In this economy the restaurants are closing at an alarming rate. Here are some things to help cut down the cost and bring in the customers.
1. Food costs need to be kept to a minimum, so you need to pick out a handful of your specialties and put them on a new menu. A menu that offers 10-12 items is fine. Burgers can be done in a hundred different ways. They are a main staple for most restaurants. Food should always be presented consistently. The same amount of food on the plate, each time it is ordered.
2. Customers want friendly service, so it is a good idea to train your staff to acknowledge the customers in a pleasant manner at all times. The customer that is not in their section today, may be in their section next week, so everyone needs to practice friendly gestures with all the customers. As the manager, it is your job to see that all the customers feel welcome. You need to get to know who your regulars are and send them a drink or dessert on the house once in a while and thank them personally for their patronage.
3.Cleanliness, not only in every nook and cranny of your establishment, but among the wait staff as well. Staff should not arrive for work with stains on their uniform. Nails of your staff need to be short and very clean. Their hands pass in front of customers often while serving. Hair needs to be tied back neatly. It is important to see what the customer sees. After being in your establishment for a while you get immune to the appearance of things. You need to walk in the front door and look around and see what the customer first sees. If you have a hard time doing this, ask a friend to do this. You will be surprised at the amount of clutter that gets over looked daily.
4. Time Study- you need to take notice of the amount of time it takes for a customer to get seated and served. Ideally, after a customer is seated it should take no more that 2 minutes for the wait staff to take their drink order. If it is going to be longer than this due to high volume, then the manager needs to address the customer by either taking their drink order or letting them know their wait staff will be right with them. A customer should have their drink order on their table no longer than 5 minutes from the time the order is taken. Depending on the style of your establishment, food orders should come out no longer than 20 mins from the time the order was taken. This is too long fast food restaurants.
5. Use your wait staff to the fullest extent. Make them your sales people. On busier days the wait staff are less apt to offer desserts to their customers. Run a weekly contest to boost up your sales. A small cash prize to the wait staff that sells the most desserts in a week , or who sells the most bottles of wine, etc… This could double your sales of an item.
6. Why will customers come to your restaurant instead of another area restaurant? In today’s world it will be for one of two things.. either your prices are better than the other establishments or you have something no one else in the area offers. If you offer both, you are on the road to success. No is the time to do your homework. With today’s technology, you don’t have to walk into a restaurant to view their menu. Do research on what the other area businesses are offering and for what price. A restaurant in Ct was slowly failing until they specialized in Lobster Rolls. They made a good Lobster Roll and sold it for a fair price. They found there niche’ and their customer base grew.
7. Advertising- If they don’t know who and where you are, they are not coming. WEB SITE- for all of you that are holding out against the new technology, think again. More than 50% of your new customers will look for your web site before visiting your restaurant. A web site can be done for free most high school kids can devise one today. Use some different forms of advertising during your slower times. Print up some flyer’s offering something special and place them on cars at the nearest shopping center. Coupons, although I sometimes find them tacky, do work. Offer an early bird or a lunch special. Cater to the population in the area you live in. Are you near a bunch of retirement villages? Early birds and coupons are the way to go. College Campus in your area? Bands and drink specials will bring them in. Think about who is in a 10 mile radius of your establishment , target them with something they will like, and they will come.
8. Hours of Operation- If you say you are open to 12 midnight, then you stay open to 12 midnight, even if there is not a soul in your place. The customers that drive by need to see that you are open. If someone stops in at 11pm and you are closed , they will never try to come back at that time again. Be professional with your hours.
