Best Practices for Running a Successful Restaurant
Are you stuck working in your restaurant instead of running it? Constantly putting out fires, working insane hours and wondering if there's ever a way to break free? You’re not alone. In this tip, I’ll show you the best practices that separate thriving restaurant owners from those who are just surviving.
Let me start with the story of Avery Ward, a young restaurant owner who was trapped in the daily grind of running his family’s pizzeria.
Avery had tripled the restaurant’s sales after coming back to work with his father. But he was doing everything — working the pizza oven, delivering orders, managing the store from open to close, and then heading home to tackle payroll, marketing, and everything else an owner has to do. He was burning the candle at both ends and couldn’t see a way out.
Then everything changed.
Avery learned that by putting the right people in place, documenting his systems and training his team, he could finally get out of the weeds. He communicated his vision, set clear expectations and built a team that not only helped him grow profits but also allowed him to move to a bigger location — where sales skyrocketed another 200%.
Now, Avery only steps into the restaurant once a week to meet with his management team while he focuses on expanding his food truck operations, launching a coffee shop and growing his catering business.
His transformation didn’t happen by accident. It was built on key best practices that every successful restaurant should follow. Let’s go through them now.
- Implement checklists and a close-to-open culture
Checklists aren’t just a piece of paper — they’re how you impose your will without being in the building. They create consistency, accountability and efficiency. A strong close-to-open culture ensures that every shift leaves the restaurant fully prepared for the next, eliminating chaos and setting your team up for success.
- Communicate daily with pre-shift and manager meetings
Communication is everything. Daily pre-shift meetings keep your team informed, focused, and motivated. Regular manager meetings ensure leadership is aligned and ready to drive the business forward. Without these touchpoints, you’re flying blind — and so is your team.
- Operate on a budget
Your budget is your proactive management tool. It tells you what’s working and what’s not, where you’re bleeding money, and what systems need to be adjusted. A restaurant without a budget is constantly playing defense, putting out fires, and scrambling for solutions. With a budget, you play offense and stay in control.
- Use recipe costing cards
If you don’t have accurate, up-to-date recipe costing cards, your profitability is left to dumb luck. You need to know exactly what each menu item costs so you can price correctly, improve consistency, and menu-engineer your way to lower food costs and higher profits.
- Block time to work on the business, not just in it
Restaurant owners often spend all their time in the weeds, never stepping back to strategize. The key to long-term success is blocking off dedicated time each week to focus on growth — whether it’s marketing, hiring, expanding operations or improving systems. If you don’t make time for this, your business will always own you instead of the other way around.
Now that we’ve covered what to do, let’s talk about the biggest mistakes restaurant owners make that keep them stuck.
The top mistakes restaurant owners make
- Failing to delegate
Too many owners believe, No one can do it as well as I can. This mindset keeps them trapped. The reality? Most daily tasks in a restaurant — ordering food, writing schedules, seating guests, flipping burgers — are tasks, not leadership. If you can train someone else to do it, you should.
- Running without a budget
If you don’t have a financial plan, you’re making decisions based on guesses. That leads to wasted time, wasted money and long hours trying to figure out small cost savings when a real budget would help you save thousands.
- Not training employees
Owners often say, Why train them? They won’t be here long. But if you don’t train them, they’ll leave even faster. Training isn’t optional — it’s essential to building a reliable, high-performing team.
If you fix just one thing today, make it learning to delegate. The more you let go of daily tasks and focus on leadership, the more your business will thrive.
Take action now
Here’s something you can do right now: write down all the tasks you do on a daily basis. Then, separate them into two categories: critical and important.
- Critical tasks must be done immediately — they’re non-negotiables.
- Important tasks matter, but they can wait a little longer.
Once you do this, ask yourself: Which of these tasks can I delegate? The more work you shift to your team, the more you free up your time to run and grow your business.
If Avery Ward can break free from working the pizza oven and build a thriving multi-unit business, so can you. Success isn’t about working harder — it’s about working smarter by following the right best practices.
Be sure to visit my YouTube channel for more helpful restaurant management video tips.
