Do you want to increase your sales, but can’t fathom serving more plates than you already do? Look outside your existing peaks – do you have the market for breakfast? Adding hours of operation can add sales if you do it right.
The key to adding breakfast is to manage it into your menu as you would any new items. Evaluate the new items to understand what existing prepped and purchased product you can use versus what prepped and purchased products you are adding to execute the item. For example, if you add an item that has a new sauce, you are adding a full new prep item (and the labor associated with it); on the other hand, if you find a way to cross-utilize a sauce you are already prepping for another item, you are only going to increase the quantity prepped (and therefore only slightly increase the labor). See the chapter on Specials in How to Manage a Successful Restaurant for additional tips on how to add to the menu intentionally and successfully.
How else can you get creative? Are you not in a location conducive to dine-in breakfast? Can you make a great take away offering? Are there days of the week that this will work better than others for you? Are there restaurants in the area offering something you can’t compete with and should stay away from? Are there restaurants in the area trying at something that you can do better?
Don’t guess the answers to these questions. You have two groups of people with all of the answers you need walking into your establishment every day – your customers and your staff. Talk to your customers. Do they commute to your area for work? Or do they live nearby? Are they rushing in the morning to drop kids off at school or do they like to take the train instead of sit in traffic?
Understanding who your customers are and what their day looks like will help you understand what they want and need, and think about how your restaurant might be able to provide it. Talk to your staff. They are the closest to your customers and they know what they’re asking for, but you don’t offer. A great way to do this is have a weekly staff meeting and promote a n open forum (within reason) where they are able to feel involved and don’t forget, they probably live in the area, so they know the community.
Story
Lisa owned a French bistro in a thoroughfare with high foot traffic. When she and her husband opened the restaurant, they were thrilled to bring French cuisine to the area, especially since they were the first restaurant of its kind in the market. They opened with full service breakfast, lunch and dinner, and because there was great traffic from the nearby movie theater, late night snacks and drinks.
The food was incredible, the service impeccable and the environment a real stand-out. But a few months in, breakfast was still a real struggle. Assuming it was because they were new, Lisa increased marketing efforts to raise awareness, but they were unable to bring traffic in. Then, Lisa started to talk with her staff and customers and found the problem, which wasn’t that people didn’t know about the restaurant. Their location was near more homes and schools than businesses, which meant that in the morning, the customers were headed off to work – in another city – and didn’t have time for sit-down meals.
Lisa reevaluated her breakfast strategy and eliminated sit-down service, opening in the mornings for already prepared takeaway meals, coffee and tea. Accordingly, she was able to strip down the staff to execute the new, streamlined breakfast. Breakfast traffic, and subsequently profit, skyrocketed, by simply understanding the needs of the community.
