Restaurant Trappers

Organisations in the private and public sectors outsource food service and restaurant operations. These include business and industry, education, healthcare, event venues, heritage and leisure attractions and increasingly hotels.

But research shows that outsourcing food service and restaurant operations leaves many businesses wishing they hadn’t bothered, but why?

Could this be down to widespread service partner inability to perform? Or does the cause of the problem lay elsewhere?

The ink on the contract is dry. All the hard work has paid off with a great financial deal that also promises improved quality and happy customers.

Your work is done. Or is it?

Most businesses involved in outsourcing are vague about spelling out at the beginning what’s expected, performance expectations are explored but not always addressed, and often performance measurements are not put in place.

Could the root cause simply be a mismatch of expectations, both the service partner’s and the client’s?

The absence of such performance measurements in service contracts and the means to capture them in place has lead to far too many outsourcing relationships failing.

Research shows that ultimate success with outsourced food service and restaurant operations begins with initial contract discussions.

When outsourcing, remember that although the service provider takes responsibility for the process, it’s still your business and you need to manage the relationship actively. So think carefully about the following during your contract discussions:

1.Take your time in making decisions, and make sure you are clear about the terms on which you and the service provider are working.

2.Make the effort to establish a good relationship – this requires constant communication and flexibility.

3.Choose a member of your team to take responsibility for the relationship with your service provider.

4.Staff may have concerns about their own jobs, so keep them informed.

5.Check on employment legislation and your responsibilities for staff that may transfer.

6.If you can stay with your service provider for several years, you are likely to get the best results, but make sure you objectively check performance and don’t take things for granted!

7.You may need to renegotiate the contract before the end of the term. A flexible contract helps both parties; allowing the service provider to innovate and you to deal with changing circumstances.

8.Aim for a smooth transition. Even with good planning, it’s a steep learning curve for everyone, so seek independent advice and use the opportunity to put in place a solid service level agreement for the future,or better still use a “business value agreement”.

9.There should be financial benefits, but other reasons for outsourcing are harder to quantify. These could be a higher profile for your business, more credibility, improved quality or fewer problems and the key thing is measure results!

10.The relationship might prematurely end or may simply have run its course. Either way, make ensure your agreement contains a clear exit strategy.

Far too many people still work on the basis of out of sight, out of mind. But to make outsourcing a success, it can’t be emphasized enough, that it’s still your business, you don’t need to manage the process, but you do need to manage the relationship.

All good relationships need to be worked at – don’t they!

Before you venture out and buy a restaurant, you should consider finding out the important facts. Restaurants may be the most sought after businesses for sale. You may find yourself in the position of buying a restaurant that is already doing quite well with a solid customer base. However, make sure you know the full story behind the business before signing on the dotted line.



What is The Real Story?



There is a real story behind every attempt to sell a restaurant. The answer can be right on the surface, on the other hand, finding the real reason may take some probing. If the customers stopped coming, it will benefit you to know why. When organizing the plans to buy a restaurant, you need to know if there are any pending legal or financial issues surrounding the need to sell.



Make Sure You Check All the Books



Your plan to buy an existing restaurant business should hopefully contain elements that will make you a tidy profit. If so, put on your detective hat and make it a point to carefully examine recent expenses and sales to ensure the restaurant you have your sights set on is in the black. This means taking the books to your accountant to see if anything looks suspicious on the surface. Are all the payments going where they should? Does the restaurant have a healthy bank account? Are there any hidden expenses that will show up when you least expect it?



Is the Restaurant’s Reputation Sterling?



Restaurants draw clientele base on reputation as much as anything else. A great way to get the inside scoop when buying a restaurant, is to ask the restaurant’s vendors if the business has been paying its bills on time. If your potential vendors are unhappy with payment performance, this should send up the red flag in a hurry. It is also a great idea to spend time in the restaurant you plan to buy as an actual customer. There is no better way to measure customer service and obtain on overall feel than to sit at the table and be served.

Whether the restaurant is one-of-a-kind or an existing restaurant that is part of a business chain, there are principles to consider that will give your venture a better shot at success. A restaurant concept that is well-defined stands a much better chance of long term success—and after buying a restaurant, it is wise to set specific goals from the very beginning that will define and measure your restaurant’s success.





Longevity



For the adventurous at heart that plan to buy an exiting restaurant business, it is prudent to know that business conditions can change over night, and your success may depend on being able to meet the changing demands and buying habits of the customer. And, you can bet on your customer base changing periodically. “Winning” is essential, and means maintaining success over a long period. Aspects of your business will change over time—it is simply the nature of how things are. Staying on top of trends without veering away from the loyal customers may prove to be a winning combination.



Market Appeal



If you want your restaurant to be busy, an appealing concept will be the thing that wins the day. Restaurants that have a broad and well-developed “theme” enable them to form and dominate a market niche. People will frequent a restaurant that has good appeal—and the more familiar you are with the demographics of your potential customers—the greater your chances will be of running a smooth and successful operation. A restaurant with solid appeal makes a person “feel” good about being there, and the word of mouth endorsements that will surely follow can prove to be a great benefit.



Thing in Terms of Expandability



After successfully buying a restaurant, you can never tell what direction your venture will take. If you have a winning business plan, it can be a good platform for securing a lease or going to a money source to obtain funding. Also, a good business plan will help you to develop systems and procedures required to maintain a state of consistency. Who knows, opening that second restaurant might become a viable option! And before long, you may be looking at a chain of restaurants opening across the states.



Fully Examine the Assets



You should have full access to the assets listed for the restaurant business. This means taking a close look at the age of the equipment. How old is the stove, and are any of the rest of the assets outdated? Is the location of the restaurant up to existing building codes? Even the name of a restaurant can be considered an asset. What does the name imply, and is it in step with the customer base you want to attract? How to buy a restaurant and reap the benefits is best realized when you have a comprehensive action plan in place.

You may be very excited to open your own restaurant. This is an opportunity that you may have been waiting quite a while for. However, there may be some headaches associated with it that you weren’t prepared for. It is important that you understand all of the pieces of the restaurant business you will be responsible for. It can become frustrating when you realize you are spending too much time on duties that don’t interest you.

This may be the way it has to be when you first open your own restaurant. That is because you need to learn all of the aspects of the business. Funds may be tight too during the initial planning phases so hiring a manager may not be possible yet. Don’t worry though as you can hire someone in that position later on to assist you. It only makes sense that having our own restaurant should be enjoyable.

You also can’t run it effectively on your own anyway. There are simply too many tasks that must be attended to. By delegating responsibilities you aren’t interested in to your staff you can stay happy. There is likely quite a few people out there that do enjoy those types of tasks. For example you may not like ordering supplies for the restaurant but someone else is very good at it and likes their job.

Be open to new ideas and suggests with your own restaurant. It is reasonable as well as understood why you would want to do everything your own way. However, you will be doing your business a disservice if you don’t listen to your employees and your customers. They can often see things that you may be overlooking. This doesn’t mean you have to make changes each time someone mentions something to you. However, it is a good idea to at least look into it.

In order to stay in the minds of consumers as the place to go out to eat you need to offer them what they are looking for. Always address complaints directly because you don’t want them to decide never to return. You can be sure they will tell several people they know about that experience as well. So you can potentially lose many more guests than just those that were in there when the event took place.

In order to enjoy your own restaurant you really do need to stay focused. Don’t get so involved in one or two areas that you allow others to fall apart. Operating such a business requires many elements to be in place. Make sure you know what you are in store for before you even get things off the ground.

You don’t want your investment or your hard work to be in vain. This can occur if you make too many mistakes along the way. Have pride in your own restaurant and do all you can to make it successful. Having the right information to do this is extremely powerful so don’t be in a rush to open your restaurant until you have explored all of it.