The majority of us are always looking for an opportunity to maximize our return at work. We want staff who work hard and who don’t waste time. We want full tables and rapid turnover. We want a steady flow of customers and we’d prefer demand to outstrip supply.

So what could you do to help this?

There are a few trends taking hold that could add dollars to your bottom line without too much effort at all!

Downtime dining.

Are there additional service periods that you’re overlooking? Families with young children often want to eat out, but they eat at a very different time, and in a very different way, to the after work and evening crowd. Could your establishment facilitate this group earlier in the day – maybe from 5pm – potentially doubling your covers without any impact on your nighttime dining? Many kids need to be in bed by 7pm, leaving your venue free for the usual customers!

Coffee nook.

If your main trade happens during evening hours, look at how you could use your space differently during the day. If you’re paying rent on a venue that sits empty or closed for much of the day, consider how to change that. There are an increasing number of bars and restaurants that now offer a take-away coffee service during the day, capitalizing on the space and machinery already sitting there.

Take-away.

You don’t need to be a fast food outlet to offer customers take-away these days. An increasing number of services connect food service outlets with customers via online ordering, or even gourmet delivery services that send a messenger to collect and deliver restaurant meals to diners at home. Many of your customers may want your food on a given night, but be unable to spend the time actually getting to or dining in at your venue. Giving them the option of having your food at home is a great way to increase your turnover on any given night.

There are so many great ways to leverage your current business to maximize your takings – let us know if you have more great ideas that we could share!