Restaurant owners or managerial staff in the restaurant industry are responsible for many aspects of their small business’s operations. From tracking inventory and sales data to onboarding new team members and managing the restaurant ordering process, various elements of a restaurant manager’s job could benefit from automation or simplification.
Workflow optimization can help you streamline restaurant operations to improve the overall business environment and create a more pleasant customer experience. But how can you streamline operations and enhance your existing processes?
This article will break down the benefits of process improvement in your restaurant operations and help you eliminate inefficiencies with handy tips and tricks. Keep reading to learn five ways you can streamline restaurant processes.
There are multiple reasons to streamline restaurant operations. By removing unnecessary steps in your business processes or simplifying time-consuming tasks, you can maximize operational efficiency and increase productivity in your restaurant business.
Better process efficiency can:
Reduce wait times in your restaurant, leading to a better dining experience
Increase customer satisfaction and, as a result, customer loyalty and retention
Improve work-life for front-of-house (FOH) and kitchen staff
Eliminate errors in your orders
Attract new customers with automated email marketing
Boost profit margins, making business stakeholders happy
In short, if you streamline restaurant operations, you could see more productive workers, happier customers, and more significant profits. What’s not to love?
Once restaurateurs understand why they need to streamline their business operations, they can take the necessary steps to improve things.
Start by looking for unnecessary steps in your current processes. Break down your existing operational procedures to discover repetitive tasks that you can remove or time-consuming jobs that you can automate. Search for unnecessary tasks in each aspect of your business, including front- and back-of-the-house jobs, human resources, and any other business area.
Once you have a clear idea of what’s taking too long, it’s easier to streamline restaurant operations and boost efficiency with the five tips below.
An updated point-of-sale system (also known as a POS system) can help streamline operations in your restaurant business in several ways.
Advanced restaurant POS software can track various metrics to let you view up-to-date sales data in a clear and easy-to-read dashboard. You can export that data to an Excel spreadsheet or your preferred software to manage your sales and accounting data however you like.
Some POS systems also come with customer relationship (CRM) tools. Square for Restaurants has add-ons that let you manage email marketing, loyalty programs, and gift cards from the software. It also allows for online ordering, so customers can place orders for takeout or delivery from wherever they are.
Combining all these tools into one easy-to-use system lets you streamline restaurant operations and remove unnecessary steps in your work processes.
Another way to streamline restaurant operations is to upgrade your ordering system. Self-service kiosks are a fantastic solution for faster restaurant ordering. Customers can browse your menu items on a touchscreen tablet, select their desired dish and drink, and pay for their order without staff assistance.
The system can synchronize with a kitchen display system (KDS) to send real-time notifications to kitchen staff, letting them know which orders to prepare and for which table.
When you run your kiosks with the KioskBuddy app, you can work with various payment options, depending on the hardware you purchase. For example, with a Square Kiosk mount, you can display your tablet in an easy-to-see location and can process contactless and chip payments. You can also use KioskBuddy with cash payments or with a standalone card reader for other kiosk setups.
Self-service can simplify ordering and reduce labor costs, as you can work with fewer front-of-house staffers each shift. It can also reduce customer wait times during busy periods, as customers don’t need to wait for a team member to place their order.
Improving the hiring and onboarding process might not immediately come to mind as a way to streamline restaurant operations — it won’t directly affect your customers or boost profits, after all. But a suitable staff hiring and training system can significantly impact the amount of time it takes to get your new team members up to speed.
Start by writing detailed job descriptions to provide to potential new hires. By setting clear expectations of the role, you can more quickly eliminate applicants not suited to the position, saving your managers or human resources team time and energy.
Providing thorough training to new employees can also reduce wasted time. Ensure your new hires know what tasks they’re responsible for and take time to show them how to do them properly.
Make sure you give staff the opportunity to ask questions and clarify anything they’re not sure about. Try organizing a short meeting with each new hire about a week after their start date so you can revisit any processes or give instructions again if needed.
By taking a little more time in the onboarding and training stage, you can ensure your staffers are well-versed in all areas of your restaurant’s operations and can stand on their own two feet. This will keep your business running smoothly without requiring constant managerial supervision — meaning your managers will be free to focus on other tasks.
A sound inventory management system is another excellent way to streamline restaurant operations.
Many small businesses track inventory levels manually using a spreadsheet or notepad. However, keeping track of daily sales and spoilage can be complicated; you’ll have to check the dry store and walk-in refrigerator each shift and keep detailed notes. It takes a lot of time and is highly susceptible to human error.
Rather than keeping track of stock levels manually, you can use an automation tool for inventory tracking. It’s a simple way to reduce your reliance on staffers for repetitive, time-consuming tasks.
Inventory management tools provide a real-time inventory count and instantly show you various metrics to help you keep track of your stock levels. Some POS systems include inventory management tools, but more advanced software also lets you set up automatic reordering; as soon as an item runs low, you can rest assured that you’ll have replacements delivered promptly.
Managing your inventory automatically could even help reduce your food costs; you’ll only order what you need when you need it, meaning you’re far less likely to have surplus stock that spoils or gets wasted.
Writing a detailed restaurant operations manual can help you streamline operations by setting clear instructions for all aspects of your business procedures, including any process automation you’ve brought in.
An operations manual can help your staffers save time — they’ll always have a set of instructions to refer to if they’re not sure how to do something instead of having to seek out a manager to ask.
Your operations manual should include a step-by-step guide for each aspect of your business operations. Provide operational guidelines for:
Opening the restaurant each day
Taking customer orders
Preparing drinks and serving food
Dealing with customer complaints
Purchasing and ordering
Cleaning protocols
Staff scheduling
Hiring processes and onboarding
Closing the restaurant at the end of a shift
Drafting a manual might seem like a lot of work — but it’s well worth the time it will take because it could help you identify any remaining processes that need simplifying.
Finding ways to streamline restaurant operations can seem overwhelming, but with the right automation tools and processes in place, you can simplify your business procedures with no disruption to your team's everyday workload. Automation can help save staffers time and reduce human error on time-consuming or repetitive jobs.
Self-service systems let you streamline your restaurant’s ordering process. It allows customers to place and pay for their orders in just a few taps, freeing up your FOH staffers for other tasks and reducing customer wait times. With the KioskBuddy app, you can quickly have a self-service kiosk setup on a tablet.
Sign up for the KioskBuddy free trial, and streamline your restaurant’s operations today.