A few days ago, I was talking to customers at one of our operations. A gentleman asked me about what it’s like to manage a full service restaurant. My response was the same as it has been for the last ten years. Managing the front of the house of a restaurant is like throwing a big party at your home for 150 of your best friends and relatives. The biggest difference is the party is perpetual, every night.

At your home, you want to make sure every guest is entertained, happy, served well and there is no negative body language that would say otherwise. Running a restaurant is much the same.

Your eyes catch everything.  A server who passes by a dirty table, a customer with an empty glass, body language that seems negative, the piece of paper on the floor, the customer waiting for a check, the busboy that needs a haircut, a guest that drops a fork – it all happens almost simultaneously.

When you have a party, don’t you do the same thing? You work hard to make sure everyone has a good time, is happy with your food and leaves with a smile on their face. You eyes scan the room for any glitch that will improve the guest’s experience at your home. Why would you do any less at your restaurant?

At your home you may pay special attention to your mother-in-law who is very picky. Don’t we have the same at restaurants – guests that are picky? We care about how clean the bathrooms are at home – we care at the restaurant also. You would never let loud, inappropriate music blast your guests at your house, nor at your restaurant. The crying baby in the living room at your house is often offered something special ostensibly to satisfy the baby, but really to stop annoying the rest of your friends and family – the same at your restaurant.

While you can find a few differences, the reality is that there are far more similarities between a big party at home and the nightly experiences at your restaurant.

One of the key differences is staff. At home you may hire a person or two to help with the party, but at your restaurant, you may have dozens. If you can train them to think like it is their party every night, you have created an atmosphere that will bring people back time after time. Including the free-loading in-laws!

Larry Edger, Author

The Restaurant Ebook

If you are a glutton for Internet time, then by all means consider a blog to boost your restaurant’s exposure and start a dialog with patrons. Just remember that an effective blog is like a fish tank of goldfish. If you don’t feed them they die and stink up the place. Your blog will take a little daily care and feeding to be successful.

Don’t expect miracles from your blog. It takes time and content before the search engines start to spider your site and add you to their indexed material searchable by Internet users.

To start your blog, carefully plan what you want the content to focus on. Subjects may include general food advice, recipes and cooking tips. You can write about the restaurant business in general and answer questions about how the hospitality business works. Consider a customer feature section of the blog to focus on patrons who frequent your establishment. Perhaps a daily journal of the restaurant operations for staff and customers alike. Whatever you choose, keep your posts relatively short and to the point. Use laymen’s terms and personal styles that fit your communications goals.

Creating a blog is very easy with many choices for an inexpensive and quick setup. In fact, email me and I will send you a FREE mini-ebook titled Building and Maintaining a Restaurant Blog – The Guide to Getting Your Own Blog in 30 Minutes or Less. This ebook takes you through the process of creating a restaurant bog complete with graphics and full support in just a few minutes. There are ideas and subject recommendations to achieve your goals. It can’t get any easier!

Larry Edger, Author
The Restaurant Ebook

Most restaurants create their menu according to theme, demographics and functional abilities. This year the industry is facing external challenges unequaled in near term history. Many think we are either in a recession or close to one with spiraling inflation that has hit food costs harder than other business segments and less discretionary cash available to consumers that has reduced their restaurant visits.

It’s time for a menu makeover that includes more than just raising prices.

When uncertain financial times sweep across the country, several things, both consciously and unconsciously, alters the average person’s thought processes. Conserving disposable income becomes a forethought rather than an afterthought. While studies show that people may spend more time at the local pub, they also tend to change their eating habits to varying degrees. Upscale white tablecloth eateries will probably be hit the hardest, but all types of restaurants will feel the crunch.

Menu’s will be scrutinized more carefully than normal. People will look for perceived bargains and items they can’t possibly reproduce at home. At the same time, they will revert to feel good items - like comfort food.

To adapt your menu to uncertain financial conditions, here are a few tips;

• Bargains in the guest’s mind make take the form of smaller portions, a sirloin instead of filet mignon, a sandwich instead of a full meal or even split plates of larger portioned dinners.
• Comfort food may include classics from their childhood and foods they wouldn’t normally eat do to health concerns. There will be the tendency to be less adventuresome in their dining habits.
• Hard to find ingredients that cannot be purchased economically by the average customer may tempt the guest frequently. Examples include fruits like fresh red cherries and green tomatoes , vegetables like red peppers and Vidalia onions and meats like fresh turkey and pork tenderloin.

In every cloud there is a bit of silver lining. There are opportunities for the restaurateur to increase margins while catering to the guest’s whims in a difficult economy. Comfort food can offer great latitude for interpretation. Smaller portions need not mean lower margins and selective purchasing can offer unique specials that may not sell in other circumstances.

Get creative and add your flair and theme to old classics. When was the last time you saw hamloaf on a menu? How about potatoes au gratin? A green bean casserole doesn’t have to be served just around the holidays. If there is anyone who didn’t have some type of beans and cornbread while growing up, they missed part of their childhood! Who can forget the apple crisps and strawberry short cakes before fake sponge cake? Have you thought about mixing old favorites like spaghetti and pork chops? And, of course, there about a thousand ways to be creative with meatloaf. I can’t think of anything more comforting that corned beef hash with a poached egg on top. Macaroni and cheese has become a mainstream menu item that includes everything from truffles to tea leaves.

Now if you read the paragraph above and your mouth isn’t watering just a little bit, you need to move along to another site. The comfort food and ageless classics may be an opportunity waiting to happen for your restaurant trying to meet the customer’s expectations. Do you need to change your entire menu? Absolutely not. You only need a few creative items that gives the customer an alternative - nothing more.

Part two to Restaurant Menu Strategies will deal with a new way to look at profitability and pricing for this economy.

Larry Edger, Author

The Restaurant Ebook