Entering the restaurant industry involves overcoming challenges like stiff competition, shifting consumer tastes, and the need for detailed planning to maintain culinary quality and financial stability, especially when running multiple restaurants.
In this article, we’ll delve into 15 crucial tips to master managing multi-location restaurants, ensuring consistency and adaptability across your culinary empire.
What is a multi-unit restaurant?
Multi-unit restaurants encompass a network of dining establishments with the same brand or ownership in different areas. They can belong to a chain, franchise, or a group of independently named restaurants owned by a single entity.
What sets multi-unit restaurants apart from single-location ones is their ability to replicate a uniform brand identity and operational approach across multiple sites, frequently catering to a wide range of markets and customer demographics.
- Brand consistency: Despite their geographical spread, these restaurants maintain a uniform brand image and service standard.
- Centralized management: They are typically governed by centralized policies and management strategies.
- Operational efficiency: These establishments focus on streamlining operations, such as menu offerings and restaurant supply chain logistics, across all locations.
- Market adaptation: While maintaining brand consistency, they may also adapt to local tastes and preferences.
We can distinguish three popular multi-unit restaurant business models that are:
- Chain restaurants: In this model, a restaurant brand expands by opening multiple locations, often in various geographic regions. All locations maintain the same menu, decor, and operational standards, providing a uniform dining experience to customers.
- Franchise restaurants: Franchise restaurants allow entrepreneurs (franchisees) to open and operate their own restaurant locations using the established brand, menu, and systems of a parent company (franchisor). Franchisees pay fees and royalties for the right to operate under the brand’s umbrella.
- Multi-concept restaurant groups: In this model, a single entity owns and operates multiple restaurant concepts, each with its own unique brand, menu, and style. These concepts may cater to different market segments or cuisines, providing diversity under one ownership umbrella.
How to manage multiple restaurant locations?
Owing just one restaurant and its successful management can be tough. That said, running multiple restaurants is a greater challenge.
Below we described 15 helpful tips that will help you manage multiple restaurants.
Tip 1: Establish a consistent restaurant experience
Ensuring that each location consistently delivers the same quality of food, service, and customer experience can be a significant challenge. Remember that consistency is key.
If you already run one restaurant and plan to open another one, your customers already have experience with your brand. You cannot disappoint their expectations, so making a good impression in your next establishment is important.
Standardization of procedures and appropriate restaurant staff training comes in handy. A temporary solution may be to transfer some of the employees working with you to a new location so new hires can adapt more quickly.
Remember that consistency does not mean a lack of flexibility. If, for example, specific dishes on the menu or dedicated promotions work well in a new location, consider implementing them, even if they are not and will not be available in your first location.
Tip 2: Hire an experienced team
Remember to hire talented restaurant employees to make your multiple locations effective and profitable. You will certainly need an experienced chef and well-trained wait staff.
Also, consider hiring a multi-unit manager.
- Oversee multiple locations and ensure they meet company standards.
- Lead and mentor location managers and staff.
- Manage budgets, control costs, and drive revenue growth.
- Enforce standardized operational procedures for consistency.
- Collaborate on location-specific marketing strategies.
- Monitor compliance with regulations and company policies.
- Troubleshoot operational issues and implement solutions.
- Identify restaurant expansion opportunities and assess viability.
Tip 3: Use an online ordering system
Implement an online ordering system to increase your restaurant sales. Thanks to that, you can manage all your restaurants in one place and receive the orders of your multiple venues in the common admin panel, facilitating your day-to-day operations.
A menu management system will be a great tool to manage menus across all locations. You can add the same menu for all restaurants and manage them with a single click or add a different menu for each new restaurant location. It’s up to you!
Tip 4: Create a restaurant website
Develop one website for your chain of restaurants to provide a consistent online presence, making it easier for customers to find information about all your locations.
For that process, you can use a restaurant website builder to effortlessly incorporate your restaurant logo and visually stunning images of your dishes into the chosen template.
Tip 5: Use marketing tools
As a restaurant owner, remember to use restaurant marketing tools that help you run and manage promotions automatically in one place.
You can send location-specific campaigns via email, SMS, and push notifications. For example, if you plan to introduce a special promotion, happy hours, or an extra discount for your loyal customers.
Tip 6: Use restaurant technology
Nowadays, using restaurant technology is a must, as it improves restaurants’ operational efficiency, saves on costs, and improves the overall customer experience.
For efficient operations, ensure seamless integrations between your online ordering system and POS (Point of Sale) systems, delivery services, and online payment providers.
Tip 7: Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Multi-unit restaurant management requires the development of comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistency and efficiency across multiple locations.
These SOPs serve as a blueprint for restaurant operations and are essential for maintaining consistency, ensuring compliance, and delivering a high-quality dining experience to customers.
- Opening and Closing Procedures (OCP) – to learn more, check the restaurant opening checklist
- Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food (TCS Food)
- Health and Safety – Emergency procedures (e.g., fire, medical emergencies).
Tip 8: Monitor performance metrics
Restaurant management is also about being up to date with the industry trends.
Track your restaurant’s key performance indicators (restaurant KPIs) for each location, such as sales, customer feedback, and employee productivity, to identify areas for improvement. The UpMenu online ordering system allows restaurant managers to generate reports for all locations.
Don’t underestimate the importance of restaurant analytics, as it helps to set up restaurant goals and make smarter strategic decisions, especially when you run multiple locations.
Tip 9: Standardize branding
To reinforce your chain’s image, maintain a consistent brand identity across all locations, including logos, colors, and messaging.
It doesn’t matter whether you have one location or a chain of ten restaurants, in both cases building a brand is important because it builds the trust of your customers toward your brand.
Branding helps customers know what they can expect from you at several establishments.
Tip 10: Establish effective communication
Restaurants with multiple locations need to establish effective communication channels to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among staff at different locations.
The management team may consider, for example, scheduling regular visits and using technology tools like video conferencing daily.
Tip 11: Conduct regular employee training
If you run a restaurant chain, one of the most important things is to train your staff. Spend time to ensure all employees are properly trained.
You can develop an entire training program that covers aspects such as food safety and customer service standards and regulations that will help you uphold quality standards and customer service levels.
Tip 12: Have the same supplier for all locations
It is worth considering using the services of one supplier for all locations. This will allow you to negotiate better contract terms and prices for the delivered products.
Moreover, it will reduce potential communication problems and help you manage orders from the supplier.
Tip 13: Clarify responsibilities
When managing multiple restaurants, it is crucial to clarify the responsibilities of your staff and management team.
Every employee should possess a well-defined comprehension of their responsibilities and performance expectations to effectively fulfill their job duties. Likewise, managers should clearly understand their roles within the business and be held responsible for addressing any issues.
Tip 14: Keep your menu consistent
Maintaining menu consistency across multiple restaurants is essential for establishing a strong brand identity and meeting customer expectations. To achieve this, core menu items should remain the same, prepared with identical recipes, ensuring customers can enjoy their favorite dishes consistently.
However, flexibility is also important, allowing for regional modifications or adding unique menu items in select locations to cater to local tastes and preferences.
In short, core menu items and quality standards remain consistent across all locations, although regional variations are welcomed.
Tip 15: Create a marketing strategy
Develop a restaurant marketing plan that includes campaigns tailored to the local demographics of your multiple restaurants while maintaining a consistent brand message.
Consider local cultural events, seasonal preferences, and consumer trends when crafting marketing strategies for each location.
Tailoring your strategy to connect with the unique characteristics of each community while staying true to your brand’s identity will enable you to successfully captivate and involve a wide-ranging clientele across all your establishments.
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Key Takeaways
- Establishing a consistent restaurant experience across all your locations is fundamental. It builds brand loyalty and ensures customers know what to expect, no matter which branch they visit.
- Hiring an experienced team is crucial. Well-trained managers and staff can maintain the desired standards and provide top-notch service at every location.
- Using technology, such as an online ordering system, restaurant website, and marketing tools, streamlines operations, enhances customer experience, and expands your reach.
- Develop restaurant SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to ensure uniformity in operations, from food preparation to customer service, and maintain consistency.
- Monitor performance metrics across all locations to identify areas of improvement to make informed decisions.
- Establishing effective communication and regular employee training ensures your team is well-informed and aligned with your restaurant’s objectives and values.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a chain restaurant?
A chain restaurant, often simply called a “chain,” is part of a larger, standardized network of similar restaurants operating under the same brand and ownership.
These restaurants typically share several key characteristics:
- Consistent branding: Chain restaurants maintain uniform branding elements, including logos, colors, and signage.
- Menu consistency: Core menu items and recipes remain consistent across all locations.
- Operational standards: Standardized operating procedures are in place to ensure consistency in food preparation, service quality, and customer experience.
- Ownership structure: Chain restaurants are often owned and operated by a single corporate entity or franchisor.
- Franchise opportunities: Many chains offer franchise opportunities, allowing entrepreneurs to open and operate their own restaurant locations using the established brand, menu, and systems of the parent company (franchisor). This approach leverages a proven restaurant location strategy and operational model, offering a structured path to business ownership with built-in support and brand recognition.
- Expansion: Chain restaurants typically aim to expand and open multiple locations in different regions or markets.
- Marketing and advertising: Chains often invest in marketing and advertising campaigns to promote the brand and drive customer traffic to their locations.
- Quality control: Chain restaurants strongly emphasize quality control and consistency to maintain customer loyalty and trust.
How many locations are considered a chain?
Nevertheless, there are exceptions to this guideline. For instance, if the two restaurants feature distinct menus or operate under separate names, they might not be classified as a chain.
