how to manage a restaurant & bar that is not not really profitable? or not really successful?

Question

what i am asking is what to do if you have a restaurant & bar that is not profitable or just few patronage from the public or other sources. Is it because of the food that been served, menu is more on steaks, salad, appetizers, or is it because of the ambience, in terms of setting tables and what is the best place to put the bar, left, right, middle? what kind of food goes perfectly with this kind of business?

Answer 1

The first thing you need to remember is that it may not be anything that has to do with your establishment. It could be the area, your competition, or even the public not knowing about your place!

Further than that, you need to do some hardcore research to see what works well in your area, what doesn't work, what type of people your aiming towards, and what they like that differs from other segments of the market. Then, gear your options within your establishments towards that target group. The others will follow.

After that, then you can begin to look at your menu, your setup (flow of business, employee routes, guest routes, etc.), your ambience (lighting, music, decor, uniforms,etc.), and your staff. Remember to keep in mind what your research told you about your target market. i.e. If your gearing you restaurant around quality of foor aimed toawards 35-45 yr old mid-upperclass couples, you might want to skip the hiphop dj, $1 beer specials, and all you can eat wing wednesday!

Hope that helps, I spent 40K and 5 years learning it!

Answer 2

Pare down the menu to only those items that ARE selling. Run a contest to get people interested in your place (give the winner a free dinner for two. Think of all of those that will enter and NOTICE you for one free meal). Advertise it in all of the papers. The bar is typically on the left of the entrance but a center bar looks great with tables along the walls. Get a gimmick or theme going and include the food into it. Is the place more country and western or modern for example. Have your chili named after the place and say it's famous even if it isn't. Good luck!

Answer 3

By the seat of your pants! :)

I had a bar and grill type restaurant. The bar used to be in the back, but I moved it to the front (smaller area) so that could be the smoking section. I had a salad bar that was originally a pizza prep cooler and I put a sneeze-guard over it.

I served steaks, seafood, pasta, prime rib (a favorite!), baked potatoes, hashbrowns, fries, American fries, tons of sandwiches, soups, fried appetizers, whatever I could think of.

Keep an eye on the help and train them well. And the most important...do your paperwork on time!