How To Run A Restaurant

Knowing how to run a restaurant to turn a profit and keep customers coming back for more is a combination of business sense and personality. The key to running a restaurant successfully is to keep your customers happy and have them spread your good reputation by word of mouth. You can advertise in magazines or grand billboards all you want but, to run a restaurant and turn a profit, you'd better have repeat clients who will talk you up. That's where your bread and butter will be.

1. Spend some time observing other restaurants in the area. Go sit in other restaurants at different times of day and order a meal. Think about what you like and do not like about the restaurant or its wait staff. Good food is only a part of a restaurant's make up - the other part is employees. Are the employees serving you attentive or are they talking on their cell phones? Make mental notes about behavior you like and dislike. Even better, use your own cell phone to jot down notes for future review.
2. Hire a good chef. You don't have to hire the most expensive chef available but you do have to hire a chef who is confident in his abilities. A good chef should also be solicitous enough to change dishes around to suit customer needs. What you don't need is a chef who thinks every one of his dishes is "good enough" and won't accept changes or constructive criticism. Hiring a chef who can provide quick and tasty service is vital to your abilities to run a restaurant well.
3. You're sure to have a good experience running a restaurant if you hire wait staff with good work ethics. Stress to your employees that you expect them to be on time and prepared to work their whole shift. Ask your employees to circle through the restaurant even in their down times to check if customers are happy. Don't accept any employee telling you "that's not my table." You should reply immediately with "This is not your job." Restaurant employees should function as a team at all times.
4. Educate your employees about the ingredients in all dishes. Hold organized tastings of each of the dishes your restaurant offers so every employee becomes familiar with all the dishes and can respond to customer questions in a knowledgeable fashion. Train your wait staff to say "I don't know but I'll find out" if a customer poses a question to which they don't immediately know the answer.