Habits of Highly Successful Restaurant Owners

As a restaurant manager and / or owner we are certain that you have the day to day operations of the venue well planned but how about the entire week, month or even the entire year? Do you know what you will be doing during the holidays? Why not plan that valentine’s eve ahead of time?

Planning ahead allows you to be both well prepared for future events but it also means that last minute changes will be easier to handle when everything else is already known. Successful restaurant owners even plan for years ahead. They visualize not only the restaurant furniture and design but also how the restaurant itself will affect their family, employees and even the community over the years. Once these goals are visualized it makes the task of working towards achieving them easier and more manageable.

Whatever the economic and political situations are, they may quickly change and impact heavily on your venue’s income. When hard times hit most people’s instinct is to throw in the towel but those that really succeed are those that aren’t afraid to take risks and continue doing what they believe in.

Combine this drive to succeed with a good plan and it will be easier to combat the hard times while driving forward towards a successful future. Most if not all famous and successful entrepreneurs didn’t give up and succeeded despite the odds stacked against them and despite other people trying to sway them off their path. Don’t let obstacles stand in the way of reaching your goals whenever possible.

Most of the time patience is indeed a virtue. Dealing with customers for example requires a lot of patience as is dealing with things that are beyond our control however, once you can visualize your goals impatience can be a very strong driving force. Once the goals of a restaurant manager are well defined it is easier to reach them sooner rather than later.

The downside is that without clear goals and long term plan impatience is actually a hindrance. So you first need to patiently create a well thought out plan which you can then impatiently work on.

Regardless of whether changes are a matter of fashion or government regulations they can impact quite heavily on a restaurant’s revenue and popularity. Vegan dishes are becoming more and more sought after while at the same time health regulations affect the type of foods one can sell, their cost and availability. Being receptive to changes and the ability to react quickly to them is at the heart of any successful business and even more so in the food service and hospitality sectors.

An effective business plan is one that addresses all the important aspects of your business. Beginning with recognizing and evaluation the competition in your area, researching local produce providers and their availability as well as getting to know the target customers and how best to market yourself to them. Financial planning is also an important part of any business plan, especially one that relies heavily on seasons and people’s whims and fads. Here you can see an example of a restaurant’s business plan to help you start your own.

Make sure that both you and your employees know about the most common food service mistakes. Some of those mistakes may be enough to ward off customers from returning to your venue. Things such as proper greetings and cutlery handling etiquette can be more important than you may think. Even something as trivial as using too much perfume may be enough to turn your visitors off their food and ruin what otherwise would have been an enjoyable experience. In this article you can read about 20 of the most common mistakes and how you can avoid them.