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In the summer you’ll have more than enough customers to deal with, but what about the winter?
To have a good trade in winter you need to spend a bit of time and money on leafleting in your catchment area, but more importantly you need a healthy sized bunch of regulars.
How do you build up your regulars?
You do this by taking an interest in people as individuals. Get to know, as much as possible about people who use your bar a few times and once they realise that you appreciate their trade, take a bit of interest in them and are prepared to listen to their stories about the ups and downs of their lives, they’ll feel established and comfortable in your bar or restaurant and will want to come on a regular basis.
You don’t have to know everything about a customer in order to get them to come to you regularly, if you start by remembering their names they will be impressed by the effort you have made. (Usually when I am first told the name of a customer, I write it down on a slip of paper, which I put in my pocket and then when I go to the loo, I read it and then read it again when I get home that evening and then it’s pretty much etched in my mind. I got that tip incidentally from,” How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. A must read if you are going to run a bar restaurant.)
Try to be positive at all times when talking to customers. Try to be a good listener when you have time to do so. Never talk negatively about other people or other bars.
Here are just a few ideas on the sort of little details it helps to know about customer you hope will become regulars:
- Name of boy/girl friend or husband/wife.
- Where they live in Spain and/or UK.
- Who are their friends locally?
- Hobbies and interests.
- Likes and dislikes.
- Number of children.
- Name of dog.
It is very important to acknowledge your regulars when they arrive, no matter how busy you might be. If you are in the middle of making a pizza a nod and a smile will do.
If you follow these simple tips, you’ll have a healthy group of regulars generating profit for you, before you know what’s hit you.
Good luck!
Finding Quality Bar Staff
I get asked the question, “How do I find staff for my bar in Spain”regularly and I think it best to divide the people who ask this question into two distinct groups and then answer according to their differing needs:
- Families who want to buy a bar in Spain
- Couples with no children who want to buy a bar in Spain
Families Wanting To Run a Bar In Spain
If you are a family comprising, say a husband and wife and two children old enough to work or similar, you would be able to run a bar with very little need to employ anybody else.
The exception is in July and August when trade could be as much as double that of the other months, so you will need extra help.
July and August
In July and August, you might want to pay a cleaner, so that you can have a bit more time in bed every morning. Apart from a good cleaner who will leave your bar and kitchen spotless and shining ready for you to start your day, you might if your bar was a really busy one, want to employ a waiter/ress for a few hours in the evenings, which is your busiest time in a bar or restaurant. For this you would employ someone on a half-day basis and on a 3-month contract.
After the first three months are up, should you still want/need this person, you simply issue them with another 3-month contract.
When you have employed the person for the duration of two contracts i.e. a total of 6 months I advise strongly that you let this person go. In this way you avoid having to get involved in an indefinite contract “contrato indefinido” and all the obligations that come with it.
Couples Wanting to Run a Bar In Spain
For a couple running a bar or restaurant you will probably need an extra member of staff in the summer months. Here I suggest that it is better to have two people on 3 month, half day contracts rather than one person working full time. This gives you some protection should one person suddenly decide to leave you.
In this case you will have the built-in flexibility of being able to ask the other employee to work overtime to cover, until you find a replacement.
Summary
- Most small bars and restaurants can be run with three really good people.
- If you need to employ staff, think in terms of 3 month employment contracts with a maximum of 2 contracts issued back to back i.e. a total of six continuous months of employment, for any individual and then finish with that employee for the season.
- Think in terms of running the business with yourself and your partner and employing extra staff for the summer months.
We have seldom ever had to go looking for staff, as once we opened our bar, we quickly got to know local people who wanted to work part time.
