You are an intelligent restaurant owner, this is obvious because you saved money purchasing your commercial exhaust hood through us. You are also very aware that many costs are set before you even open your doors for business. And you realize that your point of sale system is the first line of defense against overspending and wasted money. Successful restaurant owners know their numbers and utilize best point of sale practices to help increase profits.

A good plan is based on information that is accurate, this means having a full understanding of your sales history, employee hours and all those other factors that affect your business. To help predict and plan for a profitable business day, start by reviewing historical sales by week, day, day part, hour and order type. That is, you should know that on Saturdays between 11 and 12 you average 14 carry-out orders. Knowing this specific information is vital in prepping and planning for a typical Saturday.

It takes the proper mix of employees to ensure your customers are well-serviced at a reasonable cost. Too many employees scheduled for a shift increases labor costs while too few can easily result in poor service, thus driving business away. Based on history, forecast and established goals, you will discover that fine line of successful scheduling.

If you haven’t forecasted your sales accurately, it will show at the end of the day with more wasted food than expected. Much food waste is avoidable through utilization of historical sales. Based on information discovered through forecasting, your prep cook will know just how many tomatoes to slice or steaks to cut.

Taking the time to gather all the information you have and utilizing it for accurate forecasts will no doubt save you a lot of money and help in making you a successful restaurant owner.