Ask any wise person in this business what the keys to success are and they will undoubtedly tell you two things: Gracious Hospitality and superior quality. Those are the two things where my mind wanders to when I am driving around. I think about those things lying in bed at night. Much of the conversations with my immediate team members focus on Gracious Hospitality and superior quality. Look at the previous newsletters. The Ram is a zealot when it comes to quality. We do not compromise quality – period. The same can be said for Gracious Hospitality. Opening doors, smiles, eye contact, menu knowledge, salespersonship and “thank yous” are our lifeblood – the roadmap for our journey to success.
With that in mind, I want to talk about hamburgers for a minute. We test a lot of food items and products. Perhaps we are looking to improve an existing item. Sometimes a product is discontinued, and we test potential replacements. Someone will recount an item they had elsewhere, and we’ll test that. New features are always being sampled. You get the picture. That brings me back to hamburgers, burger patties and specifically Wagyu burger patties. The Ram is unique in that we offer our guests the option to enjoy a Wagyu beef patty. We have done so for years. It is a differentiator for us and one we are proud to serve. Which brings me to our new A5 Wagyu burger patty.
This new A5 Wagyu burger patty will begin shipping to the restaurants around October 11. Over the years, me and James have tested more burger patties than either of us can remember. We test for taste certainly which is derived from the type of meat in the burger and the fat content. We also test for things like tenderness which comes from the weave and compaction of the ground beef. Our new A5 Wagyu burger patty is, without a doubt / not even close, the best tasting burger patty we have ever tasted. In James’s words, “It’s made from uniquely special breeds of cattle such as Japanese Black, Japanese Polled, and Japanese Shorthorn. These cattle are raised in highly controlled environments and fed a specialized diet to ensure the highest quality of marbled beef. We are the first restaurant MacDonald meats services to introduce this special blended proprietary RAM Japanese A-5 Wagyu burger. The flavor is remarkable and the best you and our guest will ever taste!” This will Make ‘em Smile and give our guests Reasons to Return. Game On for sure!
On the Gracious Hospitality front, I want to recognize a few recent standouts who epitomize our drive to create those memorable moments. Hyunjun (Trevor) Jang joined the Issaquah team in February. He just pocketed a $500 Amazon gift card for winning our Summer Guest Check Average Contest. How did he do it? Trevor is committed to “selling”. He commented that, “you cannot be afraid to sell” and did not miss an opportunity to do so. He quickly embraced and executed the Ram culture of Gracious Hospitality we expect from our team members. Trevor became a guest favorite by giving a professional, yet personal touch with his service coupled with deep product knowledge. When the contest started in June, he was not the early front runner. In fact, he was towards the bottom of the list, but he continued to focus on selling a little more with each guest experience and gradually moved up the leaderboard. GCA results were tracked and posted daily for all to see. Trevor came in each shift and checked his previous shift’s GCA results, made a goal to increase GCA just a little bit and then most shifts he would exceed that goal. By the final month of the contest, he had ascended to the top of Issaquah’s service team. Trevor achieved his success by making the price irrelevant (remember “the better the service the less price is a concern”) through his Gracious Hospitality and professional touch and develop tools to increase each guest check through the skills of his salesmanship. Game On Trevor! On the same note, high fives to the team at the Meridian Ram for using the same tools winning our summer beer contest and to the Issaquah Ram team for winning our summer appetizer and dessert sales contests.
One more thing, get your taste buds ready for our new Pizza Knots!
This month we say Happy Birthday to: Arely Flores Ramirez, Jennifer Meehan, JT Tsiantos, Matthew Sweeney, Stephan Douglass, Brandon Escovedo, Angie Nelson and Banger Smith.
A special thank you to those who celebrate significant anniversaries with their Ramily in October: Amanda Rush (6 years), Joshua Tucker (15 years), Dawn Hammond (36 years), Rebecca King (8 years), Melissa Nielson (5 years), Lindsey Laidler (7 years), Gary Withers (6 years), Jennifer Borchers (19 years), Kristina Findley (8 years), Brandon Escovedo (7 years), Tim Bunch (26 years), James Cassidy (41 years) and Marty Hillis (28 years). Thank you all very much. Game On!
“Concentrate on finding your goal, then concentrate on reaching it.”
~ Michael Friedsam