Restaurant management is a balancing act that involves managers doing their best to meet customer expectations, keep employees happy, ensure that inventory numbers add up, among others. As such, it’s common to be easily overwhelmed in this role, so it’s always best to develop various skills to boost your chances of success.
Luckily, there are many best practices you can adopt to manage your dine-in restaurant effectively. Here are five key examples of things you can do to take your dine-in restaurant management to the next level.
1. Save money where possible.
Cash flow monitoring is a vital aspect of a restaurant manager’s job, and one way to manage your restaurant properly is finding clever ways to save money. Fortunately, there are countless steps you can take to cut back costs on certain vital expenses. For example, you can opt for more energy-efficient light bulbs to cut down your energy bill as long as it doesn’t significantly affect the dining room ambiance.
Also, you can select low-pressure faucets over their high-pressure counterparts in your premises’ bathrooms to save money on water. Furthermore, you can also save money by purchasing affordable restaurant equipment from a great restaurant supply store. Top restaurant suppliers such as The Restaurant Warehouse can help with this need.
The Restaurant Warehouse is a leading provider of durable restaurant equipment Seattle to commercial kitchens in the foodservice industry. Buyers can find quality commercial cooking equipment like hot plates, grills, commercial ovens, dishwashers, ice machines, freezers, and sandwich prep tables for purchase.
Also, you can explore restaurant equipment financing to make affordable monthly payments as you use industry-leading restaurant equipment. Additionally, this Seattle Restaurant store’s prices are notably below the standard foodservice industry’s pricing because they sell directly via the internet, instead of through salespeople whose commissions can increase equipment costs. What’s more, they offer superior customer service to clients and are renowned for providing quality restaurant equipment to food services businesses in the city of Seattle.
2. Make your staff feel valued.
The average restaurant worker reportedly quits after less than two months, so employee turnover is a major problem being faced by restaurants. Also, acquiring and training new staff members is costly and can take up significant time. Consequently, make your workers feel valued to reduce the likelihood of them leaving.
For example, you can begin an employee of the month program to offer a bonus check or gift card to the most deserving worker. Also, you can provide holiday gifts to show your appreciation to your staff. Finally, consider building a robust employee engagement and advocacy program to promote a more worker-inclusive workplace. Trusted employee engagement experts such as Ambassify will come in handy when seeking employee advocacy software for this need.
Ambassify’s employee advocacy program helps you inform, communicate and build trust with your workers. As such, you can build meaningful employee engagement to allow your staff to have their say and constitute a part of the bigger picture. This way, your team members are less likely to leave your company since they’re more engaged, productive and feel more aligned with your company culture and objectives.
Also, this employee advocacy solution helps you develop the correct type of content for specific departments in your company and begin meaningful conversations that resonate with workers. Furthermore, Ambassify helps you realize successful employee advocacy programs that turn your employees into brand ambassadors who promote your company in a positive light.
3. Keep the place fresh and updated.
It’s essential for your kitchen and dining rooms to be modern, functional, and attractive to consumers, so keep this in mind. Therefore, refresh your interior decor at least every five years by cleaning walls, tidying the corridors, and repainting to appeal to patrons. Also, regular menu updates are another essential component of an updated restaurant that you shouldn’t ignore.
Consequently, ensure that your menu is in line with seasonal trends to please customers all year round. Finally, you should prioritize restaurant appliance repair since your kitchen equipment is crucial to your daily operations. Leading appliance repair specialists can handle these concerns.
Honolulu Appliance Repair offers quick and efficient residential and commercial appliance repair services to clients in Honolulu and Oahu. Their expert technicians can repair and maintain dryers, washers, stoves, microwaves, HVAC systems, refrigerators, ice makers, barbecues, and several other appliances.
Also, they provide the best service on all major brands and models of kitchen and laundry appliances, including Whirlpool, LG, Frigidaire, Siemens, Viking, and Samsung. What’s more, their qualified professionals have years of experience in the appliance repair industry, providing quality and affordable services to residents of Honolulu and the island of Oahu for several years.
4. Invest in creative marketing.
It’s no secret that successful restaurant management involves bringing more diners through your doors. Consequently, develop a great restaurant marketing strategy to acquire more customers. Thankfully, you can rely on social media as a great way to improve brand awareness and visibility for less cost compared to traditional marketing outlets like television or print ads. Therefore, consider setting up social media profiles on multiple platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Still, having a social media presence alone isn’t enough, so you must follow up with regular social posts, engaging with customers, and social media ads. Social media’s influence in the modern marketplace is so substantial that businesses across diverse industries ranging from food services to financial services are leveraging social media platforms. For example, many financial services businesses have LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube profiles to promote their various services and tools like a savings goal calculator to followers.
5. Be the face of the place.
Running a dine-in restaurant presents a unique opportunity to show your face around the place more often, and you must take full advantage of this. Consequently, prioritize casual interactions with guests to provide a personal touch to your services and obtain crucial feedback.
Additionally, being around the restaurant often gives you a working knowledge of how your enterprise operates and critical areas in which you can improve.
Managing a dine-in restaurant is typically demanding due to the many different hats you have to wear. The above-listed points are five vital tips worth knowing to make you a better dine-in restaurant manager.
