Practical advice to manage your reservations, reduce no-shows and grow your restaurant.
A markup copied from the previous owner, prices matched to the place next door, an increase postponed for two years: most menus are priced by habit. Here is the full method, from recipe costing to menu engineering, with a worked example.
You do not need a 30-metric dashboard to run a restaurant. Nine KPIs, all computable from your POS and your reservation book, tell you where the money is going, and a simple weekly scorecard keeps them honest.
Health inspections are unannounced, scored, and in some cities the result hangs in your window. Here is how the US system works, the violations cited most often, and a routine that keeps you inspection-ready every day.
Every scraped plate and every unsold special costs you twice: once at purchase, once in the bin. Here is how to measure your losses in one week, what the law now requires in the UK and the US, and the levers that actually work, from purchasing to your reservation book.
Same room, same team, same menu: one restaurant serves 40 covers a night, another serves 70, with guests just as happy. The difference is the floor plan and how the tables turn. Here is how to win covers without turning your dining room into a train station.
Social reach is rented; your email list is owned. Here is how to build a guest list legally from your reservations, which campaigns actually fill tables, how often to send, and how to measure results now that open rates lie.
Up to 30% commission on a delivered order, 0% on a direct pickup order: before you choose a channel, run the numbers. Real platform rates, packaging, errors and margin, with no wishful thinking.
You do not need a points app or a punch card to make guests come back. Real loyalty comes down to three things: knowing your guests, showing them you remember, and reaching out at the right moment. Here is how to do it in practice.
No, UK GDPR does not ban you from keeping a customer database in your restaurant. It sets rules on what you collect, how long you keep it and what you do with it. Here they are, ICO guidance included, without the jargon or the panic.
Most independent restaurants sit below the CCPA's thresholds, but that does not mean guest data is a free-for-all. Here is what actually applies in the US: state privacy laws, CAN-SPAM, the TCPA, breach notification duties, and the good habits worth keeping regardless.
Cancellation windows, no-show fees, large parties: here is how to write a cancellation policy that protects your restaurant without scaring guests away, with three ready-to-copy examples and the US and UK rules that make it enforceable.
A booking confirmed in writing is a booking that gets honored far more often. Here is why instant confirmations work, when to send reminder emails, and 5 templates you can copy today.