Running a restaurant is difficult and it is more difficult to reduce expenses when doing it. Read about tips on how to reduce your restaurant running expenses.
The agenda has always been to keep raw materials and other expenses lesser even before the pandemic and now it is a more high priority than ever. You can certainly do this by using multi-restaurant delivery software.
In this article, we will look at some ways to keep restaurant spending under control this year.
Decrease Wastage.
A smart business decision is to decrease the wastage in your business.
Be completely positive that you have a plan in place to assure that your staff understands how much inputs go into each dish and how much raw material goes into each final plate. Also, give responsibility to someone to rotate your season-based products along with perishable dairy and poultry goods so that as they get closer to their expiration dates, you’ll have a plan for using them like offering discounted rates.
Talk with your suppliers
Negotiate with your raw material vendors. Talk about ways for saving money on food.
Check with new vendors to see if anyone can offer you a better offer, especially on bulk deals. If you find a better offer, contact your current seller to see if they can match it or move to a new vendor.
Track The Expenses On Sold Product
This is a task that you should be doing daily. This requires analyzing cost. You can trace all your expenses on goods sold with the right software like multi-restaurant delivery software or uber eats clone. This includes the expenses of making each of the food items on the menu.
Optimize Staff Salary And Other Costs
Staff expenses are another major part of your budget. Many restaurants manage labor expenses very nicely, and many restaurants struggle in this aspect.
Take a look at some of my advice:-
- Check daily and track the number of tables you are serving every day. This will help you Anticipate how many dinners and tables you can expect in the coming month and plan accordingly.
- Setup and timetable for your staff rostering. It is not good to have a team of inexperienced workers coz then they will not know what to do and be a burden on the budget and be a liability. Make sure you have a good mix of staff who have experience and newbie staff. You will be able to manage your tables easily and will have the right mix of demand and supply.
- When it comes to furniture and other layout changes, don’t employ outside help or temporary staff. This does not require the use of too many people and can be done by a few.
- Consider giving leaves to some staff on days when business is less. This way your staff will be happy with more leaves and you can expect that they won’t take leaves on busy nights.
Strong focus On Inventory
One of the primary reasons restaurants struggle to track their expenses is because they don’t have a strong focus on their inventory.
- Monitoring and controlling your inventory allows you to always be aware of where the money is going.
- You need to keep track of your inventory at the same time every day.
- You can determine a fixed cost of your food to save money by understanding your inventory clearly.
Relook at your product/menu portion sizes
If the size of your portions is bigger then the cost of your meal will go up.
To keep food price costs down, keep the size of your food portions as needed not more, not less, and don’t over-serve. This will ensure that you can price your product properly
Also, it is important to track the following issues regularly as they can add up to your costs:
- Always check how much food is sent by the kitchen because it may not always be equal.
- Track what and why some food gets thrown from the kitchen into the garbage because it got burned or was improperly prepared.
- Make sure you know how much spare food you have left.
Use Menu Modifications
Creating your menu for success is another way to keep your spending under control. Menu modifications allow you to determine the popularity and economics of specific menu options.
Skip any menu items that aren’t appealing, especially if they aren’t popular. If they’re popular, check out various options to see how you can make them with as lower costs as possible.
Take the maximum advantage of your profit-making food products by tracking your expenses and promoting them to help you increase your income.
Conclusion
Manage both the food expenses and labor expenses. Plan your meal portions, retrain your staff, and have a positive outlook. Make sure you have a plan for both the positive and negative aspects.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
SophiePinto, I am a food lover and a traveler. I have converted my love for food to my professional writing article on food and restaurant and reviewing them and also other software related to food and restaurant. I am currently working for a Doordash clone company.
