Do your best every day

One of our tips for your successful restaurant is to do your best every day even though there are so many things on your to do list. When you start to pay attention to the small details, so will your staff. If you tend to ignore things out of place, dirt and mess - so will your staff. Customers however, will not ignore them and
you could be losing business due to simple oversights. Some things to think about when you walk into your business every day:

     What does it smell like? Is it clean and fresh or does it have a bad odor? Customers notice this and so it's
a great idea for you and your staff to take note of it too. You may notice the smell of gas from a leaking pipe
or other problem once you focus on the daily smell in your restaurant. If it's homemade lasagna in the oven - well that's what you want! Once you get into the habit of noticing these items we've listed, you'll instantly be able to spot a problem and get it correctly quickly for a more efficient and happy place for all to be.

     Use these guidelines when you walk in the door of your restaurant:

     How does it sound? If your business is noisy or too loud, that's usually a turn off for your customers. Have a meeting with your staff and make sure that everyone is using their inside voice. Having conversations going when everyone is talking at the top of their voice or so that you can hear the words being said just by walking inside, that's a problem. If music is playing, is it at a reasonable volume and just background sounds or does it sound more like noise? Correct the music in your business so that it's soothing and conducive for eating a meal. If you offer night time live music, make sure the meals are done or mostly done to not interfere with dining which is a huge turnoff for customers.

     How does it feel when you enter your restaurant? This requires you to stop and take a moment to look, listen and determine the vibe that is set from your business. It might be too cold inside or too hot, too loud or just doesn't feel very welcoming. Do what you can to turn that feeling around.

     Is it clean? This could really be at the top of our list. A restaurant that isn't clean is a definite turn off to customers. Look at your entire space. Is it dusty, are the walls, mirrors, windows, drapes or blinds, counters, chairs and tables spotless? That's really what you want if you expect to have a successful restaurant that customers want to spend their hard earned money on. It's always much more than just the food. Consider that your customers can just as well stay home and prepare a meal or have friends over instead of going out to a business that doesn't show well. Hire a cleaning person or company if you can and always assign cleaning duties throughout the day or shift to your staff - if they have time to lean, they have time to clean is a good motto learned in the army and it's been on my mind ever since.

     Is the staff standing around and visible to customers as they enter? If the staff is ready and waiting to help customers when they come in, that's good standing around. If they're huddled in a corner having a loud conversation and not paying attention to customers as they enter - that's hugely bad for your business and you need to stop this type of behavior quickly or it gets way out of hand.

     Check your kitchen and kitchen staff. Is it clean and organized, is it safe without water and spills on the floor, are the coolers functioning properly, is the dish machine running at optimal heat, is the staff working hard on the tasks for the day, are all tempers controlled and they're working as a team or is it all chaotic and not running smoothly at all? Read our tips on controlling tempers in your restaurant. Take time to do your best by paying attention to these details, pointing them out to the chefs and managers and get control of the kitchen. 

     Pretend you're a customer or be a customer in your own business. Go to lunch or dinner and be waited on. You'll be surprised at how some of your staff greet and speak to customers with you as a customer. This isn't meant to be mean or criticizing of your staff, it's more of a research project for you to determine if your servers and bartenders know and understand how to explain the menu, the specials, if they upsell, if they're comfortable with people and their overall customer service skills.

     Doing your best every day in business is more than opening the doors and waiting for customers to show up. They need a reason to come and actually they need lots of reasons to support you and your restaurant. If you fail to notice these things, you probably won't stay in business for very long. There's always something you can do to make your restaurant a better and happy place. It's a work in progress daily and it's worth it to make sure everything is in line with your vision and goals.

     Now, it's time to get back to work and get into your restaurant and decide what you can do today to make it a better, more efficient, clean and welcome business.

  Cheers and best luck to you!
Keep us posted on your tasks and which of these you'll pay more attention to this week. I know it will help you, your staff, your customers and your bottom line.