THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO RUNNING A RESTAURANT Brought to you by Foreword Ray Carlin Vice president, strategy and solutions management, Oracle Hospitality At Oracle Hospitality we are obviously passionate about technology. However, we also understand that there are many other things that a restaurateur has to think about when opening a new place, including location, finance, recruitment, menu design, marketing and more. That is why you will find information and advice regarding all of these topics in this book. But, in fact, technology plays a big part in every aspect of running a successful food and beverage operation. Take finance as an example; to secure investment to expand your business, you will need to demonstrate a meticulous knowledge of your performance and a solid grasp of revenues and profitability. Technology will provide the real-time data that you need. Even something like menu design; creating the right menu requires a talented chef that can marry up the right flavours and dishes with the overall restaurant concept. But achieving consistency of that menu, day in and day out without fail, relies on having the right inventory controls and kitchen systems in place. Once again, technology can be your best friend. Ultimately, any restaurateur has to have a passion for food, wine, people, and service if they are to succeed. Oracle Hospitality can work with you and provide the passion for technology to help make your business a success. We hope you find this eBook useful. Please get in touch if you would like to know more – [email protected] Oracle Hospitality would like to sincerely thank everyone that contributed to this book: Kelly Atkin, Tim Brown, Chris Carr, Stefan Chomka, Julien Cohen, Jeremy Courmadias, Travis Croxton, Morgan Davies, Louise Duseigneur, Claus Fribo, Harlan Goldstein, Rob Hennebry, Mike Isabella, Andreas Karlsson, Joe Lutrario, Joonas Mäkilä, Claude Mariaux, Catherine McErlane, Carlos Mier y Teran, Giacomo Moncalvo, Luke Mould, Alison O’Donnell, Caterina Reed, and Bryan Voltaggio. Copyright © 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2 www.oracle.com/hospitality Contents Property p2 Foreword Reservations When I look back, I’d We can’t complain have never been able to about the number of afford what I have now reservation sources out if I’d opened in a more there, but they need to popular location be linked back to our own digital diary Claude Mariaux, chef-patron, Tummies Restaurant and Rob Hennebry, manager, Bar, Cippenham, UK Ponti’s Italian Kitchen, p4 Property London, UK Image: Sufi70/iStock/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk 4 www.oracle.com/hospitality p10 Design 34 www.oracle.com/hospitality Design Marketing There is a lot of generic We operate around a content out there. You sense of place. When need something that a guest sits in the people will recognise restaurant it has to make p16 Recruitment immediately sense to them Claus Fribo, director, Brdr. Joonas Mäkilä, head of Price, Copenhagen, Denmark marketing strategy and communications, Royal Ravintolat, Finland p22 Technology Image: Fuse/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk image: Lucky_Guy/thinkstock.co.uk 10 www.oracle.com/hospitality 40 www.oracle.com/hospitality Recruitment p28 Kitchen Kit Service It starts with building Every restaurant we the right culture. run has to have the You have to create same genuine sense of a desirable working hospitality environment US restaurateur, Bryan Jeremy Courmadias, general Voltaggio manager, Rockpool, Australia p34 Reservations Image: Burke/Triolo Productions/www.thinkstock.co.uk Image: Burke/Triolo Image: wx-bradwang/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk 46 www.oracle.com/hospitality 16 www.oracle.com/hospitality p40 Marketing Technology Menu writing An integral part of your We hand out menus for business plan needs to guests to take home. be your digital strategy. Because they are glossy If it’s not, you risk they tend not to be put getting left behind p46 Customer Service in the bin, which is good marketing Tim Brown, senior director, food and beverage sales Andreas Karlsson, managing consulting, Oracle Hospitality director, Sticks ‘n’ Sushi, London, UK p52 Menu Design Image: Nel/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk Daniel Publishing/www.thinkstock.co.uk Image: Ingram 22 www.oracle.com/hospitality 52 www.oracle.com/hospitality Kitchen kit p58 Finance Finance You need to invest in There are lots of private good quality kit. It gives equity companies we you piece of mind could have worked with, but you’ve got to find Chris Carr, chief operating people who you get officer, Zaks, Norwich, UK along with Morgan Davies, founder, p64 Hall of Fame Barburrito, UK Image: Adam Gault/www.thinkstock.co.uk Image: Adam Image: Thinkstock/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk 58 www.oracle.com/hospitality 28 www.oracle.com/hospitality p73 Glossary of Terms [email protected] 3 When I look back, I’d have never been able to afford what I have now if I’d opened in a more popular location Claude Mariaux, chef-patron, Tummies Restaurant and Bar, Cippenham, UK 4 www.oracle.com/hospitality Property Pitch perfect: location should be a major factor As competition for good space intensifies, restaurateurs are having to become increasingly bricks and mortar-savvy. Have you got what it takes to bag the perfect site? Image: apeyron/iStock/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk There’s a lot more to acquiring a new the lease, looking at the people that walk restaurant than simply waiting for another past during key trading times and asking to close. While this remains a workable themselves how likely each one is to visit approach in some parts of the world, both the restaurant. Understanding nearby first time restaurateurs and expanding businesses and their workers’ eating groups that want to set up shop in prime patterns is equally useful, as is knowing areas need to be considerably more what the competition is like. If an area is proactive these days. In general, there are empty on a mid-week lunchtime, alarm bells two main things to consider when looking should be ringing. for property; whether its style and size is suitable and whether the location is right. Footfall isn’t everything Yet not every restaurant needs footfall. Location is key Generally speaking, the more special Choosing the right location is probably the occasion driven a restaurant is the less it most difficult decision you will have to make will rely on a steady stream of potential as a restaurateur. Its location will not only customers because the majority of its tables dictate the cost but also have a potentially will be pre-booked. For some ambitious huge impact on whether it is a success, restaurants a remote location makes sense so getting it right is essential. To ensure as space is comparatively cheap and the you pick the right location it is vital to first pilgrimage to the restaurant becomes part of understand what it is your restaurant needs. the dining experience. The winding journey A large brasserie will require siting in a high to famed Spanish restaurant El Bulli has footfall area while a more modest project always been part of its charm, for example. can be located in a quieter – and cheaper – location. A high-end venture might not need In northern Sweden, Fäviken lays claim to to rely on passing trade but its postcode being among the most isolated restaurants and clientele will be important. Thus, there on the planet (it has the same latitude as is no such thing as the perfect location, just Iceland) but still manages to fill its tables the perfect location for a specific business. due to its gastronomic status – it is a regular on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Know your area Knowing where to open a restaurant The ‘off pitch’ approach requires more than rudimentary knowledge In the face of unaffordable premiums, high of a particular area. Some operators will rents and poor availability, some operators stand outside a site before signing on with suitable concepts are going ‘off-pitch’, 6 www.oracle.com/hospitality Tummies in Cippenham, Berkshire, Case Study UK, used the off-pitch location to its advantage when it launched. Twenty seven years on and the business has expanded greatly as a result If ever you needed proof that you don’t need to open in a high footfall location to be a success than Tummies Restaurant and Bar in Berkshire, UK, is it. Image: apeyron/iStock/www.thinkstockphotos.co.uk The 27 year-old restaurant is located in what chef-patron Claude Mariaux describes as a “secondary location”, on the edge of a trading estate in Slough. Yet the restaurant’s less than salubrious postcode has enabled him to grow his business in a way that just wouldn’t have been possible in a more premium location. Tummies initially opened as a 25-seat wine bar within a parade of six shops in 1988 but However, with a growing customer base and today it is a popular 100-cover restaurant the opportunity to expand into neighbouring that has swelled to occupy four of the six properties, Mariaux decided to stay and grow shops. Not only this, but the low cost of the restaurant in its existing location. property in the area has meant that Mariaux owns the freehold on three of the four The restaurant’s positioning hasn’t been properties (the other he pays a landlord for), without its challenges and Mariaux has had which is a powerful situation in which to be. to work hard to drive trade and build loyalty among his customers. As well as a restaurant, “Owning the freehold puts me in a very Tummies runs a cookery school and bespoke strong position,” says Mariaux.