Restaurant Advice You Need

Navigating the restaurant industry is no easy task. With so many moving pieces in running a restaurant, you may loses sight of what you really need to do to make your restaurant reach it’s goals. I’m sure a bunch of readers wish they had someone giving them advice on how to successfully run their restaurant.

Below are some sage pieces of advice to follow.

Get Your Online Presence Going

The internet is the medium in which the world communicates today, that is why it’s important to make sure your restaurant’s online presence is consistent and on point.  This includes claiming all your business pages and profiles across all social media networks, Google Business, local business directories and aggregators — even integrate with your home smart speaker so people can search your business by talking.

Then 2nd most important thing is to make sure that your restaurant’s website is top notch and always up-to-date. It is very easy to get a website up these day — Wix, WordPress, SquareSpace etc. — at affordable prices.

Most times new customers will visit your website before they step into your restaurant. If the information is not current on the website, your diners may not have the experience you want them to have. There is no reason why your restaurant’s website shouldn’t be updated with the latest menus, hours, links and images these days. If you don’t have the experience working with websites, hire a web developer, its an investment that will pay itself over and over.

Check your Quality Thoroughly

When running a restaurant business, you start to get into a rhythm. Day after day your guests leave happy, but what you don’t know is that your quality can decrease over time. You won’t see it immediately since it changes over long periods of time, but nonetheless, it is something that must be carefully checked.

The first place quality check should occur is in the kitchen. Make sure to taste your menu items frequently and check for the quality. You can do this by setting mandatory periodic menu evaluations, hiring mystery diners to provide unbiased feedback and their experience or even taste testings to get customers into your restaurant.

A Restaurant Owner Can’t Do It All

Running a restaurant is no easy task, as much as you wish you could control and do every aspect of it, you can’t. That isn’t a bad thing, its actually a good thing. If you can see your strengths and weaknesses, you will have the ability to better concentrate on the things you are good at, while leaving the other things to your employees.

A good example— lets say that you rock at hospitality, the customer experience, the decor, the relationships. That is what you should focus on.  Have a professional chef you trust worry about the food menu and your manager doing your payroll. As they say there is no ‘I’ in TEAM.

Constantly Think About Your Menu Prices

Ingredients and food preparations cost money and always increase over time. That is why it is important to price your menu items with accordance to your costs. If you don’t, you will start to see your restaurant’s profitability go down.

Increasing your prices unfortunately is double edge sword and can by very tricky. Money is something people constantly think and worry about, if they decide that your prices are too high, they may decide to frequent some other less expensive places. If you don’t price your menu items accordingly, then you will lose money on every diner that walks in.

Your best bet– instead of implementing menu price changes all at once, do them incrementally over time, so the the changes don’t affect your business too much.

Customer Retention Will Make Or Break Your Business

Customers keep the bills paid, but your restaurant will not survive if you only bring in new customers. Having returning customers is where your restaurants wealth will come from and ensure you business stays open.

Once again, by providing a consistent experience, you will find your customers coming back again and again. Once Again — RESTAURANT SUCCESS = CONSISTENCY

Your Staff Is An Extension of Your Family.

Your staff is the heart of your business. They are on the front lines ensuring your vision is realized. Without your staff, your restaurant can’t run, that it is why it is important to treat your staff like family. Make sure you are kind, supportive and make the work environment friendly, if not, you may find yourself short staffed, never a good thing.

One way to make sure that you have a happy and energetic staff is to show them your appreciation for them. Make them feel like family by doing things such as team building, throwing outside social events, help them if needed. Do these things and you and your staff will have great work experience.

Hopefully some of these tips can help you with your restaurant and may even help you find your restaurant having the success you dreamed of.