When I was a teenager, I thought that I totally wanted to own a restaurant. Over time, however, that dream was fleeting because I kind of started to come to the realization that owning a restaurant would be HARD. Like REALLY HARD. However, the Underground Culinary Tour goes into depth about how current analytic software has changed the way that restaurants operate to make them more profitable.
I wasn’t surprised at all when I read that most restaurant owners work off of a 4-5% profit margin. That’s freakin’ slim! I cannot imagine the amount of stress that would cause me. It seems like a logistical nightmare to manage a kitchen, a staff, and patrons. But owners that are adopting this software developed by Damian Mogavero (who is the author of this book) are able to see trends that one might otherwise miss so that they can be more efficient in their operations. It was eye opening to me with one restaurant example, Navy Beach, that they were able to pinpoint how weather trends affected their restaurant traffic – and much differently than what intuition would have shown. Data also prompted them to purchase a small boat (since their restaurant is seaside) to actually act as a trolley for patrons who were out on their boats that weren’t able to dock easily.
The data from this type of software is used from helping improve a particular waiter/waitress, to scheduling, to having the right amount of food and drink for each evening so that you are not overstocked, but don’t run out. Seriously, mind-opening!
I still think that the restaurant business is probably not one for me, at least not in this broad of a setting, but if I were to start a restaurant, there is no doubt that I would invest in this software as it seems like a life-saver and no-brainer! If you are interested at all in getting into this business, I would for sure read this book and get on board the data train.
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