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Managing a bar or restaurant is hard work. It takes dedication, time, enthusiasm and commitment that many people simply don't have. So, everything you can do to manage your time and energy will help to give you more opportunity to focus on the things that will help you build the business.
1. Be Positive, attitude and spirit is everything
there is nothing that will affect your customers and staff faster than your attitude. A positive attitude will infect your staff and bring customers back. A negative attitude will result in high staff turnover and fewer return customers.
2. Transparency
let your staff know what your goals are in terms of sales, promotions, etc. They can't help sell if they don't know the game-plan.
3. Manage shifts and staff
To manage shifts, sign-ins, requests for days off, etc takes a bit of time. An initial investment into a software will be well paid for in how much easier it is to manage your scheduling and check on who is at work. Have a training program for your staff. Trust is key, and can be achieved with good, reliable numbers and reports.
4. Use your Point of Sales System
A good Point of Sales will provide you with tools to manage your menu, promotions, pricing, commissions, stock and the reports to allow you to see what you are selling and what is working for you. Learn and use as many of the features of your POS that are applicable to your venue.
5. Staff relationship
In many ways, a successful restaurant or bar staff is a family, and some of the problems you will face and how you deal with them will be like dealing with family situations. A manager needs to be tough, fair and sensitive. It's a particular balancing act, sometimes an awful lot like being a father or mother.
6. Time Management
Don't expect to have hours to do one thing - you might get it sometimes., but you sure can't expect it. The F&B business is sometimes one of putting out one fire after another, so keep that in mind when planning your task-list. A good POS or management software provide very good help here.
7. Master Delegation
Yes, you need to know how to do every job in the business, but that doesn't mean you should be doing them. Lead by example by doing your job and expect your employees to do theirs - show them how when necessary.
8. Be accountable
if you expect your staff to own up to their mistakes (and everyone makes mistakes), you need to be willing to accept responsibility when you make mistakes. Don't be afraid to say "That was my fault".
9. Be proactive
Find time to think about how to improve things, how to appeal to new markets, how to bring customers back, etc. It's not enough to maintain the business, a good manager is working on improving the business.
10. Congratulate, celebrate, reward
Don't just tell your staff when they do something wrong, make sure you tell them when they do things right or great. A "great job" goes a long way.
12. Actionable critique
Restaurants, bars or coffeeshops business are home to Mr. Murphy of Murphy's law. What can go wrong, will. When things go wrong, deal with it, but afterwards, take a few minutes to analyze the situation and think about what could have been done. Learn from the things that go wrong.
13. Don't get stuck in a rut
It is easy to say "This worked for us before" and not recognize that situations or the market have changed. Especially now in the post-Covid world, it is important to recognize that what worked before may not work now.
14. Customer Centric
Without customers, you have no business, so customer satisfaction has to be a top priority, and that is always a challenge. It has to be a challenge you rise to. Always weigh the value of positive word-of-mouth vs. negative word-of-mouth, especially in this age of on-line reviews. Respond to on-line reviews in a positive manner.
15. Financial Visibility
Manage your costs, keep track of your margins, know how much promotions cost you. Dependent on a number of factors (rent, staff salaries,, etc.) the typical F&B business needs to be running with a gross margin of 60% to 80% (meaning the cost of materials are 20% to 40% of the sale price).
16. Marketing
Someone needs to be marketing your business, on social media and elsewhere. These days, there are a number of collaborative groups that may be a better way to take care of this than the manager trying to do it. Look into the options, choose what fits your business. Marketing is all about helping people find your business and try it or remind them of it. Then your product and customer service is about getting them back. Maximize your marketing efforts - if you sponsor a hockey team? Use their social media as well as yours to market your place.
17. Menu Offering
What sells best? What sells worst? What is your most profitable dish? How are customers encouraged to purchase dishes with better margins? How do you manage your stock to reduce wastage from spoilage? Pay attention to all of this, and change the menu as items lose sales.
18. Collaboration
It is unlikely that your customers eat and drink in your place every meal, so consider working with some of your competitors. Maybe have specials that encourage your customer to try their place (with them doing the same for you). Take advantage of the natural tendency of people to seek diversity by teaming up with competition that offers that diversity (for example, a collaboration between a pub, a Chinese restaurant, a pool hall, and an Italian restaurant). Think outside the box on how to draw in customers and help your customers.
19. Repairs
This gets overlooked by lots of managers, but getting things fixed is a big deal. Anything that is broken or not working properly, from coolers to air-conditioners to toilets reflects on the business and has an impact on the customer experience.