Hospitality businesses are no stranger to difficulties, but the pandemic, Brexit, and current food shortages has led many restaurants to close their doors.
It can feel like you’re fighting one problem after another, and you never really have control of your business.
But you can take measures to protect your business against the slew of problems.
Find out how you can reduce sickness, attract new staff, and find out how one measure can lead to a 5% productivity gain worth over £100,000.
Challenges in the Hospitality Industry
Cost of Living
Cost of living has meant price increases for essential products and services such as food and energy.
This has meant consumers are wary of how they spend their money and led to growth in fast-food, takeaways, bars and clubs, plunging from 79.6% to 41.7%.
This is also clear, looking at the market size of the restaurant industry in the UK, which has declined by 5.1% per year on average since 2018.
Supply Chain Issues
Supply chain issues has meant ongoing problems getting products on time, if at all.
New immigration rules because of Brexit, changes in demand due to covid, and labour shortages, have led to the supply chain problem.
This has meant many restaurants have had to source their products from elsewhere, sometimes at the last minute.
Currently, the shortage of fruit and veg is a problem with supermarkets unable to supply basic foods such as tomatoes.
Energy Prices
Energy prices continue to be an issue with two in three businesses seeing significant increases in their energy costs.
Gas costs rose by 424% since 2021 and electric costs by 349% which has led many smaller cafes and restaurants to close their doors for good.
The government created the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to cap the amount householders could be charged which will also gave non-domestic customers a discount on wholesale cost.
But this doesn’t go far enough for many restaurants.
Food price increases
Food price increases due to inflation have significantly impacted 60% of food businesses.
The CGA and Fourth Business Confidence Survey found hospitality food costs have risen up to 40% including grains by 35%, meat by 35%, and fish by 25%.
With average food prices rising by 10% compared with 2019.
This has meant menu prices have risen by an average of 9% which has to be passed on to the customer which could discourage people from eating out.
Hospitality Staff Shortage
Hospitality staff shortages are no stranger to restaurants, but it has become unsustainable since Covid when many workers left to go back to their home countries.
This has led to 45% of businesses cutting their trading hours because they just didn’t have enough staff.
How Your hospitality Business can Thrive
Reduce Your Menu
Providing lots of choice on your menu can lead customers to be more confused and lead to “choice paralysis”.
It can lead to more time and effort deciding and also reduce their satisfaction with their choice.
Keep your menu simple and this will help cut your food costs.
Invest in Technology
Technology can solve many problems for your restaurant including helping manage staff more efficiently and help you to react to problems quicker.
Using technology, such as a cleaning and safety software, can help you go paperless to reduce admin costs, can help you keep track of trends to be prepared, and provide accountability for hygiene.
Cross-train Employees
Studies show training staff in one additional task can be beneficial to your business.
This means when you are short-staffed, you have a bigger choice of who you can ask to cover.
It can also mean your staff are more motivated as they have more responsibility and understand the business more.
Create a Clean Workplace
An unclean restaurant can lead to reduced productivity and an increase in sick days which lead to higher costs for your restaurant.
Encourage a clean culture at your workplace by using signs to encourage handwashing, always have supplies of cleaning materials for staff to use, and invest in a professional cleaning service.
Employees’ productivity is highly influenced by the cleanliness of their workplace.
A study found employees reported a 5% productivity gain when their office was clean which equalled over £100,000.
A restaurant cleaning service, such as we provide at StainlessCleans, provide you with a dedicated account supervisor who will oversee the cleaning and record-keeping of your restaurant.
This takes the stress away from you and ensures your restaurant is always audit ready.
Whether you need multi-site cleaning, weekend cleaning, deep cleaning, or a kitchen appliance cleaning service, a commercial cleaning company can help you reduce costs and allows you to focus on other things.
Plus, a cleaner restaurant equals happier staff and customers.
Helping Your Restaurant Thrive
While it may feel like you’re batting one problem away after another, you can see each as an opportunity to make your restaurant more efficient.
You can take control and implement measures that will not only help you survive rising costs but thrive too.
If you’re interested in our commercial kitchen cleaning packages, get a free site survey today.
