Restaurant Ownership: The Longest Standing Business Venture

17 Jun, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Restaurants haven’t always had the amenities we enjoy today, but throughout human history, there is one thing that binds us all together.  Long before all the table trivia games, online ordering systems, and even shift scheduling software, humans of all eras were drawn to communal eating experiences that they wouldn’t have to prepare themselves.

The Ancients

The word “thermopolium” is probably not one you’re familiar with nowadays, but in today’s modern world, it’s impossible to walk several blocks without running into one. Today we just call them by their name:  McDonald’s, Subway, Chili’s, and so many more “restaurants” that are available for us to eat somewhere other than our own home. Who want’s to dirty their kitchen if they don’t have to anyway?

People have wanted to keep their own kitchens clean by eating out since as far as ancient Roman times. A thermopolium was to ancient Roman’s what Burger King (with alcohol) is to American’s today. The word thermopolium literally is translated to “a place where (something) hot is sold”. Citizens of Rome would walk to their local thermopolium and eat cheese laced with honey and spices. They would also be able to order lentil soups and mulled wine.

Common Ground

Rather than dealing with the fuss that modern day waiters deal with,  it is believed that these ancient places did not have menus. Instead,  the customers ate whatever the cook had made that day. History also shows that lower class Roman citizens mostly used these fast food options because they didn’t have access to their own private kitchens, and so thermopolia were also known as places where customers could get a little feisty.

A little closer to today’s modern restaurants were the eateries in China circa 1123. Marco Polo wrote about his visit to the city of Hangzhou; home to more than a million people in Eastern China. Unlike the thermopolia in Rome, customers in China were given a menu to order from. Marco Polo wrote of delicacies like silkworm pie, bean curd soup, and pork stuffed dumplings. In the city, Marco Polo talked of many shops and street vendors. The streets lined with many taverns, teashops, rice wine vendors, and tents with chefs and business owners.

Convenience

The world has probably never been without individuals looking to get out of cleaning their own kitchens. As a restaurant owner, you can always take heart in the fact that you’re part of a long line of hard working individuals in the history of restaurant ownership. And even in the modern age of meals in a box, customers still love a delicious warm meal in a sit down restaurant. Who knows? Perhaps restaurant ownership is one of the longest standing entrepreneurial business ventures of all time. And forcing customers to eat whatever the cook prepared is probably one of the least talked about innovations that the Romans created.

How To Structure Your Day To Make You More Productive

13 Jun, 2015 | Tags: , , , , ,

Moms always like to say that the best way to start your day is to tidy up your room and make your bed. A clean room is the start to a clean life! However, your mom (like mine) probably left out any ideas on how you should start your workday. Most of us do the same mechanical things when we get to the office desk. Power up the computer, grab coffee, check and respond to emails for the next hour. Sound familiar? But what if this isn’t the BEST way to start our workday? Ron Friedman’s book “The Best Place To Work” has some ideas for how to get the most out of your workday, making you more productive.

Morning Workday

A slightly surprising idea that Friedman makes note of is that when you arrive at work, the first three hours will be the most productive hours during your day. Those hours shouldn’t be spent doing the more mundane tasks you have to complete. Friedman actually suggests that before you do any work, you sit down at your desk and plan out the day’s objectives. What else must you complete today other than responding to emails and listening to voicemails? Any meetings, collaborations, or items that would need a real productive attitude to complete should be done during your first three hours in the office.

Afternoon Workday

We’ve all been there, the 2’oclock workday blues. No matter how much coffee you’ve had to drink, or how hyped you are about clocking out in a few hours, the hump in the afternoon is always one that’s difficult to get over. Friedman acknowledges this hump in the day, but again has a couple of great ideas to make even these slothful hours become productive. His research has shown that while we may not feel incredibly productive, this hump is actually one of our most creative stages in the workday. So instead of spending that time checking Facebook, begin to work on some of your more creative projects. Friedman also suggests using this time of the day to have your collaboration meetings.

Post Workday

You may think that just because you’ve left the office, you’re not longer working. The truth is, however, that many of us continue to think about work even after we’ve left the office. Friedman says that the best way to deal with post workday thoughts is to plan a workout session. Not only will this give you time to think a little more about certain topics you’re figuring out, but it also gives you time to unwind. Don’t think that you need to be awake at 5am to get a workout session in. Friedman says that in actuality (unless you REALLY enjoy waking up that early), you’re going to make yourself more unproductive by trying (and then probably failing) to keep up with a schedule you won’t enjoy. He also suggests looking into any workout that will be enjoyable to you; don’t feel limited to having to go lift weights in a gym. Dancing, neighborhood walks/jogs, etc. are all great options for your post workday productivity.

Friedman gives great insight and ideas for restructuring your workday to be more productive and get the most from your day.

The three ways you can immediately start restructuring your workday to be more productive are:

  1.  Using the first three hours of your day to be the most productive.
  2.  Switch gears in the afternoon to a more creative mindset.
  3.  Use the end of your workday to engage in a workout to help you wind down and get those last work thoughts out of your head.

Do you find these ideas to be helpful? What are some other ways you structure your day to be productive? Of course, having mundane things like work schedules taken care of by great systems like What Time Do I Work, will go along way to helping you work on the more important stuff. 

The 5 Best Ways to Optimize Your Company’s Finances

08 Jun, 2015 | Tags: , , , ,

Optimizing your company’s finances is an important part of staying in business for the long term. This process is something business owners learn to do more efficiently over time. As they become better at handling large sums of money, a business owner will recognize the value of staying on top of their company’s finances and carefully scrutinizing the general flow of cash in and out of their business. Here are the five best methods for optimizing a company’s finances.

Knowing the Essential Operating Costs

To ensure that your company’s finances are operating at peak efficiency, it first requires that you have a solid grasp on your company’s essential operating costs. This means that, if push comes to shove, you want to determine the minimal amount of money required each quarter, month, week and day to keep your company up and running. After calculating items like rent, lights, payroll, and other factors your company will not be able to avoid paying out, this establishes a target amount that you will use to make sure your company is going to be able to handle its essential budgeting requirements. If your company is failing to bring in enough money to handle its weekly requirements, despite meeting its quarterly requirements, then adjustments to your operating costs may need to be introduced to ensure a more consistent financial outcome.

The Future Projections

It is not enough to ensure that your company will be alive and kicking at the end of the first quarter of operations. Your funding sources should be scrutinized in order to develop a financial plan to ensure that your company will be prepared to hold out for the next five years. Having a financial projection that meets this duration requirement, where you know how you are paying off all your operating costs well into the future, is important to getting your company over a critical financial hump. The reason this is critical is because most start-up companies never develop a proven financial strategy to meet such long term financial projections.

Cutting Wasteful Spending

If you notice that your company is spending money in areas that do not prove to generate considerable profit, then such spending will typically turn into nothing more than long term waste. It is your job, as controller of your company’s finances to spot and eliminate these wasteful spending habits. Every dollar wasted in unprofitable spending efforts literally translates to a financial loss.

Stop Mixing Personal and Business Finances Together

One of the temptations that business owners tend to have is that they use their company finances to carry out personal transactions. This generally tends to make for a growing financial mess and should be avoided at all costs. For example, if you are ordering checks, do not put your custom designer personal checks in as an item you pay for with company money. Once you figure out where to buy checks online, be sure to purchase them with your own money instead.

Use a Financial Consultant

Sometimes the trick to ensuring the best path to optimizing your company’s finances involves utilizing the services of a competent financial adviser. It may be the case that your particular niche industry produces special or even abnormal financial challenges. Using a consultant that has experience navigating through such niche specific challenges will be key to ensuring the best possible outcome for your company’s continued financial success.

Conclusion

The key to optimizing your company’s finances is more about getting down to basics than attempting to over-complicate matters. The more complicated your company’s financial situation gets, the more room there is for inefficiency to creep into the works. The straighter forward your company finances happen to be, the easier it is to spot any perceived financial problems and wasteful spending. This will make managing your company’s financial course far easier and profitable over the long term.

3 Books Every Restaurant (and Small Business) Owner Should Read

08 Jun, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , ,

Many of us are looking for successful individuals who have triumphed over failure and risen to success, and then written guidebooks to their success. Learning is a valuable skill business owners and entrepreneurs require to continue moving forward and up. The following are 3 books that have proven to be great reads for business owners.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t 

By Jim Collins:

Jim Collins wrote “Good To Great” in 2001, and in the year 2015 it is still a very well known book among business and restaurant owners, as well as many other individuals in leadership positions. Collins wrote his book by way of many years of research. His book was written in hopes of helping leaders understand why their business grows and then stops, or for businesses that can’t seem to get off the ground. Many leaders talk about how this book changed the way they did business completely. Collins really pushes the reader to change the way they think business should work, and guides you into a new realm of business thinking.

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5 

By Timothy Ferriss:

Ferriss’s book, “The 4-Hour Workweek”, teaches the reader step-by-step how he went from making $40k per year working 80 hours a week to making $40k per month working 4 hours a week. The 4-Hour Workweek was on the number one seller list for 7 consecutive years. Many business owners love the book because of its many tangible daily goals that can be implemented immediately. You can also check out the blog (www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/) that Ferriss began two months before the release of this book, and to this day continues to frequently update.

Setting The Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

By Danny Meyer:

Danny Meyer is CEO of the famous restaurant group, Union Square Hospitality, in New York. Meyer has been highly successful in opening several well-known restaurants in New York City, but his success has not come without some failures. In his book, “Setting The Table”, Meyer explains those failures as well as how he bounced back and what he learned during those times of failure. The approach Danny takes in writing his book is very personal and relatable for the reader. His focus in the book is his recognition of the power of hospitality as it relates to customer satisfaction. “Setting the Table” is a powerful book for any leader, but specifically business owners whose business relies on hospitality. 

Which other books have you found helpful in your time as a business owner? Share how those books changed the way you did every day business or changed your daily goals as an owner.

5 Things To Know Before You Install A Business Sign

29 May, 2015 | Tags: , , , ,

Business signs are the easiest way for your customers to spot you from the street; those bright beauties that help guide them from their car straight to your door. Many signs are recognizable from miles away to millions of individuals around the world. Consider the golden arches of McDonalds, or the bright orange square of Home Depot. Signs are iconic, and a well-planned sign is a strategy not only to bring customers to your door, but also to keep bringing them back when they see your beautiful logo against the sky. But those signs don’t magically appear; there are a lot of steps that go into designing, manufacturing, and installing a business sign. So before you try to design and install a sign on your own, here are a few tips from professionals that you might not consider otherwise:

Difficult to understand

This isn’t to be taken the wrong way, but unless you’ve created business signs before, you probably don’t know where to start in learning about your city codes and permit requirements. Signage professionals know all there is to know about codes and permits. You’ve got a business to run; don’t spend your precious time trying to figure out which permit paper means what. Let a signage pro help your business guide you quickly to the end of an otherwise long journey through paper.

Time consuming:

As a business owner, your most valuable quality is your precious time. Time means money, and every minute you spend learning codes and looking at permits, you unfortunately have to take time away from your business floor…and business profits. The process of business sign installation is extremely time-consuming, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. Choosing to find a professional to help you install your sign will protect your valuable time from being wasted, and make sure your time is being used wisely.

City approval and permits:

You’ve probably heard of building permits; a building can’t be built until the city has approved of the structure, the architecture, and the placement of the building. It’s important that you think of your business sign the same as you would a new building—because your city thinks of it very much alike. As is most everything in city approvals, completing your permit is typically not done in a hurried fashion. One of the benefits of working with signage professionals is they know all the right people to talk to. Another thing to know is most cities require a licensed sign contractor to even pull a sign permit. So even as a business owner who is willing to put in the time to install a sign, you may not be able to obtain a city permit as an unlicensed sign contractor.

Landlord approval:

Unless you own your business building, you’ll need to gain the approval of your landlord before you install a business sign. An important aspect of being a business owner is continuing to build respect and understanding with other business owners, and your landlord is definitely a business owner you do not want on your bad side. The overall long-term relationship with your landlord is fundamental to your business. One way you can build lasting rapport with your landlord is by communicating with your them about the sign, gaining their approval, and also letting them see as you bring on professionals to have the installation done “the right way”. A happy landlord makes for a happy tenant!

Finding the right business sign professionals:

If you’ve come to the conclusion that spending weeks learning codes and permits aren’t for you, then the next step is finding the right business sign professionals that will give you a full-service package and install a business sign you can be proud of. Try to find a sign business that will create and install a sign that will make you proud. Some things you will want from the business you choose are: attentiveness, sign design, permit and city code knowledge, manufacturing skills, and installation abilities. Your sign will be a very important aspect of your business, make sure to find and use the company that you feel most comfortable working with. You’ll want a business that does more than just take your order, you’ll want a business that serves as an advisor, guides you through the process, and has open communication about any snags along the way.

Think you’re ready to get that new business sign you’ve been dreaming of? Hopefully you’ve gained some helpful insight with the professional tips above. Good luck with the installation of your new business sign!

Brett Duncan helps companies clarify and simplify their messages, including in the area of building signage and channel letter signs.