A tongue-in-cheek look at the skills required to operate a restaurant but?on he whole they come pretty close to the truth.
People Skills,
You need to be good with people, because you will have different customers almost every day, you will have repeat customers who have higher expectations, a high-maintenance shift-based staff to manage, suppliers who won't always meet your expectations or time frames and creditors who want their money now.
Accountancy skills
You will have to balance the books, arrange the daily banking arrange for staff wages to be paid, manage your ratio of costs to profit margins, manage your BAS payments, pay your creditors on time.
Creative Skills
You will need to monitor your advertising campaign. Create promotions, change the menu periodically and provide an atmosphere that is conducive to return patronage.
Management Skills
You will need to maintain security, monitor the opposition and stay ahead of any potential problems or conflicts.
You will need to manage:
unhappy customers
suppliers who are no longer reliable or now too expensive
the waste management people
the cleaners
the new staff
the old staff
the part-time staff
the full-time staff
the staff that don't show up
the bar staff
the kitchen hands
the chef
Budgeting Skills
You will need to manage the restaurant promotions and image, replace broken crockery and lost and stolen items, and get by without everything you think you really need.
Human Resource Skills
You will need to adjust staffing levels to meet customer demand. Interview prospective staff, manage your shift managers, have extra staff available on call, and try to manage a day off for yourself now and again.
Negotiating Skills
You will need to handle any number of people including:
the landlord
the bank manage
your silent partner(s)
the local council
the health inspector
the pest exterminator
your suppliers
Culinary Skills
You don't have to be a chef but you must know enough to be in control such as:
cuts of meat and types of fish, and their prices
seasonal produce
the market rate for fresh produce
storage times and conditions
spices and condiments
comparative rates between suppliers
specific delivery requirements
produce rotation and use-by dates
kitchen equipment
presentation and preparation times
You will require the patience of a saint. You will be open six or seven days a week. You will definitely start earlier than you thought and have later nights than you bargained for. It is relentless day in and day out with no sign of a break.
And you still want to get by with an Accountant who just does tax returns?
About the author
Kelvyn Peters CPA and Associates is a specialist small business adviser with a particular expertise in the hospitality industry. Kelvyn Peters CPA, our founder, is a director of Restaurant & Caterers Queensland Inc.
Kelvyn has devoted over 20 years to research and experimentation to perfect the delivery of advice to small business.
We are providing it to our local clients now we are going global?and remember we are only an e-mail away