Running a restaurant is like catering your best to the people. It involves a lot of hard work, be it managing the employees, inventory, quality of food, deliveries or customer feedback. If you are thinking about starting a restaurant business, you must be prepared. Today we have collated 8 super restaurant management tips for those who are starting a new one.
RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR THE NEWBIE RESTAURATEURS
Be consistent in your efforts: The restaurant does not work the exact same way every day. Just like any other business, new challenges pop up every now and then. Even though you cannot control all that takes place, make sure you are not inconsistent in approaching or responding late to resolve issues. You must always thrive to communicate properly, maintain rules and always be consistent about putting in the effort. Don’t be overwhelmed when the crowd is huge and do not get lazy on a slow day.
Be a proactive manager: When you are running a restaurant business, know that things come to you last. Yes, you need to be proactive enough and stay ahead of the curve instead of being reactive. This will ensure others look up to you for their decisions, they know who to run to in the future. You must be active and take in all the suggestions based on employee needs, changes in the menu, necessary updates, marketing campaigns, inventory, discussing customer needs, upgrading to the latest technology etc.
Learn to do the work by yourself: You are the one who is in charge if something goes haywire. Make sure you own up to the problem and resolve it. If you want to run your restaurant properly, be ready to do it all by yourself first. Have a thorough knowledge of how the kitchen operates, what the cooks are dealing with, the stresses of the servers etc. Talk to your employees about what they do and why they use the methods they use. You’ll gain respect from your employees and have a better foundation for making decisions that affect them and the customers they are serving.
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Prioritise staff retention: Recent studies show that hiring, training and retaining staff has become the number one challenge in the restaurant business. Not sales, nor inventory, neither trends but staffing. Make staff retention a priority. Replacing staff constantly is a huge expense in an industry that already has tight profit margins. Customers in restaurants come for the experience and part of that experience is being comfortable with the staff they expect to see at regular intervals.
Making customer satisfaction a priority: Keeping a track of customer expectations in any business is difficult, but a restaurant tops that list. You’re dealing with everything, be it food preferences, dietary routines, traffic flow in the restaurant, irate customers, last-minute reservations, and people who show up to eat five minutes before you’re ready to close. Customer satisfaction is the goal for every decision you make when even a simple customer issue pops up. Make sure to resolve it with satisfactory feedback from the customer. Be prompt enough not to offend your valuable customers. You must also ensure to get customer satisfaction without sacrificing your staff. Protect your employees from customer tempers and wrath. Remember, you don’t want to lose, either way.
Improve customer experience: The restaurant industry is one of the most happening industries. People love eating out and ordering their favourite foods. Recent studies show that adults would rather spend their money to eat out or order in than rush to a store to buy groceries. Ensuring an efficient customer experience involves a mix of good ambience, cleanliness (restrooms especially, friendly staff, fair prices, unique menu, supreme quality of food and no-fuss no-wait seating. If people are willing to pay to eat out because they are looking for experiences, a grumpy server or a 40-minute wait at the door won’t impress.
Believe in the word of mouth publicity: The most popular way people choose a restaurant is by word-of-mouth from their friends. The second most popular mode of publicity after social media. These are essentially the same in that they originate from what others say about you. Online reviews matter. Making a unique and memorable experience that gets people to talk about your restaurant matters the most. Having a social media presence matters. Monitoring what is said about your restaurant on social media matters. So keep a close watch on what people are saying about you and put in efforts, strategies and hard work to make it go in the positive direction.
Invest in a good restaurant management solution: Managing a restaurant is certainly not a one-man task, however, if you want to keep the entire operation well under your watch and control, restaurant management software is your best friend. Restaurant management software automates and streamline the restaurant management operation and keeps reports and data up-to-date for your ready reference and all with almost no human intervention. Good restaurant software manages your orders, inventory, billing, taxation, table management, menu, staff management, payroll and even statistics reports ready and updated.
Do you find these tips helpful? Let us know in the comments below.