There was a time when running a restaurant meant you did not have to set a foot outside the front door, a chef or owner could stay in the kitchen and let the food do all the talking and rely on the good word of mouth from customers telling their friends how great their experience was to generate the continuous growth of the business. The odd positive restaurant critic review, a listing in a guide book or a trade award was an added marketing bonus. Of course a bad review was something to be avoided at all costs. Sometimes things can go wrong and rare slips ups are allowed and unavoidable actually but we always say you will never get a good meal in a bad place regardless.
These days all bets are off and the restaurateur must double as a sales and marketing person as if running a place morning and night often six days a week was not time consuming enough. Now an establishment must create its own branding, reveal the personalities behind it, have an eco conscience, an online presence across as many platforms as possible, sponsor a local charity or club and engage with its customer base. Regulars might even want to read a recipe blog, see video messages from you, attend your cookery class and expect you to be partaking in any food and tourism event in the vicinity as a mini celebrity chef.
Even any upcoming menu changes or weekly specials will need to be announced online in advance and not when diners arrive to eat. The advance of technology has meant we live in an instant world and if the restaurant is not techy minded then they sure as hell will have to engage someone who will manage it. There is also the keeping up with modern trends in terms of food, drink, decor and service. There are varying degrees of customer demographics so the product you offer must have a wide ranging appeal.
Menus need to be written with both old and young in mind as well as catering for all the special diet customers which is becoming more and more complicated. Diet restrictions cannot be left at home and all customers deserve to be considered. They are only a minute away from displaying their displeasure online even before leaving the building. Food tech is moving at warp speed, digital dining is here, assisted by AI with personalized menus, QR codes, guest nutrition and recipe analysis at the heart of this sea change already growing.
The days of servers just taking your order and shrugging shoulders are well and truly over too. They must be able to answer a myriad of questions from where ingredients have come from, precisely how the dishes are cooked, what allergens and calories are in the recipe and accept possible preference tweaks for the particular menu choice of the diner without a chef having a hissy fit when it is requested.
If a piece of beef is asked to be cooked well done then it should be and if someone wants to shower a plate with salt then so be it. It takes a few years of training to be a server of this calibre so young part timers in for a weekend cannot be expected to perform at such a level. So how is the modern restaurateur expected to cope with all this extra pressure? With great difficulty is the answer. The equation for actually making any money is tighter than ever even if the public still believes it’s a rip off racket.
The hundred or more costs, taxes and overheads that have to get a tiny slice from your plate of food each time it is served drives most potential food operators a million miles away after I sit them down to do the maths lesson of the food business financial reality check. So now there is another lesson too in media training to add to the even trickier financial, compliance and techy ones never mind the chefs that cannot even cook. You will be very privileged to have a viable restaurant near you in the future that serves affordable good food, gives you a pleasant time, looks after your health and stays the course.
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