Simplify your menu

Some restaurateurs think, wrongly, that having a very large menu attracts more customers. However, the best restaurants in the world run with a limited menu.

A card with too wide a choice is often the assurance of having uneven production quality. It is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to control the production of all dishes equally. The same goes for inventory management, which becomes a nightmare for you and your employees.

If you are in this situation, try to reduce your menu to only your signature dishes. This will allow your kitchen to focus on higher production quality and therefore gain efficiency. It is also an opportunity to reduce weight on your staff, kitchen equipment and storage spaces.

Also consider the cost of labor. With a menu that is too large, it often takes more employees in the kitchen to produce all the dishes offered on the menu. Reducing your card therefore makes it possible to reduce the diversity of production and therefore the required number of employees.

Write production procedures for your employees

It is important, if not necessary, to have clear and written production procedures that all staff know and can easily access. This will allow you to create more structure in your production.

Unfortunately, not all CHR professionals benefit from standardized procedures. This is a mistake that you, as the owner or manager of an establishment, must correct. Professionals in the food industry all have established production processes, which allows them to maintain a regular level of quality--and to reproduce it day after day.

Well-written production procedures also make it easier for your employees to do their jobs, without having to guess what is on your mind.

Through a standard routine, employees benefit from greater predictability in their work and can hone their skills for each task, to improve their overall performance. Don't be afraid to update standard operating procedures if you find a better way to do things.

Set up an efficient stock system

Setting up an efficient stock system is necessary for the management of a restaurant. Thanks to this, you will be able to ensure the fluidity of service and maintain sufficient profitability.

For effective inventory management, it is important to track your restaurant's inventory quantity on a regular basis. It is only in this way that you will be able to rationalize your inventory, so as not to buy too much, but also reduce runoff and increase profitability.

You need to be able to know the daily quantities of inventory purchased, used and remaining (at the end of the day).

To help you in this exercise, why not set up an inventory management system?

With melba, you can manage your stocks optimally and simply:

Order your products according to your stock and avoid tying up cash

Our solution allows you to order exact quantities and adjust them according to packaging. You can also order according to a production schedule--for further rationalization of your stock. Set minimum stock levels and get an alert when you're below them. You will be able to easily reorder products below the minimum stock level.

Reduce your losses and protect yourself from sinking

It is essential to reduce losses and avoid casting to ensure good fluidity in your production, but also to maintain your profitability. With melba, you can avoid food waste by taking into account the variations in the weight of your ingredients. Indeed, by no longer needing to order more than expected, you order as closely as possible to your needs. Also measure the losses (overproduction, theft, pure loss, staff meals, etc.) and prioritize destocking items with close DLC.

Simplify your inventories

Inventory is a task that can be quite time consuming in restoration. Time spent doing your inventories is time wasted in managing your production. With melba, you can more easily capture the state of your stocks at any given time. You can also do your inventories by storage areas, suppliers or categories. By digitizing your inventory, you will avoid errors and facilitate control.

Create specific workstations in the kitchen

The kitchen of a typical restaurant is organized in several different positions. A post is a designated area where a certain type of food is prepared. The positions contribute to the proper functioning of the kitchen.

The number of positions in an establishment depends heavily on the restaurant menu. One restaurant may have multiple stations with specialized equipment, while another may have only one or two areas designated for cooking specific menu items.

There are many kitchen layouts available, but whichever one you choose, every kitchen should have 5 essential areas:

• food preparation
• cooking meals
• cleaning / washing
• storage
• service

Food preparation

The food preparation area should have 3 different elements:

• sinks, for washing food
• mixing zones
• cutting areas

These stations are generally divided into sections for preparing raw foods, such as cutting meats, and a separate section for sorting foods into batches, such as chopping vegetables or preparing salad dressings.

Try to place the food preperation workstations near your storage area. This way your cooks will be able to access the ingredients more easily and it will increase the performance of your team.

Cooking meals

The cooking area for meals is a key part of the kitchen, it is in this area that the dishes are finished. In this place there will be all of the kitchen equipment such as stoves, ovens, fryers ...

This zone can also be divided into several sections, with one zone for cooking, one for grilling, baking and even frying. This organization depends on your needs, but also on the capacity of your kitchen and your equipment.

This area must be located as close as possible to the service area in order to facilitate the routing of dishes to service and therefore to your customers.

Service

The service area is where the food is delivered before being served to customers. This area should be located at the front of the kitchen, as close as possible to the cooking area.

Storage

Like the meal preparation and cooking area, the storage area can be divided into a few sections:

• the cold room
• non-food storage
• dry storage

Cleaning / washing

This area should have sinks, dishwashers and other equipment to clean your food.

The cleaning / washing area is necessary to allow the rest of your team to produce to their full potential. This area should be near the entrance to the kitchen and storage area to allow servers to quickly put down dirty dishes and pick up clean dishes.

Invest in your people

To guarantee efficient production, invest in qualified and motivated personnel. Recruitment should not be done in a rush. Keep in mind that the time invested in this step will be a vector of future gains for the efficiency of your kitchen.

The training of your staff should not be neglected either. In fact, in addition to improving their skills, you will show your employee that you are helping them improve in their work. This type of action will tend to retain your team and increase overall motivation.