- March 30, 2021
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“Don’t even think about not hiring ‘THE IZZY.’ Do it. Honestly, our success is a success mainly because of Izzy. Without his help, we would not be where we are today.”
Aaron Bühler
das!Burger (and others) Wiesbaden, Germany
Aaron Buhler owns/co-owns four restaurants in Wiesbaden, Germany: das!Burger, das!Burger in a box, L-Umami Restaurant & Weinbar, and anstoBig. His philosophy: serve the freshest, highest-
quality dishes and to prepare everything from scratch.
Aaron—as well as members of his family—have brought Hospitality Works to Germany over the years to help make their businesses more successful.
Increasing Guest Traffic
“Probably Izzy’s most valuable advice was from before opening my first restaurant in 2014,” says Aaron.
That restaurant, das!Burger, has a small, narrow dining room. With conventional tables, it could only seat several dozen guests. Izzy replaced the tables with a long banquette and two-person tables, which staff can push together or pull apart to accommodate various size groups.
Notes Aaron, “This flexibility was essential to our success and something we implemented in every other restaurant we designed.”
“We only have 44 seats total. Yet, on our busiest days, we serve over 400 guests. Full service! That would never have been possible without Izzy’s input.”
Help Surviving COVID
“When COVID and the respective government restrictions hit our industry, sales plummeted nearly 90%,” says Aaron. “Only das!Burger in a box, a little shack focused on premium carry-out and delivery, increased sales by nearly 80%.”
“Izzy’s foresight helped us react quickly to the pandemic. We implemented a delivery service for all restaurants, which we didn’t have before. Also, we started a new brand—Wiesbaden Eats— which sells some of our most successful meals, like stews and soups, to-go, so our guests can easily prepare a restaurant-quality meal at home.”
Improving Efficiency
“Izzy is all about simplification and creating measurable standards,” says Aaron. “Work processes need to be simple, which makes them efficient. Measurable standards reveal your results and can be used to better train staff as well as track your improvements and deficiencies.”
Aaron’s advice to restaurateurs: “Don’t even think about not hiring ‘THE IZZY.’ Do it. Honestly, our success is mainly because of Izzy. Without his help, we would not be where we are today.”