Restaurant

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Getting the Right Furniture For Your Restaurant

restaurant-interior  Top restaurants don’t only rely on good food and good customer service. Another factor that customers really appreciate is a comfortable space with good interior design. Restaurant Design is important to set the stage for the customers’ dining experience. The design of a restaurant must find balance between its ambiance and seating capacity. As an entrepreneur you prioritize about the customers’ maximum seating capacity to increase profit while at the same time making guests feel comfortable. This may differ on the type of restaurant. A diner may have more seating capacity while fine dining restaurants tend to put more effort on ambiance.

Choosing a go to place for lunch meetings, dinner dates, family gatherings or for a quick bite is easy if you know the basics about the restaurant’s menu, ambiance, seating capacity and location.

FAST FOOD: Also known as quick service restaurants which focus more on convenience, low prices, and serving the most number of customer in a minimum amount of time. The food menu is limited to burgers, fries, hotdogs, burritos, fried chicken and so on. It’s probably the most appealing type for most people on the go. The interiors of a fast food restaurant usually have bright colors such as yellow and red. They use metal chairs to give a strong support to their heaviest customers. The tables usually have reversible table tops or other type of laminate. These types of table tops are usually scratch and stain resistant and are easy to care for. Resin table tops are also popular for quick service restaurants as they are very durable and resistant to scratches, stains and nicks and have the appearance of wood.

 

FAST CASUAL: This has been a fast trending restaurant. It has upscale interior decor compared to fast food restaurants. They use high quality ingredients and the food is freshly prepared upon order. It offers a healthy menu which is ideal for customers who follow a strict diet. With its open kitchen design, customers may dine while watching their food being made while seated on a high chair stool. The table tops may be laminate or reversible table tops or a made of granite as these table tops are very durable and easy to care for. Steel is another common table top material for outdoor use or to blend in with a modern, industrial motif. Fast causal restaurants will usually have commercial chairs such as the metal ladder back chair. Metal chairs are ideal for these fast-paced commercial environments where there is heavy traffic. They are also easy to clean.

 

BUFFET: A go to place for people with big appetite where you can eat all you can. This self-service restaurant is usually packed with long tables for families. Seats vary from wooden to metal, depending on the kind of cuisine that they offer. Reversible table tops, laminate and veneer wood table tops are common for these types of restaurants because they are easy to care for. Restaurants and hotels that have buffets sometimes also have plastic tables and banquet stack chairs for extra capacity that can be easily stacked and stored.

 

CAFÉ OR BISTRO: Menu items can be simple; they usually serve coffee and sandwiches, and can range up to full entrees. This is a perfect go to place for casual dates; it has an intimate and relaxed ambiance. Outdoor seating is a trademark for cafes where they may enjoy their meal or coffee while smoking. These eateries will usually have solid wood or granite table tops. They give the interior a more sophisticated look and exude a warmer ambiance. These types of establishments will usually have wood chairs and bar stools for seating for a distinctive look.

 

FAMILY STYLE DINING: These types of restaurants offer waiting table service. Food is served in large platters where you share and serve your own portions. Customers are usually seated on booths providing a more cozy experience. These establishments will usually have solid wood or reversible table tops. The seating may feature wood or metal chairs.

 

FINE DINING: Fine dining requires a lot of attention to detail. You also need to have reservations months in advance before you get a taste of their food. You will get the best customer service experience in these restaurants. The interiors could vary from modern, minimalist to old fashioned. As the name implies, it offers the finest menu and ambiance for your dining experience. Seats are wooden but well cushioned keeping you comfortable while enjoying your food. You will not find reversible table tops in these establishments. These restaurants will usually have solid wood table tops and upholstered chairs as they have a more prestigious look and the investment in the high quality furniture and décor helps justify the higher prices, along with gourmet cuisine.

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Restaurant Food Safety – Protect Your Customers & Yourself

food-safety   As a business owner, your number one concern should be the health of your customers and your workers.  Being careless in food safety can cost you more than just profits, it could mean losing your business if someone gets sick or worse dies from food poisoning from your restaurant.  These days with the Ebola virus threatening a worldwide pandemic people are more concerned than ever about getting sick and restaurant that have reputations as being unsanitary or not following health and safety regulations will lose business.

Restaurants in China and Japan like McDonalds have reported heavy losses due to food poisoning due to unscrupulous suppliers selling meat that didn’t follow food safety standards. This is why it is important to know your suppliers and make sure they are following food safety regulations. One of the advantages of buying your food locally is you know where the food is coming from. You can inspect the source of your food or make sure the local health inspector ensures that they are following food safety regulations. Also the less distance your food has to travel from the source to your restaurant the greater chance that it will be more fresh and uncontaminated. When food like meat, dairy and fish have to travel long distances there is an increased change for bacteria or viruses to grow and spread especially if the food has not been properly refrigerated or kept at the correct temperature throughout the journey from the farm to your business. The is also a greater chance of contamination since typically when food is traveling long distances more people are handling the food. (more…)

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Restaurant Management Secrets – Overcoming Economic Hurdles

Restaurant management during tough economic times is challenging. Every customer is likely to be more critical of the food service establishment where hard-earned discretionary income is being spent. The staff is probably stressed about losing their job and/or they may be working more hours or jobs to overcome financial shortages. The owners are may be financially hypercritical. Finally, the suppliers could be less willing to offer discounts.

However, anyone who has been in the food service business is painfully aware that nothing ever easy for the administration of an eating establishment, even in the best of times. Consider saying, “I better put in some additional overtime this week,” when 65 hours is already your normal workweek. This concept basically defines restaurant management parameters. Accomplished restaurant managers are essentially married to the place, unless they have become enlightened to alternative methods of restaurant management. This can be accomplished by training in a manner that “transforms good intentions into great performance”. By educating in a way that says all employees are honest, dedicated and highly respected, the workload is evenly distributed and success assured.

 What Else Besides Location, Location, Location?

If there was a restaurant management bible hidden in a pyramid or vault, it must have stated: “Rule #1: location, location, location.” Making that statement surely comes through experiences over a long period of time. That is the only restaurant management advice I have consistently heard for 40 years.

Admittedly, I love the story of an exceptional man who was determined to become wealthy selling food. In the 1970s, he rented a 10-foot-by-10-foot corner storefront in what might be called a “red light district.” It was also a popular place for buying and selling marijuana. The man installed a bank cashier’s style bulletproof window with a one-way drawer under the cash slot. As the location was a corner, he installed exhaust fans blowing out into either side street. His sign read, “Fresh Donut Holes – 10pm to 6am – Seven Days a Week.” The first night he made his tiny donuts, there was a line around the block. This location was one factor making it possible for him to retire in two years. However, location was not the only factor in his food service success. (more…)

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Customer Service is the key to Successful Restaurant Management

Restaurant management can be very difficult in these economic times. Here are several ways to not only weather the storm but actually grow your customer base.

The first piece of advice financial advisors give clients is to boost savings by cutting back on discretionary spending. To be more specific, financial advisors usually recommend limiting restaurant meals in times of economic difficulty. With the US mired in ongoing financial hardships for the foreseeable future, how can restaurant management successfully turn a profit when customers are clutching their wallets so tightly?
 Startling Statistics for the Restaurant Industry

The numbers are depressing. The research group NDP reports that restaurant visits declined from 62.7 billion visits in 2008 to 60.6 billion visits in 2011. Chain restaurants have weathered the tough economic times better than independent restaurants, but the restaurant industry as a whole is serving fewer customers. As long as unemployment remains high and consumer confidence stays low, customers will continue to spend cautiously. With U.S. unemployment at 8.1% and news of economic turmoil spanning the globe, restaurant owners and managers should expect more tough times.

 Can a Restaurant Really Grow in Tough Economic Times? (more…)

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3 Tips for Maximizing Restaurant Business During Summer

With peaks and valleys in business throughout the year, restaurant owners must find a way to maximize earning power during their busiest months in order to cover tougher periods in which they lose money.

As a general rule in North America, restaurants are far busier in the summertime than in the wintertime. This is mainly due to winter weather conditions discouraging people from going out and partly due to the holiday season encouraging people to stay home with loved ones. While marketing and promotions to encourage people to frequent a restaurant during winter can have a small impact on changing this trend, the money put into such campaigns does not always justify itself. Some habits, such as staying home during the wintertime, are just too deeply culturally ingrained in us, and advertising’s effects on changing them tends to be limited.

Rather than trying to squeeze more out of the winter months, restaurant owners might be better served trying to take advantage of the busy summer months. So, here are a few tips on maximizing your business during summer:

1) People tend to venture out to eat far more in summer than in winter. Children are out of school, tourism increases and more daylight can mean longer business days for restaurants that cater to a daytime crowd. With that in mind, there are three groups to target with promotions during the summer months – families with children, tourists, and the twilight happy hour crowd. By coming up with your marketing campaigns with these groups in mind during the summer, you will find that your advertising is much more focused and effective. (more…)

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4 Tips to Bring the Millennial Generation Into Your Restaurant

The technologically-savvy and sophisticated younger generation poses a new marketing challenge for restaurant owners trying to keep up with the times.

Restaurant owners are faced with the constant challenge of adjusting their menu, design and marketing strategies to bring new demographic groups in as patrons and to stay ahead of ever-evolving trends. Recognizing and attempting to characterize new demographic groups is the first step in attracting them as customers.

The latest generation which is now coming into its own and establishing itself as a market force to be reckoned with as its buying power increases is the so-called Millennial Generation.

The youngest members of this generation are still in high school, while its more senior members have just entered their 30s.

While it is impossible to generalize and expect that such a large group of people will have common characteristics, there are some indicators that restaurant owners can use to target the Millennial Generation. The following are a few tips for restaurateurs on how to get Millennials into their establishments.

1) Feature more diverse ingredients from world cuisine

As a whole, Millennials are more educated about and aware of a greater diversity of foods than previous generations. With the advent of the Internet, the world has become a much smaller place for Millennials. They grew up with more exposure to different cultures and an increased desire to try a variety of world cuisines. To target Millennials, restaurateurs should consider incorporating into their menus different flavors and exotic spices. As a group used to constant stimulation, the same old fare just won’t cut it.

2) Offer healthy, organic and environmentally-friendly choices (more…)

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