What were the last three things you did to increase your restaurant profitability?

Unless profit protection is constantly on your mind, you will get hurt. Eroding margins, fickle markets, escalating food prices, rising utility rates, outrageous credit card fees, and a host of other factors eat into your margins daily, thereby reducing your ability to pay the bills, let alone yourself.

We recently consulted with a client that has not paid himself for 17 months. He called us out of sheer desperation saying, "I just can't go on working for free". The sorry fact is that there are many restaurateurs working hard for very little income, and we think it should stop.

In my profession as CEO of the leading restaurant consulting firm in the U.S., people rarely call me when things are going well. The kinds of calls that I receive daily are along the lines of, "Why can't I make any money" or, "My food cost is through the roof" and this is the most painful one, "I can't afford to stay open anymore, what can I do?"

Why don't you invest a few minutes into yourself right now and read over the tips below. In fact, print out a copy and share it with your friends that run an operation as well. Yes, some tips may seem obvious, but are you using every tool at your disposal to solidify and enhance your profits? Your restaurant owes you for risking your neck to get it open, so I'd like to suggest that you start holding it accountable.

1. Don't serve water automatically. Sounds simple, but water service does not increase your profits or sales. Put systems into place where you serve alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea, sodas, milk­­anything but free water. Serve it upon request only.

2. Set up the dining experience on the first visit to the table. Tactfully done by the server, profitable items should be promoted, desserts can be suggested, and guests will appreciate a quick, "Run down" of the dining experience. Plus, server competence will be rewarded for taking responsibility for the positive experience that they will have. My wife's favorite server line is, "Want to split a dessert with coffee?" Not only have we just purchased a dessert that may have been too much for one of us, we've also bought 2 coffees. These additional sales make a big difference, and they're easy to execute. Having a hard time selling desserts? Encourage your servers to use this statement and see what happens.

3. Concentrate on improving product delivery systems to eliminate waste. For example, if your servers are throwing away iced tea lemons at the end of each shift, instead of at the end of the day, re­evaluate this system. By evaluating everything, you may be surprised what gets thrown away. This includes portion control items such as creamers, crackers, butters, jelly and silverware as well.

In my restaurant we have part time janitors who are responsible for cleaning every morning. They do a pretty good job. My problem is that ever 6 months or so my vacuum breaks. I am getting tired of it and I am tempted to just go to Goodwill and buy 10 vacuums.

Which vacuums do you you use and how do you like them? I want something that will last for a while.
 

I am asking this for my brother.

He is considering starting a bookkeeping business but wanted some feedback form the "experts" about whether it is a real need in today's market.

He is very experienced in bookkeeping - espcially restaurants. He is proficient in Quickbooks, Excell, Website design and update, Payroll, AP, AR, etc...He can set up books and bookkeeping programs, get accounts ready for the accountant, train the operator in how to use, etc...