Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Restauran Management Part Two
Restauran Management Part Two
14
Kebonsari, Sumbersari, Jember 68122
Website: https://sphm-hospitality.wixsite.com/ebrochuresphm
Mobile: +62 821 4586 2051 W.A: +62 812 9444 1224
TABLE OF CONTENT
How to Open a Restaurant 1 – 18 How to Make a Restaurant Website 277 – 282
Choosing a Restaurant Concept 19 – 25 Restaurant Branding 283 – 292
Restaurant Menu Pricing 26 – 33 How to Advertise Your Restaurant For Free 293 – 303
How to Write a Restaurant Business Plan 34 – 47 Social Media for Restaurants 304 – 311
The Cost of Opening a Restaurant 48 – 58 How To Host A Restaurant Soft Opening 312 – 325
Restaurant Startup Loans: What You Need to Know 59 – 70 Grand Opening Ideas for Your Restaurant 326 – 335
Negotiating a Restaurant Lease 71 – 80 Forecasting Sales and Break-Even Analysis 336 – 340
Restaurant Licenses and Permits 81 – 93 How to Increase Restaurant Sales 341 – 350
How to Obtain a Liquor License 94 – 108 5 Ways Your Restaurant Can Maximize Table Turnover 351 – 356
Designing Your Restaurant's Dining Room Layout 109 – 120 Restaurant Reservation Systems 357 – 364
Principles of Commercial Kitchen Design 121 = 126 Restaurant Inventory Management 365 – 373
Restaurant Kitchen Layouts 127 – 135 Restaurant Profit Margin 374 – 381
Front of House vs. Back of House 136 – 150 Restaurant Profit and Loss Statement Explained 382 - 394
ADA Bathroom Requirements for Your Restaurant 151 – 161 How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant 395 - 402
Kitchen Equipment Every Restaurant Needs 162 – 174 How to Calculate Labor Cost In Your Restaurant 403 – 408
Different Types of Stainless Steel 175 – 185 How to Reduce Overhead Costs in Your Restaurant 409 - 418
Creating a Restaurant Employee Handbook 186 – 193 Restaurant Cleaning Checklist 419 - 425
Restaurant Manager Duties: Hiring a Manager 194 – 200 Top 10 Energy Conservation Tips for Restaurants 426 - 434
Hiring a Bartender 201 – 208 How to Make A Restaurant Schedule 435 - 444
Host and Server Interview Questions 209 – 214 Restaurant Accounting Tips 445 - 453
How to Hire a Chef 215 – 220 Hiring a Cleaning Service for Your Restaurant 454 – 464
Different Types of Chefs 221 – 229 Restaurant Pest Control Tips 465 – 470
The Ess Essential Guide to Restaurant Positions and Job Descriptions 230 - 246 Pest Control Guide 471 - 483
How to Become a Restaurant Manager 247 – 251 Preventing Bed Bugs with Mattress Encasements 484 – 493
How to Be a Good Server 252 – 258 Preparing for a Health Inspection 494 - 504
Guidelines for Training Restaurant Servers 259 – 269 Everything You Should Know About Food Allergies 505 - 520
Restaurant Employee Dress Code 270 – 276 Food Safety Guidelines 521- 527
Many customers today research restaurants and businesses before they decide to visit. Your business should not only have a
website, but your website should also be optimized to create an excellent first impression and to improve your Google
search rankings. While designing your own website can seem intimidating, we'll run through all of the essentials, such as
the major website hosting sites, the main components of your site, as well as some design tips to make your website look
professional.
When setting up a website, the first step is to register your domain and create a URL. You
can pay to register your domain with a service like GoDaddy or Google Domains, but you
can also choose a free website hosting service. Here are some of the best free website
hosting sites where you can build your restaurant's website:
Wordpress: One of the most popular web hosting sites on the Internet, Wordpress
offers a variety of useful tools that help users set up their websites. They have many
free themes that users can utilize or tweak to their exact needs. Users with graphic
design or web development backgrounds "can also build their sites from scratch if
they want.
Wix: Boasting a user-friendly design and a lot of free tools, Wix is a great option for beginners and webmasters
without a tech background. The service also offers hundreds of free templates that you can use to get your restaurant's
website started.
Weebly: Weebly offers customers a lot of freedom in customizing their website, allowing them to create exactly what
they want. The service also offers a variety of free templates and designs that customers can utilize.
If you're also willing to spend some money for more features, there are many affordable options available, such as
Squarespace or GoDaddy. Additionally, all of the free options listed above have premium options, which will give you access
to many more features, storage space, and templates.
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Mobile: +62 821 4586 2051 W.A: +62 812 9444 1224
Building a Restaurant Website
Once you've signed up for a web hosting service, you can begin designing your
restaurant's website. You can work on the website yourself, but many restaurant owners
may choose to hire web developers or freelancers to give their websites a more
professional look.
While each restaurant's website will differ slightly, there are four major components that
every restaurant should have on their website: a home page, a contact page, a menu
page, and an about us page.
1. Homepage
Your homepage is the central hub of your restaurant's website, and it's important that it's well designed and easy to
navigate. The homepage should also have important information on it, such as your hours of operation and a link to your
menu. You'll also want to prominently display your restaurant's name and logo.
You want to be sure that your restaurant's menu is readily available and easy for customers to use. You should never make
your menu a downloadable PDF or file that customers have to download, because it can cause them to leave your site.
Downloadable PDFs may cause customers to leave your website because there is the potential that the link contains a virus
or they may think it's too much effort. Instead, have custom programs built into your site that display your menu items in a
more visually appealing manner.
3. Contact Us Page
Your website should have a way for customers to contact you in case they have any questions or any issues with their meal.
Additionally, you can add a lot of other useful information to your contact page. Here is some other information that should
be on your contact page:
Hours of operation
Address
This page is a great chance to make a personal connection to your customers and explain how your restaurant got started
and some of the personal aspects that customers may not be aware of. On this page, for example, you can talk about the
owners of the restaurant and their background, talk about when the business was founded, or introduce some of the kitchen
staff.
Your restaurant's website should have a strong framework and structure, but it's also
important for it to look appealing. Similar to the process of optimizing your menu,
designing an excellent website can give your customers a great first impression and
make your business look professional. Here are a few tips that you should consider
when designing your restaurant's website:
Choose your color scheme strategically. The colors that you use on your
website can affect how your customers perceive your restaurant, so choose
them carefully. For example, colors like red, orange, and yellow can boost
someone's appetite and make them excited to visit your restaurant. On the other
hand, cool tones like blue and purple are not often naturally found in food, so
they may decrease your customers' appetite.
Use high-quality images on your site. Nothing makes a website unprofessional like low-resolution or grainy pictures.
So, if you're going to use photos on your website, make sure that they're high-quality and clear.
Add your restaurant's Instagram feed to your website. Using a simple string of HTML code, you can insert images
from your Instagram feed onto your website. It's a great way to show off your latest creations and for potential
customers to see what other customers are saying about your business.
Feature great reviews from Yelp. Personal reviews are very impactful on potential customers. So, if you see a
particularly glowing review on your Yelp or TripAdvisor account, consider featuring it on your site.
Customers may get their first impression of your business online, so it's important to build a well-designed website. You
want your website to be user-friendly and offer useful information, but you also want to ensure that it has a pleasing
design that matches your restaurant's brand. You can follow this helpful guide to make sure that you cover all the
necessary bases when building your restaurant's website and to ensure that you're creating an excellent online presence for
your business.
Successful restaurant branding can set your eatery apart, giving it a memorable ambiance that guests will want to experience
time and again. Whether you're just starting a restaurant or rebranding and updating your look, explore our guide to
understand the basics of restaurant branding and how to create a strong brand identity.
Restaurant branding communicates your restaurant's personality and identity. A restaurant brand expresses the values and
mission of your eatery, and it influences your concept and ambiance. A well thought-out brand creates an emotional
connection with guests. Your brand should be palpable upon entering your restaurant and should stay cohesive throughout
your service style, type of food, and marketing efforts. Not only does quality restaurant branding increase loyalty, but it a lso
attracts new guests who may be drawn to your brand through marketing.
Below are some examples of restaurants with supreme branding that you can use as
inspiration to strengthen your own brand.
Sweetgreen
Sweetgreen is a fast casual eatery that serves healthy, seasonal food and has several
locations throughout the U.S. You can feel Sweetgreen's energetic, health-oriented brand
through their uncluttered design layout, bright lighting, neutral color palette, and vibrant
staff. Not only is the Sweetgreen mission and feel apparent in their establishment, but
their brand is also communicated on their marketing platforms, such as Instagram, which
shows farm photos and images of colorful, vegetable-filled dishes.
Clad in eclectic decor and a strong Parisian theme, Rachel's Cafe & Creperie is intentionally
indulgent and chic. Rachel's Cafe and Creperie has two locations in Lancaster, PA. With a mix of
checkered and wood floors, floral wallpaper, images of Paris, and whimsical lighting fixtures,
Rachel's exudes a high-end, yet relaxed vibe. The French influence carries into the menu options,
which include both sweet and savory beautifully presented crepes along with decadent drinks.
Ruby's Diner
Walk into Ruby's Diner, and you can feel the echo of the Swing Era. Ruby's Diner features red,
shiny laminate booths, hanging retro bicycles, and bright lighting. Servers wear 50's-inspired
outfits, and the diner offers a range of classic diner food, like burgers, fries, sandwiches, and
milkshakes. The Ruby's Diner brand expresses a nostalgic vintage ambiance. While all locations
radiate a retro personality and serve similar menus, each diner adds personal touches based on
the surrounding location.
To create a memorable and cohesive brand, explore the 10 essential components of restaurant branding listed below.
1. Concept
There are many different types of restaurants that range in formality level, price range, and
type of food. A restaurant concept also includes service style. Are you a sit-down
restaurant, pop-up bar, fast casual counter service spot, or food truck? Your concept is like
your brand in action, so your concept should be reflective of your brand. For example,
Sweetgreen caters to those living an active, on-the-go lifestyle by enabling guests to make
healthy eating a normal part of the everyday life. As such, part of Sweetgreen's concept, or
brand in action, is their fast casual line setup where guests can quickly get a healthful dish at
an affordable price.
Who will your target audience be? Demographics include characteristics such as age, gender, or income level. Are you aiming
to serve families, couples, working professionals, or some combination? Are they trendy or traditional? What’s your
customers’ price point? Is there a need for another American grill in your town, or is the market saturated? You might first
start by getting an understanding of your intended location's demographics and decide what type of branding and
concept will work well there. Otherwise, you can find a specific location that will respond well to the brand you have in mind.
A restaurant mission statement outlines the foundation of your restaurant, your values, and what your eatery hopes to
achieve. What are you providing to customers that they can’t find elsewhere? A restaurant mission statement is an
opportunity to create a connection with customers, staff, and stakeholders. Once you have your mission statement worked
out, you can use it to guide the rest of your decisions about the other elements of your brand.
4. Name
Choosing a quality restaurant name is a key part of branding your restaurant. Your name should be unique, yet memorable
and relevant. Your name should reflect your brand, and it should give guests a sense of what kind of food you serve and what
they can expect when they walk through your door.
Your restaurant logo is a visual element that guests will recognize over time. Your logo may
incorporate a symbol, or it may be simple with your name or initials in an expressive font.
Your restaurant logo should be consistent with your brand by using a similar color palette
and feel. While symbols can be major components of logos, they’re not always necessary.
In fact, a well-chosen font can be just as effective in summing up the feeling of your
business on your signage, website, menu, and other advertising materials.
6. Tagline
A tagline is a brief, catchy statement that sums up the defining feature of your brand and mission. You’ll often hear taglines
on radio ads or see them on a restaurant website or below a logo.
Restaurant ambiance is one of the most important and dynamic avenues through which
you can express your brand. Guests will remember how they felt at your establishment,
making it essential to create a distinctive and pleasant atmosphere. You should fine-tune
every aspect of your ambiance so that it adheres to your brand and creates a comfortable
guest experience. Below are key components of your atmosphere to take into
consideration when branding your restaurant:
Lighting
Interior decor
Servingware and other tabletop details
Color scheme
Music
Server clothing
Server composure
Menu design
Both prospective guests and loyal customers will likely check out your website to see your menu, hours, or to simply learn
more about your eatery. People may also choose to follow your restaurant on social media platforms, including Instagram
and Facebook. It's important to keep your brand consistent on every platform. The essence of your website, the aesthetic of
your Instagram photos, and the tone and language used are all ways to express your brand. In some cases, your website or
Instagram may be the first impression guests will have of your business, so investing in a high-quality website and keeping a
professional, active Instagram is worth it.
9. Food
The type of food you serve is another central component of your restaurant brand. If you
operate a Mexican restaurant that draws in large groups or offers a bumping happy hour,
include lots of share plates to cater to groups. In the example of Sweetgreen, serving
healthy, farm-fresh food is a key aspect of their branding. From the ingredients you use to
the name of each dish, try to check that every decision parallels your mission statement
and brand. If you advertise your restaurant as a high-end spot, make sure to emphasize the
quality of your ingredients and of your preparation processes. If you want to be the best
burger joint in your town, take extra time to find the perfect bakery that can provide your
signature brioche burger buns.
From t-shirts to beer glasses, there are plenty of opportunities to offer products to promote your brand. You can also give
away or sell items like pens, stationery, tote bags, and Christmas ornaments. To spread the word about your restaurant, you
can even create contests with free giveaways. Additionally, when guests purchase products that feature your restaurant logo,
it further increases loyalty because they now own an item connected to your restaurant, making them invested in your
brand. And the more your customers share your logo, the better brand recognition you’ll get.
Once you’ve settled on the major components of your brand, it’s important to stick to
them and make sure they make sense together. For example, you wouldn’t serve filet
mignon on a paper plate or play country music at an Italian restaurant. That’s not to say
that you can’t mix and match styles in order to intentionally develop an entirely new
concept, but any deviation from the norm should come across as intentional, otherwise
you risk missing the mark and leaving your customers feeling confused.
Cohesion extends to your online presence as well. You wouldn’t have a fine dining
restaurant that leaves snarky Facebook comments. But if you’re an edgy BBQ food truck,
maybe a little bit of snark on social media is perfectly fine. Any time you roll out a new
facet of your brand, you should always check in with your brand messaging to make sure it
works within your existing context.
Opening a restaurant is an expensive investment, and the last thing many restaurateurs think about are ways in which to
advertise and market their new ventures. Many believe that, “if they build it, they will come,” but that isn’t necessarily true in
the cut-throat foodservice industry. More times than not, restaurants fail due to insufficient or poor advertising. Business
owners then wonder why crowds of hungry people aren’t rushing into their establishments, but usually it’s because there
hasn't been enough marketing involved, or owners ran out of enough money in the first place. By using these tactics and tips,
entrepreneurs will be able to advertise their restaurants for free within their communities and on the web.
One of the first ways in which you can start your free restaurant advertising is to
determine who you want as a customer. Who do you want to bring into your
restaurant? As soon as you figure out who you want to serve, you can then focus
on how you’ll make them interested in you. Are they senior citizens who will likely
be coming in for the early-bird menu? Are they sports enthusiasts who want to
watch the 'big game' at your establishment? Or are they young adults in college
who are more interested in drink specials? Maybe your restaurant is geared more
towards families? Even though you will want to serve everyone, it’s important to
narrow down a target audience to start.
Create a Website
Four out of five consumers conduct local searches on their smartphones or computers for information on business hours,
directions, addresses, and product availability. Making sure your business has an online presence, and is able to answer basi c
questions like location, hours of operation, and even product availability, is crucial to your success. Luckily, having a
personal website doesn’t have to cost you much, if anything at all.
There are many free programs that will let users create beautifully and visually appealing websites for free, and some look just
the same as paid websites do. Programs like Wix, Weebly, Yola, Zoho, Wordpress and other builders let a business owner
customize their website from the ground up. Everything from the theme and colors, to the images and fonts can be simply
Menu- Include the prices of your menu items since many times this is why customers will be visiting your website.
About- Include a section with details that tells patrons a little about your business, what you offer, how you got
started, how many years you've been in business, if it’s family-owned and operated, etc.
Specials and Upcoming Events- Update customers on event happenings in your restaurant so they can be sure to
mark it down on their calendars.
Hours of Operation- Inform customers when your business opens and closes.
Map- Include a map of your location, along with directions from highly trafficked interstates and highways that will
lead customers to your restaurant. It’s also important to mention where customers can park once they arrive. Try
implementing the Google Maps widget on your website so customers can click and be instantly directed to your
restaurant by Google Maps driving directions.
Reservations- Include a phone number that people can call to make reservations, or link to apps like OpenTable where
guests can enjoy the convenience of reserving their table online!
Multimedia- Add pictures and videos of your restaurant, signature dishes, and special events that you've hosted.
Social Media - Link visitors to your social media accounts where they can continue to engage with you.
While a website is meant to inform potential customers about your restaurant’s hours of operation, menu offerings, and
specials, the purpose of a blog is similar to your social media accounts, and they’re used to entertain your readers and build
your establishment’s brand. Having a good restaurant brand is important because it gives your business the opportunity to
establish brand loyalty with your customers. Additionally, blogs are ideal for longer posts than social media platforms like
Facebook and Instagram, which is ideal when explaining upcoming events or changes within your business.
In addition to building your brand, creating a blog for your restaurant can help in a few other ways. For example, blogs are
informal, and they are an excellent opportunity for your business to connect with your customers on a personal level. You can
also blog about your new menu items or upcoming events to create buzz among your customer base. Additionally, your
restaurant’s blog is a platform for your customers to leave comments, reviews, and suggestions, which can be valuable for
improving your business.
Online Directories
Even though it’s not entirely free, becoming a member of your chamber of commerce is much cheaper than many other
advertising strategies out there. For just a small fee each month, you can pay to join your community’s chamber of
commerce, which is an organization that recognizes businesses throughout the community.
Increases public perception- Being linked to an elite organization, such as a chamber of commerce, creates credibility
for your business.
Raises your visibility in the community- When you join your chamber of commerce your business will then be
published in chamber newsletters and highlighted in other publications. This free press helps get your name out into
the community. Be mindful that the cost of joining could range from $300-$1000, depending on how many employees
your business employs.
Create networking opportunities- This free form of advertising creates a link between you and other business
owners, which can build an exchange of information by developing important contacts.
Another effective way to advertise your business is to host events that patrons will look forward to coming to each week.
Trivia nights, karaoke music, happy hour, and special tasting opportunities are free ways that give customers a reason to
want to visit your restaurant. You could give away a gift certificate to the winner of trivia nights which instantly creates a
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Kebonsari, Sumbersari, Jember 68122
Website: https://sphm-hospitality.wixsite.com/ebrochuresphm
Mobile: +62 821 4586 2051 W.A: +62 812 9444 1224
reason for them to come back. Promoting contests is another way to spread brand awareness because it entices customers to
do something to get what they want. Offer coupons for free desserts or appetizers, since its likely your customers will
order an expensive drink to go along, or an entrée to start.
Create Buzz
Will your restaurant be celebrating its grand opening? Or maybe you will be hosting a large event with some of the
proceeds going towards an important cause? Pitch these ideas to the press or send out a press release about happenings
going on at your restaurant since it may lead to a reporter wanting to cover the story at no cost to you.
Engage Customers
A great form of free advertising is to directly connect with your customers on a personal
level, which can be done for free simply by using your computer. Create customer
feedback cards as a way to gauge your restaurant’s service, while also helping you collect
names, email addresses, and birth dates that you can use later to produce an email
campaign. Send customers coupons when their birthdays approach, and send out e-mail
blasts with announcements and special offers describing events happening at your
restaurant. However, make sure to clearly state your intent when collecting information
from individuals, like telephone numbers, because you don't want to violate any rules
regarding the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
A great way to network and advertise your business is by building relationships with other businesses in the community with
whom your products relate to one another. For instance, if you own a smoothie shop, or juice bar, partner up with a local
yoga studio or gym that you’ll likely share customers with. Offer discounts to promote each other’s business as a way of
reaching more people in the community.
Get Involved
Customers who see that your business is actively involved with charitable events might
benefit you by creating a positive reputation. Have your employees participate in events in
the community since they will act as representatives of your business. You could also
donate products to a worthy cause because it’s likely you will recoup profits by gaining that
much back in free advertising.
Though it isn't entirely free, becoming a sponsor to local school clubs and sports teams
could create a large opportunity for your restaurant’s name to reach groups of people in the community. Elementary, middle,
and high school sports teams need the financial support, and in return your logo, brand, and name will be displayed on
baseball jerseys, signs, and banners, where crowds of people are likely to turn out.
The largest and most widespread way that restaurateurs can advertise their business for
free is by participating in social media. It is estimated that one out of every four people
uses social media daily, and that 4.2 billion of those users access this information directly
from their hand-held devices. Restaurant owners should select just a few social media sites
to get started with, and spend their time focusing on quality posts, conversations, and ways
in which to foster engagement with customers. Some of the best ways to market your
restaurant for free are with the following social media strategies:
Known as the largest social network, Facebook accounts for 23.39% of all Internet traffic. It allows anyone, including business
owners, to create their own page describing content about themselves, pictures, videos, and updates, as well as being able to
generate relationships with other users. Facebook even gives you free analytical information about how well your status
updates and links are ranking so you can visually see how well your business is reaching others.
Tip- Design a Facebook page that includes a strong cover image which is the first thing visitors will see upon arrival to
your page. Change this image frequently to correspond with holidays, seasons, events, and other promotions that you
want your restaurant to show off.
According to the IACP Center for Social Media, there is more than two billion searches on Twitter each day. Make sure your
restaurant is next by joining this online community that enables users to post updates with 140 characters or less. Promote
your events, menu items, and specials using Twitter since it doesn't take much time for users to read.
Tip- Create a unique hashtag to use on posts that will help customers find you in the future. Ex. #ThePubHouse or
#MamasItalianBistro
Tip- Use Twitter to take advantage of posting visual content since you are capped at a 280 character limit. Post pictures
of weekly events, new signature dishes, or flyers promoting specials.
Tip- Strategically send out posts at times of the day when people might be the most hungry. Breakfast, lunch, dinner,
and late-night hours are popular times that customers might be looking for something to eat. Don’t have the time to
dedicate to this? Programs such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to schedule and monitor tweets ahead of
time, saving you time to work on other projects!
Much like a corkboard, Pinterest lets users “pin” their favorite findings on the web through the use of links and images. It’s
not surprising that food is the top ranked category on Pinterest since many users go here to find recipes and culinary
inspiration.
Tip- Search Engine Optimization is essential when gaining a presence in social media. The more descriptive your pins,
titles, and descriptions are, the more likely they will be found when users search for you.
Tip- Share links and images that are industry-related to your restaurant. If your business specializes in farm-to-table
ingredients, post pins that link to local farmer’s markets.
Tip- It’s also helpful to create boards that break down the categories on your menu, such as appetizers, signature
salads, and entrées. Take pictures of each of these items so future customers will be able to see exac tly what you have
to offer.
If a picture is worth a thousand words then Instagram would be a library. This mobile
photo app instantly lets you share filtered and enhanced images with followers. 90% of
users 35 and younger participate in Instagram daily, which is a great campaign opportunity
to use if your target market is within that demographic.
Tip- Motivate followers with photo contests that they can easily enter just by
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Mobile: +62 821 4586 2051 W.A: +62 812 9444 1224
tagging your restaurant in their Instagram posts. Tempt customers with prize packages they could win by taking a
picture of themselves with items that you want to promote the most!
Tip- Include a link in your Instagram profile to your website and other social media accounts you use.
Lead customers into your restaurant with these free marketing and advertising strategies that are sure to increase your
presence in the community and on the web. Try tactics like hosting events, joining your local chamber of commerce, and
engaging with customers which are all great ways to publicize your restaurant. Since 46% of Internet users depend on social
media to influence their decision when making a purchase, it's now more important than ever to become involved with this
free form of PR.
In an age of constant communication, your restaurant can greatly benefit from a strategic, on-brand social media presence.
By evaluating your primary customer base, developing a content strategy, and reviewing audience interactions, you
can transform curious followers into loyal customers. Take into consideration the following tips for effective restaurant
social media when creating your own strategy.
If you’re choosing to engage with customers online, you must create a social media strategy first. Having a strategy in place
beforehand prevents you and your team from sharing content sporadically, engaging unprofessionally, and missing crucial
marketing opportunities.
Consider the following as you create a concrete strategy for your restaurant’s online presence:
On-Brand Voice and Aesthetic. Your brand determines how you will show up on
social media. It impacts how you speak in a tweet or post as well as the aesthetic of
your restaurant’s social media pages. Your brand encompasses your restaurant’s
identity, personality, and mission, and your social media presence should reflect all
of those facets.
Responsiveness. How quickly can people expect you to respond to their comments,
posts, or direct messages? However diligently you choose to check your social
media, be sure to make your response times consistent. In general, it’s good to try to
respond to customer inquiries within a few hours to one day.
Engage Your Followers. Emphasizing the importance of your followers to them can
bring back customers and bring in new ones. Offer special discounts and prizes with
contests for your followers. Not only does this create more loyal guests,
but Instagram’s algorithm rewards actual engagement on the app. When followers
engage with your posts and stories, Instagram interprets that your feed is popular
and will show your post to more of your followers. In addition, your posts will be
more likely to show up for your hashtags, allowing your business to expand outside
of your existing network.
Below we go through 9 social media ideas for your restaurant. Browse through these tips to create posts and campaigns that
will excite your followers, bring back guests, and bring in new ones.
If taking your own food photos, research proper food photography techniques. Using
natural light, action shots, proper angles, and adhering to your brand are all essential.
To create buzz and spread the word about your restaurant, hold contests where your followers have to tag a friend or share
your post. For example, ask your followers to share your latest post on their page or Instagram story for a chance to win a
free dessert, and randomly select a winner which you can announce on your page. Alternatively, you can have your followers
tag a friend on your post, which will expose them to your page and can increase your following.
Post action or scenario images of the front of the house when possible to allow the viewer to picture themselves in your
restaurant. You can even include staged photos of a "cheers," share photos of your busy nights, or include images that
emphasize your unique interior design.
Don’t shy away from candid, natural, unedited, or humorous photos taken by servers or
staff. This can add a personal touch to your posts that will help guests feel like a part of
your community. Get staff involved with images and videos to further emphasize this.
Giving followers a behind-the-scenes or real-time peek into your restaurant’s
functioning makes them feel more connected to your business.
o Protip from Agora Downtown: “Try to stay on top of current trends and
incorporate them into your social media presence. It can add some humor,
Ask your followers for their thoughts and opinions. Thinking of trying out a new dish? Include a poll or ask followers to
comment what they would be most interested in. Curious what your guests' favorite dish is? Ask your followers for their
thoughts and opinions!
Share Stories and Interesting Facts About Your Business and Staff
Consider including customer photos, employee profiles, anecdotes, and stories about your business to create riveting,
personal content that guests will look forward to.
Encourage guests to post photos from their visit to your restaurant and to use a hashtag specific to
your business or tag your business on their post. You can make this into a contest, and choose the
“best photo” or randomly select a winner. You can also simply remind guests to use a certain
hashtag. Not only does this spread word about your restaurant to their followers, but it creates more
content that you may use for your profile. Just be sure to ask customers before reposting their
photos under your own profile, and always give credit to the original poster.
Participate in national food days such as National Pizza Day, National Ice Cream Day, or whatever day is most relevant to your
menu. Take part in buzzworthy topics such as upcoming sporting events and holidays.
As fun and laid back as social media can be, always remember that this is still a professional space when representing your
business. As a general rule of thumb, you shouldn’t act differently online than how you would in the middle of your
restaurant.
Treat everyone you interact with online as a potential customer. Give them the same respect
as you would someone eating in your dining room. This goes for those posting about a
positive experience or followers who may be providing you with some critical feedback.
If you’ve decided that a certain social media channel isn’t right for your business, do not
simply abandon your profile. An old, outdated profile can look unprofessional or lazy to
potential customers who stumble upon it. This can leave the impression that you don’t care
enough about your business to maintain a solid online presence or that your business may
be closed. Instead of abandoning a profile, simply delete it altogether.
You’ve successfully purchased a location and transformed it into a brand new restaurant. The space is furnished, the kitchen is
stocked, and the menu is written. What’s next? How do you get your restaurant in business? If you plan to open a new
restaurant, consider hosting a series of soft openings, or soft launches, to give your staff and kitchen equipment a test run
before officially opening your doors to the public.
If the coronavirus has forced you to temporarily shut your doors, you can ease back into the business by hosting a soft
opening when you're ready to reopen your restaurant.
We explored some options and tips for a soft opening that can lead to a successful grand opening.
A soft opening or soft launch is the opening of a business for a limited number of people at first to test its services and make
improvements. While a grand opening occurs on the actual day your restaurant opens its doors to the public, a soft opening
is a beta test that happens well before your restaurant officially opens. There are several advantages and some disadvantages
to hosting a soft opening.
A soft opening is not a requirement, but there are clear advantages of hosting one before fully opening your doors. Here are
some of the major advantages:
Get feedback: Collect comments directly from customers on the food, drinks, service, and overall atmosphere.
Prepare the staff: Allow staff to practice menu knowledge and learn how to be a good server, creating consistency
among staff members.
Build anticipation: Get the word out about your new location by encouraging guests to tell their friends about their
experience.
Make adjustments: Implement the feedback and tweak things that could use improvement before opening.
It is important to note that there are some disadvantages to hosting a soft opening:
Creates urgency to open: A soft opening should be hosted with a grand opening date in mind. That date should not
be too long after the soft launch or else the hype will die down, and your customers may forget or lose interest.
Exposes ideas to competitors: A soft launch exposes your ideas to the world which may end up in the hands of a
competitor. Delay your grand opening too long, and they may have a chance to implement those ideas before you
open.
The soft opening invitations you send out are an important part of enticing people to test out your restaurant. Depending on
how many people you are inviting and your style, you can either email the invite for a more casual feel or send a physical
invitation in the mail for something more upscale. Don’t forget to choose a memorable design to grab your guests’ attention.
Regardless of how the invitation is sent, the expectations for the event should be listed. Here is a list of what to include on a
soft launch invitation:
Time
Address
Dress Code
It may be difficult to gauge how many people you can handle for your soft opening. Some locations have all of their guests
served during the same time slot. However, staggering the guests provides a realistic flow of service in your location. A
common number of guests to invite in a night is usually 100 people, broken up into different time slots.
For example, if your event begins at 6 p.m., you would invite 25 people to arrive at 6 p.m., 25 more to arrive at 6:30 p.m., and
so on. With this concept, your staff also gets practice serving different stages of a meal at once. One aspect to decide upon is
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if you will be allowing walk-ins and how many extra people you can fit in your location at a given time. By inviting people
beforehand while still allotting space for more, you can gauge how your restaurant handles both your reservation
system and walk-in crowds.
You may be tempted to open your doors to the public right away for your soft launch. However, who you invite can have a
strong impact on your success moving forward.
Friends and family are much more forgiving in the event of rough patches during your soft opening. A crowd of familiar faces
will give you constructive criticism, offering insight while being aware that this is, in fact, a test run. Just remind them to be
honest, since friends and family are also more likely to try and spare your feelings.
By inviting people you know, it's easier to follow up with them for critiques. This allows you to assess your strengths and
weaknesses to make those final tweaks before opening to the public. Familiar faces are also more likely to provide you with
free advertising and help build anticipation before you officially open.
To introduce themselves to local business owners, many restaurant owners will host a soft opening event just for the
surrounding businesses in their area. A soft opening is usually a restaurant’s first introduction to the local community, making
it a great time to create a strong first impression with other local business owners.
By hosting a meal or happy hour just for local businesses, you’re expressing an interest to contribute to the established
community you have joined. In doing so, you might earn some bookings for upcoming events and meal slots. Forming
professional relationships with other community businesses is vital to your success, so be sure to make a strong first
impression.
Prominent local leaders and community influencers are great guests to invite to a restaurant soft opening. These individuals
have lots of pull within a local community, meaning that they can generate positive word-of-mouth advertising.
Community leaders and influencers often have followings of people that other community members don’t have. Positive
reviews from these important individuals can raise your restaurant’s reputation and launch your business with a running head
start. Just be prepared to pull out all the stops to impress these people, as their words have a lot of weight behind them and
negative reviews from them can do more harm than good.
Once you’ve decided that a soft opening is a good option for your establishment, the next step is to put together a
menu for the occasion. There are a few factors to decide upon before you can host your soft opening. Each type of soft
opening menu has pros and cons, so it's up to you to decide which type of soft opening menu best fits your establishment.
For those restaurants that are close to their grand opening date, offering a full menu soft opening may be the perfect beta
test before your actual launch. Offering your restaurant’s complete menu during a soft opening provides a comprehensive
overview of the establishment, allowing you to get feedback on all of your dishes. A full menu soft opening will provide you
with the most relevant and precise feedback, as the soft opening essentially simulates how your grand opening will go.
Although serving your entire menu at a soft opening provides great feedback, there are some drawbacks to hosting such an
intricate event. You need to be fully prepared to host a full menu soft opening, meaning that every aspect of your restaurant
needs to be ready to launch. A soft opening with an all-encompassing menu also makes it difficult to pinpoint problem areas
and mistakes, as you’re testing so many aspects at once. Full menu soft openings provide great feedback, but hosting one
likely won’t be the smoothest process unless you’re completely ready for the challenge.
This means you only display a few dishes but let your
customers know that more additions to the menu are
coming, giving them a reason to return after your grand
opening to try more food options. By test running your
signature dishes, you have a chance to provide your
customers with a memorable meal but also make minor
adjustments before your doors are open. You can also
host multiple soft opening events featuring different parts
of the menu each time, which we will explore further.
There is no exact formula on the timeline a soft opening should take, however, the general time frame ranges from 3 days up
to two weeks. Your time span will help you determine how many events to have within that time and what to serve on which
days. Two soft opening strategies are outlined below that may work for your establishment.
Three-Day Strategy:
This style is more of an intimate sneak peek and is usually done through personal invitation.
Day 1: A cocktail hour featuring appetizers and beverages for friends, family, and local business owners
Think of this as a multi-course meal served over the span of several days. This requires a bit more advertising.
Two nights of full menu service for just friends and family
Restaurant menu pricing for a soft opening varies from case to case. Some restaurants offer completely free food, a
discounted menu, or a meal selection limited to just a few full-priced options. If you plan on charging full price, be sure to
include freebies as a ‘thank you’ for guests' input.
This is a good way to have customers try a variety of menu items that they may not have selected to purchase with their meal.
These selections can include an appetizer or dessert sampler platter, a drink flight, or your signature cocktail free of charge. If
you do choose to provide a completely complimentary event, just be conscious of your budget so it doesn’t end up hurting
you rather than helping.
Integrating your business into the local neighborhood is an important part of establishing a loyal customer base. Creating a
neighborhood presence before your grand opening date allows you to get a head start on forming connections with
community members who may one day become your regular customers.
Opening Events
Turning your restaurant’s soft opening into a community event goes a long
way in establishing roots in your local community. If possible, try incorporating
entertainment like live music, photo booths, or games, turning your soft
opening into a celebration. Guests will be more likely to come when there are
other amenities present. Also, turning your soft opening into a community
event may boost attendees’ enjoyment of the event and help establish
important connections with local patrons.
By announcing your restaurant's presence before officially opening your doors to the public, you'll build anticipation leading
up to your grand reveal. What better way to do so than with a live showcase of your menu during your soft opening?
Consider operating your own grab-and-go stand that customers can swing by to extend your restaurant services prior to
opening.
If that option isn't available, seek out other local opportunities to grant a sneak peek at your food. Are there any local food
shows or community events you could feature a stand at or cater to get your name known? These restaurant marketing
tactics speak volumes more than any flyer or social media posting.
Once you have finished preparing for your soft opening by selecting a menu, inviting your guests, and reaching out to your
community, there is one critical step left: collect feedback. The feedback gathered from your guests during your soft launch is
extremely valuable in order to make improvements before you open to the public.
It is for that reason that your feedback should be gathered in writing. If just spoken to a server during the event, the deta ils of
the feedback may be forgotten. Instead, you can hand out a feedback form with the check at the end of the meal and even
offer coupons for completed forms. Feedback from your soft opening can help make sure your grand opening is a success.
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A soft opening may feel like an additional step delaying you from opening your doors, but it can be highly valuable to your
restaurant’s success. It provides the opportunity to find areas of improvement and get in some much-needed practice before
officially opening your establishment. When planning for your soft launch, be sure to select your menu and guest list wisely
to make the most of the experience.
A grand opening is a great marketing strategy to create buzz in the local community before you open a new restaurant. This
event will serve as your first chance to invite customers into your establishment, showcase your menu offerings, and start
building the relationships necessary for repeat business. However, it can be difficult to come up with grand opening ideas to
help your business stand out. Follow the tips and advice below to find out how to plan a grand opening and get the most out
of your establishment’s big day.
Before your restaurant grand opening, you will want to be sure you have a proper grand
opening plan in place for that day. Being prepared ahead of time allows you to focus,
create unique launch party ideas, and enjoy the big day when it arrives.
Here are a few areas to focus on when you begin planning your grand opening:
Pick a day for your event: When choosing a day, be aware of upcoming events in
the area to avoid competing for customers. Create a timeline of the soft opening
events leading up to your grand opening day.
Select a time frame: How long will you host a grand opening? Decide if you want a breakfast, lunch, or dinner crowd
and for how many hours you’re prepared to stay open.
Recruit volunteers or hire employees: Give yourself enough time to find and train employees for the grand opening.
Or, gather volunteers willing to help out.
Select entertainment: Decide if you want to offer entertainment for the grand opening event, and book talent early.
This could include bands, DJ’s, comedians, clowns for the children, or a local celebrity or sports mascot.
Decide on a style of service: Begin working on your menu for the big day. Will you offer a full or limited menu,
sample platters, or an altered service such as buffet-style?
Before your official restaurant opening, host a “soft opening” for a limited number of guests to test the staff, the flow, and
the atmosphere of your establishment. This gives you and your staff a chance to iron out any kinks before you open your
doors to the public. You may even want to host various soft opening events, tailored to a specific group of people, such as:
1. Friends and Family: This is a free event for trusted people who understand that they are participating in a test run and
have agreed not to share details publicly.
3. Local Business Owners: People who work in the neighborhood around your restaurant can become your best
customers if given a chance to become familiar with and feel connected to your business.
4. Influencers: Host an event for your local influencers, including politicians, police chiefs, journalists, and bloggers to
help the word-of-mouth spread about your location just before the grand opening.
Use these events as an opportunity to get helpful feedback from friendly faces before opening to the public. Sending Google
surveys or collecting feedback forms after each event is a great way to get a variety of perspectives.
Allow enough time between the soft opening events and grand opening to potentially rework your menu, service style, or
atmosphere. Waiting too long, however, could cause community excitement to die down and potential customers to forget
or lose interest.
It’s important to offer your grand opening attendees something that they’ll want badly
enough to come to your event. On your grand opening menu, be sure to offer a taste of
your signature dishes that best summarizes your restaurant’s offerings, while staying on-
brand in order to give guests a clear understanding of what they can expect when you
open.
When deciding how to encourage patrons to come to your grand opening and keep them
coming back to your restaurant, ask yourself the following questions:
What grand opening specials will you offer to customers? You might offer free samples of your specialty dishes or
What will you do to encourage repeat business from patrons attending your grand opening? Considering offering
loyalty cards, buy-one-get-one deals, and coupons for free products on the next visit
How will you ensure you’re encouraging your target market to come to your restaurant? Try boosting your internet
presence and community advertisement.
Before your official opening, start building the hype around your restaurant by getting involved with local events and going
where your potential customers go. Give the public a taste of your culinary or confectionary creations by setting up a stand at
local farmers markets or neighborhood events to establish your business as part of the community.
Hand out samples and inform customers of your upcoming grand opening. This is a great opportunity to also pass around
menus and invitations to your opening events and get customers excited for other menu items. Giving them a taste of your
signature dishes will entice them to try more when you release the full menu on opening day.
When trying to spread the word about your business through local events, consider partnering with a well-known charity.
By providing charitable donations, not only will it help debut your restaurant, but it will also show that you are passionate
about a cause that may be close to your customers' hearts.
Offer to donate a portion or all of the proceeds of a soft opening event or grand opening day to the charity. It gives your
event a personal touch and benefits those in need. Customers will love seeing a business getting involved for a cause.
There are several savvy ways to promote your business’s grand opening. From social media to printed flyers, here are a few
restaurant marketing tips you can use to hit your target customers when advertising your restaurant grand opening event.
Social media is a budget-friendly way to quickly spread the news about your event.
Incorporate the following tips into your social media strategy to create interest before your
grand opening:
Give out free perks for followers before your grand opening
Incorporate hashtags into your posts to make it easy for patrons to find you
Post pictures of your new space, menu items, and employees to drum up excitement
Post regularly to keep your audience interested and interacting with your page
Depending on your target market, creating printed invitations, flyers, and postcards may be a more effective approach. Flyers
can be handed out at community events and placed in neighborhood libraries, visitors centers, or pinned on community
boards in local cafes. Another option is to have your grand opening flyer included in the local newspaper.
Sidewalk signs and banners are a great way to let passersby know of the grand opening. Keep a grand opening sign outside
your location space prior to the event to advertise the date and the deals that will be available to customers. After the
opening, wooden signs and letter boards can continue to be used to advertise deals and new menu or seasonal items.
Boost your internet presence by creating a Google My Business profile. By using a Gmail account and a pictu re of your
location, you can put together a free listing of your restaurant that will appear on the search page when someone looks up
the name of your establishment.
This listing will show your potential customers where to locate you, your business hours, your restaurant’s phone number, and
any photos you would like to add. You can even advertise your grand opening by adding an event post to your Google My
Business listing, which can help bring customers in for your big day.
Reach out to local newspapers and television stations to check if they would be interested in covering your grand opening.
The free publicity could attract a crowd of customers who may not have heard about your event.
When inviting local media to come to your restaurant, put together a media kit including your restaurant’s menu, business
hours, business card, and any additional information that may be important for them to know. If you are able, designate an
employee on staff to serve as the face of your business and handle all professional communications and public relations
matters.
Your sales forecast sets the standards for your restaurant's expenses, profits, and growth. If you're unable to provide a well -
thought-out forecast of your projected revenue of the first three years of operation, few investors are going to put any
money into your business. Plus, calculating your financial projections helps you form realistic staffing and operational plans
for your business. While creating a sales forecast and break-even analysis can sound difficult, with research and educated
guessing, it can be simple and painless.
Sales forecasting is a process where businesses estimate their future sales based on
historical sales data, economic trends, or market analysis. Sales forecasting is important
because it allows your business to make informed decisions and predict performance, which
is important for potential investors.
If you had a previous business, you can use sales data from the previous establishment to
make your new sales forecast, but new restaurants will have to conduct market analysis and
competitor research and make an estimate. You can create sales forecasting on a weekly,
monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. But, when you're first starting a restaurant, you will want
to forecast your sales for the first three years for any potential investors.
In order to project your sales for the first three years, you have to estimate the amount of traffic your business will recei ve in a
year, then determine your unit sales, and finally multiply them by the prices you will charge. This will equal your restaurant's
overall revenue.
Next, you have to subtract your restaurant's overhead costs, such as rent and utilities, and any ongoing costs from the
overall revenue. If these projections leave you in the negatives, you need to reconsider your business's expenses and
determine if you're overspending on supplies, undercharging for your food, or picking a location with rent that's too
expensive.
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Tips for Creating a Sales Forecast
Estimate your restaurant's monthly unit sales. Write down how many units you
plan to sell per month. When breaking this down, be as specific as possible and
include how many units of each item on your menu you think you will sell.
Make predictions for new products. If you don't have sales data from a previous
restaurant or business, you'll need to estimate your sales. You can do this by
making educated guesses based on previous experience working in a restaurant or
do research on competitors in your area.
Consider outside factors. There are many factors to consider when forecasting
your sales, especially in the restaurant industry. For example, you can expect that times around the holidays will be
busier than normal. And consider your location. If you're near a college campus, you can expect that sales will decrease
during the summer and over winter break.
Project your prices. Once you've learned to price your menu items, you can project your prices. This involves
multiplying the price of a dish by the number of units sold, and then doing this calculation for every dish on your
menu. Then, adding all of these numbers together, you find your overall revenue.
After you've established your business's overall revenue and sales forecasting, you can move on to a break-even analysis,
which is an important step in opening a new restaurant.
A break-even analysis is a technique used in business that compares fixed and variable costs with revenue to determine how
many products you need to sell to make a profit. This step will give you an idea of whether your business will be profitable, or
whether you need to reconsider your options and look to find where you can cut costs. Additionally, a break-even analysis
helps keep spending in check, and it shows investors that you have a solid game plan.
How to Perform a Break-Even Analysis
1. Fixed costs per month: These fixed costs are bills that don't fluctuate from month to month. Fixed costs are things
like rent, utilities, and payroll.
2. Average costs per unit: The average cost per unit is the cost of ingredients used in a particular menu item. Once
you have these numbers for each of your menu items, add them all together and divide by the number of menu items
you offer to find your average cost per unit.
3. Average price per unit: You should already know your average price per unit from when you created pricing for your
menu.
To the right, you can find the formula you need to calculate your break-even point as well as the formula written out using
the example above.
Sales forecasting and break-even analysis are important steps when starting a new restaurant because they give you an idea
of if you're on the right track or if you need to adjust your numbers. Having a strong break-even analysis and sales
forecasting can also persuade potential investors to buy into your restaurant. And, be sure to continue to forecast your sales
even after your business has opened, so you have an accurate measure of your business's growth and it's p rofitability.
Maintaining your restaurant's sales amidst fierce competition and rapidly changing trends can be a challenge. A key to
success is finding the balance between acquiring new customers vs. retaining existing customers. With any new goal, you can
best approach this by creating a plan and breaking it down into actionable steps. To help you reach the goal of increasing
your restaurant sales, we’ve identified six restaurant improvement ideas you can try:
Restaurant delivery and takeout services have been rising steadily in popularity and are essential to maintaining your sales in
the current climate. Restrictions on restaurants due to the coronavirus pandemic are limiting dine-in services in many states.
By diversifying your services to include takeout, delivery, and curbside pickup, you can help to increase your sales and
weather this crisis. If you haven't made plans to offer these services yet, here are some tips:
1. Create a takeout and delivery menu. Create a separate menu for takeout and
delivery only and make it a simplified version of your dine-in menu. Choose items
that are easy to prepare and travel well. Avoid delicate items that could fall apart or
melt during transit.
2. Provide curbside pickup. For the quickest takeout service, you can provide
curbside pickup to your customers. If you have a parking lot, reserve a couple of
spaces near your entrance. Train your staff on the proper procedures for handling
curbside orders and accepting payment.
3. Implement delivery services. If you've been thinking about setting up delivery services for your restaurant, now is the
perfect time. You don't even need your own delivery fleet thanks to the availability of reliable third party delivery services like
Grubhub and Postmates. When your customers can't come to you, you can adapt by bringing your services to their homes.
4. Optimize your drive-thru window. If you already have a drive-thru window, keep the area stocked with the items you
need to serve customers quickly. Napkins, plastic cutlery, and condiments should be kept in plain sight so they are never
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forgotten. Test out your speakers to make sure they are working at the appropriate level and customers can hear you clearly.
You can also work with your drive-thru team to set expectations about how long it should take orders to be completed.
5. Institute online ordering. Update your restaurant website to provide online ordering for takeout, delivery, and drive-
thru service. Many customers find it easier to order online instead of by phone because they can place orders instantly at any
time they choose. You can expedite the entire process by also accepting online payment.
It’s no secret that more and more people access the web primarily on their mobile
devices. No matter how much time you put into your business’s website, if it’s not
optimized for phones and tablets, the majority of your customers will bounce right
off the page. Make sure you’re website looks great and functions properly on
tablets, phones, and desktops alike. Try these tips to increase your mobile presence:
1. List your business on Google My Business. If you don't have a website for your
restaurant, the easiest thing you can do to help customers find your business is to
create a Google My Business (GMB) listing with your address, hours of operation,
phone number, and pictures of your location. GMB listings also allow your customers to review your restaurant and post
photos of your food dishes online.
3. Make announcements through social media. Another great thing about having a business account for social media is
that you can make announcements for any events you may be hosting. You can use it to alert customers if your business is
closed unexpectedly for a power outage or other unforeseen reason. Of course it’s also a perfect way to connect with your
community and humanize your brand. Overall, you can use social media as a tool to accomplish many of the customer
retention strategies mentioned above.
To dive deeper into this topic, check out our article on mobile marketing for restaurants.
You probably know the importance of first impressions. A regular customer is more likely to forgive a sub-par experience
than a brand new customer. But, even more common than a bad restaurant experience is a forgettable one. Making just a
little extra effort to give your guests a great first experience goes a long way towards turning them into loyal customers. Take
steps to stay in touch and create a personal connection with them.
You know that reaching new customers is important, but now the question is how to reach them. Below are a few common
techniques you can use:
1. Participate in your city’s restaurant week. Restaurant week got its start in New York
as a way to celebrate restaurants in the area. While every city has its own take on this
tradition, the basic idea is that the city chooses one week out of the year to showcase their
restaurants, and local restaurant owners can choose if they’d like to participate.
Participating restaurants promote special discounted offers that are valid throughout the
week. This is a great way to reach new customers because offering discounts encourages
people to try your food.
If you want to learn more about how to get involved in this type of event, check out our blog
on restaurant week.
2. Use marketing techniques to attract new customers. Of course, there are many traditional marketing tactics you can
turn to, but ad placements can cost a lot of money. Having a strong social media presence, however, costs nothing but your
time. If you want to put some money towards paid social media advertising, it can be an affordable alternative to purchasing
ads in newspapers. You can even encourage customers to write reviews of their experience dining with you, which will add
to your restaurant marketing efforts.
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Find more techniques for reaching new customers in our article on social media marketing for restaurants.
3. Develop a first-time customer program. This usually involves giving away coupons that encourage customers to come
back. Alternatively, you can give your new customers a free appetizer, dessert, or beverage with the purchase of an entree.
This is a great way of showing your customers how much you appreciate their business, and it can help set your business
apart from the competition.
Keep those customers coming back with the techniques explored in our blog about starting a first-time customer program.
In many cases, you can think of your loyal customers as free advertising.
Word of mouth is one of the best ways any business will gain traction.
People generally don’t trust paid ads, but they do trust their friend’s
recommendation of a favorite place to eat. This means that your loyal
customers are invaluable to the success of your business, and they should be
treated as such.
There are a few techniques many successful restaurants use to keep their best customers coming back time and time again:
1. Develop a customer loyalty program. There are a lot of ways you can set up your loyalty program, but one of the most
common is to create a membership card that tracks each time a customer visits your restaurant, so they can work towards
earning a free item of your choosing. Offering free drinks and desserts is often a good choice because they’re less expensive
than an entree, but they will still make your guests feel appreciated. You can set up a card that tracks points in your POS
system or a punch card that gets a new hole each time the customer visits.
2. Get involved in the local community. Hosting a charity event for a cause you
care about is a great way to give back to the community and customers will notice
the extra effort. For example, choose a day where you donate 10% of your profits to
a charity. You can advertise the event in advance so that customers will know to dine
in your restaurant that day if they’d like to contribute to the cause. Hosting cooking
classes, beer tastings, or anything that educates customers about your product is
another great way to help the local community feel invested in your brand.
A skilled server will be able to increase your restaurant’s sales with simple conversation. Effective upselling ultimately leaves
the customer in control of their decision and doesn’t make them feel pressured to buy more. Rather, it will plant the seed that
tempts them into ordering more than they may have originally intended. When it comes to teaching your staff these
techniques, there are three main upselling tips to keep in mind:
1. Describe a menu item. The first opportunity to upsell comes shortly after guests are
seated. Before drink orders are taken, encourage your servers to describe their favorite
specialty drinks on the menu. Pointing out creative cocktails may entice a customer enough
to try one, even if they had originally thought of having just water.
2. Assume your guests will want an entree. You can use the same technique as you did
with the drinks. Servers can simply start describing items on the menu as a way to help
customers think about trying one of those options. Another popular opportunity for
upselling is to ask customers if they’d like to include an extra side with their meal. But if you
3. Suggest more things to try. When everyone is finished with their entree, suggest that they try a dessert or after-dinner
drinks. Again, naming off a few dessert options may tempt your customers to try one.
There’s even more opportunity to upsell if your server is speaking with a first-time customer because they will be eager to
learn about your menu items. They’re also more likely to be interested in trying the server’s suggestions than a patron who
has dined at your establishment many times.
Find the advice you need to skillfully increase your sales by reading our blog on how to upsell in your restaurant.
The more food you sell, the more money you make, and the obvious way to sell more food is to serve more people. This is
where table turnover comes into play. While you can't control how long guests take to eat their meal, there are a few tricks
that can increase the efficiency of your service. Here are a few things to try:
1. Have an organized seating system. Things like hostess stands and reservations are pretty common seating systems
restaurants use to know how many guests to expect and manage the flow of guests coming through the door.
2. Keep your serving staff on schedule. Make sure that your restaurant has enough employees to cover all the guests in
your dining room and train your staff take drink orders in a timely manner and bring out the check promptly at the end of the
meal.
4. Update your dining room. Some dining rooms are simply set up in such a way to make people want to linger. There are a
few tricks your business can use when arranging your furniture that can encourage patrons to move along. Additionally,
seating small parties at smaller tables can help ensure that you have ample space when larger parties arrive.
5. Make your menu more compact. Limiting the amount of items on your menu simplifies everything from the amount of
time customers spend deciding on their meal to the amount of time your chef will take to prepare each dish.
If slow turnaround is an issue at your restaurant, try out a few different techniques to see if there's a way you can improve the
pace of your dining room.
Master the art of flipping tables with additional insight from our article on maximizing table turnover.
An important part of running any successful business is assessing and reassessing the way things are running. Restaurant
owners are constantly thinking of ways to improve processes and increase efficiency. When it comes to finding ways of
increasing sales in your restaurant, there are many factors to take into account. The good news is that many of the basic
principles remain the same across all types of dining establishments, so if you follow the basic checklist of attracting new
customers while thinking of ways to retain customers, and fill in those basic steps with practical business techniques and
restaurant marketing, you’ll be on the road to success in no time.
In the restaurant industry, table turnover rate is tricky to master: you want to seat as many parties per meal service as
possible, but you don't want to make your customers feel rushed or unappreciated. Most casual restaurants aim to turn each
table three times throughout a dinner service, or once every hour and a half. While this sounds simple enough, it can be
difficult to achieve when you're dealing with “campers,” or diners who continue to stay seated at their tables long after
they’ve paid their checks. This type of customer can negatively impact a restaurant’s flow-through rate, which ultimately
lowers profit. To help maximize table turnover in your restaurant without coming across as inhospitable, be sure to fo llow
some of our tips below.
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Fine Dining Vs. Casual Dining
One of the biggest factors to consider before putting any of the tips below into
action is whether you own a casual or fine dining establishment. While most casual
restaurants focus on higher flow-through rates, white tablecloth businesses are more
concerned with customer experience. Please note that most of these tips apply
mainly to casual dining establishments, but they can still be modified and used in
your fine dining restaurant to maximize table turnover rates.
Another way to keep each party’s dining experience around the one and a half hour mark
is to keep your serving staff on schedule. If a server doesn’t show up to a table right
away, they’ve already added time to that table’s occupancy. Even worse, nothing’s more
aggravating for hungry customers than waiting a long time for their server to come over
and introduce themselves, let alone take their orders. We’ve provided some tips below that
will help keep your staff on schedule throughout the entire meal:
Require servers to arrive at their tables within the first minute guests are seated.
Ask guests if they’ve dined at the restaurant before. If not, go over some menu
highlights. Then, you can simply go over the specials.
If a large party is seated, consider having more than one server assigned to the table.
Clear off plates as guests finish their meals rather than waiting until they've left.
Assign more than one busser per table to get the remaining dishes cleared quickly.
Keep pre-rolled silverware and clean dishes ready, so tables can be reset quickly.
If customers continue to stick around long after their check has been paid, and there’s a long line of waiting customers,
it is okay to politely ask them to continue their conversations at the bar, so you can seat another party with
reservations.
Although paying the check signals the end of a meal, it’s oftentimes a lengthy task. Servers have to collect credit cards, run
them back to the register, print out receipts, and deliver them back to the table. This doesn’t even include the time-
consuming tasks of splitting the check at the last minute or using gift cards. Even after you’ve delivered the receipts to the
tables, customers still tend to take their time writing out their tips and chitchatting. To help expedite this process, consi der
investing in a mobile POS system, like Ziosk or Square, if it’s within your business’s budget. By using upgraded technology
devices, servers can run credit cards and complete checks right at the table in front of their customers or let customers pay
when they’re ready to leave.
If your restaurant is really struggling with turning tables, then consider rearranging your
restaurant. Placing tables and chairs in the center of the dining room, away from corners
and walls, will encourage customers to eat more quickly. Since the middle of the room is
often the busiest and most hectic spot in the restaurant, guests will naturally eat faster.
Additionally, patrons tend to linger for a longer period of time if they're seated on furniture
that's anchored to the ground, like booths. It could be beneficial to seat small parties at
smaller tables and chairs rather than in booths. It’s important to note that this is most
common in casual restaurants where people are paying for quick service and convenience.
Another update you can make to your dining room is changing its interior color scheme.
Bright colors, like red, yellow, orange, and green, raise an individual's heart rate and blood pressure. This excites them and
subconsciously encourages them to eat faster, which results in quicker turnover rates. To adjust your establishment's color
scheme, consider painting the walls a vibrant shade, using bold upholstery, adding pictures and accent pieces, or serving
meals on brightly-colored dinnerware.
While many restaurant owners believe that offering a larger menu will make customers' decisions easier, it actually makes
them more difficult. When individuals are given an overload of choices, it stresses them out and takes them longer to find
something they like. Instead, offer a smaller menu that includes only your most popular options. Feel free to switch up the
By making simple changes to the routines of your servers and hosts, or by updating your dining room layout or menu, you’ll
be able to get customers in out and the door in a timely fashion without making them feel rushed or unwanted.
From first dates to anniversaries, lunches with friends to dinners with family, and employee interviews to office brunches, the
dining table always seems to bring people together! In order for restaurant owners to keep organized, maximize table
turnover, and reduce waiting time for customers, it’s important that they develop and maintain a reliable and efficient
restaurant reservation system.
Restaurant reservations first began with managers, hostesses, or other staff taking
phone calls and penciling in names and times on paper. This took away a lot of time
from hostesses and other staff members who could be clearing tables or helping
customers. However, as technology advances, and more and more people have
constant access to the internet, companies have developed various restaurant
reservation software to make the process quicker and more convenient for both the
restaurant staff and customers. This software has allowed for the emergence of
online restaurant reservations, which can be made on a restaurant’s personal
website, or through a third party reservation service. Depending on your venue’s
location, staff, and traffic, we can help you decide on the best restaurant reservation
system for you!
"Open table," a much hated term in the restaurant business, refers to an empty seat
in the dining room. Because restaurants pay up front for rent, electric, utilities, and
food, any seat left unfilled is a loss of profit, since these bills don’t lower depending
on how many customers they get per day. In order to help reduce the number of
open tables in a restaurant and maximize table turnover, and to limit the waiting
time for paying customers, restaurants began taking reservations. Here are some
ways restaurant reservations are beneficial to owners, staff, and customers.
Better idea of how busy a night will be. Whether or not a restaurant will have a
dinner rush with open tables is an unknown fact, but taking reservations will give
owners a better idea of how busy or quiet their nights will be. And, if in fact, they
have a low number of reservations, this will give them enough time to come up with
a special to market on social media accounts to encourage customers to come out and spend money.
Prepare chefs for a rush. On the contrary, if the reservation schedule is showing that they're going to be packed, chefs and
kitchen staff will have a fair warning to be prepared for an incoming rush at a specific time. Also, hostesses making the
reservations, or seating walk-in customers, will also be able to space the seating times out enough so that the kitchen doesn't
get slammed all at once.
A technique becoming more common across the restaurant industry is the use
of outside websites that specialize in restaurant reservation software. These
programs are designed to reduce the number of open tables a restaurant has by
promoting restaurants on their sites and making the reservations for them. Most
sites allow customers to filter restaurants by country, state, city, and restaurant.
They can submit the number in their party and request a time all with the click of
a mouse or the touch of a screen. One of the most popular sites amongst
customers and restaurants today is OpenTable, which works to provide
reservation and table management. Other popular sites include Eveve and
the Yelp Reservations system. There are many benefits to these third party reservation sites, but they're not for everyone.
Every system has its own benefits, so make sure to research every aspect, from installation fees to ongoing fees, before you
make a commitment. Make sure to take some of the following considerations into account when choosing a system for your
restaurant.
User-friendly. It's simple, but if users can't easily click their way through making a reservation, they're going to wind
up calling anyway, which defeats the purpose of a third party system. Customers should be able to easily filter by
country, state, city, and restaurant.
Customer support. Anything that deals with computer software or technology should have its own customer support
system. You and your staff are going to run into issues with the system, regardless of how bug-free it is. If you have to
pay up front for a system, then see if they offer free customer service.
Mobile app. Does the software program you're looking at offer a functional mobile app so that customers can make
reservations right from their smart phones? If not, you may want to look at another service that does, since many
people today are always on-the-go and looking for instant results at their fingertips.
Integration into other tools. A reservation software that allows visitors to leave a review or post their booking to
Facebook will help you with your overall marketing! The system should also be able to link to an email account that lets
customers know if their reservation has been confirmed, or if any issues arise.
Initial costs. While some services, like Yelp's SeatMe, are completely free, others can be quite expensive. From
installation rates to monthly fees, is the added convenience of a third party system worth the price? It all depends on
the restaurant, its location, and its popularity!
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Ongoing fees. Unfortunately, many third party systems, like OpenTable, charge a transaction fee per customer seated.
Although their system may offer many other great benefits, you have to consider if your restaurant is able to afford
these additional, ongoing fees.
Another option for restaurant owners is to set up their business’s website to allow online reservations. There are many
benefits to allowing customers to make arrangements online.
For Customers:
o Allows convenient 24/7 access, not only during your operating hours
o Eliminates the need to make a phone call
o Doesn’t require them to wait for an employee to answer
o Lets them easily read reviews of your restaurant and compare prices online
For Restaurant Owners:
o Reduces time devoted to taking calls during operation hours
o Gives you the ability to reject or confirm reservations via email
o Turns more website visits into reservations
o Keeps reservations all in one place
Another tactful method, if you're using Google Adwords, is to add your menu
page as a site link, as seen to the right. This serves as a shortcut and allows
customers to see your reservation link as they're scrolling down Google's
search results page.
Click-to-Call
If you’re looking to advertise your restaurant so that interested customers can easily find your establishment’s number on
their mobile phones, then adding a click-to-call feature from Google AdWords may be the best route for you. When your
add shows up in a Google search, a clickable call button will encourage calls on-the-go and allow for a customer to make a
reservation immediately. Check out the great benefits to this feature below:
o User-friendly
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o Right at customers' fingertips
After budgeting your establishment's spending costs and determining how big an issue open tables are, you can pick the
best route for your restaurant. Whether you decide to add your own reservation widget to your website, or you invest in a
third party company, it's important to incorporate some type of reservation system for your restaurant!
Restaurant inventory management is a procedure to monitor the ingredients and supplies you have for shifts in real time, and
it also helps you make more economical food, beverage, and supply orders. Effective inventory management is essential to
your day-to-day operations and long-term goals. Below we provide fundamental tips to manage your restaurant inventory,
and we show you how to take inventory. We also explain how restaurant inventory is tied to your bottom line.
Managing your supply and food inventory requires diligence, but when done correctly, you can minimize food waste and
save money. Below we take you through 7 tips to ensure successful inventory management.
A POS system provides numerous advantages, including data forecasting, order planning
reports, integrated accounting, and automated inventory tracking based on customer
orders. However, it does not account for other sources of inventory loss, such as spoilage,
spillage, inefficient or incorrect food or drink preparation process, customer complaint
resolutions, and theft. A POS system is unable to take into account the aforementioned
scenarios unless the information is put in manually. So, taking inventory by hand ensures a
more well-rounded, accurate report.
Designate a few people to take your inventory, such as the managers and the chef. This will make it easier to identify
inconsistencies. Also, since these employees will consistently be taking inventory, they will be able to understand the patterns
and nuances involved in your unique inventory over time. To ensure the accuracy of your inventory, make sure you
Following a schedule enables you to accurately understand how much of your ingredients and supplies are utilized in a
specific time period. For example, you might check perishables and popular ingredients daily, while non-perishables and bulk
items can be counted once or twice a week. Over time, you will start to see patterns and can adjust your orders or menu
offerings as necessary.
Use the items received first by organizing your areas (cooler, dry storage, freezer, and
shelves) according to FIFO to minimize food spoilage. Another way to ensure food use
before spoilage is by opting for containers and dispensers that are engineered for
FIFO dispensing.
Your inventory list will show you ingredient and supply quantities, but a food waste sheet
shows where the inventory is going that is not accounted for by sales alone. This allows
you to come up with solutions for lost ingredients. For example, if your sheet shows that a
significant amount of food spoils, you can purchase less or find ways to utilize the
Your POS system may include a place for this, allowing you input information digitally, but you can also make a food waste
sheet by including the following columns:
Item
Amount or Weight
Employee Initials
Ensure that every staff member understands the food waste sheet, so they can update it as necessary.
If you see that you have excess ingredients that will soon go bad, incorporate them into existing dishes (and let guests know
any menu changes) or come up with an amuse-bouche or special to offer your guests. In this way, you are not losing out on
potential sales, and you avoid wasting food.
By studying which ingredients were over- or under-utilized according to your inventory for the designated time period, you
can make informed ordering decisions. From your POS system and your by-hand inventory, you can also generally
understand and predict the trends regarding the time of the day, week, and even year and make more economic decisions.
Wondering how to take inventory? While there's no one-size-fits-all method for taking inventory of your restaurant's
consumables and supplies, the steps below are a common way to keep track of inventory:
1. Create a table. Start by creating five rows on a restaurant inventory sheet or in a customizable inventory management
program. Label the rows as follows:
Items
Unit of Measure
Inventory Amount
Unit Price
Total Cost
3. Add measurement units. Write down the unit of measurement you'll use to
determine the quantity of each item purchased to the Unit of Measure column.
This will vary based upon how different foods and supplies are sold. For
example, you may purchase tomatoes in pounds, pasta in boxes, and paper
towels in cases. Regardless, it's important to have these units documented up
front to avoid any confusion or miscalculations.
4. Count or measure all items. Now, determine the number of units you have
of each item and add those figures to the Inventory Amount column. Doing it
this way allows you to standardize your measurements and makes calculating
costs and waste a breeze.
Example: 20 pounds of tomatoes should be written as 20, 6 boxes of pasta as 6, and 25 cases of paper towels as 25.
5. Insert the unit price. Document all of your unit prices and add them to the Unit Price column for each item. To do so,
simply divide the cost of one unit by the amount of that item you have.
Example: If one pound of tomatoes costs $2 a pound and you have 1 pound in your inventory, the unit cost $2.
Example: If you have 20 pounds of tomatoes that cost $2 a pound, your total cost is $40.
Knowing how to calculate your restaurant's average daily inventory cost is another way to
make accurate purchasing decisions. To do so, simply divide your total inventory cost for
that purchasing period by the number of days in that period. Your restaurant profit and
loss statement should have the figures you need.
Example: If your total inventory cost for 60 days is $120,000, your average daily cost is $2,000.
Restaurant inventory is connected to your bottom line, which is why it's important to master your management method.
Below we explain how restaurant inventory can affect your net profit.
Restaurant inventory composes your "cost of goods sold" (COGS), which is the cost of creating all of the items on your menu.
Here is the equation to find your COGS:
COGS is also part of the equation to determine your net profit. Here is the equation to determine your profit and loss
statement:
Net Profit = Gross Profit (Total Sales-COGS) - Labor Cost + Total Operating Cost
By analyzing the net profit equation above, we can see that a lower overall COGS means that less will be subtracted from your
total sales. This in turns means that there will be more to multiply your gross profit by, ultimately leading to a higher net
profit.
To reach a lower cost of goods sold, you must find ways to conserve more ingredients, buy fewer ingredients, or lower your
food cost by finding a new supplier or re-negotiating. Having excellent restaurant inventory management (including proper
waste sheets) is the way to understand the specific paths to lower your cost of goods sold. You may find that you need to
order less basil, ensure that servers take accurate orders and put them into your POS system correctly, or have your
bartenders make their margaritas more precisely. These small actions add up, and by paying attention to these details
through inventory, any foodservice business can ultimately improve their bottom line.
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Whether you run a large restaurant chain, hospital cafeteria, or upscale bistro, the importance of inventory management is
clear. If you're looking for more ways to raise your bottom line, consider re-evaluating your menu pricing and overhead
costs.
Total Revenue: 100% - Total Expenses 65% = Profit Margin (100% - 65% = 35%}
If you own a lemonade stand and sell one cup of lemonade for $1.00 and your expenses for each cup are $0.60, you have
made a profit of $0.40. Your profit margin percentage is 40%.
It’s easy to see profit margin at work when looking at a $1.00 sale, but what about bigger numbers? We’ll explain how to
calculate profit margins in more depth below.
Here is an example of the profit margin formula at work if total revenue is $150,000 and total expenses are $138,000:
Profit Margin = 8%
It would be wonderful if restaurants could keep the total revenue they make, but business finances don't work that way.
That's why it's important to plan your menu pricing carefully, so your incoming revenue is always more than your total
expenses. If it's not, you will lose money instead of making a profit. Don't forget that your menu prices have to cover all of
your expenses, not just food cost.
Increase Total Revenue - Increasing sales alone will not improve your
profit margin. You need to widen the gap between total revenue and total
expenses by increasing your sales and keeping expenses the same. This is the
most difficult strategy to achieve because as your sales revenue increases,
your expenses will likely grow as well.
Increase Revenue and Decrease Expenses - Increasing your sales revenue while lowering total expenses is the fastest
way to improve your profit margin.
Cost of Goods Sold - The cost of goods sold (COGS) is the direct cost to you for every item you sell. If you run a donut
shop, the COGS will include the cost of all the sugar, eggs, and other ingredients you need to make the donuts. To lower
your food cost, keep track of your inventory, find cost-effective food suppliers, and implement portion control.
Labor Cost - Labor cost includes the wages and salaries of all your paid employees. To lower your labor cost ,
try reducing your employee turnover rate. The cost of training new staff members can be avoided if you use successful
employee retention strategies.
Direct Operating Expenses - Direct operating expense (DOE) covers all the items you need to run your business on a
daily basis, excluding food cost. Cleaning supplies, paper goods, and disposables all fall under direct operating expenses.
The cost for these types of items can add up, so it's important to keep track of your expenditures. Working with a
wholesale supplier that offers quantity pricing, member discounts, and free shipping can help to lower your direct
operating costs.
Fast Food Restaurants - The average profit margin for fast food restaurants is 6% to 9% because of lower food cost and
labor cost.
Food Trucks - The average profit margin for food trucks is 6% to 9% due to low overhead costs like rent and utilities.
Catering Businesses - The average profit margin for caterers is 7% to 8% because, just like food trucks, catering
businesses have lower overhead costs.
Profit margin is a basic financial concept that helps business owners to gauge the profitability of their restaurant. No matter
how many customers are served, if the net profit margin percentage is too low, the amount of profit from each sale will be
negligible. Improving the net profit margin helps your restaurant to make more money off each sale and increase your overall
profit.
While there are several ways to measure and ensure the success of your restaurant, the best way to understand your
restaurant’s financial progress is with a restaurant profit and loss statement. Also known as a restaurant P&L statement, this
financial tool reflects your sales and costs during a specified period of time. To better understand your business’s growth, see
our guide below to create and interpret your own restaurant profit and loss statement.
A profit and loss statement (or income statement) is a monetary statement that lists the sales, costs, and expenses of your
business in a set period of time. For a restaurant, this financial statement enables you to analyze your restaurant's financi al
progress. You'll be able to see exactly where your restaurant is making or losing money, so you can take the necessary steps
to improve your bottom line.
Restaurant profit and loss statements can be used weekly, monthly, or yearly. Weekly statements are recommended so you
can keep track of what is most profitable or costly to your establishment each week. This allows you to quickly make changes,
such as implementing strategies to lower food costs, that will ensure your restaurant's financial success. Many restaurants
will also use monthly and yearly restaurant profit and loss statements to show overall progress.
1. Sales Breakdown
3. Labor Costs
4. Operating Costs
P&L statement also enables you to calculate food cost percentage, gross profit, and net
profit or loss. These metrics can be calculated from your sales, COGS, and costs, and they
allow you to fully understand your restaurant's financial state.
Section 1: Sales
In this section, you should list out all of the items that contribute to your total sales. This will include the products from all of
your revenue streams and how much money each specific item has brought in.
Section 2: Costs
In this section, include a list of all of your restaurant's expenses with a cost of goods sold
analysis. The cost of goods sold (COGS) is the total cost of your food and beverage
inventory for a given time period. You can list out each individual item using
your existing inventory system, calculate the cost of each product, and add them up to
get your total COGS. Later, we will go through the equation for COGS and other useful
restaurant calculations.
From your head chefs to your bussers, salaries and hourly wages for all employees make
up your restaurant labor cost. The key element to controlling your restaurant labor
cost is to understand how many employees you need to provide consistent and effective service without scheduling too
many people.
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Section 4: Operating Costs
Restaurant operating expenses include everything involved in your daily operations, such as supplies, repairs, and marketing.
You can include occupancy expenses here or choose to make a separate section. Occupancy expenses include overhead costs
and everything related to occupying a space, such as rent, insurance, utilities, taxes, and waste removal. Some of these
expenditures, like waste removal, may be fixed, whereas others, such as your gas bill, may vary.
In this final section, insert the results of your calculations and see how your restaurant performed over the designated period
of time. Add up your costs (COGS, Labor, Operating) and compare it to your total income. Ideally, you'll end up with a profit.
If you get a negative number, you're in the red, which means you're spending more than you're bringing in. You'll need to
adjust your budget at that point to ensure that your next pay period ends in a profit or else you may not be able to sustain
your business in the long run.
It's a good idea to create your own restaurant profit and loss template so you can customize it to your unique costs. The table
below is an example of what your P&L may look like.
COGS
Operating Costs
Waste Removal 75 75 75
Equipment Repairs 50 0 0
Several restaurant calculations can help you create your profit and loss statement and glean important information from it.
Below we go through how to calculate the cost of goods sold, food cost percentage, total gross profit, and net profit.
Food Cost Percentage The portion of Total COGS / Food $5,750 (Total COGS ) /
sales spent on Sales = Food Cost $17,000 (Food sales) =
Average food
cost percentage
ranges from 25-
35%
account sales
and goods
A restaurant P&L is customizable to your needs, so it is wise to avoid relying on another restaurant's profit and loss statement
as an example to follow. Yours can be as rudimentary or elaborate as you like. Additionally, you can break down your
operating expenses into smaller sections, such as occupancy expenses and marketing. Either way, your P&L statement will be
most helpful to your business if it includes the precise costs and gains uniquely relevant to your establishment.
With precision and organization, you can be well on your way to creating an accurate profit and loss statement.
Understanding your financial progress allows you to forecast sales, discern your restaurant's limitations, and ultimately grow
your business.
According to a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, 30 to 40% of all food produced in the U.S. is wasted, which
ends up costing approximately $165 billion every year. One of the biggest contributors to the food waste problem is the
restaurant industry, and all of that waste can hurt your bottom line. By setting goals for your restaurant and making some
small changes such as taking inventory, changing your food orders, and using your food creatively, you can have a major
impact on your profit margin.
Reducing food costs and waste starts with tracking and monitoring the food coming into your restaurant. Many restaurants
order food in bulk shipments, but it can be difficult to use all of that food before it spoils. To reduce spoilage, here are some
steps you can take:
Calculating food costs in a restaurant can be a time consuming task, but staying on budget and calculating your finances
could help you save time, money, and food in the long run. Some things to take into consideration when calculating a food
cost percentage is your inventory, the cost of goods sold (COGS), and food cost percentage. These factors can help you stay
on budget and track your profit and loss statement.
The best way to calculate your actual food cost is to take your COGS divided by your food sales, multiplied by 100. This will
you give you a result as a percentage.
A healthy food cost percentage is between 25 and 35 percent. But, do not fret if your percentage is higher than this. If you
are spending more on food, you may not be spending as much on labor or rent – which all evens out in the end.
When calculating your inventory, you should be tracking this at a consistent time of the day. For example, it is best to
calculate your inventory at the beginning or end of each day. This helps you keep your numbers consistent when calculating
inventory and your food cost percentage.
Checking your inventory on a regular basis can give you an idea of how and at what rate your food is being used or
wasted. For example, if you notice that you have salami that is going unused and spoiling, change your food order to a lesser
amount to reduce the food waste. Conversely, if you’re running out of mozzarella cheese before your dinner service even
starts, you need to increase your food order.
Once you have an idea of how much food your restaurant uses at a given time, you
can work with your suppliers to lower your food costs. If possible, shop around and
see what competing suppliers are willing to offer you. If you have a good
relationship with your current supplier, ask them for a discount or to match prices
with their competitors.
Another option would be to work out a plan where you buy in bulk but have the
order sent in several shipments, rather than all at once. Ordering food in bulk can be
If you’re not able to work out a deal with your supplier to buy in bulk, consider joining a group purchasing organization.
Group purchasing organizations pool the resources of many small restaurants together to get the best quality goods while
keeping costs low. The combined capital of many individual restaurants is significant, which gives the organization
considerable leverage when bargaining with suppliers, ensuring that you’re getting a good deal.
When purchasing food, there is also the option to cut out the middleman and go straight to the source: local farms and
farmers markets. Many times, food that is shipped from across the country is picked before it’s fully ripe and flash frozen,
which can have a negative effect on the taste. Buying locally ensures that you’re getting the freshest products possible while
also supporting your local economy.
When it comes to food orders, the harder you’re willing to work, the more you can
save. Below are some ideas on how to save money, while also making quality food.
Offer a limited menu. By limiting your menu, you can cut the amount of
ingredients you need in your kitchen. Not only can this help reduce food costs
and food waste, but it's ideal when adapting your menu for takeout service.
Take extra time to do the prep work yourself. For example, buying a chicken
that is already deboned, skinned, and portioned is going to be more
expensive than just buying whole chickens.
Keep track of food prices and how they can affect your shopping list. For example, a drought in California would affect
the avocado harvest, so it probably wouldn’t be the best time to introduce guacamole to your menu.
Utilize seasonal food to save money on produce. Seasonal food depends on your location, so check out your local
farmers market to see what’s fresh and to find inspiration for new recipes.
Be aware of food specifications with your produce. In the U.S., food is inspected and sorted into grades depending on
its quality, freshness, and appearance. Many times the differences between top grades are purely cosmetic. For
example, there is very little difference between No. 1 and No. 2 avocados, so by ordering the No. 2 option, you can
lower your food costs without sacrificing taste.
Controlling the portions of your food is an excellent way to reduce waste. Monitor how much food is being thrown away. If
your customers can’t finish a dish consistently, the portion is too big. Use restaurant portion control tools like portion
scales and portion spoons to serve the proper amount of food to your customers.
The first in, first out method is pretty straightforward: use the first ingredients that
you put into your pantries and refrigerators first. This forces you to use the oldest
food first, ensures that you’re always stocked with fresh ingredients, and helps
prevent food from expiring without being used.
Daily specials can be an effective tool for reducing waste in your kitchen. When you
notice food that has been in your pantry for a while, come up with a recipe that
features or uses that ingredient, and add it to your daily special list. You can also
coordinate with your front-of-house staff to encourage customers to try the daily special, allowing you to clear out your stock
while also making a profit.
It is important that your staff knows the price of your food and how their actions can affect your bottom line. During the food
prep process, there can be a lot of unnecessary waste. The cost of that waste, while it may seem insignificant at the time, can
compound to become a major loss. So if your staff is knowledgeable about how much the food costs and how to utilize it
properly, they will be more careful when preparing food and portioning dishes.
In the cooking process, some by-products and food waste is inevitable, but some
chefs are finding creative and innovative ways to incorporate those by-products into
their dishes. Here are a few ideas for using leftovers wisely and reducing food
waste.
Save vegetable scraps like onion skins, carrot peels, and mushroom stalks for
making homemade vegetable stock.
Don't throw away that stale bread. You can use it to make a lot of different
things like croutons, breadcrumbs, and bread pudding.
Shred up roasted chicken and turkey the following day and use the meat in a soup or stew.
Craft breweries and brewpubs can use extra grain from brewing beer to make homemade granola. You can also donate
it to local farms as feed for livestock.
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Use leftovers and older ingredients for making staff meals. The food is still safe to eat, but it might be slightly beyond
the standard for what you would serve to customers. This way, you can treat your staff while saving money.
If you can't find a use for your leftovers, take them to your local shelter or food bank. Charitable food donations are
tax-deductible, allowing you to get rid of excess inventory, save on your taxes, and help your local community, all in
one.
Food waste can have a huge impact on the bottom line of your restaurant. But through negotiating with suppliers, buying
locally, serving reasonable portion sizes with restaurant portion control tools, and using your ingredients creatively, you can
reduce food costs in your restaurant.
Labor costs are a major expense in the restaurant industry. As a business you should aim to be cost efficient when
purchasing food products and spend as little as possible, but on the other hand, you need to keep your restaurant
properly staffed with competent and productive employees. By hiring the right staff, utilizing them well, and using
technology in your restaurant, your bottom line can benefit greatly.
You can choose to track your labor costs on a quarterly, monthly, or weekly basis,
depending on your preference. Here's instructions for how to calculate individual employee
labor costs.
1. Split out your employees with the same pay rates into a spreadsheet, chart, or list.
2. Write their names, pay rates, and the number of hours they worked in one month.
3. Multiply their hourly rate by the hours they worked to find each employee’s
individual labor cost.
4. If you have salaried workers, divide their yearly salary by 12 to find their labor cost
per month.
5. Add all of those numbers together to find your total labor costs for one month.
6. If you would like to know your labor costs for the year, simply add each month's labor costs all together.
1. First, you have to figure out what your restaurant's annual revenue is by adding up all of your sales before taxes are
deducted for the year.
2. Take the total labor costs you just found and divide it by your total revenue.
3. Lastly, multiple your answer by 100 to figure out your restaurant's labor cost percentage.
Ideally, this percentage should be under 30 percent. If it's over 30%, there are some other factors that can affect this
percentage, like slow business, employee turnover, etc.
As a restaurant owner, you don't want your money to go to waste. Employee labor costs
can be one of your biggest expenses. Continue reading to find out how you can reduce
employee labor costs.
Here are a few tips for how your restaurant can fully utilize existing and future staff
members.
Technology has become an essential tool in the foodservice industry, and increasingly
there have been advances in technology that can help you lower your labor costs. Here are
some ways technology can help.
Install kiosks at your front counter, booths, and tables for food ordering
Have digital transaction options like PayPal, Stripe, or Square to speed up customer
checkout
o Combi-ovens
o Programmable fryers
Restaurants are costly operations to run, and some of the largest expenses go toward paying overhead. By tracking and
looking for cost-saving opportunities in your rent, advertising, equipment, and utility bills, you can lower expenses and
boost profits in your restaurant.
Many of the expenses that factor into a restaurant's costs are fixed expenditures, but there
are some actions you can take to reduce overhead costs. Taking steps like negotiating with
suppliers and landlords or buying newer, more efficient appliances can have a big impact
on your bottom line.
5. Try out low budget advertising and marketing ideas for your restaurant
Overhead cost refers to ongoing expenses that come with running a business, such as rent, utilities, advertising, and salaries.
It is important to note though, that overhead only applies to expenses that are not directly related to producing goods, so
the cost of ingredients and raw materials do not factor into overhead expenses.
Typically, overhead is calculated on a monthly basis, although you can also calculate your overhead costs per day, week, or
year. Once you have your overhead costs, you can make comparisons and take actions to reduce that number and save
money.
To calculate your overhead for the month, you first need to draw up a comprehensive list of your expenses. This list should be
split into categories that include things like rent, taxes, salaries, utilities, equipment, administrative supplies, maintenance, and
advertising. Then, simply add up all of your costs to find your overhead costs for the month. For more clarification, check o ut
the example below:
Rent: $8,000
Taxes: $2,000
Salaries: $4,000
Equipment: $2,500
Utilities: $3,750
Repairs and Maintenance: $500
Advertising and Marketing: $250
Total Overhead Costs: $21,000
Once you have your overhead for any given month, you can use it to find out about the
profitability of your restaurant. One useful metric is your overhead as a percentage of your
sales. To calculate the overhead percentage for your restaurant, use the following
formula: Overhead / Total Monthly Sales x 100 = Overhead as a Percentage of Sales
If the percentage is below 35%, it's a sign that your restaurant is running efficiently, but if
it's above 35%, you should take a close look at your expenses and consider looking for
ways to cut costs.
Rent is one of the largest monthly expenses for restaurants. It can be difficult to have meaningful reductions in rent expenses,
but here are a few things that you can do to reduce restaurant overhead caused by rent bills:
If you’re on a month to month lease, talk to your landlord about renegotiating your restaurant lease contract. Your
business is a steady stream of income for your landlord, so they may be able to make a deal with you, especially if you
commit to staying there for a while.
Subleasing your kitchen space is becoming a more popular and available option nowadays. After work hours or early in the
morning, you can rent out your location as a commissary kitchen to other businesses, like food trucks and catering
companies, that need a space for food prep.
Additionally, you can rent your space part time to pop-up restaurants. Pop-up restaurants are establishments that operate
temporarily in parks, galleries, warehouses, and even private homes. These restaurants use social media to promote
themselves, and many chefs use pop-up restaurants to hone their skills, find potential investors, and gauge interest in
opening a full-time operation. Because pop-up restaurants operate in non-typical locations, many times they need to borrow
kitchen space from another restaurant or operation to prepare their food, which you can offer during your off hours.
Equipment is a major investment for restaurant owners. Look for an online equipment
supplier that provides benefits like membership discounts or free shipping on commercial
equipment. The Webstaurant Rewards® Visa Business Card offers rewards on each
WebstaurantStore purchase to help you save even more.
Check out more tips that will help you save on the cost of your restaurant equipment:
Purchase Newer Models - Replacing old appliances with newer models can save on
repair costs as well as your utility bill because many new appliances have energy -
saving features.
Choose Energy-Efficient Models - While energy-efficient appliances may be more expensive than standard
equipment, the money you will save on utilities over time will make up for the discrepancy.
Pick from the Scratch and Dent Section - You can find brand new equipment sold at discounted prices because of
minor scratches or dents. The damage doesn't affect performance and customers won’t see any superficial flaws on
your back-of-house equipment.
Consider Combination Ovens - Combi ovens have three unique cooking modes - convection, steam, and a
combination of the two, which allow you to cook a variety of dishes all in one appliance. Because combi ovens have so
many cooking options, you can replace several costly appliances with one purchase.
Add a Commercial Dishwasher - Depending on your volume of dirty dishes, commercial dishwashers can be a good
investment. Dishwashers can replace some of your dishwashing staff, reducing your salary expenses and labor costs.
Try Sous Vide Cooking - The sous vide process involves vacuum sealing your food and boiling it at a precise
temperature. Maintaining a specific temperature ensures your food doesn’t get overcooked. Plus, because the
temperature is regulated carefully, it doesn't need to be constantly watched, freeing up your staff to work on other
projects.
Using energy-saving appliances is an excellent way to save on utilities, but there are some other steps you can take to cut
your bill even more.
Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator rather than running it under water.
Turn off lights in areas that aren’t being used. Additionally, you can further reduce your electric bill by using energy-
efficient lighting, like LED light bulbs.
Buy equipment like pre-rinse spray valves and faucet aerators that reduce the amount of water you use at your
dishwashing station.
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Only give your customers water if they request it. One or two wasted glasses of water may not seem like a lot, but
compound that over the span of a month and it can add up to a substantial amount.
Don’t overstock your fridges and walk-in coolers. These appliances work by circulating cool air, and if the fridge is
too full, the air can't circulate. This forces the machine to work harder to maintain the cool temperature, costing you
more money. Not overstocking can also help you reduce food waste and food costs.
Run one large load in the dishwasher rather than doing several smaller loads throughout the day.
Turn off your dishwasher at night. Many high-temp dishwashers have a water tank with built-in heating elements
that keep the water hot at all times.
Investing into advertising solutions and trying free marketing tactics can cause a big boost in
your restaurant sales and help you offset your restaurant's overhead costs.
There are many free ways to market your restaurant, which can help you increase brand
awareness while engaging with your local community. Try some of the options below:
Social media is an excellent mobile media marketing tool for reaching a wider audience. With sites like Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram, you can post pictures and videos of your delicious food to entice people into your restaurant.
Additionally, social media allows you to inform customers of new menu items, daily specials, and upcoming events at your
restaurant. When you interact with your customers and reply to their questions, you are reaching out to all of their followers
and connections, potentially bringing in new business.
Online Reviews
Review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Zomato can have a major effect on your business and help you bring in more
customers to offset your overhead costs. Many people use online reviews to help them make decisions, which means
that getting more reviews on your site’s page can result in more business for your establishment. Here are some tips to
keep in mind with interacting with reviews:
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React appropriately to negative reviews. Among positive reviews, there are bound to be a few negative reviews as
well. It is important to treat negative reviews the same as dissatisfied customers - by offering your apologies, a refund,
or a free meal. Never delete negative reviews or try to coerce reviewers to give you a more favorable review, as this is
more likely to have a bad effect.
Let the reviews come in organically and have your service and food speak for itself. Asking for good reviews can
seem desperate and may make customers distrust your online ratings.
Overhead costs can eat away a substantial amount of your profits each month, but managing your expenses is possible, and
it can help you boost profits. The most important thing to keep in mind to drive down your overhead costs is to consistently
monitor and track your spending while keeping an eye out for cost-saving opportunities.
Cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting is incredibly important in the foodservice industry to prevent cross-contamination
and the spread of viruses. But, with so many things to clean in a restaurant, it can be difficult to remember all of the indi vidual
cleaning tasks that you need to take care of and how regularly you need to clean your equipment. To lessen the burden, we
created this restaurant cleaning checklist that your employees can use to keep track of the cleaning tasks that need to be
completed. Pair this commercial kitchen cleaning checklist with our wide selection of restaurant cleaning supplies.
Cleaning the back-of-house area consistently and thoroughly is important for preventing cross-contamination and the
spread of bacteria. Use our restaurant kitchen cleaning checklist to find a list of things you should be cleaning in the back-
of-house:
Clean the grill, griddle, range, flattop, and fryer (make sure to get underneath the equipment)
Change the foil lining on top of the ranges, grills, and flattops
Wipe down other equipment, such as coffee makers, microwaves, toasters, and meat slicers
Clean beverage dispenser heads in the soda fountains, and bars should clean the tips of the soda guns
Wash the utensils, smallwares, flatware, and glassware and let them air dry overnight
Disinfect the waste disposal area and clean the trash cans
Having a clean front-of-house area is important because the cleanliness of your dining space affects how your guests
perceive your business and whether they choose to become repeat customers. Here is the list of things you need to clean in
your front-of-house:
Daily:
Inspect and wipe down the condiments and salt and pepper shakers
Run cloth napkins, tablecloths, and wait staff aprons through the washing machine
Clean the interior and exterior of all the trash and recycling bins
Monthly:
Using a restaurant cleaning checklist is useful because it helps you stay organized, delegate tasks to your employees, and can
create a restaurant cleaning schedule for your staff so you can keep on top of food safety guidelines. By keeping your
equipment clean, your food will taste better and you'll increase the lifespan of your kitchen equipment. Additionally, a clean
and well-maintained dining space will impact your guests and make them want to come back. In addition to this easy-to-use
restaurant sanitation checklist, creating and enforcing a HACCP plan in your restaurant can help keep your space sanitary
and safe.
Reducing your restaurant's overall energy consumption not only lowers your utility costs, it's also better for the
environment. Many food service professionals have been adopting energy conservation methods for the past decade and
have drastically cut their energy use and expenses. Here, we've outlined energy conservation tips that will reduce your water
and electricity use.
It can be easier than you think to reduce energy consumption in your kitchen with our energy-saving methods! Here are our
top 10 tips for conserving energy in your business.
Click any of the tips below to read the section that interests you:
2. Equipment Maintenance
4. Efficient Lighting
High Efficiency Fryers - Upgrading your deep fryer to an energy-efficient model will
not only save you money on utilities, it will save you money on fryer oil as well.
New high-efficiency fryer models experience less scorching which extends the life
of your oil.
High Efficiency Dish Machines - Using an Energy Star certified dish machine can save an average of $1,500
annually when compared to a standard model.
Energy Star Rebates - Not only does Energy Star certified equipment use much less energy than standard equipment,
it might also qualify you for a rebate. Incentives and rebates vary depending on your location, so make sure to check
the Energy Star website.
If you don't keep your equipment clean or service it regularly, it's probably working harder than it needs to be. There are a
few simple preventative tasks you can perform on your own to increase your energy savings and extend the life of your
equipment.
Refrigerator Condenser Coils - The condenser coils on your refrigeration units become clogged with dust over time,
which insulates the coils and prevents them from expelling heat. The result is that your unit has to work much harder to
reach food safe temperatures. Keeping your coils clean provides a major boost to the efficiency of your unit.
Water Filters - Water filtration systems prevent calcification and mineral deposits in any equipment that connects to
a water line. By replacing your water filters at the appropriate time, you ensure that scale buildup doesn't clog the
internal components of your equipment and affect the efficiency of the unit.
Restaurants require large amounts of water to sustain operations. Thankfully, there are some simple
ways to reduce water consumption in your restaurant and lower your water bill.
Use Low-Flow Spray Valves - Replace your pre-rinse spray valves with newer models that
have lower GPM (gallons per minute) ratings. These low-flow spray valves are easy to replace
and use much less water than older spray valves.
Repair Leaky Faucets - Over time, the drips from a single leaky faucet add up. Instead of wasting water and money,
repair your faucets with new components. Many new faucet parts feature a cartridge design so you can swap them
out quickly without calling a plumber.
By switching out incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient lighting, you can drastically lower your lighting electricity
costs. Not only will you save on your utility costs, you'll also help the environment by conserving energy and lowering
greenhouse emissions.
LED Bulbs - LED bulbs use less electricity and last up to 10 times longer than a standard incandescent bulb.
CFL Bulbs - Not quite as energy efficient as LEDs, CFL bulbs are still 4 times more efficient than standard incandescent
bulbs. They produce more light than LEDs so they work well to light up the large areas in your restaurant.
Look for little ways to decrease the heat usage in your restaurant like using less hot water or preventing your employees from
making changes to the temperature settings on your thermostat.
Invest in a Smart Thermostat - Smart thermostats can be programmed remotely and are able to optimize energy use.
Many are also tamper-resistant to prevent unauthorized adjustments.
Lower Water Temps on Your Dish Machine - Mandatory dish washing temperatures in the food service industry are
around 140 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the NRA. Double check the requirements for your area, then optimize
your water temperature so you don't use water that's hotter than it needs to be.
Unheated Hand Dryers - Energy-efficient hand dryers that rely on forced air instead of heated air can use up to 80%
less energy than a standard hand dryer.
When the ambient temperatures in your kitchen are too high, your refrigeration equipment works extra hard to keep foods
chilled. By keeping ambient heat to a minimum, you can ensure the most efficient operation of your reach-ins and coolers.
Use Induction Equipment - Induction cookers and induction equipment work without the use of a flame or burner.
They transfer heat directly to your cookware while the surrounding air stays cool.
Use LEDs - Make sure to use LED lightbulbs in your kitchen and prep areas because they don't emit as much heat as
incandescent bulbs.
Conserving energy can be as easy as turning off a light switch. This may sound simple, but
countless restaurants waste hundreds of dollars a month because they leave idle
equipment running.
Smart Controls - Investing in equipment with smart control technology allows you to start up your appliances
remotely.
The layout of your kitchen can directly affect the efficiency of your equipment. There are a couple basic rules to keep in
mind that will ensure your appliances are operating at peak performance.
Breathing Space - Your refrigeration equipment needs room to breathe and expel hot air as part of the cooling
process. Without proper ventilation space around the unit, it uses more energy to stay cool.
Separate Heating and Cooling Equipment - If you place your oven next to your ice machine, the ambient air will be
hotter and the ice machine won't operate efficiently.
Besides buying energy-efficient equipment, cutting your costs rests on your shoulders and those of your staff members. To
be successful with your new plan, it's crucial for your team to understand your guidelines.
Post Reminders - Without a visual queue, it can be hard to remember every guideline. Post reminders above your sink,
next to your light switches, and anywhere else in your kitchen that will help your employees follow your protocols.
If you've followed all of the previous steps and you're still not seeing any effect on your utility bills, try contacting you r utility
company directly. They can provide you with an assessment of how much energy you use, as well as how much it's costing
you. Once you have that information, you can set realistic goals for your business and begin implementing a serious energy
conservation plan.
While some restaurant owners may see energy conservation as an obstacle or a nuisance, the benefits of going green include
lower expenses, a market for earth-loving customers, and a positive feeling about giving back to the environment. There are
many things about owning a business that you probably can't control, like the cost of your location, your water and electricity
provider, or your utilities expenses. Nevertheless, you can control your usage of heat, lighting, and water to an extent. By
using these tips, you'll start to see measurable benefits of going green that will help your restau rant reduce waste and save
money. Earth-conscious customers will appreciate your dedication to conserving energy, and the environment will, too!
A functional dining room service relies on a logical staff schedule. Before you spend any time making your employee
schedule, it’s important to know some of the basics first. Factors like tipping, weekly hours, time off, overtime, and laws for
employing minors all come into play when making a successful restaurant schedule. While it can seem overwhelming, there
are a few helpful things to keep in mind that will make the process much easier.
A tipped employee is someone who mainly earns their wages through tips. While there are many professions where tipping is
customary, servers and bartenders are among the most common.
Tipped wages are calculated differently, depending on your state. Some states are required to pay their employees full
minimum wage before tips, in which case patrons are expected to tip less or not at all. However, tipping at restaurants is
customary throughout most of the United States, so servers are typically only paid a minimum cash wage that’s combined
with tip wages to reach the federal minimum wage or more.
You should also keep in mind that certain members of your staff will not receive tips. Typically, the front-of-house staff will
split their tips from the shift, and back-of-house don’t receive tips. With that in mind, make sure your prep cooks and dish
washers are making an hourly wage that’s appropriate.
Aside from compensating for some employees receiving tips while others don’t, it’s also important to note that some shifts
are more lucrative than others because more customers mean more tips. No matter what kind of foodservice establishment
you have, this is just a fact of life. There are a few ways you can ensure that every person receives an appropriate amount of
tips throughout the week.
In most cases, your business will have busy times and slow times of day. If you own a coffee shop, the early morning
hours will likely be the most popular, as patrons swing by to pick up coffee or breakfast on their way to work. If you’re the
owner of a bar, evening will likely be your busiest time, as people wind down with a beer after a long day. So keep an open
dialogue with your staff about these patterns and make sure everyone gets an opportunity to earn fair tips by switching up
their schedule.
One of the best ways to approach this difference between shifts is to spread your staff out
evenly, allowing equal opportunities for your senior staff and new hires to experience a mix of
different times of the day. This will also ensure that everyone gets ample experience and is
properly trained on all the different responsibilities that come with each shift time, which will
ultimately leave more room for flexibility when it comes to employees filling in for each other.
You need to make sure more people are scheduled during busy times and fewer people during
slow times. Not only does this make the division of tips fairer, but it also ensures that there are
enough employees to complete the necessary tasks in relation to the demand. If you’re not sure
what times of day are busiest, most POS systems can track transaction activity throughout the
day, so you can pull graphs and see exactly when your traffic is at its peaks and lows.
While keeping some staff on call is not ideal, this approach can ensure that you have the help you need if things get
unexpectedly busy. Similarly, don’t be afraid to send people home if things are slow. While it’s not good to ask your
employees to shuffle their personal lives around to accommodate last-minute requests, being upfront with them about
staying flexible for a few hours on a Saturday is alright every now and then. Also, you can encourage your managers to step
in if things get crazy, since they have a higher hourly pay rate.
Take some of the pressure off your manager by hiring two co-managers. That way, you can have one manager on duty at all
times to address any issues that may be too demanding of your regular staff’s time. While it may seem like paying two
manager wages is not beneficial to your business, having a manager present at all times can go a long way towards
improving a customer’s experience. And, as we all know, providing a positive experience for your customers is the only way
your business will succeed.
Whether they’re working around school, a family, or second job, chances are your employees all have different scheduling
needs. Ideally, you can get a sense of each person’s unique schedule when they’re first hired. That way, you can staff your
establishment with people with varying availability. But even then, life happens and schedules are likely to change. So, when it
comes to making a fair schedule, keep an open mind and check your employees' availability.
Ensuring that each staff member has a fair amount of time off goes a long way towards preventing stress and fatigue. You
should hire enough people so that everyone can have two days off per week, and if those days can be consecutive, that ’s
ideal. Also, make sure that you only ever ask the same person to close and open the next day if it’s an emergency. You want
your staff to have enough time to feel well rested before returning to work.
You should also come up with a clear system your staff can use to request time off for family events or vacations.
Sue 5 - Cl 11 - 5 X 9-2 X 5 - Cl 5 - Cl
This might be a typical setup for a coffee shop or bakery—something not too demanding. A full-service restaurant would
obviously require more hands on deck, but this example should help represent the basic idea.
1. Determine how many of your employees fall into restrictions due to labor regulations, such as hours allotted to
minors.
3. Figure out what roles need to be filled at different points during the day (i.e. what time should the prep cooks
be there vs. when should your second bartender arrive to help cover the rush).
4. Make sure you stagger your managers’ schedules. And everyone else’s schedules, for that matter.
5. Fill out each shift so that there’s ample coverage all day.
While it’s possible to lay out your schedule manually, there are programs that can save you a lot of time and hassle as you
create your schedule each week.
For new businesses or schedulers, software can be a massive timesaver. There are a variety of places you can find software, so
take some time to shop around and pick what works best for your needs. Some programs are designed to work with any
foodservice setup, like 7shifts. Meanwhile, other programs are made for specific demographics, like independent
restaurateurs — such as ScheduleFly. There's no universal "right" answer when it comes to making a schedule — you just
have to pick one that works for you.
If you don't want to use software, consider using the old fashioned method of a calendar, employee roster, and a little more
time.
Your staff’s schedule will likely see frequent changes. It’s always a good idea to give your
employees as much notice as possible, so plan on posting your schedule at least two weeks in
advance. One popular method for posting schedules is to use a whiteboard with grid lines.
You can transcribe your printed schedule onto a large whiteboard and let your staff trade
shifts as much as they please. Just make sure to monitor overtime and schedules for minors.
Making a restaurant schedule can often seem like a juggling act. Just when you think you
have everything laid out fairly and efficiently, another factor will come into play. Here are a
few things to remember, especially if you ask some of your staff to work extra hours one week:
Overtime
Overtime is earned whenever an employee works more than 40 hours in a work week. The time that they work over the 40
hours earns them their regular pay plus 50% of their hourly wage. So if one of your prep cooks earns $10 an hour, but they
work 42 hours in one week, they would earn $15 an hour for the two hours they worked overtime. To avoid overtime,
maintain a well-equipped staff and a restaurant schedule that caps employees at or below 40 hours per week. You can also
encourage overtime to allow employees to earn more, though the extra time worked could have an adverse effect on their
energy.
Foodservice jobs are some of the most popular positions for teenagers. In fact, many people’s first job is at a restaurant,
washing dishes or waiting tables. As a restaurant owner, you will likely receive applications or job inquiries from people under
the age of 18, so it’s important to know the legal guidelines for employing minors.
Measuring your work hours in the context of Full-Time Equivalent is beneficial for accounting purposes. This approach is
popular for all kinds of businesses that employ many part time employees. In addition to making things clearer when tax time
comes around, calculating FTE can ensure that you have enough coverage for each shift, without employing too many
people. You want to make sure you can provide each person with enough hours to make the job worth their while, without
overworking them or needing to go into overtime. By calculating the Full-Time Equivalent, you can more easily predict what
kinds of hours each person will work and how much training you’re investing into each position.
If all this information is making your head spin, just remember that restaurant scheduling doesn’t always have to be overly
complicated. The best way to avoid headaches around your staff’s schedule is to create a culture of accountability in your
restaurant. By earning the trust and respect of your employees, you can create a motivated work environment where your
staff will want to show up on time. Building a trusted team of reliable employees is the best thing you can do to alleviate
stress when schedule time comes around. Combine your staff’s accountability with scheduling software and other systems to
keep you organized, and you’ll be an expert scheduler in no time.
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Restaurant Accounting Tips
While running a restaurant may begin with a talent for cooking and a passion for hospitality, it can only gain and maintain a
profit through proper bookkeeping. With the proper understanding of restaurant accounting, your establishment can be
profitable.
A restaurant bookkeeper oversees the finances and budgets for a restaurant. Restaurant
accountants or bookkeepers can often offer advice on reducing overhead
costs and reducing food costs in your establishment. Restaurant bookkeepers are in
charge of the following:
Tracking your expenses and deposits
Generating a profit and loss statement
Maintaining records for tax obligations
Overseeing payroll and vendor invoices
Should I Hire a Restaurant Accountant?
Restaurant bookkeeping can quickly become too complex for restaurant owners to handle. If you are not confident in your
ability or lack the time that’s needed for accurate and thorough bookkeeping, consider hiring an accountant.
There are many independent accountants and accounting firms that specialize in services for restaurants including:
Bookkeeping
Financial consultations
Business projections
Payroll management
A business strategy, organization, and the willpower to keep accurate accounting records are important factors in
determining whether or not your restaurant will get off the ground. Restaurant bookkeeping is one of the most important
aspects of running a restaurant, but it can be overwhelming to think of managing your own books and records at first.
To better understand restaurant bookkeeping, read these restaurant account tips and suggestions, and get on the way to
being as successful as you imagined.
There are a few crucial reasons why you should maintain a close eye on your restaurant’s bookkeeping:
Figure out how much money you need to earn to make a profit
Below are some restaurant accounting tips that offer basic advice for accurate bookkeeping so you can have all of this
information about your business readily available.
One of the first places to start when handling your restaurant’s accounting is ask other chefs how they handle their own
accounting records. Knowing how a colleague or other industry professionals approach restaurant bookkeeping may provide
insight as to how you should address your own books and records.
Getting the recommendations of other successful restaurateurs can help you determine if you’re prepared to handle
accounting issues on your own, or whether you should consider hiring an outside firm.
The only way to know if you're in the red or the black is to keep an accurate account of all money coming and going from
your restaurant. This may sound like common sense, but many financial anxieties come from a lack of dedication to accurate
bookkeeping.
You must record precise amounts of money for every expense and all revenue. Rounding up or down by a few cents or
dollars can add up over the course of a week or month and begin to affect your bottom line.
There are two categories you can lump almost any expense into: prime costs and fixed
costs. Prime cost refers to the majority of your restaurant’s expenses including food
ingredients, beverages, staffing, taxes, and benefits. You should keep a close eye on your
prime costs to track any reoccurring accounting issues and find areas to cut costs and raise
profits.
Fixed costs are the costs that either don’t change or you have no control over the change.
This includes your rent or mortgage, equipment costs, insurances, permits, and other
operational expenses. These fixed costs typically make up the minority of your restaurant
expenses.
Keeping records of how much you’re spending on prime costs and fixed costs is a necessary step in determining how much
money you need to earn each week to break even or earn a profit.
Keeping track of your revenue is equally important to restaurant bookkeeping as knowing your expenses. Have accounting
records on hand to show how much you earn from food sales, merchandise sales, or catering jobs.
A restaurant profit and loss statement, or P&L, keeps all restaurant accounting information organized in one concise
document. You may customize a P&L to suit your business’s specific needs.
This statement is an effective tool for keeping track of your revenue, food costs, labor costs, and operating expenses. If this is
the method with which you choose to organize your books and records, it's advisable that you provide a detailed breakdown
of all your costs and revenue for ease of understanding.
Though it's best to be detailed and use them on a weekly basis, you can generate monthly or yearly P&L's to your liking and
include as much or as little detail as you think is necessary.
Restaurant accounting software includes financial software and point of sale (POS) systems. These
programs are designed to help you organize your inventory counts and transactions quickly and
accurately.
Do some research before picking an accounting software for your restaurant. Depending on the software,
If you do decide to manage your restaurant’s finances, still consider outsourcing payroll. That’s because there are liability
issues and high penalty fees on the line for mistakes made in payroll.
Hire an experienced person or company to handle the complicated and ever-changing local, state, and federal laws
surrounding workforce requirements. As a business owner, you won’t have time to keep up with these changes.
Restaurant accounting software can help you to manage your books and records yourself. Going with the right software may
even help you save money in the long run.
Financial software is designed to make restaurant bookkeeping simpler and more efficient for you as
the business owner.
When selecting the right accounting software for your restaurant, take the following qualities into
consideration:
Due to high turnover rates in the industry, make sure it’s easy to add and remove staff members on payroll
The following programs are some of the more popular software systems on the market today:
Microsoft Dynamics GP: gives you control over finances, inventory, and business information in a tool that
incorporates your email and calendar with your data, reports, and business management software.
Quickbooks: offers a Startup Financial Planner Tool that allows you to enter your expected revenue and shows you
what your startup costs might be. Then, you can download a full report of your cost information.
Wagepoint: helps you automate the process of issuing pay checks and comply with the required withholding and
employer tax amounts.
Sage 50: helps you manage bills, inventory, banking, payroll, and taxes as well as process credit card payments.
Point of sale (POS) systems are computer systems used to record orders and complete payment transactions. When it
comes to managing your books and records, some POS systems allow you to track inventory counts, labor costs, and
methods of payment as well as run sales reports.
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Popular POS systems include Quickbooks, Toast, ShopKeep, and Square, but there are many other systems available. Shop
around and invest time in understanding which software has the capabilities to meet your needs.
In order for a restaurant to be profitable, it needs more than a solid concept and talented chef. Staying on top of your
spending costs, inventory, and revenue is key to turning a profit. With these restaurant accounting tips, you can begin to
organize your accounting records and have a better understanding of your financial picture. In the end, organization and
accuracy are the keys to effective restaurant bookkeeping.
Restaurant cleaning services can be a helpful addition to those who may be short on time or looking to ease the workload of
their staff. A clean restaurant creates an inviting atmosphere, safer working conditions, and can help reduce the risk of
cross-contamination.
Commercial cleaning services that cater to the restaurant industry can be well-equipped to thoroughly sanitize and degrease
high-volume kitchens and keep other areas in your restaurant looking good. Below are some helpful hints and tips for hiring
the right professional cleaning service to fit your budget and needs.
As you consider whether or not an outside service is right for you, keep in mind why it’s so
important to keep your restaurant clean:
Health inspections: Unsanitary preparation and service areas can quickly lead to hazardous bacteria growth, which is
something no health inspector wants to see. Keeping your restaurant cleaned and sanitized can prevent your business
from losing points on your next health inspection.
Respect from employees: If you don’t offer your employees a clean, comfortable working environment, it can quickly
breed complacency, hostility, and a lack of respect for you and your business.
Cross-contamination: If your hoods aren’t degreased or surfaces swept for food particles, contaminants can easily get
into the food you’re preparing and serving to customers.
Before you dive into hiring a cleaning service for your restaurant, there are a few advantages and limitations to consider.
Will clean as much (or as little) and as often as desired Availability of services
Will take the burden of cleaning off of your staff Potential staff complacency
Cleaning services that are accustomed to working with restaurants can often accommodate your business’s schedule and
individual cleaning needs. Flexible options can include limited services such as surface cleaning a few rooms in your
restaurant or doing a full, deep clean of the entire premise every month. While surface cleaning could take your staff hours to
complete, hiring a cleaning surface can significantly reduce that burden.
Alternatively, cleaning services can be costly depending on your restaurant’s size, how many rooms you want cleaned, and
how often you want a cleaning service to come. Depending on where you are, you may be limited to how many commercial
services are available to you. Additionally, not holding staff members accountable for cleaning their space has the potential to
cause laziness and complacency amongst employees.
Below are a few additional considerations to think about before you choose to hire a cleaning service for your restaurant.
You need to be sure your business can take on the financial considerations of hiring a cleaning service. Consulti ng your
restaurant’s profit and loss reports will give you significant insight into the financial health of your restaurant. This should
be the starting point when considering bringing on a new service.
How much you need to devote to spending on a cleaning service will vary greatly. To reduce costs, you can opt for less
frequent cleanings, equip the cleaning staff with your own tools and cleaners, and request a smaller square footage area be
cleaned.
Cleaning services typically charge by the square foot or hour. For light cleaning, or surface cleaning, you can expect to spend
around $50 an hour for a commercial cleaning service. For more specialized cleaning, especially in kitchen areas where
surfaces need to be degreased and sanitized, expect a pricetag closer to $100 an hour.
Your location
Restaurant size
Customize the frequency of your cleaning services to best fit your businesses needs and
budget. Do you need daily light cleaning, such as vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning of
windows and doors? Or are you looking for a heavier, deep cleaning of your kitchen,
stripping and waxing of your floors, or shampooing of your carpet?
Understanding the types of services you’re looking for and how often you’d like to receive
them is an important step to take before you begin reaching out to professionals. Know
what exactly you expect of them, and look for those options within the companies you find.
You don’t have to use a professional cleaning service to keep your entire restaurant clean. If you’d prefer to have trained
members of your staff take care of the kitchen, that’s totally fine. Map out your entire space and decide based on your
budget and the types of services you need done what areas you’re interested in having professionally cleaned.
Potential restaurant cleaning service companies are going to want to know from the start what areas of your restaurant
they’re expected to clean. Areas to consider include:
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Kitchen
Bathroom
Lobby
Dining room
Manager’s office
Break room
Here are a few common services commercial cleaning companies can provide that you may want to consider.
Window cleaning
Kitchen area:
Sweeping and mopping floors, including those in dry storage areas or walk-ins
Wash down and remove food particles from tops and sides of equipment
Sanitizing and deep cleaning surfaces including toilets, countertops, and sinks
It’s important to come up with a specific list such as those above when working with an outside company. Outlining individual
tasks and expectations will help you understand and nail down the specifics of what you’re paying for when hiring a cleaning
service.
Once you determine that restaurant cleaning services may be for you, you'll want to start looking for potential service
companies in your area. Aside from doing a few Google searches on cleaning services, consider checking out local business
directories or ask around to other business owners for recommendations.
Interviewing several services may seem like a daunting process, but you must remember how important this service is to your
restaurant. The cleanliness of your business provides an immediate impact on your customers’ impression of your brand.
Remember that while those cleaning your restaurant work for a separate entity, the employees that the restaurant cleaning
service sends into your establishment will be representing your company while in your restaurant. Therefore, making sure that
they are up to your standards is going to be key during the interview process. If employees of this outside company do a
poor job at your restaurant, it’s your customers who will notice.
Here are a few sample questions to ask when interviewing a potential cleaning service:
Who will be doing the cleaning? Will it be the same person(s) every time?
What experience does your staff have in cleaning restaurants? Back-of-the-house, front-of-the-house, restrooms, etc.?
To protect your restaurant from liability and legal issues, make sure the companies you are considering have all the necessary
certifications and insurances needed to work inside your establishment. During the interview process, you can research or ask
your potential company about their Better Business Bureau rating. Additionally, you should look for companies with
certifications by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration.
You may want to make sure that the staff from the restaurant cleaning service is reputable. If possible, you will want to
request that the same staff cleans your restaurant each time so that you get a consistent, reliable cleaning from people you
can trust.
Hiring a cleaning service for your restaurant can provide an immense amount of relief for you and your staff. Having
professionals keep your business clean can free up your own time to focus on food preparation, marketing, and building a
loyal customer base. With a little research and the right questions, you can feel adequately prepared to find the right
restaurant cleaning service for you and your business.
Whether you're dealing with flying insects, crawling insects, or rodents, a single pest that is seen,
heard, or smelled within your restaurant can be a no-turning-back type of dealbreaker for many
customers. A pest invasion violates the stringent sanitation requirements needed to keep food
safe and puts your establishment at risk for the introduction of harmful diseases and bacteria.
This could lead to patron illness and create problems that extend well beyond the perception of
your brand. We offer a wide variety of pest control products to help you eliminate or control any
problems you may be having. But for more general pest control, there are also a handful of key
preventative measures you can take to proactively stop pest problems from ever getting started!
Pest prevention anywhere can be quite the undertaking, but when dealing with all of the food inside (and outside) your
restaurant, that challenge is magnified even further. Every establishment is different and so the preventative measures will be
too, but there are a few "hot spots" in and around any restaurant that demand particular attention.
1. Lighting: A lot of insects are drawn to the warmth given off by lighting and are so attracted to ultraviolet light that it is
actually used to lure insects into glue traps and bug zappers as a means of pest control. These are great tools for luring
flying pests away from your building or taking care of any that may sneak inside, but this also illustrates why you want
to be judicious with your lighting strategy. Affix a minimum amount of lighting directly to your establishment and
instead, install fixtures away from the building while directing light toward doorways.
When it comes to deterring pests on the inside of your restaurant, regular cleaning and sanitizing, as well as prompt attenti on
to unexpected messes, are universally important. A few areas that are particularly noteworthy are listed below.
1. Dining & Food Prep Areas: Seats and tables should be wiped down and the area beneath
/ around the table should be swept any time a party leaves. In your food prep area, you
have to be on the lookout for loose crumbs, drips, and splashes on and around tables,
equipment, and even waitress stations.
2. Storage Area: Keep dry food products in tightly-sealed food storage containers since
loosely closed bags and boxes are an open invitation for pests. Food must be stored at
least 6" off the ground and 12" away from walls so that you can easily clean and inspect
the area. Stock should be rotated using the First In First Out method, with special attention
3. Trash Cans: A liner must be used in all trash cans inside your restaurant, and all trash cans should have lids—whether
that means investing in a step on can, a swing top lid, or a tight-fitting lid for your standard round commercial trash
can. Another important and too-often-overlooked requirement of trash can maintenance is keeping the bin itself clean
of any refuse that may slip through punctures in the liner.
4. Floor Drains: Floor drains in a janitor's closet or warewashing area can be an unfortunate breeding ground for pests—
flies, in particular. Be sure to regularly check beneath the drain grate for loose debris and keep the drain itself clean
with an enzyme-based cleaner like Noble Chemical EDM+.
In addition to knowing which areas prove troublesome for restaurant pest control, it's also important to know what pests
present problems for restaurants. The pests you're likely to encounter vary by geography, type of foodservice operation,
structural deficiencies in your building, and many other factors, but there are four pests that are far more common in
restaurants than others.
1. Rodents: Mice and rats can trigger intense feelings of fear and disgust for many patrons, and with good reason.
They can spread diseases like Salmonella, Listeria, and E. Coli among many others, and let's be honest—their
beady little eyes are what nightmares are made of. They contaminate restaurants with feces and urine and use
their teeth to chew through food packaging as well as electrical wiring and plumbing, so check out our selection
of rodent control products to keep these pests at bay.
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2. Cockroaches: Cockroaches--with their long antennae, hardened
body, and hairy legs--will also trigger a very visceral reaction in a lot of customers.
They spread many pathogens, like those that cause food poisoning, and
contaminate restaurants with feces, regurgitated food, and shed exoskeletons.
Cockroaches are particularly aggravating for restaurateurs because of their
resiliency—you can cut them off from food and water, but many can live weeks
without either (not to mention they can live weeks without their head). Our
variety of crawling insect control products provides you with multiple ways to
combat cockroach infestations.
3. Flies: Flies are a flitting nuisance that may not make patrons' stomachs churn like some other pests, but they can
do as much if not more damage to the safety and cleanliness of your establishment. They can carry hundreds of
diseases and are particularly drawn to liquid food, but they contaminate solid food and any other surface they
land on by vomiting, sucking the vomit back into their system and, if needed, releasing fecal matter so they're
not too heavy to fly away. When you consider how mobile flies are and how many surfaces they can contaminate
in such a short period of time, it's easy to see why they are such a significant concern in restaurants and
why flying insect control products are so important.
4. Stored Product Pests: These pests include weevils, moths, beetles, mites, and other small insects that enter your
restaurant hidden within flour, grain, nuts, and other packaged products or find refuge and sustenance in those
products post-arrival. They breed, eat, and excrete within these products, creating bacteria that can not only alter
Pest control is important in any business, but especially so in the foodservice and hospitality industries. Between strictly
monitored health codes and the prevalence of social media, a single rodent or a handful of insects could cost you customers.
It pays to take the necessary preventative measures, like those outlined in this buying guide and our restaurant pest control
tips article, to keep pests out of your establishment.
There may be several signs that you have a pest control problem. Evidence may include:
Pest droppings
Evidence of nesting
Common Pests
There are a myriad of pests that can cause problems at your establishment. Those problems can range in severity, but at
worst they may include the destruction of food stores, food inspector violations, the spread of bacteria and disease, or the
sullying of your reputation. Some pests are more common than others. These include cockroaches, flies, mice, mosquitoes,
and rats.
Cockroaches are unhygienic scavengers that may carry certain bacteria that can cause illnesses if left on food. Additionally,
they serve as an allergen source and an asthma trigger. Cockroaches are typically found in dark, moist places, such as behind
refrigerators, sinks, and stoves, or under floor drains and inside of motors and major appliances. They can enter through sma ll
holes and cracks in the building, or they can come in on bags or other containers.
Flies
Flies are known for spreading at least 200 known pathogens and parasites to humans. They rarely bite or sting humans but
because they often land on dead animals, rotten food, manure, and trash, they pick up and spread diseases that are harmful
to humans.
Mice and rats are dangerous and destructive pests. They carry and transmit viruses, bacteria, and other diseases. Additionally,
they can be responsible for causing damage to your property, chewing through walls and wiring, and getting into food.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes bite humans to consume blood. While doing so, they can also transmit harmful, and sometimes fatal, diseases,
including Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue, and malaria.
You must be prepared with the appropriate products to control pests in case a few sneak in. To help keep your operation
sanitary and maintain your pristine reputation, we have an impressive selection of pest control products, and we have
compiled the information you need to know so that you can determine the best solution for your application.
Target Pests
Description
One of the most humane methods of rodent control, live catch traps
allow the user to catch live rodents and then release them in another
location.
Application
Target Pests
Description
Application
Target Pests
Flying Insects – Carpenter bees, bees, gnats, flies, fruit flies, hornets, mosquitos,
yellow jackets, wasps, wood wasps, and other winged insects
Crawling Insects – Ants, Asian lady beetles, bed bugs, boxelder bugs, carpenter
ants, centipedes, crickets, fire ants, fleas, palmetto bugs, roaches, scorpions,
silverfish, spiders, termites, water bugs, and other crawling insects
Rodents and Other Pests - Gophers, mice, moles, rats, skunks, squirrels,
woodchucks
Description
Poisons come in many shapes and forms, but all with one purpose – to kill pests
quickly and easily. Whether it's a gas, pellets, poison moleworms, an aerosol spray,
a liquid spray, a fogger, or a vapor strip, these products get the job done, eliminating the pest once and for all.
Application
It's imperative to read the manufacturer's instructions prior to use to ensure a safe application in a suitable environment. It is
both unsafe and against label directions to use poisons anywhere food is being commercially prepared, processed, or served.
Poisons are good options for basements and storage areas. For the food preparation and serving areas, use glue boards, snap
traps, and live catch traps.
Target Pests
Description
Repellents come in liquid, pellet, and ultrasonic forms. While they do not kill pests, they do
keep them at a distance, protecting you and your establishment from dangerous exposures.
Application
Personal insect repellents can be applied directly to the skin or sprayed into the air or on a surface. Conversely, rodent
repellents can be plugged into a wall outlet, stuck directly into the ground, or sprinkled onto the ground. Make sure you
follow manufacturer's instructions prior to use of any repellent to make sure it's not only safe, but effective.
Target Pests
Description
One of the oldest methods of rodent control, snap traps are relatively simple
wood, metal, or plastic traps with a powerful snapping mechanism designed
with the intention to kill rodents immediately upon contact.
Application
Target Pests
Flying Insects - Flies, fruit flies, pantry months, mosquitoes, and other winged insects
Description
Sticky traps are pest control products that utilize a glue board to stop insects and rodents
in their tracks. They can be as simple as a glue board placed on the floor, wall, window, or ceiling, or as sophisticated as a
lighted trap that lures the insects in with a soft glow, then traps them on the sticky board behind the unit.
Application
Sticky traps can be used indoors or outdoors, depending on the product. Place them on runways or areas where pests are
traveling.
Target Pests
Flying Insects - Flies, fruit flies, pantry months, mosquitoes, other winged insects
Description
Zappers shock flying insects with a bolt of electricity, killing them instantly. These units
can be wall mounted or hung from the ceiling. Traditionally, powerful lights attract the
insects into the unit for a quick and easy kill.
Application
Zappers can be used indoors or outdoors, depending on the unit. Indoors, these units are best for commercial spaces, such
as warehouses, supermarkets, office buildings, and other non-sensitive areas, as they can be rather noisy. Outdoors, zappers
are great for patios and bars, food trucks, outdoor weddings, or college events – areas where the noise is less of a concern.
Traps need to be checked regularly based on the level of activity. If you are dealing with an active infestation, check traps
every 24 hours. For preventative maintenance, checking every few days should be fine.
There are three main ways to prevent pest infestations at your establishment – sanitation,
exclusion, and preventative devices.
1. Sanitation - It's imperative to keep your establishment clean and sanitary to keep
pests at bay. Frequently removing trash and cleaning surfaces regularly are just a
couple of ways to ensure sanitation
3. Preventative Devices - Repellents will keep pests away from your building before
they become a problem. Placing these products near doorways and other areas of
entry will prevent pests from entering your establishment.
Sometimes, DIY pest control doesn't work. In these instances, it's best to call a professional.
Call a professional if the solution is dangerous. Be very careful when working with
bee hives or wasp nests, or when there are critters in your walls. A pest management
professional will be able to properly identify and safely get rid of pests.
and where to apply the solution, and they can even do it for you.
From 5 star resorts to assisted living facilities, bed bugs are of particular concern in hospitality and have unique control
measures all to themselves. We offer chemical products manufactured to specifically target bed bugs, as well as mattress
encasements and box spring encasements that trap existing bed bugs and keep new ones out.
Bedding should be washed and dried in high heat. Bed bugs will die in very
high temperatures.
Try to obtain a sample of the bug to show the exterminator and determine
how many areas are affected by the infestation.
Clean areas extensively with a vacuum and empty the vacuum after each use.
Whether you're operating a dormitory, 5 star hotel, or healthcare facility, bed bug infestations can happen at any time
without warning. These tiny, blood-thirsty pests are difficult to treat and can damage the reputation that you've worked so
hard to earn. Act proactively, ensure sanitation, and allow your guests to sleep tight by investing in protective bedding. Ou r
selection of bed bug treatment and control products will provide you with what you need to keep your establishment bed
bug free!
Having been around for centuries, bed bug infestations were once under control due to the use of intense pesticides. But as
we've become aware of the harmful side effects these chemicals have on our health and environment, we've resorted to other
means of pest control such as traps and various pest control products; however, bed bugs feed on human blood and are
not attracted to traps, glues, and zappers, which means bed bugs are again on the rise.
One of the most effective ways of not only treating bed bug infestations, but preventing them as well, is to furnish your bed s
with bed bug mattress encasements, box spring encasements, and pillow encasements. Encasing the box spring,
mattress, and pillow makes it virtually impossible for bed bugs to enter or escape due to the encasement's design.
An encasement completely covers the top, bottom, and sides of your box spring or mattress. This design keeps any existing
bugs you may have trapped inside the encasement, cutting them off from access to blood -their primary survival source. It
also keeps any other bugs that may be hiding on bed rails, carpet, luggage, or other items in the room from entering the
mattress or box spring. As outside bed bugs try to infest your mattress, the mattresses encasement makes these small, flat,
Not only are encasements a reactive method for treating bed bug infestations, they're also the most trusted method for
preventing them. By immediately purchasing encasements for your bed sets before use, you are protecting your
establishment in the long run, because the longer an infestation goes without being noticed and treated, the harder and
more expensive it is to exterminate the issue. Besides the difficulty of treating an infestation, any word of bed bugs in your
facility wreaks havoc on your reputation. Bed bugs are an issue and are one of the first things guests look for when reading
reviews and searching for an overnight venue. With this in mind, finding the most effective encasement can be a difficult task.
The market offers various different bed bug mattress encasements, but just because it may say
"Bed Bug Proof" on the label doesn't mean it really is. There are many factors to consider and
research when in the market for your bed bug protection products.
Bite-Proof. The material must be thick enough so that bugs cannot feed through the
material and break through the encasement.
Escape-Proof. The encasement must not have any openings, large seams, or other ways
for bugs to get in or out once installed.
Zipper end stop. It's crucial to find an encasement with some type of locking system to ensure the zipper is tightly and
completely sealed shut, because again, bugs can crawl through the gap that's commonly left between the zipper and
the fabric.
Strong scientific data. Some companies provide test results upon request for proof that their products are actually
bed bug proof.
Material. The type of material will provide you with the bite-proof and escape-proof qualities you're looking for. We
carry all high-quality materials; therefore, the material type depends on the durability level you're looking for, and the
type of venue you have.
Material Composition
Bed bug encasements are usually composed of vinyl or fabric, generally polyester or terry cloth. Bargoose and J T Eaton &
Co are two popular vendors we carry that offer you the best in bed bug protection. Bringing you state of the art zipper end
stops, optimum comfort, and durability, your guests can rest assured knowing they're protected from the dreaded bed bug.
The type of establishment you're looking to furnish will help you decide which material is most appropriate for your needs.
Encasements of certain vendors we carry are categorized on a good, better, best scale. Bed bug proof mattress encasement
from Bargoose are divided into three types: vinyl, hybrid, and elite.
Economical and durable vinyl material composition, ideal for more rugged
environments
Tested and certified bed bug proof; results available upon request
Hybrid Breathable 1 mil urethane barrier on top and half way down sides
Tested and certified bed bug proof; results available upon request
Tested and certified bed bug proof; results available upon request
In addition to bed bug proof mattress encasements, there are various powders and sprays that
give you additional backup forces to fight these pests. J T Eaton & Co is a reputable company
known for providing excellent products for preventing, fighting, and eliminating not only bed
bugs, but other crawling insects and pests such as ants and fleas. JT Eaton 203 7 oz. Bed Bugs
and Crawling Insects Powder is a strong powder with diatomaceous earth serving as its active
ingredient. This powerful powder can be sprinkled directly on pests or on other surfaces, and it
kills all bugs, particularly exoskeleton insects, in their tracks, yet it's safe for human contact so
you, your employees, and guests do not have to worry about harmful side effects.
Health inspections can be a frustrating and stressful experience, but it’s important to remember that health inspectors don’t
come looking to shut down your operation. Health inspections are held to make sure food products are handled and
prepared according to state and local regulations to protect the public. We created a restaurant health code checklist for yo u
to follow so you can feel prepared for your next inspection.
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Use the links below to navigate through our health inspection tips:
Ensure that your restaurant is ready for an inspection by brushing up on your foodservice industry knowledge and
regulations. Here are some tips to help you prepare for your next inspection.
1. Review your HACCP Plan. One tool to prepare for a health inspection is a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Points) plan. The HACCP system identifies the points in the cooking process where the risk of contamination is the
greatest. Once the hazards have been identified, you can take action to prevent possible contamination.
3. Consult your local health department. Find out what regulations and health inspection forms are being used so that
you know exactly what they'll be looking for.
4. Conduct self-inspections at random, unannounced times. Health inspections can occur at any time, so all of your
employees must be equally prepared. After your self-inspections, review the results with your employees and discuss
the corrective actions for any possible violations.
5. Quiz your employees. Ask employees safety questions about tasks they're performing to ensure they're prepared for
any inquiries that might come from the health inspector. For example, ask them what color food storage
containers they should store poultry, seafood, and vegetables in to prevent cross-contamination.
6. Stay up to date. Continue to monitor food preparation and storage, even after your self-inspection. Keep your
managers updated on the latest food safety developments so that they can ensure compliance when you're not
around.
Here are some things to look out for during your restaurant’s self-inspection. You can see the full printable restaurant
inspection checklist by clicking the button below:
Food Storage
Food is stored using the FIFO (First In, First Out) method.
Food is heated to the correct temperature to remove all bacteria before being placed in the hot holding area.
Sanitation
Washing station is organized into three sections for washing, rinsing, and sanitizing.
Utensils are covered to protect them from dust and contaminants when stored.
Garbage and refuse is properly disposed of. Outside receptacles have lids or covers.
Eating and smoking are limited to designated areas away from food prep areas.
When it comes time for your official health inspection, there are some things you should and should not do while the
inspector is on premise.
Do...
Verify the inspector's credentials. The inspector should offer this to you voluntarily, but if they don't, ask. If you're
still not sure, call your local health department for verification to avoid being scammed by someone looking for free
business information.
Sign the inspection report. This does not indicate that you agree with the findings, but it is instead evidence that you
received a copy.
Ask for an explanation if you don't understand a violation. You can't correct the problem if you don't know what it is.
Do Not...
Refuse an inspection. That will only delay things as the inspector will return shortly with an inspection warrant and
likely a less than pleasant attitude.
Offer the inspector any food or beverage. Be cordial and pleasant, but anything beyond that could be
misinterpreted as bribery to influence the inspection report.
After the restaurant health inspection is completed, your operation will be given a score. If you were following the inspector
during your inspection, your score should not come as a surprise. In order to understand your score and its effect on your
There are two main restaurant grading systems: points-based systems and letter grade systems. Which system is used
depends on the local or state health department that is conducting the inspection. Health violations in restaurants are
categorized as critical and non-critical or as high-risk and low-risk depending on the department.
Points-Based Systems
Points-based systems are usually scored on a 100 point scale. Health inspectors determine your food inspection score by the
number and severity of the violations.
Letter grade systems are usually scored as A, B, or C to represent the restaurant’s food regulation compliance. In most cases,
inspectors tally up points depending on the number and the severity of the health code violations in restaurants and then
convert the number to a letter grade. The letter grade system is intended to simplify the scores, so they are easily understood
by consumers.
Poor health inspection results can be damaging to your business, especially because it is now easier for customers to find and
understand health inspection violations. If your establishment has several low-risk or any high-risk violations, here are some
steps you can take to fix your violations:
If your establishment receives a poor health inspection score, you can schedule a re-inspection in 5 - 45 days. This will
give you time to correct the violations.
Figure out how each violation occurred and how you can prevent it from happening again.
Just like with your own self-inspection, review any violations and their proper corrective action with your staff.
Some operators approach health inspections with anxiety or frustration, but health inspections are potential learning
opportunities that are meant to reduce the spread of food-borne illnesses and ensure the safety of your customers. There are
many steps you can take to prepare your establishment for your restaurant health inspection, such as training employees to
avoid health code violations, knowing your local food codes, becoming ServSafe certified, and conducting self-inspections.
If you run a foodservice business or cafeteria, it's important to be aware of any food allergies among your patrons. Studies
show that roughly 2% of adults and 5% of infants and young children in the United States suffer from food allergies, and
around 30,000 consumers require emergency room treatment for allergic reactions to food each year. Accordingly,
accommodating individuals with food allergies is crucial to keeping them safe as they dine at your establishment. Keep
reading to learn more about food allergies and restaurants, allergen labeling, how to protect your patrons, and more!
Understandably, even customers with mild food allergies are cautious about eating out. The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that the number of individuals with food allergies
has continued to rise during the past decade. Additionally, according to ServSafe, half of
fatal episodes from allergic reactions to food occur outside of the home. However, there is
currently no legislation stating that restaurants must accommodate customers with food
allergies.
While safely serving patrons with food allergies may seem complicated and risky, there are
a number of ways to earn their trust. Start by understanding specifically what their allergen
is and deciding whether your restaurant can safely prepare their meal. It's also essential to
ensure proper communication between your front- and back-of-house staff regarding a customer's particular allergy. Finally,
you must be knowledgeable about your ingredients and know how to read their labels to detect any and all known allergens.
Cross-contact is defined as the transfer of an allergen from a food containing the allergen to a food that doesn't contain the
allergen. When different foods come into contact with one another, their proteins mix. At that point, each food contains trace
amounts of the other food that are usually too small to be seen with the naked eye.
Important note: Unlike cross-contamination, cooking does not eliminate or reduce the likelihood of a person with a food
allergy having a reaction to the contaminated food.
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How to Avoid Cross-Contact
There are number of easy ways to avoid cross-contact at your foodservice establishment.
Ensure your staff is washing, rinsing, and properly sanitizing cookware, utensils, and equipment after they've handled a food
allergen. Using soap and water is a must, as simply wiping leftover food from surfaces doesn't completely remove the
allergen. Additionally, your prep cooks and chefs should wash their hands and change gloves before coming into contact with
known allergens.
Your employees should also be using separate equipment to prepare meals for customers with food allergies. This includes
fryers, grills, flattops, blenders, and other machines, all of which can become contaminated with leftover allergens when not
cleaned properly. This is especially important between shifts, as some breakfast foods cooked with particular equipment may
contain allergens that lunch foods cooked with that same piece of equipment do not.
Once an allergen-sensitive customer's meal is ready to serve, it's important to have a serving plan in place. Consider using a
different colored bowl or plate to designate their meal, and you can also use a colored ticket or food pick to indicate speci al
handling.
Store raw meat and seafood on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator in a
sealed container or bag to ensure juices don't drip onto other foods.
Being aware of cross-contamination and knowing how to avoid it can help you keep all of your customers safe and healthy.
While there are over 160 known sources of food allergens, a small group of
allergens known as the "Big Eight" are responsible for a whopping 90% of all food
allergy reactions. Consumption of these foods by affected individuals are also most
likely to result in severe or life-threatening allergic reactions.
1. Dairy Milk
A dairy milk allergy is one of the most common food allergies in infants and young
children. Individuals who are allergic to cow's milk should also avoid milk from
other domestic animals.
2. Eggs
Many people are also allergic to eggs, including young children. The whites of an egg contain the proteins that cause allergi c
reactions, but it's essential for sensitive individuals to avoid eggs altogether since it's impossible to completely separate the
whites and yolks.
Unexpected Sources: Foam topping on drinks, egg wash for baked goods.
3. Peanuts
Peanuts are different from tree nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and cashews. Instead, they grow underground and are in the
same family as beans, peas, lentils, and soybeans. Peanuts and tree nuts often come into contact with one another during the
manufacturing and serving processes.
Tree nuts include cashews, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and almonds. Most individuals who are allergic to one
kind of tree nut are also allergic to other types. Tree nuts and peanuts often come into contact with one another during the
manufacturing and serving processes.
5. Fish
Over 50% of people who are allergic to one type of fish are also allergic to other types of fish. Affected individuals should
avoid seafood restaurants and fish markets, as there is a high risk of cross-contact at these places.
Shellfish falls into two groups: crustacea (shrimp, crab, lobster) and mollusks (clams, mussels, oysters, scallops). Crustacea are
responsible for the majority of shellfish reactions, which are usually severe. Being allergic to shellfish doesn't always mea n an
individual is also allergic to fish, but they should still exercise caution.
Unexpected Sources: Asian dishes that use fish sauce as a flavor base.
7. Soy
A member of the legume family, soybeans alone are not typically found in American diets. However, they're frequently used
in processed food products and form the basis of many meat substitutes.
The final member of the Big Eight is wheat, which is also at the root of gluten intolerance. If your guests are allergic to wheat,
use alternate grains like barley, quinoa, rice, and rye.
Unexpected Sources: Ice cream, imitation crab, marinara sauce, processed meat.
While sesame is widely considered to be the ninth common allergen, current U.S. federal law does not require food
manufacturers to declare it.
To keep your restaurant safe for customers with allergies, always use color-coded kitchen supplies. These can range from
knives and containers to tongs and measuring cups, so it's essential to take stock of your entire inventory before purchasing
allergen-safe kitchen tools. Purple products are most commonly used to prepare meals for guests with food allergies. To
completely eliminate the risk of cross-contact, designate equipment to be used only for allergen-sensitive meals and ensure
it's labeled and stored separately.
A concise restaurant menu is your first line of defense in protecting guests with
food allergies, so be sure to craft yours accordingly. Consider doing the following:
Use text, icons, and other abbreviations on your menu to denote the Big
Eight.
Provide a general restaurant menu disclaimer for food items that cannot be
altered to accommodate food allergies. For example, say, "All fried items are
prepared in oil that is also used to cook shellfish, fish, and breaded items."
Include a notice on your menu and menu boards that reads, "Before placing your order, please inform your server if a
person in your party has a food allergy."
Whether you run a fine dining restaurant, family-style buffet, or sports bar, creating a concise menu that explicitly addresses
food allergens will help your establishment better accommodate all of your customers.
If you're a food supplier, it's essential that you stay in compliance with FALCPA (Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer
Protection Act) requirements. Keep reading to learn more.
What is FALCPA?
FALCPA requires that any food regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) be labeled in a specific way to identify
any of the "Big Eight" allergens. This makes it easy for consumers and restaurateurs to quickly determine common allergens.
FALCPA is an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and applies to all food products labeled on or after
January 1, 2006.
The FDA sometimes conducts inspections of foodservice businesses and also has the authority
to make companies recall products with undeclared food allergens. If you run a retail or
foodservice establishment that packages, labels, and sells products for human consumption,
FALCPA labeling applies to your business. This includes packaged foods, conventional foods,
vitamins, dietary supplements, infant foods, medical foods, items in vending machines, and
packages labeled "for individual sale."
Generally, meat, poultry, and alcoholic beverages aren't subject to FALCPA labeling. Meat,
poultry, and most egg products are already regulated by the United States Department of
FALCPA labeling also applies to all packaged foods other than USDA-regulated foods. Similarly, flavors, colors, and additives
that contain any Big Eight allergens must be labeled.
Businesses that do not comply with FALCPA labeling requirements can be subject to the civil and criminal penalty provisions
of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Any products with undeclared allergens will also be subject to recall. Companies
that believe their food product should be exempt from FALCPA can petition the secretary of Health and Human Services with
scientific evidence to back up their claim.
FALCPA labeling requirements are met if the common or usual name of an ingredient (i.e. buttermilk) that is a major food
allergen already identifies that allergen's food source name (i.e., milk). Otherwise, the allergen's food source name must be
declared at least once on the food label in one of two ways:
1. In parentheses following the name of the ingredient. For example: "Lecithin (soy), Flour (wheat), and Whey (milk)."
2. Immediately after or next to the list of ingredients in a "contains" statement. For example: "Contains Soy, Wheat, and Mil k."
Statistically speaking, children are more susceptible to food allergy reactions in school
settings. The CDC reports that 16-18% of children with food allergies have had allergic
reactions due to the accidental ingestion of allergens while at school. Additionally, 25%
of food-induced anaphylaxis reactions in schools occur among students without a
previous food allergy diagnosis.
Certain federal laws mandate that schools must provide appropriate accommodations,
substitutions, and services to children with life-threatening food allergies. Similarly, life-
threatening food allergies may be considered a disability.
To ensure students stay safe in your school cafeteria or at any off-campus school-sponsored activities, be sure to take the
following steps:
Identify students with allergies and develop a written management plan for addressing allergic reactions that includes
medication protocols.
Effectively execute your school's management plan in the event that a student experiences an allergic reaction on
school grounds.
Additionally, you can avoid cross-contact at your cafeteria's serving line by:
Placing allergen and nutrition cards on food shields and sneeze guards.
Don't use the same ladle, tongs, scoop, or other utensils to serve more than one specific dish or ingredient.
Knowing how to protect your school, university, or daycare's students from known food allergens and being ready to
effectively address potential reactions is essential to running a successful educational facility.
Accommodating patrons with food allergies is not only a matter of public health and safety, but it can also provide increased
revenue opportunities. You can easily earn your customers' trust by offering ingredient substitutions, managing cross-contact,
and including accurate food allergy disclaimers. Doing so will help your guests feel comfortable as they dine at your
establishment and keep them coming back for years to come!
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Food Safety Guidelines
Food safety refers to the proper practice of preparing and storing food in order to avoid foodborne illness. Food safety
guidelines are imperative to ensure the health of customers, maximize the longevity of your food products, and
develop proper hazard management protocols. Follow these restaurant food safety tips to keep your customers safe and
coming back for more of your offerings.
For optimal food safety, it is fundamental that all employees wash hands before preparing and handling food and when
shifting between tasks. Wash thoroughly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds.
2. Sanitize Surfaces
Sanitizing and cleaning all surfaces, including prep areas, cutting boards, equipment, storage areas, trash cans, and floor
drains, should be an important part of your food safety regimen. This process removes food residue, dirt, and invisible germs
Create and implement sanitation procedures for employees to follow on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. The following is
one example of a simple procedure to use in your establishment that can help keep your work surfaces sanitary:
To avoid chemical contamination, rinse the surface with water and a clean cloth.
Aside from sanitizing products, heat can be used on things like flatware to effectively sanitize. For this, however, it’s
recommended you soak the items you are sanitizing in water that’s at least 171 degrees Fahrenheit for a minimum of 30
seconds. Or, you can run items through a high-temperature dishwasher, as long as they are dishwasher safe. Additionally,
other common chemical sanitizers include chlorine, iodine, and quaternary ammonium compounds.
All fruit and vegetables must be thoroughly washed to rid of any bacteria and dirt that may be on your produce. The only
exception is produce that is pre-packaged and labeled as pre-washed. Use clean, cold water, and opt for a vegetable brush
when necessary. For more tips, see our guide to correctly wash your produce.
Aside from hand-washing, it's also necessary to use separate products when dealing
with different types of food products. Use different cutting boards and separate
receptacles for raw meats, vegetables, and produce, and cooked foods. You can opt for
a color-coded system to help your staff keep track. Using the proper procedures
to avoid cross contamination will also help you avoid allergic reactions.
Make sure to prepare raw meat, ground meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood at the correct temperature to avoid food poisoning.
See our comprehensive guide for in-depth information on food safety temperatures for every type of food product.
The danger zone refers to temperatures between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit. For
time- and temperature-sensitive foods such as meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy, it’s
imperative that you keep internal temperatures either above or below the danger zone.
Cold foods should be stored or held at below 41 degrees, while hot foods need to be held
140 degrees or above. As a general rule, these temperature sensitive foods should not
stay in the danger zone for more than 2 hours. During this time, dangerous bacteria can
grow and spread rapidly.
To prevent a foodborne illness outbreak, always be aware of any food recalls related to your food inventory. The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) frequently publish lists with recalls, so it is
important to regularly check these alerts.
Here are some tips for avoiding allergic reactions in your foodservice establishment.
Never prepare an allergen-free meal with the same cutlery used on normal dishes.
Ensure staff members are aware of the "Big 8" common food allergies: milk, fish, soybeans, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs,
shellfish, and wheat.
While employees of your restaurant or buffet may have adequate food safety knowledge,
it’s safe to assume your patrons will not. Because of this, self-service areas are especially
susceptible to contamination.
Frequently clean and sanitize surfaces including serving utensils, food storage
containers, sneeze guards, and countertops.
Provide flatware, napkin, and straw dispensers designed to dispense single-use items.
For added sanitation, provide packets of wrapped flatware to reduce the chance of
contamination.
Assign employees to monitor guests and take corrective action in the event that unsafe practices have occurred.
Keep your restaurant's reputation intact and reduce the spread of foodborne illnesses by practicing good food safety habits.
Implementing programs that ensure employees both prevent and react appropriately to food safety issues should be an
important part of your food service establishment.