Unexperienced

Do you have experience in the restaurant industry? Many potential restaurateurs do not have experience of working in a restaurant or managing a restaurant which gives them the false impression that running a restaurant is easy. If you do not understand the demands and responsibilities of running a restaurant, your restaurant will struggle to survive. Before opening your restaurant, it is crucial that you identify all of the tasks you will have to complete in order for your restaurant to be able to operate. These include: obtaining the correct licences, choosing a reliable supplier and finding a suitable and affordable location. You will need to consider if you will have access to all of the funds and resources you need to open a restaurant. It is recommended for you to have a substantial amount of personal funds to invest into your restaurant as your restaurant will not generate enough profit to survive the first year.

Poor Staff Management

As a restaurateur, it is essential that you have the management and leadership skills to be able to ensure your staff are fulfilling their job roles professionally. If you have poor management and leadership skills, your staff will not listen to you and will not fulfil their job roles. This will have a severe negative effect on your restaurant as it will lead to the service of your restaurant being limited. This will lead to your customers having to wait a long time for their meals which will lead to them becoming frustrated and leaving your restaurant. However, staff management is more than just ensuring your staff do their jobs. You should also ensure your employees are happy and motivated while in the workplace. If your employees are unhappy, there will be a negative atmosphere in your working environment which will decrease the productivity of your employees. Without happy employees, you will struggle to put a smile on your customer’s faces.In order to become a successful staff manager, you should have experience of working under managers as you will have acquired skills and methods from your previous managers.

Out of date accounts

Do you regularly update your accounts? As a restaurateur, you will live a very busy lifestyle but you must regularly analyse your financial figures and manage your accounts. If you do not regularly update your accounts, you will not know how much profit your restaurant is generating or the costs of your supplies. This will lead you to being unable to budget your money correctly which could lead to your business running out of funds. If your restaurant runs out of funds, your restaurant could enter liquidation. Without updated accounts, you will severely struggle to survive.

Poor Customer Service

Do you offer a high quality of customer service? As a restaurateur, it is crucial that you understand the importance of offering your customers a high level of customer service. If you provide your customers with a poor experience or poor customer service, you will struggle to attract loyal customers as you will be unable to satisfy your customer’s needs. You should train your staff so they are able to handle your customer’s queries and are able to serve them professionally. This will lead to the customer being satisfied with their experience in your restaurant which will encourage them to regularly visit your restaurant. If your customer has a bad experience at your restaurant, they may decide to post a review on a review website such as TrustPilot. This review will be accessible to your customers which may deter them from visiting your restaurant. This shows that offering a poor quality of customer service will severely limit your sales.

Poor quality of food or poor meal preparation

How do you prepare your meals? As a restaurateur, it is obvious that your food is required to be of a high quality. If your food was of a poor quality, you would struggle to satisfy your customer’s needs which will severely reduce the chances of your customers repeat purchasing at your restaurant. This shows that without high quality food, you will struggle to generate a sufficient amount of sales. Before you can produce high quality meals, you must introduce a sufficient meal preparation method. If your meals are not prepared correctly, the quality of the meal will be negatively affected as your meals will lose flavour. This will prevent you from satisfying your customer’s needs as your meals will be of a low quality. During your busiest times, you may decide to cut corners to save time. However, if you do this, the quality of your meals will decrease which may lead to your customers losing their loyalty and eating at another restaurant. Without a sufficient meal preparation method, you will limit your restaurant’s success. Can your restaurant succeed?