Achieving daily targets and comparing actuals to budgets.

Budgets and targets or goals are set to achieve specific results. The only way to ensure that you achieve the specific goals is to compare your actual achieved results on a regular basis with your budgeted goals. The current Point of Sale systems that are deployed in most restaurants is capable of exact reporting nearly every expense category. The results that you retrieve from these POS Systems are only as good as the humans that operate them.

Typical categories that you follow daily are sales targets, wages, stock differences, and sales mix. 

The more often you compare the greater the likelihood is that you will spot challenges, make corrections and achieve your goals. If you do not check during the course of a month you might receive an unpleasant surprise at the end of the month. 

Typical categories that I suggest you check are below, however not limited to:

• Hourly paid wages.
• Food cost.
• Cutlery and crockery.
• Glassware.
• Linen.
• Chemicals.
• Maintenance.
• Stationary.
• Electricity/Smappee.
• Marketing.
• Wood.
• Gas.
• Uniform expenses.
• Transport.
• Incentives.

Now you can benchmark your goals to see if they were set realistically. You can also set new targets to achieve your goal at the end of the month if you overspent on a certain category. You can discuss your employee’s performance with them and gauge if they are improving or not. 

You will now easily determine urgent training needs to assist in achieving your financial goals. You can give valuable positive feedback to your management, keeping them focussed and goal-directed, and motivated.

Wages is an easy one to follow up on. Hourly per shift per day per week you can make a difference to avoid wasteful expenditure at the end of the month or even days thereafter.

Have a sink or swim approach, just do it. Do not think that challenges will take care of themselves or that you will do it on another day! Imagine you received R20.00 from the till for every labor hour you saved. You would be going home with a well-stuffed wallet.

Always keep an eye on the reports from the previous year for the same period, consider your trade, and be mindful of factors that might have an influence on your trade for the day.