8 Lessons from Successful F&B businesses

Not seeing the results you want?  Make changes... and in order to make changes, you need different actions, different thoughts, different resources and different tools. You want fresh food in your restaurant… you need fresh ideas too.

These are proven hard hitting tactics found in online F&B publications that successful Owners have implemented for profitable success and so can you.

TAKE ACTION. A great idea without action is just still an idea. An idea on its own cannot make money for you. Choose one idea to start with and start moving forward with the action, you can always make adjustments as you go. But doing nothing is usually the worst thing you can do. Even if the idea is wrong or implementation poor, learn from these mistakes and make the implementation of subsequent ideas better. By taking actions on the right activities, you will see success.

USE SYSTEMS; Don’t do everything yourself; delegate and measure responses. Make a list of all the things that you spend your time on that recur day-to-day or month-to-month. Pick the ones that use up the most amount of your valuable time but that don’t need your specific attention. Develop a system (written process, checklist) and delegate or outsource these things. You can’t focus on minimum wage activities (slicing, dicing, chopping, checking) and expect to make big money on the other end.

THEY ARE YOUR GUESTS. Make your customers feel like family or friends who are visiting your home. Stop looking at folks who dine at your restaurant as a one-time transaction, and instead start building an ongoing relationship with them. When guests have a great experience at your restaurant, they will tell at least 5 other people and at least one of them will become a loyal guest in the future. Just that change of thinking from customer to guest by you and your staff can make a huge difference in the way people visiting your restaurant will feel.

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS.  Your business operations numbers, financials and marketing need measuring, and you need to know the important numbers. You also need a way to measure your guests’ experience.  These measurements will help you know how your restaurant performs and you can then track the benefit of any change you make. Know what's going to be a good week and what could be a bad week and if its a great week from the first few days. So that if things start going bad you can increase the focus on marketing.  Know the key cost ratios and when money starts to get tight you know where to reduce to balance your books.

CREATE MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES. If you are working in the operations of your business to ensure everything flows smoothly, then you are placing yourself into the payroll as just another employee and thereby reducing your effectiveness as an owner or manager. You may have many roles that you do, but you certainly cannot make the impact you have to make if you are doing a job that you shouldn’t be doing. Once you are doing well, you need to think about creating memorable experiences- dining, drinking, relaxing. This is more than just good food.  Great experiences come in many forms and when you have created a memorable experience for your guests, you have created fans that will power the income that you expect to receive.

DIRECT MARKETING TO YOUR GUESTS. Much of your time, energy, resources and focus need to be put into becoming a better business marketer by creating systematized, measurable guest focussed marketing. Figure out what you would say to convince someone to enjoy themselves in your business rather than the competition… and put it in print. Having your guests return and refer friends is the way you can see some of your marketing strategies start to work. Direct response marketing, the type of marketing that makes people take immediate action, needs to be employed in every marketing piece you create.

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! Become part of a mastermind group of businessmen where you network with forward thinkers and share ideas regularly, where you can ask questions, get opinions and move forward. Get your staff involved also. Constantly look and listen for what your guests want. Keep in touch with what’s happening in the industry even visit the competition in a friendly way. Trade publications like this can both be a great source. Virtually all top achievers know that to really get ahead…you’ve got to have a coach. Seek out someone that is advanced in the areas you want to be better in and engage them to help you succeed as well.

THINK PROFITS. You can often effect change if you think about the results you want. If you are still thinking of your restaurant in the same way that you did 5, 10 or 20 years ago, you need to stop limiting yourself, your restaurant and your guests! There are many new and different ways to think about, in which your guests want to purchase food beverages and experience a wonderful experience with you. And the place to shart is by thinking about what reward you want from your business.  Share this approach with your team and give the imcentives/bonsus to change too.

By applying some or all of these tips, you should see an improvement in your business. I am sure you have your ideas too, share these in the comments below.