozen restaurants in the world each year. However, this system leaves the vast majority of places untouched, and Michelin is ultra sensitive to the commercial consequences of its accolades. Hence it tends to be slow to dish out stars and even slower to take them away. This suits chefs fine (which is why chefs love the Michelin, provided they get a star of course) but makes it difficult for consumers, as it is not possible to tell whether a 1 star establishment is just on the brink of a wonderful two stars or actually should have long since lost its star.

The system which was chosen by foodwriter and restaurant critic  Andy Hayler  is used by the edition Good Food Guide, one of the best restaurant guides in Great Britain to my mind. Unlike many other guides, the Good Food Guide has an inspection system (so is not just a popularity poll that can easily be influenced by unscrupulous restaurateurs) and accepts no hospitality, hidden fees or advertising. Its inspectors are completely anonymous. This means that, while it may make mistakes, they are honest ones rather than due to some hidden commercial interest. The Good Food Guide has tried scoring out of 20, and out of 5, but has settled on a simple out of 10 system. It should be said that 1/10, which sounds dreadful in a school report, is actually very good in Good Food Guide terms. It means that the restaurant is in the top 1% of restaurants in the UK. 6/10 is roughly equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or 10/10 to three Michelin stars. A system that really reflected reality in terms of the relative positioning of all restaurants would start at 991/1000 for a 1/10, a 995/1000 for a 4/10 and proceeding to 1000/1000 for a 10/10 in Good Food Guide terms. This would seem rather cumbersome and suggest a level of precision that is unreasonable, so Andy has stuck to the simple out of 10 system. He considered also rating service and ambiance, which for many people are at least as important as food, but since this is often down to personal taste (one person’s “romantic” is someone else’s “tacky”) he decided against. Instead he notes particularly attractive settings or unusually good service in the notes.

The marks which uses Andy Hayler not always coincide with other guides, including the Good Food Guide at any given point in time.

Saveliy Libkin

What observations do you have about this subject

Can this statement be applied to vegetarians?

To whome this statement can’t be  related?

The first and the most unpromising version is marketing agency or any outside consultants. They will conduct a research and on its basis they will write tens of pages from which it will be clear that there are no these words in Russian language and they will have to specify what did they mean. Then they will look at you rather condescendingly and arrogantly, like, how could you still do not know what is “motto” and other words that can’t be translated into Russian. At best you will know that the positioning of your restaurant is very bad :)  and you should do something….And this is separate and veeery another money.

The second version and the most popular is do not be bother with the word positioning… I mean do not think about what the guests think about your business. They eat here sometimes, pay average money and this is enough. If they stopped to pay then we must to make renovations or to rebuke the director.

There is a version of dynamic work with this positioning…

But this is also rather troublesome and requires some efforts.  And also if the gusts do not match the target groupА  then do not care about this positioning and you get a displeased guests. And who is interested in the displeased guests? And the most interesting things begins here.

If the displeased guests are present then it’s time to ask them: how may I serve you?

And you will here the banal answer: we want sushi, more discounts; we want fast service and many other things. If they want then the alternative is always present. To do what they want and to get in the result 150 positions in the menu and more 50 positions in the different types of insert cards with offers. Here you will have to forget about the differentiation because things like this can be found everywhere. Or not to do what they want and to follow the image and differences and in this way to protect the target group from another guests.

But they also bring money… So we have some duality. Or the decent restaurant with clear depicted target group and expressive positioning (and a little less money) or a little more for some period but the target group is diluted together with spreading of all the rest.

There is one more version — do not think about it and to build your business according to the second principle or to the first one… but this is too sad.

Now let’s talk about intuitive version. If the restaurant has its guests and they like their staying in the restaurant, then it is not difficult to find out what exactly they like and how they call that thing for themselves. Actually this is the intuitive way. But it is important do not loose your way and to track clear every step, so that to intensify and do not spread the image. The only one danger is to find yourself under the vision of the hired marketing specialist or brand manager who began to act without examining the essence and as a rule he acts intuitively also…  And this is gross error because the intuitions are not summed up and do not coincide in this case. And the plain saying yes to the head does not allow to make strong decisions.

One more version* is to aim at the growing of brand manager inside the company, who is able to give a birth to the brand and to develop it. But here we have the following problem: dependence of the brand’s life from the personality of the brand manager. And because this brand manager is hired employee, in the case of his leaving the total change of concept takes place and not just change but its spreading. Very often brand manager is the only one bearer of its ideas and in the case of his leaving the opportunities for further development of the brand are lost.

* Opinion of the employee of the Resta Company

There are seasonal sales in the clothes shops…It is quite clear, they need to deliver new clothes and that is why they must to sell out the remains fast at cost price or even cheaper. Someone create the special shops where they bring together all unsold things, someone sell them during the end of season. In any case the clothes are normal and they are bought up with 30-70% discount fast enough. What are the reasons to arrange the sales of food at a lower prices: best before date expires (expired).

Sure you can sell the goods cheaper then the cost price if the goods is not certified or if it was brought in illegally. Then the question is very simple: either you will loose all money or you will save al least a part… Everything is quite clear here.

In the restaurants everything is absolutely in a different way. If the goods is expired then the manager acts according to his conscience. But this kind of goods is thrown out immediately or a little bit later but already together with the guests. If the dish is spoilt then it will be written off and thrown out. If you will offer to the guests doubtful and cheap goods then the restautaurant gradually turns into the public catering and the guests are substituted for the different «tourist lunches» or business lunches when the imitation of food is offered with 50% discount. Also you can give the discounts to the guests in the case of substitution of the products, in others words to write in the menu New Zealand lamb but to serve Polish pork. Here we have several versions: either the guests turn into the unpretentious «students» and they are naïvely glad to the foreign name in the menu or they just stop to spend money in this venue and the sign is changed.

Whitin cоmplete 6 years from 16 our restaurants have issued tens thousands of discount cards. Only three years ago the price in the restaurant has allowed to add 10% boldly and then to give the disount card without changing of profitability. Of course some part of cards has been used by the staff and discounts simply did not reached the guests. In the summer 2009 we have made the radical decission about the stopping of the discount programs for all guests. Simulteniously with this we start to develop absolutely new loyalty program. We understand perfectly what is loyalty and those guests for whome our service and our food together with our atmosphere are valuable will make sure many times that there is true loyalty in the restaurants and cafes of our company.

And the time of discount in the restaurants of Resta is over.

The phone number where you can get the information about loyalty program I will inform additionally.

Within last two weeks three authoritative printings have appealed with the questions concerning the prospects of development of market, trends in the mass eating and generally concerning the main question: What will be later?

Of course we can wait for the fundamental answers to these questions from the restaurateurs of different level, but all of them including businessmen of Kiev and Donetsk from the restaurant business look for the answers to these questions. Because business depends directly on that will we guess or not. Independent studies are absent at the market. That is why naturally everyone conduct the studies by themselves and for themself and no one will give you the information and conclusions.

On the other hand there are about 20–30 chefs in the world who get together annually in Маdrid to discuss what exactly will be called-for next year. The results of the last year’s meeting can be re-readed, but even if you know this question superficially you will understand: they are no authority for us.

From important things last year they have given up for lost the term molecular cuisine and have substituted it for the scientific approach to the gastronomy. And of course everyone have listen with bated breath to the main guru Ferran Adrià…

And this year you can participate and listen personally, you just need to pay the registration fee and to submit an application.

In any case our Ukrainian trends like sushi and etc. already has been presented in Afisha.

In different periods of life we have to acquire new skills, to provide ourseves with new knowledge, to learn the new methods, professions, ways.

Today one of our employees who has hanged earlier the starling-houses at Dacha have coped with the methods of foam creation in the conditions of time trouble and lack of budget. Everything was perfect and the photo shoot  has made progress in a few subjects forward.

I state: everything comes out.