Restaurant Management: The 3 Pillars Of Success

Restaurant management brings into play many factors that influence the success of the establishment. Among these, 3 fundamental pillars must be the object of all the attentions to allow the restaurant to differentiate itself.

This is what chef René Redzepi confirms in an interview , where he describes the formula that helped him get out of a critical situation of declining attendance, 6 months after opening a restaurant that was to one day become the one of the best in the world:

“The secret was to create a link between the Noma restaurant , the way of presenting the dishes, the way of serving them and their composition. It was impossible to separate one element from the rest ”.

And indeed, the menu, the service and the atmosphere are the essential points that restaurant management must prioritize above all. We are therefore going to explain to you how to best manage the 3 fundamental pillars of your establishment and see it thus crowned with success. So take note!

The gastronomic offer

Serving a good meal is no longer enough to overcome the challenges of the restaurant industry, as customers become increasingly knowledgeable about gastronomy. They know the ingredients, recipes and food inside out. To succeed in your gastronomic offer, you must pay particular attention to the following aspects:

• The quality. It goes without saying that the main characteristic of your card should be quality. But it’s not just about using good products and cooking up tasty recipes. To offer your customers an extraordinary culinary experience, each dish that comes out of your kitchen must perfectly combine flavor, smell and presentation . Consistent adherence to this rule will make your customers want to try your dishes.
• The profitability. The culinary quality of your dishes should in no way be synonymous with low profitability, on the contrary. In restaurant management, if you apply the menu engineering technique for example, you will be able to determine which ingredients and products are the most consumed and the most profitable, carry out more productive stock management and thus have a menu. that will always generate profits.
• Innovation. Even if your restaurant has built its success by offering a typical regional dish, and even if your customers always come to taste the same product, it is important to vary your menu by regularly adding new dishes of an equivalent interest to that of your star dishes , so that the establishment can adapt to changes in the market and guarantee its long-term success. Don’t hesitate to take gastronomic trends into account when developing your new recipes.

The service

In the same vein, it is no longer enough to greet guests with kindness, to take their orders, to serve them and to thank them when they leave the restaurant. Nowadays, a restaurant that wants to stand out from the competition and be successful must strive to provide memorable service. How? ‘Or’ What ? Answer: paying particular attention to the following details:

• The motivation of the team. A dissatisfied waiter will never be able to take care of customers properly. One of the rules of good restaurant management is that your staff must feel that they are being listened to, so that they can then return the favor to your customers. To create the perfect team , you need to make each of their members feel valued and motivated , by offering them bonuses and organizing activities that inspire them to perform at their best in every department.
• A good knowledge of the products. A customer is more likely to choose a dish if your waiters can describe it in detail. The reason is simple: your venue team can’t sell something they don’t know or understand. Organize regular food tastings for your entire team so that they become familiar with your gastronomic offer and know the value of your menu.
• Personalized attention. “If I had a million customers, I would create a million Amazon” . That’s what Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, said. By that he meant that each client is different, that each has different needs. It is therefore essential to ‘ observe customers, analyze, listen to them, understand what they want and how they like to be served in order to be able to offer a personalized service. If you serve your restaurant customers with their preferences in mind, you’ll always have a full house.

Key Points To Guarantee Restaurant Recipes

The atmosphere

By ambiance, we do not only mean the decoration of the establishment, but also all the physical elements of the restaurant that serve as the setting for the gastronomic experience. In this sense, it is fundamental that all of these elements work like an orchestra and create a pleasant space where customers feel good. You can play on the following dimensions:

• Authenticity. Why will a customer prefer your restaurant to others? What makes your establishment unique? Thanks to its decoration and its atmosphere, your restaurant can acquire a style of its own that will make customers want to come back. Even in the case of a simple cafeteria, the fact of using, for example, original tableware is a differentiating factor. Details like this can have a big impact on sales .
• Comfort above all. There’s no point in creating an ultra-modern or eye-catching establishment if guests don’t feel right there. Never sacrifice the comfort of your guests for a sparkling decoration. The ideal is to create an atmosphere with a style that is both new and comfortable. The term “catering” means offering customers a space where they can “eat”, that is, experience a feeling of well-being . Be sure to follow this rule.
• Added values. If a restaurant offers a quality menu, memorable service and a harmonious atmosphere, the icing on the cake is to complete the customer experience with added values. Think about satisfying the 5 senses, for example by organizing live concerts  : you will offer pleasant music to customers and thus create an ideal atmosphere.

TheFork has developed tools that help you effectively manage these 3 pillars of restaurant management. Take advantage of all the advantages we offer you:

Successful restaurant management with TheFork

• To make yourself known and attract customers, you can publish your restaurant free of charge on TheFork’s reservations portal .
• To manage your reservations, organize your services more easily and seduce your customers with marketing actions, you have the restaurant software TheForkManager.
• To ensure that your customers always want to come back, you can sign up for our YUMS loyalty program and run special promotions.

Do you properly manage the 3 pillars of your restaurant, namely the menu, the service and the atmosphere? Do you have the necessary resources to carry out this task? We hope you answered yes to both of these questions. And if this is not the case, we invite you to get involved. The effort is worth it!