Day 14: Schlotzsky's Pet Peeves

Today, I worked at Schlotzsky's, and did a lot of the usual, but I found out that it had already been done by the night staff. I was happy, but at the same time, I had to put back all of items that I took out. Some of these items were: cookies, chips, cans of soda, etc. After putting these back, I filled all of the ice teas. When I was making them this time, I made sure to stir them for twice the amount of time, making sure that none of the sugar settled in the bottom of the container and blocked the pipe. After this, I filled all of the soda machines with ice, but they each needed about 4 buckets because they were so empty. I was not sure why, but they were, so it took a little longer than usual. Anyways, after that I worked the register with Amy since I pretty much knew how to use it just as well as her or any other employee. It was very busy, so to make sure that I didn't make a mistake and the line kept moving quickly, I went out and ran the food to the tables. It was extremely busy, and on top of that, there were the fifteen usual people who came in as a church group making everything even more hectic. There was a kind gentleman eating lunch with his wife, and Chase and I went to deliver their food to their table. He sneezed, so like usual, I said, "Bless you" and Chase happened to say it at the same time. The man was joyed that we even bothered to say anything and ended up giving us both a $10 tip. This probably wasn't the only factor, it was probably that I was young and doing a ton of work. Chase on the other hand had a problem with his leg causing him to limp, but he was also running around as well. One thing that really slowed me down and makes me fairly mad is when I call out someone's order number for their food, but they are not at their table. They are either in the bathroom or doing something else, so I end up standing around calling out a number for someone who can't even hear it. Since we had so many people, it was busier longer than usual. The lunch rush didn't end until about 1:30 p.m.  At about 1:45 p.m., I went and ran the drive-thru with another employee. What happened next was rude. A man in a pickup truck drove up to the drive-thru, ordered and drove away before he payed. We had put the order in, but luckily we were able to let Mike, one of the employees making the food, know not to make it so it didn't go to waste.

Day 13: Finding Out Last Minute Necessities

Today at Schlotzsky's was basically the same as all of the others. Now that I have all of my goals done and learned all of the different parts of the restaurant business, I am just working here and practicing all of the skills that I learned. It satrted like usual, where Mr. Rukieh and I did the catering orders, then I put the ice in all of the soda machines and made sure that they were ready for use. After that I made all of the tea, sweet tea, unsweetened tea, and rasberry tea. The sweet tea and rasberry tea get sugar added to them, so I did that and stirred it. This is only the second time that I had dones this, and I found out later in the day that I did not stir it long enough. Amy, one of the employees went to make new tea and change the old one out, and when she looked into the container, there was a huge clump of sugar at the bottom. Luckily the sugar didn't clog the pipe the tea went through, but I am sure that the person who drank it first got a unpleasantly sweet taste. Even though I explained those things in a few sentences, they take longer than you think. It was 10:00 a.m. and time to make the sandwiches for the catering orders. Once we made the sandwiches, the lunch rush started around 11:30 a.m. I worked on this with all of the other employees to satisfy the customers, so they could get on their way. There was a little break inbetween the lunch rush, where I learned how to take orders on the drive-thru (this applies to all of the cash registers). I knew how to take the money and slide the credit cards, but I didn't know how to take the actual orders. Mr. Rukieh has new registers ordered, but they haven't arrived yet, so I learned on the current ones. There are a lot of buttons, and it is hard to learn unless you are working the register a lot, and then you just get used to it. Nikki, the manager helped me run the drive-thru register, and helped me out when I couldn't find the correct button that I was looking for. Along with the new registers, they are getting a new drive-thru microphone, which I am sure Nikki will be thankful, because the one right now doesn't use a head set and is so loud, it basically deafens you. After I learned how to use the register and the lunch rush was over, there wasn't much left for me to do for the day, so I sliced and packaged meats for the people working dinner shift could have them ready to use instead of having to cut and package it right before their shift starts.

Day 12: Back to Schlotzsky's & Figuring out Starting Costs

 I got back from my aunts yesterday, and went back to work at Schlotzsky's today. I have hit upon all of my goals, so it is mostly routine from now until the end of winterim. Doing catering orders, making food, running the drive-thru, and restocking inventory. Although I hit upon my goals, there was still one question that I had and got my answer to today. The question was, "How much does it cost to start a restaurant such as Schlotzsky's from the beginning with every cost?" I found out that the Schlotzsky's that I am currently working in is retrofitted, meaning that it was a different type of building that was refurbished into a Schlotzsky's. The price to start a retrofitted Schlotzsky's is around $300,000 and the price to build a Schlotzsky's from ground up with all of the equipment and other necessary items, including a drive-thru is about $1.2 million. These costs include the FFE (furniture, fixtures, and equipment) such as: an ice machine, a walk-in cooler, a walk-in freezer, soda machines, and cash registers. These cost are specifically for Schlotzsky's, but are similar with similar quick serve restaurants.

Day 11: First Day at Ramco-Gershenson, Inc.

Today was the first day working at Ramco-Gershenson, Inc. with my aunt. The hours were a bit different than usual and a bit longer. We got in at 8:30 a.m. and left at 5:30 p.m. A quick run down of what this company does is develop, manage, and lease shopping centers and the stores in them throughout the country. It started off by meeting all of the people that I was going to be working with and going to meetings with for today and tomorrow. We arrived, went up to her office, got the documents needed for the first meeting at 9:00 a.m. and grabbed a note pad and pen to take notes with. The first meeting was to talk about the new development in Lakeland, Florida called lakeland Park Center. We were discussing how well phase one(section one) of the shopping center was doing and the future of phase two and three. In-between the first meeting and the second meeting, which occurred about two hours later, we were trying to get companies within the shopping center to change their contracts a little bit to get more stores and new stores into the shopping center. For example, we were trying to get a couple of small stores out of the shopping center to add the space onto the main building, which we are trying to sell to Dicks Sporting Goods. At about 11:00 a.m. we headed to our second meeting. The second meeting that we went to was discussing the Target cooperation in Fox River in Wisconsin. Ramco wanted to add ten acres of land to the shopping center, to better it, but Target was a bit leery on giving their consent because it could hurt their business. This meeting ended at noon, then we left, ate lunch, and got back at 1:00 p.m. The rest of the day was spent working on getting different stores into different shopping centers. The issue with this is that the stores that Ramco wants to get rid of or relocate in the shopping center either want to be payed money based on how much they think it is worth or want a rent reduction for their future location. Ramco is obviously trying to rearrange stores so they fit like a puzzle in the end and work out perfectly, but to make these changes it comes with a price and the negotiation process is not something easy on either end. By working here, I am able to see multiple different shopping centers, with different types of restaurants and shops. By understanding which restaurants were successful and which were not successful, I was able to come to conclusions on where the best and worst places to put a restaurant are inside of a shopping center. I found out that a couple of places where you do not want to put a restaurant inside of a shopping center is next to a grocery store and next to a fitness center. This is because people who go to a grocery store or a fitness center usually go there for one reason and one reason only. They don't plan on walking around and they won't come to your restaurant. One place that I found that is good to put a restaurant near is near some form of a clothing store. This is because people who go clothes shopping are doing exactly that...shopping. They don't have anything that they want specifically in mind, so they are more likely to make another stop before or after they go shopping.

Plans for a Shopping Center in Progress

Development Meeting of a Shopping Center in Progress

Day 10: Winding Down & Recap

On the tenth day that I worked at Schlotzsky's, I did't learn anything new, but instead, I reviewed all of the things that I learned and just worked as a floater and did different tasks around the restaurant. There is one thing that I forgot to ask Mr. Rukieh, which I plan on doing on Wednesday. I forgot to ask him what the initial cost to open a restaurant, hire a staff, and all of the other fees that need to be payed. Surely, it is not the same price for each restaurant, because they all operate differently, but it will give me a general idea. I am staying at my aunt's house for day eleven and day twelve, learning about land contracting. The company that she works for and that I will be learning about is called Ramco-Gershenson, Inc. The reason that I am learning about this is because it is important that you find an affluent area to put your restaurant, where it will prosper and where you can maximize profit. Mr. Rukieh told me about the process which he had to go through to find a location for a restaurant, and this will certainly speed along the process.

Day 9: Working and Ordering

In the morning, I did the same thing that I usually do with Mr. Rukieh. We did all of the catering orders, restocked all of the materials to make food, wiped down the tables, cleaned the floors, and set up the cash registers. Everyone showed up around 10:45 a.m. like usual and we served them. I got my break at around 11:45 a.m. and went back to work at 12:15 p.m. We worked again until 1:30 p.m. until Mr. Rukieh pulled me aside. We were going to do the ordering of all the materials, but he wanted to show me what to do and the issue that was going on. There was not much for me to do but watch, because I am not the owner and I do not know the number of items that needed to be ordered, but I did understand how Mr. Rukieh does the ordering. Not to mention, when we did the ordering today it was a bit more than usual because Schlotzsky's is in the process of changing their supplier from Gordon Food Service to another food and material supplier based out of Cincinnati. The main reason for this, is they have a different system that makes it much easier to order supplies. When we ordered the food, we went off of a mandatory list supplied by Gordon Food Service and had to go find how much of each item we have left. The issue with the system is it is not in any order in the restaurant, and can not be organized in any specific order. The list makes you go into the walk-in fridge, the walk-in freezer, the back, the bakery, and the front of the store. What the company that he will be ordering from in the future does is allows you to make your own list of what you need and when you set up the list (if you are smart) you can set it up in the order you have your food arranged in the restaurant. For example, you can do everything in the freezer, then the fridge, then the back, then up front. This will make it so you don't have to go to each place five times, but once because it will be in the order that you want it in. Due to the changing of suppliers, Schlotzsky's will not get another order in for two weeks, instead of one week like they usually do. We had to double up on all of the ordering so we would definitely have enough.

Inputing order onto Gordon Food Service's Website

Making Box Lunches

Entering Items from Inventory Sheet

Inventory Sheet & what is Needed

Day 8: Laid back and Working

Today was a bit more laid back than usual, but still busy. There was nothing really that I focused on learning today due to the fact of continuous flows of customers. Although we had three orders for catering, they were all fairly small or fairly simple to due. For example, the first catering order consisted of eight people and all they wanted were eight sandwiches and eight bags of chips. The second catering order consisted of one large veggie tray, a side or ranch, and a tray with one dozen cookies and eight brownies for twenty people. The last catering order also consisted of a large veggie tray, and fifteen brownies, but was for thirty people. There were no surprise orders that we had to make at the last minute, so since all of the work that I could have done was done, I got a break until 11:00 a.m. when Schlotzsky's opened. I worked all around the restaurant doing various tasks from taking orders, serving food, making food, and running the drive-thru. There was a fairly large amount of people that came in for lunch, and at a steady pace. The rush stopped at about 1:30 p.m. when Mr. Rukieh gave me a quick briefing of what I was going to learn tomorrow, since it is only done on Thursdays. Schlotzsky's is changing their suppliers, so he is going to teach me how the ordering sheet works, how long in advance he needs to order the supplies, who he orders it from, and why it is a crucially important aspect of running a business.