Anybody who has been involved in the running of a restaurant, knows that bistro management isn’t as easy as it looks. Although it would be wonderful if it was reliant on the cooking of and serving up of your favourite recipes, that’s far from reality. It’s a well-known fact that over 50% of restaurant businesses do not survive past the first 12 months.

What is it that makes it such a challenge for bistro owners to keep their dream alive? According to our clients who have had extensive experience, here are the reasons why:

Inexperience

Experience is one of the biggest necessities to keep the ship afloat and sailing in the right direction. Those without can struggle to make the numbers add up. Every successful bistro management team knows that it takes a certain business recipe to make it work. If you don’t have the secret ingredients such as how to satisfy customers to create loyalty, then you’re going to be in trouble. Those that reach out for help from the experienced will find that they want fair recompense for that experience and the issue is further compounded.

Bad People Management

A bistro employs a number of different people and they each have a specific skill set and a different mode of motivation. Those bistro owners who started at the bottom are usually the most successful as they understand how to relate to and encourage each team member.

Lack Of Accounting Skills

Strong accounting skills are a big part of running a bistro. If you don’t have skills in this area, you could run into trouble when it comes to ensuring you make a good profit on your ingredient provisioning expenditure and employment costs.

Spotty Customer Service

Whether you gain repeat clients is going to be based on the delivery of great customer service. Many people will not give second chances and word of mouth is surprisingly powerful as a warning to others. Even more powerful are reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor.

Bistro Management: Five Reasons Bistro Owners Fail

Below Par Food Quality and Execution

Quality control and the prevention of food preparation becoming routine is highly important. Each dish needs to have the ‘wow’ factor and be consistent in quality and presentation. One way that you can address this is to insist on regular tastings to check for quality.

Overall, consistent and effective bistro management is about paying attention to the details. Do this and you’ll be onto a winning business that will reward both you and your hard working team.

If you’re interested in finding out how you can help your customers to book a table by providing an easy to use and FREE online reservation service, click here.