Restaurant management is like show-biz, and the key to a flawless production is in the details. Follow these steps to plan your work and work your plan.
Make a Plan
Before starting on the day’s work, create an action plan for your restaurant management tasks. Try to concentrate your efforts on action items that contribute the most to the bottom line. List everything that you need to accomplish, including scheduled meetings, and then review the list. By going over the plans for the day, you are preparing yourself to successfully complete all the tasks on your action plan.
Review the Numbers
Whether you like it or not, restaurant management is a lot about numbers. Every morning you should review your key targeted numbers (labor costs, food costs, comps, etc.) and growth numbers for the previous day, the current period and year-to-date. This will keep you on top of the overall health of your business and where you stand on your goals. Reviewing and evaluating these numbers each morning is a great way to get focused and keep day-to-day decisions in perspective as they relate to achieving your overall goals.
Talk to Every Manager and Staff Member
One of the most important things you can do each morning is talk to each manager and staff member on your shift. You want to know how they are, what’s on their plate, and what you can do to help them succeed each day. You want them to know their goals for the shift and you want them to tell you how they are going to achieve them. These conversations create a shared purpose, provide a great opportunity to set shift priorities, and give you opportunities to coach each member of your team, every shift.
Execute the Plan
One of the obstacles to success in restaurant management is the ability to turn plans into executable strategies. Make sure your daily action plan supports your business plan, then establish an execution mindset to help you put your daily action plan into effect. Managers often waste a large part of their day doing tasks that arise during the course of the day and let those fires take them away from more critical tasks that generate sales and profits. It is important to learn to stay focused on executing your plan in order to meet your sales and profit goals.
Be a Leader and a Coach
Make your staff aware of your goals and their own goals, arm them with the knowledge and the latitude to accomplish those goals, then hold them accountable. You don’t get what you EXpect, you get what you INspect. Recognize them when they succeed and coach them when they don’t.
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