New year hopes

At Mitchells restaurant in Glasgow, a small fire in December caused an estimated £1,000 damage. Fortunately trade has not suffered. Staff have been pulling together as a team to come up with ways of attracting business during the first few months of the year.

A busy Christmas has inspired Mitchells proprietor Angus Boyd to make some changes - and spend some money. About £7,000 has been paid out on building a full bar in the downstairs section of the restaurant and buying new kitchen equipment.

"We were very busy one evening in the middle of Christmas and I had to turn people away," says Boyd. This prompted him to revamp the downstairs bar at a cost of £3,000, with a view to turning it into an after-dinner piano-bar. It will continue to be used for private functions.

Boyd has also turned his attention to the facts and figures side of the business. He admits they do not interest him in the same way as seeing the restaurant buzz, but the bank and his accountant need to see them.

He has decided, too, that food stock- controls need to be put into place. The discrepancies in the bar stock before Christmas have almost been ironed out. Now, if the waiting staff do not write down the drinks, the bar staff do not prepare them.

The kitchen hasn't been spared the reorganisation either. Some £4,000 has been spent on fridges and equipment to keep new chef Jim Coakley happy.

Now that the festive season is over and there is a full kitchen brigade of five, Boyd and Coakley are planning new menus. These will continue to change every fortnight so that neither the regular customers nor the chefs get bored.

"I want to use fresh produce and fresh, imaginative ideas. Every day should be a challenge. There are lots of things the boys have not yet seen and I want them to experience as much as possible so that if I am not there the standard will be the same," says Coakley.

Developing his speciality - dressings, herbs and marinades - is keeping Coakley busy, as is the in-house smoking and curing.

"Jim's work shines out and he has already raised food standards. Now I have to be careful that standards do not become too high for the other restaurant to keep up with," comments Boyd.

Coakley has been given a fairly free rein in the kitchen by Boyd, who has had to devote more time to the other Mitchells in Glasgow's West End, where he has been filling in for the chef who has gone on holiday.

Full of New Year cheer, Boyd has also been spending time greeting all his regular lunchtime customers at the restaurant. "New Year is a big thing in Scotland; you have to shake people's hands and buy them a drink," he says.

Once this is over, he has a week's skiing holiday planned with wife Veronica and his children. "We try to go every year since we do not get a summer holiday, and the boys love it," says Boyd.

He can also go off confident that his staff can take care of the restaurant. Although Mitchells lost a full-time waitress over the Christmas period, restaurant manager Leisa Blackadder is in the process of recruiting another.

Blackadder is continuing with her staff training. She is devising a system to persuade customers to spend more money. "It is not pushy, it is selling by suggestion. You just have to give people time to think about what they want."

Her technique involves proposing coffee to customers, telling them about the food, and recommending wines for dessert.

Blackadder stresses, however, that it is more effective to leave customers to relax and chat rather than bombard them with one course after another.

"Part of the whole package is getting the communication right. It is no good if I leave customers to think about dessert and someone else goes up two minutes later and asks them if they want it," says Blackadder.

"We have tried having waitress stations, but it has not worked; there is always too much going on. There are some rules in place though," she adds.

The Christmas period was busy and Blackadder is impressed with how the staff coped: "There were no complaints from customers and we got through it. Everybody worked hard, no one fell out, and there was a real team spirit," she says.

As a reward for all the hard work, Boyd is considering a staff day out - with a difference! The plan is to rent a bus and take the team to the Scottish ski slopes. Mitchells general manager George Goode is a keen skiier too.

Other businesses have been making enquiries about having their own staff parties at the restaurant, resulting in bookings for January.

Other plans to bring in customers are in place. The Saturday lunchtime special introduced for Christmas - a main course for £5 with a complimentary drink - is being kept on.

It did not prove a huge success over Christmas, but some people who saw the offer at the restaurant did return to take advantage of it. "If it had drawn lots of people in, we would not have had the staff to cope and service would have suffered," says Blackadder.

"We have not yet done any advertising for it, but with the Mitchell Library [which holds functions] just next door, we might get some more business," she adds.

Over the coming months, the restaurant also hopes to attract extra customers with more themed evenings, such as the French and Cajun nights held in 1995. The first will probably have a Caribbean feel to remind people of summer holidays in warmer climates. An Irish night is also on the agenda to tie in with St Patrick's Day on March 17.

"I do not want these evenings to be simply monetary exercises. People should come and have a good time," says Boyd.

The New Year seems to have brought a positive feeling at Mitchells. The restaurant is stemming its losses and Boyd is hopeful that he will not have to give up on it. "I am not going to walk away from it, but I have to get the West End restaurant knocked into place too."