7 Common Problems Every Restaurant Faces

Running a restaurant is no easy task. There are a million things to worry about, from staffing and inventory to customer satisfaction. But perhaps the most challenging part of owning a restaurant is dealing with the many problems that come up on a daily basis. In this blog post, we will take a look at seven of the most common problems faced by restaurants, and how to tackle them.

#1 Managing Orders and Kitchen Workflow

Restaurants are busy places, with lots of different tasks happening at once. This can make it difficult for kitchen staff to keep track of all the orders that are coming in, which can lead to order mistakes, long wait times for customers, and a generally chaotic kitchen environment. One of the best things you can do to help manage kitchen chaos is to staff correctly and prep well before shifts. However, we know that isn't always a possibility. A kitchen display system can help your kitchen operate more efficiently by digitizing tickets and enabling stations to better coordinate their work.

#2 Accurately Predicting Food Demand

In order to keep kitchen operations running smoothly, it is essential to have an accurate sense of how much food will be needed each day. This involves estimating everything from the number of customers that are expected to show up at a given time, to the amount and type of food that will be required for each meal. Food and beverage management systems use historical sales trends to help predict future sales volume and how much food you need to order and prepare. Running a mid-shift inventory report can also help you adjust to changes on the fly.

#3 Accurately Tracking Inventory and Food Costs

Another major challenge for restaurants is managing their inventory and food costs. This involves constantly monitoring the number of ingredients that are going into each dish, as well as keeping a close eye on any waste or spoilage that might occur. This is another area where food and beverage management systems can help. To help keep food waste down you can implement waste log tracking for high value items. A kitchen display system can also help lower waste by reducing errors and re-makes.

#4 Tracking Kitchen Performance Metrics

In order to improve kitchen efficiency, it is important to track key performance metrics such as order turnaround time, kitchen attendance rates, and customer satisfaction scores. This allows restaurant owners and managers to identify potential problem areas, and make adjustments where needed. This is another area where a kitchen display system can help by providing both real time insights and historical reports on performance. Color-coded headers that change from green to yellow to red the longer tickets are open give employees a visual indicator of which tickets are coming close to exceeding speed of service standards.

#5 Streamlining Kitchen Communication

As any kitchen manager will tell you, a huge part of keeping operations running smoothly is effective communication. Whether it's in the kitchen or the front of the house, clear and consistent communication is essential for ensuring that customers get their orders quickly and correctly. When communication breaks down it leads to mistakes, and it slows down the whole restaurant. Training employees on how to effectively communicate can help you during your busiest shifts. Technology to help keep all your stations in sync can also help improve performance.

#6 High Labor Costs

Labor is one of the most significant controllable costs for restaurants. It's important to control labor costs to turn a profit. However, cutting back on staff too much will inevitably backfire if you're unable to meet your customers' demands. Instead, the goal should be to improve the efficiency of your staff without having to add more hours to the schedule. Kitchen systems can provide this extra boost to productivity by keeping all your kitchen employees focused on execution during the shift.

#7 Customer Complaints

Customer complaints, especially if they are posted online, can be devastating to a small restaurant. Customer complaints often fall into two categories: poor service or sub-standard food quality. Poor service is highly correlated with slow speed of service - food takes too long for dine in guests or isn't ready at the quoted pick up time for off-premise orders. Sub-standard food quality complaints include food that's prepared incorrectly or orders that are missing important things, like the side, drink, or condiments. A kitchen display system can help with both of these root causes, leading to higher customer satisfaction and more return business.