What is more difficult than starting something you are passionate about? Continuing it effectively till you reach the goal and sustain it! Merely starting a restaurant business would not ensure success in entrepreneurship. It is observed that most of the restaurants struggle to sustain in the food and beverages industry and become extinct when they are not managed efficiently in their first 2 years of operations. In order to escape this fate, the restaurant operators need to come up with an effective restaurant management checklist that covers all aspects of the restaurant functions. This has to be done looking at a wider picture with the long run of the restaurant in mind. New year is for organisation, planning and checklists. So, there is no better time to learn how to do it right then this time of the year.
Making a checklist and ensuring it is done well on the timely basis may sound like quite a bit of work but this is something that would yield you more benefits retrospectively. It is the most effective way to track recurring tasks that should not be missed out ideally. Having a checklist brings in a positive environment to the workplace and keeps the culture hassle-free on your path to be a profitable venture. While making a checklist, you’re going to need to develop a series of effective strategies to structure day-to-day operations. The duties must be structured and allotted to the respective staff beforehand. They need to be briefed about their responsibility and expectations from the management in completing the task. The list must be checked off and reviewed to indicate that the work has been done.
Restaurant functions might need different sets of checklists and the most needed ones would be:
- Front end operation checklist
- Backend operation checklist
- Inventory management checklist
- Marketing checklist
- Opening and closing checklist
- Front end operation checklist
Front end of the house is where the customers interact directly with the restaurant and its management. Front end checklist plays a crucial role in curating a brand value for restaurants as this covers the outlook of the restaurant which is visible to the customers. This usually involves two separate checklists that monitor the opening and the closing operations of the house. The opening checklist shall contain tasks like setting up and organizing the area, reservation management, check in assistance, and restocking the groceries. The closing checklist might include plans for cleaning and organizing the area, and managing finances.
- Backend operation checklist
The back end of the house covers the “behind the serve” work that has to be done in a restaurant. Just like how the front-end operations work, this also involves two lists covering the opening and closing process of the restaurant. This covers everything that happens in the kitchen and inventory area right from the opening hour of the eatery like cleaning till the closing hour like security checks. It may also include financial auditing and income-expense tallying works apart from the manual tasks involved.
- Inventory management checklist
Inventory management is the key for any restaurant to run smoothly. Management is not just about making profits but also minimizing the loss. Optimizing the inventory has thus become an inevitable step to achieve perfection in restaurant management. The checklist for this step might contain checking for the expiry of the products, restocking the empty ones, placing orders for new stocks and logging them in the manual register or in the inventory management assistance softwares provided by POS platforms like Magilhub.
- Marketing checklist
This focuses on the marketing efforts that need to be made regarding marketing the restaurants’ service. No matter how good a restaurant is, the business would only succeed when it is marketed right to its targeted demographics and a marketing checklist is thus inevitable. This checklist involves making strategies, following traditional and digital marketing norms to reach out to the audience and target potential customers and lure them into the business zone. Creating brand visibility and identity has to be the primary goal of this checklist. To know more about restaurant marketing strategies, chick on the link here (hyperlink).
- Role specific checklist
When other checklists act as a common master to-do list for the entire restaurant this is a more personalised and clearly defined one that states the responsibilities and task of the individual roles in restaurant management. Manager’s checklist, server and bartender’s checklist, valet and security’s checklist, kitchen and cleaning checklist and finance team checklist are a few lists that should be considered while preparing role specific lists. This helps the staff to follow their duties and agenda clearly and result in smooth functioning and integration of different departments of restaurant management.
Apart from these, the shift change checklist, bathroom cleaning checklist and other basic amenity and utility services have to be properly monitored, given attention. The main downstream effect of working with restaurant checklists is that you’ll be saving a lot of time organising your staff, and a lot of money, both in material savings and reduced labour costs. restaurant checklists make it easier than ever to hold your staff accountable. Inspection becomes a lot easier with checklists in hand
These meticulously curated details and attention to make restaurant function smooth would pay off really well when it is accompanied by a vision to grow bigger in the smart way. However, doing all these manually could be a tedious task that might consume a lot of energy, capacity and time. This is why automation is seen as a boon to the food and beverages industry that helps food entrepreneurs achieve their goals easier. There are several ways a restaurant could be automated to yield better profits (hyperlink). Magilhub is a cloud-based restaurant automation framework that offers restaurant POS, digital marketplace and complete diner experience all in one! The one stop solution offered by Magilhub helps you curate and maintain the task of the checklist at ease. From reservation and check-in assistance to menu and inventory management and financial reports and insights, Magilhub got it all covered in one platform. May the new year start with new hopes, with the new partnership with Magilhub that might take you to new heights. (Did I tell you Magilhub offers a limited time festive sale offer where you could get it all for just Rs.5000 a year? HURRY UP!)
To know further, visit: http://www.magilhub.com.
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