7 RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT TIPS
13 JUNE 2019
Managing restaurant effectively is one of the most daunting tasks for the management. The competition is huge and the margin of error is very less.
Thus a well-rounded effort is a key to successful and effective restaurant management.
The image by Posist is a good place to start to provide food for thought to the restaurant managers. Some other effective restaurant management tips and strategies follow the image below.
1. Train and Trust your team – Technology holds the key
As perhaps the cornerstone of your establishment, your staff is who will determine how fast the restaurant grows.
As such, train them regularly because proper training breeds an aura of trust and understanding amongst themselves as well as when interacting with clients.
Training makes them proud of the restaurant, which invariably works even when you aren’t there to monitor their performance.
Also, it is not easy to monitor the performance while you engage yourself in daily chores.
Technology is the key here. If you have not embraced it yet, you are risking your venture.
Best tips on restaurant management emanate from technology. Try a few Free Hotel and Restaurant management software to get experience in working with technology.
There are a lot of excellent Apps for the hospitality industry that can get you closer to technology and save a lot of cost for your establishment.
While mutual respect and confidence are expected, it is the same trust that brings along the freedom and ingenuity amongst the staff.
You might have felt that you are a lone warrior in a crisis situation. It is a proven restaurant management tip to succeed.
Trust others to have multiple hands working for you in the most effective manner.
When you show that you believe them, even petty issues that can warrant your attention will be solved swiftly.
However, ensure that you don’t grant them too much trust.
This topic about hiring and training is elaborated in our article on Attracting, hiring and retaining the hospitality talent.
2. Motivate others to stay motivated
Motivation is that extra gas required during extreme situations.
It brings out the best out of the team, especially when it is needed.
Therefore, it’s useful to keep your team happy and motivated, initiate team-building meetings, reward hard work and keep the habit of offering surprise perks.
Moreover, be a leader; sometimes, work as a chef, a secretary or a lobby boy.
This does not only help motivate others but keeps you motivated as well.
There a lot of Free hotel management games which could help you train your staff as well as motivate them.
Another crucial restaurant management tip is to ensure activities like away days, motivational sessions, camps and parties to ensure that everyone stays focused and motivated.
3. Check the inventory and Focus on procedure implementation
This again is one of the crucial restaurant management tips.
Being the basis of running the restaurant smoothly, all the fundamental aspects must be in unison at all times.
The short-term plans, as well as the long-term ones, will act as the points of reference.
Although flexibility and judiciousness are keys to procedure implementation, everything must be done within your office.
As a smart manager, always check the inventory to keep everything available.
To ease the entire process, make it as simple as possible so that it doesn’t consume much of your time.
Ideally, a full inventory per week and someone who’s responsible for the day-to-day checks is perfect.
If you don’t have a flow chart as yet, have one for your restaurant management.
The flow chart of the procedure should be made available to everyone in management and the team.
Look for the most visible place in the staff area- staff room ideally to place the chart.
Moreover, it also helps you to stick to rules and regulations.
An example of the flowchart for food administration can be the one recommended by the US Food and Drug site.
Make one around the business model of your restaurant.
You must have a well-written business plan outlining long term and short term goals, methodology, budget, target market, branding, marketing plan etc.
If you don’t have a structured Business Plan yet, you might need one at the earliest.
As one of the tips on restaurant management, creating a blueprint for the current state of the business and perhaps how you are growing is essential.
The policies may include your management plan and strategic vision.
4. Monitor the food quality and the services
If your restaurant is based in a busy locality, keeping clients satisfied at all times can be daunting.
As a manager, when you spot a problem, relax and work to rectify in the future.
Reacting to it immediately can create problems on the smooth running of the restaurant.
Needless to add, always ensure that the health and food safety regulations are followed.
Along with that, employee decency is imperative.
Quality and service are two pillars that you should always concentrate on as a hotelier.
Hospitality is all about service.
Customer service holds the key in the hospitality industry and that must always reverberate within the system of your restaurant or any other food service establishment.
5. Consider using the web for Answers
We are in the digital age where solutions are found on the web.
For better management, consider using management tools that are within your realms as well as on the internet.
If you are stuck somewhere just use the web.
Google your issues and you will have hundreds and thousands of solutions. All you need to do is to pick the one that suits you the most.
Best restaurant management Tips and tricks are available in abundance.
There is an interesting Infographic on POS Sector about restaurant management tips.
There are a lot of other valuable resources should this guide not suffice the need.
Also, use the web to stay ahead in the competition by keeping yourself aware of the latest trends and innovation.
6. Handle complaints professionally and carefully
From being a smart, judicious judge to acting swiftly, always strive to create a harmonious working space for all.
This will help in lesser complaints and happy team.
However, complaints will still find its way to you and in a way is good for the growth of your restaurant business.
Hoteliers and hospitality professionals seem to have mastered complaint handling skills but following guidelines still help.
Here is a rock solid restaurant management resource that might help you handle guest complaint better.
And, this tip comes from the National Restaurant Association that helps over 500,000 restaurant businesses from across the globe.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to grab a cup of coffee and then going through a few articles of the National Restaurant Association to learn the art of handling guest complaints.
7. Don’t forget to create a workable Management Plan
This is last but not the least important tip of restaurant management.
It is actually one of the restaurant management tips that hold the key to success.
In the spirit of togetherness, give every employee an extra role.
Let everyone be a part of the overall plan. Think about Yield Management, menu, pricing and devise both short-term as well as a long-term business plan.
Let everyone know what’s expected of them so that they are responsible at all times.
A workable management plan would ensure that everyone knows where they fit in the system and what is expected out of them.