Many restaurant owners naturally buy in bulk which, of course, saves money but all of that stock takes up a lot of space often when there isn’t much space to spare. Here we look at easy, accessible solutions for this common predicament and look at how decluttering a restaurant or café is easier to achieve than you might think.
When you own cafe or restaurant it clearly makes sense to buy large amounts of stock at a time i.e. buying in bulk. This ensures you get the best possible deal on each item you need to purchase and means you save the most money possible and you have backup stock to meet unexpected busy periods or fluctuations in demand.
All small businesses have to manage their costs carefully if they are to make a decent profit and this is perhaps even more important for restaurants and cafes were the margins can be very tight. The restaurant trade is one of the hardest in which to make a profit especially those run by a chef/owner where the quality of the food is so personally important – many a good, popular restaurant simply can’t make a profit so practical ways to save money are always important to consider.
From the individual ingredients you use to make your delicious dishes, to the decorations, table linen and crockery, to additional chairs and tables, it might often seem like there’s plenty to store, but nowhere to put it all. You might find that with the lack of space, and everything being stuffed in, your staff struggle to use the space properly, you find certain things don’t get used because they are stored deeply in the backroom and cannot be reached and you’re generally struggling with operations because of all the items you have to store. This simply isn’t a good way to continue running a business efficiently. And it is likely you already know this, but perhaps you have struggled to find a solution that works for you and your business.
Well, we might just have three solutions to help you declutter as soon as possible and get on with running a successful and efficient business:
Use Your Predictions
After you have been running your restaurant or café for a while, it is likely you can predict what will be the busier times and what will be the quieter times. There will be days of the week when you can reasonably expect to be fully booked (such as a Friday and Saturday night and possibly Sunday lunchtime), and there will be other days when you can expect a steady stream of people walking in from the street but might not be full to the rafters. Maybe Monday night is student night and you have a specials menu that is very popular locally. Or Thursday are your busiest night because you have live music on that night. With this knowledge of what number of customers you can expect on any given night of the week you can efficiently stock up when you need to, rather than having fully stocked store cupboards all the time. You can also purchase non-perishable items for your busiest times well ahead of time – perhaps making savings when particular items are on special offer at your local suppliers. For example; alcohol, canned goods and dried foods and staples such as flour, sugar, rice and spices can be purchased well ahead of these times but you can regularly be replacing the amounts to keep stock levels adequate but without always having more than enough. This way you can avoid overloading what storage space you have yet, at the same time, be confident that you have enough stocks of everything you need to cope with demand.
Extend Your Working Space
Obviously we aren’t suggesting you get a bigger restaurant, or knock through to next door! That certainly isn’t cost effective especially with the high cost of rents in popular town and city locations. But you can extend your business space very cheaply, conveniently and quickly, and without any long-term commitment. How is this possible you might ask? Well, it’s quite simple and fairly obvious when you think about it. The answer is by budgeting for business self storage. By using a local self storage facility with easy access, you can easily store away in the unit the items you don’t immediately need within the next day or so (just make sure you check the hours and days of access suit you depending on the distance to the unit). This gives you and your staff more space to move around in your restaurant or cafe, to serve your customers and to operate your business efficiently. It will be easier for you and your staff to work and happy staff lead to happier customers so that is good for everyone, and for your bottom line. It is an extremely cost effective way to help you save money by buying in bulk without having to sacrifice working space.
Reusing Items From a Previous Season
And when it comes to storage of outdoor furniture or other seasonal items then it is a no-brainer because why would you want all those outdoor tables and chairs to take up space that could either be used to accommodate more customers inside or simply to make the working lives of your staff more efficient, not to mention more pleasant? It certainly isn’t cost effective to keep purchasing new seasonal decorations or furniture depending on the time of year. Self storage can also help you purchase a seasonal set of decorations and furniture, and store it away out of season so it doesn’t become sun damaged or weather damaged. This way you can give your guests a fresh experience without having to break the bank.
Remember….
If you need extra space to help your restaurant or café run smoothly, there is always availability in your local self storage facility. Make an enquiry today to find out just how much room you can get, for a small cost.