Akio Toyoda is the grandson of Toyota’s founder and heir apparent to the Toyota Motor Throne.

Imagine the surprise of an Ann Arbor Toyota plant when Mr. Toyoda showed up one morning unannounced. He asked to be taken to the production line for the Toyota Tundra and he wanted to see where the rear fender was assembled.

The problem was that Tundras were experiencing an unusually high percentage of recalls on this part and Akio Toyoda wanted to go exactly to where the problem was. This is a time-honored practice that Akio learned from his grandfather called ” genchi genbutsu”, which translated means “go to the spot.”

Combining efficiency with effectiveness- two wonderful Japanese business traits.

What does this have to do with your restaurant and what clicked in my head as I read this article this morning?

While things are slow – walk outside your restaurant and look back in through the window. Think like a potential diner. Go through the kitchen and see how efficient your cooks are, go grab a corner table and time how long it takes for a new visitor to get greeted by your staff, have a friend dine in one night for free and report back with comments and grading on the service, etc.

Take advantage of the slower time to root out problems. When things start to pick up again- you’ll be ready.