It’s a new year and time to implement a plan that will allow you to improve performance and deliver the best results possible. Here’s 10 tips to get you moving in the right direction.
- Benchmark your suppliers against the market. How confident are you that your suppliers are giving you the best deal? Remember, they’re in business to make money as well (which isn’t a problem!) however, you need to make sure you’re getting a fair deal that’s good for your business too.
- Get fixed pricing. Are your menus going to change every month or by the seasons? Regardless, you need to have fixed pricing in place for the key volume lines in order to achieve a stable gross margin.
- Look out for special offers. Offering daily boards, promotions and special pricing on select dishes can help improve your margins across the business. For example, if your fishmonger has a great daily deal then take just enough and challenge your staff to sell all of them.
- Continuously train staff. Well-trained staff – both front of house and across the kitchen – will always deliver a better experience for your customers. And happy customers will most likely spend more and return time and time again.
- Monitor production levels. Overproduction is a common source of food waste and one of the biggest reasons why businesses fail to achieve the desired food margins. Tracking sales is a good way to review your menu, create more efficient batching levels and eliminate dishes that aren’t selling.
- Reduce waste. It’s estimated that food waste costs the restaurant sector nearly £700 million each year. There are many ways to cut down on waste – from keeping a stock inventory to keeping an eye on portion control and monitoring production levels (see above). Know what and how much you are selling, then make adjustments to the menu accordingly.
- Track your food cost daily. Always know how your margin is performing throughout the week so that you’ll have a much more accurate understanding of where your margin will be at the end of the month. Just make sure you don’t forget to allow for any stock movement.
- Ensure you are spending to forecast revenues. To assist with successful food flash management, you need to know what your forecast revenue is and how it’s broken down on a daily basis. You also need to match this to actual revenue to confirm that the forecasts are accurate.
- Compare key product lines across all suppliers. There are often several suppliers that provide the same key products such as butter, bacon or eggs. Ensuring that you are buying from the best value supplier will provide some the fastest cost savings
- Partner with Enhance. If all this sounds like a lot of work and resource intensive, then why not have a conversation with one of our procurement experts to see how a partnership with Enhance will improve your purchasing operations and reduce spend.