How to choose your Restaurant Concept?

There are many different types of restaurant concepts to choose from, but often because of your character, your skills, your management capability, your culture these impact the choice of your concept.

One of the first steps toward opening a new restaurant is defining the concept. 

This sounds easy enough, but have you ever eaten at a restaurant and felt confused? Did you feel like the menu didn’t fit the overall ambience (too pricy for a casual restaurant or too casual for a fine dining restaurant)? When this happens, customer´s expectations aren’t fulfilled and they are always not enthusiastic about coming back.

Whatever will be your choice make sure that you feel comfortable running your business.

Here are a few points to check to help you to make your decision;

• Will you be able to serve high top chef dishes, will you be able to match with high quality service?
• On the other hand will you be happy to manage a Fast Food concept where food and drinks knowledge is not the top qualities required?
• Your chosen location is it suitable for your concept?
• Evaluate your professionals’ capabilities to manage your future concept
• Is your concept fit well in your business plan? (Short budget, low cash flow, P&L forecast, labor cost level…)
• What your SWOT analysis tell you?

I know you think you can probably mix a little of Italian food with some Traditional Irish Pub food on your menu…  Well it is up to you and you should read carefully what´s next:

What is a VERY common killer for independent restaurateurs is you have to realize and this is all part of the process;

YOU CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE!

Don’t even try!

This is why you need to think seriously about the concept that you will take to satisfy your future customers.

Large menus create several problems within an operation:

• Large menus lack focus. 

When you try and offer EVERYTHING your customers like, you aren’t giving them more choices and more reasons to come back, you are confusing them. They don’t know what your specialties are, what you supposedly do well, what they should order, and how to describe you to their friends. If your message is focused and easy to convey, more of your customers will convey your message.

• Large menus take longer to order from. 

The more choices you have on your menu, the longer it takes each table to peruse that menu, and the longer it takes for them to order. For every minute they are NOT ordering, you are NOT making money for the seat they are occupying. Take this statement to heart if you want to be successful in the restaurant business: You will only ever be as successful as your peak period of service. 80% of revenue and 100% of profit is made during peak periods. Anything that limits your ability to serve customers and collect money during your peak periods is limiting your potential for profit.

• Large menus require more inventory items. 

The more items on your menu, the more ingredients you need to buy to make those items and the more items you’ll have on your shelf. Every item on your shelf represents a possibility for loss. It can be stolen; it can be mishandled, mis-prepped or stored incorrectly and spoiled. The less inventory items you have, the less waste you’ll have. Less waste you have more profit you’ll get.

• Large menus require more equipment and personnel to produce.

The more items you have on your menu, the less opportunity your staff has to cook multiple orders at once. Less multiple orders means more burners, grill space, fryer grease, and hands are required to produce the same number of dishes. All these additional tools cost you money.

• Large menus mean longer ticket times. 

When you have too many different dishes cooking at once and less multiple orders in the same pans, it means more time to produce whatever is being ordered. Beyond the fact that Americans are no longer willing to wait 45 minutes to have their dinner prepared for them, you should be thinking about how long ticket times limit your ability to process people through your dining room. The longer it takes to serve each table, the fewer tables you can turn during peak periods.

It is inherent in people to assume that somehow offering people more will make you appealing to more people. It’s just not true. When you try to be all things to all people, you end up being very little to very few. 

People need to know what you’re about.

Keep your menu focused! And remember, it´s also a fantastic marketing tool!

To help avoid new restaurant growing pains, check out these basic restaurant concepts and how to choose your own.

• Cafeteria /Buffet

Originating in 16th Century France, buffet dining has stood the test of time and continues to be a popular choice for many restaurant customers. By definition, a buffet is a meal where guests serve themselves from a variety of dishes set out on a table or sideboard (from Food Lover’s Companion). Read more about restaurant buffets.

• Fast Food Restaurant

Fast food is the most familiar restaurant to most people. Chains like McDonalds and Burger King became popular in the 1950s in US, and helped spawn countless other concepts like Taco Bell, and KFC. Fast food service attracted customers for its speed and convenience. Fast food restaurants are typically chains. If you are thinking of opening a fast food franchise, keep in mind that the initial costs of franchising are more expensive than opening an independent restaurant. Also one of the biggest trends right now is ``Fast casual´´ slightly more upscale than fast food. Fast casual restaurants offer disposable dishes and flatware, but their food tends to be presented as more upscale, such as gourmet breads and organic ingredients. Starbucks would be an example of a fast casual restaurant. Open kitchens are popular with fast casual chains, where customers can see their food being prepared.

• Café or Bistro.

A café is a restaurant that does not offer table service. Customers order their food from a counter and serve themselves. A café menu traditionally offers things such as coffee, espresso, pastries and sandwiches. Cafes originated in Europe and are strongly associated with France. They are known for their casual, unhurried atmosphere. Outdoor seating is another trademark of a café. Panera Bread is an example of a popular bakery-café chain. The term bistro is sometimes interchanged with café.

A bistro is actually a café that offers full meals in most countries but not in France where bistro is associated with cheaper fine dining experience.

• Pub

Short for Public House, pubs date back hundreds of years to Europe, especially Great Britain. Pubs have a timeless appeal, for their laid back atmosphere. Brewpubs offer beer made in house, as well as a wide selection of other beers and ales. Pubs can offer full menus, as well as appetizers. Many casual style restaurants have a separate pub side to their establishment.

• Casual Dining

Just as the name implies, a casual restaurant theme is well…casual, from the food to the atmosphere to the prices. Many independent restaurants have a casual theme. A mom-and-pop diner would be a casual restaurant. Casual style restaurants offer moderately priced entrees. This is one of the largest markets in the US right now. Casual style dining can be any number of themes, from Italian to seafood to Mexican restaurant. Casual style restaurants offer table side service, non-disposable dishes, while still keeping the menu moderately priced.

• Fine Dining

The term Fine Dining brings to mind all kinds of images, from crisp white table cloths to waiters in tuxedos. A fine dining restaurant offers patrons the finest in food, wine, alcohol, service and atmosphere. It is also the highest priced type of restaurant you can operate. Just as the name implies, fine dining is used to describe a much more upscale restaurant, one that offers diners an elegant atmosphere with high quality service. The chefs in fine dining restaurants are usually professionally trained, and the food is fairly expensive, but worth it. But you have to keep in mind that type of restaurants are very difficult to financially run because of high overheads, high cost of employees’ wages. Also beware only experienced Managers are able to deal with expensive wine store room and high quality of fresh products!

• Franchise

A restaurant franchise offers many benefits over independent restaurants, such as instant name recognition and a turn-key operation. However, buying a franchise can be costly. And there are many rules and regulations that come along with operating a franchise.

• Restaurant Food Truck

A food truck is like restaurant on wheels. It has several distinct advantages over a traditional eat-in restaurant. A food truck can go to the customers. It has low overhead, compared to a restaurant, and requires far less staff. However a food truck is still a business that requires a lot of work and attention- especially in the first couple of years.

• Restaurant Catering

Restaurant catering offers you a chance to increase both your sales and your customer base. People already love your food, so why not capitalize on that and offer catering services as well? Read more restaurant catering.

• Ethnic Cuisine

This is one of the simplest restaurant concepts, building around a specific type of food, such as Mexican, Chinese, Indian or Italian, to name a few. The menu, décor and restaurant name should all reflect the ethnic cuisine.

Beware of mixing restaurant concepts. In an attempt to stand out from the competition, you may be tempted to design your own concept, perhaps fast food Italian or a fine dining food truck.

While originality is important when opening a new restaurant, you want to make sure your restaurant concept is clear to the customer.

BON COURAGE!

Customer Care Services in your business

Principles of good customer service

The key to good customer service is building good relationships with your customers. Thanking the customer and promoting a positive, helpful and friendly environment will ensure they leave with a great impression. A happy customer will return often and is likely to spend more.

To ensure you provide the best customer service:

• Evaluate what your customers consider to be good customer service
• How to meet customers' expectations
• Follow up on both positive and negative feedback you receive
• Ensure that you consider customer service in all aspects of your business
• Continuously look for ways to improve the level of customer service you deliver

The followings are some of the main elements of good customer service

Customer relationships

To build good customer relationships in your restaurant you need to:

• Greet and welcome customers in a way that is natural and fits the individual situation
• Show customers that you understand what their needs are
• Accept that some people won't want your suggestions or specials and concentrate on building relationships with those who do
• Help & guide people - even just letting a customer know about an event that you know they're personally interested in is helpful
• Keep customers aware of what's in your Menus, what are the forthcomming events & what service is available for them

.

Staff

If you want to provide the best customer service, all of your staff needs to have good communication and sales skills. You will also need to show leadership by personally providing excellent customer service at all times.

Complaints

Listen to customer complaints as you may learn something about your product or service. Let customers know that you appreciate feedback.

Overcome any objections. Listen to what the customer is objecting about (often price, dishes, drinks served at the wrong temperature or service time). Confirm the validity of each concern and offer a solution. Find out more on this blog about managing customer complaints.

Menu´s items and Wine & Drinks lists

Know your products on your menu & lists. The more you know, the more confidence you can build in the customer.

Ensure your staff can tell customers about all items on your lists and what are the benefits.

Meeting customers' expectations

To provide good customer service, you need to understand who your customers are and what they want.

Know your customers

Collect information about as many of your customers as possible;

• Try to find out what your customers are buying
• Why they are eating at your place at this moment and what is the frequency of their attendance
• When trying to understand their needs, it may be useful to know details such as their lifestyle, occupation and interests
• Include any potential customers who have made enquiries about your services

Understand your customers' needs

Each customer will have a different perception of what customer service means to them. If you want to provide good customer service, you should know the needs of the customer and how to fulfil those needs.

Find out how your customers expect from you to meet their needs. The expected level of service varies from marketplace to marketplace, industry to industry and, to some extent, from consumer group to consumer group. Research your marketplace and your target markets to find out what your customers expect of your business in your location.

Meet your customers' needs

Tailor your level of service to suit your customers' needs. Some businesses work well providing basic level of service while others go beyond customer expectations, this could be the 'Wow!' factor.

Some ways to go beyond customer expectations are:

• Introducing initiatives - for example, customer focus groups, customer comment cards or a suggestion box. These initiatives send a clear message to customers that you are interested in their input.
• Suggesting add-ons - for example, 'would you like a wine dessert that we just receive from our selected wine supplier as well?'
• Give the free homemade glass of Limon cello at the end of the meal to your clientele
• Offer a Rose for Valentine’s day or for New Year Eve to the ladie

Failing to meet expectations

When a business fails to meet customer expectations, customers do business elsewhere. Poor customer service and the perceived indifference of staff and management account for about 68% of customers who don't return to a business.

Customer complaints can alert you if your business is failing to meet customer expectations.

Some actions you can take to improve customer service are:

• Investigate the areas of issue
• Train staff in customer service and sales skills over and over….
• Rotate staff so they can increase their knowledge of other areas
• Encourage and support teamwork
• Review recruitment and selection procedures

Action Plans are the best way to address issues rising up in your business, seat down with your team to validate your Action Plan.

Creating a customer service program

A customer service program formalizes the level of customer service you aim to provide, and what practical actions you will do to achieve this.

Establishing a successful customer service program in your business requires commitment from yourself and your staff. You need to plan it, develop it, implement it and sustain it. It also involves training and feedback.

Steps for creating an effective customer service program

• Think about what your customers need.
• Plan how you will meet their needs. Write a document outlining the program's aims, details, and how it will be implemented throughout your business.
• Deliver training to your staff, including training for any new systems
• Implement the program, making sure all staffs are confident with it
• Sustain the program by reviewing changing customer needs and feedback
• Encourage and support staff through a staff recognition program
• If your program is working well it will keep your customers happy, which, in turn, will mean higher profits for you.

Your customer service program

Staff

Your people need to work together to put the needs of the customer first. Staff should treat customers as individuals and listen to their comments, complaints and requests.

This all adds up to a great customer service attitude

Importantly, your staff should thank customers to ensure that they feel valued, important and needed.

Your staff is the first point of contact for your customers, so it is important that they:

• Have the right attitude
• Are well trained
• enjoy their work
• Contribute to improvements
• Advocate your business
• Systems and processes

The way your customers buy from you is very important, because if the buying experience is frustrating or difficult a customer may not even complete its meal...

The following are some tips for your management:

• Reward customers with a customer loyalty program
• Record client details in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database
• Seek post-sale feedback from clients
• Recognize and reward staff behavior that you want repeated
• Review recruitment practices to ensure you employ the right front-line staff
• Include a staff training program and review staff performance regularly
• Ask key staff what they already do to provide good customer service
• Encourage ideas, suggestions and observations from all staff and establish an anonymous staff suggestion box if staff are uncomfortable sharing ideas

 

Measuring customer service

Identify areas of your customer service that are measurable, and regularly check that these meet your expectations. There are many ways to measure the success of your customer service.

Mystery shoppers

You could organize a friend or family member to be a mystery shopper or mystery phone caller. Have them ask specific questions of your staff to test their knowledge, helpfulness and the time taken to be served.

You may also be able to hire a mystery shopping company, who can design their visits around your specific requirements.

Surveys and feedback forms

Customer feedback is another good measure of your service. To collect information on customer satisfaction, you could use comment cards where customers rate aspects of your service (e.g on a scale of 1 to 5). You can ask for feedback on specific aspects of your business or leave forms open-ended, like a suggestion box. Share with staff any positive or negative feedback you receive.

You can collect customers' personal details by asking for names, contact details and preferences on the back of any feedback forms or cards. Customer information´s collected whether you use it or not must comply with business privacy laws. The laws in different countries also cover how you can store and use the information.

I hope this post was useful for you, because your staffs and yourself should care about all your customers. When the job is proprely done, returns could be huge.... Good luck!

SWOT Analysis

 You are sure that your restaurant will serve the most delicious food or will provide the best table service in your area!!! YEAHHH… 

But do you know the strengths and weaknesses of your business or the opportunities and threats facing your business, your business may suffer.

YOU BETTER THINK RIGHT NOW SWOT Analysis…!

S = STRENGTHS

W = WEAKNESSES

O = OPPORTUNITIES

T = THREATS

I know you are too busy with you are startup… but common let’s get prepared to perform your SWOT analysis, invite your restaurant team, friends, suppliers to get involved so you will gain more insight from different points of view.

Strengths

The strengths of your restaurant lie in what you do best, whether it’s serving tasty food, offering quality service at the table or providing decor that makes the fun of eating at your restaurant a memorable experience. Other strengths may consist of your pricing structure, such as offering a lower-priced menu than similar restaurants in your area. If you currently generate traffic during slow times by offering special promotions, such as “buy two meals, get one free before 5 p.m.” to get patrons in the door, that’s a strength. Other strengths may include serving a specific type of ethnic food not served elsewhere in the area.

Weaknesses

Weaknesses give you an idea of things to improve in your restaurant. For instance, your wait staff may create a weakness for your restaurant, since you’re dependent on them for the personal service they provide to each table. Another weakness may exist if you do not provide adequate employee training, such as showing wait staff how they should attend to tables or explaining to culinary personnel how you want food prepared and presented. Other weaknesses may include not getting consistent supplies that result in menu items not being available. Relying on an outdated point-of-sale system or using paper to keep track of ordering and stocking is a weakness, because there are better ways of calculating your stockroom, order and financial needs.

Opportunities

Look for opportunities that help your restaurant increase its profits, such as expanding or providing different types of food and beverages. Taking advantage of trends related to eating healthier may mean featuring more organic dishes or salads on your menu. Finding ways to generate more traffic during slow times, such as in the afternoon, may represent an opportunity for growth. Selling some of your restaurant products, such as salad dressings or baked goods, for people to buy and take home represents an opportunity. Offering delivery services and take-out or setting up a drive-through to meet the needs of people on the go represents another potential opportunity.

Threats

Competing restaurants located nearby represent a threat to your business, especially if you sell similar types of food or have similar dining experiences. New restaurants opening up in your area also represent a threat, since area diners have more options on where to spend their dining money. Other threats consist of the potential rising price of certain foods. For instance, if you make seafood dishes and something negative impacts the shrimp market, a threat exists if you need to raise prices or find new suppliers, because you may lose business.

You´ve got it now!!! Here is THE TOOL to conduct your commercial strategy and to bring you
safely where you are hoping to be… 

Shop for restaurant´s competitors in town

Before opening a restaurant and during the operation of one, one of the most important things that a restaurant entrepreneur should do is try out other restaurants in his town or business area. 

In fact, you should be familiar with your potential competitor restaurants, what are their strengths and weaknesses.

Think about it. Before a coach sends his team onto the field, he has studied countless hours of game film of the opponent, showing all of their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. Before troops are sent onto a battlefield, extensive intelligence is studied.  I say the same type of covert operations should be part of your restaurant business plan.

It may seem bizarre for you to be a paying customer at a competing restaurant, but you will gain valuable insight by doing so. Corporations use mystery shoppers to tell if retail stores and restaurants are doing a good job of serving customers and you should do the same for your competitors.

• How are competing restaurants treating customers?
• What specials do they have?
• What is the ambiance like?
• What did you like about your dining experience?
• What did you dislike?

If you can answer these questions, you will know what positive’s aspects to take in consideration in your operation and what aspects to make sure you avoid.

For example;

• If you left early because it took too long for the server to ask if you would like a coffee at the end of your meal, make sure you train your servers to be more attentive.
• If you thought the food presentation made your meal more pleasant, make sure you put an emphasis on presentation in your own restaurant.

There’s no such thing as too much opposition research!

Once you have thoroughly mystery shopped competing restaurants, you will know what you like and dislike about competitors and how you can incorporate that into your restaurant strategy. 

Also once your restaurant is up and running, you should encourage people you trust to mystery shop your own restaurant and give honest feedback. It is only through this type of feedback that you will know what your restaurant does well and where it needs improvement.

That´s not copying your competitors, this is stepping back from your business to keep open eyes about what is going on around especially when you will be busy running your own operation.

Keep in mind that will help you to prepare your SWOT analysis that you have to integrate into your business plan. 

Margin, Markup and Break Even Point in Your Business

Margin, Markup and Break Even Point

You should review your margin, mark up and break even calculations once every three months to check:

• Profits are not being lost by increasing prices in stock or expenses - margin
• How to set a new selling price when cost of goods sold increase - mark up
• How much you need to sell before the business is making a profit - break even analysis

You will need to produce financial statements (contact me I will send you some templates) such as profit and loss, balance sheet or cash flow statements (which cover margin, mark up and break even calculations).

Margin

There are two margins that need to be considered when monitoring your profitability, gross profit margin and net profit margin;

• Gross Profit Margin

Gross margin is sales left after subtracting the cost of the goods sold from net sales. Net sales will be calculated by deducting any discounts given to customers and commissions paid to sales representatives from the total value of all sales for each period.

Gross margin tells you: the price set for your goods will be higher than the cost of buying the goods. Gross margin is not commonly used for service businesses, as they usually don't have cost of goods.

Gross margin can be expressed either in money value (gross profit) or in a percentage value that measures the percentage of sales remaining (after obtaining or producing the goods sold) available to pay the overhead expenses of the company.  For example if Mike´s Restaurant has a gross profit of $50,600 then his overhead expenses cannot be more than this amount, otherwise the business will make a loss.

Gross margin is calculated as follows:

• Money value = Net Sales less Cost of Goods Sold = Gross Profit
• Percentage value = (Gross Profit dollars / Net Sales dollars) x 100 = Gross Margin

(See related content; Pricing food – http://consultantworldwide.blogspot.fr/search/label/Menu%20pricing )

(The Financial Statements sample spreadsheet includes gross profit calculations I will send them over to you if you need them)

• Net Margin

Net margin is the sales left after subtracting both the cost of goods sold and the overhead expenses.

Net margin tells you: what profit will be made before you pay any tax (tax is not included because tax rates and tax liabilities vary from business to business).

This means if the net margin is 10 percent then for every Euro/Dollar/Pound sold you will make 10 cents in profit after all the cost of goods and overhead expenses have been paid.

Net Margin can be calculated as follows:

• Value = Net Sales less total of both Cost of Goods Sold and Overhead Expenses = Net Profit
• Percentage Value = (Net Profit Euro or Dollar or Pound / Net Sales dollars) x 100 = Net Margin

(The Financial Statements sample spreadsheet includes gross profit calculations I will send them over to you if you need them)

Mark Up

Mark up is the amount you sell your goods above what it cost to purchase those goods. It is generally only a meaningful figure when referring to the sale of products rather than services.

Mark up tells you: you've set the selling price to cover all costs incurred with the sale.  For example, if your Mark Up percentage is 69.00%, you'll need to mark up the cost of goods by this percentage to achieve your gross margin (which will cover your operating costs and achieve the targeted profit). 

Mark up is calculated as follows:

• Percentage value = Sales less Cost of Goods Sold / Cost of Goods Sold x 100 = Mark up
• For example, if For example if Mike´s Restaurant purchases a chicken for $5.20, to ensure that he will reach his  gross profit target  as discussed earlier, then he will use the mark up calculation to set his sales price.  To set his sales price he will simply multiply his cost price by the mark up percentage. Using the 69.00% Mark Up on the $5.20 cost for a chicken then the calculation will be:

$5.20 x 1.6900 =  $8.789 which means he needs to sell each chicken for a minimum of $8.79+VAT each to make sure that he will have enough left over to cover the overhead expenses

(The Financial Statements sample spreadsheet includes gross profit calculations I will send them over to you if you need them)

Break Even

The break even calculation: shows how many sales have to be made, in either value or units, before all the expenses are covered and actual profit begins.

If you know how much you are selling each unit for, the cost of each unit and the operating expenses, then you can calculate the number of units you need to sell before you start making a profit. So if your break even figure is $15,000 per month then once you achieve this level of sales you'll be making a profit. By calculating the number of units to sell in order to break even you can also set yourself a target as example; $15,000/8.790= 1707 chicken per month. 

The break even analysis provides a strong indication of whether your business plan is realistic or not.

Use the following simple calculation to find where profit really starts:

• Dollar Value = Overhead expenses/ (1 – (Cost of Goods Sold / Total Sales)) = the total sales value needed before a net profit will occur
• Number of Units = Overhead expenses / (Unit selling price – unit cost to produce) = the total number of units needed to be sold before a net profit will occur

(The Financial Statements sample spreadsheet includes gross profit calculations I will send them over to you if you need them)

Do not forget to check my related post for additional information; “Pricingfood – Why you're doing it wrong and how to fix it?”

How to create a best practice workplace?

A happy workplace is a huge asset and can be achieved with just a few simple steps. These tips will help you assess your workplace culture to make sure you are getting the most out of your staff.

Provide clear expectations

People get frustrated and demotivated when they don’t know exactly what is expected of them. It starts at the top with the Managing Director, and is important for every level of leadership in a business.

Create a culture where you state clearly:

Vision, goals, roles, values and behaviors.

Results, reporting, quality standards, timelines, priorities.

Safety, policies, communication expectations (emails, phone, report formats).

Written lists of agreed actions and outcomes.

Encourage people to ask questions to clarify.

Make sure you provide a quality environment, resources and equipment

People need a good, safe, quality environment and the right tools and equipment to do their job properly. This includes providing them with the right furniture, equipment, POS system… and appropriate access to information or people. Too often these things are considered only in response to a problem, a complaint or after someone leaves, instead of proactively.

Find the right people and pay them appropriately

Getting the selection process right can help you set the standard when looking for managers and staff with the right skill set and cultural fit. Be clear about the pay, the hours, the holidays and what kind remote working arrangements are available. When you get it right team productivity is usually high and your reputation as a good employer is spread by word of mouth.

Give your employees the opportunity to use their skills and provide recognition

Frustration and boredom are counterproductive. So you need to match jobs and people with the right skills. Do a skill assessment and discover special skills in your employees. Experiment with projects and roles to get the right fit. Recognize and reward a job well done. If a person is recruited for a role and not given the opportunity to use their skills, they may not deliver the best work and may leave the job.

Provide support where needed

Seems obvious but there are often managers who don’t really care about their staff and make no effort to show interest. This is bad word of mouth. Get to know your staff - what is happening in their lives, what motivates them and offer assistance when they need it.

Be people-proud and committed

What do you do to ensure the staff feels important and passionate about the product or service the business provides? Some businesses have a community commitment and this creates a shared pride in what is being achieved. You want people to take ownership of what they do and feel pride.

Encourage your staff to contribute ideas and get involved in decisions

Ask staff for opinions and ideas. Listen to what they have to say. This makes a huge difference to them and will provide an environment that is open to innovation and improvements. This creates job satisfaction.

Encourage your staff to provide feedback

Some managers forget they are role models. Encourage day-to-day feedback discussions. Be open to giving and receiving positive and constructive feedback. This is a great way to establish an open and honest culture in the workplace.

Have fun

People need a break from work to share fun moments. This could be a casual day, afternoon tea with a difference (culturally focused food), trivia competitions, team outing/lunch, etc. Find a way to build this as a regular part of your workplace.

Encourage learning and development

Promote learning, and opportunities to develop new skills. Staff needs to know there is time to do it and a positive emphasis on gaining new skills. Do you have recognition for learning and developing new skills? Learning is about developing new skills and improving the ones you have. Give people the opportunity to grow; they will tell everyone what a great employer they have.

Look after your staff and they will look after you!

Cash flow forecasting

Definition

In the context of Entrepreneurs or Managers of small and medium restaurant, cash flow forecasting may be somewhat simpler, planning what cash will come into the business or business unit in order to ensure that outgoing can be managed so as to avoid them exceeding cash flow coming in.

Entrepreneurs need to learn fast that "Cash is king" and, therefore, they must become good at cash flow forecasting.

Methods;

A cash flow forecast pretty much tells you how to direct your business. Just as a personal budget is important to ensure that you spend your pay check wisely, so too is the cash flow forecast for any company/business.

It is a key management decision making tool as it is a guide to ensuring that the business's limited resources are utilized in the most efficient manner. If prepared in adequate detail, it assists the users (usually management) to identify any possible hemorrhage or areas requiring attention.

It is also an indicator to your bankers (as most lenders require this) that you are capable of repaying any debt. Of course, the assumptions on which your cash flow forecast are based are extremely important as they MUST relate to your business and the environment in which it operates.

In today's difficult economic environment, a cash flow forecast is not only useful but critical to the success of any business. If you want to get to your goal, you need to know HOW you're going to get there and the cash flow forecast is just one means of doing so.

The simplest method is to have a spreadsheet that shows cash coming in from all sources out to at least 90 days, and all cash going out for the same period.

See the simplified example below;

This requires that the quantity and timings of receipts of cash from sales are reasonably accurate, which in turn requires judgement honed by experience of the industry concerned, because it is rare for cash receipts to match sales forecasts exactly. These principles remain constant whether the cash flow forecasting is done on a spreadsheet or on paper or on some other IT system.

The point of making the forecast of incoming cash is to manage the outflow of cash so that the business remains solvent. 

3 Mistakes to avoid in your business plan

Avoid these mistakes when you fil your bussiness plan or you open a restaurant

Many people wish to open their restaurant. They often have to write a business plan to convince the bank to lend them some money or to raise a little capital. Nevertheless, some errors, which however found in many business plans, should be avoided. Little review of these errors does not do to avoid putting the key under the door too quickly!

Staffing bad anticipation

A) Overstaffed

Too many employees initially planned when the activity is launched can cost you dearly! It is important

to understand that the activity may be calmer at the beginning than later when your brand is well established. You should try to calculate the number of customers at launch not hire too quickly and burned your cash too quickly. The ideal is to come in the catchment area and calculate the number of people passing, observe the surrounding restaurant and count the number of customers per time slot.

B) Understaffed

I will contradict myself but a mistake may be even more damaging is not having enough staff to launch your business! If you rely on the effect of "Opening " and a potential buzz , and the D-Day you are full ... but do not have enough hired , your quality of service will suffer. Therefore, you may create a harmful "bad buzz" with customers who will never return but also criticize your options: “Waiting time too long, the service sloppy, careless staff ..." be careful an unhappy customer will be even more damaging than having no customers!

In conclusion, you need a flexible staff as you do not have a clear idea of ​​your customer´s numbers and critical time ranges into your restaurant.

Preferred a good location to an attractive place

A) The location attracts more customers than the beauty of the place

Any entrepreneur would rather have a beautiful place, where it feels good. However, you must first focus on location of your place . A beautiful place, with the size and layout you are looking for but located in an area without passing will always work less than a place less attractive esthetically but with a good location. You will need to make choices but keep in mind that the location is paramount to the rest.

 B) Lease overpriced

However, you must calculate the Return of investment of your lease. The number of good lease on the market is rare ... so more expensive! Therefore, you must ensure that the cost of your lease will not eat your margins. This calculation is essential. Key ratios: rent / turnover. This is a ratio to monitor. The higher the ratio is, the lower your margin will be. Another solution is to adjust your price to maintain your margins and cover your rent. This is possible provided that this does not scare away your customers...

Have an unsuitable market positioning

A) being too general

Trying to please too many potential clients could be a real mistake and you do not have to be the extremely comprehensive restaurant who has extensive A La Carte Menu that can satisfy the world's largest…

It makes it difficult to read the positioning options:

Suppose you want to eat a pizza. Would you go into a restaurant serving raclette, salads, Far East specialties, pizza and fries or rather in an Italian pizzeria place?

Specialization has a good chance of attracting customers decided. It gives credibility to your offer. Also the running costs associated with the diversification will rise some difficulties to manage your store room, you will have higher losses and your communication costs will be also higher (it is easier to communicate a message to a targeted offer rather than on all offers). You must either pass these costs in your prices or have a logistics and control of highly professional management to optimize your inventory.

You will need to check the relevance of your Menu. What you need to target a family clientele for example? What are the essential dishes and those anecdotal? What is the return on investment for each dish?

B) A non- relevant niche marketing

Conversely, some restaurants specialize in a niche marketing, because of the expertise of their chef for example, or because they have identified a promising niche. The niche is not a guarantee of success. To succeed in a niche in the restaurant industry you must ensure that:

A minimum volume of potential customer exist (open a beachfront Kebab if nobody eats kebab does not make sense for example). Market research should allow you to answer this question.

The competitive density is not too high, there is may be a strong demand for your niche but established competitors are already present. You can then return to price war against them but it will crop your margins or offer a premium positioning or better service . But keep in mind that on a niche, too much competition may lead to a saturated offer. It may not be a winner at the finish!

Conclusion

These 3 weak points, which are found more often than we think, are often the result of a lack of preparation. The positioning on the market of your restaurant is essential. 

Writing a business plan before you open your restaurant is recommended. Set aside time to be able to give you every chance of success.