Mivel a Federal Reserve továbbra is emeli a kamatlábakat, az étteremtulajdonosoknak joguk van aggódni. Az élelmiszer-szolgáltatás gazdaságának még mindig vannak olyan ágazatai, amelyeknek még nem kell teljesen kilábalniuk a COVID-19 válságból, és most a recesszió veszélye a kollektív küszöbünkön.
Nevertheless, while an economic downturn may be inevitable, restaurant owners are not helpless. Let’s explore some actionable ideas that restaurants can use to minimize potential disruptions to their business.
Here are six ways restaurants can mitigate the impact of inflation.
Optimize Your Digital Presence
One way to cut down on expenses is to lean into digital marketing. Internet and social media advertising can allow you to reach new customers efficiently at scale. The difference between advertising to 100 people versus 100,000 people can be as little as one click. And with consumers increasingly making decisions based on what they see online, this can be a much more effective marketing route than traditional advertising methods.
Also consider enabling customers to order online if you’re not already doing so. This can be in the form of online orders either via your website or a delivery service like DoorDash or GrubHub. One potential benefit of this function is that it may allow you to better reach younger demographics that don’t hesitate to order food via their mobile devices. Perhaps more importantly, however, it could also allow you to minimize the use of your physical locations until the economy recovers, a move that can help save on rent and utilities.
Double Check Your Menu
Run a top-down analysis on what you offer, including how much each item costs and how much revenue it generates. Consider whether there are any unnecessary ingredients, or if there are specific dishes that rarely get ordered but take up a lot of inventory space.
While it may not be fun to trim your menu, doing so could allow you to run operations more efficiently and double down on your top revenue drivers. Remember, this is only temporary if you want it to be. You can always tell customers these items will be back in the future.
Analyze Your Daily Operations
First, write your daily process down, including everything from opening your restaurant to preparing food to washing the dishes. See if you can identify any inefficiencies. Are there times throughout the day where you’ve hired more waiters or cooks than you need? Could you save on utilities by running cleaning processes through equipment or machinery rather than doing them manually? The lower your expenses, the better your restaurant will be positioned to survive inflation.
Treat Your Staff Well
In the previous point, we talked about the potential need to trim staff. On the flip side of this point, also make sure to treat your staff well. Turnover rates among restaurant staff are high and the last thing you need is to spend hours searching for new employees rather than growing your restaurant. One way to increase the sustainability of your staff is to pay them well and listen to their concerns. Give them time off if they need to, and do whatever it takes to make them love their job. It goes without saying that happy employees are much less likely to quit.
Deliver Quality No Matter What
As a restaurant owner, you already know how important the customer experience is. Elements like cleanliness, taste, and atmosphere can all increase the likelihood customers will return. High quality restaurants also get good online reviews, which help drive new visitors to your establishment. As inflation increases, remember not to cut any corners on providing the best experience possible. Repeat customers can make up an important part of your revenue stream, so do what it takes to keep them coming back.
Consider Boosting Cash Flow With Financing
If cash is tight, one way to keep operations afloat or jump on new business opportunities is to get small business financing. From small business loans to start up business loans to business credit cards, there are many financing options for small business owners, startups, local businesses, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and other small business communities to explore. These include loans from both the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and private financing providers.
Small businesses can create a free account to instantly compare their best options based on their business data. Nav will also show you exactly how to establish business credit so you make your restaurant lender-ready.
