Whether you’re running a cafe, a diner, or any other kind of restaurant, there’s a good chance you’re always on the hunt for ways to reduce costs for your business. Reducing costs can often increase profits and strengthen a business’s bottom line.
But it’s a bit tricky for businesses in the food industry to reduce costs because a high standard of health and safety must be considered. Therefore, reducing quality is never an option for food industry enterprises.
Even so, there are quite a few ways that you can reduce costs without compromising on quality or health and safety standards.
Find Affordable Disposable Containers
From coffee on the go to takeaway meals, most restaurants have to-go options available for customers.
If your restaurant has this option, you’ll need to find an affordable supplier of disposable containers. The right supplier should also stock all the different kinds of disposable containers you’ll need, from bulk coffee cups with lids to containers with lids in various shapes and sizes.
Use Practical Branding Stickers
Once you have found your supplier of bulk disposable to-go containers, you’ll need to brand each container for brand awareness.
The most affordable solution here is to use practical branding stickers. Have a sticker design created that can be used on disposable coffee cups and any container size instead of using a different brand sticker on each.
Buy Cleaning Supplies In Bulk
Health and safety regulations require restaurants to implement enhanced hygiene standards. There’s simply no way to keep your restaurant clean without all the essential cleaning products.
These products can end up costing quite a bit, so it’s wise to consider buying in bulk rather than only enough for the week or the month. It’s always cheaper to buy items in bulk, so you’ll save on each purchase of cleaning products.
Pair With A Delivery Partner
Instead of hiring your own driver and having to spend on a delivery vehicle or two, a driver’s salary, and additional insurance, you could pair with a delivery partner like Uber Eats.
Partnering with a delivery partner means an external service provider will handle this area of business for you, and manage any customer queries and complaints as well. You’ll save a fortune on order delivery with this simple decision.
Minimize Employee Turnover
A high employee turnover rate can cost your business a fortune in the long run. Your business will be spending extra on lost profits, rehiring, and training new employees, so it makes sense that avoiding these costs will benefit your business.
The best ways to reduce employee turnover rates are increasing pay scales, providing training, practicing gratitude towards employees, and improving the employee experience. Basically, ensuring your employees are content at work is the best way to lower staff turnover.
Minimize Food Waste
Making the most of each ingredient instead of overseeing the amount of food your restaurant throws out is essential to reducing operational costs.
For minimal food waste, your menu must be designed to carefully consider each ingredient in your inventory. You can also use scraps in a way that allows you to add more items to the menu without increasing inventory costs. In addition, you should also run specials on meals created with ingredients before they spoil.
Lower Utility Bills
There’s no doubt that your restaurant consumes quite a bit of energy to stay open. Not only is this not ideal for the environment, but it’s also not ideal for your business’s pocket.
Instead of overlooking the utility bill each month, look for ways to reduce power consumption. Some effective options are switching to LED light bulbs, turning unused lights and appliances off when the restaurant is closed, switching to eco-friendly kitchen appliances, and installing a smart thermometer to reduce heating and cooling costs.
Control Inventory
Inventory management software is extremely beneficial for restaurant businesses because it monitors inventory levels while also reminding you when foods are about to expire.
With accurate inventory monitoring, you won’t waste money on overordering ever again. At the same time, you won’t run the risk of running out of any ingredients. This software will also ensure you can minimize food waste.
Purchase The Right Insurance
Restaurant owners should consider insurance essential. Insurance will protect your business from unpredictable events. But it’s essential to buy the right kinds of policies.
Commercial general liability insurance is vital to stave off the costs of slips, falls, and other injuries that can lead to costly lawsuits. Additionally, you should also purchase commercial property insurance for financial protection from fires, break-ins, water damage, and other damages to property. Workers’ compensation insurance is also essential, even if you don’t have more than ten employees.
Implement Eco-Friendly Practices
Eco-friendly practices like reducing power consumption, decreasing water waste, and switching to eco-friendly appliances are just a few ways your business can protect the environment and reduce costs at the same time.
Other ways your restaurant can go green are by switching to eco-friendly cleaning products, using sustainable food ingredients for your menu, and using environmentally friendly disposables, such as paper straws.
Going green as a business is also wise because you’ll be appealing to a new demand for environmental awareness. Therefore, these efforts won’t just save your restaurant money because you’ll probably be increasing sales through increased brand image.
Automate Processes
Automating certain manual processes within your restaurant is another excellent solution. You won’t need to spend on extra employee salaries if you have automated processes. Options like online ordering and reservation platforms can reduce manual labor costs for your business. You’ll also give your current employees more time, so the quality of service will also go up as a result of these changes.
In Conclusion
When cutting costs for your restaurant, it’s important not to sacrifice quality. If you do, you could lose customers. As a result, it’s never best to reduce the quality of an ingredient or alter the menu in a way that compromises quality. The cost-cutting solutions listed above won’t impact the quality your restaurant provides customers at all.
