By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

In my last blog post I explained what a management plan is and the benefits of developing one in your restaurant.  For this blog post I want to give you the tools you need to create your restaurant’s management plan.

What’s next?

First you have to evaluate your restaurant.

Your management plan is divided into sections that correspond with many of the most important areas of your operation. Each section includes a personal evaluation of your restaurant’s current approach to running a profitable and easy-to-operate business. Use the following questions to create your own evaluations for each of the key areas of your restaurant.

Financial Plan

Using a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being strongly AGREE and 5 being strongly DISAGREE, rate your restaurant on the following:

1. Based on my restaurant’s current efficiencies, good or bad, I know my breakeven point ­­­____
2. My restaurant is on an accrual accounting system ­­­____
3. I supply my accountant, or whoever prepares my books, my ending inventories within five days of the end of every month ­­­____
4. My profit and loss statement is currently set up in such a way that cost of goods sold and labor are broken out into easy to read sections before all other expenses ­­­____
5. My restaurant uses weekly and monthly cash flow projections to help run the restaurant efficiently and pay its bills ­­­____
6. My restaurant has a detailed monthly budget that everyone in the management team understands and is expected to achieve ­­­____
7. My restaurant knows its dollars per square foot and or dollars per seat ­­­____

Cost of Goods Sold

Using the same scale above, rate your restaurant on the following:

1. My restaurant uses a budget variance report so management can clearly see how they are managing our controllable expenses ­­­____
2. My restaurant does a monthly food and liquor inventory ­­­____
3. For even better controls, my restaurant does a weekly and/or a daily food and liquor inventory ­­­____
4. My restaurant calculates its cost of goods sold by category at least monthly ­­­____
5. My restaurant manages its inventory turns to minimize the amount of product sitting on our shelves at any given time and keep our cash in the bank ­­­____
6. My restaurant keeps an eye on our change in inventory to see if we are ordering properly ­­­____
7. All of our recipes have a completed recipe costing card filled out and updated on at least a quarterly basis ­­­____
8. Utilizing our POS system, we know our restaurant’s ideal food and pour cost, and we measure our performance against these numbers ­­­____
9. In my restaurant we use tools such as a key item report and waste sheet to control our food costs ­­­____
10. My restaurant uses a purchase allotment system to make sure we are ordering correctly ­­­____

Food Systems

Using the scale above, rate your restaurant on the following:

1. My restaurant uses par levels for products it purchases ­­­____
2. My restaurant utilizes a purchase order form to ensure ordering, receiving and costs are done accurately ­­­____
3. My restaurant only allows management or line employees who have been sufficiently trained on receiving procedures to check in orders ­­­____
4. My restaurant uses a daily prep list to ensure we prep the appropriate food levels to run successfully each day based on the business we expect ­­­____

Labor Systems

Using the scale above, rate your restaurant on the following:

1. My restaurant uses a master schedule for all departments so that any manager can write an accurate schedule even if it’s not their own department ­­­____
2. Every manager knows how many FTEs are needed by department and hire accordingly ­­­____
3. Schedules are written based on forecasted sales for the week by day and shift ­­­____
4. Before schedules are done for the next week, management is given projected sales, how much money they can spend and how many employees they need to fill their shifts ­­­____
5. My restaurant tracks labor cost daily ­­­____
6. My restaurant trains all managers to write a schedule the same way all of the time ­­­____

Running the Restaurant

Using the scale above, rate your restaurant on the following:

1. My restaurant uses AM and PM manager checklists on a daily basis ­­­____
2. My restaurant has a pre-shift meeting 15 minutes before every shift for both front of house and back of house staff ­­­____
3. My restaurant uses a manager’s log on a daily basis to communicate ­­­____
4. My restaurant has clearly defined house policies ­­­____
5. My restaurant trains all managers to follow a step-by-step systems for checking-out ALL line positions ­­­____
6. All of my managers have been trained in the proper use of the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form ­­­____
7. My restaurant has a HACCP Plan in place ­­­____
8. My restaurant has a tip reporting system in place to comply with the yearly filing of our 8027 Tip Report to the IRS ­­­____
9. My restaurant complies with the OSHA posting requirements ­­­____

Finally

To develop your management plan, after you evaluate each section, start putting your plan on paper in the form of both short-term and long-term goals.

When you are finished with this exercise, you will have put together your complete management plan for success.

David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.TheRestaurantExpert.com.