Monthly Archives: April 2021

  1. EPOS Direct How to keep your costs low? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct How to keep your costs low?

    Invest in Technology

    Do you use technology within your business? Many business owners are mistaken by thinking that using technology will increase your costs. However, investing into technology will allow you to run your business cost efficiently. The introduction of teleconference services such as Skype will make the use of a landline redundant. This will reduce the phone bills you incur. Online payments will remove the need of card payment in your business which will prevent you having to purchase a card machine. The development of remote desktop applications will prevent you from having to purchase expensive software or equipment. Investing into technology will substantially reduce your costs during the long term.

    Remove your landline

    If you are using a landline in your small business, you will be incurring a substantial cost as you will be charged an expensive rate for the usage of your telephone. During the modern day, a landline will not be
    Read more
  2. EPOS Direct Should you offer breakfast? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Should you offer breakfast?

    Do your customers eat breakfast?

    Before you decide to introduce a breakfast menu, you must consider whether your customers will want to purchase breakfast products. This is because if your target audience do not want to eat out for breakfast, your restaurant will struggle to sell breakfast products. It is important to remember that a breakfast menu will not be successful for all types of restaurants. For example, if you owned an Indian restaurant, you would struggle to attract customers to purchase breakfast from your restaurant. The most common places for customers to eat breakfast are cafes, fast food restaurants or coffee shops. If you have a suitable target audience, a breakfast menu can significantly boost the revenue of your restaurant.

    Limit Average Spend

    How much do customers spend in your restaurant? As a restaurateur, it is important to understand that consumers will not spend a substantial amount of money on breakfast as the products
    Read more
  3. EPOS Direct Is your retailer sustainable? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Is your retailer sustainable?

    Do you know what you want to achieve?

    In order to run a sustainable retailer, it is essential that you produce a detailed business plan. When you are producing your business plan, you should carry out a significant amount of research and seek professional advice. This will give you the knowledge you need to produce an effective business plan. A business plan will help you through your journey of running a retailer and will ensure that your retailer is operating efficiently. A business plan gives you the opportunity to ensure that you always have the funds required to cover your costs. You should refer to your business plan when making decisions because this will allow you to make an educated decision. When you are creating the vision of your business, you should identify the image of your retailer as this will determine many aspects of your business including the products that you offer. In order to run a sustainable retailer, consistency will be key. Once you have created
    Read more
  4. EPOS Direct Should you sell alcohol? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Should you sell alcohol?

    Advantages

    Increase Average Spend Usually, alcoholic beverages will be more expensive than non-alcoholic drinks. If your customer decided to purchase an alcoholic beverage instead of a soft drink, they will spend more on their drink. This shows that serving alcohol will encourage customers to spend more in your restaurant which will increase the revenue of your restaurant. As a restaurateur, it is important to understand that customers will be willing to spend more on alcoholic beverages which will enable you to increase the prices of your alcohol. This will give your profit margin the opportunity to widen. It is highly recommended that you offer deals on your alcoholic drinks. For example, bottle of wine for £15. This will lead to the customers buying a bottle of wine instead of just a glass as they will not want to miss out on the deals. Serving alcohol will encourage your customers to open their wallets!

    Larger Audience

    Who is your
    Read more
  5. EPOS Direct Would your restaurant pass an inspection? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Would your restaurant pass an inspection?

    Meeting with staff

    Are your staff prepared? Once you are expecting a visit from the health inspector, you should host an official meeting with all of your employees. This will give you the opportunity to discuss the upcoming inspection with your staff and will allow you to brief them on the tasks that need to be done. This will ensure that your staff are prepared and will lead to them completing the tasks that you assigned to them. This will ensure that all aspects of your restaurant are clean which will increase the likeliness of your restaurant passing the inspection.

    Don’t make the same mistake twice

    What was the result of your last inspection? As a restaurateur, you should review the reports from your last inspection as this will allow you to identify which aspects of your restaurant need improving. If an aspect of your restaurant failed the last inspection, it is recommended that you focus on the aspects of your restaurant which are unsatisfactory. T
    Read more
  6. EPOS Direct Do you know how to deal with bad reviews? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Do you know how to deal with bad reviews?

    Instant Feedback Channels

    Do you provide your customers with a place to give feedback? As a restaurateur, it is important to understand that customers will post bad reviews online when they are unable to directly communicate with your restaurant. This means that if you provide your customers with an instant feedback channel, it will reduce the number of bad reviews that you receive. This shows that an instant feedback channel will be essential in order to protect your restaurant’s reputation. An instant feedback channel will enable you to improve your restaurant as it will encourage customers to broadcast their opinions about your restaurant. Providing your customers with an instant feedback channel will show your customers that you care about them. One of the most common ways which restaurants use to communicate with customers is a contact form on their website. An effective contact form will encourage customers to send all of their contact details and concerns to you. O
    Read more
  7.  EPOS Direct Should students be your restaurant’s target audience? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Should students be your restaurant’s target audience?

    The number of University and College students is significantly increasing annually. As a restaurateur, you should take advantage of this opportunity because there will be a substantial number of young people who will be eating out or wanting to go for a drink. You should target students and young people as this will lead to students wanting to visit your restaurant. This gives your restaurant the ability to become a hub for students to meet. Here are a few tips on how to lure students into your restaurant. Promotions As a restaurateur, it vital to understand that students will have limited funds when they are studying at University and will not have the budget to spend a significant amount of money on eating out. It is recommended for you to offer student deals such as “Burger and a drink for £5”. This will lead to an increased number of students visiting your restaurant as they will know that they will be getting a good deal and will not have to spend a lot of money. It is important to i

    Read more
  8. EPOS Direct Does your Restaurant need a website? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Does your Restaurant need a website?

    Increased Brand Awareness

    Is your restaurant established? Creating a website will give you the opportunity to advertise your restaurant to a wider range of customers. This is because when a customer searches for a restaurant online, it will allow your restaurant’s website to appear as a search result. This will allow more customers to know about your restaurant which will encourage a significant number of customers to visit your restaurant. This shows that a website can be a useful tool to increase the brand awareness of your restaurant and increase the sales of your restaurant. As a restaurateur, you will want as many people as possible to visit your website. This is why you should invest time and money into your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy. If you have a strong SEO strategy, your website will be ranked higher in the search results which will lead to a higher number of users clicking on your restaurant’s website. When you are choosing your domain name, it is
    Read more
  9. EPOS Direct Do you have difficult customers? 13Apr

    EPOS Direct Do you have difficult customers?

    How will I identify a difficult customer?

    Do you know what a difficult customer looks like? Here are a few characteristics to look out for. • They will criticise all aspects of your restaurant, including your food, service, staff and appearance of the restaurant. • They will seek for a significant amount of attention. • They will constantly complain about your prices even if they are low. • They will claim your restaurant is poor and will compare you to local restaurants. • They will ask for the same modification to their meal regularly and will remind you of mistakes that you previously made.

    Show Sympathy

    When the customer makes a complaint, it is important to ensure that you apologise for the inconvenience and acknowledge their opinion even if you do not agree with it. This will show the customer that you care about the problem which will display that you are working hard to find a solution to the issue. This will calm the customer down and
    Read more
  10. Should your Restaurant become vegan? 13Apr

    Should your Restaurant become vegan?

    Stand out from the crowd

    Offering vegan options will give you the ability to differentiate your restaurant from the rest as many restaurants will not provide vegan options. This will give you the opportunity to lure customers into your restaurant as your restaurant will be one of the only restaurants to cater for the dietary requirements of vegans. This will enable your restaurant to become busier, which will lead to your sales rising.

    Customer Loyalty

    Vegans will have a limited choice of restaurants due to the lack of vegan options. This means that if you offer vegan options and they enjoy your food, they are likely to become loyal customers and repeat purchase. This will give you the opportunity to build a large base of loyal customers, which will enable your sales to dramatically rise. Worried about losing customers? Offering vegan options will allow you to increase your customer retention as you will have a limited number of restaurants who are
    Read more