Whenever a restaurant finds success and a solid customer base at its original location, the idea of expansion usually starts creeping into the restaurant owner’s mind. Expanding into a second location has its pros and cons, depending on the health of your business right now and the strength of the market at large. Opening a
How to Avoid Clashing with Your Restaurant Business Partner
Somewhere in-between “Two heads are better than one” and “Too many cooks spoil the broth” is the secret to a perfect restaurant partnership. As owners, it can be frustrating at times to have to deal with not just employees, vendors, and customers, but also the demands of a partner to whom you owe your loyalty
5 Ways to Build a Rapport with Your Restaurant Employees
There’s a secret that most employees know that many managers and owners forget (or dismiss). But it’s true more often than not, and powerful to think about: People don’t leave jobs. They leave bosses. Believe it or not, the relationship you build with your employees can have a greater effect on overall job satisfaction than
Sell Yourself: Building a Retail Product for Your Restaurant
Chi-Chi’s Salsa. Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs. College Inn Chicken Broth. Marie Callender’s Chicken Pot Pies. You’ve seen them all at your local grocery store, but did you know that each of these familiar products (and hundreds more) originated as extensions of their original brand, the full service restaurant? In some ways, building out a retail
Low Key Ways to Make Your Restaurant Family Friendly
No matter the main demographic of your restaurant, you should always anticipate the occasional young family coming in to dine with you. Whether it’s their one special night out or a lunch break in the middle of errands, adult diners dining alongside their children just want one thing — for the meal to go smoothly. And
Buy or Lease? How to Know What’s Right for Your Restaurant
It’s not controversial to say that owning a restaurant is a very expensive proposition. There is an enormous amount of expense and a very thin profit margin — often as little as 5 percent — so managing every cost down to the penny is critical for success. This is especially true for restaurants just starting
Keep Your Eyes Open: Customer Scams and Theft in Restaurants
Yesterday, we discussed the ways employees could potentially steal from the restaurants where they work. Unfortunately, staff members are not the only ones walking into your restaurant looking to take advantage of you. When it comes to both diners and vendors, standing up to scams and theft needs to be done with extreme care. After
How to Catch a Thief in Your Restaurant
Theft among employees is a topic no restaurant owner wants to think about. You want to take pride in the staff you’ve hired. The idea that they could be hurting the business behind your back to benefit themselves is an unpleasant one. And for every dishonest person out there in the job market, there are
Success Story: M Restaurant
Consumer tastes aren’t the only things changing these days — restaurants need to constantly expand their menus, services — and even space — to ensure they remain competitive in the market. M Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, knows that all too well, as they began an ongoing process of expansion back in 2011 that continues to this day!
Spinning Plates: How M Restaurant in Philadelphia Does It All
Restaurant owners have a lot on their plates – from keeping operations running smoothly and motivating a hard-working team, to balancing finances with short and long term improvement plans. Imagine then adding these to the list: running a hotel and photography business, maintaining a historic building and patio garden, growing your own organic produce from
