First Published: 31 Dec 2022How To Manage A Restaurant Business Successfully
11 Tips For Restaurant Management That Will Make Your Life Easy is a must-read. To run a restaurant well, the manager must keep a close eye on the day-to-day business and ensure everything runs smoothly. It’s an exercise in multitasking in every sense of the word, which can be challenging. Restaurant managers face challenges when trying to manage multiple tasks, but it is essential for them to enhance their abilities to effectively lead their team and support the growth of the organisation.
Tips For Restaurant Managers
When running a restaurant, there are a few key things managers need to keep in mind. Managers can do their jobs well in many different ways, so let’s look at eleven tips for restaurant managers to improve how a restaurant is run. All of them will help the business run more smoothly. Here are the tips to help you get started:
1. Organisational And Strategic Planning Skills
Planning and organisation are two skills that managers must have if they want to improve how well the workflow works.
When running a restaurant, careful planning means setting aside time to think about any problems or needs that might arise in the future. The ideal time for this strategic planning is Monday morning. Monday is a great day to plan for the week after you’ve had a chance to analyse your restaurant’s previous week’s figures. Setting up a plan and routine for everything is essential, such as opening and closing, getting new stock, dealing with angry customers, and handling emergencies.
If you are ready to meet those standards and figure out how to solve those problems, everything will go off without a hitch.
The importance of an organised restaurant is paramount. Larger restaurant chains, for example, have significant organisational structures, which help create a healthier work environment for their employees.
Rules need to be made, everything needs to be written down, and the way analytical results are reported needs to be uniform. If this organisation doesn’t exist, things will start to get worse.
2. Restaurant Management Of Staff Retention
There is a link between being organised and keeping workers on board and being unorganised and losing them. When a restaurant is well-run and managed, the people who work there will enjoy their jobs, making them more likely to keep working there. When a restaurant is not well-run and managed, the people who work there won’t want it.
Even if some people aren’t cut out for working in the service industry, you should still put in a great deal of effort into keeping the people you already have will help you keep doing well.
The restaurant managers’ responsibility is to ensure their staff is qualified for their role. For your restaurant to be successful, the people who work there must be very good at what they do.
The wait staff is the face of the restaurant to the outside world, and they are ultimately in charge of how well they serve each customer.
No matter what, finding the right people to work in a restaurant is one of the most challenging problems that restaurant owners have to solve.
Annual Human Resources Planning
At the beginning of the year, you must plan your staff requirements for the whole year. Then, break it down into quarterly tasks. Hiring new staff and training them to meet your requirements takes time, so be proactive rather than reactive. Have a staff hiring schedule based on your quarterly needs and execute it.
Talk to your employees, find out what they want, and do everything you can to give it to them.
Also, make your restaurant a place where people feel comfortable being open and honest to make it easier for your staff to connect with the restaurant as a whole. Have a core of 20% full-time and 80% part-time staff to give you complete flexibility in your staffing needs.
How To Make Sure Your Restaurant Staff Are Happy and Productive
3. Have A Program or Method for Training New Staff
It is of the utmost importance to ensure that your staff knows the rules of the restaurant and how to help customers correctly; restaurant management staff training is crucial.
Staff members need to be trained so that they not only know what is expected of them but also know how to do their jobs well.
If you make it clear from the start that you have a zero-tolerance policy and take the situation very seriously, your loud participation in the conversation will show that you mean what you say.
An employee’s training should be about giving guests, the paying customers, the best experience possible.
“Soft skills” like talking to guests and other customers well can be beneficial.
Also, the staff needs to be trained on the menu to make helpful suggestions to the customer.
It is essential to continuously train your team to ensure they are constantly improving, rather than just doing it once and forgetting about it.
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4. Putting Your Guests’ Happiness First
A well-known saying says, “The customer is always right,” for good reason.
It is crucial to prioritise the customer’s needs for a positive experience, frequently requiring careful planning and practical communication skills in different situations.
During the busiest hours, welcoming and accommodating a sizeable group of customers with a friendly demeanour while conversing with them is necessary. Additionally, preparing food for individuals with dietary restrictions or allergies is essential.
Mistakes can happen, and there is always a chance that someone will make one.
Offering a free drink to dissatisfied customers can be a way to make them happy and encourage them to continue doing business with your restaurant. This gesture of goodwill can go a long way in improving customer satisfaction.
If it was a huge mistake, you can even offer to take money off their meal or even offer them a free meal to show how sorry you are.
Even though these gifts might seem like a financial loss, they are necessary to ensure that customers will return to your business.
5. Find a POS System That Works Well For You.
A restaurant POS also called a point-of-sale system , can do much more than keep track of daily sales and table counts. This interface can even be used to manage your inventory, run your HR resources, and complete your team’s daily tasks.
Your point-of-sale system can provide valuable data on the most frequently ordered dishes at a particular location, which can be helpful for menu engineering. It is essential to utilise your point-of-sale system effectively to obtain this information.
That will let you change your menu to suit the tastes of your guests, which is almost always a good idea.
On the other hand, there are many different point-of-sale (POS) systems. So, you must find the system that has the best chance of working for you.
If you think about what’s most important to you and how much money you’re willing to spend, you’ll find something that will work well in your restaurant.
When you have a point-of-sale (POS) system that does much of the work for you, keeping track of all the moving parts is much easier.
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6. Working On Your Business
It’s a whole different ballgame when you work ON the business instead of IN the business.
If you want your restaurant to grow, you must spend some time and energy on the business that supports the restaurant.
Spending most of your time as a manager overseeing daily tasks in the kitchen may not be in your best interest and could hinder your chances of success.
It would help if you worked behind the scenes to ensure the finances are in order and that sales tax and other taxes are paid on time. It would help if you also did what you could to ensure the taxes were paid right.
Also, if you want to improve the business, you must spend time working on new products.
To reach your goal, you must find new menu items that people want and that your business can sell to increase sales.
You must take several steps to grow your business to its fullest potential. One of these steps is to look into other ways to make money in your restaurant, such as staging events and catering for special occasions.
You could also sign up for an app that offers online delivery services or make your app provide catering services for events.
7. Social Media for Restaurants
To promote their business, restaurants must spend a lot of money on advertising to reach potential customers. Using social media to tell people about your business and show what you’re doing is a cost-effective way to do both.
In addition to this, it helps build relationships and gets people talking about your organisation.
Even though there are many different points of view on this subject, Facebook and Instagram are the two social media networks that will help your business the most.
You can put information about your business on Facebook, like when it’s open, where it is on a map, and if anything significant has changed, like when it will be closed for the holidays.
If you want to succeed on Instagram, you should take fewer, higher-quality photos instead of more, lower-quality ones. You will stand out from the crowd as a result of this.
You can also share what is going on behind the scenes, which can make your guests feel more involved in the event they are going to.
No matter what country your restaurant is in, you want to ensure that native speakers of all the major languages in the area can access its online presence.
8. Restaurant Management is About Solving Problems
Managers need to be able to figure out how to solve problems. No matter how well your employees are trained or how well-organised your business is, there will always be problems.
What sets decent restaurants apart from those that deserve to be called good is their ability to deal with unexpected problems well.
When faced with a problem, a recommended approach is to identify the most straightforward solution that can fulfil the requirements of all parties involved, which can help streamline the resolution process and ensure that everyone’s needs are addressed.
In the future, you can look into both the problem and the solution to learn more about both.
Spend some time thinking about the things you did well and could have done better.
Giving yourself time to think about how you can get better at solving problems by thinking about improving your approach is a great way to build these skills.
9. Everyone On Each Team Needs To Be On The Same Page.
The skills that a restaurant staff has should be treasured and valued. In a restaurant, the quality of the place depends on how hard each worker does their job.
The staff needs to find and keep a good balance for the restaurant to work well and without mistakes.
Because of this, the Front of the House and the Back of the House need to be in sync. Keeping the lines of communication open and robust is one of the best ways to do this without making the process more complicated than it needs to be.
This Back of House will always benefit from knowing how many reservations there are if any big groups are coming, and which products are being marketed.
On the other hand, it might be helpful for the front of House of the restaurant to know how the kitchen functions and the parts that go into making it function well.
When both groups know about the projects that the other group is working on, they can work together better.
10. Listen to Your Restaurant’s Guests and Value Their Feedback
For a business or organisation to be successful, it must give its customers or clients a service of the highest quality.
On the other hand, listening to what your customers have to say is very important because that will give you an unbiased view.
As a restaurant manager, it’s natural to become engrossed in the minutiae of day-to-day operations. However, it’s crucial to maintain perspective and consider various viewpoints to achieve long-term success.
The good news is that paying close attention to what your customers say can help you develop new ideas.
If you think something is working well, but clients keep telling you they are unhappy, it’s time to make changes.
On the other hand, if customers can’t stop talking about a particular dish or item, it’s a clear sign that you should put more effort into making it available at the restaurant.
Also, your customers can tell you which items should stay on the menu and which should be added.
If you give your guests what they want, they will keep returning for more of what they want.
11. Celebrate Your Restaurant’s Business.
If your team has been doing a lot to help your business succeed, you owe it to them to take the time to thank them. You can show gratitude with a monetary bonus, a share of the profits, or even a small token gift.
No matter how you pay your employees, it would be best if you treated everyone equally. Don’t just award them once and forget about their achievements afterwards.
An excellent way to get people to work hard is to praise them when they do something great.
A great way to make your team feel important is to throw a party to celebrate everyone’s successes and show that you care about them.
Conclusion
Managing a restaurant can be challenging as it demands attention, creativity, and passion. Besides, it also necessitates excellent organisational skills, strategic planning, and effective troubleshooting.
Fortunately, with these valuable 11 Tips For Restaurant Managers, your company will undoubtedly experience considerable improvement and success.
Frequently Asked Questions And Answers
What makes you a good restaurant manager?
A good restaurant manager possesses a combination of leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. Creating a positive dining experience is essential; they make every effort to ensure customer satisfaction. They also excel in staff management, providing well-trained, motivated team members to work efficiently. Effective financial management, menu planning, and attention to detail contribute to their success.
What not to do as a restaurant manager?
As a restaurant manager, avoiding micromanaging your staff is crucial, as it can lead to decreased morale and productivity. It’s also essential to pay attention to customer service and compromise on food quality. Disorganised or failing to address issues promptly can harm the restaurant’s reputation. Moreover, employee training and development can help team performance and customer satisfaction.
What is the hardest part of being a restaurant manager?
One of the most challenging aspects of being a restaurant manager is managing a diverse team of individuals with varying skills, personalities, and work ethics. Balancing the demands of customers, staff, and business operations can also be taxing. Additionally, handling unexpected crises, such as equipment breakdowns or staff shortages, requires quick thinking and practical problem-solving skills.
How can I be a confident restaurant manager?
As a restaurant manager, one gains confidence through experience and proficiency in all aspects of restaurant operations. To build trust, continually improve your skills and knowledge through training and education. Effective communication with your team and clear goal-setting can also boost your confidence. Additionally, seek feedback from customers and colleagues to understand areas for improvement and acknowledge your successes along the way.