Opening up a restaurant of your own is a big venture; you’re going to be serving good food and drinks to the people looking for a good day or night out, and satisfying every single one of their expectations could make or break your business.
You need to know where the challenges ahead lie, and what you can do about them. Because a food business is unlike any other – you’re a hang out spot, an eating spot, and ultimately, a comfortable spot.
All in all, opening up a food business of your own can be tricky, and you’re going to need some steel on your side. So, keep the challenges below in mind ahead of time.
Using the Right Materials
Companies that churn out a lot of waste, such as those in big pharma, manufacturing, and even those in the food and beverage sector, need to be wary of the materials that are used in the making, packaging, and delivery of their products. And for a restaurant, that mainly means keeping an eye on how much plastic you’re churning out.
Your materials need to be reusable or recyclable – no plastic cutlery, only recyclable packaging for leftovers and/or takeout, paper or metal straws to be used, etc. – and it’s a good idea to keep an eye on plastic bans in your country too.
Dealing with Customer Complaints
If you’re going to be the manager of a restaurant, it’s important to have thick skin. Of course, most customers that come through the doors are lovely and just want to eat their meals, but some are a lot louder and a lot more willing to let you know what they thought than most.
And when you have a complaint to deal with, things can get tricky. First of all, you’re definitely going to need liability insurance for your business here – if a customer gets food poisoning from a meal, or they find something in their food that’s not meant to be there, you’re going to need to cover yourself. You’re also going to want to train your staff in customer management; no one wants to be shouted or sworn at, but it may happen, and you need to think about that ahead of time.
Keeping Food Stores
And finally, it’s hard to keep food stores stocked in the restaurant business, simply thanks to the varying shelf life of the items you’ll be cooking and serving. Inventory management in the restaurant sector is notoriously hard to keep up with, and stock rotation needs to be carried out efficiently and hygienically. Thankfully, there’s a lot of software on the market that’ll help to keep your stock rooms safe, and there are plenty of methods for keeping track of when stock needs to be used by.
Opening a restaurant has a lot of challenge to it, simply thanks to the business model, but make sure you know all about the issues above before you open those doors for the first time!
