Future of Planet rests with Generation X

By SELWYN PARKER

Todd Graydon's got a lot on his mind. In a few days he will have 180 staff on his payroll and a score of gung-ho American managers flying in to train them. People are lining up to talk with him. His cellphone rings every few minutes. And soon he's expecting 7000 customers a week.

And he's just hoping that Planet Hollywood will open on time - developer Force Corporation says it will.

As the general manager of the American theme restaurant in the new Force Entertainment centre redevelopment - the old Civic Square to most of us, this personable young man has got the whole weight of Planet Hollywood's New Zealand debut on his shoulders.

And what if it doesn't open on December 20? "I've still got a $40,000-a-week wages bill to pay," explains Graydon.

Considering the circumstances, it's hardly surprising that Graydon sometimes looks like he's sitting on hot coals. Lately there hasn't been much time for the gym and the meditation which helps him reduce stress.

Still, this is par for the course in the frenetic business of managing start-ups in the hospitality industry.

A former Howick boy, Graydon has been through this before. He has opened half a dozen Thank God It's Friday "flair" bars in Britain, trained and developed staff for the Keg Franchising chain of pubs in South Africa, and he has worked for three and a half years for Planet Hollywood in Australia.

But it never gets any easier and this is Graydon's biggest assignment so far.

"This place has got to jump from day one," he explains. Just as well Graydon is a ball of energy. He's going to need all the adrenalin he can muster.

Although he grew up in Auckland, this is his debut in his home town and he is finding things are done a little differently here. For example, we seem to lack the sense of urgency of other places he has worked in.

"People don't return calls in this country," he marvels.

Opening theme restaurants is clearly a Generation X business.

Graydon is 31 and most of his eight managers are in their mid-20s who pride themselves on having worked their way up from waiting on tables, as Graydon did. Indeed their boss went one better; at one stage he worked on a rubbish truck.

But right now, this Generation X management team is on the edge.

They're crawling around looking at seating diagrams on threadbare carpet in temporary offices over the road from the Civic Square, interviewing prospective suppliers in the front office for everything from milk shake machines to juicers, aprons to booze - and they're hiring staff.

The latter sounds like plucking people off a fast-moving conveyer belt. The first hurdle job applicants must clear is a brutally efficient 30-second screening process. Green light, you're in. Red light, sorry.

Of 1500 applicants, only 160 cleared the final hurdle. From December 20, they will start earning around $11 an hour.

Start-ups like this are an endurance event. The managers are expected to work 14-hour days for the next six months, with just one day off a week, to ensure Planet Hollywood jumps from day one.

"Planet Hollywood works its managers to death." Six weeks married, Graydon admits that he only fleetingly sees his wife, Diane.

It's an all-or-nothing approach to business. Before staff go front-of-house each night, they will be motivated to sell, sell, sell through a 15-minute rev-up that sounds something like John Hart's pre-match motivational address.

Each staff member is measured by how many extra drinks, salads or desserts he or she sells and the score is posted out the back.

The top sellers are, of course, rewarded.

Perhaps all-or-nothing works. The Asian franchise of Planet Hollywood, owned by a Singapore hotelier, is trading profitably while the master franchise in North America is in Chapter 11. According to Planet Hollywood insiders, the American company relied too much on the pulling power of shareholders like Sylvester Stallone, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis and took their eye off the ball.

That's not going to happen in Auckland, Graydon promises. He talks a lot about the importance of leadership, of providing an environment where staff want to come to work, of hard bargains made with local suppliers, of prices designed to get people through the door.