How to Run a Restaurant.

How To Run a Restaurant.

Anybody who runs a restaurant wants it to be a success - it's why they do it!

Our guide on how to run a restaurant: Both in the UK & USA a high percentage of people don't actually know how to run a restaurant and don't do it properly so they don't get the success they desire. We have years of experience in this business and can attribute our success at running restaurants to a small but meaningful set of guidelines, which anybody who wants to learn how to run a profitable restaurant should seriously follow. We call them the 5C's©, these are:

Control, Cost Effective, Cleanliness, Customer Service and Creativity.

Control.

Basically this is your role, it covers everything from managing your employees, ordering and rotating stock, financial management, and also advertising and promoting your business. It means that you must be in the driving seat, nobody else is going to run your restaurant with the same dedication as you! This site contains information related to the above points and it is free to access.

Cost Effective.

As with any business you have to keep a close eye on what you are spending. However this doesn't mean that you buy dirt cheap ingredients just to save a few pounds as this will backfire on you. Neither does it mean that you hike up your prices to make more, because this just doesn't work, your customers won't accept this.
What cost effective really means is that you prioritise and control your spending in order to increase your profit margins. Below are a few pointers for you to consider to help you run a cost effective restaurant:

Do you have more staff on duty than you actually need?
Do you pay more for your products and services than you need to?
Have a look around for better deals, wholesalers need business too!
Are you paying for services that you don't need?
Do you have a lot of wastage that could be reduced?
Are you using your gas/electricity efficiently?
Do you buy in items that you could actually make yourself for less?

Cleanliness.

This should speak for itself really, you certainly want to be running a clean restaurant, as not only is it the law for you to run a clean and safe restaurant, it is basically expected from you. Would you eat food that had been stored incorrectly in a dirty fridge? Prepared with dirty utensils? By a dirty chef in a dirty kitchen? I DOUBT IT!!!

Neither would any customer you would want in your restaurant! Just remember:

CLEAN AS YOU GO!
CLEAN AS YOU GO!
CLEAN AS YOU GO!

Customer Service.

This has to be one of the most important areas for you to get right when running a restaurant, because your customers are your survival. If they are happy, then you will be happy. Customer service is a huge topic to cover, in fact we could design an entire website dedicated to this subject alone! Which is why we have decided to highlight the most important points about customer care in our opinion.

What is customer service?

The statement we feel best describes customer service is pretty much self explanatory, it is 'caring for customers'! Or how a business directs and creates its products or services towards the needs of the customer. Try to remember that if your customers feel looked after and appreciated then they will in turn look after and appreciate you:

For detailed customer service training click here.

Creativity.

Introduce new, exciting dishes on your menu.
Improve your vegetarian, vegan, children's options.
Offer your customers a taste of a new wine while they are waiting for their main course.
Offer an added extra. While your customers are waiting for their starters give them a basket of fresh bread.

It is also very important for your success that you keep an eye on what your competitors are doing to improve customer experiences.

What are your competitors serving? How much are they charging?
How much do they pay their staff and how do they treat them?
Where and how do they advertise? Who goes there?
What offers, promotions and extras do they have available?

Restaurant Doctor UK