Are you a restaurateur dreaming of opening an eatery or in the middle of your entrepreneurial endeavors? Wherever you are on your path to success in the food industry, there are important steps to take and things to consider to achieve your Michelin Star goals.
Understand Your Expenditures
Being in the food industry means you have a lot of money going out, but income can be fickle, depending on various factors that are sometimes beyond your control. This is why you must be vigilant about your corporate spending.
- Labor Costs – One of the largest expenditures on your balance sheet will be the labor costs involved with paying your employees. It can be a time-consuming task to keep track of all of the schedules and corresponding hours worked, especially with shift workers. Save yourself time and effort by utilizing technology to calculate restaurant labor costs.
In the restaurant business, you have a wide variety of jobs to be filled and each category has a different pay scale. By using a labor cost calculator in your restaurant, you can assign an applicable wage to each job and employee. This option means payroll will be that much easier to determine and calculate with accuracy as all you will need to do is input the pertinent information and the labor cost calculator will do the work for you.
Provide an Experience
Going into a fine dining establishment is vastly different than going into a cafeteria or buffet-style restaurant. They both serve food, and they both offer an aura or experience to their customers. But going the extra mile to show them they matter regardless of the type of eatery you are running will reflect in your bottom line. When people feel good about their time at your restaurant and the way they were treated they will tell their friends and come back. It all matters.
Watch this video for one experienced and praised restaurateur’s unique insight on how he elevated an already exceptional restaurant and dining experience.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/bwcyXcOpWVs?si=22bKrD0dwQndGiyB
Take Care of Your Employees
A restaurant may be only as good as the food it serves, but if the staff is inept or ineffective or even inefficient, customers will leave poor reviews, and probably a lot of them on a variety of social media platforms and your reputation will be tarnished. Word of mouth matters considerably when it comes to restaurants.
People want to eat out to save time and the chore of cooking at home. They want the experience of dining out, the conversation with friends and family, and the atmosphere. You want to provide that for them, and you can do that by taking care of the people who take care of your customers.
- Employee Scheduling – You have a business that you need to be staffed. Your employees have come to you for work and a steady paycheck. It should be a mutually beneficial relationship. Try to make it so by extending a hand and working with your team to help schedule the best shifts to meet their work-life responsibilities. It can be especially difficult for parents and college students to keep a standard work schedule.
And yet, they want to work. Talk with them about availability, split shifts, alternative hours, and part-time options. You will find that when you respect your employees’ needs and home life, they show greater care in their work which is reflected in how they treat your patrons. Additionally, when employees feel valued and respected, they treat your company in kind and remain loyal team members for longer periods. This results in less turnover and less wasted time and money training new hires over and over again.
The best thing you can do to ensure no shifts are left unfilled or have to be covered by other team members is to talk with your employees. Be open and inviting to genuinely talk with them about their scheduling needs. It will go a long way towards a more cohesive work environment for everyone.
While the above information only skims the surface of what it takes to run a successful restaurant of any type, it is good information to help you reassess your strategy and goals. Running an eatery is complex and requires effective tools, technology, and good employees. When you choose to use the tools available to you, whether they are technology to effectively manage payroll, scheduling programs, or a new approach to your staff and patrons, it will all show in how your restaurant is received and frequented by your customers – going above and beyond matters.