How can a barbecue buffet restaurant survive with high costs?
One of the most popular food businesses of this era is “buffet food” which meets the needs of consumers regarding value for money. However, it is a major problem for entrepreneurs who may have to bear high costs if they do not know how to manage it well. From opening a shop to make a profit, it may result in losses and the need to close down. Makro Horeca Academy sees the importance of this problem and has joined hands with Tid Nuea, a hot pan grill buffet restaurant, to be a case study for buffet restaurant entrepreneurs to plan to solve the problem within 48 hours.
Mr. Reji Wetwisut, owner of Tid Nuea, a hot plate barbecue buffet restaurant in Chokchai 4 area, said that the main problems are stock and lack of knowledge about accounting, income, and expenses in running a restaurant. If we look at the business model of the restaurant, experts from Makro HoReCa Academy initially believe that Tid Nuea has an opportunity to grow, but the problem is that it still lacks the basics of financial management and good management. Also, if they understand how to manage the stock of raw materials, it will help reduce the problem of waste.
Countdown to change within 48 hours, experts from Makro Horeca Academy went to talk to Mr. Reji, the owner of the meat shop, to solve the problems together. They found 4 main problems as follows:“Problem: Too much raw material stock, sunk costs” “Problem: Not knowing the real costs” “Problem: Too few fresh vegetable menus” “Problem: No special menus to increase sales”
Ms. Mathuros Wongpradu, a restaurant business consultant and planner, one of the experts from Makro HoReCa Academy, gave advice to Mr. Reji, the owner of the restaurant, on cost calculation. He believes that the restaurant has clear types of ingredients for sale, making it easy to calculate the cost of ingredients. The restaurant should record expenses to know the real cost problem. This will help calculate the ingredients needed, so there is no need to stock more than necessary, eliminating the problem of sunk costs.
Where is the problem? Fix the most difficult point first…. Once you fix that, it will be clear that the profit will increase immediately. Ms. Mathuros said that Ms. Mathuros advised Mr. Rae that business owners must see the big picture first. How much income should the business generate? What are the costs? Costs are expenses. Investigate which parts of stock are high costs and how much are the actual costs of stock that actually occur per month or per week?
True cost calculation formula
The calculation formula is (products at the beginning of the period + purchases during the period) - end of the period = amount used.
The actual cost will be calculated from the "beginning of the period", meaning raw materials from the previous round added to the cost or beginning of the period in the next round, plus "purchased during the period". Suppose that stock is counted every 16th - 10th, meaning that the beginning of the period is from the 1st - 15th. If there is stock left, add the total to the beginning of the 16th, add the raw materials purchased, then subtract "end of the period", which is the raw materials.
The remaining amount at the end of the period will give the actual amount of raw materials used per month or per period, allowing the calculation of the stock required to reduce the problem of sunk costs.
Chef Wuttichat Muedsri, a member of the Thai Chefs Association, advised that the restaurant should add vegetable dishes to the buffet line because most of the menu items are meat dishes. Chef Daniel Altos, an expert from Makro HoReCa Academy, also commented that buffet food is a type of food with a fixed price, which makes it impossible to increase sales much more than this. Unless they create a special menu that is separate from the buffet price, they can display the menu signs on the tables to attract customers’ attention, which can also stimulate sales. In addition, they should add rice dishes or snacks to the buffet line, such as garlic fried rice, French fries, and fried spring rolls, to give customers more options when ordering food.
Mr. Reji said that after joining the project with Makro HoReCa Academy, he was able to manage his stock better. He reduced the amount of unnecessary ingredients and added new menus, which were well-received by customers because there were more menus to choose from. In addition, he continuously recorded income and expenses, which allowed him to calculate profits and plug the leakage of expenses, which helped him adjust his sales plan in the future.Watch the 48-hour mission to transform a meat shop from the expert team of Makro Horeca Academy. Click to watch now.
Whether it's a small restaurant or a premium restaurant, when the COVID-19 crisis arrived, everyone was affected and had to find ways to adapt in almost the same way. As restaurant owners try their best to survive, we've seen some pretty cool ideas emerge. Some shops have not only managed to save their business but have also admirably maintained their core identity.
Similar to the famous premium omakase sushi restaurant 'Fillets' by 'Chef Randy-Chaichat Nopprapa' The mobile Omakase kitchen delivers umami to customers’ homes, satisfying Japanese food lovers with the same delicious taste as eating at a restaurant. Let’s take a look at this unusual and interesting idea.
'Chef Randy-Chaichat Nopprapa', founder of 'Fillets', a famous omakase sushi restaurant
One of the first famous Japanese and Omakase restaurants in Thailand
“Our restaurant has been open for almost 10 years, since there was not much omakase in Thailand. At that time, I had just returned from overseas. Both myself and our partners saw that the market in our country was ready to serve omakase-style sushi, which is a 'chef's choice' and the chef will select the best to serve to the customer. This was the origin of Fille, which was one of the first omakase restaurants in Thailand. After that, many other omakase restaurants followed.”
The impact of Covid hit hard. What needs to be done is to 'cut out the cancer' and preserve the 'core' of the shop.
Omakase Sushi Premium quality sushi prepared with care is the heart of Fillets.
“We were hit hard by COVID because after opening for about 7-8 years, we were quite successful, so we expanded the restaurant to include a bar and an a la carte zone. We became a large restaurant with a capacity of about 140 seats, which meant we had quite high monthly expenses. For example, we had about 20 employees. When the first wave of COVID hit and customers started to disappear because people had to practice social distancing. The first thing we did was to resize and restructure it to a smaller size to fit the situation.
Luckily, our lease at Lang Suan was up at the time, so we decided that we would move to a smaller place and cut out anything that was malignant. So we cut out the a la carte and bar parts, leaving only the omakase, which is the core of our restaurant. When the changes are made, it becomes 'Mini Me by Fillets' Omakase is now served for only 10 seats per round. One of the advantages is that we can focus on what we do best, so the results are better than before, both in terms of food and service, which is more meticulous.”
Overcoming the crisis strategically: From delivery to omakase food truck 'Fillets Go'
When COVID-19 hit, the number of customers at the restaurant dropped by more than 60 percent. Chef Randy said that in addition to deciding to adjust the model of the restaurant to be smaller, he also added strategies and ideas, one of which is definitely delivery, which is the survival of almost every restaurant. And what followed next was food trucks that moved the deliciousness to make sushi and deliver it directly to customers' homes.
Make a delivery menu as a series. It can be reheated, safe, and feels like it was just cooked.
“At first, when the government announced that all restaurants would close their stores in the first wave, we started to do delivery by adjusting our menu. When we did it, we felt that the response was not as good as it should have been. The main reason for that was because people were afraid of COVID safety, so they didn’t dare to eat raw fish. Since the recipe we had wasn’t really suitable for takeaway, we finally adjusted it. When wave 3 arrived, we made it D-Pot Don Khao, which is self-heating. We calculated that it was only 80 percent cooked, and when it arrived at the customer’s home, we asked them to heat it up another 20 percent, so it was like eating freshly cooked food from the restaurant. This is to solve the problem of fear of COVID from eating uncooked food. We also cook food in various series such as Kamameshi Series or Donburi Series so that customers do not get bored and can choose to eat as they like with peace of mind.”
When COVID-19 hit, many customers didn’t dare to eat raw fish. Therefore, the delivery menu focused on cooked food such as Donburi, D-Pot rice that is heated by itself, so that customers feel safe and can still heat it up and eat it themselves, just as delicious as eating at the restaurant.
Got the idea for a food truck from Pok Pok noodles, making sushi and delivering it to customers at home, more delicious than delivery.
“Actually, the restaurant itself has a service called ‘Omakase at Home’, where a chef is sent to make omakase for customers at home. However, due to the worsening COVID situation, I think that this service is not really suitable for this situation because we are afraid of our customers and our customers are afraid of us. Most importantly, we should not put ourselves and our staff at risk to that extent. Therefore, we decided to stop this service and focus on something that is sure and reduces risk.”
“What really works and meets the requirements is Food Truck Fillets Go When I was a kid, I loved eating Pok Pok noodles. Have you noticed that when you order noodles to eat at home, they don't taste as good as when you eat them at the restaurant? But when the Pok Pok noodles are delivered to you, they taste good. So I thought, If we drive a food truck and park it in front of the customer's house, make sushi and give it to them to eat inside the house, this would be better in terms of both the customers' delicious food and the safety of both parties. So we started to modify our partner's old truck. When we finished the truck, the first wave of COVID was over, so we didn't put it out to use yet. We just put it out to use in the third wave.
We are the only ones in the market that do this, so the response has been overwhelming, bookings are full, about 2 weeks in advance. When I thought of doing this, I didn’t expect the response to be this good. The first thing we thought of was to be able to continue running the business and to be able to keep all the employees so that everyone has income. And then we thought about how to not let the customers disappear from us. But it turned out that the response was overwhelming, so it turned out that we could make income equal to opening a physical store.”
Fillets GO! Omakase food truck that travels to make sushi and deliver deliciousness right to customers' homes.
The key is to assure customers that it is safe.
How To Run an Omakase Food Truck?
● Emphasize communication. Because anything can happen when a car is on the road, such as traffic jams, rain, or a broken car, the shop and admin must be prepared to communicate at all times. When you are about to travel to a customer, you should send a message to inform them of how long the journey will take. If there is any reason that may cause a delay, you must immediately inform the customer.
● Select appropriate ingredients and menus. Because food trucks have limitations in terms of storing ingredients, for Filley restaurants that offer omakase sushi, they focus on menus that use aging and pickling processes quite a bit because it helps in keeping the food safe.
● When arriving at the customer's home, the car must be disinfected and cleaned again. Then the staff will prepare and put on protective gear and start making sushi and placing it on a plate to hand to the customer. There will be absolutely no direct contact between the staff and the customer.
●The shop's safety standards must be very good and must be communicated to customers. Because during this COVID situation, there are still customers who are worried that they may be infected from eating raw fish. Fillet Restaurant requires its employees to undergo regular tests. Just the ATK alone requires two tests per week. In addition, there are measures in place behind the scenes, such as requiring employees to report where they have been and who they have met each day to assess the risk on a daily basis.
● Spread the risk by rotating teams. Philly's food truck crew will be split into three rotating teams, and the teams will not meet each other at all, so that if one team is infected, the other teams will still be able to provide service.
● Regularly check the condition of the vehicle to ensure it is in good condition. Because if the car is not ready, problems may occur, such as a car breaking down on the customer's important day, which may cause damage. If the car really breaks down, there may be an emergency number to call a tow truck to come to the customer's house or appointment place because we will not disappoint the customer.
The menu has a variety of prices to choose from. The gimmick is that it is served on a tamarind wood cutting board from the North, which customers can keep for later use.
Strategy and situation assessment are important.
“The important thing now is to have a strategy and know how to assess the situation. We have to think smartly, listen to the voice of the customers, and take the needs of the customers as the problem.”
“For doing business during a crisis like this, I think it's like playing poker. The important thing is to have a strategy and know how to assess the situation. For example, assess yourself first to see how much strength you have, how much you can handle, whether you can wait, whether you need to do this or that right away. Having the will to fight is good, but fighting headlong without considering anything can lead to damage. I think the most important thing in a situation like this is: We have to think very wisely about whether what we spend will actually generate income. Because in this situation, it is not the time to try and make mistakes or take risks. Now is the time to be sure.
When we are confident that we can do it, then we will do it. For me, I have many restaurants. Now I have to choose to close some of them because I am not confident that if I do it, I will survive in this situation. It is better for me to save the remaining money first. When everything is over, at least we will have capital to fight again. It is better than suffering and losing the lump sum and having more debts.”
“Listening to news is also very important. Because how well we can adapt depends on the information we have. Most importantly, don't just think about what we want to do, but listen to the voices of our customers a lot to find out what they really need. Use that as a challenge, and then we can think of ways to meet the customers' needs. For me personally, I see that the thing that customers are most concerned about right now is safety. We have tried to solve that problem by implementing various measures for the restaurant and its employees, as well as providing a food truck service to bring omakase sushi to customers’ homes. This ensures that they will receive safe food.”
“The impact of COVID is that sales are very good. The solution is to hire more people.” We didn't expect to get such an answer from 'Khun Nun - Karuna Sri-amphan', owner of Seafood Aroy Delivery When asked about the impact of the COVID-19 situation, because while most restaurants have been affected by the crisis, this restaurant is considered an 'upside' opportunity. From talking to the owner of this seafood restaurant that started as a small home kitchen and gradually grew into this popular seafood delivery restaurant.
It was discovered that A case study of Seafood Aroy Delivery using the 'scheduled delivery' sales method to avoid GP fees and also accepting half-price payment should be quite useful for many business operators.
From a casual home kitchen to a popular seafood delivery restaurant
“Seafood Aroy Delivery has been open for about 7 years. At first, I started selling just for fun. At that time, I had just graduated with a master’s degree and didn’t want to work full-time. It just so happened that my mother had a seafood stall at Or Tor Kor Market, so I took the seafood from my mother and cooked it to sell. I started out in a two-bedroom condo, which didn’t have a very big kitchen. Even gas was canned. At that time, I only sold crab curry noodles, and the response was very good. From selling only a few sets, it became selling hundreds of sets a day, to the point where it was no longer possible to sell them in condos. Therefore, we had to find a way to expand and rent a shophouse. But the format remains the same, which is only delivery, no restaurant for dining.
After that, we gradually developed other menus, such as grilled shrimp, crab claws, and other dishes. Today, our restaurant has dozens of dishes. Everything is made from seafood, mainly from Surat Thani Province, and sometimes from other provinces. During the 7 years that the restaurant has been open, after moving from the first shophouse, we still moved to another place because sales kept increasing. We had to expand and increase production capacity, so that we could divide it into different departments, such as the grilling department, the stir-fry department, etc. When asked how we were affected by COVID, we said that sales were very good. Sales were so good that we had to find more people to work.
From the beginning, she started to do everything herself and sell things herself with only a few people, and had only a few menu items. Khun Noon gradually expanded the business little by little until now she has a kitchen team of almost ten people. Every day, Seafood Aroy Delivery delivers an average of no less than 60-70 orders of deliciousness. If anyone visits the restaurant’s Facebook Page, they will know that there are more than 560,000 followers! We wondered what factors made this shop so successful and gain so many followers. The pioneering owner of the shop, Khun Noon, gave the answer:
“The reason why our restaurant has received such good feedback is probably because of the quality of our food. For crab meat, we only use chunks of crab meat. The advantage is that it is fresh and we don’t need to stock it because we get it from my mother who regularly sells at Or Tor Kor Market. She hardly makes any profit from us. The highlight of Seafood Aroy Delivery is selling fresh seafood that is received daily. Other shops may stock up and not receive fresh seafood every day. This is an advantage for the shop.”
Ms. Nun said that What Seafood Aroy Delivery emphasizes most, apart from quality, is punctuality in delivering food to customers. The restaurant uses the 'delivery appointment' method by talking to customers to make them understand that the food will be prepared shortly before delivery time to ensure that customers will get to eat their food at the most delicious time. For example, if the delivery time is set at 2 pm, the delivery time will be stated as 2 pm - 2.30 pm, which will not be later than that. If there is an accident that causes a delay, the customer will be notified immediately. However, such cases are very rare.
Dozens of seafood dishes rotate every day, never the same in a week.
Highlights of Seafood Aroy Delivery
1. There is no storefront for dining. Selling fresh seafood delivered by 'schedule delivery'
2. Emphasize punctuality. Food is prepared just before delivery time so it reaches the recipient at the most delicious time.
3. Fresh and quality seafood ingredients Because there is no need to stock the products, but rather receive them on a daily basis. Some seafood is even delivered alive, and they are given a generous amount of meat.
4. The price is inexpensive compared to the quality. It is also cheaper than many other seafood restaurants because the owner's mother sells seafood at the market, so the cost is cheaper than other restaurants.
How to do online marketing to be successful and have more than 560,000 followers
Khun Noon said that since she started the page when she first opened her shop, she had already set aside a budget to promote both the page and posts. Fortunately, when she first started, Facebook's advertising rates were not that high. So, I gradually accumulated a customer base and tried and failed continuously, which led me to learn techniques that worked well for my own restaurant, such as setting up food sets, organizing promotions, and changing the menu every day.
“We have been willing to spend money on online marketing since the beginning, since the time when advertising costs were not that high. We have gradually built up a customer base that follows the page. Now, advertising costs have also increased a lot. People who have just started doing this might have a hard time. However, nowadays we still have to pay for advertising because another highlight of Seafood Aroy Delivery is that we change the menu every day. We don’t repeat the same menus. Today and tomorrow, we have to promote new menus to let customers know. In addition to our page, we also have Line Official, which also costs money. But as I said, we have been doing this for a long time, so we have a lot of followers and regular customers, so we don’t have to spend a lot on advertising and promotion.”
A sales technique that increases both sales and customer base, as well as word-of-mouth promotion.
The restaurant offers a variety of food sets with many great promotions. The promotions and menus change every day.
1. Change the menu and promotions every day. Since the menu in a week is not repeated even once, customers do not feel bored. Regular customers can order repeatedly. And the fact that the menu changes every day makes customers follow the news from the shop's page to see what menus are being made each day and what special promotions are being offered.
2. Food set promotion It allows customers to enjoy seafood to their heart's content. If they order individual dishes, it may be more expensive, but if they order a set menu, it will be more worthwhile. Every day, regular customers will come to check out which set menus are interesting because the set menus are not the same every day.
3. Special food promotion at a cheap price Every day, there is also a special promotion menu with cheap food, which is usually more expensive than the full price. This promotion rotates special food every day. In addition to customers buying the cheap promotion menu, they may also order other food that is not included in the promotion. This is another effective way to attract customers.
Selling over 100 kilograms of shrimp per day, the promotion of 1 kilogram of grilled shrimp, get 1 kilogram free is a great promotion that makes customers tell each other by word of mouth.
4. Buy 1 Get 1 Free promotion, a magnetic promotion that helps increase sales. Each day, the restaurant will create 1-2 single-dish menus to offer a buy 1 get 1 free promotion, which changes regularly. After customers order, they may also order other dishes.
5. Pro Highlights The promotion of 1 kilo of grilled shrimp, get 1 kilo free is a very popular promotion. The shop only uses live shrimps sent directly from the regular pond. When asked why they have such a generous promotion, the shop revealed that this promotion is not focused on high profits but on selling a large quantity. The advantage is that it is a promotion that other shops might not have the courage to do. Having this different promotion helps with word-of-mouth promotion and helps increase sales. It is a highlight promotion that makes customers addicted and makes the shop very successful and well-known.
Uptrend during Covid & Appointment of time to send GP fee
“One thing that has kept us from being affected by COVID-19 like other shops is that we have always only offered delivery. Since we don’t have a physical store, we don’t have rental costs and we don’t have many regular employees. When we cut out the storefront, the shop was not affected like many other shops were by COVID. It turned out that this was an opportunity for us to sell much better. Because people are working from home, they have to order delivery to eat at home. Restaurants that used to be open for dine-in have also had to close. So it's an opportunity for restaurants like us that have been doing delivery business since the beginning. With a large existing customer base and our quality, customers who have tried our products already trust us and buy again. When this situation happens, customers think of us more. We also receive a lot of word-of-mouth recommendations. Most of the customers themselves recommend their friends to become new customers for us.”
“Asked why we chose to sell by scheduling delivery, we actually used this method from the beginning. There was a time when we tried using some delivery apps. But now we hardly use them because the GP fee is too high and doesn’t increase our sales that much. As I said, it’s true that we sell well, but we don’t focus on making a lot of profit. And if we end up paying that much for the GP fee, one thing is for sure, we will lose money. Otherwise, we will have to increase the price, which will make it even more expensive.
For example, we sell fish for 300 baht each. If we sell through an app, it will cost 400 baht each. On top of that, customers have to pay for shipping, which makes it even more expensive for them. This will cause problems in terms of competition with other stores. From our perspective, if customers buy directly from us and pay for the delivery fee, it doesn’t make a difference. In that case, it’s better for customers to order directly from us. The delivery fee is about the same. So we don’t sell through any apps except Robinhood, which doesn’t charge a GP fee and has a low delivery fee. Many customers are interested in it. The advantage is that we can sell cheaper than other stores while still maintaining the quantity and quality of the food.”
“So we focus on selling by appointment to avoid the GP fee. Some stores may require pre-orders several days in advance, but for us, it’s not like that. Instead, orders are placed 2-3 hours in advance. We have 5-6 delivery riders who take turns picking up and delivering products throughout the day. They are not our regular employees, but are riders we regularly use. Some of them have been working together since the shop first opened. They run errands for us every day. For example, the delivery fee gets everything. The shop doesn’t get a single baht.
Suppose a customer calls to deliver to the shop and informs us of the delivery location. We will calculate the distance and charge a delivery fee of 10 baht per kilometer, which is: The shop will inform you of the shipping cost first to see if this price is convenient for the customer, so that there are no problems later. Which is something we take very seriously. We will calculate the delivery fee together with the food cost for the customer to pay, and then clear it with the rider at the end of the day like this every day. ”
Advantages of Scheduled Shipping
1. Escape the GP cost and sell at a low price. Without reducing the quantity and quality, it helps increase the opportunity to compete because the price is cheaper than other stores that sell through the app, which must have the cost of GP. 2. Delivered on time. What the store and customers want 3. Get the menu that the customer wants. Because if you don't make an appointment in advance but want to eat right away and order, some food items may be out of stock. 4. Quality transportation Because the regular rider will take good care of the food for us and we can emphasize on manners. If there is a mistake or we receive bad feedback, we can deal with the rider directly. But if it is an app rider, we may only listen to the customer complain.
Tips: For stores that want to start selling by appointment
● Start with a simple method For example, talking to a motorcycle taxi driver at the entrance of the alley, Seafood Aroy Delivery shop also started out like this.
● Agree on a price that is fair to all parties, including our shop, the rider, and the customer. Do not undercut the rider's price too much. Another trick for selling by scheduling a delivery time is that sometimes we may make deals with some riders for a fixed rate for the whole day. Ask for a certain number of hours and a certain distance. Is this acceptable? For example, a fixed rate for the whole day is 600 baht per day, not exceeding a certain number of kilometers.
The advantage is that it can be organized as a 'delivery discount promotion', which helps to save customers' delivery fees. We can also arrange delivery routes during similar times for riders to add more orders. However, if it exceeds the agreed amount, we will see how much more money we can give to the riders. That is, the riders may receive less money per trip, but they will receive more regular work from us, which is a price they can still accept. Overall, even though they have to do more work, they will also receive more money. In the long run, it is a win-win situation for all parties involved.
Share frequently encountered problems
“There are customers who complain about the high delivery fee. For example, there are customers who come from far away to order, so the delivery fee is naturally expensive. Our shop is in Bang Kruai and the customer is in Rama 3. We charge 10 baht per kilometer as usual, but if the distance is far, it is still expensive for them. Customers who order from far away will complain, but it is something that must be heard and there is nothing that can be done. We cannot tell customers that “If you don’t want to pay a high delivery fee, order from a nearby shop.” We will try to tell them that if the delivery fee is too high and inconvenient, it is okay, but customers can come to the shop themselves. Some customers understand and choose to come to the shop themselves. This is a common problem that cannot be fixed.
But some customers are willing to pay for the transportation fee. We understand that because the shop itself cannot really extort the delivery fee from the rider. And the longer the distance, the higher the risk of transportation. Will the food reach the customer safely and still be delicious? Sometimes, there is a round trip of almost 100 kilometers, but we have no problem. If the customer is comfortable paying for the transportation, they can order, but it is not often. We will also have a promotion of free delivery for the first 10 kilometers and the shop will pay half for the next 10 kilometers to stimulate sales and give back to customers. But it must be a really special occasion like New Year only because as I said, the shop doesn’t get anything from the delivery fee. So if we have a promotion to reduce the delivery fee, the shop must pay this part to the rider instead of the customer.”
Using the Half-Half privilege to boost sales, customers love it, but there are also problems that need to be dealt with.
Giving customers the right to use the Half-Half project helps stimulate sales very well.
The owner of Seafood Aroy Delivery also said that when the government initially issued a policy for people to use the 'Half-Half' scheme, it helped increase sales for the shop very well. It was also very convenient. Until recently, there were problems that had to be solved on the spot.
“At first, the ‘Half-Half’ privilege could be used on multiple mobile devices, right? We let customers scan from each rider’s phone, which was very convenient. But later, the new rules were changed to allow only 3 devices per shop per day to scan, which started to cause us problems because not all of our riders can scan all the time. We had to solve the problem by rotating the devices. For example, if there was a time when many customers wanted to use the privilege at the same time, it would be a problem for us to organize. And since it could only be used on 3 devices at a time, we had to add some devices and remove some. And the policy also limited the request for OTP codes to only 3 days per time, so it became very difficult now. We had to manage it more.”
“Our solution is that if a customer says they will use the half-price privilege, instead of the original delivery time being within half an hour, we will ask the customer to extend it to a full hour instead. For example, if the order was originally at 11 am, we would say that the delivery would be between 11 am and 11.30 am. However, if they want to use the half-price privilege, we will say that the delivery will be between 11 am and 12 pm. This will give us time to rotate the machine and solve the immediate problem. Sometimes, there might be an accident that causes a delay, but we will immediately inform the customer in advance.”
For those who are having trouble with GP fees, Seafood Aroy Delivery also recommends that if other restaurants try using this 'scheduled delivery' model, it would be good, but they have to adjust it to suit their own restaurants. And the most important thing that cannot be forgotten is punctuality and sincerity towards customers.
In the New Normal era, restaurants have to reduce the number of tables in accordance with government measures, which inevitably affects sales, which must be reduced by more than half of the normal number of seats, but various costs do not decrease accordingly. So what can we do to increase sales? We have strategic guidelines to recommend.
First, you need to know that sales come from the number of customers x average per person. Average per person is: The amount of money a customer spends per meal at a restaurant each day.
Therefore, if you want to increase sales and profits, there are 2 principles: you have to increase the number of customers and increase the average per person or the amount paid per person. Let's see how to increase the number of customers and the average per person.
Guidelines for increasing sales for buffet restaurants Let's start with buffet type restaurants. The first thing to consider for restaurants with many price options is to eliminate the lowest price, leaving the middle and high prices, or just one price, to increase the opportunity to make the most profit from the limited number of customers in each round. Another approach for buffet restaurants is to reduce the time spent in each round, for example, from the original 2 hours, reduce it to 90 minutes, which is the average time for buffet dining. This method will help to turn tables faster. If we can make customers finish eating 30 minutes faster, we may be able to get 2 more rounds of seats, which will increase the opportunity to get more customers, even though the number of seats is reduced.
Guidelines for increasing sales for stores of this type Buffet vs A La Carte For a la carte restaurants, when the number of seats is limited and distance is maintained, group dining and family dining is reduced. Ordering multiple dishes to eat together is more difficult. The recommendation is to arrange a set menu for 1 person, which will increase the opportunity to sell more easily, customers can decide more easily, and feel that it is worth it. The restaurant can manage more conveniently, reducing the time spent eating, and helping to turn in tables more quickly.
Increase sales from other channels
1. Take away This is another way to increase sales that many brands are doing, such as making a Grab & Go menu: choose> pick up> pay> sit and eat or take home as a ready-to-eat menu. It can be made into a shelf in front of the store so that anyone passing by can conveniently choose, or even customers in the store can choose to take home to eat or give to people at home. What needs to be taken into consideration is that the packaging must be ready for customers to buy and eat immediately without having to bother looking for cups, plates, bowls, or spoons. 2. Organize promotional periods For customers who buy to eat at other places, for example, choose to organize a promotion during lunch time because it is the time when customers will come together. With limited seats, it will lose the opportunity to sell. But if you can make customers buy to eat at home or at the office, it will increase your sales. In exchange for paying for a promotion, such as a 10% discount, it is still considered worthwhile.
Sell through delivery to customers in one order. Finally, delivery channels are still necessary, but what I would like to leave you with is that most restaurants tend to choose to deliver only the main menu of the restaurant. For example, a savory restaurant will only have savory menus. But from the customer's perspective, when ordering delivery, they want to finish it in one go to make it worth the delivery fee, such as savory menus, desserts, and drinks. Therefore, consider what your restaurant lacks. Can you add in that part? If you are not good at doing it yourself, can you collaborate with other brands to increase your sales opportunities?
In addition to the limited number of seats, some shops whose original opening hours were at night until almost dawn will also have to deal with the curfew situation, making it impossible to open for business at the usual times. The recommendation is to adjust to open for business during the day instead, but many locations do not support opening during the day. If that is the case, you will have to adjust the time to set up the shop to be earlier, prepare ingredients from home, and when the time comes to open the shop, you will be able to open for business immediately without having to waste time preparing the ingredients. And if you are ready, you can open for delivery during the day from your kitchen at home, which will increase the opportunity to make more sales. Photo credit: Facebook Texas Chicken Thailand Click to read other articles. You can get it here.
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