Top 10 Useful Tips On How A F&B Business Owner Can Keep Taps On His Business Without Physically Running It
I was talking to a prospect client who is in F&B business last week.
During the conversation, he shared that he is going to inject new capital into his company as the latter is running out of cash soon.
I then asked for his business management philosophy and methodology.
To my surprise, he manages his business by “trust”.
He trusts his staff and their verbal reports to him regularly.
This is clearly a symptom of disaster !
Let me share some useful tips to keep taps on your F&B business …
1. Install CCTVs at Store entrance, above Cashier, in Kitchen and Customers area. Ensure your mobile phone is able to access all CCTV points at any time.
2. Have your Accountant access your company’s bank balances online first thing every morning, and SMS the bank balances to your phone
3. Have your Branch Manager check the POS system and then Whatsapp daily sales achieved directly to you at certain fixed timings of the day – eg at 11am for Breakfast Sales achieved, at 2.30pm for Lunch Sales achieved, at 5pm for Afternoon High Tea Sales achieved and at 10pm for Dinner Sales achieved
4. Do not Allow the Cashier to “void” transactions in the POS system alone, only grant this authority to “void” transactions to the Branch Manager, and have your IT person print out “Void Transactions” list for you every Monday morning. Spot abnormal trend in transactions being voided in POS.
5. Ensure Customers’ Orders are automatically integrated into the POS system before the Kitchen receives the Order. This is to ensure all Customers’ Orders will be paid for later.
6. Insist on Daily Sales Closing in POS system at the end of the day, say at 10pm everyday when store closes, and then reconcile the Sales achieved for the day to the Modes of Settlement ( i.e. By Visa, Cash, Vouchers, etc ), and have the Branch Manager sign off on the reconciled Daily Sales Report
7. Insist on daily Banking in of Cash Received in the previous day. Staple the Bank-in Slip with the reconciled Daily Sales Closing Report of previous day, and submit in to Accounts.
8. At month end, Monitor your Food Cost as a % of Sale. Look out for exceptional fluctuations and excesses. May point you to know excessive Food Wastes or Procurement loopholes or discover Kickbacks.
9. Have a mechanism to capture the particulars, track the use, monitor the trend, and control the deployment of your part-time Waiters or Waitresses. Beware of “ghost” helpers.
10. Do mystery shoppers by having your friends help to test your Staff by visiting your F&B outlets, feedback on their In-Store Customers Experiences, thereby pointing you to know how to tailor your Staff Trainings needs.
Hope the above tips help.
Good Luck !
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