We’ve all engaged someone who is or has been a server, a bartender, a line cook, even a chef or an assistant manager. They all proclaim, “I’ve been in the restaurant business all my life” and they believe they know EVERYTHING necessary to operate a successful restaurant. And they do know a lot! And what they know is critically important.... from the perspective of guest services. Hot food served hot, cold food cold. Have all the proper utensils on the table when the entrée is served. Pick an appropriately complementary wine for that Veal dish. A Pinot Noir seems quite appropriate! This is the consumer view. This is the “Restaurant” Business.
Yet the failure rate of restaurants, particularly, but not exclusively, independently owned and operated, is often thought to be north of 90%. It’s a difficult number to grasp, impossible to reliably determine, but the question is.... why? And the answer is....
Pay attention to “The “Business” of Restaurants!
I say owners and operators must follow every dollar that feeds into the business. Be sure that dollar is doing its job, with efficiency and purpose. Have meaningful metrics and measurements to ensure that losses diminish and a small amount of net profit gets bigger and stronger in its old age.
Start with financial statements that provide “Actionable Information” to the operator, not line after line of seemingly random numbers and non-cash expenses provided by accountants for tax purposes. An actionable financial statement shows meaningful relationships between and amongst numbers.
We all know food cost, but what about prime costs? How about running prime costs? Do we understand and measure our profit margin and develop strategies to entice our customers to buy those well-margined items? Dogs. Puzzles. Stars. Plough Horses. If not, why not, and how would we do it?
We will guide you - it is, after all, your restaurant! - toward profitability by providing the necessary tools tailored to resolve your specific challenges.
Concept Development. Margin Analysis. Revenue Management. Pricing Strategy. Marketing and Advertising. Value Creation. Business Plans. Actionable Financial Statements. Standardized Recipes. Table Mix. REVPASH. Standardized Recipes. Hospitality vs. Service. Menu Engineering & Design. SWOT. SWAG. Any and all of the above. Call. I’ll explain. No cost for that.
That’s just the start and we’ll add those tools you’re not using now, and perfect and enhance those you are. And the academic in me will keep it simple at the same time. I teach understanding, not memorization.
Start with a phone call or an email. Ask for Steve.
I know dollars are tight, especially in an economy defined by difficult labor issues and rampant inflation, and even if conventional lenders would make a loan or create a line of credit for a restaurant operator, the interest rates are practically usurious.
I’ll work with you, the owner, with your cash flow abilities. You do always have cash flow projections months in advance, right? RIGHT? A few hundred dollars will get us started. As we talk and identify your challenges, we’ll walk before we run and keep weekly costs in the range of what a nice dinner for two might cost. We’ll learn as we investigate, and you’ll soon recognize where we begin recovering lost dollars and generating new dollars.
Did I say,
“Start with a phone call or an email. Ask for Steve?”