restaurant

What to demand from a property audit

What to demand from a property audit

Three results you should demand

 

Some hotels and restaurants spend thousands of dollars every year on property evaluations. Some are required by the brand, the ownership, or other third party. Some are better than others, and many bring little to no value to the property. You are paying a lot for these visits - you should expect more from them.

 

What are you getting for you money?  Passing you audit is often the only real goal.  What should you really expect from a good property audit? A lot of money is invested in you and your establishment, and a lot is expected. What would be the outcome if you could increase revenues by 3%? If you can save 5% on the bottom line? If you can increase the level of satisfaction, you can double those numbers. How would that effect your life, your ownership, your staff, and most importantly, guests?

 

 

You should expect to find out answers to these 3 questions:

 

     

 
   10 Reasons why your Hotel Needs a Great Restaurant

10 reasons why you want to have a great restaurant in your great hotel!

 

Many folks spend many hours discussing the virtues of having a great restaurant in your hotel. Here are my top ten reasons to support having great Food and Beverage venues:

 

 

1.         Charisma - It gives your hotel personality, it is the face of your hotel, and is brings life to your hotel, it makes it more than just a square box with rooms!

 

2.         Revenue -  Food and Beverage can add substantial revenue to your operation. Many successful hotel restaurants produce more F&B revenue than Rooms revenue. I understand it is not as profitable; however, if you go into it with the right mindset, it can definitely deliver great results.

 

 

     

 
   What happened to Sunday Brunch?

Why has Sunday brunch disappeared in many of our great hotels and resorts?

The answer must be the profitability. Too often we are focused on trying to make sure that each event that we do contributes and is a profit center for the hotel while we should be looking at the big picture of what the food and beverage venues bring to the hotel.

F&B should be the face (the personality) of the hotel: one that makes each visit a memorable one, not a dull and uninspired meal where the guests eat out of necessity!  Dining out in your restaurant should be an experience, not a necessity. If we have pride and excitement about what we do, this will reflect on their experience and will result in having busy, lively, and memorable places for our guests to eat, drink, and be merry!

     

 
   The Bottom Line

We all work hard to earn a dime these days. In the restaurant business, it can be very hard earned, and you want to keep all those dollars and put them in the bank. Here are the top five areas to be on the look-out for:

 

1.     Purchasing - look at your purchasing practices.  Contracts and procedures are key. Do you have a purchasing agreement? Do you get weekly price quotes? Who is ordering and who is receiving? How does the process work? Are we buying the best quality and getting the best yield? I continue to see issues in this area. It is the biggest issue that I see and should be a priority.

 

2.     Labor - normally the number one expense that you will have.  Don’t take it for granted. Who is scheduling your team, and based on what? Do you compare income to labor hours? Without cutting the quality of service and preparation, there are many ways to be more efficient.  Is everybody arriving at the same time and going home at the same time? Staying busy in slow times? Are people taking lunch breaks? Do the staff leave or hang around on the clock? Look at it from all angles. I can almost guarantee your savings in this area.

 

3.     Theft - I have always trusted my team, and trust is an important factor in creating a strong team. However, don’t let that be your reason not to protect your investments. Unfortunately, you can’t always trust everyone. Have systems in place to rule out opportunity.  If you leave the bank door open, you would be surprised who will take a tour!  Close the opportunities so that people are not tempted. Look at all departments and positions.

 

4.     Portion control – over-prepping and over-pouring. Know what your meal and drink sizes are and stick to them. Value for the money is important. Give what you think is the right size for what you are charging; just have systems in place to make sure that you do so.

If you need guidance in this review process, contact me