Owning and operating a restaurant can be an extremely stressful job. Problems seem to stack up on one another until it seems impossible to keep people happy while maintaining profits. In this post, we’re going to lay out the biggest struggles restaurant managers are tackling in 2022 and attempt to provide solutions for you to apply to your own business.
Problem 1: High turnover & unqualified hires
It seems every restaurant in the world has the same top problem: staffing. Turnover rates skyrocketed with COVID and in 2022 they haven’t seemed to drop as much as people thought they would. We’ll dive into multiple ways restaurants are navigating this issue, attracting the right workers for the job, and keeping their current staff content.
A good place to start off is setting up a healthy system of promoting from within. Some restaurants have created different titles and encouraged peer-to-peer mentoring to increase employee retention. The idea behind this is that the more responsibility you give your current workers, the more they will understand their value. You can also create a referral program that rewards your current staff for finding qualified additions to the team. Now your top employees can mentor the new hires and you’ll have a more solidified staff.
When it comes to the hiring process, you need to be flexible. Make sure your job applications are mobile friendly, so you can accommodate more people and get more responses. When interviewing, make sure to have thought-out questions that gauge the interviewee’s skill set & personality. If you don’t ask the right questions, you could hire someone that doesn’t work well in the long term which forces you back into the hiring process.
The next step is to attract employees by promoting your work place through social media. Share photos, videos, and stories of your staff & atmosphere to give a greater picture of everyday life in your business. Advertising your company culture is a good way to find like-minded people and get higher quality applications.
Lastly, it is crucial to make life easy on your staff. If you’re low on workers and throw a new hire into a packed dining room on a Friday night, they might not want to return the following day. A lot of restaurants are turning to digital ordering & payment platforms to rely on customers to handle the busy work while the servers can focus on running food and hospitality. With QR code ordering your staff doesn’t have to spend all their time entering orders & closing out bills at the POS system. Creating a less stressful environment for your employees can lower the turnover rate and make others want to work at your restaurant.
Problem 2: High operating costs
If it’s not staffing troubles, high operating costs is at the top of the list of restauranteur’s complaints. In today’s economy, food and supply prices are at an all-time high which has been a large factor in businesses shutting their doors for good. Below, we take a closer look at some solutions to this problem that hundreds of restaurants have begun implementing in the recent months.
Adding new revenue streams is always a good idea for a business but what does that really mean? Some restaurants have incorporated DIY meal kits, catering, or branded products such as their own bottle of sauce or merchandise. Now is your chance to get creative and use your brand in different ways besides providing the normal lunch time service. Invest in a new part of your business that can increase profits without causing too much pressure on your staff.
Another idea to confront high operating costs is to optimize your menu. Figure out your highest margin items and develop new menus that showcase those items. Create weekly specials and find other ways to display these high-margin items to the public to increase your sales as fast as possible. You can also reduce your inventory by decreasing the total number of ingredients needed to make dishes. By engineering your menu in a way that gets rid of non-essentials, you can save money on your food-supplier bill and increase profits.
Next, one of the biggest wrong-doings we see is restaurants giving out large portions for no reason. Everytime one of your guests throws food away, it adds up and eats into your overall profits. Use a scale to prep ingredients so cooks are delivering consistently sized meals and cutting down on waste. It is also crucial to know exactly where you stand with a weekly report outlining beverage, food, and labor costs. The more you know about your operation, the more planning you can do for the future.
The next thing we’ve seen some restaurants capitalize on is recovering extra charges. This means you can’t let customers take advantage of you in these tough times. Charge for the extra sauces, add fees for take out orders, and do anything else that can reward your business for going above and beyond. Food costs these days are no joke and it’s okay to raise prices while still delivering your product in the best way possible.
Problem 3: Changing consumer behaviors
The modern consumer is changing. They’re tired of waiting in lines, they are getting used to working & eating at home, and they expect a lot more while wanting to pay less. At times, it may seem like an uphill battle catering to your customers but there are ways to navigate their tricky needs.
One thing you can do to be more proactive is to promote lunch specials to remote workers. Create meal deals designed for easy take-out for the whole family. Bundle menu items together in convenient packaging so that a consumer can go to your website, select “Family Platter 1”, and come pick it up without the hassle of ordering item by item or having to visit the restaurant during their busy hours. You can still charge whatever you need to, but this added convenience will make patrons much more likely to become repeat customers.
Another thing to always look out for is creating healthy partnerships with other local businesses. People like seeing you connecting with other outlets to deliver unique offerings to the public. Make a menu item using an ingredient from the bakery down the street or connect with a wellness center to provide your own post-workout snacks at their location. Teaming up is an amazing way to help grow your business as well as the other business in your neighborhood, while also getting your name out to more people than ever.
Finally, when trying to reach the modern day consumer, you need to make their life as easy as possible when entering your doors. The most important thing you can do right now is to provide digital ordering. Support your digital-savvy customers by allowing them to order and pay using their phones. This means they can avoid lines and get in and out on their own time.The more flexible you are, the better customer experience you can provide. The best part about this solution is it’s free to you and your customers will thank you for it.
Problem 4: Ineffective management
It’s normal to have troubles running your restaurant in today’s times with an ever-changing staff, random increases in costs, and other unique challenges that present themselves every day. The best thing you can do is to organize your management style and give your team the tools they need to take over some of the stressful responsibilities you definitely have as an owner.
Be empowering. List job responsibilities on a board and allow your managers to take action without worrying if they’re over stepping. Make it clear that these are things that need to get done and if your staff takes on these challenges without being asked make sure to reward them. Keeping all of the responsibilities to yourself will only stress you out while your workers might not know about certain things they could be helping out with. Communication is key.
Next you need to drive accountability. Teach your managers or team leaders how to use POS reporting data in an effective way. Give your more trustworthy staff members an inside look into your business. The more eyes you have on things like labor & food costs, the more ideas you can hear that could change your business for the better. You can also motivate your team by setting goals. “If we increase profit margins by this amount in the next month, I’ll give you the title of manager and a pay raise.”
And of course the most important step in being the best leader possible is to improve communications. Create a solid set of rules that your managers and supervisors can convey to your entire staff. This presents a united front and creates a much stronger business environment. Build a company mission and make sure all your employees follow it diligently. Talk about work character, customer interaction techniques, and other necessary rules & ideas to better yourself and everyone around you.
Problem 5: Unengaged customers
The last challenge when running a restaurant is fully engaging with customers after they leave the restaurant. It’s a hard thing to do but crucial when creating repeat customers and increasing your recurring profits.
To start you need to personalize your communications with email campaigns. Send targeted offers and create a customer experience as opposed to a one off restaurant visit. TableCrunch is an extremely cheap and useful tool when setting up automated marketing campaigns that can open up communications with different customers based on their last visit to your establishment. Send updates to customers who haven’t been in the last 30 days or hit someone with an email right after their first visit saying, “We loved having you. Next time try the tacos…” People like feeling that they’re creating a relationship and not just eating and leaving.
You also need to create a strong presence on social media. We talked about how videos and pictures of staff will increase job applications but communicating with customers is just as important. Reply promptly to comments and thank people who share your posts. Fans of your restaurant will love seeing you interact with them and it will lead to more shares and posts from that person in the future.
Also feel free to ask your customers for support. People want local businesses to succeed so reach out to them for feedback. Ask for reviews and see what you could’ve done to be better. Why not hear about what you can implement to make everyone’s experience a tad more enjoyable?
Conclusion
To recap, we’ve talked about 5 of the top problems restaurant owners face every day and some possible solutions to counter them. Of course not all of these answers will apply to your business but pick and choose which ones could take your restaurant to the next level. We know your job is very hard in 2022 but are you doing enough to make it easy on yourself? If you answered “no”, you’re not alone and the most important thing you can do right now is to implement QR Code Ordering. The future of hospitality is digital which means you can outfit your entire business with QR codes for free, let your customers take the stress off of you and your staff, and make more money immediately. By giving your customers the power to order & pay from their phones, you’re one step closer to tackling every problem discussed in this blog post. Tabski QR Code Ordering will allow your restaurant to run more smoothly on less staff, lower your operating costs significantly, keep up with demanding customers, and provide easy reporting for your managers. It’s time to make some changes.
Sources:
https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/small-business/pos/articles/restaurant-business-challenges/