Opening and managing a restaurant is a dream come true for many entrepreneurs. In theory, it may seem simple to run your own restaurant business, but in reality it’s hard work! In today’s difficult economic times, it’s difficult to manage and operate a restaurant successfully.
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Let’s focus on the latter. Saving money and cutting corners in your restaurant will not only help you decrease expenditures, but will also help your business run efficiently. If you’re looking for ways to save money in your restaurant business, here’s a list of five food industry money-saving secrets you didn’t know about.
Measure Portion Sizes
One of the biggest supply and ingredient wasting practices in businesses is serving large portions to your guests. Whether your restaurant offers a family style or petite-gourmet dining experience, you must have appropriate, yet measurable portioning.
If you’re a new business and have yet to set a portioning standard, something that can help you create a measurement for portioning is observing how much food is left your customer’s plate. If it’s too much, then it’s time to make changes in portion sizes.
Have A Seasonal Menu
Sometimes it pays to have a seasonal menu. Why? Out of season products or produce usually cost extra due to outer-state exportation. Instead, focus your menu on inter-state or local products that are in season. Your supply bill will be cheaper and you’ll be able to market your restaurant as a local farm supporter.
Keep Your Menu Simple
Having 130 items on your menu will definitely cost you an arm and a leg. A common practice in high-end restaurants is menu simplification, meaning decreasing the amount of items on your menu to less than two dozen. This can help you cut back on supply costs without interfering with the quality of your products. Simplifying your menu will also help you cut back on prep and cooking time, which is always a plus!
Minimize Supplier List
The costs can add up when you have many suppliers. At times, restaurants will have five suppliers, all which deliver supplies five times a week.
Instead, why not cut back the amount of suppliers you have by half? Ideally, you’ll want two or three to keep your restaurant running but on budget. If you need to, shop around for suppliers that offer more variety in order to upgrade your order and cut loose those extra suppliers.
You can also cut costs by decreasing the frequency of deliveries in a week.
Replace Old Appliances
Want to save money on your restaurant’s energy bill? Sometimes, you have to spend a little money to save a lot more. Many restaurants have ancient, power-hungry appliances in their kitchen.
Instead of dealing with the hassle of old machines, invest in new, power-saving appliances that will not only help you save a few bucks on your power bill, but will definitely give your kitchen a bit of a face-lift. Companies such as Coolsys and many more who work with commercial equipment, such as fridges for commercial use, are something restaurant owners work alongside to give their business the best chance of surviving and saving money. One of the most common power-guzzling appliances in restaurants are walk-in refrigeration systems. Conversely, one of the best refrigeration systems for restaurants, and other large facilites dealing with food, are process refrigeration systems, which can help you maintain specific temperatures, keeping your supplies fresh and increasing energy efficiency.
Running a restaurant is hard, but cutting corners is easy. By organizing your expenses, cutting off an excess expenditures and by considering these money-saving suggestions, you’ll be able to run a profitable business and keep a lot more money in your wallet!