22 Restaurant Management Tips

One area of the restaurant industry we have continually focused on here at The Back Burner is management.  I don’t have to tell you that restaurant managers are often overworked and under appreciated  and that’s on top of the stress involved with trying to manage a business in one of the largest and most competitive industries out there.

These restaurant management tips are meant to be useful tidbits that will make you a more effective manager, and maybe entertain/inform you at some point in your busy day.  Check them out when you have an extra three seconds of time and leave comments on your favorite posts!  Let us know what you think!

1.  How To Sell Your Restaurant – The time to sell your restaurant may come for many reasons.  Whatever the motives are behind this difficult decision, the process of selling your establishment needs to be handled carefully to make sure you get the right price at the right time.

2.  Why Buying Scales Will Save You Money– I’m not telling you anything new when I tell you that inventory control is very important in any restaurant.  But I think it’s surprising just how few restaurants view the use of scales as a way to manage shrink and really control how food product is used.

3.  How To Get A Restaurant Management Job Fast– In the beginning stages of a job search, most restaurant managers are often frustrated by the lack of response they receive from blindly sending resumes to the published markets, amazed and confused that a professional with their impressive background and qualifications could be consistently ignored or overlooked.

4.  Menu Pricing’s Theory Of Relativity – In a previous oldie-but-goodie Back Burner post I talked about menu engineering – how to put together a menu that effectively markets your dishes and makes customers want to spend more and buy high margin menu items.  One thing that post did not touch upon, however, was how to price and organize those prices on the menu.

5.  Restaurant Management: No Training Budget?  Spend Nothing But Time And Succeed – According to a new study by the Council of Hotel And Restaurant Trainers (CHART), 53% of the restaurants surveyed had cut back on their employee training budgets.  Only 19% increased their budget, with the rest remaining the same.

6.  California & Vermont Restaurants: Are You Compliant? – If you’re in the food service industry in either California or Vermont, then this blog post is for you.  New legislation in these two states changes the kind of faucets and pipe fittings that can be installed in restaurants and commercial kitchens starting early next year.

7.  How To Grow Your Restaurant – Without Going Broke – Restaurants are a business like any other, and as an entrepreneur, you’ve already taken the plunge into the risky but potentially rewarding world of business ownership.  Growing a business is never easy, and trying to grow that business in the current economic climate is even harder, which is why a few key principles for small business ring more true today than ever.

8.  Is Your Restaurant Truly Family Friendly?– According to a recent survey by the National Restaurant Association (NRA), 75% of restaurants offer a children’s menu and another 6.25% are considering offering one.  Most restaurants understand the need to cater to young families and accommodate them in every way possible.

9.  Restaurant Management: Use Creative Compensation Strategies – The traditional model has been to pay your kitchen by the hour depending on what they do, let waitstaff earn their living on tips, and maybe pay a hostess by the hour as well if you get too busy.

10.  Are You Ready For Flu Season? – Personally, if I never hear another story about H1N1 (swine) flu again, I’ll die a happy man.  Unfortunately, the grim reality is everyone is going to have to take steps to combat the spread of flu this winter, and restaurants are no exception.

11.  A Free Inventory Management Tool???  Where Do I Sign Up? – Count-n-Control is the brainchild of long-time industry pro Paul Clarke, and it’s a tool that is going to revolutionize how you track inventory in your restaurant.  No, Count-n-Control doesn’t have some crazy new way to track your stock so that shrink is 100% eliminated, and no, it’s not going to help you find the cure for cancer.

12.  Use Edible Scraps To Create Restaurant Family Meals – The “restaurant family meal” is a central event in many well-run restaurants.  Just before the dinner rush front of house and back of house staff gather to enjoy a well-cooked meal prepared by the chef.

13.  Management Styles – Micro Manager or Laissez Faire? – Your management style can have a lot to do with your success in running a restaurant, or any other business. While people can debate all day long about which is the best management style to use in different situations, one thing people will agree on, if you get it right (or wrong) it can have a big affect on the success of your business.

About Greg McGuire

Greg has blogged about the food service industry for years and has been published in industry magazines, like Independent Restaurateur and industry blogs like Restaurant SmartBrief. He lives in Colorado with his wife and two sons and enjoys reading, live music, and the great outdoors.

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3 comments

  1. I’m a restaurant manager having more than 10 years of experience in managing our restaurant Taj International. I found the article on Expodine’s blog named “Best restaurant management tips and solutions” helpful.

  2. thanks for advice.

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