Hard Rock International Director of Training Jim Knight shares eight tips to improve employee morale and keep customers coming back.

Disgusted with the extreme separation of social classes in the U.K. at the time, Americans Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton came to London with the mission to open a restaurant that would appeal to and treat all customers equally.

They wanted to introduce authentic American food to the British masses, too, so in 1971, they built their first Hard Rock Cafe located across the street from Buckingham Palace. They envisioned a Tennessee truck stop right in the heart of Hyde Park where millionaires and truckers could sit down and eat at the same hamburger joint without batting an eye.

Instead of hiring young, attractive servers, they wanted their waitresses to look like Flo from “Alice” – someone motherly with a bit of sass – just like real truck stop waitresses. From the beginning, it was clear that Hard Rock would not follow the pack.

Today, the company fosters employee individuality, says Jim Knight, senior director of training and development for Hard Rock International. “I love a company that will let me look, act and think the way I want to,” he says. Knight himself looks like someone who would front a rock band with his spiked hair and dark attire.

Although most company executives might wince at the idea of hiring an employee covered with tattoos or body piercings, Knight says Hard Rock encourages it.

“Differentiating yourself from the competitors is the difference between success and failure,” he adds.

After all, he says, Tigrett and Morton wanted to run a business that treated everyone equally.

‘Service that rocks'
Knight made an appearance at the National Restaurant Association Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago in May, to train other restaurant executives in an interactive session he dubbed “Service That Rocks.” In the workshop, he offered eight tips on how to create and maintain a strong company service culture using Hard Rock International's unique history as a motivational backdrop.

“I believe my company is in the memory-making business,” he says. “[Everyone who attended the session] has competitors, and they're all trying to be unique and different from their competitors. If you don't stand out, you won't get the sale or people won't remember. I [wanted] to come up with the message that unique experiences can only be created by unique people.”
Knight's steps include:

Tip 1: Train your employees in the language with which they dream – Knight says that when he wants to develop a new training manual or video, he thinks of the 19-year-old bus person. “This means less text and more photos,” he explains. “Seventy-five percent of everything you learn is visual.”

Tip 2: Assist your staff in creating a volunteer philanthropy group – Any business should have a vision or mission statement, but “they're just words on the wall until you act them out,” he asserts. Knight explains that while you can't force employees to do community service, you can encourage them to get involved in something they feel passionate about as a group.

Tip 3: Enforce standards, but give out “permission slips” – “Leaders are the ones who get people to do what they otherwise wouldn't do,” Knight says. “This is how you create an army of giants. Managers may set the tone, but they should back off and let their employees do their thing. After all, your frontline is your staff. Servers are the ones delivering the service that rocks.”

Hard Rock follows an inverted pyramid that puts guests on top, staff and employees next, and so on.

Tip 4: Hire “rock stars” and treat them like volunteers – “If your employees were here on a volunteer basis, would you treat them differently?” Knight asks. He points out that 20 years ago, employee expectations at any business were centered around money and being happy to have a job at all. They tolerated authoritative managers because they assumed that was how people ran a business. “Today, they want it all,” Knight says. “[Employees] bail at the drop of a hat, usually because of leadership [issues.] They have their attorney's number on speed dial and they are only loyal to those who inspire and develop compassion.”

Knight says this can be avoided by hiring good employees off the bat to create great guest experiences.

Tip 5: Realize that people will only repeat what they like – “If companies were forced to charge an admission fee at the door, they know they'd have to treat their guests differently,” Knight asserts. “The worst mistake a business can make is to under-promise and under-deliver. These days, people expect bad goods and rude service. When you stop by a table to ask how a customer is doing and you hear the following four-letter words: ‘fine,' ‘good' and ‘Okay,' you are stuck in mediocre-ville. You lost your sale.”

Tip 6: Create as many pluses as possible to make mental shelf space – In 1996, Hard Rock conducted a random survey with people walking around Los Angeles and asked them what their favorite restaurant was. “None of them said Hard Rock,” Knight reveals. “So, they asked, ‘Well, what about Hard Rock Café?' and they said, ‘Oh yeah! I love that place!' but it wasn't in their memories.”
He adds that pleasant memories are what provoke the customers to visit again. He encourages employees to consciously read each guest and provide a personalized experience that customers will remember.

Tip 7: Treat each customer like they were a guest in your home, the CEO of the company or your first date – “If you think of your place of work as a second home, then you would want to treat a customer the exact same way you would treat a guest in your home,” he says. “I have a love affair with every single person walking in. I know that's scary to say in the restaurant industry, but I can remember how excited I was to be on my first date and how hard I tried to make everything perfect and comfortable for her. That's how we should treat all of our customers.”

Tip 8: Do what you say you will do, and follow the formula: Values + Methods = Culture – When Tigrett and Morton founded the company, they made sure their vision and mission statement were firmly planted. Knight says the secret behind Hard Rock International's success is to make use of these ideologies every day and everything else will fall into place. “How to truly create world-class service is to actually do what you say you are going to do,” he asserts. “That's the silver bullet.”