10 Ways Restaurateurs Give Themselves a Raise

When was the last time you gave yourself a raise?

The one you earned for increased performance.

I meet a lot of well-known restaurateurs who proudly and confidently identify their businesses as “great.”

They’re so great that, at first, they don’t even know why they are talking to me – someone who works to improve independent multi-unit restaurant companies.

Within 10 minutes, though, we figure out that, while they’re already great, they really could be even greater!

You do not have to choose between working less and making more – that’s one of the amazing elements of your life.

You can actually work less and make more.

I help my clients with this every day.

Almost all the people you pass by every day would be thrilled to have that kind of control over their life, schedule, and income.

Ask your neighbors, your friends, or a stranger on a park bench: The kind of flexibility you have is something other people can only dream about.

And they’d be shocked to find out that someone with that kind of life does not always take advantage of it. 

Who Really Deserves a Raise?

Your managers want raises – I’ve never met one who does not want to make more money.

Superstars understand that they make more money when the restaurant they work in does, too.

They come to you and show you what they have contributed.

They put in first before they take anything out, because they know they can’t make a withdrawal at the bank without first making a deposit.

They know the same rules apply to your restaurant.

The others just see that raise as their due for making it another year.

Sound familiar?

Which one are you? 

Matthew’s Top Ten Ways to Earn Your Raise

1. Target a new guest – and watch revenue increase
2. Upgrade your menu – and excite guests
3. Raise your PPA – it’s the fastest way to grow your bank account
4. Increase your service level – it will build customer loyalty
5. Use new software to drill down on expenses – and save money
6. Kill off a program or policy that works against you – and save even moremoney
7. Revolutionize marketing – to increase guest frequency
8. Develop your managers – and use that power to build your net worth
9. Renegotiate your food purchases, credit card processing fees, or insurance – and save still more money
10. Work with an outside advisor – expand your perspective and capability

Identify the big initiative you made a mental note of, thought about when you ran this morning, or has been on your mind for years.

Everybody has one.

Or more than one.

Set an example for your managers – the ones you want to be superstars – by taking on a big superstar project of your own.

One that pays off like that Apple stock you bought 20 years ago.

Then challenge them to do the same.

Over to you. To earn that raise, what do you commit to?