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Spring 2015 Issue
After a bitterly cold and snowy winter, we
look forward to the changes that spring
brings as people tend to get out of the
house more and spend money at your
establishment. Spring also brings about
new beginnings and sometimes changes.
Whether you’re a start-up business,
looking to expand or looking to rehab and
refine operations, the Ohio Restaurant
Association (ORA) has ways to help you
make the changes that will help your
bottom line.
We often talk about the number of ways
there are to lose money in the restaurant
business, whether it’s in the kitchen,
dining room, bar, storage areas or back
office. But, there are lots of things that
operators can do to stem potential losses
by modifying how they do business.
Your ORA membership puts you in
touch with some of the best food service
consultants and allows you to network
with some of the best and brightest
restaurateurs in the business. Below are
words of advice and proven practices
that restaurants large and small have
found to be effective in reducing losses
and, as a result, put more of their hard-
earned sales dollars on their bottom line.
You might find it helpful to use these
items as a checklist to spot potential
problem areas.
Lower inventory levels.
We understand
that there’s a limit to how much you can
lower inventory levels, but it’s common
for many restaurants to have more food
on their shelves than they really need.
Evaluate your inventory levels product-
by-product and base your reorder levels
on how much you think you’ll actually
use until the next delivery. By reducing
excess inventory, you’ll have less waste
and spoilage and you’ll likely see your
staff do a better job of portioning and
handling your expensive products when
there is less of it on hand.
Get rid of trash cans in kitchen.
Don’t
lose usable food products to your kitchen
trash cans. If there’s a training gap or
people are careless when slicing, dicing
or prepping anything in your kitchen—
good, usable and expensive products can
end up in the trash. It can be helpful
to remove all the trash cans out of the
kitchen and replace them with clear
plastic food boxes. Each employee
receives a clear plastic food box with
their name on it. They are then instructed
to place all of their scraps, trimmings
and waste into their own food box.
Consolidate purchases with a prime
vendor arrangement.
We’ve noticed
that the practice of buying a large
portion of products from one broad
line supplier is much more common in
more highly profitable restaurants than
it is in marginally successful ones. In
many cases consolidating the majority
of purchases with one supplier tends to
offer the opportunity to lower overall food
prices and costs.
Audit first and last 15-30 minutes of
every shift.
When employees are given
less time for a task they will work faster
and get more work done than they are
presently doing. In restaurants, you can
often tell if employees have too much
time by noticing their pace and sense of
urgency during the first and last 15-30
minutes of each shift. A casual or slow
pace especially during these times may
indicate that they could get the same
amount of work done on their shift with
fewer hours on your clock.
There’s not enough space to write all
of the best practices for your business
or businesses here. That’s why at ORA
we give you the resources through our
Restaurant Education Series (RES)
and through continuous training
opportunities with us and the National
Restaurant Association (NRA). We hope
you have a safe and profitable second
quarter.
By Geoff Hetrick
President and CEO,
Ohio Restaurant Association
Turn Over a New Leaf this Spring
by Modifying Business Practices
Protecting Your Bottom Line
Inside This Issue
Index of Advertisers
Do Business Better
16-21
