General

Every restaurant wants to deliver that homemade, from-scratch taste. But scratch meals take time, and if there’s one thing a restaurant is short on, it’s time. Speed scratch cooking can help you deliver that homemade flavor without overburdening your staff or busting your budget.

Opening the first restaurant is difficult, and while you may think that things will be easier the second time around, that’s not always true. You need to have a robust expansion strategy that allows for growth of your business.

There's a lot to consider.

It may not be the most exciting part of the restaurant planning process, but it’s a vital one: insurance. Every restaurant needs insurance, and this is one area you do not want to skimp on.

Restaurant insurance will protect your business from a wide range of issues, including broken equipment and liability lawsuits. But what type of insurance will you need? How much will it cost? How can you compare insurance companies?

Processing Transactions is a necessary and ongoing expense for every restaurant. If you want to meet the needs and expectations of your customers, you have to accept debit and credit cards.

Payment processing occurs in two different ways: through a payment processor and through a register. Point-of-sale, or POS, systems take care of the logistics, from checking the validity of a credit card to logging transactions.

It’s finally time to upgrade the cookware in your restaurant kitchen, but you’re not sure which kind to buy or what you’ll need. Consulting with your chef is a good place to start, but even if you know which pieces you need, you may not know which material is best.

Ultimately, the right choice for your restaurant will depend on what you’re cooking. We’re going to cover the most common and best types of cooking pans so that you can make an informed decision when choosing your cookware.

Restaurants may be in every city, but unless you've been in the business, you probably overestimate how profitable a restaurant could be. Sure, a restaurant may be packed, but that doesn't mean that they're making money.

In fact, there are a lot of myths about owning a restaurant, average restaurant profit and the percentage of restaurants that fail. Which of them can easily be debunked?

Restaurants need to know how to be competitive in today's fast-paced world. Restaurant marketing in a merciless modern market means more than just offering exceptional service and great food. Restaurants have to do more to win over consumers.

What’s the one thing that can make or break your restaurant? Food quality. You can have the best location, a great atmosphere and a spectacular marketing strategy, but if your food is subpar, your doors won’t be open for long.

Food quality can suffer for many reasons, but there are also many ways to improve the dishes you serve.

Restaurant locations should be picked strategically. If you have a restaurant that doesn’t have enough “traffic,” you’ll have to work harder to promote it and may ultimately fail. Assuring that your restaurant location is a good location can be difficult.

There are also times when what appears to be a good location on a bustling city street simply is not.

Food sanitation is a must in the restaurant business, but a lot of owners try and reduce their costs by cutting corners. One area where cutting corners isn’t advised is kitchen sanitation. Staff members may want to leave early on a Friday night, and you may want to close up shop to save on utility bills and wages. It's understandable, but not in the restaurant business.

Consultants offer that extra hand, guidance and expertise that a business needs to find success. And in the restaurant business, there are restaurant consultants that can mentor your restaurant to success.

Every restaurant is different, and the reason a restaurant needs a consultant will also be different. Some hire restaurant consulting firms to help them grow their business. Others hire them to market the business, add new dishes or figure out how to get out of their comfort zone.

A business may be doing well, but if it’s not growing, it’s not time to be comfortable.

Cutting costs is essential for every business, and while costs can be cut in the form of workers, it can also be cut in material costs. Restaurant food costs can be cut, and in some cases, you may be able to save 10% or more on your food costs.

There are many ways to cut costs, too.

Whether you run a casual pizza joint or a high-end restaurant, wine should probably be on the menu. Wine is everywhere today, and that's partly thanks to millennials, who now drink about a quarter of the wine inventory in the U.S. Some are now calling wine the "drink of the everyman."

But the best restaurant wine lists don't happen by accident. They're carefully and strategically planned to complement the cuisine and the tastes of guests. Here's how to create the ideal startup wine list.

What's a great way to get more people to your restaurant and spend more time there? Host a live music event. When done properly, live entertainment creates an atmosphere where guests can sit down, enjoy a meal with friends and enjoy some local music. Notice how I said, "when done properly?"

Live music can either enhance your restaurant's atmosphere or kill it. Before you plan your live entertainment event, consider these pros and cons of music events.

You have a great idea for your first restaurant, and you have experience (ideal for anyone looking to start a restaurant). But, like most businesses just starting out, you don’t have the money to fund your startup.

Chances are, your idea may sound great, your business plan may be impeccable, but restaurant financing is difficult.

If a restaurant wants to increase profitability, one of the best methods is incorporating upselling techniques into your marketing strategy. But upselling in restaurants is a bit different than with other businesses, where an upsell can be a warranty, extended support or a higher tier of service for a discounted price.

A happy customer is a customer for life. In the restaurant industry, customer service is everything. Provide great service, and customers will come back again and again. Provide a bad experience, and you may find yourself out of a job.

For most restaurant owners, finding ideas to improve customer service is the biggest challenge.

When going into business, it’s often much cheaper, initially, to purchase used equipment. But over time, this used equipment may cost you more money, or it may last well beyond its typical lifespan and be a steal.

We’re going to help you understand when buying new vs used equipment is ideal.

Every restaurant is unique, and there are no financial rules set in stone on what your restaurant needs to follow. But financial rules of thumb can better help a restaurant manage their finances, pay their bills and remain profitable.

Conducting a restaurant financial analysis is recommended if you have several months or years of data.

At some point, every restaurant owner must make the difficult decision to raise menu prices. Whether it’s because of inflation, wage increases, food price increases or a combination of all three, pricing needs to be adjusted periodically to keep the restaurant up and running.

Menu pricing is both an art and a science.

But how do you know when to raise prices in a restaurant? What’s the best way to raise menu prices?

Restaurant owners spend a lot of time writing their business plans, designing their restaurants and getting financing. But one of the biggest challenges that still lingers is having to find a chef. A good chef will help a restaurant thrive, but a bad chef will cost your restaurant business.

A restaurant’s success rides on its menu pricing. If prices are too low, the business will fail. If prices are too high, the restaurant may have to change its target audience. Determining restaurant menu prices is an art, and this art can make or break a business.

You’re ready to pour your blood, sweat and tears into your restaurant start-up, but you’re worried that things may not go as smoothly as you had hoped. About 17% of restaurants will close in their first year, but in many cases, the owners made mistakes that could have been avoided.