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Restaurant Strategy Benchmark Marketing Business Ideas - S.W.O.T Analysis

Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats Analysis

The purpose of a S.W.O.T. Analysis is to determine your: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities  Threats You have the opportunity to analyze your business clinically without sugar-coating poor performance, or areas that require improvement.  Evaluate your marketing and planning strategies, ask the question, what is working and what is not working? Once you have determined your challenges

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waitress and cooking team at kitchen

Portion Control & Production Staff Duties

Consistency is the name of the game. If your portion sizes vary from one day to another or from one shift to another you will have guests that realize there is inconsistency and you will create complaints. Secondly, you will have fluctuating food costs from week to week, and your cash flow will be a

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How to write a standard operating procedure for your restaurant

How will we define restaurant operations management procedures? “Restaurant operations management procedures are various activities, procedures, controls and checks that are carried out in a restaurant to form a comprehensive coping mechanism or system to ensure that the restaurant business remains in business and sustainable “.  These activities include however are not limited to: Accounting

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Image of wooden table in front of abstract blurred restaurant lights background

Electrical Consumption Control Sheet

Electricity is one of the few overheads that we cannot go without and where we have a choice of how we will manage the consumption thereof. Life happens and the speed of everything happening around us causes us to become driven on autopilot.  This preserves us to an extent unfortunately it also causes us to

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Serve money concept

Are all discounts & voids equal?

Why are there discounts and voids?  Why in certain sections? Why so many by certain people? What are the reasons? Do not just accept discounts and voids! Follow the crumbs and see where the trail leads you. Retain a copy of the bill. Guest details captured. Guest must write the full name and contact number

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Mature new small business owner calculating online restaurant bill expenses and taxes

To Monitor your Expenses follow these Steps

There is absolutely no reason for stock items not to balance between items used and items sold. Especially items that are packed singular or used as it is received from the supplier. a Can of coke is a simple example.  Balancing of items becomes slightly more complicated when you manufacture and pack an item. a

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Manager planning for the day in front of laptop

Management Table Layout in the Morning

Pilots use their instrument panels to land their aeroplanes, even in the dark!  If they can trust their instruments the pilot in charge will land the plane with ease without having to look out of the cockpit window to see where he or she is going.  The layout of the list of documents below is

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Chef with clipboard doing inventory at kitchen

The Ebb and Flow of Stock Control

How long is a piece of string? It doesn’t really matter, as long as you know where the beginning and where the end is, it does not really matter you can follow the piece in-between.  What is the beginning and where is the end of your stock items. The system below is incomplete if you

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Chef showing comparison between fresh and frozen meat on bread board

Manufacturing In-house & Capturing the Data

Working with products takes skill and experience to maintain the integrity of the item you are working with.  Frozen and or refrigerated items – each time a product is frozen and defrosted it loses flavour and moisture. When you look at the icicles in cells they are very sharp pointy crystals and these sharp pointy

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Woman cleaning table in restaurant, and man behind her sweeping

How clean is your hospitality business? You are challenged!

Are your employees and guests safe against pests? Restaurants, commercial kitchens, and other businesses in the foodservice industry have a responsibility for protecting public health by preventing contamination of food and transmission of pest-borne diseases inside their premises. Food safety legislation mandates that food handling businesses terminate pests, and prevent food contamination by taking effective

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Best restaurant - Smiling chef showing "perfect" hand sign

How do you become more than just another restaurant?

“ Local is lekker “drives the fact that you support local. From the locals to the locals this will support and drive the fact home that you are not just there to take from the community you also give back and build. Volunteer services in your local community. Drive a vegetable garden for the local

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Restaurant staff working out costs

Food Cost Control

When referring to food cost, we are referring to the actual cost of the raw materials or ingredients required to prepare a meal or menu item that you are selling from your establishment. Food cost percentage will be the same cost expressed as a percentage of the selling price of that specific item.   The following

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Restaurant owner in front of his restaurant with open sign

Arrival for Shift

Arriving for a shift on time and being dressed neatly for success is imperative. You as the example for the team have to lead by the required standards and be the perfect example of what is required.  Plan your daily schedule in advance and allow for traffic and other possible unforeseen incidents. Plan by adding

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Manager training three waitrons in a restaurant

The Value of Consistently Training your Staff & the Increased Longevity of your Business

Visualize a realistic training plan. Have a vision that you can alter and update regularly as required.  Regular assessment and investment in training. Regularly update your S.W.O.T. analysis [strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats ] and determine your training need. Keep an eye on the future and conceptualize flow from one topic to another. This will ensure

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Gas safety - Cooking on gas in a restaurant with smoke

Gas Safety & Control Sheet

Due to the volatility of working with gas and open flames it is imperative to keep a streamlined Health and Safety System. Secondly, we want to ensure the availability of the various gas products we require for optimal operations and availability. The Health and Safety Check sheet is completed monthly.  The Gas Safety and Control

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Chef washing hands in restaurant kitchen, while other chef prepares salad

Washing your Hands Correctly

Touching people and or surfaces, you accumulate germs on your hands.  You can infect yourself with these germs by touching your eyes, nose, or mouth, or spread them to others.  Washing your hands frequently can help limit the transfer of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes. Always read labels to get instructions BEFORE using chemicals. Always

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Restaurant Employee Wages - Green dollar sign on a tray

Restaurant Employee Wages and Benefits: Do they earn a living wage?

The Dessert [Part three] We left each other last time coming to the following conclusion. Now that we have established the requirement for benefits and the estimated costs of affording these, we have to plan how we would consider phasing these costs into a basic entry-level wage or salary. How do we break these exuberant

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