The issue of revenue management is always baffling. Can she be controlled somehow?
Yes exactly! And perhaps this is only if the planning process has been set up in your institution like a clock.
An important and necessary mechanism for working with revenue is the availability of short-term and long-term sales plans for the week, where the desired number of guests with the size of the average check is clearly stated.
With each client in our work, we draw up an annual operational plan (revenue + expenses) and monthly conduct a P&L report. The annual plan is reviewed every quarter, focusing on events, events, difficulties and we fix the actual indicators of what we managed to do and where to put it forward. All plans are tied to the end-to-end analytics system so that all the indicators related to revenue can be analyzed and decisions made. Thus, the managers of the institution have a checklist for monitoring the main indicators of revenue hourly. A whole line of goals and KPIs are being built for employees, where everyone is involved in achieving a common result.
Often, in practice, it does not always work out as planned. Less guests, competitors, suddenly formed nearby, or public utilities suddenly began to change pipes near the road to your establishment and temporarily only a path remained from the wide sidewalk.
When planning their guest flow, each business owner or manager needs to answer several questions:
1. What actions have been taken to increase the guest flow in order to provide a percentage increase to the current?
Waiting for the cancer to whistle on the mountain, and the guests will tear down your door from the pressure - a utopia in the restaurant business. Your actions are important. Therefore, the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the plan depends on how effectively you planned your marketing campaign. The result of achieving plans is your indicator of the success of a planned promotion program.
2. The presence of plan B to stimulate sales in the institution.
The general marketing plan for promoting an institution usually consists of several events that you can alternate depending on the market situation, competitive activity and other external factors. It is important that your potential guests hear and see you. Do not discount classic methods of stimulating demand, such as discounts on certain positions and volume.
However, if the plan for the guest flow fails miserably, do not forget to activate Plan B, where the main efforts should be focused on compensating the proceeds at the expense of existing guests. What the translation means - work on increasing the average check. You can increase the average number of dishes and drinks per guest on the check or activate go-list.
Activate the offers for upsale and cross-sale, “buy it and get the sauce as a gift”.
When activating the go-list, you need to focus not on the number of positions on the check, but on their quality, we are talking about high-margin positions, those with an appetizing% mark-up, to eliminate the revenue gap. It is especially important here that your staff is able to work with guests, and the quality of service is at its best.
Carry out a briefing for the staff in advance, determine the position data for each menu category and, in case of failure to fulfill the daily plan for the guest flow, offer them to guests first.
Quarterly plans are often reviewed even upward, because with the management of the operating system, new opportunities are discovered to increase revenue. It is these loopholes that are introduced as actions to achieve better results.
Literally, the other day there was a case. The client planned quarterly revenue of 4 million. We revised it upward to 5.5 million, and closed the quarter with 5.8 million, which was the peak in the history of this institution.
Total, we can draw several conclusions for managers and owners of the institution, which will allow you to manage revenue.
1. To manage revenue - you need to learn how to count, plan and analyze it.
2. To fulfill the plan for the guest flow, it is necessary to justify its growth and work on it in advance (drawing up a promotion program
3. There should always be a plan B in case of failure (separately for lunch and for the evening, preferably)
4. You can compensate for the loss of guests using the check: more positions, or marginal positions.
As a conclusion, I will tell an example. In one case, the café-canteen, we were able, due to work and analytics, to increase the average bill from 270 rubles to 310, while the guests were not deprived of a portion and were surprised by the price increase. Tools: product mix and competent work of cashiers to increase the average bill.