30 Keys To Mastery: Top Restaurant Management Skills To Improve Your Success In The Industry
The Rezku Team
Whether you’ve just landed a promotion to restaurant manager or you planning to start your own restaurant, mastering these 30 skills will turn you into a formidable, unstoppable machine in the restaurant industry.
1. Always lead by example.
Hard work and integrity should characterize your management style. Eagerly jump into whatever duties are required to keep operations on track.
2. Hire the right staff.
Look for team-oriented individuals with skills and potential. Empower them to improve to reduce turn-over. Offer employees quality training and room to grow.
3. Focus on customer relationships.
Banter with regular customers, know their favorites and recognize them. Greet new guests personally, take a genuine interest in gathering customer feedback.
4. Evolve your menu over time.
Continuously develop a simple but excellent menu that balances costs with novelty, quality and signature dishes.
5. Get creative with marketing.
Use social media and local search to help new diners discover you. But don’t neglect the basics: Eye-catching signage and advertising promotions.
6. Get To Know the Neighborhood.
Understand customer demographics, neighborhood dynamics, income and dining preferences. Adapt your restaurant to meet their needs. Don’t try to force a bad fit.
7. Fully understand menu economics.
To maintain a healthy profit margin, ensure the kitchen is measuring portions, constantly tweak costs, product mix, and prices to find the right balance.
8. Get food waste under control.
Rotate stocks to minimize spoilage. Monitor waste reports and stay on top of inventory to make sure your projections are accurate.
9. Complete daily line checks.
Check for maintenance, safety, and aesthetics – don’t allow standards to slip in the kitchen or in guest areas. Run a tight ship and get things fixed quickly.
10. Create a system for inventory management.
Check inventory regularly for any anomalies. Place recurrent orders based on usage patterns. Invest in restaurant inventory management technology.
11. Build a reliable vendor network.
Choose reliable, quality suppliers and purveyors you can count on. A good supplier who understands your business can teach you something new, and provide cost saving tips.
12. Establish fair workplace policies.
Make your restaurant a beacon of hope to attract talent. Offer fair wages, sensible policies, and advancement opportunities, paired with consistent enforcement.
13. Impress upon staff the importance of precision.
Whether it’s measuring ingredients, keeping tables clean, tracking sales KPIs or properly documenting incidents, precise action keeps everything running like a well-oiled machine.
14. Pay attention to service KPIs.
This includes occupancy percentage, table turn-time, covers, and ticket averages. Know when to tweak your reservations and promotional approach to improve numbers.
15. Focus on reducing bottlenecks.
Take steps to streamline production, service, and seating. Make upgrades to layouts for better flow wherever possible. Automate whatever you can.
16. Stay involved in the local community.
Pay attention to neighborhood conditions, participate in local events, and understand which holidays are most important. These factors can significantly impact customer traffic.
17. Be a beacon of stability.
Remain calm, professional, and decisive when handling stressed staff members or when dealing with customer complaints. Empower employees to resolve customer complaints quickly before they escalate.
18. Find and manage your online reviews.
Take your online reputation seriously. Leverage positive reviews and seek testimonials. Be proactive, transparent, and respond positively and learn from even unfair criticisms.
19. Monitor the competition.
Know the competition intimately - their strengths, weaknesses, offerings and prices versus yours. Monitor their online reviews. Adjust your strategy accordingly and play to your unique strengths.
20. Constantly gather customer feedback.
Chat with customers, set up a comment box, use surveys. Pay special attention to new visitors and regulars to find out what makes them tick. Be open to making changes customers request when it’s practical to do so.
21. Cleanliness should be an absolute obsession.
This applies everywhere in the restaurant – to kitchens, serving areas, restrooms, and storage areas. Don’t cut corners with organization and sanitization. Run a tight ship.
22. Listen and Communicate.
Tend towards over-communication with staff regarding your objectives, expectations, operational changes, safety concerns, and guest suggestions. Listen to employees in return and understand their needs as well.
23. Prepare contingency plans.
Accept that breakdowns of equipment, utilities outages, and tech issues will occur. Prepare in advance to establish reliable maintenance partners and backup protocols.
24. Differentiate to leave a memorable impression.
Innovate where you can, to stand apart from the competition. But avoid gimmicks that add complexity without enhancing core hospitality. Focus on nailing the basics before getting fancy. Great service can be truly remarkable.
25. Understand how external factors effect the tides of business.
Pay attention to weather, holidays, local events, and seasonality. Factor these external events into staffing, stocking and promotional strategies. Strive to be proactive and project volume ahead of time, rather than getting caught unaware.
26. Be a welcoming place for everyone.
Consider accessibility and amenities for customers with disabilities. Make reasonable accommodations for those with special needs such as service animals and wheelchairs. What is good for hospitality is good for business.
27. Be a valued member of the community.
By giving back to the community and sponsoring non-profit events and causes when possible, you can increase local prominence. Diners notice generosity and social responsibility that goes beyond.
28. Become a connoisseur of data.
Continually gather business intelligence. Analyze sales reports, customer data, vendor performance, labor, food costs and other metrics. Make informed changes to your business rather than relying on intuition.
29. Never stop learning from the best.
Join organizations that put you in contact with experienced restaurateurs who can share invaluable perspectives. Read blogs, listen to podcasts and get advice from mentors and peers to stay abreast of chances in the industry.
30. Safety (and compliance) first.
Never compromise on workplace safety and legal compliance. Stay current with regulations, inspection requirements, and labor issues impacting restaurants. On the eyes of the law, failure to comply with changing requirements is not an excuse for non-compliance.
Take these 30 keys to restaurant management success to heart and you’re sure to make a significant, positive impact as a restaurant owner or manager.
We hope you have found this article informative. Rezku is an end-to end restaurant management platform designed to help you achieve your restaurant goals. If you’re looking for a comprehensive, easy to use solution, take a moment to learn more about Rezku Point of Sale.