How to Increase Restaurant Sales

Wine Bottle Wall Mount Sculpture by amazon

       

All restaurant owners, managers and staff look for new ways and ideas to increase restaurant sales, thereby increasing their profits. Use your senses to determine what changes need made to help your restaurant turn a profit.

 It's not too late to make a few changes to your business that can help your bottom line. Small changes can lead to BIG profits if you play your cards right. You take a lot of financial risk when you open a restaurant and you need to do everything you can to make it a profitable business or all your work will be in vane and you could end up with  nothing.

How to Choose the Right Team for your Start Up Restaurant

 Restaurant Manager's Handbook on amazon.

     You'll want the right team of workers in place when you're planning your start up restaurant. What should you know? What should you look for? How can you trust brand new staff members that you don't know?

Handling Food Safely

One of my biggest concerns in the restaurant industry, and your own home as a matter of fact is handling food safely. As a chef for 30+ (yes, I've been at this business all my life and I'm getting up in age!) I've always watched, trained and taught this subject to everyone that's ever worked for me. From the dishwasher to the servers to the prep cooks and chefs in my own business and others I've worked for, everyone needs to pay attention to how to handle food safely. From wearing our favorite powder free gloves, to food handling signs and using color coded cutting boards we'll share our favorite products too.

Use my Top 6 safe food handling tips

Show Customer Appreciation with a Thank You Gift!

Every day in your business you'll want to make sure to thank customers with a smile and word of thanks for their business and loyalty. There are some days that lend themselves to extra special opportunities to show customer appreciation in your restaurant such as your business anniversary, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Christmas and Chanuka, and Customer Appreciation Days.

Here you'll find the best ideas for thank you gifts, ways to show customer appreciation and they won't break the bank but, will set you apart from your competition. Why not host a monthly Customer Appreciation Day to be unique, be different, help your customers remember you, set yourself apart from your competition! It's a win-win dining experience. Keep reading our ideas below:

Bartending for Dummies

We like this series of books for bars and restaurant owners and managers. Unless you've been or are a bartender yourself, it's really important to understand everything about the bar and the business of running it.

Check out Bartending for Dummies to learn or review information on garnishes and how to cut and store your fruit for drinks, the right glasses to buy and use for each drink, recipes for all liquors and especially the most popular ones.

Calculating Assets and Liabilities for your Restaurant Business Plan

Anatomy of a Business Plan by Linda Pinson courtesy of amazon

As part of your restaurant business plan, there should always be a section labeled 'Assets and Liabilities' so that your lender can see what you own, have, owe and will need to obtain their loan.

This section will take some thought since most of us don't have a journal of all our assets. You will once you create your own business plan. Restaurant loans are one of the most difficult to obtain, banks simply don't want to be in the restaurant business if yours fails and at least 3 out of every 5 do fail, sadly. Liabilities are a little easier to know, find or remember. Your business plan will become a helpful resource to you in your business once you take the time to document your holdings and liabilities and it should also help you to have the proper amount of insurance for your business and your home. Check out Linda Pinson's Anatomy of a Business Plan, voted Best Business Book of the Year, winner of the Ben Franklin Award for step by step instructions.

When creating your list of assets and liabilities use this guide to help you create your columns, it will be easier to read, understand and total the columns:

What paperwork should you be preparing to own a restaurant

Taking your next step in owning a restaurant has to be to start to get your own paperwork in order so that's what we'll discuss here.

Before you go to any lender and it doesn't matter if that's going to be a bank, credit union, family member or another private financier, you'll want to start to get your own ducks in a row and that means getting all your paperwork in order!

Tax Returns
     It may seem obvious that you'll need at least three years of tax returns and many times you may also need up to five years but, trust me, some people haven't even filed last year taxes so it must be discussed.

     What information will tax returns provide to your lender?
     Your tax returns will show a lender your current address and prior ones. A lender may appreciate the fact that you have been at the same address for 3-5 years and shows you are stable and a member of the community. If you have had an unstable address meaning you've been moving around a lot, be ready to explain why that is the case and how you are now done moving and ready to take on the responsibility of owning your own restaurant. This will be discussed more in your business plan but, for now just now that it will be something that comes up with your financial institution.
     Tax returns show your income which is a very important part of getting financing for your start up restaurant.
     Tax returns show your social security number and your financier can instantly (or at least rather quickly) get your credit report to match it against your return.
     Tax returns also show not only your income but, any loans and debt if you have itemized your deductions.
     Your employer is listed on your tax returns so your financier will be able to verify the information you tell them simply by comparing it to your tax returns.
     Can you tell by now that your tax return tells a lot about you already so

Financing your restaurant

Before you get too involved with starting a restaurant, you need to understand a few key concepts in regard to financing.

Do you have the funds in cash yourself to open your own restaurant? Most or at least many people do not and must rely on financial assistance to get the ball rolling. If you are going to need some financial help, let's take a look at where to find the financing for your dream restaurant.

Banks
     Banks are typically very large institutions and they do have a lot of money so, you may think that the first place to go would be a bank, right? Understand that banks don't want to be in the restaurant industry and most restaurants fail within the first 3-5 years so getting a bank to lend you money for your start up is probably the most difficult way to go. Oftentimes, banks are also so large that they may be too busy to get to know each of their customers as well as their corporate offices aren't located in your town or city and all the paperwork and decision making could happen at the corporate office. That's not always the case though and many banks are trying harder these days to get more in touch with their customers.
     If you already do business with a large bank, keep your accounts current, up to date, pay all your loans on time and make friends with your banker. Don't lose hope and think that there's no way you can do this without a bank, there are other options and you just might end up with a bank after all.

Private Financing
     There are private financing individuals or companies that lend money to start up businesses and this could be a viable option for you. Some of the best places