Written by Chad Newman
In this article, I want to share the #1 thing you can do to increase your restaurant’s profitability – without expensive menu upgrades, and without cutting costs.
Before we get into it, let’s quickly address those two points first…
Menu upgrades may seem exciting at first, but how long does it take before the new menu simply becomes the menu?
The buzz inevitably fades.
And as for cutting costs – by either reducing food quality or trimming staff – the risks are significant.
Downgrading food quality or portion specs can alienate regulars, while insufficient staff on shift leads to poor service and dissatisfied guests.
Neither approach guarantees long-term success.
Now, before I tell you what the #1 thing you can do to increase your restaurant’s profitability is, let’s quickly talk about the only three ways you can actually grow your restaurant business:
- Get more guests…
- Increase spend per head (SPH)…
- Increase the frequency of return visits…
Improving just one of these things will increase your restaurant profits because:
- Getting more new guests means more paying customers and therefore, more revenue…
- Increasing your SPH means on average, your guests spend more, and revenue increases…
- Increasing the frequency of return visits means guests come back more often, and spend even more money with you…
Now, if you improve just one of those things then you will definitely increase your restaurant’s profits.
However if you do all 3 of those things at the same time, which is exactly what I’m about to show you how to do, you’ll dramatically improve your restaurant’s revenue and profits.
I’ll show you some examples of just how powerful the compounding effects of increasing all of those 3 things at the same time can be in another article, but right now I want to talk to you about…
The #1 thing you can do as a restaurant owner or manager, to get more guests, increase your spend per head, and increase the frequency of return visits…
And that thing is – delivering an exceptional front-of-house experience.
Why Exceptional Front of House Service Matters
Diners have so many places to choose from nowadays, and you can find more or less the same food at a number of different establishments, for roughly the same point in any given area.
Take Harrogate, where I live – there are over 20 Italian restaurants within a small distance of each other!
All with similar menus, at similar price points…
So what makes a diner choose one over the others?
It’s how they’re treated.
An often overlooked fact is that, although guests “go out to eat”, they only spend 15-20 minutes of a two-hour visit actually eating…
The rest of their experience depends on your front-of-house team.Even if the food is incredible – if the service is slow, lacklustre, or unfriendly, guests won’t return because they can just go to one of the other similar restaurants nearby.
How Phenomenal Service Brings More Guests to Your Restaurant
Providing that you serve decent food and the look and feel of your restaurant is nice, then the most important thing is your Front of House staff.
If your Front of House staff are friendly, welcoming, attentive, knowledgeable, and take time to interact with their tables, then those guests will be only too happy to go online and leave your restaurant amazing 5 star reviews (especially if servers ask them to)…
And it’s these 5 star reviews, more importantly recent 5 star reviews that will entice new guests to come and try your restaurant.
In today’s online-driven world, these reviews are an extremely powerful tool.
Think about it…
You’re on holiday with your family and you’re looking for a nice restaurant to eat at.
What do you do?
Open Google Reviews or TripAdvisor and try to find the closest restaurant with the highest rating.
You might even filter the reviews by recent, to be sure that the restaurant is running at its highest level right now.
It’s extremely important to have a string of recent, positive reviews to build confidence and draw in new guests.
You can generate an avalanche of 5 star reviews when your Front of House staff deliver exceptional service – especially if you incentivise them to do so.
And that’s not all…
The very same guests that leave you amazing 5 star reviews may also take to social media, letting everyone they’re connected with know how amazing your restaurant is.
Now you have your guests marketing for you, for free.
Increasing your revenue and profit through many new guests you acquire from word of mouth and online reviews.
All because you realised how important an exceptional front of house experience is.
How Amazing Service Increases Your Spend Per Head
Great Front of House service isn’t just about your servers being friendly and efficient – though that plays a significant role – it’s also about them knowing how to suggestively sell without hard selling.
The best restaurant servers are fantastic sales people because they:
- Know how to connect with their guests
- Know the menu inside out and are able to suggest drinks & dishes, no matter what the guest orders
When your Front of House staff are trained correctly, they will effortlessly boost your Spend Per Head.
Guests are going to want to stay longer because of the fantastic service they’re receiving, so they’re more likely to:
- Have the extra glass of wine
- Take sides that are expertly recommended to compliment their dish
- Order the dessert and coffee they didn’t plan on getting
And not to mention…
When your staff are efficient and attentive, they’re going to spot when their guests’ drink levels are running low, and will never miss the opportunity to ask them for another.
All of this means:You’ll make more revenue and profit because on average, your guests pay more (higher Spend Per Head).
How Exceptional Service Increases The Frequency of Return Visits
As I mentioned earlier, there’s A LOT of competition in the restaurant industry.
By offering the best Front of House service in your area, you set yourself apart from your competition.
Your guests will leave extremely satisfied and with a lasting impression because your food was great, and your service was even better.
The kind of service I’m talking about is particularly hard to find at the moment, especially since Covid.
Staff seem very clued up when it comes to allergens and health and safety…
Yet when it comes to actually looking after their guests, they’re slow, moody and often rude…
And then they expect a tip at the end of it.
When guests enter your restaurant and are made to feel like Kings and Queens because they’re so well looked after – where will they think of next time they’re looking for somewhere to eat?
That’s right…
Your restaurant!
They will return with their friends, family, co-workers and so on, to show them how great your restaurant is.
They will return because they enjoyed your food AND the service.
They will return because they know their custom is valued at your restaurant, and that’s a nice feeling.
The Bottom Line
If you think I’m overstating the importance of front-of-house service, let’s take a look at some examples.
Here’s a great example of how to lose paying customers right at the start of their experience…
Here’s a perfect example of how the food can be fantastic, but the service ruins the experience and the guest probably won’t return…
And here’s a brilliant example of how to totally screw up a special occasion – pretty much guaranteeing none of the people at the party will ever return to this restaurant…
5/5 for food, but 1/5 service results in a 1 star overall review.
As you can see above – a restaurant can have amazing food but poor service can still lead to scathing one star reviews.
All of these examples were easily avoidable…
A single negative review can significantly influence how potential guests view a restaurant and it can deter them from visiting.
All of this explains why I decided to specialise in Front of House training as a restaurant consultant…
Because I understand there’s simply no replacement.
If you’d like to find out how I can help you optimise your Front of House Service, then reach out to me on:
And I’ll talk to you soon,
Chad Newman
Front of House Restaurant Consultant
Founder of 5 Star FOH