Restaurant Article

by Cliff Bramble

Have you been wondering if your team is ready for the new way of doing business?  You should be.

Right now, some of your competitors are out there training new hires, and retraining their current staff.  All because they want to be ready for the pent up demand once customers return in droves.  What are your doing to get ready?

Here are a few ways for you to get ready and to get your staff ready for the onslaught of guests, because it will happen, and it will be here faster than you think.

Retraining your team.  If, after begin furloughed, many of your team returned, you are one of the lucky ones. It is those staff members that should be your trainers for any new staff members that are coming aboard.  Think about it.  They already know your philosophy.  They already know your standards, and expectations.  They probably know many of your returning guests.  They are your ambassadors to keep you going.  Start with them and at this point, I would think that many of them may be more motivated than ever. Make sure they are aware of the new perceptions by the guests.  Review with them on the way the guests will be watching their service, and making sure that they are aware of the health procedures.   They want and need their job.  They will help you in any way possible.  Pay them the best, and ask for their help.  The rewards will make your team better and the sales will rise.

Management:  If your management is up to the task of retraining and making changes, then sit with them and make sure that they are on board for the new way of doing business.  Ask them if they still want to be a part of the team.  Give them goals and direction for their front of the house and back of the house.  Ask them what they want to learn. Ask them what they can contribute to help the team. Give them new responsibilities to keep them motivated. Ask them to clean and then clean again.   Make sure they are fully aware of the health related consequences of making any mistakes, especially at this time. Now is the perfect time to cross train them.  Their actions have a direct effect on the entire team, and their income.  Make sure they are on the floor talking with the guests, watching labor, and helping the staff.  This is the time where your Management team should step up, and if they are not up to the task, begin interviewing.  There are lots of highly experienced people out there looking for a job. 

Kitchen:  Now is the time to look at your menu and taste your food every day.  Test your recipes.  Ask your staff to taste the food.  Double check on everything.  Check your pricing and review your inventory.  Look for the excellent menu items and look for the dogs of the menu.  Get rid of the high cost items or price them accordingly.  If you think it is time to change the menu, then do so.  Now is not the time to sit on ones feet.  It is the time to rise to the top and do something that will get you noticed.  If you have not pivoted to change with the times, take a look at your competitors and see what they are doing.  Can you do something similar or totally different?  Train your current kitchen staff so they are more aware of the new sanitation procedures.  Make sure they are wearing masks or being as safe as possible.  Get rid of their cell phones.  They are not needed on the line and if the health department walks in and a cell phone is on the line, it will only get worse for everybody.  Now is the time to lead your team and make sure you are in the forefront of your competition.

by Clifford Bramble

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved.  No part of this can be copied or used without expressed permission of Cliff Bramble and Hungry Hospitality. To connect, please contact us at [email protected].

Thanks for listening in on the get hungry audio business class I'm Cliff Bramble of hungry hospitality and today we'll be talking about the steps in starting a business, I hope that my 40 years of experience will assist you in getting a new business started, and as we go through the entire process I hope that you learn a lot. Let's get started.

Today we're going to talk about six or seven different steps to get your business started. And so here we go with the list, we're going to be starting with a few The first one is going to be whether you're our sole proprietorship, or a partnership and the difference between those two, whether to incorporate or not, we're going to talk a little bit about the licensing of your business from there we're going to be talking about the bank account, what needs to be done from there. And after that we're going to talk a little bit about hey getting you started building a website and start your marketing so hopefully you'll have all your steps ready, and as soon as you have all your paperwork done, you'll be off to the races and your business will be started.

So the first question that you really have to ask yourself is, is this going to be a partnership or Will this be a sole proprietorship, the partnership is when you have multiple, whether it's two or more partners that will be investing money into your business. If not, it's a sole proprietorship, and that means that you own it by yourself. So, if you have a sole proprietorship. The nice part about that is that you are responsible for everything, whereas the partnership. It will decide on whether you are going to be following in a corporation name or a LLC Corporation, which will you will be probably talking to your accountant about that, but most importantly is, if it is a self-proprietorship, and you own it all by yourself, you obviously don't have any partners, and you may even have less headaches with it by yourself. But, let's talk about the next step of incorporating, or not.
 
So once you've decided that you have partners or not you're going to be moving on to the next step which is going to be to incorporate or not, incorporating your business is, basically, you're going to the Secretary of State in your, in your state, and you're going to be applying for a specific Corporation. Under the state of Secretary of State, so that is dependent on whether you want this to be a LLC, which is a limited liability corporation or, again, a C Corp. I would recommend speaking to your accountant about that, because that's one of those areas where it's all dependent on how many people are involved, how much money is involved in who has to say to make the decisions in regards to the major decisions in the company. So if you do decide to incorporate in your state, you're basically going to be going to your secretary of state and you're going to file the forms to form a separate Corporation from there you wait two or three days, but you should have your corporate number immediately. They may ask you to reserve the company name, or double check the company names so that way there's somebody else doesn't have your name, but you can file that online really quickly, usually it's 50 or $100 depending on the state but once you get that completed, you'll have it in your hand and you'll be able to go to the next step which will be applying for federal ID number.
 
Two, whether you decided whether it was going to be a partnership, or it's going to be a sole proprietorship, if you did decide that you needed to apply for a federal ID, so you can apply for the federal ID online through a to the federal government. And basically what they will be doing instead of using your social security number, if it's a partnership, they will be using a federal ID number in issuing that to you, basically it's your business's social security number, which has to be kept secure, and also right under guard, nobody else should have that except for yourself and maybe your vendors the federal ID is something that you can apply to online, and it will get emailed to you within a matter of two or three minutes as soon as you apply. From there, you're going to go to the next step, which is filing an application with the Department of Labor, so that way there you have your department of labor number, and from there you're going to also be applying for your retail tax ID in your state, if you are selling items you will definitely need to be collecting tax on them so you will need a retail sales tax ID as well. So those three areas the federal ID, the Department of Labor number, and also the retail sales tax ID number will be three of the items that you will need to keep close to your heart and create a little corporate folder so that whether you have that information available to you at all times.

One of the items that I did not mention earlier, but it's definitely one of the most important areas, is to make sure that you have your accountant lined up so that whether they can answer any questions for you as you go through the process, because they are going to be helping you on a daily basis, if not a monthly basis, but they can help you from the very beginning based upon whether it's should be a, LLC or a sole proprietorship so one thing not to forget. And one of the most important is getting an accountant, that you have a good relationship with and that somebody has become well known and referred to you through a friend, or possibly your attorney.

Next up will be your licenses for your local city or the county that you live in most counties, or cities will require that you complete a complete business application, and so that whether you have a business license which is basically a license to do business in that specific city or in that county, and both of those can be picked up at your local city or county offices, and they really don't take that long, but they do have an application fee so that's something that you have to keep in mind.

So now that you have your federal ID and you also have your driver's license available, you can actually drive over to your bank and set up an appointment to set up a bank account, which is a business bank account. So, you will need a couple IDs, which will be a driver's license and if your corporate ownership, which is under a federal ID, you will need that federal ID paper as well. So those two items have definite that you need to open up a bank account, and will also be required to complete a sign-up sheet for the cheque signing, and you will also be able to, obviously, play some money into it at that point when it comes down to the cheque signing. Sometimes, you only have one person that you want to sign for the checks, however it's sometimes better to have at least two people to sign for checks if you're new, and you have a large amount of money and you are just wondering what the best thing to do. You can always start with one, you can always go back later and add a signing to your bank account so that's not a big deal. You have to speak with your banking authorities over there and hopefully they'll help you walk right through it.
 
So now that you have your incorporation papers, you have your partner's online, you've decided on an accountant, you have your business license for the city in the county, and you have your bank account all set up the next question is what do you do, this is an area where a lot of people, again, unless they are familiar with the next steps in small business, and a lot of questions and people saying what do I do next. You really need to start your business you need to start marketing your business with it, whatever it may be, and you may need some help with marketing as well that's really up to your experience, however, years ago, first thing people got was a business card. These days, the first thing people get is their website. The website is basic your business card to your new business so you will be able to start your marketing pretty much immediately and get your sales rolling in. And hopefully your business will go fantastic, and you won't have any questions from there on, you'll just be dealing with all the sales that are coming in and not worrying about any of the additional paperwork.

So that's all I have for this audio business class. I hope it helped you and hope it helps you get your business started, and you're on your way to the next step of marketing your business and getting you sales from there. I'd like to say thank you for joining.
 

Restaurant Article

By Clifford Bramble

Data is an excellent tool for business owners to review on a day to day and week to week basis.  While many business owners simply look at the sales, they may be missing key points to view the financial health of their company.  That's where we help our clients. 

We have received many calls from restaurant owners throughout the country that are looking for help and are also asking if they should close their restaurant.  Here are ten internal data signs that will tell you if you should close.

1. Sales:  Your sales drive everything and the numbers do not lie.  So, if your sales have not bounced back from the February highs, it is a telling sign that your sales may not come back.
2. Covers:  At Hungry Hospitality, we like to keep a running average of covers on a day to day basis.  This tells us a lot about a company’s performance.  If your covers have not returned from February, and if they are still too low to help increase your sales, this is an indication that your guests may not be coming back, regardless on the time of the year.
3. Weekend sales:  If your weekend sales are more than 60% of your weekly sales, that tells us that your weekday business is hurting.  If your weekday sales continue to suffer, this is another indication of your new less than optimal performance.
4. Sales per man hour:  Many people ignore this number.  Not us, we like to watch this number.  If your sales per man hour are lower than they were in February and the number has not bounced back, you are not making enough sales per man hour to offset your labor.
5. Labor:  This is an easy one.  If your labor percentage and or dollars are higher than they ever have been, this is an indication of either over scheduling, or not enough sales.
6. Prime Costs:  If your prime costs are over 70%, you are close to burning more cash than wanted. 
7. Man hour per cover.  If you are spending two or more man hours per cover, this is another indication that your restaurant may not make it.
   
8. Comparing Sales to LY:  While this is a hard number to review, especially with the pandemic in place, it is a number that you can look at and compare if your sales are down and to what percentage the sales are down.  If you think that you cannot attain the loss percentage of sales within the next three months, it may be time to throw in the towel.
9. Large party: If you had more than 25% of your business in large parties, and the sales have not returned by now, those sales may be lost for the foreseeable future.
10. Cash burn: If you are burning more cash (on a percentage basis) than you ever have before, and your bank account is melting away, you have to ask yourself, when or how long before the sales return to stop the burning.

Restaurant Article

by Clifford Bramble

Everywhere you look, a restaurant is closing.  So why would it be a great time to open a restaurant?  It may not be the best time to open a restaurant, but it is a great time to secure a location.  Here are seven reasons why it’s a great time to secure the location that you have always wanted.

1. Second generation:  A second generation space gives you plenty to look forward to.  While many people know that you simply cannot just go in and change the menu and open a restaurant, a second generation space simply saves you money in all areas of a buildout.
2. Driving Habits: If the restaurant that was there previously was moderately busy, then there would already be a good number of people who have habits of driving to that restaurant. 
3. Leasing options:  Now may be the perfect time for you to get lower leasing rates.  With an overabundance of spaces about to arrive onto the market, the competition for space will be fierce. 
4. General Contractors: With many of the current construction jobs on hold, this may be the perfect time to hire a general contractor and have your construction done faster than normal. 
5. New Interior options:  With the new way of doing business within a restaurant changing, this may be the perfect time to change the interior to include new sinks, new cleaning stations, and new covid options that will make the guests feel safer.
6. Equipment:  Restaurants that have closed and are in the perfect location may be leaving some of their equipment behind.  It may be the perfect time to purchase the equipment within the space and save you money.
7. Planning:  Planning now sets you up for six months from now.  Six months of planning to open a new restaurant gives you the time and options to market the location and begin getting the word of mouth out. Plus, hopefully in six months there will be a vaccine for Covid and opening at the same time, gives you a strict advantage.

 
Hungry Hospitality can assist you in your restaurant needs.  Contact us below for additional questions.

All information is copyright of Hungry Hospitality and may not be used without expressed permission of Hungry Hospitality. Contact us at [email protected]