How to Negotiate Better Deals With Hospitality Suppliers
Your suppliers can have a huge impact on the profitability of your hospitality business. Food, beverages, cleaning products, packaging, linen and other supplies can represent a significant portion of your operating costs. Yet many hospitality businesses simply accept the price on the invoice. That’s a mistake. Negotiating with suppliers isn’t about bullying someone into giving […]
How to Price Your Cafe or Restaurant Menu Properly (Without Guessing)
One of the easiest ways to get menu pricing wrong is to look at what everyone else is charging. The cafe down the road sells a bacon and egg roll for $12. So you charge $12. The restaurant around the corner sells a chicken schnitzel for $28. So you charge $28. It seems logical. But […]
Why Your Cafe Has Empty Tables at 2pm: How to Fix Your Quiet Periods
Your cafe might be packed at 8am. The coffee machine is working overtime. The kitchen is flat out. There is a queue at the counter and every table is occupied. Then 2pm arrives. Suddenly, half the tables are empty. By 3pm, the staff are looking at the clock. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. […]
How to Control Labour Costs in Your Cafe, Restaurant or Hotel Without Cutting Staff
Labour is one of the biggest costs in hospitality. And when the numbers aren’t working, the first solution many owners reach for is simple: Cut the roster. Sometimes that is necessary. But cutting staff isn’t always the answer. If you take one person off the floor during a busy service and suddenly customers are waiting […]
How to Set Up a Speed Tray Behind the Bar for Faster Service
A well-set-up speed tray can make a surprising difference to the speed and efficiency of your bar. During a quiet shift, it probably doesn’t matter whether the vodka is 30 centimetres to your left or right. During a Friday night rush, when you’ve got six drinks waiting on the docket, those extra movements add up. […]
How to Stop Over-Ordering Stock in Your Cafe, Restaurant or Hotel
Walking into a full storeroom can make a hospitality owner feel prepared. The fridge is full. The freezer is full. The dry store is stacked. There are plenty of drinks in the cool room. Nobody should run out of anything. Sounds good, right? Not necessarily. Too much stock can be just as much of a […]
Why Your Hospitality Business Can Be Profitable But Still Have No Cash
You look at your accounts and see a profit. Sales are strong. Customers are coming through the door. You have worked hard all month. But when you look at the bank account, there’s barely enough money to pay the next round of bills. So you start asking: “Where has all the money gone?” This is […]
How to Build a Hospitality Roster That Actually Works
A hospitality roster can make or break your week. Get it right and your team is ready when customers arrive, the kitchen has enough people to keep up, the bar isn’t overloaded and staff know what they’re doing. Get it wrong and you can end up with: A good hospitality roster isn’t simply a list […]
How to Fix Your Cocktail Menu: 10 Changes That Can Improve Sales and Profit
If your cocktail menu isn’t selling the way you expected, the problem might not be your cocktails. It could be the menu itself. A cocktail menu has to do several jobs at once. It needs to make drinks look appealing, help customers make decisions, be practical for your bartenders to execute and, most importantly, make […]
How to Get More Repeat Customers in Your Cafe, Restaurant or Hotel
Getting someone through the door once is good. Getting them to come back next week is better. And getting them to become a regular customer who brings friends, recommends you to others and chooses your business automatically is where hospitality businesses can really build value. Yet many businesses spend most of their marketing effort trying […]
How to Train Your Hospitality Staff: A Practical Guide for Cafe, Restaurant and Bar Owners
Good hospitality staff don’t just happen. Even the best employee can struggle if they are thrown into a busy shift with little training, unclear expectations and no idea how the business actually operates. One of the biggest mistakes hospitality businesses make is assuming that an experienced person automatically knows how you want things done. They […]
How to Make More Money With Upsells in Your Cafe, Restaurant or Bar
One of the easiest ways to increase revenue in hospitality is to get more value from the customers you already have. You don’t necessarily need more customers. You don’t necessarily need more advertising. Sometimes you simply need to give the customers already standing in front of you a better reason to spend a little more. […]
