Mark Adams
Some people dream of creating and owning a restaurant their whole lives, and they’re finally making that dream come true. Unfortunately, it’s easy for these restauranteurs to lose sight of their goal and end up making critical restaurant mistakes. Continue reading if you want to learn some of the most common mistakes people make with their first restaurant.
Tech Confusion
When starting a restaurant a few decades ago, owners didn’t have much technology to worry about. In today’s age, starting a restaurant isn’t so simple—you must take many moving pieces into account to ensure your establishment stays up and running. For example, you need a POS system to ring up orders, run customers’ credit cards, and potentially even seat customers. You’ll also probably want to work on other aspects, such as:
- Social media
- Online delivery systems
- Inventory management
- Employee payroll
These are vital if you want your business to run smoothly, and you must iron out all the little details early before opening your doors. Thankfully, different pieces of software can put most of these services together and make them more manageable, removing significant burdens.
Food Safety
One of the most important parts of managing a restaurant is ensuring everything is safe. Some restauranteurs spend too much time focusing on the menu and layout and forget to prioritize food safety in their restaurant. Safe food handling practices include cleaning up spills, checking temperatures, and cleaning cutting boards and knives, among many other things.
One key part of food safety you must recognize is how you store the food. Food safety and storage are critical in commercial kitchens because improper storage can spoil the food’s taste and make it unsafe to eat. Be sure to keep everything properly separated and put procedures in place to ensure everything is stored correctly. Confirm with your staff that all risks of cross-contamination are eliminated.
Too Many Items
Another easy mistake is putting too many items on your menu. You want to be unique and stand out, but you also want a little something for everyone to encourage many people to dine. Unfortunately, doing this will spread your abilities too thin, and you’ll be unable to make an impact or give enough attention to each menu item.
If your specialty is pizza, you should stick to that instead of offering other things like pasta or sandwiches. You could attract other customers, but the pizza’s quality and reputation may suffer as a result. Put all your attention behind your pizza, sourcing quality ingredients and spreading to different types. Consider adding vegan and gluten-free options to strengthen your passion for the food. The customers will thank you!
People make these mistakes with their first restaurants, but you can keep them at bay! By avoiding these mistakes, you are ensuring your restaurant will stand out, and you’ll only need to focus on what matters the most—the food.
