Start a Restaurant

One very important fact about the restaurant industry, is the fact that you absolutely need to keep consistent portion control. Ingredients are purchased in weight, count and volume. You will need to calculate the cost of all ingredients in a recipe. Total the costs and divide this by the food cost you want to charge for a menu item. This way you will have a price for your menu for this item.

In the restaurant industry, you will need to count all ingredients. As an example, a cheese burger with tomato, lettuce, and mustard on a wheat bun with a small bag of potato chips has a total cost of $2.10. If you want to get a 30% food cost for this item, you will need to divide $2.10 by 30 % (.30), which will give a menu price of $7.

Try to keep your food costs between 22 and 34%. If your food cost is 22%, it will mean you will be spending 22 cents of every dollar for food. This would leave you 88% of every dollar to cover labor and other expenses.

If you want to use the factoring method, you can multiply the cost of ingredients by three. This will only give you the cost of the menu item and not include other costs.

When you use gross margin pricing, the formula is profit minus the cost of goods sold divided by the net sales. For instance a gross profit margin of 33:1 means that for every sales dollar, you will have 33 cents to cover other expenses. This is the best for calculating a dish with a high ingredient cost in the restaurant industry.

The Prime Cost method works by adding the cost of labor and cost of food, then add a percentage for profit. This method is good in the restaurant industry for dishes that need a lot of preparation.

Competitive Pricing matches what other restaurants charge for the same product, with what you charge. Compare the prices by studying the menus, and price your product not much higher or lower than what others are charging. (more…)

Increasing your page ranking on major search engines is an admirable achievement when you have managed to get where you want to be. As a restaurant owner/manager and website host, you probably have all the magic tricks up your sleeve on how to become an effective marketer as well. That is pretty impressive.

Let’s face the fact though. Every restaurant owner/manager juggles a lot of work at a time which are all needed to be done and accomplished in a timely basis. There has to be a definite deadline on everything because apart from the food and customer service an owner needs to handle, there are the the crew, maintenance, delivery of supplies, bills and much more.

Just imagine the commitment and dedication a person has to pour out in this type of business. Building and managing a restaurant website is another thing. It does, similar to the literal responsibilities of running a restaurant, needs to be monitored and updated everyday. The more content a restaurant website has, the more visible it becomes to online visitors. And we’re not talking about just some restaurant content; it has to be of good quality. In this line of business, you need to expect and deal with tight and even some big competitors who manage their own restaurant from somewhere. In due time, you will get where these competitors are right now if you maintain positive attitude in this business. (more…)

Restaurant owners will find excellent resources for building, maintaining and running their restaurant business, both online and offline. Here are some of the best:

National Restaurant Association

At their website you’ll find relevant news and event information to the restaurant industry available for free. When you become a member, you’ll have access to helpful tools to increase your profits, industry news, analysis and trends, legal updates, access to development and training resources, extensive research, plus services and discounts that range from credit card processing, workers compensation insurance, health insurance and more. The association also promotes the restaurant industry and helps to represent and protect the industry as a whole during the political process.

Visit them at restaurant.org

RestaurantOwner.com

A fantastic resource for restaurant owners, RestaurantOwner.com offers dozens of downloads including customer service checklists, restaurant operations checklists, training manual templates, cash flow worksheets, inventory worksheets, shift rosters, schedule forms, maintenance history logs, cash audit forms, marketing and promotion tracking templates, server checkout summaries, manager performance review forms and many more helpful downloads. (more…)

Restaurant business is going online, that’s for sure and it’s a fact. Many restaurant owners have gone from simple offline ad promotions to online invites and updates. An online exposure establishes an even wider market and more potential customers not only in the same geographical area where you are located, but to other places as well you never imagined you could reach.

The common question now among restaurant owners is if it is really necessary for your restaurant to go online when you have already established a good restaurant management and publicity offline. There could be many doubts and questions you could think of right now but the answer to it is an obvious YES. Online marketing, advertising among others are highly important and valuable to businesses of any forms and sizes.

The way most people see it, going online is a good alternative to conducting and organizing a business. It’s also a quick way of keeping in touch with customers who have replaced and will continue to place reservations for your restaurant. Look at it this way, online transactions are quicker, more affordable and convenient for both you and your customers.

Another reason why going online, which means establishing your own restaurant website is important and highly efficient nowadays is because the scope of reaching audience and potential customers is unlimited. By the end of the day, all you have to do is sort out all of the orders and reservations which have been placed through the website confirm or approve it and get back to the customers through the email address they left. This and so many more benefits, you can get by hosting your very own restaurant website. (more…)

In our incredibly competitive hospitality industry, owners and managers are constantly seeking the answer to an important question- How do you recruit, retain, and motivate staff who are responsible for creating a “magical” experience which exceeds your guests’ expectations? Some answers may be found by looking to successful companies that are consistently achieving these goals.

William Shakespeare wrote, ‘All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players’. One company that has exemplified that quote is the Walt Disney World Co. based in Orlando, Florida.

Disney is recognised as one company which creates such “magical”experiences. The Disney challenge is to ensure that all of the 36,000 staff are playing a role in a show which exceeds all expectations.

The Disney approach to people management has helped gain them the reputation of providing a leading benchmark for quality and service in America.

Disney does not just “hire” people for jobs, they “cast” performers for a “role” in the show. The emphasis is in finding ‘people oriented’ cast members who are willing to adapt to the high standards established, and not necessarily on the skills an applicant may have.

Their ‘casting process’ introduces each applicant to the culture of the company, and the important role which they will play in the future success. This way there are no surprises, and it is this approach which helps to maintain turnover at approximately 20%.

Success on the “Restaurant Stage” requires the development and choreography of many different aspects, such as a great cast, script, support and direction.

Quality ‘Casting’ or recruitment, is critical to everything else in the production.

As an owner or manager, you are more director and choreographer of a performance. Your front of house staff, are the actors, and your customers are the audience for whom they must perform. (more…)