How is your restaurant fairng with the food crisis?

The whole world is being troubled by the crisis in food supplies and consequently, prices. Is your sales figure being affected? I am sure that your expenses are increased and that is not good news for any restaurateur.

If your restaurant is stunned by the sudden increase in food prices, this is the time to be focused and practical.

DURING THIS CRISIS...

Do be mindful of your food costs. Your food cost comprises a big chunk of your operating expenses so if there is anything to starting putting your guards up on.

Don't bring your prices down. Don't do this in the hope of getting more sales or enticing more clients to dine. The consequences of such a move will be increasing your expenses but sadly, decreasing your income. If you lower your prices now, it will take much effort to increase them or bring them back to normal prices when times get better.

Do try to look more closely at your quantity and ingredients. I am not saying that the solution would be to reenginner your menu altogether. However, if you are in a totally hard situation, this just might be the move for you. In these hard times, people will not really be too responsive to a price reduction unless it is substantial. Therefore, keep your prices but look at the quantity. Will the dish look totally different if you shave off a few grams? Your ingredients might also be substituted for other items that will not sacrifice the taste of the dish. Example are cheese, oil and meat cuts.

Try other cost-cutting measures. Sometimes, you have optimized your recipes and have just no other way to reduce them. Or it could be that you opt to stick with your recipes. In this case, look at other expenses like utilities, restaurant supplies or manpower. We often overlook these expenses when times are good. However, be careful in cost-cutting so much that you sacrifice the comfort and satisfaction of your customers.

So when you feel you have to cut costs, do so wisely.

Making your restaurant kid-friendly

I'm a mother of two little girls. Ever since I had children, it matters to me already if a restaurant has facilities for children like highchairs and kid's menu when we dine out.

If you are operating a restaurant that aims to target families with children or children diners, it is time to check your operations on whether it is going to be an enjoyable dining experience for kids.

First to do some changes on is your menu. Being children, they need a smaller portion than what adults would have. Aside from the usual chicken lollipop and spaghetti, there are other choices on what kids would eat.Kids like noodles and pasta and bite-size desserts. However, get some vegetables and healthy sandwiches there as well. Make sure that slices will be easy for kids to eat. It would be great if you would have fresh juices and distilled water for those sensitive tummies. Since kids could get bored easily, make sure that these are served quickly.

For small children and infants, it would be good to have a high chair or booster seats. It is a MAJOR inconvenience for a family restaurant not to have a high chair. You know, parents want to enjoy their dinner or lunch as well.

As for entertainment, coloring placemat and crayons will be good enough to keep them amused while waiting for their food. A free toy for kid diners will be a great idea too. If you have the space in the dining area, why not put up a play area. Though I will not be too happy with a play area, some parents might appreciate it. When kids see a play area, they tend to lose interest in all other things including eating.

Your toilets and washrooms could also have a kid's cubicle and a changing table.

One thing to remember though. If you decide to be ultra-kid-friendly, make sure your staff understand the move and understand children as well.

Setting your restaurant apart

Being in the restaurant business for quite some while now, I have seen a lot of restaurants which open and close within a short period of time. Or if they don't close, they just continue operating because the owner has a lot of money.

The main reason for most restaurant failures is poor management prowess. That will include cost control breakdown, no promotions, fraud or a misguided staff.

In the area I am in now, one of the reasons I have also seen is the lack of conceptualization. With this I mean lack of a defined unique selling proposition which will spell the difference from other restaurants. If coffee is in and there are more than a handful other places for it, when you decide to put up one, there has got to be a distinctive quality about your establishment for people to turn their attention to you.

A unique selling proposition or USP is not entirely something unique, weird or unusual about your restaurant but something that sets you aprat from the others. One way to spell this out is having a unique dish that only you serve in the city or area or maybe a manner of cooking. You can also do it with a different location, dining area design, theme, serving dishes and the like. If you are jumping into a cuisine or theme that has been in the area, your USP should be solid.

So if you have not thought of a USP for your restaurant, better get in to it now. It just might be your recipe for success.

Starting from Home

Not all restaurateurs started with a full-service restaurant or a counter in the mall. Some restaurants started with simple steps. If you are one of those with yet inadequate resources but want to start right now, it just could be a possibility with a loan for a home-based business.

I am personally afraid of taking on a loan. However, right now, I realized that my initial plan of saving up for the business will take me really long.

If you are planning a home-based food business, you can start with a food delivery service or by-order cakes and pastries business. You can also do packed lunches which you can cater to office workers or schools. There are just so many possibilities.

First thing you have to do is determine what you want to cook and what you can do best. These might be two separate answers for you but to settle the question would be what will click. Second is setting your product list and prices. Next would be getting your equipment and manpower needs, testing your food.

If money is your problem, there are already accommodative financial solutions for you that lends you money without collaterals and without all the fuss for as long as you have good credit standings.

Your dream business need not be flashy all at once. Starting simple and staring small just might be the answer for you.

Utilizing Lean Hours

Your employees' whole 8 or 9 hours are not always involved in busy service. Exemptions would be staff on split shift. But even those shifts can get an 6 to 7 peak hours.

So how do you maximize their work hours?

There are a lot of things you can ask or instruct your staff to do while they are not busy with service. Kitchen staff can do semi-spring cleaning. Ask them to do thorough cleaning on a certain equipment or part of the kitchen at a time. It could also be a good opportunity to steam flatware or wash exhaust fans. It is also a good time to do surprise inventory or thorough checking of orderliness of stockrooms and equipment. One of the not so physical things that can be done is a review of food costs and ingredient prices. On a daily basis, sinks, stoves, refrigerators, freezers and lighting fixtures can be cleaned.

Restaurant service staff can also do thorough cleaning of dining utensils and dining area itself. Plates, spoons, forks, glasses and other dinnerware can be wiped to a gleam. Table napkins can be folded. Linen cabinets can be rearranged. Orderslips, receipts and requesition forms can be organized. Tables can be checked for dirt and chairs can be checked if they are wiggling or stable.

On the administrative side, it is also a fine time to conduct sales calls or fax campaigns. Creating and updating customer database is always put off so this is a great time to get it started. Computation of guest checks and beverage inventory, if this is assigned to waiters, can be done as well. Downtimes are also great for meetings and trainings.

Whatever the popularity of your restaurant, there will always be times when your staff are not preoccupied all the tme. Use these hours or minutes, no matter how few, for more worthwhile activities.