New Year, New Restaurant: Easy Ways to Freshen Up for 2015

Menu maintenance

A New Year often means a new menu as we say goodbye to food trends and welcome in new ideas and seasonal flavours. Menu maintenance doesn’t need to mean a complete overhaul but introducing some new seasonal dishes or updating your drinks offering is a great way to lure customers through the door and to keep your staff on their toes too.

You may even want to consider asking some of your more junior staff to start contributing a monthly special to nurture the talent within your team. If you’re updating your offering you may also want to consider menu design, and we’ve helpfully got a great blog post all about that too!

Supplier and sourcing selection

Whether you plan to update your menu or not, you may want to take some time to review your sourcing to ensure you’re getting the best deal. In 2014 customers’ interest in eating local continued to grow, so why not see in the New Year by reaching out to local producers to see if you can’t snag a great deal in your area?

When you’re considering new products for inclusion in your menu, don’t forget you’ll need to take the new allergy rules into account.  Finally, think about maximising your income where possible – should your small deli be stocking that amazing chutney you serve with your ploughman’s?

Liaise on layout

Once you’ve cleared the Christmas decorations away it will be easier to assess whether your space is working as well as it should be. Are you finding you’re serving more couples rather than groups now? Could you accommodate your customers better by switching in some extra smaller tables, rather than a few large ones?

Speak to your waiting staff to find out whether they think the front of house layout is working well or would benefit from some tweaks and do the same with your kitchen staff too. For some tips, take a look at our mini guide to auditing your kitchen design.

Do a deep clean

Nothing says fresh like a sparkling clean restaurant. If you need fewer people on shift than expected, make sure staff members are being put to good use by getting ahead with cleaning tasks.

As well as giving the kitchen and other areas some serious attention you may want to consider reviewing your daily, weekly and monthly cleaning rotas to ensure they’re still adequate for your footfall. Check if any tasks are being regularly missed or amended, and get feedback on any additional duties that may need to be scheduled in. Remember, cleaning effectively is being made harder by tired décor or equipment, which leads us nicely into our next ideas for rejuvenation…

Do some decorating

You could go all out and re-theme your restaurant but even a lick of paint will help maintain a well-presented and cared for feel.  Regular decorating can also make cleaning easier, so take advantage of New Year DIY and furniture sales to freshen up the appearance of your restaurant. If you’re stuck for ideas, we recommend heading over to Pinterest and searching for terms like ‘restaurant interiors’ that will bring up plenty of inspiring images.

Replenish and polish up your cutlery, crockery and glassware

As you’ve likely just come out of your busiest time of year you might find that your stocks of essentials like cutlery, crockery and glassware are running low. Before you press auto-order on new stock, consider whether the design of your existing choices still matches your menu and clientele. Are you adding a new soufflé to the menu that you want to serve in the dish or some new cocktails that might necessitate new glassware? You may find that you’re able to source items that match your existing stocks but if you’ve redecorated, it could be time to update your table items too.

Revisit your customer service training

Refreshing your restaurant isn’t just about aesthetics. While you have a little down time, why not make sure customer service is on track? You might want to organise some refresher training, using any feedback that you’ve had from Christmas bookings as a starting point.

Another option is to schedule some team events or outings to thank everyone for their hard work over the festive season. The result should be happy and enthusiastic staff, which should be reflected in satisfied restaurant visitors.

Finally, when you’re happy that your staff and restaurant are totally revitalized, you might like to think about setting up some new goals and opportunities. Many restaurants are taking advantage of the interest in less formal dining and growing number of Street Food events and building a popup presence. Could you take your restaurant on the road? With few set up costs, a mobile food venture could help put your brand in front of new audiences and give your staff a fresh challenge.

What do you think of our tips? Which goals will you be setting for your business in 2015?