Advice for restaurant owners right now: Refresh, rejuvenate, ask and invest

My dear readers, in this article you will be privy to what I’m telling my restaurant clients. The goal is to give them recommendations on how to become better at what they do and anticipate your needs so that you enjoy them more often for years to come.

The COVID pandemic is in the rearview mirror and I give restaurant owners a huge amount of credit for making it through what was the most difficult era for the hospitality industry in more than 50 years.

However, it is time to look forward and set the course for success in the next decade. The restaurant/hospitality world has changed dramatically and, as owners, you need to do more than just keep up. You need to take control of your operations and anticipate what will keep guests coming in. As the saying goes, “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll continue to get what you have always gotten.”

Let’s look at ways restaurant owners/operators can increase business by exciting their guests.

Refresh the menu

Competition in the restaurant industry is on the rise. According to the Illinois Restaurant Association, 41,000 jobs will be added in the next four years in Illinois alone.

I was speaking with a restaurant owner this week, and he reported that his sales were down about 10% from last year and he knew exactly why: The restaurant has been open for 10 years and they have not refreshed the menu with any new items and have not removed items that don’t sell.

The lesson is that the customers have grown weary with the same choices year in and year out. With competition growing substantially, these owners will be doing a serious revamp of the menu, and they forecast that this year their sales will get that 10% back, and then some.

Rejuvenate the management

When the concept becomes stale, the managers become stale as well. They know they need to compete on a higher level of hospitality, but because many owners want to live on their past laurels, the managers become bored and, worse, jaded at the inaction on the part of ownership.

How do we invigorate management? It’s easy: Ask them their opinions on what should be changed, and then take some of those great ideas and let management implement them. They will be energized and the guests will see and feel the difference in the overall attitude of the entire staff.

Ask guests what they think

If your restaurant has been around for a few years, you have built up a dedicated clientele. Talk to the guests who come in often, like what you do and whose opinion you trust. Ask them what they like and, more important, what they may like to see on the menu moving forward.

We did this with one of our restaurant clients who has been in business for more than 40 years and, not only did we get great menu ideas, but some guests also told us at which tables they did not like to be seated.

We took that feedback very seriously and brought in a designer who helped cure the noise issue and took out five tables guests did not like. Those two interior design changes are credited with increasing sales by more than 5%. When the guest can enjoy the space more, they spend more time and money and come in more often.

Invest in training

All restaurants serve food and beverages and, based on that, guests can go anywhere. However, what brings the guests back to their favorite restaurant time and again is great service, and I have learned that great service doesn’t just happen.

There is a saying in the restaurant business that goes something like this: “Exceptional food will never overcome poor service, but great service will always overcome unexceptional food.”

If we want to keep our guests coming back while at the same time bringing in new guests, we need to step up the training for the entire staff, kitchen staff included. Investing in training is an investment in the continued growth of your business.

There you have it. If you have a favorite restaurant, ask the owner or manager if they’d like you to weigh in on how they could do more to bring you back more often.

• Izzy Kharasch is the founder of Hospitality Works, a consulting firm that has worked with 700+ restaurants and small businesses nationwide. Suburban restaurant owners can get a free consultation by contacting him at Izzy@HospitalityWorks.com.