Turning Your Restaurant into the “Spot

20 May, 2015 | Tags: bars, central perk, Employee Scheduling, friends, jennifer anniston, rachel, restaurant, Scheduling, software, What Time do I Work

You know you’ve watched Friend’s and wished you were sitting on that vintage couch, drinking coffee with the gang at Central Perk. And why wouldn’t you wish that? The Friends gang found their perfect spot: a table (with a reserved sign, if you never noticed) surrounded by comfy seating, enjoyable atmosphere, and a great menu. But have you ever wondered why they chose Central Perk as their favorite hangout? Sure, maybe it was because Rachel worked there, or because they lived upstairs.

But it also brings up some basic principles of being a great restaurant. Becoming a favorite spot isn’t as difficult as you might think. Some basic etiquette can quickly turn your restaurant into your guest’s favorite go to spot.

Invite Your Guest

Your restaurant is more than a restaurant; it’s the place people want to go when they aren’t at work, catch up with their best friends, or take their significant other out for a date. Your staff members are the gatekeepers of your doors, and everyone enjoys a friendly gatekeeper. Simply existing as a restaurant isn’t enough to become a favorite spot. Be an inviting restaurant. Smiles, greeting at the front door, and friendly service are all ways you can be inviting. Invite your guests to come, invite them to stay, and invite them to come again.

Remember Your Guest

Did your guest return? Remember them! Starting conversations and asking questions helps your guest feel welcome. And if you remember their answers, you’re winning at guest relations. Simple questions can help you in making your restaurant their favorite spot.

Some starting questions could be: Do they have a favorite table? What’s their favorite item on the menu? Do they have a favorite staff member that gives them great service?

Asking these types of questions (and remembering their answers) will help you tailor a perfect setting for your guest. Remember your guests and they will return!

Serve Your Guest

You’ve succeeded in making your guest feel invited, you’ve remembered their favorite table, now give them service that will make them want to return again and again.

Thankfully, unlike Central Perk, you own a business in the 21^st century; there are so many digital options at your fingertips to help your service run smooth.

Using What Time Do I Work for your employee scheduling will ease your mind and give you more time to spend on the floor with your guests. It might even help avoid conflict with employees, which leads to happy employees and even happier clients.

OpenTable is a great option for your guests to let you know when they’re coming to visit, and to save their favorite table. Using digital technology in your restaurant gives you more control of your floor.

Your guests will become staples in your seats because they know what to expect when they visit: genuine and enjoyable service. Smiles at the door, their preferred table in the corner, their favorite server remembering their usual drink order, and it’s all uphill from there. Congratulations. You’ve just been chosen as your guest’s favorite “spot”.

Strive to give your guests dependable and enjoyable service that will make them love your restaurant and want to continue to return. Working closely with your staff members will ensure that your goals will be met.

Also, if you didn’t already know, Rachel wished Central Perk had used What Time Do I Work for their scheduling needs. It might evan have allowed her to spend more of her time focused on fixing her dating life!

Good luck helping your guests make the right choice to choose you as their favorite spot! Let us know how you make your restaurant your guests favorite go to spot.

10 Mobile Applications for Your Growing Restaurant

20 Apr, 2015 | Tags: apps, business, restaurant, small business, startup, technology, tools

Mobile app technology is growing exponentially and the tools available at your disposal are becoming harder to filter out. With numerous applications that serve the same function, it becomes a tiresome exercise made up of 2 key questions: 1. Which tool is best? and 2. Do we really even need this?

There is no general right answer for any of these questions. Each business and restaurant will have different sizes, customers, and objectives so it’s futile to define who needs what. With this list we provide a basic overview of several online and mobile applications that are designed to make life easier as a restaurant owner.

If any of our suggestions make you think “Hey, this would really help us out a lot”, then go check it out. Make sure you search for and compare between similar applications so you can properly decide which one is right for you.

1. The Suggestion Box– If your establishment is already using table technology to make payments and take orders, this app is a great add on to let customers provide anonymous reviews and ratings of their overall customer experience.

2. Accupos– If you are just getting started and are looking for a point of sale system, AccuPOS might be the right place to start looking. It integrates cleanly with Quickbooks and it’s scaleable design allows you to add-on tools like magnetic card readers, touchscreen pc’s and receipt printers.

3. Appsuite- Appsuite is a restaurant loyalty and reward program software that tracks your customer’s order history and “behavior”. It allows you to customize loyalty programs based on what the customer has purchased in the past.

4. Canvas– Canvas is a great tool for any kind of business that needs proper tracking of inventory, cleaning supplies, restaurant inventory, employee time sheets, etc. It also works together with Spreadsheet Processors and Quickbooks.

5. Ezee menu- When a customer is making a decision on wether to visit your restaurant or not, a well made menu goes a long way in drawing them in. With the prevalence of mobile devices, it is important to have digital version of your menus available online. Sometimes the restaurant that a customer ends up choosing is the one whose menu loaded quicker on their phone.

6. What Time do I Work– This one is our favorite for no specific reason. If you are tired of employee scheduling conflicts and the internal communication issues that come along with it, then this might be the app for you. Not only does it offer clean scheduling options, but it allows you to contact your entire staff, handle employee request, and manage employee alerts with just a few clicks.

7. Gopago– Gopago makes a heavy promise by stating it is “Everything you need to get your business up and running”. It certainly offers many tools, among them being credit card processing, cloud storage, loyalty programs, invoicing systems, and mobile ordering.

8. Nowaitapp- The nowait app makes life easier for your employees as well as your customers. Your customers can hold a place online before ever arriving to your location. It is a real time wait list and seating tool for restaurants that allow your hosts and customers to see where they are in the wait list.

9. Chownow.com– Chownow is a web app that allows you to take orders online. This obviously allows you to digitize your menu as well. If your restaurant is located near office business centers, it will greatly facilitate patrons to place their orders while they are at work so that they are ready for pickup by lunch time.

10. Uncorkd – Uncorkd is a wine and beverage menu app that lets you go the extra mile whith your wine menu. You can provide extensive information on the wines you offer, even allowing you to offer pairing suggestions and options.

These are just a few of the thousands of tools available at your disposal. Some of these might be useful for you. It’s always a wise idea to research all your options before deciding on one particular choice.

How to get new customers through the door and keep them coming back for more

09 Apr, 2014 | Tags: bar scheduling software, Employee morale, employee satisfaction, Employee Schedule, Employee schedule calendar, employee schedule template, Employee Schedules, Employee Scheduling, employee scheduling program, Employee Scheduling Software, New customers, online employee scheduling, restaurant schedules, restaurant scheduling software, Scheduling, Staff Scheduling, Staff Scheduling Software, Workforce Scheduling

Getting new customers through the door is a large feat in itself, but keeping them can be just as challenging. There are many factors that play into the customer experience. We have put together the list of some simple and budget friendly ways to get new customers, and a list of reasons that weighs heavily on their decision to come back.

How do I attract new customers?

Getting new customers is the goal of all businesses; you cannot grow by simply maintaining your current customers, you need new customers. Trying a new restaurant is a big gamble for most people in today’s market, as they are very selective on where they spend their hard earned money.

Standout

You need to be known for something, it can be type/ethnicity of food you offer, special promotions or signature dishes.

Be social

If people don’t know that you are out there, how are they ever going to walk in the door? Social Media is huge in today’s culture, not only can you share images, articles and experiences, but now with “check-ins” friends of your patrons can see that they came to your establishment.

Offer deals

A great way to get new customers to try your bar or restaurants is to offer special deals for new customers, such as a free appetizer or shared dessert.

How do I keep customers coming back?

Now that you have new customers coming in the door, let’s look at the flip side of keeping them coming back for more. There are many reason that you could experience slow nights (bad economy, it’s a week night or that there are no special events or holidays) that are out of your control. Here are the top 3 reasons within your control that make customers decide not to return to your bar or restaurant.

Current Menu

Regularly check your menu to ensure that your pricing is aligned with your target demographic and that you are mixing in enough seasonal/trendy offerings with your signature dishes to keep customers interested and coming back for more.

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs can be as simple as deals based on the amount of money spent during each visit and/or the number of visits, and offer discounts on future purchases.

Welcoming Atmosphere

You guests have come to you not only for food and drink, but an enjoyable time with friends and family. Some of the top areas of importance include clean floors/tables/bar, clean bathrooms and the service that they receive.

How do I ensure employee satisfaction?

To ensure your customers will have a great experience, you must have a happy staff providing high quality service. The number one reason for employee dissatisfaction stems from scheduling. Scheduling includes ensuring that you have the right number of staff on for your customer level and ensuring that you fairly allot time-off and/or overtime shifts. What Time Do I Work.com offers easy-to-use and affordable online scheduling software designed to make scheduling a staff of any size a breeze with features like automatic staff communication about schedules, the ability to track and store employee time-off requests and scheduling conflicts and overtime alerts. Try What Time Do I Work.com for yourself today and get the first 30 days free.

The Top 3 traits of the Most Successful Bar and Restaurant Managers!

26 Mar, 2014 | Tags: bar scheduling software, Employee Schedule, Employee Scheduling, employee traits, online employee scheduling software, restaurant scheduling, restaurant scheduling software, Staff Scheduling, Staff Scheduling Software, successful managers, Workforce Scheduling

Managers of bars and restaurants have a long laundry list of responsibilities that are integral to the success of their business; the most successful managers excel these 3 areas:

Relationship with coworkers
Customer service
Attention to detail

In this blog article we will review what makes a successful manager.

Your customers’ first impression of your business is when they first step foot into your business. However it is the full experience including the food, service and atmosphere that remains with the customer long after they leave. Managers play a very important role in providing your customers with the best experience.

Relationship with employees:

Treat employees with respect and remember to give good feedback – without a dedicated and supporting staff, your manager and business cannot be successful
Give staff clear instructions – managers maintain the consistency in customer experience and clearly instruct employees about processes and policies. If there are changes that your staff is not aware of, customers can get a bad impression of your business
Maintain a high quality staff – managers must support and praise the hardest workers, while weeding out the employees that aren’t performing (most importantly a manager should never discipline an employee in front of customers)
Be a leader and set an example – managers must follow the same set of rules and policies as your entire staff without exceptions

Relationship with customers:

Meet and greet – businesses can only improve if they solicit customer feedback and respond immediately to all feedback to ensure that customers feel as though their feedback is valuable
Respect that each customer will have their own opinions – while it might not be true that the customers are always right, managers should look to resolve any situations without argument or insinuating that the customer might be wrong
Ensure that all customers leave happy – word of mouth marketing is very powerful, especially when the feedback isn’t too great, managers must remember this and strive to ensure that no customers leave unhappy

Attention to Business:

Attention to detail in all aspects of the business – managers must have an understanding of what is going on in the back and front of house, to set expectations and handle any potential problems before they become a problem
Do not ignore problems – managers should know inventory levels as well as any issues with equipment to ensure that speedy repairs to help provide each customer with the same high level service
Efficiently manage day to day tasks – managers are responsible for all scheduling of their staff, and the pros use online employee scheduling software like What Time Do I Work.com, that records time-off requests and provides automatic alerts for scheduling conflicts and overtime hours to help manage labor costs.

Try What Time Do I Work.com today and get your first 30 days free with our no obligation free trial (you don’t even have to enter a credit card to start scheduling).

How to host a successful Game/Trivia Night

20 Mar, 2014 | Tags: bar scheduling software, Bar Trivia, conflict free schedule, Employee Schedule, Employee schedule calendar, Game Night, Group Hangout, Staff Scheduling Software, Trivia Night, workforce schedule

Recent trends are showing that people are no longer just going out with friends to hang out, but that they want something do when they head to the local watering hole. So what are you to do? The answer is simple: host Game/Trivia Nights to keep people coming back and increasing length of stay (which also results in higher sales). This is also a great way to get new customers through the door not only for the activities but through word of mouth marketing. To make these events successful we have put together a list of the top 5 tips.

Select Event

The first place to start is looking around your bar. The set up and resources in your bar will determine the events/activities that you can offer. Do you have pool tables, darts, etc. and/or do you have a stage area or room for patrons to participate and watch the events? You need to match the activity to your bar, and remember that people will also come to watch the fun.

Select a Theme

If you bar has a theme (sports, tropical, etc.) you should incorporate that theme into you activities. So for sports fans you could host trivia nights that are based on sporting facts. Little touches will make a big impression and keep people coming back through your door. Another great option for a theme could be based on the local area.

Promote Your Events

You can’t have successful events without promotion. This does not mean that you need to take an ad out in the daily news, but posting information on social media is a great place to get started. If you have outdoor signage, that is a great place to promote upcoming events. You can also include flyers around the bar and on the tables for a few days leading up until the events.

Special Offerings

A great way to increase sales during these events is to offer special appetizers or drinks at discounted rates while the activity is happening. You could also create some special menu items that can be shared during the events.

Scheduling

Don’t forget that you will need to increase the number of staff working to meet the increase in customers and sales. With scheduling software like What Time Do I Work.com you can easily create a conflict free schedule for these special nights. Schedules are then posted online for employees to view at anytime from anywhere. Additionally our software has advanced features such as real-time labor cost calculations, conflict and overtime alerts. To learn more about how your business can benefit from our online employee scheduling software, try our 30 day no obligation free trial.