You have started a restaurant of your own but dont you agree it is not easy to manage your staff? Is the staff working on the floor facing stressful situations which they do not know how to solve? One thing that helps you to deal with all such situations is – a restaurant operations manual. There are two things that require absolute clarity before you go on to understand why a restaurant operations manual is necessary for your DTLA restaurant.
- What are restaurant operations?
- What is a restaurant operations manual?
What Are Restaurant Operations?
Restaurant operations are various activities carried out in a restaurant to run the business. They include all activities involved in the preparation of food, cleaning, customer service, accounting, reporting, purchasing raw materials, etc. All of these front of the house and back of the house activities together are forming restaurant operations.
What is A Restaurant Operations Manual?
Operations manual at restaurants is a list of stock taking tasks that are important to your business success, how to do the tasks and who is responsible for the functions listed. It will be a collection of guidelines, duties and checklist and other information that each staff of the restaurant needs to know. It will act as a Guide of reference so that employees quickly check this document if they need to know something.
Things to remember when creating a restaurant operations manual
As a restaurant operations manual helps you run your business seamlessly, to prepare it right may take a toll on you. The main things that you should keep in mind while making the restaurant operations manual are –
- Use Checklists – checklists are beneficial tools when you have to complete a chore in a line of order. It is always a smart option when once an employee goes through the given chores lists and has himor her sign in. This brings a sense of preciseness and accountability to what they have finished.
- Write and explain the process – written procedures help keep good quality employees.
Some procedures that must be included by restaurants are –
- Kitchen procedures
- Dining room procedures
- Reservation handling
- Cleaning guidelines
Create easy- to – read, how- to guides – the processes may be easy to decipher so that the employees may understand and implement it with efficiency.
Renew the manual – the operating manual is a living document, which may be subject to change. You must review it every quarter. The best way is to get it in electronic format on a web based system so that all the employees get access to the latest version.
The restaurant operations manual sets a standard way of dealing with customers , with their queries, promotions, follow up,etc. This ensures that all your clients are treated equally and fairly, enhancing their interactions with you. Once you deliver consistent customer service, you’ll be able to create a band of loyal and happy customers, this automatically helps you to keep your cash registers overflowing.
Conclusion:
consistency and Efficiency are the two most important factors for a successful restaurant. By providing a restaurant operations manual to your staff, your staff will get a clear understanding of what you expect from them and this helps to minimise the chances of mistakes or inconsistencies that happen when written documentation is not provided.