Even more than other businesses, restaurants need to have goals in place to ensure that they are successful. Without having goals, you won’t be able to judge exactly where you are in relation to where you want to be. They can serve as motivation to help you obtain your objectives while also measuring whether or not your efforts are being focussed in the right area and you are moving in the right direction.

What kind of restaurant goals should you have?

After you have decided what your goals are, you will be in a better position to use your time and money to achieve them. As a restaurant owner, you can consider the following goals:

  • Financial goals can include longer-term (improve monthly sales by x) or more short term (increase sales for a promotion day such as Valentine’s Day by y). Restaurant owners generally want to increase their profit margins but do you have goals in place to measure how you plan to do this? More on this later.
  • Customer experience is crucial to ensure your current customers are satisfied and create buzz about your restaurant to attract new ones. Train your staff to focus on customers, to be friendly and considerate. After all, having happy customers is in everyone’s best interest. Another way of increasing customer satisfaction is with a loyalty programme that can drive repeat business and encourage upselling. Find out more about the benefits of loyalty programmes in our blog.
  • Food quality and presentation must be a constant focus for every successful restaurant. Consistently excellent quality will make you the first choice for consumers and be good for your business, so be sure that you constantly evaluate your food preparation, menu and training. Restaurant software will provide valuable data showing you which menu items are performing the best and which are not so popular.
  • Staff alignment is another important aspect that should be a goal for every restaurant. You need to make sure that every member of your team is on the same page from the beginning and that their part is clearly defined and understood so that you can achieve success.
  • Marketing is a vital element for every restaurant to ensure that you are constantly growing. Whether it’s your traditional advertising methods (television, newspaper, radio) or digital marketing (for example, improving social media and growing Facebook or Instagram following), you should always make sure marketing is a priority.

Now that you have chosen the goals you would like to focus on, you can think about setting them up. The SMART strategy is one well-established way of putting your goals in place and making sure that you achieve them. Your goals need to correspond to the elements in the acronym.
The SMART acronym stands for:

  • Specific – ensure that your goals are precise.
  • Measurable – monitor your progress to ensure you are on track.
  • Attainable – goals are realistic to what you can achieve in the time frame.
  • Relevant – goals are appropriate for your organisation and your team.
  • Time-bound – goals follow a set of defined deadlines.

Pilot software will help you to achieve your restaurant goals. We have a range of tools that will empower you to handle every part of running your restaurant and make sure that you follow through on your SMART strategy. Download our brochure for more information on why you should choose Pilot.

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