Harleems
Balmoral is a cluster of shops, cafes and restaurants halfway down Dominion Road, on the edge of well-to-do Mt Eden, and home to struggling Indian Restaurant Haleem’s. Plenty of hungry Aucklanders flock to Balmoral for a cheap, tasty ‘walk off the street’ meal, but in spite of rave reviews about the food, few chose Haleems.
Haleem and his wife Ayesha took possession of the business 4 years back, and haven’t made a single cent in profit since. With debt spiralling out of control and imminent closure, Haleem has never been more desperate!
But if you think Haleem’s got it rough… spare a thought for Ayesha, his wife of ten years and mum to their three kids. She’s a work-horse, running front of house, the finances AND another full time job in I.T, which helps to keep the restaurant alive
With the restaurant stretching their finances thin to the tune of a 12 grand monthly loss, Haleem and Ayesha made the desperate decision to leave their kids: Ramsha, Mariya and Abdul Rahman back in India with family.
To find out where Haleem was going wrong, John’s team installed surveillance camera’s and it became clear that nobody has a clue how to run a restaurant here. Haleem’s food is good but the service needs serious work, the décor is horrendous, and the layout’s a joke. Sounds harsh; but this is 101 stuff if they want success.
With only three customers, John’s first night on the job confirmed his suspicions; that he needs a massive game plan to turn things around fast, before Haleem’s becomes someone else’s.
So first up the food may be great but Haleem needs to sell more...and the fastest way in this failing restaurant is with deserts, so John takes Haleem off to meet expert Rohit who teaches Haleem how to make a popular new dessert, but Haleem just can’t get the knack of it.
Next...service: front of house must be more personable with customers and make the opportunity to up sell on deserts, drinks, and starters but the two girls out front struggle with the basics.
All the good food in the world won’t bring people off the streets into a hovel, and this place is screaming for a make over so John brings in his team of experts to complete a full refurbishment in a record time...with a massive re-launch only days away, the jaded interior, sad signage, shabby furniture & complete lack of street appeal, all need fixing before John can even imagine hungry hordes storming through these doors.
The next target is that great food, but there’s too much of it diminishing any chance of profit. John tries desperately to make Haleem understand that his menu is chaotic, confusing and neither efficient nor economical but Haleem won’t listen and John is forced to return to Rohit again. With little affect, John then has an extra sitting to prove a small menu can work, and that customers will be happy.
Finally after all the hard work it’s the day of the spectacular re-launch, so John takes the team out onto the streets of Balmoral to drum up support for the big event. He wants Haleem to put himself out there an actively grow his business.
The extra effort pays off and the restaurant with its stunning new look, is busy for the big event. And with service and systems firmly in place after all the lessons, John has one last piece of news to keep everyone on top of their game...there will be a critic in the house tonight and it’s vital these guys get it right.
With a critic on the loose and a busy restaurant, not everything goes perfectly to [plan, but the team survive their first night and John heads off satisfied.
A month later and John is back in Balmoral to see if Haleems has continued to grow.
When he left a month ago the place had heaps of potential: a total makeover established a hot new image, staff had a fresh outlook on service & hospitality, a focused cost efficient menu made life manageable in the kitchen, and most importantly happy customers were dining in numbers enjoying the great food.
And all that hard work has paid huge dividends, f finally Haleem is starting to run this restaurant like a real business, and if the team continue on this track, in a matter of months they’ll be making a profit.
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