7 Tips for Running a Restaurant that Wows

You could be the next Alice Waters or another leading female owner in the restaurant industry. But as anyone in this sector knows, running a restaurant isn’t easy. If you are hoping to make a success of it, you need to know what to do and what to expect. Here are some easy tips that can provide big results when it comes to attracting more customers and providing excellent service to pair with delicious foods.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post with Monshaugen & Van Huff, and I have been monetarily compensated for the collaboration. I have had the final say on all wording and stand behind the quality of the written content.

Teach Your Staff

As a restaurant owner, you need to continually train your staff, either delegating the task to a senior member of your team or doing so yourself. That’s right, there’s more to do than just the initial training, although not every business does so. You’ll want to update them on new menu items, address any criticisms from customers, and always look at improving efficiency in the actions of wait staff and others.

Essentially you need to invest in your team of employees to build morale and maintain an efficient workforce. With consistent training, your kitchen helpers can become future leaders and managers. Training is just one way to motivate your wait staff.

Be Patient when Running a Restaurant

A restaurant business does not become successful overnight. You need to be patient and recognize that human errors occur and the learning curve is long and tiring. Managing a team of employees is about developing people into strong workers, which takes patience.

Investing your money and time into creating a strong team is not easy. For this reason, make sure that you have the right tools for running a business. A good lawyer can be integral for example if someone makes a dram shop claim against your business. In this case, look for specialists who stay up to date on this area of law and know it well.

Focus on Guest Satisfaction

With over a million restaurants in America, people have plenty of options for where to eat out. For this reason, put customer satisfaction at the top of your priority list, at least if you want them to come back again.

To better assess how customer experiences are at your dining establishment, put comment cards near the entrance or include them with their bill at end of the meal. Without online reviews or comment cards, it can be difficult to know what they are thinking.

Moreover, dissatisfied guests are more likely to spread the word about their negative experiences than positive ones. So, an important tip for running a restaurant that brings people back, again and again, is to speak with your employees about the importance of good customer service.

Be sure to define good service for them in concrete terms, such as “this is how you greet customers coming in the door.” While the food matters, good service is what your customers will ultimately remember about your restaurant.

Learn the Numbers

When starting a restaurant, you need to learn the numbers so that you can calculate:

• The cost of goods sold
• Labor cost
• Prime cost

Learning the numbers will come in handy when you need things like payroll and calculating profits. If numbers are not your strong suit, consider hiring an accountant to handle the accounting side of things.

Consistently Update and Revitalize

If your team remains stagnant, it probably means that you’re running a restaurant that is not advancing either. In most cases, customers will avoid boring or annoying experiences, such as slow service and employees who don’t seem passionate about the dining establishment.

Thus, you must continue to put forth the effort to create an energizing environment for your team and for your customers too. Otherwise, you face people walking away unsatisfied, never to return.

You have People to Work For too

Most people think that restaurant owners don’t have to answer to anybody. However, this statement is not correct because owners need to impress their investors, staff, and customers. After all, you don’t want an investor to pull out of your business because you are too arrogant.

Part of keeping everyone happy is ensuring that your restaurant brand is trustworthy and gets widespread attention online.

Moreover, you need to work to please your customers to ensure that they keep coming back and refer their friends to your restaurant. Plus, if your employees aren’t happy, then they’re less likely to work hard to provide great service to your customers.

It Takes Longer than You Think

When starting up a restaurant, the process will likely take much longer than you think originally. You first need to check all the boxes that apply to restaurant startups. After this, create a solid business plan for running a business that satisfies your target customer base. You also need to find capital.

In conclusion, running a restaurant is not as straightforward as most people think. You need to keep learning as the industry changes if you want to wow diners. To ensure consistency, make sure that you take time to train your staff properly at all levels and ask for their input about relevant parts of the business to get other perspectives and insights.