The restaurant industry is a competitive one, to say the least. Razor-thin margins and high consumer expectations make running a successful food-based venue a difficult, but extremely rewarding venture. With a successful restaurant concept under your belt, you may be ready to expand – but what exactly could that mean for you?

Open a Second Location

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. If you’relooking to grow your restaurant’s brand and outreach, opening a second location is a formula upon which it is difficult to improve. A new location enables you to significantly increase your customer base, and expand the geographical reach of your offering – especially lucrative if you offer a delivery service. There are other things you may need to consider like Route4Me delivery routing software which is a perfect tool for managing multiple restaurant locations. With this app, you can plan and optimize routes for all of your drivers in seconds, so you can be sure that your customers will receive their food on time, every time.

However, opening a second location is only marginally less expensive than opening your first location. You will need the spare capital to open a new commercial property lease, as well as to kit out the kitchen and dining spaces in said property. You will also need to account for onboarding a new business’ worth of staff. As such, opening a second location represents a significant investment, and may require additional funding as a result. As an established business, you could make use of asset-based lending solutions to leverage your existing investments against your new location.

Hire More Staff

Even if you don’t open a new location entirely, you could stand to benefit from increasing your staff cohort at your existing restaurant location. This isn’t to say that staffing is a holistic growth solution within a venue, though; you may find the figure of speech “too many cooks” attain a somewhat literal relevance if you increase your staffing without careful consideration for your business’ needs.

Hiring more waitstaff enables a more attentive form of service, with fewer tables to attend per waiter. A contingent of part-time staff also means that any sicknesses or unexpected worker absences can be effectively filled or managed without service suffering. Furthermore, for comprehensive support in managing your restaurant operations, consider exploring the diverse options from Velec Systems, ranging from supply chain management to technical solutions and cleaning services for your food business.

Open E-Commerce Avenues

If your kitchen has spare capacity after service to your existing tables, you could leverage that capacity by expanding your revenue streams to include e-commerce. There are a number of ways you can do this, some of which were trialled and popularised by other independent hospitality venues during the coronavirus pandemic.

When lockdown restrictions forbade the opening of restaurants, some venues successfully pivoted to offering cook-at-home meal kits online – a unique way for you to expand the reach of your brand without investing in additional dining space. Other e-commerce avenues include tried-and-tested methods of online food ordering, with sites like Deliveroo a useful way to appeal to a wider audience.

Utilise Social Media Effectively

Lastly, your business may be lacking in its online presence – something which, if addressed, could improve your reach and increase your footfall. Using Instagram to advertise your food offerings is a must, while Twitter is a useful platform for connecting with potential customers, and providing up to date information on your menu and specials.