So, you’ve been riding the wave of today’s challenging market – and you feel pride that yours isn’t one of the restaurants near you that has recently succumbed to tragedy.
Your sales have continued to increase one or two percent a year – a little less than your menu price increases. So you experience stability, but not excitement.
Maybe you feel like your staying power is the result of your risk-averse (or sometimes nervous) approach.
If you feel that way, it might have occurred to you that just doing what you have been doing all these years – avoiding risk – is the most irresponsible and riskiest thing of all. Why? Because the downside risk of doing nothing is the deterioration of your brand, your business’ performance, and your net worth.
I want you to do more for yourself.
I want you to feel a strong need to spring into action – to accept the reality of change personally and in your company to get the results you want.
Context Calms Your Nerves
First, I want to remind you that restaurants close all the time, and that’s not necessarily a reflection on you, since your brands have a future.
Second, like my clients, successful owners of multi-unit independent groups, you came into this flat market with more strength, experience, and a better balance sheet than many of the brands that close their doors.
That describes a big group of people I know, whose companies sit in the middle of the pack right now. That’s an accomplishment in and of itself in the current economy.
But you realize you cannot go on like this forever, Still, you feel a little scared, a little uncertain, and sometimes frozen regarding what action to take.
The Steps to Take
Set a reasonable, attainable goal for an increase in guest count, revenue and profit – enough to get you back on a forward trajectory.
Be honest:
- Does your multi-unit team have the talent to get there? Start coaching and improving them, or accept making some changes in the cast.
- Do your general managers have the capability to get better? Do their supervisors have the ability to get them there, or does the smart move look like identifying what GMs to replace?
- Do you have an honest, unbiased evaluation of the gaps in your operations, concept, and marketing that allow you to win the guest count sweepstakes?
- Do the learning-and-development efforts in your organization produce the guest experience that is the best in your segment?
These four existential questions lead to a plan to be one of the winners in this flat market. They put you on a path to really improving your business – growing 6-8% annually, like my best clients do now.
If you don’t have answers to these questions now and don’t know what actions to take, then when will you start?