This week on the blog, we’re talking about one of every restaurant owner’s biggest fears: failure. While owning a restaurant, you are sure to experience failure in some capacity daily. Failing to please every customer, make every dish perfectly, or reach a set sales goal. These daily failures can be addressed to add up to overall successes, and shouldn’t be seen in a negative light. It’s true that through our failures, we find our greatest successes. So how can you avoid a big failure? A flop, a closure, or a bad health rating that makes it hard to recover from (in terms of your restaurant’s PR). We’ve compiled some ideas to give you the foresight to prevent a major failure. Hint, it starts with addressing those everyday mistakes.
First up, poor customer service. This seems like a logical one, but it’s often ignored. Exceptional customer service is essential in maintaining clientele and bringing in new customers. One way that you can make sure that you’re delivering exceptional customer service across the board is by creating required customer service policies. Weekly staff meetings, check-ins with individual staff members, and monthly team goals are all great ways to make sure that everyone is on-board with the new guidelines.
If you’re reading this because you’re thinking about opening a new restaurant, don’t sweat. Opening a new restaurant is daunting, especially with the high turnover rate of the restaurant industry. If you’re looking to open a new restaurant and worried about failure, you should consider two things: upfront costs and location.
High upfront costs are the reason that many fledgling restaurants go under. Many restaurant owners find themselves under-budget before the restaurant even opens because they did not accurately calculate the funds needed to successfully open a business. Look for places that you can save (without cutting corners) and make sure you have a good accountant when opening your new business.
Lastly, when looking into starting a restaurant the best way that you can prevent failure is through a good location. It’s just true that a good location is great advertising. Although this will not guarantee your restaurant doesn’t go under, it can certainly help to become one of the main fixtures in a downtown location. If you can’t afford a heavily trafficked area, at least consider the pitfalls of opening a restaurant on the outskirts of town. With proper preparation, a good team, and consistent check-ins with management, there’s nothing to worry about. While failure in some aspect is inevitable in every area of life, it’s how you deal with daily failures that ultimately determine the success of your restaurant.
