How to Successfully Re-Launch a Restaurant

Restaurants operate with a very narrow profit margin. They require high volumes of happy customers to come in again and again. Of all the customer service industries, the food industry is cut-throat.

Customers are ruthless, and if their experience is not ideal then they will complain and likely never eat there again. You need to wow them with your food, with your service, and with your décor, and if you are finding that your business is struggling to get people in, then you need a re-launch. To successfully re-launch, however, there are several steps you will need to take.

Audit Your Restaurant for Quality

Before you should ever consider making changes, you first need to know where to direct your efforts. You will accomplish this in two steps. The first is to perform a personal audit of your restaurant for quality. The second is to ask for feedback directly from your customers. If your kitchen space and food storage is not excessively clean and in excellent order, then you need to make changes. Your food should always be well stored, well stocked, and as fresh as possible. There should never be an opportunity for germs or food to go off, which is why food audits should actually occur every day when inventory is done in the morning. Make a note of every defect in your restaurant, from the dining room to the kitchen, and then you can move on to the next step.

Obtain Feedback and Take It to Heart

There are a few ways you can check for feedback. One way is online through the reviews people have posted. It is important to note that people are far more likely to review your establishment if they had a bad experience in comparison to a good one. Analyze all of these reviews. If there seems to be a pattern in what they complain about, you know that your restaurant has a problem. Once you have audited your restaurant and know what you need to change, it is then time to put those changes into effect.

Redesign the Restaurant Space

If you really want your restaurant re-launch to be a huge success, you may also need to reinvest into the restaurant itself. Get new restaurant furniture, spruce the space up, and generally try to make it much more aesthetically pleasing to be in. You want it to be both comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. People sometimes need a visual change in order to try a space out, so reinvest and start over today.

Create a New Menu

Just as you need to overhaul the dining space, so too should you overhaul your menu. This is where the quality control and feedback will really come in handy. Remove items that don’t sell well, and even consider hiring a new chef to redesign the menu that really brings people in. You can have a launch event where people get to vote for their favorite menu items so that you know what to keep and what to get rid of.

Tip: The more foods you can make with the same ingredients, the better. This will ensure food stays fresh and your waste and costs stay low.

Re-launching your restaurant means you need to address the issues that have been plaguing it head-on. Be harsh with yourself and your staff, because only with a complete overhaul can you be worthy of a second-chance from your customers.