Start a Restaurant

Running a restaurant can be more than a full time job. In that first risky year of business most restaurant owners find themselves working more than the standard eight hours a day. However, if the restaurant industry is your calling then dedication and perseverance will pay off.

One of the most important aspects of running a restaurant is proper money management. Strict accounting of all money matters is essential in maximizing your profit and minimizing your loss. It’s not usually recommended to do your own accounting unless you have official training or experience. Even the smallest glitch can create total chaos and when it comes to the numbers, there’s no room for mistakes.

Hiring a professional consultant has been a positive business decision for many restaurant owners. Consultants specialize in helping business owners increase sales. By pinpointing weaknesses and strengths they can greatly increase your chances of success. Analyzing consumers regarding location and demand can do plenty to inform you of changing trends. When running a restaurant, it’s important to know when to change and when to stay the same. (more…)

Chefs and restaurant owners want to know how to prevent customers’ identity theft, so the speaker at the August 2007 meeting of the Myrtle Beach chapter of the American Culinary Federation was Jay Shavitz of Infinity Computer Systems. He explained how credit card information theft can occur at restaurants.

It’s called credit card skimming, he said, and some restaurant servers are recruited by crime rings. The bad guys give the servers pocket-size “skimmers.” When the server gets a credit card and takes it to swipe in the restaurant’s credit card terminal, he also gives the card a quick swipe through the skimmer. The skimmer gets the card’s information off its magnetic strip and stores it.

“The skimmers can hold information from 200 to 300 credit cards,” Jay said, “and then they download the info on their computers at home and send it out of the country.”

Restaurants account for about 90 percent of all credit card skimming, he said, because a restaurant is just about the only environment where upon payment the credit cards are removed from customers’ views. (more…)

What you thought is enough to start a restaurant business could be the same thing which could cause your business downfall in less than a year. You may be an expert entrepreneur or you may have inherited a family business but have no background about restaurant and catering at all – no matter the qualifications you have, some things are better studied first hand than realized later. And later could be too late.

First of all, do yourself a favor by getting to know what are restaurants and its nature. The important and primary things should never be ignored and forgotten. In this case, tell yourself first if you can handle this type of business because in case you didn’t know yet, restaurants are complex type of businesses. It doesn’t involve one thing alone and if you guessed it right, profit is the word.

Restaurants should be handled from food costs, labor, rent (if you don’t own the place), advertising, food quality, customer service, advertising, profit and of course, the attitude to continue with this type of business. However, the basic principles of handling a restaurant go back to how it is operated by you, the owner and the organization style you have in your agenda.

The list doesn’t stop here, restaurants also have categorization and it’s one of your basic foundations before tackling the list mentioned above. You then ask, why? Well, how would you know what type of service you can give to your customers and what type of feedback you should expect if you didn’t know your restaurant’s categorization in the first place? (more…)

However sophisticated your training may be, its merits will soon be lost without effective and consistent reinforcement.

One of the most effective ways managers can reinforce training is through short and well planned pre-shift meetings. These are 10-15 minute sessions where managers can build confidence and gain valuable feedback.

Typically held just prior to a shift, the meetings are essential for improving customer care and boosting average spend as they present an opportunity to exchange ideas, test menu knowledge and highlight special dishes.

The most effective shift meetings are simple, informal and interactive. Interactive being the key word here. Attendees should be encouraged to do most of the talking, following the rule where you speak 20% of the time and they speak the other 80%.

Managers can control the meeting by introducing discussion topics, and encouraging participation through questions and role play exercises.

Here are a few discussion ideas:

-Test menu knowledge through role play, with the manager playing the role of the guest and server recommending menu items
-Discuss customer care, such as handling complaints or telephone etiquette.
-Describe the specials, and have waiting staff describe them back
-Review forthcoming promotions or advertisements, or discuss any large parties or groups coming in
-You can brainstorm marketing ideas, sales goals or review average spend.

When determining which topics to discuss at a shift meeting, it is important to consider the meeting from the employee’s point of view or WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). First you must explain the benefits of putting what they learn into practice. Second, you must identify the reasons why they should listen and participate. Typically employees benefit through an increased knowledge and the confidence to do their job more effectively. (more…)

Inventory management is a necessity in every business, but more and more restaurants are realizing that it can be the difference between success and failure.

Inventory management is the process of controlling costs and waste through effective use of on-hand product. Combine this with a reliable forecasting model and restaurants can realize dramatic reductions in their monthly spending.

Every business is faced with the unfortunate reality that employees will steal from their employer. An effective inventory management system combined with secure storage and lock-up procedures will result in far less loss due to employee theft.

In the restaurant industry there are primarily three types of inventory management systems: Manual or Limited Integration, Mixed P.O.S. or Partial Integration and Fully-Integrated.

Manual or Limited Integration

Manual inventory management refers to the process of physically counting each item every week to obtain restaurant costs. This system is more suited to smaller, independently-owned operators who purchase fewer items and maintain simpler accounting records.

Once all counting is completed, then data can then be transferred to the restaurant’s accounting system. If there are no errors, the inventory is complete. If there are errors however, the entire inventory process must start again to find the mistakes.

Mixed P.O.S.

Mixed Point of Sale (POS) or partial integration, combines the restaurant’s POS system with manual inventory procedures. Point of sale refers to the computer system used to order food and drinks as well as settling all checks.

Each time an item is ordered through the POS it is removed from the current inventory. When the items are counted during inventory, the on-hand stock should match the inventory listed by the POS. If however, there are discrepancies between the two lists, another physical count of the inventory must begin.

This method of inventory management is more effective than the limited system, and when combined with strong loss-prevention procedures can result in large cost reductions per month. (more…)

Have you ever heard that saying, “The show must go on”? When you hear it, you think of what is commonly referred to as “Show-biz,” don’t you? But where can you go to see the best acting money can buy, any day of the week? No, I’m not talking about the theatre or TV. I’m talking about the “Restaurant-biz.” Servers, bartenders, hostesses, and restaurateurs act on a daily business. Their performance is crucial! Every movement, every word, every bite is an integral part of the restaurant-goers experience, and any one of these parts, if it isn’t just right, could lead to the restaurant-goer, well, going.

Many a restaurant owner has held their breath as they flipped to the local restaurant critic’s (probably some pompous, pretentious old windbag), page to see what he or she has to say about their establishment. This write-up has the power to make or break a restaurant, especially a privately owned one. Unfortunately the only critiques a server gets to give are given behind a kitchen door, in a server station, or over a beer (or several) at the end of a shift. Well, the restaurant critic has held the pen too long! The time has come for the server to speak up and critique the customer for a change!

I, as a former member of the exclusive club known as the Restaurant Industry, am about to attempt a categorization of several different types of patrons. This will be the first installment of a series I like to call, “The Restaurant Chronicles.” In this, Part 1, I will begin a labeling process which will hopefully serve as both comic relief for others in our distinguished field, and also to illuminate those who may unknowingly belong to one (or more) of the following groups. Let’s see, where should we begin? (more…)

You may have a restaurant you’re managing at the moment or maybe you are one lost camper in the internet world trying to find out more about restaurants, how to manage one and other important things needed as a restaurant owner/manager. Either of the two, it is always important to have a general check with the basic things that matter.

First thing is to inform yourself. Informing yourself with the latest information in restaurant handling, pitfalls which you should avoid and major areas of concerns about the restaurant business is the best tool you could always take with you. It doesn’t have to come from just the books or restaurant magazines; the internet itself has an immense source of just about anything and if you are on the look out for the latest happenings about restaurant, it is the best place to look to.

It is obvious that when a person tries to establish a restaurant for the first time, the concept always comes first. The same thing goes with a current restaurant owner, if not for all, there are still a percentage of owners who are fixated in concepts. Of course, they certainly have learned but this is one thing that needs to be checked at all times. Creating a concept without proper planning is usually the pitfall here. A good plan has all the details laid out. This means that no matter the details, the plan prevails which means also that the money allotted for it isn’t going to go beyond expected. (more…)

What can you do to track down your progress on profit or expenses? When progress in numbers is checked, solid evidence is always needed because it’s the only basis of how much a restaurant is earning or losing each day. Is it doing well by average or is it doing better compared to how much you have expected it to earn from day 1? You need to always check on this on a regular basis because it could make or break your business.

You also need to know the volume trend of your restaurant and a report of the managerial efficiency for both the customers and the restaurant during hours of operation. This way, you’ll have a clearer picture of what else or how much more your benefits are going to be if you had another way to run your business. Also, you will need to check the classification of each of your restaurant’s division. Check on the revenue of the productivity of each producing department. In this case, you will need to take a look at the revenue on your bottomless iced tea if it does bring money to the cash register or if it doesn’t make any difference at all. (more…)

Restaurant management has many areas of concern especially if it’s a newly opened establishment being run by a novice restaurant manager/owner. There can be a lot of challenges to face, realizations to know and bills to pay but any person whose passion to be successful in restaurant management will get to their goals later on. Of course there will be shortcomings and endless issues with partners, food providers, employees and customers but a serious restaurant owner has to handle all these to get to a more stable business.

Another fact about restaurant management is that the trends of handling and rendering service to customers changes in time. One must prepare for a great deal of changes after two, three, four and so on years. It is important to continue moving forward with any changes that may be issued both by the government and society. It is inevitable to adapt to new things because it’s also one way of growing up and maturing, the same with people. After all, a person can never claim he has lived the life to the fullest unless he has done all sorts of things and experienced failures in the past. The same principle goes with restaurant management.

A restaurant in operation has to agree with many laws issued and there are also numerous potential dangers that a restaurant owner and the employees need to look out for as well. Not only that, there’s also the reality of facing and dealing with competitors right across the street. On top of these factors, there is an endless potential harm a restaurant will have to deal with (just incase) and considering it as a business for life needs to be fully checked and analyzed. (more…)

Restaurant owners don’t run a cash machine 24/7. They face the reality of being observed by thieves undercover and this alone is a serious threat not only to the business but to the safety of the management, staff and customers. The most difficult part about this harm is there is no certain point one realizes that there is a thief lurking around the corner waiting for the right time to attack. And the sad part about it is there are a big percentage of theft casualties done by employees.

Yes, that’s right. Employee theft is one of the serious threats that a restaurant owner has to accept. Each year, there is an estimate of over $52 billion loss because of this reason. The percentage is up to 95% and the numbers already indicates a high risk of getting robbed by one of your employees anytime.

The fact is, there is no actual way of stopping this sad reality but it’s best to still think one step ahead of the culprit. You need to start to work on your very own backyard to prevent employee theft. Make sure that you’re aware with your employees’ behavior physically, mentally and professionally. Analyze your employees’ habits such as the borrowing property of others without permission or borrowing money from co-workers regularly. (more…)