Volume 67, Issue 4

Managing a Restaurant

By Elad Cnaan

When people consider opening a small business, they often overlook many of the responsibilities and challenges involved.  Indeed, thousands of small businesses close annually – within a year of opening – due to inexperience and poor management.

Whether they open a chain franchise or start an independent freestanding eatery, owners often fail because of the tricky nature of managing such enterprises.  Franchises are the easier of the two to run and control, but still demand good management, which is the key to the success of any business.

Managing a small independent restaurant requires dedication, patience, and hours of labor.  In particular, it is important to recognize that the decision to hire a manager to carry out daily responsibilities has great impact on the success of a business.

There are immediate benefits to appointing a manager, but it can also lead to disaster.  For one, a manager might feel that because he has a fixed salary, he has no reason to work harder than the minimum expected of him. Thus, his quality of management may not meet the expectations of customers, which might result in a sharp decline in sales.  If the ownership intervenes and decides to take on these important managerial positions, there is less risk. 

A negative consequence involved in this route is the effort and time required of the owner.  Before he decides to run his own restaurant, the owner should realize that many roles have to be juggled.  Assuming an owner does not wish to initiate a partnership with other potential employees, he or she would have to act as the manager, promoter, and the president of the business.

Hiring waiters and waitresses can also be a frustrating experience for any manager.  Because waitering is only a part time job, it has a high turnover rate, which can, at any moment, leave the restaurant manager without a staff.  Furthermore, once waiters are hired, the manager must direct and train them until they can be trusted to do their job efficiently.

The manager must also possess the creativity to promote his restaurant through advertising.  A restaurant that has good food and service can still fail miserably if it cannot attract a large clientele.  Advertising, however, may be expensive and ineffective if conducted the wrong way.  A manager should spend considerable time doing research before paying for overpriced ads in publications.  “Advertising, in addition to keeping our menu fresh and exciting, is the single greatest proponent that helped our restaurant remain successful over the years,” says the manager of Sara’s Pizza in Hollywood, Florida.¨

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