ys Opens Technology Conference With “Inspiring Ideas”

ST. PAUL DE VENCE, FRANCE— Unisys kicked off its annual technology conference, titled “Inspiring Ideas for A Challenging New Era,” today at the company’s 50-room International Management Center here, featuring a keynote address from David Shula, President of Shula Steakhouse. With several hotel restaurants, including 11 Wyndham locations, Shula Steakhouse is emerging as way for hotels to attract new guests and repeat clientele, said Shula. “I think in many cases we increase occupancy at hotels. At a lot of our restaurants, people from other hotels are coming there to eat, and they have to go through the hotel to get to the restaurant,” he stated, adding that the restaurants help introduce new customers to the hotel brand, hopefully driving future bookings. To create this positive guest experience at his restaurants, Shula recommended several steps derived from his days as a professional football coach. First, have a good business plans and stick to it. “You be everything to everyone,” he said. Second, create raving fans by “delivering what the customer wants plus one,” he added. Also, hire good people. He echoed the words of one of his NFL coaching role models, stating, “Good players have to be good people.” So not only do properties need to hire competent employees, but also those that are resourceful and dedicated. This is particularly true for general managers, which Shula calls his “head coaches.” To encourage top of the line employees, the steakhouse chain is willing to pay higher salaries that not only compete with other hotel restaurants, but also be chains local competitions like Ruth Chris. His next rule of thumb, is once you have good people “train them well.” Even if the property need to go back and teach the basics, make sure the establishment is being run the way it should be run. One way to encourage this is by motivating employees, either through incentives or compliments. “A restaurant is only as good as its last meal served,” he said, adding that his wait staff needs to be as enthusiastic presenting the restaurant’s entrée cart as they were on their first day at the job. Inspiring this can be as simple as having the managers “go around and look for people that doing something right and tell them they appreciate it,” stated Shula. This basic recognition coupled with MVP awards helps the chain’s employees stay fresh, he said. —Diana M. Rodriguez