1. Menu Streamlining
A restaurant operator should have a menu that most efficiently utilizes the space, labor and inventory available. Most restaurants have bulky menus with non-moving food items. Take the time to review your sales of each item and cut down on items. Look for menu items that have unique ingredients and may be costly to source. Also take into consideration the labor that comes with preparing a menu item.
2. Develop and have operating standards
Have standards and procedures to be followed at all service levels of the restaurant. To ensure compliance, ensure consistent monitoring. This does not only help you serve your restaurant clients better, it also helps you save on costs, especially if some of the measures taken are on cost cutting.
3. Alternative energy Sources
Green energy is not only appealing to customers, but it also helps restaurant owners cut down on energy costs. Dishwashers, sinks and bathrooms can have their water heated by a solar heating system. Furthermore, some states offer tax credits on renewable energy. In addition, the restaurant owner can sell excess power to the national grid.
Restaurants can also use equipment that do not consume a lot of energy to cut down on energy expenses. Take a look at your light bulbs and what an LED can save you per day and what the government is willing to give you back in a rebate.
4. Rethinking layout and equipment
Prices of food and guest palates fluctuate with time. Similarly, operations within a restaurant also need to change with time. Efficiency can be improved through regular reviews of layouts and equipment. Outdated practices and services need to reviewed. For instance, orders can be made online while still using telephones. Similarly, the best selling food item should be placed closer to the pick up window to minimize on movement within the restaurant. Its ingredients should also be readily available to the chef.
5. Have your bills rechecked
Have your restaurant accountant or better your audit company (3rd party) sift through bills looking for errors, overcharges and can eventually negotiate a better deal for services provided to the restaurant.
6. Credit cards real cost
A majority of restaurant owners are faced with expenses relating to credit card processing fees. Such an owner is advised to contact their processor and have their company explain all the fees charged as per the monthly statements. If the company fail to explain the fees, then the manager/owner should look for another processor. Such knowledge of all the fees and charges in processing credit cards assists the managers/owners control processing costs. Since manual entry of credit card numbers costs more to process, mobile payment units may be used in the case of delivered orders. In this day and age there are so many options here with new smart phones and smaller processors.
7. Better inventory management
Inventory management has direct impact on profit margins, cash management, asset turnover and return on investment. This management can be done by labeling perishable products with dates to minimize on spoilage, reconciliation of orders vs supplies.
8. Co-operate with other restaurants
This might be of help especially when it comes to purchasing supplies. Join a buying group that allows restaurants to purchase in a group which not only saves on purchases, it also eliminates the need to deal with multiple sales people or negotiate for better prices. Furthermore, it also protects the group members from price volatility especially if the group had a contract on a lower price.
9. Ask for Vendors' Help
Suppliers have a vested interest in making you happy and can similarly assist when it come to cheaper options of products or techniques. Since they are not familiar with how you manage your costs, asking for several tips on costs cutting from them might give you new ideas. On the other hand, they might be knowledgeable of places you can purchase new equipment at a cheaper cost.
10. Think before signing any contract
Restaurant owners should avoid contracts that auto-renew themselves if the services being provided aren't cancelled within a given time frame, contracts with pricing running out before the contract, contracts that cannot leave you even if you relocate the business, contracts with more details about it being offered online as well as contracts that are electronically signed as changes or negotiations are pretty harder for such contracts. This will assist the owner not to be stuck with unsuitable and non-beneficial terms that come with a contract.
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