The success in the hospitality industry is all about customer experience. Why? Well, first, because return visitors make the bulk of its profit. Second, because a satisfied customer is more susceptible to techniques like upselling and cross-selling. Third, because customer reviews, high ratings and word of mouth recommendations can make or break your business. In fact, instead of just recommending a place to a friend, they may accompany them to the location, thus paying you an additional visit. There are five factors to consider when starting your restaurant and organizing its infrastructure and here’s what you should know about it.
The location
The first issue that you’ll have to address is the one of the location. The reason why this is important is due to the fact that it affects your marketing, your brand image and the way people talk about your business. You see, the majority of restaurants are addressed according to their location in a live conversation (for instance: “do you know that place down on the X?”). This also means that if you’re forced to move, you might have to rebrand the place or start a completely new marketing campaign. In other words, this is something that you need to think about ahead of time.
The menu
The next thing that’s pivotal for your brand and your business model is the menu. Do you want to specialize in a specific type of cuisine or do you want to take a more general approach? Other than just setting your offer, this will also determine your business model. You see, if you’re a company that specializes in brisket and smoked ribs, you always need to have a fresh supply, seeing as how a single portion may take up to 12 hours to make. On the other hand, a steak can be made in a matter of minutes. Keep in mind that this also affects your relationship with suppliers, as well as your storage solutions and capacities.
The kitchen
The preparedness of the kitchen itself is incredibly important for your success. As a restaurant, you’ll have to resort to quality appliances and kitchenware, due to the fact that they’re in use most of the time and going for low quality may make your life so much harder. Other than just providing your kitchen with these work instruments, you also may have to make some adjustments to the area. Due to the nature of the work, having a heat exchanger installed is a most definite must.
The staff
Every restaurant needs a capable staff, seeing as how this is an issue that’s directly related to the overall customer satisfaction. First of all, you need to have a restaurant manager and some capable chefs (at least one for every shift) in your employ. Then, you need some cooks to back up your chef, as well as the support staff like dishwashers. For the general area (outside of the kitchen), you need some serving staff, hosting staff and even some bartenders. Once you have all of these people on-board, you will have a full staff.
The extra
Lastly, in order to set yourself apart from other restaurants, you need to provide your customers with something extra. It could be something simple like a special offer, a unique dish on your menu or an extremely fast Wi-Fi connection. Either way, you need to figure out a unique proposition that will help you stand out amongst numerous competitors that you’ll have in the area. This is not a simple task but with so many options, you shouldn’t have much trouble figuring out what you need.
Conclusion
The one thing that we’ve failed to mention on this list is the marketing, however, seeing as how the location, the menu, the infrastructure and the additional offer may all play a part here, this is best left for the very end. Overall, if you know what you’re doing and have everything planned out, the transition from a new restaurant to a household name in the neighborhood will not be too complex.