Gather Restaurant Information and Claim Your Promotion!

This blog should take you out of the career starting blocks and move you toward your objective of earning (rhymes with learning!) more.  Start by understanding a restaurants profitabiity through the power of your observation, asking questions and gathering information. 

Over the years working as a C-Store level executive and restaurant consultant,  I’ve learned that everyone in the organization has to maximize performance, and use resources to build profits.  Along with your hard work, this knowledge may be key to your building a career in foodservice.

Once you understand that you can take a systematic approach to understanding profits and start at any level of the organization, you're on your way!   Agreed, every line cook does not have access to the P & L (profit & loss statement), but you can gather information about the business, talk to the bookkeeper, buyer, manager and ask questions, which improves your understanding of the business, relationships and ideas.

You are already acquainted with the menu, understand sales mix (stars & dogs), see what products are being delivered, know that you don't feature crab out-of-season, or bacon burgers when bacon is $3.25 lb.; you work either the FOH or BOH, attend staff meetings and as a member of the foodservice community, want to learn how the business operates and functions. 

Your powers of observation can assist you in this process, for example:

1. Staff requirements and reporting structures.
2. General strengths and weaknesses of operation v. competition
3. Product data (quality level, sales mix, recipe/Food Cost, retail prices)
4. Inefficiencies (slow production at peak times, poor management)

We are all acquainted with restaurant owners or have heard stories about chain executives that started as waite staff or line-cooks at the local greasy spoon or "Do-Drop Inn".   They succeeded by applying what they took time to learn, and then related this information to the company’s profitability.

You will quickly gain the attention of your employer (or during your next job interview) by having an answer to the question,  “how can we improve our restaurants' profit and performance.” And, in the very next breath add why the business is unique.   

To Higher Income!

Fred

Fred Favole is President Strategic Purchasing Services (SPS), America’s most experienced purchasing firm, specializing in purchasing dept. outsourcing, cost-reduction and contract price-compliance. Contact Info: Office: 912-634-0030 email: fred@strategicpurchasingservices.com Blog: https://purchasinginsights.blogspot.com