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If you are anti-dogs, you will lose a lot of potential customers, as many people who live on the Costa del Sol are incorrigible dog lovers.
In summer when we are really busy we do however have to ask people who have dogs that are likely to disturb other clients to use a table at the far end of the terrace, and if we are really, really busy, we do also occasionally turn people with big dogs or several little snappy dogs away.
Whenever we have to do this, we use maximum diplomacy. Don’t delegate a task like this to an employee, do it yourself, so that you can make sure that it is done with diplomacy. Usually I say that we are sorry, but as we have young children on the terrace who might provoke the dog . . . . or I’m sorry but we could get a big fine if the police catch us with a dog in our restaurant.
That sort of approach usually ensures that the owner leaves, without feeling offended.
The law in Spain is quite clear and states that a dog must be both muzzled and on a lead whilst in a place where the general public have access. It also states that dogs are not allowed in bars or restaurants.
However apart from the really busy times when the school children are on holiday, we do allow dogs on the terrace, providing they are on a lead and under proper control. We make an exception with fighting breeds, which we don’t allow on our premises at all.
If you do serve customers who bring their dog/s onto your terrace and you do have an incident, resulting in another customer reporting you to the police, then you can expect a fine of up to 3,000 GBP.
We are actually dog lovers ourselves and have 2 dogs and would love to be able to take them when we go to a bar or a restaurant, but apart from the few places that we know will allow us on their terrace with our dogs, most establishments stick strictly to the law on this subject and like all responsible dog owners we do understand their position.
Electricity
When you run a bar or restaurant, the more you can cut down on water, electricity and gas consumption, the bigger your profit will be.
A while ago I published a post on how to economise on the use of water, so today I am going to talk about keeping your electricity bill down.
It is very easy with electrical appliances and with lighting, just to leave everything switched on all the time you are working, and if you do this you’ll get a big bill to pay every 2 months, but it’s also easy to learn to work in a disciplined way and reduce your bills by as much as 50%.
Here are a few simple tips on how to save money on electricity:
- Outside Signs. You need at least one nice illuminated sign outside, but make sure that it doesn’t consume more than 600w max. If you are having a new sign made talk to the manufacturer before committing yourself.
- Time Switch. Outside signs need to be controlled by a time switch, so that they switch on when it starts to get dark and switch off when you close up for the night (ours is set to go off at midnight.)
- Terrace Lights. Whilst we used to have one, 150w lamp above each table, we now have 3 wall lamps with low consumption bulbs and 3 spotlights mounted high. This is enough lighting to make the terrace look attractive and to give sufficient light on each table to allow people to read the menu easily and also see their food properly.
- Low Energy Lightbulbs. Try to use as many economic light bulbs as possible in the kitchen and dining area. You may need some fluorescent strips in the kitchen, to give you plenty of light for working.
- Fridges and Freezers. Keep them full and keep the radiator free of dust which blocks it up after about 2 months, if you don’t vacuum it out at regular intervals. (A fridge or freezer, which is not kept full or has a dirty heat exchanger will use a lot more electricity than normal.)
- Beer Coolers: Beer companies always say that you should leave them running 24-7, but we turn ours on when we arrive for a shift and turn them off when we leave (beer coolers have a big lump of ice inside which takes days to melt, so turning them off for say 12 hours, make no difference to the quality of the draught beer that you serve.).
- Size Matters. If you by a big bar or restaurant, it will cost a lot to heat in winter and a lot to cool in summer. (The inside of our local is 500 square feet, so it’s cheap to heat and cool, using reversible air-conditioning.)
- Ovens. If you have an oven keep it on only during main meal times and then only turn it up when your waiter/tress informs you that he/she has clients looking at the pizza menu etc.
I hope that you will find these tips helpful in keeping the cost of running your business down
