The Right Time to Scale
Restaurants can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. With vaccines rolling out and capacity restrictions lifting around the country, they’re reaching stable enough footing to turn their eyes, again, toward dreams they harbored before the pandemic. Restaurant owners are back to thinking about opening second locations or growing in other ways. How can you scale in a waning pandemic?
It won’t look the same for everyone. Pop-ups that tested well during COVID-19 may be steady enough to take the plunge and become a full-scale operation; full-service restaurants may launch a food truck to go directly to their would-be customers who don’t visit very often. It’s a personal goal, not a set standard throughout the industry. Growth doesn’t always equal opening up a new venue, which essentially means reopening from the ground up. Maybe you launch new sales channels, offer new menus or expand your hours instead.
Photo by Huma Kabakci on Unsplash
How to Scale Your Restaurant
Although we’re beginning to glimpse the end, COVID-19 is still a real and prevalent threat. Therefore you may not be quite ready to jump right into a new business venture, even if you feel prepared mentally and financially. Do you have the cash flow to support a new location through its adjustment period? Is there a customer base asking for the new revenue stream you’re introducing?
Make sure everything is ready before you invest time and money into a business that isn’t set to scale. Do you have…
a strong team, led by competent managers who are prepared to make this new venture to succeed?
a new location? You may have to pull in different customers if you’re moving to a new area unlike your previous niche.
streamlined operations to the point where you can guarantee customer satisfaction as your paramount concern?
new technology ready to handle everything you need to run a competitive, modern business?
Learn the ins and outs of your business before deciding to scale. This gives you time, not only to assess your strengths and shore up your weaknesses, but to prepare for any new situations you think may arise during this venture. Then, when you’re really prepared for the challenge, you’ll be ready.
Building Better Business
Although opening a new location may seem as daunting as launching a business for the very first time, this time you already have the brand recognition and killer instincts that you need to survive in a harsh market. Couple that with advancing restaurant technology and you’ll be ready to greet the new world that comes after COVID-19.
Upgrading your POS technology will smooth the way. Cutting-edge software handles reservations; connects all your sales channels to one comprehensive, easy-to-understand screen; makes it easy to edit your menu; performs automatic updates that sync to every device in the store; and handles all kinds of other tasks. All of this adds up to more productive, effective scaling.
Photo courtesy of eatOS
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