Nation's Restaurant News

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Nation’s Restaurant News – January 2004

Brian Brosnihan: Manager's congenial attitude makes key

argument for favorable ruling in the court of customer opinion

By Liza Berger

Legal Sea Foods

Concept type: upscale casual

Company location: Boston

Unit location: 2099 Post Road,

Warwick, R.I.

No. of years with company: 12

Age: 44

Hometown: Worcester, Mass.

Personal: married, five children

Most rewarding part of your job: The

relationships I've developed

One thing you would like to change

about your job: I'd like to move this

restaurant five minutes from my home.

Tip for other general managers: Just

be happy going to work. If you're happy

going to work, your staff is going to be

happy going to work.

When it comes to pleasing his customers, no service is too great, as

far as Brian Brosnihan is concerned. Take the time a couple visited

the Legal Sea Foods restaurant he once managed in Boston. They

insisted that when they had eaten at the restaurant a year earlier

they were served a "blooming onion" — the deep-fried signature

appetizer of a different chain.

Brosnihan, who knew that his restaurant never had served the item,

thought the more likely scenario was that the couple had eaten it at

a neighboring establishment. So he went to that restaurant, ordered

it, brought it back and served it to them.

"We try to bend over backward whenever we can," says Brosnihan,

who now is general manager of the Legal Sea Foods restaurant in

Warwick, R.I.

Brosnihan's customers-first mentality, along with his commitment to

the company and his employees, makes him one of the family-Calendar

owned chain's most prized employees. Two years ago the company

made his restaurant an executive store, one of only five such stores

in the 26-restaurant operation. Being an executive store conferred

virtual owner-operator status on Brosnihan and the restaurant's

executive chef, Doug Ducharme.

Brosnihan "takes a lot of ownership of his job and makes good

decisions," says Joe Gartland, vice president of operations for Legal

Sea Foods Inc. "When you have someone like him reporting to you,

it makes you look good without [your having to do] a lot."

Financially, Brosnihan proved to the company that he can run a

sound business. Over the last year his store was up 6 percent in

sales. Since he's been at the Warwick branch the local clientele also

has increased in numbers. Traditionally, his guest base mainly was

composed of travelers who came from the nearby airport, but since

Sept. 11, 2001, travel has decreased. When he started at the

restaurant six years ago, patrons from the airport represented some

80 percent of the clientele, with local residents accounting for only

20 percent of guest traffic. Now the mix is 60-40.

"I'm hoping it's because they're getting great food and great service,"

Brosnihan says.

His employers seem likely to agree that is the case. Roger

Berkowitz, chief executive of Legal Sea Foods, says that when

Brosnihan started with the company 12 years ago, letters would

arrive from Brosnihan's guests, saying how much they enjoyed the

dining experience at the restaurant and how they liked visiting

Brosnihan in particular as opposed to the location of the restaurant.

"He gets it," Berkowitz says of Brosnihan's instincts for hospitality.

"Usually, restaurant managers have some skill sets and a few flaws,

but he has managed to really round himself out fairly well,"

Berkowitz adds. "He serves really as a great role model."

Brosnihan still receives praise from guests.

Gartland says when a regular customer of Brosnihan's stopped

showing up at the restaurant, Brosnihan tracked down the guest's

number to see what had happened to him. When it turned out that

the man had been hospitalized, Brosnihan called the guest to let him

know he was thinking of him. The guest later called the corporate

office to compliment the restaurant manager.

"That's symbolic when we talk about ownership: not just from the

perspective of running a good business but making regular guests

feel they are part of a greater family," Gartland says.

Building great relationships with staff and guests is probably what

Brosnihan enjoys doing most, he explains.

"I just love those relationships, creating those relationships. . . . It's a

fun business," he says.

Brosnihan, a 20-year veteran of the restaurant industry, says he

discovered his love for the industry by accident. After finishing high

school, the Worcester, Mass., native worked as an electricalengineering

technician. When a new restaurant opened up nearby,

he started waiting tables. The bustle and activity appealed to him.

"Something about it just clicked with me," he says.

He soon took a management position at the restaurant, even though

it meant a cut in pay, and worked there for five years. He then was

hired by Legal Sea Foods, a company that impressed him initially

because of the way it handled its products and the fact that it was so

customer focused. Brosnihan credits that philosophy to George

Berkowitz, Roger's father, who started the business and gave

impetus to its philosophy of guest satisfaction.

"No matter what it is, you do it," Brosnihan explains. "That has to

come from the top. If you saw how passionate the owner was,

George, it just follows through, down to all levels. My staff knows we

will do whatever it takes to make our guests happy."

In that vein Brosnihan says he tells his servers to offer to split dishes

for elderly people who come in. He also often makes things that are

not on the menu.

Ducharme, the Warwick branch's executive chef, cites the example

of a couple who come in regularly on Saturday night and always

order potato skins, which are not on the menu. And most often they

are not charged for the dish.

"We'll do anything for our guests," Ducharme says. Brosnihan and

Ducharme have the privilege of running their store without as much

direct supervision as other Legal Sea Foods restaurants because of

its executive-store status. As business partners in the endeavor,

they also are entitled to a special bonus program tied to the

company's bottom line and have more competitive compensations.

Their unit also serves as a training store for other managers in the

chain. They train back- and front-of-the-house managers for all of

the chain's New England locations.

"I call that Brian's store, not just where he's assigned to," CEO

Berkowitz says.

Brosnihan has set specific customer service rules that he expects

his employees to follow. He strives for 100-percent table visits by the

managers, and if there is any delay in preparing the food, someone

will run it out to the table, and it could be the chef.

The general manager also treats his service staff members like

salespeople and encourages them to sell appetizers, wine and

desserts. He tries to get all servers to think of their three or four

tables as being like a store at the mall. His thinking is that if they

keep their store looking great, know their product and "upsell" to

encourage the ordering of additional or more expensive items, the

servers and the company will benefit. It's like selling a suit, he says,

explaining that a salesperson can sell the suit but is better off also

selling the cufflinks and the tie.

When he is interviewing potential waiters, he tells them he is looking

for a salesperson and then asks them to try to sell him an item that

was on the menu of a restaurant they previously worked for.

"To me, it's very important for their success as well as ours that they

think like a salesperson because they're working off a commission,"

he says, referring to percentage-based gratuities.

Brosnihan also rewards strong salespeople with an extra work shift a

week or an additional table. They also might be selected to work the

closing shift, which tends to be more lucrative than other times of

day.

Big on incentives, Brosnihan often launches company-sponsored

promotions and contests to see who can sell the most chowder or

bottles of wine. The winner receives cash prizes.

By the reactions of the guests, such efforts are successful and help

to form enduring relationships. On a Saturday night 30 couples

might ask for particular servers, Brosnihan says.

The approach also has panned out for Brosnihan's staff. The

restaurant has low turnover, and fully one-fourth of the staff is

unchanged from the time when the restaurant opened in the mid-

1990s.

Christa Busch, a waitress and trainer, has been with the company

for eight years and worked with Brosnihan for six.

"I'm proud to be working here, and I think Brian has a lot to do with it

with the way he runs the restaurant," she says.

She appreciates Brosnihan's approach to selling, she says, adding

that waiting tables is her profession, and she takes it seriously.

Brosnihan is a good manager, Busch says, because he is fair. He is

tough and wants procedures to be up to standards, but at the same

time he is kind, she adds. A few years ago, when her son was ill,

Brosnihan told her to take the time off she needed. She took 10

days, and at Brosnihan's suggestion she used her week's paid

vacation, which she believed was "one step above and beyond"

what Brosnihan had to do.

"Something like that you don't forget," she says.

Brosnihan also has gone a step beyond in the community. When a

fire broke out at the Warwick nightclub a mile from the restaurant

last year, killing 100 people, he and his staff served up free clam

chowder to rescue workers and family members. He now is working

on a project to clean up some of the harbors in Rhode Island.

Looking out for people is one of the things Brosnihan likes doing.

And he has plenty of such opportunities in the restaurant business.

"To me, I always say to my staff, a great meal cannot save bad

service," he remarks. However, "great service can save a bad meal,

and that's so true when you think about it."

What the boss says:

"Brian brings a certain level of maturity to the business that I think is

admired by a lot of the people who work for him," says Roger

Berkowitz, chief executive of Legal Sea Foods. He also highly

regards Brosnihan, whose restaurant was made one of only five

executive stores in the company, for his even-keeled personality.

"He does not get riled," Berkowitz adds. "He sort of takes an evenhanded

approach to things. He's not mercurial." Berkowitz says he

often receives messages on his voice mail about what Brosnihan

has decided to do to help his community. The CEO notes, "He's well

aware of his environment and understands the role that a

restaurateur needs to think about."

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