SERVICE SPOTLIGHT

Assessing your Restaurant’s Operation

There seem to be three important questions that eventually cross the mind of every hands-on restaurant owner;

1) Is this the best way for me to manage the business and my time?
2) Is this the busiest I can make my restaurant? and,
3) Is this the most profitable my restaurant can be?

Wow, how do we find those answers? How can we be sure we are handling our responsibilities in the best way, managing costs most efficiently, and marketing our restaurant most effectively? The consultants of A’la Carte Foodservice Consulting Group have developed a procedure that helps you give your restaurant a “check up”.

Performing an operations check up allows you to compare yourself to industry standard, confirm the areas operating well, and list items that require attention. Finding areas for improvement lays a good foundation for an operating plan with specific objectives and scheduled dates for completion. Restaurants that operate off such plans notice increased management effectiveness, consistency within the operation, and improved profitability.

The keys to this exercise are:

1) Schedule the time
2) Be thorough and impartial
3) Involve management and key staff
4) Follow a format that includes all departments (management systems and policies, back office processes, back of the house operations and front of the house service procedures.

An operations check up is also a helpful tool to develop staff, set goals for their next evaluation, and hold them accountable for items within their ares of responsibility.

Contact us to learn more about how we might be able to assist you with your restaurant's operations assessment.


INDUSTRY NETWORK - InterDirect

InterDirect USA, a member of the A' LaCarte industry network, reports on restaurant expenditures in Houston.

Annual Average Growth Per Household: Humble, Pearland and The Woodlands are expected to experience the greatest amount of growth over the next five years (3.48-3.53% annually). Sugar Land, on the other hand, will potentially see the least amount of growth (3.31% annually).

Aggregate Annual Expenditure Growth: Pearland’s anticipated growth far surpasses the other suburbs (9.38% per year versus 6.97% and lower).