Time passing away

Here at Sterling Stock Auditors we have a strong background and a lot of experience in the catering business. We know how busy restaurant owners are and how full-on their days can be. This is why we have put together some top time saving hacks for running a restaurant.

1. Due to the fact you are at the restaurant all day, suppliers think that they can come and see you at any point. You need to implement a ‘by appointment only’ policy in your business. This means that you can stay focused on what you are doing and plan your day around meetings. This is much better than stopping in the middle of a job and re-starting again when the on-the-spot meeting has finished.
2. Use an online clocking-in system which automatically links timesheets to your payroll. Endless paper timesheets and calculating all the hours and minutes that employees have put in over the week or month is extremely time consuming. It also leaves it wide open to errors.
3. Set up checklists that cover the opening, closing and weekly tasks of the business. This means you won’t need to chase employees to get jobs done or ask them when the vinegar bottles were last deep cleaned, for example. The checklists mean that you know everything is done regularly and nothing can be forgotten.
4. This is something that is recommended to all business owners – email quarantine! Instead of dropping everything for an email, have 3-5 set times a day when you will check and respond to emails. You’ll be shocked at how much time you will save. If the email is urgent then the person will pick up the phone and call you.
5. Very often business owners and managers will have meetings for meetings sake. When running weekly management meetings make sure you have a set of agreed outcomes, actions and due dates. This means you can ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals, and people are held accountable.

If you own or manage a catering or hospitality business and you’d like some more tips for saving time then why not contact us directly. We will always be happy to offer advice and guidance where we can.