Food

Keep your menu size in check. Larger menus take longer to order from and also require more ingredients. The more items on your menu, the more ingredients you have to buy. As well, consider using glamour shots of some of your menu items and incorporate creative content. Tip: consider updating your menu and prices annually.

First impressions are everything and poor customer service is often a deal breaker for customers. Just because your food may be outstanding, doesn’t mean the customer will come back if they had a poor experience overall with how they were treated. It is important that each contact your staff makes with customers is warm and welcoming, no matter the circumstances.

Marketing is very important when it comes to the restaurant world, as many owners actually fail to pay attention to this important piece of business. Not only should your brand be consistent, but your mission statement should align with how your employees are treating the customers Furthermore, it’s important to create a marketing plan that entails: a formal logo, guidelines, graphics, social media management, regular e-newsletters, and the most important — a loyalty program.

No matter how well thought out it is in your head, you absolutely have to put pen to paper when it comes to your business plan. Doing so will force you to think hard about every aspect of your restaurant, from training your employees to kitchen procedures, and more. Having a business plan is important and should entail your brand, concept, overall theme and what you want your customers’ overall experience to look like.

Hiring the right staff and management for your restaurant is crucial. Hiring an incompetent staff can potentially damage your restaurants credibility and reputation. Your candidates might think they understand all of your expectations for the role—but in many cases, there’s a misalignment of expectations that can lead to your new hires jumping ship. By providing candidates with realistic expectations, you can make sure your applicants are fully aware of what the job entails right away and hopefully avoid turnover.

It is a well-known fact that opening a restaurant is an expensive venture. The average cost it takes to open one varies anywhere from a few hundred thousand to a couple million. Capital is crucial to the long-term success of your restaurant. Having enough cash on hand enables your restaurant to cover general operating expenses while providing a safety net for any surprise or unplanned costs.

This all depends. Some commercial kitchen equipment have short life spans and are better suited to leasing or buying new with a warranty. Other pieces of kitchen equipment, like gas ranges, tend to last longer with minimal repairs and can be bought used. It’s important to ask around and do your research before making any type of long-term investments.

Yes. Start by crafting your restaurant’s unique selling proposition. If you can’t immediately pinpoint or differentiate what you do best and how that differs from others, sit down and think it through. Think about how your restaurant stands out from others: whether it be using only organic ingredients, having some of the best prices in the area, or having a signature dish.

If you want your team to perform at a high standard and have a real investment in making your restaurant a success, then you need to invest in them too. The best way to do that is by providing training opportunities. As well, it is important to observe your business form your guest’s point of view. The whole concept of your restaurant should be focused on the needs of your guests.