How to Run a Restaurant Successfully

It's been over a year dealing with the pandemic and all the business restrictions, and it's been no fun. The problem of no sales was replaced with no employees as our guests make their way back into our restaurants. You’re still working harder than you want today and that will probably be true for a little while longer. To give you some hope and something to look forward to, I want to remind you how to run a restaurant successfully once the crisis mode is passed. Click below to watch the video tip or keep scrolling to read it. 

It's been over a year dealing with the pandemic and all the business restrictions, and it's been no fun. The problem of no sales was replaced with no employees as our guests make their way back into our restaurants. You’re still working harder than you want today and that will probably be true for a little while longer. To give you some hope and something to look forward to, I want to remind you how to run a restaurant successfully once the crisis mode is passed.

You have battled hard to still be open and still running a restaurant. Here are four things to keep in mind as you continue to battle through the next couple of months. 

Remember your why: It's time to remind yourself why you opened your restaurant in the first place. You've got to find that passion, that burning desire. Do you remember the cocktail napkin that you were having a drink with one of your best friends, and you wrote down your idea about the bar, restaurant, catering business you wanted to open? Do you remember how fired up you were and how excited you were?

You need to find that passion again today. Remind yourself of why you opened your restaurant in the first place, because that's the joy of being in the hospitality industry. You need to reignite that never-say-die attitude. Being persistent is critical.

There's always something going wrong in the restaurant business, isn't there? And some of us feed on that, that crisis management, that there's nothing we can't do because there's nothing that will stop you. It's that mindset, that growth mindset that makes you successful.

Refocus on Restaurant 101. During the pivot, Restaurant 101 started to become takeout and delivery. Now you have to get back to training your people on service. People are coming back in your doors and there's only so long that they're going to be forgiving, tolerate you being short staffed and relearning how to operate again. Restaurant 101 is hot food hot, cold food cold, clean, safe environment for the guests and employees. It’s also WOW customer service with incredible product to create memories.

Implement systems that allow you to impose your will without being there. How is it the chain restaurants kick our independent butts so often? They have checklists to allow them to impose their will without being there. They have systems, a process, a way. There is only one way to do things in their restaurant and that’s their way. As a restaurant operator, you can take all the stuff, all the know-how, and put it into a system. That makes it's trainable so you can train people and train replacements. With systems your business is being run your way when you're there, but especially when you're not.

Start holding your management team accountable. I get it. You’re feeling a little on edge, like, if you push your management team too hard right now, they're going to leave you. And it is happening. But if you're the leader your restaurant needs, and you share with them why you're doing what you're doing, how it's going to benefit the guest, how it’s going to benefit them, how it's going to benefit you and your family, you show them your dream, your vision. You teach them what their job is, how to do it, how well that can be done.

More importantly, when you coach, you coddle, you train, then holding someone accountable is holding them answerable. It's not a negative. Raise the bar. Your employees will reach as low as you set it. That's why things get out of hand. When you stop dealing with things, and you’re not willing to hold people accountable. Hope is not a strategy for success.

While it's a very simple recipe for success, it's not going to be easy, but the reality is it will put you on a path to restaurant prosperity. I define prosperity as freedom from your restaurant and the financial freedom you deserve. If you're tired of not being able to leave your restaurant because no one else knows how to run it. I want to make sure you know it doesn't have to be that way. You can leave your restaurant. It is possible to build a team of people who know how you want the restaurant to run. With these trained and responsible people in place, you can give yourself time away.

If you would like to learn how to own a restaurant that doesn't depend on you to be successful, watch this free video course that teaches you three key principles to running a successful restaurant. If you're ready right now to make some serious changes in your restaurant, you can also book a 60-minute call with me where we talk about your challenges and figure out exactly what is holding you back from having a restaurant that doesn’t depend on you being in it to be successful. 

Be sure to visit my YouTube channel for more helpful restaurant management video tips.