1) Netbook or Laptop & Desktop
2) New handphone
3) New backpack
4) New clothes
I need money. T_T
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Lessons from Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
1) Know the F&B industry before jumping in
Just having a dream about starting your own restaurant or café isn’t going to make it successful when you’ve never had any experience in the industry. Take this for example, would you start a printing company if you knew nothing about printing? It’s the same for the F&B industry. Go read up on restaurant management and go work in the industry for a few years to learn the ropes. Don’t be impatient as it is hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line if your restaurant fails.
2) Start small, then work your way up
It’s better to start small and then work your way up from there. Start with an ice cream / hot dog stand instead of putting your life savings into fine dining restaurant. Remember, the more elaborate the restaurant, the higher the running costs and the amount of logistics required to run it.
3) Know your target market
This one is pretty much common sense. It doesn’t make sense to setup a fine dining French restaurant in a lower-income part of town. Neither does it make sense to start a Japanese restaurant in a small conservative American town. It’s a safer bet to go with a cuisine the local folk are already comfortable with.
4) Be firm! You’re the boss!
Remember, it’s your restaurant and you are PAYING your employees. You have to show them that you’re the boss and not let them walk all over you as poor management will lead to the downfall of your restaurant. Ensure that the general manager does his job in keeping the kitchen and the service staff in check.
5) Get rid of incompetent / excess employees
Lazy and under performing employees are a drain on the finances. If they still don’t perform after repeated reminders, get rid of them. No hard feelings, it’s just business. The same applies if you feel that you are over staffed as just one excess employee could mean a loss of hundreds of dollars of profit a month.
6) Get a good general manager
General managers can’t be push overs, they have to be leaders. When there is no strong leadership, people start doing what they want, food orders get backed up, food quality drops and chaos reins.
7) There can be only ONE Indian chief.
Too many cooks spoil the broth. If you set up the restaurant with a few partners, choose a leader and ensure the other partners listen to him. If you have too many leaders you would just confuse your staff and they might stop listening to you altogether. If the leader doesn’t prove to be effective, choose someone else to take the helm instead before he runs the restaurant into ruin.
8) Fresh food
There is a big difference between food cooked yesterday and reheated and food made fresh to order. As much as you’re not willing to pay for a reheated steak from yesterday, neither are your customers. Go for fresh food and throw out the days leftovers. Your customers will appreciate it by coming back to your restaurant. If money is tight, stinge on other areas but never the quality of the food.
9) Listen to feedback
Don’t live in denial. If your customers keep saying your food is bad, then it has to be!
10) Cleanliness
A dirty kitchen would be the end of your restaurant if your customers get a bad case of food poisoning. Ensure the manager and head chef work together to keep the kitchen in tip top condition.
11) Listen to the head chef
Ensure that your kitchen staff listens to your head chef and ensure your head chef communicates effectively with the other kitchen staff. Lack of communication or poor leadership could lead to backed up orders and lower quality food.
12) Food taste
Having a wonderfully decorated restaurant and beautifully presented food is one thing, but at the end of the day it is still the taste of the food which brings customers back. Ever heard of how people keep going back to the run down looking diner on the corner of the street because it serves the best tasting food?
13) Have fewer choices but do them well
It’s better to have 10 items on the menu that you can cook really well than have 80 items on the menu that all taste horrible. More doesn’t always mean better and it’d take a load off the chefs back as they can concentrate more on perfecting their dishes.
14) Keep your food simple
Don’t kill the taste of the food by adding 3 different sauces and condiments. If your food is fresh, let it speak for itself. Simple food always get the Michelin stars.
15) The customer is king
Even if your customer is being extremely unreasonable it is still better to concede to their demands than have a huge argument with them in front of your other customers. An angry customer would spread the word and you might lose future customers.
16) Don’t wait too long for help
If your restaurant is losing sales, don’t wait too long to find out what the problems are. Get a consultant or sell it off before you get too deep in debt to do anything.
Just having a dream about starting your own restaurant or café isn’t going to make it successful when you’ve never had any experience in the industry. Take this for example, would you start a printing company if you knew nothing about printing? It’s the same for the F&B industry. Go read up on restaurant management and go work in the industry for a few years to learn the ropes. Don’t be impatient as it is hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line if your restaurant fails.
2) Start small, then work your way up
It’s better to start small and then work your way up from there. Start with an ice cream / hot dog stand instead of putting your life savings into fine dining restaurant. Remember, the more elaborate the restaurant, the higher the running costs and the amount of logistics required to run it.
3) Know your target market
This one is pretty much common sense. It doesn’t make sense to setup a fine dining French restaurant in a lower-income part of town. Neither does it make sense to start a Japanese restaurant in a small conservative American town. It’s a safer bet to go with a cuisine the local folk are already comfortable with.
4) Be firm! You’re the boss!
Remember, it’s your restaurant and you are PAYING your employees. You have to show them that you’re the boss and not let them walk all over you as poor management will lead to the downfall of your restaurant. Ensure that the general manager does his job in keeping the kitchen and the service staff in check.
5) Get rid of incompetent / excess employees
Lazy and under performing employees are a drain on the finances. If they still don’t perform after repeated reminders, get rid of them. No hard feelings, it’s just business. The same applies if you feel that you are over staffed as just one excess employee could mean a loss of hundreds of dollars of profit a month.
6) Get a good general manager
General managers can’t be push overs, they have to be leaders. When there is no strong leadership, people start doing what they want, food orders get backed up, food quality drops and chaos reins.
7) There can be only ONE Indian chief.
Too many cooks spoil the broth. If you set up the restaurant with a few partners, choose a leader and ensure the other partners listen to him. If you have too many leaders you would just confuse your staff and they might stop listening to you altogether. If the leader doesn’t prove to be effective, choose someone else to take the helm instead before he runs the restaurant into ruin.
8) Fresh food
There is a big difference between food cooked yesterday and reheated and food made fresh to order. As much as you’re not willing to pay for a reheated steak from yesterday, neither are your customers. Go for fresh food and throw out the days leftovers. Your customers will appreciate it by coming back to your restaurant. If money is tight, stinge on other areas but never the quality of the food.
9) Listen to feedback
Don’t live in denial. If your customers keep saying your food is bad, then it has to be!
10) Cleanliness
A dirty kitchen would be the end of your restaurant if your customers get a bad case of food poisoning. Ensure the manager and head chef work together to keep the kitchen in tip top condition.
11) Listen to the head chef
Ensure that your kitchen staff listens to your head chef and ensure your head chef communicates effectively with the other kitchen staff. Lack of communication or poor leadership could lead to backed up orders and lower quality food.
12) Food taste
Having a wonderfully decorated restaurant and beautifully presented food is one thing, but at the end of the day it is still the taste of the food which brings customers back. Ever heard of how people keep going back to the run down looking diner on the corner of the street because it serves the best tasting food?
13) Have fewer choices but do them well
It’s better to have 10 items on the menu that you can cook really well than have 80 items on the menu that all taste horrible. More doesn’t always mean better and it’d take a load off the chefs back as they can concentrate more on perfecting their dishes.
14) Keep your food simple
Don’t kill the taste of the food by adding 3 different sauces and condiments. If your food is fresh, let it speak for itself. Simple food always get the Michelin stars.
15) The customer is king
Even if your customer is being extremely unreasonable it is still better to concede to their demands than have a huge argument with them in front of your other customers. An angry customer would spread the word and you might lose future customers.
16) Don’t wait too long for help
If your restaurant is losing sales, don’t wait too long to find out what the problems are. Get a consultant or sell it off before you get too deep in debt to do anything.
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