Business and Personal Achievement Awards

Let the world know who you are and what you have done. Go after those awards that are being handed out by the organization you belong to. If you don’t do it don’t count on anyone else to do it for you. You know your business and what you do for the community. People are interested in knowing that about you and your business.You don’t give to be recognized but you are recognized because you give. So tell them your story and the story of your business.

Two years ago Social Media Connected went after the “Big business of the Year Award” for Cook’s Lobster House and Cook’s received the award. It was a fantastic PR punch that brought a great deal of recognition to the business. This year Social Media Connected applied for two awards from the Maine restaurant Association. The Restaurant of the Year award and the Life time achievement award. I am happy to report we were informed that Curt Parent will receive the Life Time Achievement Award at the awards dinner in April of 2012. The Maine Restaurant Association will send a professional camera crew to produce a film about Curt and his business. The film will be featured on their website for a year not to mention the newspaper articles, postings at the food expo and word of mouth exposure.

Below is the letter that I sent in on behalf of Cook’s Lobster House and Curt Parent.

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to nominate Curt Parent for the lifetime achievement award. I would also like to nominate Cook’s Lobster House for the Maine Restaurant of the Year Award. Curt and his family have owned Cook’s Lobster House Restaurant and Lobster Shipping Company since 1955. Cook’s Lobster House is an icon to the Mid Coast Maine area. Cooks draws thousands of visitors and Mainers to the region by its name recognition. In 1997 Cook’s Lobster House was one of only 7 businesses in the nation selected to be featured in the world wide visa commercial.  Home Of The International Visa Commercial . Cook’s promotion of the beauty and natural resources that Harpswell has to offer has helped to make Harpswell a destination vacation spot. Tour boats, charters, walking trails, beaches and the local businesses are all promoted on Cook’s Lobster House’s social media sites. Cook’s also puts on and pays for the 4^th of July fireworks that are displayed on its point of land.

Cook’s Lobster has been voted the #1 Seafood Restaurant in Mid Coast Maine since 1995 along with being “1996 Editor’s Pick” for Yankee Magazine.

Cook’s was awarded the Big Business of the Year award by the Southern Mid Coast Maine Chamber Of Commerce in 2010

Curt understands the importance of giving back to the community. He has his management participate actively in the local business organizations. Cook’s managers are on the board of directors of the Harpswell Business Association and the marketing committee of the Southern Mid Coast Chamber. Cook’s is a member of the Maine Restaurant Association, The Portland Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Maine Tourism Association, The Southern Mid Coast Chamber, The Harpswell Business Association and a host of other great organization in Maine. Curt also has the restaurant support local charities and organizations like the local fire department and even has hosted its own Christmas party’s to raise money for the Harpswell Home Heating Assistance Program. http://cookslobsterhouse.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/2009-donator-list/

Curt has coached The Mid coast Youth Hockey Team for 9 years and was the Vice President of the organization for 4 of those years. In addition Cook’s has sponsored the Mid Coast Youth Hockey Team for 30 years. Curt also during the same time period coached the Brunswick Middle school Hockey Team From 2006 to 2009. The Brunswick Team won the Southern Middle School championship in 2007 while Curt was coach. Curt also coached the Brunswick Carl Ripken Baseball team for 6 years and was a director for four of those years.

Cook’s employs near 100 people over the course of the year, providing a stable income for the areas local population. Curt personally directs the shipping of over 2 million pounds of lobster to Canada. This Maine lobsters gets processed and shipped throughout the world. Cook’s provide safe docking and storage for Maine lobstermen. Cook’s shipping part of the business helps lobstermen throughout the region keep a steady market for their catch of Maine lobster.

Cook’s Lobster House is concerned with keeping Maine and the environment pristine and economically viable. During the summer months Cook’s has a sea life educational tank that helps educate, by hands on fun, the importance of the marine environment and sea life to Maine.

Curt’s dedication to Maine and sustaining the Maine lobster industry. Curt’s giving to the community personally and by his employees. Curt’s dedication to the local kids and community. Curt’s continuous success in the restaurant and lobster industry, are the reasons I am nominating Curt Parent for the life time achievement award and Cook’s Lobster House for the Restaurant of the year award.

Thanks you for your consideration,

Peter Boisvert

Cook’s Lobster House

207-833-2818

The bottom line is GO FOR IT. Let the world know who you are and what you have done. It will pay off with large dividends.

If Social Media Connected can assist in your efforts to get the word out about you or your business, please give us a call at 207-729-4746 or

email us at: socialmediaconnected@comcast.net

I look forward helping you or your business receive the recognition you deserve.

Instilling Pride and Building A Team

Social media does not stop or start with outside interactions with your guest and the community. You first have to have a strategy on how to create the best team to serve your customers. Coming up with some great ways to instill pride and a team atmosphere is very important in the overall approach towards achieving the Best in industry practices.

The annual employee party for the Cook’s Lobster House team was the stepping stone for what is now a goal to be the regional best at restaurant challenge. Two intense competitions were held for the right to be called the best. The Server obstacle course. Servers walk and run through a course carrying four martini glasses full to the top. They try to avoid spilling, while achieving the best time. The second competitor was a silverware sorting competition. Speed and accuracy were the key to success here.

The party was an effort to thank the 2010 crew for their hard work and to get them excited about the upcoming season. Building a team and instilling pride for  the skills that all areas of the restaurant have developed over the years.

The employees had such a good time and were so pleased with their skill levels that they have put out a challenge to the region. ” Build your team and practice because we are looking for some competition from our neighbor restaurants”. The call has been put out and hopefully pride and courage will bring the regions restaurants together for Restaurant Challenge.

What types of games or challenges do you put on for your employees to build morale and a team?

Customer Loyalty Is Hard Work

You have a great restaurant and your guest seem quite happy when they leave. You’ve taught your staff the proper way to greet, prepare and serve. Why is it that you don’t see these same guest for months on end? With so many great competitors out there, why should they come back to you the next time they go out for a meal?
Start looking at your guest in a different way. They are not just the money in your cash drawer, although that is the end result that we all seek to survive. Instead make your guest feel like they are part of your restaurant. A vital link in the machinery that makes the restaurant work. Just like any part of a machine you have to take care of it or it will break down and not do what it was made to do. Which is spend money in your restaurant.
How do you do this? One way that has generated great returns is to form a club which gives incentives to our guest and builds communications. The first step is to get them to join which is easy because there is nothing to loose and every thing to gain ( very important ). You now have there name and hopefully their email or address so you can send out newsletters, incentives and be able to contact them when they have won the monthly prize that they did nothing for other then join the Club. When they join they received a Club card with their name on it. When they come in next they present the card to the server and their incentive discounts begin. Not to mention that you now know the name of the guest, which the server and the host and management use to thank the guest. The manager or host should even go to the table to give the guest an update on their status within the club, making sure the guest at nearby tables hear the conversation and wonder why they are not part of the club. The more the guest comes in the better the discounts, the more you and your staff use their names and the more the guest feels that they are a valuable part of your operation.
There are many ways to set up one of these clubs and you will have to form it into what best fits your operation. Just keep in mind that the point is to make the guest feel that they are an important part of your operation.

The Deck at Cook’s Lobster House

Cook’s Lobster House has the best deck to enjoy Casco Bay from. Cool sea breezes surround you as you enjoy Cook’s famous Fish sandwich or lobster roll. Great selection of draft beers. 3 different Allagash draft beers, a great maine brewery. The look and feel of the deck says Maine. Watch the lobstermen bring in their catch of lobsters. I want to bring mom to Cook’s Lobster House on Bailey Island, Maine for Mothers Day. I hope it’s a nice day so we can sit on the deck.

Lunch on Cook's Lobster House deck