Restaurant Business Plan

Restaurant Equipment and the Service Technician

Jeff Breeden

Like every other commercial operation which harnesses the power of technology in one form or another, operating a restaurant also dictates the use of gadgets, appliances, processors fitted with motors and relays, and occasional high end electronics to control temperature, humidity and preparation cycles. Just about all restaurant equipment is driven by technology today.

Not just restaurant equipment but all types of commercial food preparation equipment tends to experience extensive wear and tear owing to long hours of continuous use. There are no Sundays off or holiday vacations for that matter for restaurant equipment. Therefore, as a restaurant owner or commercial food service director, you need to pay as much attention to maintaining and servicing your commercial kitchen equipment as you do to promoting your food service operation. Here are a few things you can do to make sure that the service technicians assigned the critical responsibility of maintaining, servicing and repairing your restaurant gear both perform and deliver in accordance with industry expectations.

Check Credentials

If your restaurant equipment happens to be under warranty, chances are high that the manufacturer’s service crew has been adequately trained and commands a reasonable level of technical expertise and experience. Inquire politely about how long they have been with the company, what precautions you can take to protect your investment and any features of the product that you use often. This type of informal interaction will surely help you assess competency levels.

Scheduling Maintenance during Low Traffic

So that any repair or maintenance activity does not either directly or indirectly interfere with the regular operations of your restaurant or commercial food service company, you should schedule service visits during low peak hours such as early mornings or mid afternoons. Try to be physically present while the routine service or warranty repairs are being conducted just in case there are any issues, which need immediate attention.

Signing up for Extended Warranties for your Food Service Equipment

If a manufacturer offers an extended warranty on any of the products you are planning to purchase or have purchased recently, consider signing up for an extended warranty. Besides ensuring that your restaurant equipment will receive timely attention, extended warranties make sure that only qualified and company trained technicians are authorized to attend to your service needs.

Preparing your Restaurant Equipment for a Service Call

There are a number of things you can do to facilitate a smooth and uninterrupted maintenance and repair of your restaurant equipment. Here are a few:

1. Clear the immediate vicinity so that the equipment can be easily accessed during maintenance.2. Shut off the gas and electricity connections before the service crew arrives.3. Discontinue using the equipment at least three hours prior to the arrival of the service team so that high temperatures can stabilize before the service crew begins to render service.4. Make a list of the problems the equipment is giving you so that you do not forget them once the service team arrives.5. Clean the unit to the best of your ability and request additional cleaning services from the technician for those areas that are hard to reach.

Request a Test Run

Once the service crew certifies that your food preparation equipment is ready for use, perform a test run in the presence of the service crew to make absolutely sure that the equipment is good to go. This is the perfect time also to ask questions about safety, cleaning and replacement of any spares. It goes without saying that all your food preparation equipment needs to be in perfect shape at all times to ensure a positive user experience for your restaurant guests.

Cook’s Direct provides a full range of restaurant equipment including all types of commercial food service equipment and kitchen supplies. Call Jeff Breeden, Chief Operating Officer, Cook’s Direct at 800-956-5571. You can write to him at jbreeden@cooksdirect.com. Visit: http://www.cooksdirect.com/restaurantequipment for the most exclusive range of food service equipment, restaurant supplies and commercial kitchen equipment on the Internet.

Tips to Buy Restaurant Equipment

Amit Chakraborty

Are you going to start a restaurant business? If yes then this article is for you. There are many things which should be kept in mind while starting a restaurant. You need to do lots of research and planning before starting anything new. You cannot start a restaurant business without proper equipment and supplies. You have to spend some time and money in finding perfect restaurant supplies.

First of all you have to make the list of all the things you will need in your restaurant. Every restaurant has its own requirements. There are many sources which can help you in selecting the right equipment. You can start your search with food service equipment dealers. Nowadays every food equipment dealer is having a website. It is a good idea to got trough their website before you shop anything. There are many equipment dealers online but your job is to find the one which offers affordable supplies and equipment.

There are many companies out there which are offering latest equipment for restaurant business. But not every one of them offers proper customer service. The customer service offered by the company should be professional, efficient and helpful.

You should know about all the equipments you will need in a restaurant. If you are new to this business then you should spend some time with a professional or a restaurant owner. Basic things you will need are dining area equipment, bar supplies, refrigeration, ice machines, coffee and tea equipment, bakery equipment, kitchen equipment, ventilation equipment and dish washers. There are many more things you will need but above stated things are most important supplies.

Have you fixed your budget? Planning a budget is very important step. A proper budget can help you in saving a significant amount of money. You should fix the amount of money you are planning to spend on different types of equipments and supplies. You should always opt for an authenticated shop or an online store. The websites should provide a secure mode of payment.

Shopping from the internet is not a difficult task. Nowadays everyone prefers to shop online due to large number of benefits. Choosing a product is very easy. Reputed websites are easy to navigate. All you have to do is to go through all the categories provided by the website. The products you like can be added to your cart and payment can be made with the help of a credit card. The equipments you will buy will be delivered to your door steps. There are many online stores which are offering significant discounts and gift coupons on bulk orders. But never compromise with the quality of the supplies you are buying. The equipment used in the restaurants should be long lasting and durable.

If you want to know more about Restaurant Equipment then it is a good idea to visit Restaurant Equipment Suppliers.

Restaurant Management

Josh Stone

A career in hotel and restaurant management might be for you if you like to make important decisions, hire staff and run the day to the day operations of your business. It might sound like fun stuff but it is hard work. As a manager, you will be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. All responsibility will fall on you. The perks of being in hotel and restaurant management business, however, can be great.

As a manager, you are responsible for everything that goes on in your hotel or restaurant. You need to have food orders in on time, make sure guests are accommodated for and ensure that your staff respects and listens to you. You must be a great communicator and leader to succeed in hotel and restaurant management.

Whether it is a high profile hotel, a glamorous restaurant or a small deli, a manager must indulge himself in the business. If one thing goes wrong it falls on the manager’s shoulders. The service industry is the biggest industry in the United States today. It garners more attention and customers than any other business in the country. Don’t expect this trend to stop.

Small businesses are currently thriving in the U.S. More and more of these offices are popping up everywhere. Combine that with the stature of the service industry and a small hotel or restaurant can prove to be quite profitable. Being involved in hotel and restaurant management is becoming a common experience for many people today. People with little to no experience are getting into the business. But those who do the best have a degree specializing in management.

It’s a great time to become restaurant manager. The U.S. Department of Labor cites the field of restaurant management as an emerging industry, and predicts it will continue to do so. As a restaurant manager, you are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. Not only must you have a love of food, you must also have a background in management.

A restaurant manager needs to ensure food deliveries. Manage personnel, and enhance the customer experience. But of course that’s also part of the reward – you get to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that a successful restaurant was the result of your service skills. And not only will you have to fare well with your customers, you’ll have to fare well with your staff. Managers must communicate well with the employees, motivate the staff, and lead by example.

In restaurants that change their menu items, manager often select new dishes. They consider what items have been popular in the past, and what foods on hand must be used. Then they analyze recipes to decide costs for food and labor. Based on this analysis, they assign menu prices.

Managers are often responsible for recruiting and hiring new kitchen and serving staff. They organize and direct worker training programs. In addition, they schedule staff work hours and assign duties. They may also evaluate employee performance.

Large restaurants often have bookkeepers. However, managers of small facilities often have administrative duties. For example, they keep records of employee hours and wages. They prepare payroll and tax report paperwork. They keep records of purchases and pay suppliers. They also evaluate the success of new dishes and remove them from the menu if they are not profitable. Some managers use computer software to help them with these record-keeping duties.

Almost three-fourths of all food service managers were previously restaurant managers, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most restaurant management professionals receive a two- or four-year degree in restaurant or food service management.

Nine out of ten restaurant operators raise money for charities, or donate food or space. Restaurants fight hunger, support health-related causes, mentor youth, and improve their communities. If you’re just starting out or your restaurant wants to increase its philanthropic efforts, you may donate money to support a children’s hospital, United Way, local non-profit, museum, library, school, zoo, military support group or homeless shelter.

High standards need to be maintained, and health and hygiene safety regulations need to be met at all times. This includes the quality of raw ingredients and prepared food, food storage, and customer service. The maintenance of equipment, stock and the budget is also controlled by the restaurant/catering manager.

Many independent hotels, and most hotel chains, run management trainee schemes that can lead into restaurant or catering management. Fast-food chains, catering companies and large restaurants are also likely to run restaurant management trainee schemes. Some employers may take on candidates with A levels, BTEC National awards, or Scottish Highers. However, it is more usual for entry requirements to include a foundation degree, BTEC HNC/HND, or degree. Relevant subjects you can study at this level include hospitality management with business, culinary arts or marketing, and international hotel and restaurant management.

The entry requirements for a degree are likely to include five GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3) and a minimum of two A levels/three H grades. For a HNC/D or foundation degree, you are likely to need four GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3) and one A level/two H grades.

An Access to Higher Education qualification may also be accepted for entry to certain courses. If experienced in a related field, you may be able to gain recognition of skills through Accredited Prior Learning (APL). Please check with colleges or universities for exact entry requirements.

There is no maximum age limit to become a restaurant or catering manager.

Training is usually provided on the job. In addition, you can work towards a qualification such as an NVQ/SVQ Level 3 or BTEC National Certificate in Hospitality Supervision.

If you are a graduate with a degree not related to hospitality, you can take a one year BA (Hons) conversion degree course in Hotel and Catering Management, or Hospitality Management.

Restaurant or catering managers can take a number of routes into different careers. Hotel management is an option. In a large chain of hotels or restaurants, it may be possible to progress to regional or area management.

Freelance writer for over eleven years. Work Uniforms Restaurant Uniforms Dickies Nursing Uniform Scrubs

www.Restaurant-Forms.com Discover, With My “RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT GAMEPLAN”, How You Too Can Successfully Run Your Own Restaurant on Auto-Pilot, Under Budget, And With Customers Banging On Your Door! Go to http to download my Free Restaurant Toolkit!
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Restaurant Manager AKA Multitasking Genius

Gregory Garner

A restaurant manager must continually juggle a variety of tasks, issues, and current situations all at once. In order to successfully keep the mechanisms of the restaurant “machine” in motion food must be purchased and on hand, staff must be kept up to date and working, things must be kept clean, and above all, customers must be kept happy. The restaurant manager does all of this and more. Here are some tips to help achieve this seemingly impossible task.

Organization is key for any restaurant to succeed. Whether you use a simple notebook or a complex computer spreadsheet, organizing your food purchases, schedules, or even your daily to-do list is vital for keeping a restaurant manager calm and in control. Implementing some type of organization is especially helpful if there are multiple managers for a restaurant. You can all stay on the same page and work toward common goals if you have a way to communicate in an organized manner. Rattling off what you did and what the next manager needs to do in the ten minutes before your shift change is not an effective method of running a restaurant and can lead to disaster.

Many successful restaurant managers suggest treating “your employees like GOLD, especially your star performers.” Understanding and acknowledging that you can’t run the business alone will not only gain you the respect of your workers, but also inspire them to work harder as a part of your team. Like any leader, showing your employees by example how you wish them to work is instrumental in gaining their trust. I saw a great example of this the other day in Red Robin. During the busy times in the kitchen, the manager was right there alongside of the other employees, doing everything from plating food to sweeping the floor.

Another idea is to hold a weekly or even daily meeting to inform your staff of changes, set goals, and publicly praise your employees. You can use these meetings as a platform to introduce performance contests to motivate everyone to work harder. Remember the classic scene in Moby Dick where Captain Ahab nails a gold doubloon to the mast for the first man to spot a whale? The same concept works amazingly well for the waitress that can turn over the most tables in a week or the person that can work the longest without complaining or arguing or whatever creative idea you can think of.

Almost every restaurant owner agrees that “managers set the tone.” If your tone is organized, hard-working, and appreciative of your employees your restaurant will be a successful, busy place.

Greg Garner represents a restaurant accounting software company.

Review of the restaurant management tools at the: www.restaurantmanagementcenter.com
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Restaurant Marketing Uncertainty

Jose L Riesco

Yesterday I met a friend who owns a small restaurant. We started talking about his business and family and end up talking about restaurant marketing.

“You know?” he said “These days, there are so many marketing people trying to get your money… ” He paused, drank a sip of Guinness and proceeded.

“They want me to do coupons, they want me to invest in my web site, they want me to advertise in the Yellow Pages, in magazines… I am not rich, I can’t afford all of this!”

I looked at my friend, and I understood what he meant. Marketing professionals pitching -of course – his or her product as the best way to promote the business bombard restaurant owners on a daily basis.

They all look good in paper, but which one is the right one for you? How do you know if a marketing initiative will bring you the clients that you so desperately crave for?

The answer is: you don’t, unless you have a marketing strategy in place.

You see, some of these initiatives might be beneficial for your business – and most will be a waste of money – but you won’t know which ones will work unless you know what to look for.

Before you start spending money in marketing, you need to have a strategy, a vision in place. You need to analyze your needs.

Ask yourself:

- Does your business struggle all week long and you are looking to attract more customers?

- Or perhaps you seek clients on specific days of the week that are slower?

- Have you just opened your restaurant, and you want to increase awareness about your great food and service so that people know about your place?

- Do you want to market to your best customers to encourage them to become repeat clients? (This, by the way, is the best marketing strategy that you can implement.)

- Do you want to promote an event? (Such as a wine dinner, menu change, charity event, etc.)

- Do you want to target some specific customer profiles (such as families or professionals or older people, etc.)

You see where I’m going?

Each of these examples will require a different marketing approach.

If you are aiming to capture older, retired people, you may not gain much by having a great Web presence, since most are not very Internet-savvy.

Similarly, if you have a family-friendly restaurant, an ad placed in a weekly entertainment magazine devoted to young, concert-going people won’t work because your target audience won’t see your ad.

Ads in traditional broadcasting media like newspapers and radio are great for promoting a newly opened restaurant or announcing special events or promotions. They reach a wide audience and can spread the word about your place. However, they are ineffective marketing techniques if you simply want to fill your place; they are expensive and it’s difficult to quantify their results.

Coupons, however, are interesting.

They could be very effective since they allow you to measure their impact (you can count how many of them are redeemed at your place) and can be targeted to fill empty tables on specific days (valid only on Mondays, etc.).

However, it is important to consider how they will be distributed and, if they go in coupon packages, which other restaurants are advertising in them (you don’t want to be the only upscale restaurant packaged with fast-food joints and pizza delivery services).

So you see: Before you spend any money in marketing, sit down and look at your needs. Think strategically and make a master plan.

These are some of the questions that you’ll need to ask yourself:

1. What kind of customers do you want? (Unless your restaurant is already very geared to a specific audience, such as families – with decor and food for kids, etc. In this case you’re already got the answer.)

2. When do you need to fill the seats the most?

3. What’s your profit margin per dish? (So that you know exactly how much can you afford to give away in coupons, etc.)

4. What can you do to attract repeat clients?

5. Do you have a formalized referral system in place? If not, you should! Not only is this the most cost-effective and revenue-generating system, but you can implement this yourself easily without spending any extra money!

6. Do you need to promote a special event?

7. Etc.

If all these considerations overwhelm you, perhaps you should call in an expert consultant.

Having a consultant that sits with you for a few hours or days and helps you design your own master Strategic Marketing Plan could save you thousands of dollars a year in wasted money and time.

Just make sure that this expert doesn’t waste your time going over your operational details. You want somebody that can help you define your strategy!

You need to make sure that you spend your marketing dollars wisely and you can ONLY accomplish this only with strategic thinking and planning.

Otherwise, it’s like starting a road trip in an unknown territory without a clear destination or a map that shows you the way. You may end up in some interesting place, but most of the time you’ll be wandering lost in small roads that take you nowhere.

You can’t afford to run your business this way.

To conclude: Sit down and create a marketing strategy for your restaurant. This strategy will drive your marketing plan and expenses, and will help you decide what works for you.

Happy Sailing, Jose L Riesco

Jose Riesco has applied strategic marketing principles brought from the top corporations to the Restaurant Industry.

Only by changing their strategy and vision, restaurant owners will be able to increase their business and fill in their restaurants with happy loyal clients.

To find more about his Restaurant Marketing Strategies visit his web site at: http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

bit.ly Plastic Fork is an amazing iPhone Application for take-away and home delivery restaurants around Australia. Expose your business to thousands of potential customers or download the free application to order delicious meals from the convenience of your phone.