A restaurant can have too many good ideas.
Promotions, events, brunch and delivery can each make sense while overwhelming a venue together. How to test ideas and use SWOT analysis in a restaurant audit.
Good ideas need priorities too
A promotion for a quiet Monday. Weekend brunch. Live music. Delivery to make better use of the kitchen. A new menu because guests enjoy something different. Add happy hours and a few private events.
Each idea can make sense on its own. The challenge begins when they all need to run at once, using the same team, stockroom and equipment.
The restaurant has more to offer, but becomes harder to manage.
Every idea draws on the same resources
A new initiative usually starts with a question: how much could we earn?
We ask less often what it will take to deliver it well. Who will prepare the offer, order products, train the team and review the figures? What will we postpone or stop doing?
Brunch brings extra preparation, a different dining-room setup and a different pace. Delivery uses the same workstations as orders for guests in the restaurant. An event needs the manager’s attention long before the first guest arrives.
Every initiative takes up space in the rota, kitchen, stockroom and the team’s attention.
If we overlook that, its cost appears later in overtime, waste, mistakes and waiting times.
Event sales alone do not tell you whether to repeat it
Imagine a restaurant introducing Sunday brunch. Reservations fill up, guests are happy and the photographs look good on social media.
That is a good start, but evaluating the idea requires more information.
Did preparation need an extra shift? How much food was left? Did brunch attract new guests, or did regulars choose it instead of their usual lunch? How did it affect orders from the regular menu?
An event can increase revenue while leaving little after additional costs. It can also be financially worthwhile but strain the team enough to affect the next service.
Assess both the initiative’s result and its effect on the whole venue.
When everything is a priority, the team starts improvising
Owners may see each project as growth. Staff may experience a constant change of rules.
A different menu at weekends. Different prices at certain times. Products reserved for an event that cannot be used in regular service. A promotion announced before the front-of-house team hears about it.
The team compensates for missing arrangements with memory and commitment. The most experienced employees become people the shift can barely function without.
After more than 25 years in hospitality, I know how important it is to react quickly. It is also worth asking how many daily interventions arise from the industry’s unpredictability and how many from an operation we have made unnecessarily complicated.
An innovative approach starts with a well-designed trial
Growth needs new ideas and a way to test them.
Before making a new format a permanent fixture, treat it as a limited trial. Agree its scope, responsibilities, costs and the point at which you will decide what comes next.
Answer five questions before starting:
- What problem are we solving? Empty tables at particular times, low spend per guest or unused kitchen capacity?
- Which guests is the offer for? Is there an established need or are we making an assumption?
- Do we have the resources? The people, time, equipment and space to deliver it?
- How will we know it works? Consider the result after additional costs, waste, workload and service quality.
- What happens after the trial? Will we expand the idea, adjust it or stop?
Technology and simpler operations can support growth
POS information, stock data and a simple spreadsheet can support the assessment. Use technology that helps you make a specific decision.
Innovation can also mean a simpler offer, better use of ingredients or a new way to organise service preparation. A change does not have to be spectacular to be valuable.
SWOT analysis: does this idea fit our restaurant?
I also use SWOT analysis in an audit to compare proposed initiatives with the venue’s capabilities and its external environment. It is particularly useful when there are many ideas and each seems worth pursuing.
Take weekend brunch as an example:
- Strengths: an experienced team, suitable equipment and a base of regular guests.
- Weaknesses: limited refrigerated storage, an overloaded pass and limited weekend staffing.
- Opportunities: interest in family gatherings and few similar offers nearby.
- Threats: seasonal demand, rising ingredient prices and competing events.
From SWOT analysis to a decision
These are examples to investigate, not a diagnosis of every venue. Strengths and weaknesses concern the operation itself. Opportunities and threats come from its environment.
SWOT becomes valuable when findings lead to a decision. If guests are interested but kitchen capacity is limited, we could test brunch with a short menu, reservations and a cap on covers.
I consider the analysis alongside costs, sales data and observation of the team’s work. A list of arguments alone cannot establish profitability. It helps identify what to calculate, which constraints to address and the conditions for a worthwhile trial.
Sometimes the best decision for growth is: not now
A good idea can arrive at the wrong time.
If the regular menu is difficult to execute, stock is not under control and the manager fills staffing gaps daily, another project may make matters worse.
Putting existing operations in order helps establish whether a restaurant is ready to grow. Sometimes it is enough to reduce the number of simultaneous initiatives and refine those that best fit guests’ needs and the team’s capabilities.
How I help you make these decisions
At Hospitality Pro, I combine cost and sales analysis with observation of everyday restaurant and hotel F&B operations. I examine the connections between the offer, purchasing, stock, rotas and the team’s organisation.
For a specific issue, we can agree the scope of a Focus Audit. When several initiatives affect one another and the cause is unclear, a 360° Audit provides a broader review. Where needed, I also support implementation of the agreed changes.
Which idea should you test first?
Do you have ideas for growth but wonder which ones your venue is ready to handle?