What is most important, the food or the service? This is a question that many restaurateurs grapple with. But can you even have one without the other? While both are important to success, keeping in mind what your core competency is, will help you make decisions for long-term success.
Remember Why You’re In Business
We all started with a goal in mind. What was yours? If you started your restaurant to serve your community great food, then your main goal should be to make decisions to this end. If you were tired of going out to eat and waiting an hour between your appetizer and entrée, then ensuring your service is top notch should be your driving force.
Keep It Simple
According to a 2018 Hospitality Technology study, 58 percent of restaurant owners use at least 10 systems in their daily operations. Another 30 percent use 12 or more. These systems often perform mundane tasks like organizing orders, scheduling and recruiting, automating bookkeeping processes, making orders faster, tracking customer history, and so on. While each system may seem like it is aiding you in reaching your end goals it is important to evaluate them in practice. Too many systems working at once may actually hamper your productivity while costing you money. Make sure you’re only using technology that makes your restaurant work more efficiently keeping in mind the goals you’ve set out for your business.
Focus on Experience
In many ways, choosing between great food and great service is a false choice. They both serve the same purpose—to give your customer the best experience possible. There are many ways to go about this and no one answer will satisfy all of a business’ needs. However, there is one thing to keep in mind: where do your employees succeed the most? Restaurant technology has turned every employee into a data analyst, but that’s oftentimes not their forte. Would your General Manager better serve your business by analyzing sales trends in the office, or while out on the floor helping your customers? Chances are, you answered that they would be better off on the floor. If that’s the case, then be sure to employ technology that keeps your employees in places where they can succeed.
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