26 Degrees in the Shade . . .

Teach me to Spot Weak Points in my Business? Bar in Spain

How do I find the Weak Spots in my Bar/restaurant in Spain?

Well most big businesses would call in a Business Analyst to assess how efficient their business is running.

You can’t afford the luxury, but you have all the same problems to solve as does a big business, if you are going to attract a big enough share of the market, minimise your costs, maximise your profits in order to grow your business.

On My Blog I will Show You How to Analyse Your Business

Remember the market is out there, so firstly identify you target market.

Mine is people who live here in Spain or are on holiday and want:

• Hamburgers

• Pizzas

• Kefta Kebabs

That’s my target market, so now I must do everything within my power to build a business that attracts the largest sector of this market possible.

• Produce a great product

• Aim to attract the target market

This is where all good businesses start.

So you need to look at your small business in the same way that a big business looks at itself.

Today We’ll look at staff efficiency.

1) Give all staff a written job description (If the rubbish has to be taken out 3 times per day, that is somebody’s job and must be included on their job description). The job description is vital in controlling staff and getting the Max. out of them. Many arguments just don’t happen when staff have their job description in writing.

2) Watch your staff for a week and make notes on how each member does their job. (If you are husband and wife running a business, with a small staff, you still need job your own job descriptions description). At the end of a week review each staff members input into the business and how well they have honoured their job description. Give both Praise and Criticism and get staff members to express how they feel about their job and how the business might be improved.

3) Germaine to the food and drink business are happy smiling staff members, who are chatty and polite to customers. Teach you staff that they are playing a role and that hardly anything a customer says should be taken personally.

4) The most important thing of all is to teach your staff that it is the customer who pays everybody’s wages and one should never be rude to a customer.

New Years Eve Great Income Generator for- Bar Restaurant

A New Year’s Eve Party

If you have an English bar or restaurant in Spain you can make a great income in the low season, when cash flow is less abundant, by putting on a good New Year’s Eve party.

The most profitable way to achieve this is to create an all ticket affair where you advertise the types of food, drink and entertainment you will be providing. To maximize ticket sales you should promote your party by word of mouth. You can also place a small box ad in the local press around mid-November. However, this may not be necessary once you are established – for example we normally sell out by word of mouth only, well before New Year’s Eve.

You’ll need to tell people if you’re going to have a sit down meal or a buffet. The buffet is in my opinion the most profitable option, and the least work intensive.

Make it clear which types of meat and seafood you’ll be preparing and make sure you mention that you’ll have plenty of vegetarian dishes too. If you do a really excellent buffet the first year, you will quickly establish a reputation and people will be ready and waiting to buy tickets when it’s time for your next party.

The entry ticket price should include all food and drink up to say just gone past midnight. Don’t forget to cost some Spanish Cava (Spanish Champagne) into the price of the ticket. I normally allow 2 glasses per head. It is important to have a few spare bottles of Cava in reserve just in case there’s more demand than anticipated.

A lot of large restaurants will be putting on very expensive cabaret dinners. This leaves a big gap in the market for smaller establishments to fill. Lots of people on the Costa del Sol want to go out to a restaurant on New Year’s Eve; some will want to spend wildly, but there are plenty of people including a many of your regulars who will prefer the smaller less expensive celebrations, in your bar, where they can party with a crowd that they already know.