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How Successfully Run a Restaurant?
When starting to run a restaurant, you will find it more challenging than you initially thought. There are numerous aspects to consider, such as cost accounting, financial management, personnel management, hygiene and safety, permits, and more. Everyone aims to establish an efficient and professional restaurant, but often, these complexities can muddle your thinking. No need to worry, you can consider restaurant management from the following five perspectives, which will help you streamline your thought process.
Table of Contents
1. Providing High-Quality Service
Customers come to your restaurant with two fundamental expectations: delicious food and top-notch service.
A. Food
- Find reliable suppliers to maintain ingredient consistency. People remember the feeling from their first dining experience and may return for that feeling. Even with consistent chefs and recipes, fluctuating ingredient quality can disappoint customers.
- Updated menus. Even fast food with a single assortment will regularly introduce creative and rich new offerings and make appropriate changes with seasonal updates and consumer feedback. Customers are delighted to see fresh additions to the menu.
B. Employee Management and Customer Service
- Train friendly and professional staff. Ensure your staff consistently exhibits a friendly attitude and meets customer needs efficiently. Exceptional employees play a more critical role than you might think, which is why some restaurants prioritize excellent service and even provide mouthwash after meals.
- Listen to employee feedback. Employees possess comprehensive knowledge of your restaurant's processes and can identify issues. Therefore, it's important to communicate with your staff to make more effective managerial decisions to improve efficiency and service quality.
- Pay attention to details. A delightful dining experience is a result of the accumulation of every detail: whether every corner of the tableware is impeccably clean, if the tabletops and tablecloths are spotless, and if essentials like napkins and condiment bottles are present on each table.
2. Establishing an Efficient Kitchen
Drawing from our extensive experience in the field of commercial kitchens, we've summarized the following three points, assuring their feasibility:
A. Ensure Equipment Operates Efficiently
Equipment breakdowns can have a significant impact on the kitchen's operations. A gas range unable to ignite, a malfunctioning dishwasher, and staff frantically hand-washing dishes can disrupt your kitchen. To prevent such situations, consider the following:
- Choose reliable suppliers providing quality equipment and warranty services. Do not compromise on equipment quality to save costs, as low-quality equipment may lead to low efficiency, inadequate cleaning, high failure rates, and safety concerns.
- Regularly inspect equipment after business hours to ensure smooth operations in the following shifts. It's also beneficial if one of your staff members possesses basic repair knowledge, enabling them to attempt fixes under professional guidance via video conferencing if technicians cannot arrive promptly.
B. Efficiently Link Workstations
- Select the appropriate kitchen layout based on space and restaurant type to significantly reduce collisions and enhance efficiency.
- Optimize the order of workstation connections. Place storage and preparation areas far from the entrance to avoid impeding staff delivering orders. The preparation and cooking areas should be adjacent to ensure swift. Maintain a reasonable separation between the storage and cleaning areas to prevent contamination of stored ingredients with used utensils or cleaning agents.
C. Implement Inventory Management System
Everything in the kitchen, including food items, condiments, disposable gloves, and consumables in the dining area, should be integrated into an inventory management system and regularly updated. This facilitates cost accounting, consumption tracking, and timely restocking. The critical principle to follow is FIFO (First-In-First-Out), ensuring timely use of ingredients with shorter shelf lives to minimize waste and cost savings.
3. Accurate Financial Management
A. Be Proactive in Accounting
Accurate cost accounting is crucial for budgeting, managing price fluctuations, and cost savings. Costs are divided into fixed and variable. Fixed costs, such as rent, staff wages, and permit maintenance expenses, are difficult to reduce. Variable costs offer more opportunities for savings. You can save on utility expenses by using energy-efficient equipment, promoting staff awareness of resource conservation through training, and negotiating cost reductions with long-term supplier partnerships.
B. Prepare Adequate Funds for Cyclical Cash Flow
Recouping funds often takes an extended period, and every restaurant should consider that expenditures may not be fully recovered within the first 6 to 12 months of operation. Even if your restaurant has achieved stable operations, you must plan for cyclical cash flow. Restaurant revenue is affected by various factors such as seasons, weather, tourism, and holidays. Ensure funds can support your restaurant through slow periods, avoiding excessive expenditures until you're confident of consistent income.
C. Exercise Caution in Pricing
Depending on your restaurant type, you must decide on your pricing model—a high-volume, low-margin model typical of fast-food establishments, or a dining model that incorporates service fees. Regardless of your choice, market research should be your guiding principle. Most businesses adopt various pricing models for different products, such as offering low-cost items at a break-even price to attract customers. Adjust pricing based on sales performance and market conditions, following the lead of successful businesses in your industry.
4.Expanding Your Business
A. Expand Dining Area
As your business shows an upward trend, offering more seating will benefit restaurant operations. If you have the necessary funds, consider expanding by adding outdoor seating or an open dining area outside the restaurant. Not only will this accommodate more customers, but it will also make your restaurant more visible to passersby(satisfied diners are the best advertisement).
B. Seize Opportunities and Invest
The restaurant industry is undergoing significant changes due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ghost kitchens and contactless ordering are rising, while automated equipment and technology are increasingly used to address labor shortages. Staying current with industry trends is a strategy every restaurant owner needs to adopt.
- In 2023, most restaurants have adopted contactless payments, including mobile wallet payments and QR code payments. Offering online ordering means a restaurant website or registering on platforms, which requires an investment to maintain.
- With nearly three-quarters of restaurants experiencing labor shortages, transitioning to fully automated equipment can reduce staff requirements. However, this also requires a significant investment. On the technological front, automating online orders and customer payments through delivery applications can help address this issue.
5.Market Your Concept
Marketing is a vital means to enhance your restaurant's operation. With the evolving times, you've witnessed the power of social media. The first step in marketing is to establish a distinct concept for your restaurant.
A. Define Your Brand Concept
What does your restaurant specialize in? Is it fast food or low-fat cuisine? Is the decor simple or vibrant? After defining your concept, you package the entire restaurant experience around this concept. Your restaurant should create a delightful and memorable first impression for customers from the moment they walk through the door, encompassing decor, music, service style, and more. These elements contribute to your restaurant's brand concept.
B. Increase Investment in Social Media
Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, blogs—social media has progressed beyond your imagination. When people dine out, their first step is often to search for relevant information online. Your restaurant doesn't necessarily need to post polished photos and food shots; people appreciate authenticity and sincerity. Therefore, sharing genuine dining experiences is an excellent way to promote your restaurant.
C. Engage with the Community
Restaurants are integral to their communities and deeply connected to the people within them. They are venues for numerous significant life events. The more you involve yourself in your community, the closer your connection with your customers becomes.
Communities frequently host food expos, and many restaurants choose to provide free food to community service providers or make charitable donations to community organizations. These actions present excellent opportunities for people to get to know your restaurant.
Summary
Decision-makers should always maintain a clear perspective. Successfully operating a restaurant is no easy feat, and your decisions should be based on a solid understanding of your current situation. However, there's room for trial and error, so don't worry. While enthusiasm and passion are important, a well-thought-out operational plan is equally essential. Chefmax offers all the professional assistance you need for your commercial kitchen, and ultimately, the hope for success remains in your hands.