Reducing expenses is an important aspect of restaurant management, and it can help restaurants remain competitive, profitable and sustainable over the long term.
1 - INVENTORY CONTROL
Managing inventory can reduce expenses by ensuring that food and supplies are ordered in the correct quantities and at the right time, which in turn reduces waste and spoilage. Additionally, regularly monitoring and tracking inventory can help to identify any
potential theft or other losses, which can also lead to cost savings.
2 - WASTE CONTROL
Reducing the amount of food you throw away can help reduce expenses, too. In addition to using inventory control to help control waste, there are other ways to control waste. For example, plan menus to make use of ingredients that have a longer shelf life and can be used in multiple dishes. Educate employees on proper food handling and storage practices. Use technology to monitor kitchen temperature, humidity and other factors that can affect food spoilage. Everything should be recorded in waste logs in order to understand patterns and determine what changes need to be made.
3 - REDUCE PORTIONS
Slightly reducing portion sizes can help reduce costs without customers seeing a big difference on their plates.
4 - EVALUATE SERVICES
Evaluate your insurance, linen service, bank fees and other services annually to ensure that you are still using what makes the most
sense for your business. If you are not currently using a POS system, you should look into one to help with efficiency, waste and more accurate tracking of sales and expenses.
5 - SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Free social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can help you promote your business to a ton of people and engage with customers simply by posting content. Use social media marketing for FREE, then, instead of or in higher proportion to paid advertising in order to save money.
6 - TRAINING
Effective staff training can improve productivity and efficiency and reduce costly mistakes and errors. Ensuring staff are cross-trained on various jobs can also create a more skilled and versatile workforce that can fill in on tasks as needed and help the bottom line.
7 - EVALUATE HOURS OF OPERATION
It can be worth looking at what days and hours are slow enough that you could either close for the day or update your hours. Doing so gives you a break on many expenses and also allows for time off for staff, which can in turn also benefit morale.
8 - IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY
You should never compromise quality to reduce costs! There are other ways to reduce costs without sacrificing quality!
