It’s common knowledge that starting and running your own food-related business is fairly complicated: whether it’s a big, fancy restaurant, a cozy coffee shop or a cafe, it takes a lot of work and dedication to streamline your business.
Here are a few tips that will save you time and effort, and prevent those headaches caused by poor management.
Get a reliable POS system
A mobile point-of-sale system is a must-have for any restaurant owner for numerous reasons. It’s not only you but also your customers and staff who will benefit from having a reliable POS. First of all, the system is inexpensive and can help you cut costs. On average, you will spend about $1000–1500 on standard equipment and $40–200 for a POS system monthly subscription fee, depending on your needs. For minimal expense, you’ll get a bunch of features that will help you automate every process in your restaurant: your financial accounting, payroll calculation, taking orders from customers, menu modification, analysis of your daily sales and so on. Restaurant POS systems usually have several cloud servers, so you can be certain that your data is completely secure and preserved, even when the Internet goes down or the electricity goes off.
Create a website
Despite the blossoming of social media, good old websites are still very important for any business. If your restaurant doesn’t yet have a killer website, you could be losing a great deal of potential custom. Food delivery service, online menus, photos of dishes and the restaurant interior, online pre-ordering and table reservation—all these options may be presented on your website and bring lots of customers to your venue. We’re sure you won’t want to miss these opportunities to boost your business.
Dive deep into social media
Actually, we hope this tip is redundant, since nowadays NOT using social media to promote your restaurant is like deliberately sabotaging your own business. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Foursquare: just the basic list of social networks where your restaurant ought to be present. Why? Well, let’s start with the incredible popularity of social media: people in their billions use them daily, so the chances of finding potential customers on them are extremely high. You can lure them with mouth-watering pics of your dishes and cocktails, special offers and sales, feedbacks from other customers, etc. Besides, they build connections with your guests and turn them into loyal customers.
Offer different payment methods
To succeed, restaurant owners should always be one step ahead. While credit cards still remain the most popular way to make payments, experts predict that mobile wallets will start taking the lead within the next five years. Make sure your system supports taking payments from mobile apps or websites to maintain or even increase the number of your customers.
Motivate your employees
First-class service is among the most important factors making people come back to your restaurant, over and over again. Nevertheless, it’s not uncommon to be confronted with careless, grumpy or even rude restaurant staff. Why? Too often restaurant owners opt for a punishment rather than a motivating strategy. A policy of pressure and penalties doesn’t make anyone work better; rather it induces employees just to get their shift over and done with, and go home. You should do your best to create a friendly and inspiring atmosphere for your staff: profit-sharing, reward system, excellent job conditions, training and mentoring programs, not to mention simple respect. All these things are marvelous motivators for your team. Don’t forget to use them, because a combination of enthusiasm, motivation, and encouragement among employees is the key to success.
We hope all these tips will make your life as a restaurant owner much easier, as well as help you avoid all the most common mistakes.
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