Wild west end

An abusive customer throws his plate of food on the floor, insults the waitress and refuses to pay. What do you do? Walk out, throw it back or fetch a manager?

This is the dilemma the newly recruited, 160-strong work-force at the UK's third Chili's Grill & Bar, in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, were asked to ponder on in the course of their training.

Their 25 tutors were high calibre. They were provided by Brinker International, the US company that developed the Chili's concept, which flew the experts in at a cost of £50,000 to ensure that the product met the standards set by the 475 other Chili's outlets around the world.

As well as role-play, with trainers teaching staff how to deal with real-life situations such as drunks or indecisive customers, employees had to taste every dish and familiarise themselves with the ingredients in the food.

They then moved on to dry runs where selected guests acted as guinea pigs, providing genuine problems and questions to challenge the new staff.

For general manager Darren Kaye, formerly deputy manager at Old Orleans, Lakeside Shopping Centre, Thurrock, Essex, adapting to the Chili's way of doing things has been an eye-opener. Part of his training included a 16-week stint working in Dallas, along with shift managers Chris Weeks, Nic Mander, James Rushdon and Kevin Depree.

Kaye says: "The most interesting part of my training was realising how big Chili's is in the USA. And I was also the only trainee manager to open a new Chili's out there, which helped immensely when opening Shaftesbury Avenue."

The cost of training the London management was about £7,000 per person.

The third UK Chili's is part of a well-organised strategy to test Chili's in three distinct markets: a business location - London Dockland's Canary Wharf, which opened last October; a student town - Cambridge, which opened in March; and a tourist location in the shape of Shaftesbury Avenue, which opened at the beginning of May. Restaurant House, the company that owns the licence for Chili's in the UK, intends to collect valuable data from these three restaurants to help with future openings.

The 25-year lease on the Shaftesbury Avenue site which, up until 12 years ago, was a hospital, caught the eye of Restaurant House in January 1995 and was secured for £1.5m.

Renovation work started in April 1995 and refurbishment, costing about £100,000, started at the beginning of this year. Designers and architects advised on interior design for the 6,500sq ft, Grade II-listed building.

The aim is that the interior of each Chili's outlet includes something of its surroundings. Consequently, the Cambridge operation has a boat suspended from the ceiling to reflect the city's rowing connections. And at Canary Wharf, a 3-D representation of King Kong climbing the Wharf tower is on show. The reception area of Chili's at Shaftesbury Avenue features an Eros statue firing an arrow tipped with a red chilli, to reflect its proximity to Piccadilly.

Opening Monday to Saturday from 11.30am to midnight, and on Sundays from noon to 11pm, the Shaftesbury Avenue restaurant has 200 covers, with additional capacity for a further 140 covers in the basement.

The menu comprises 12 choices of starter, including armadillo eggs (jalapeño peppers stuffed with cheese, battered and fried, served with blossom sauce, £4.49). There are also 40 main courses, including Monterey chicken (£9.49), tuna steak sandwich (£6.49), burgers from £5.99, and grills from £7.49. The six side orders include rice and vegetables, all at £1.89, while the eight desserts include yogurt pie and carrot cake both at £2.99.

An extensive drinks menu offers everything from wines, beers and cocktails, to juices and hot beverages. Children's menus are available on request and menus will be changed four times a year, taking into consideration customers' comments.

London prices are 4-5% higher than those at the Cambridge outlet, and Chili's is working on a gross profit of 63-65% for food and 60% for drink.

Peter Pullan, executive vice-president of Restaurant House, claims: "We are not a company interested in making heaps of money. We are setting our prices just to make enough money to survive, focusing on long-term profit, rather than short-term gain."

To break even at the Shaftesbury Avenue site, the restaurant needs to take £30,000 a week.

Trading patterns at the outlets vary greatly. The 209-cover Canary Wharf restaurant relies heavily on daytime business, with only 27% of its trade done in the evening, when the 260-cover outlet in Cambridge achieves 70% of its business.

Shaftesbury Avenue's restaurant predicts a more evenly spread ratio: 40% of trade during the day and 60% in the evening. Pullan and Kaye are also looking at devising a lunchtime menu and offering actors with Equity cards a privilege card to use at the restaurant.

Spend on lunch in London is put at £13.87 per head, compared with £12.90 in the Cambridge Chili's. Dinner costs £15 per head in London, compared with £14-£15 in Cambridge.

Repeat success

Unlike some other West End outlets, the Shaftesbury Avenue restaurant does not limit the time diners can spend at each sitting. Pullan says: "Once the customer has sat down, they can stay for as long as they like.

"To start with, we will be relying on tourists visiting Leicester Square and theatreland. Eventually, we are hoping for repeat business to account for the majority of trade."

Although Chili's does not operate a fixed service charge, an optional 10% gratuity charge is added to the bill for groups of eight or more.

Customers pay at one of the IBM cash tills, which cost £25,000 to buy and install. To speed up service, the waiting staff use menu order pads and shorthand abbreviations, which they learnt in training sessions. "This saves a lot of time when ordering and will improve staff efficiency," says Kaye.

The budget for equipment and maintenance for the first year at Chili's is £300 per month.

Limited expenditure on maintenance is expected in the first year as everything is new and under guarantee. The budget will increase next year as equipment gets older, guarantees expire and general wear and tear becomes apparent.

Chili's is a company with ambitious expansion plans. Once trade at the three experimental locations begins to show a pattern, there are plans for a further 29 outlets to be opened throughout the UK - about the same number as there are in Dallas.