Tips to Improve your Restaurant Business

Hey, it's the end of another long week for you. Hopefully you had a good week with happy customers, happy staff, everyone made some money, you're paying your bills on time and getting ready for another week to do it all over again.

     It can seem like you're just treading water, just holding your own and not getting ahead. Been there, believe me. Here are some things to do this week or the weeks to come to improve your restaurant business.

     If you don't already have one, get a large desk calendar. You're probably used to using your smart phone for everything but, I find that as soon as I get into the office, I can see at a glance what's on today's schedule by having a desk calendar right there in front of me. Make sure to update it with those very important tasks that will help you make money. Break up your day in one hour increments if needed to spend time on your twitter, facebook, blog, foursquare or other social media accounts. Update your customers with today's special - they could pass it on by sharing with friends to bring in more business. Stay at it, your calendar will help you and you can highlight that area on the date when you finished the task. Using your phone in the same way doesn't work as well as that visual month in front of you.

     Set up a meeting with each of your vendors to try to get better deals on the items you use most often. Larger chain restaurants get better pricing since they buy in such large quantities. We don't get that benefit but, we can work on it with vendors to buy larger amounts and especially the sale items. It works when you have a good relationship with your sales person. Work on it this week to start saving more.

     What's in your freezer? So many times, I find that the chefs aren't rotating product unless I remind them what's in there and what needs used. I make a point on checking it myself and making sure items are rotated to use first. No sense continuing to freeze items when they could be today's special of the day. Freezer burn happens too quickly anyway so use up what you have before you load the freezer again.

     Use all the ideas we've already given to keep loyal customers and other ways to make money in your restaurant if you haven't read it yet.

     Prepare for the next month and the holidays coming soon. Your competition is doing it so don't be left in the dark when customers already make plans for a Halloween party, anniversary or birthday or Thanksgiving. Assign some tasks to your staff to assist you in this. They are probably always on the phone so ask them to update their friends with the upcoming events. It's a win-win for them too if you're busy since everyone will make more money and be happier overall.

     Stay with this project to use your calendar to create tasks to do each day that will benefit your business. Only you know what the restaurants around you are doing. Don't copy them but, be creative to get customers coming to you.

     Do what you do best and work on doing it better each day. You will be successful. Keep us posted in the comments on what you're currently working on.

     Until next time, cheers!