Restaurant Social Media
Challenges Faced By Restaurants Today
From your experience, what are the top 3-5 challenges restaurants are facing and are looking to be solved?
Tags: challenges, restaurants, solutions
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Keith Bernhardt on -
From a customer standpoint, this is what I'm seeing :
1. Too many "like brands" on the Nat'l scene. (Ruby Tuesday, TGIF seem similar to me. Lone Star SteakHouse and LongHorn steak house
2. Slow days/nights during the week
3. Too much focus on locals and families (nothing wrong with that). Don't know how to deal with
tourism or the business community
4. A lot of fast food influence too.
5. Brand Distinction (See Number 1. I like all the ones I mentioned, but still unclear how they differentiate brand wise, unless it is the service factor).
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Permalink Reply by susan holaday on -
Also from a consumer viewpoint - I'm a foodservice journalist - I'd say the top challenge is doing your best in times when margins are really under pressure to keep the food and service at the highest level you can produce -
Operators need to do more in a weak economy to point out to customers their value to them - their convenience, the fact that food at home prices are rising faster than those for food away from home, the "sit down, relax, we'll take care of you" factor -
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Permalink Reply by Leslie Howard on -
1. Food quality
2. Streamlined processes
3. Qualified and enthusiastic employees
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Permalink Reply by Debra Straka on -
Retention of quality staff.
Food costs.
Advertising dollars.
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Permalink Reply by Brent DeMesquita on -
1. The inability to deliver a consistant quality guest experience, due the failure to engage team members.
2. Continuing high team member turnover in many restaurants.
3. Fighting to deal with increasing commodity prices and the challenge of pricing correctly to match guest perception of price/value.
4. Continuing to generate enough profit to remain in business.
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Permalink Reply by William Taylor on -
1. Retaining quality staff with labor constraints.
2. Keeping food costs down with the organic and sustainable trends.
3. Keeping "Green" in Georgia, the least "Green" state.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Quasebarth on -
I agree with your statements, and I would add the increasing pressure to meet customer expectations without sacrificing quality or value.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Quasebarth on
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One major issue is finding managers that actually manage. Today, under-management is becoming an epidemic.
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Permalink Reply by Jason on -
Correct, their are not enough great leaders out there. We have plenty of bosses, but few leaders.
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Permalink Reply by Marinonet on -
'TURNOVER: Restauranteurs just don't grasp this cost saving concept. The attitude that waiters are a dime a dozen is rampant in this industry. My retort has always been.."But a GOOD server is worth his weight in gold." 'TRAINING': There's alot of managers out there that are constantly telling their staff to sell. But they have no idea how to teach their staff to do this, nor do they give them the tools to do so. They think the steps of service means walking from the dining room to the kitchen. Alot of this blame falls on owners and upper managers who are not training THEM properly. 'NEGATIVITY': There are some restaurants I've worked at that just can't seem to motivate their staff. They bitch about sales and threaten to fire people, they bitch about service, they bitch to the kitchen about plate presentation and ticket times, And then they bitch because the whole staff has a negative attitude. Jeez! Sh*t does fall downhill. 'LABOR': Overstaffing and getting people off the clock seems to elude some managers. A few minutes per day for each person working a medium sized restaurant could mean thousands of dollars per year. Leave it to me to turn this into a rant. But that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
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Permalink Reply by Jason on
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I agree 100% it is all about your people and negativity doesn't get it done.The only way to be successful is to let people take you there. If those that you manage or coach or develope don't want to see you succeed then you never will. People have to want to perform for you. The only way to have them buy into you is to buy into them. If they are going to purchase stock in you, then you need to give them a return on their investment.
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Permalink Reply by Devin McMillan on -
It seems that at least 80% talk about staff turnover or quality employees. I really think that if you have a high turn over rate, you need to turn and look at yourself and see if you attract loyal employees. How do you treat them. Just as a good chef can make or break a restaurant, good servers, hosts, and bartenders can also control your income.You might try and do a little more than others in town to attract the best staff that you can get. Reward the ones that help you out in a crunch by giving them the good sections for a while or the days off that everyone else is requesting and let the rest of the staff know why you are doing it. The fact that you have 25 applications waiting at your desk doesn't mean that everyone is replaceable in a heartbeat. It costs a lot of money to train new employees and who knows how much it costs you in guests when there is a new face every visit that doesn't know their name or how they prefer their dinner. When your staff likes you, they will stay longer and are less likely to steal from you also. Get rid of the "I give you a place to work" attitude and apprectiate the fact that they are working for you.
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