3 Takeaways on Building a Restaurant Organisation

The science of opening restaurants have become relatively easy, it’s the science of building restaurant organizations which is more complex. From the first drive-through restaurant in early 1948 to Instagrammable food pictures and design- know how restaurant industry has changed in last two years. But since being innovative and cutting edge isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, global brands have acted as a torch-bearer and disrupters that went through many new innovations to bring the world on a platter.

Taking Good to Growth!

When you enter in a new country you are really a start-up. You have to put all things from scratch even if you have systems across the markets to be able to build that organization. When you start thinking about putting in a brand, it’s about certainly what faces the consumer, what is your proposition, what do you stand for, how do you bring that proposition to live, what is the customer experience and what does your stores talk about your brand etc. “We have to able to make sure that the 1st store that we have put in is able to meet the brand consistency despite people moving in and moving out to go with the same pace,” shared Unnat Varma, MD, Pizza Hut India Subcontinent.

Similarly, it is not easy for restaurants and brands that are running multiple concepts and brands under single entity. “It is a difficult task to give equal amount of focus but eventually it’s all process and when you are scaling beyond a certain number of restaurants you cannot be person dependant,” added Sharad Sachdeva, former CEO of Lite Bite Foods which runs multiple brands like Zambar, Punjab Grill, Street Foods and The Artful Bakers to name a few.

Adding a Twist in Technology  

With technology everything is becoming so easy and restaurant owners can actually track and see sitting from their offices, which restaurants/outlet is doing what sale and which is the best selling item on the menu at that particular moment. Also, what was the sale / position of the same restaurant last week or few months ago can be tracked using these high-end software and technology. “Three important pillars of building an organization is people, process and technology. You can hire people and standardize the process but when you expand to 10 stores how to take a look into those processes peeking into the standardization. It can be done only through technology,” pointed Sahil Jain, Co-Founder, Dineout.

Commenting on the same, Sachdeva added, “When you are 4-5 restaurants, it is very easy for the owner to hump around. But when you have 100+ stores you need to have the right culture in the organization.”

Going Local & Seasonal

Sustainability is the new wave in the restaurant industry today. Everyone wants to talk about eating healthy and fresh. Going local and sustainable is something wherein restaurants are putting their big money into. “We follow LTO ( Limited Time Offer) which we do every quarter to get that freshness out to the guest because a repeat guest is looking for something new,” shared Ashish Saxena, CEO, TexMex Cuisines that runs Chili’s in India.

Commenting on the same, Sumant Vikas, Corporate Chef, Cremica Food Industries pointed, “Menu engineering is an important part of the restaurant business. One should focus on creating menu engineering every six months if not quarterly.”