The Apprentice Blog

Business 401 - There's a sucker born every minute

So, let's get started.
Trump’s tip of the day – A Deal’s a deal. Once you shake hands that should be it.

Lesson 1 – There’s a sucker born every minute
- I know it’s harsh – but it’s true. In this case:
- Men like to buy drinks from pretty women; men like to buy drinks for pretty women.
- If someone is autographing footballs at Planet Hollywood, he must be a sport star. Right?

Lesson 2 – Delegate, delegate, delegate
- Make your money work for you, and leverage your own skills. Aka don’t do the grunt work if you can make big bucks and pay someone else $5/hr to do it for you.

Lesson 3 – Keep an eye on your long term strategy
- A win today doesn’t always set you up for long-term success.
- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Hire me up a shooter girl, 'cause I needs me a CEO.

Lesson 4 – Get your team on board with your goals
- staff incentives work, cause 251 heads are better than one.
- And sometimes they will save your ass. Not this time, but sometimes.

Lesson 5 – Come to the table with solutions, not problems
- if you see a problem, find a solution. Don't just check out.

Lesson 6 – Have an opinion on everything
- Bowie was fired because he didn’t take a stand on an ethical issue.

Planet Hollywood Shooter Girls

Hire me up a shooter girl, 'cause I needs me a CEO.

It was smart of the women to recognize that liquor sales was the biggest opportunity.
It was smart of the women to use sexuality to sell liquor - all those advertising campaigns can't be wrong.

But was it smart of them to use their own sexuality to sell liquor? Not so much.

The 4th man out - Bowie Hogg

The question is, with 5 men to pick from, why was Bowie the one who took the elevator to the Street not the Suite? (Are you as happy as I am that Trump has dumped that little catch phrase?)

The first 2 boardroom choices were clear. Kwame as PM was going. Nick "checked out" because of his teams unethical behaviour, and was an easy choice for 2nd.

Bill & Troy showed A+ effort. In my opinion Bill pretty much ran the show, with Kwame as a figure head - but that's another discussion... so Bowie came to the table.

Professionalism, Hand shakes and Ethics

With the women getting an official repremand for being overly sexual, and the message from Carolyn that this is not the kind of behaviour that will get them the job; and the men getting divided over a question of ethical sales tactics, this was certainly an interesting episode.

The challenge: manage Planet Hollywood for a 4pm-12am shift, and show the best percentage increase in revenue over the same date the year before.

So what are the factors that can be controlled in an 8 hour shift?
- increase the number of customers in the restaurant
- increase merchandise sales
- increase food sales
- increase liquor sales

Cost reduction isn't really a viable option - besides no one was looking at profits - just revenue

So what were the lessons?

Drinkin', Sex & Pranks

Sounds like a frat party to me. Certainly not a job interview.

Summary:

• Project Mgrs: Kwame - Versacorp, Katrina- Protégé
  
• Winners: Protégé
  
• 3 in Boardroom: Kwame, Bogie, Nick
  
• Fired: Bowie Hogg
  
• Reward: Golfing
  
• Gossip: Women got chastised for "relying on your sexuality to win"
  
• Gossip: Men used a sales technique which was questionable ethically - and caused 2 team members to take a stand against it.
  

There is a great summary of this episode at NBC's Official Site

Restaurant Rules

Click to see the Rules of the Game - Ep 4
Note

• This time it says "teams must pick a Project Manager" not "elect" like it said last week.
  
• $1500 seed money - well that could have been used more effectively

Restaurant Management Books

These might have helped them prepare for the Restaurant Management Challenge
The Restaurant Business Start-up Guide
-- Paul Daniels

Menu Design : 25 Keys to Profitable Success (Restaurant Manager's Pocket Handbook Series)
--David V. Pavesic

The Upstart Guide to Owning and Managing a Restaurant
-- Roy S. Alonzo

Restaurants That Work: Case Studies of the Best in the Industry
-- Martin E. Dorf

The Restaurant Managers Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation
-- Douglas Robert Brown

Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Restaurant
-- Howard Cannon

Planet Hollywood - Sizzle or Steak

Okay, we've all seen the previews, likely many many times. (just like Episode 3.)

Sam's gone and the game continues...

Preview: Episode 4 - Restaurant Management

"ETHICS SHMETHICS" -- The candidates are put to the ultimate stress test as they're challenged to manage a busy, high profile restaurant in the heart of the Big Apple.

Tempers flare and a team divides over the ethics of a slippery business strategy.

The winners head to the golf course, and the morality battle boils over into the boardroom where the 4th candidate is fired..

Airs 01-29-2004 9:00PM and 02/04/04 at 8:00 PM.

Additional Note: The "busy, high profile restaurant" looks like it's going to be Planet Hollywood in Times Square.