The recipe for successful restaurants | The power of companies

The success of a restaurant begins to consolidate in the third year of its life. A border that only two out of five factories cross. And this triumph can be attributed to one or all of these factors simultaneously: a value proposition (the type of cuisine and service) that convinces; efficient planning, both of work and economic resources; listen to customer opinions or have a qualified team. The enthusiasm of the promoter is also fundamental, but he will remain an orphan if he is not surrounded by talent and is not accompanied by meticulous organization, explains José Luis Nieto, president of the Institute for the Development of Gastronomy and Tourism (IDEGAT), associated with the Complutense University of Madrid, where the master’s degree in Successful Catering Management is taught. Staying in an ever-changing sector with fierce competition is not easy and is reserved only for the most tenacious. What drives a restaurant to turn on the stove and not turn it off for decades?

Plant closures restoration

The restaurant’s value proposition, i.e. its menu, is a central component to its survival. It is its great differentiating element, so it must be taken care of and planned to the maximum, explains Jorge Blasco, of the Executive Chef consultancy firm, which helps to relaunch restaurants. However, external phenomena can endanger it, such as rising costs. “An imbalance, even temporary, represents a risk for the company.” And he continues: “It’s something we’ve experienced recently.” Between 2021 and 2024, energy and food prices grew above normal, to levels not seen in 38 years (July 2022 was the highest at 10.8% compared to the previous year), according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

«The increases force us to recalculate the price of each dish», underlines Blasco. Good planning takes into account these possible price variations in the scandal, calculating the real cost of preparing each dish, which serves to fix the amount. Many entrepreneurs pass these increases on to prices; Others hire them, even if they reduce the profit margin, says Jorge de la Cruz, a restaurant consultant: “The last resort is to increase the price, because you lose competitiveness compared to other restaurants,” he warns.

Gonzalo Calvo, founder of Grupo Saona, with Mediterranean cuisine restaurants throughout Spain, follows this premise. “We try not to have to pay too much money to eat well,” he declares in the video of the meeting with Álex González-Urbón, of Hundred Burguers, which opens this text, in the first chapter of The power of companiesfrom Banco Sabadell.

Dishes don’t always have to be profitable. Many companies have some proposals with which they do not make profits or generate losses. But in the long run they give them some advantage. They are known as strike plates and their goal is to attract customers. They are high-value recipes that serve as a hook, Blasco says. “One of the ones that works best is seasoned beef ribeye,” the expert points out. De la Cruz mentions the wines as an attractive force: “Selling some of the more expensive wines with a low margin will be attractive to many consumers.”

The restaurants that change the weather best are those that regularly review their menu. About once a year, experts advise. The goal is to eliminate the less profitable ones and add something new, so that regular customers are surprised and new ones are seduced. The menu should be short, especially to satisfy the diner, warns De la Cruz: “I like long menus at first, but they complicate the decision-making process. It’s not the same to not try 39 dishes from a menu of 40 as it is to stop trying nine from a menu of 10.”

Planning is another pillar that provides the robustness and flexibility needed to extend the life of businesses. Fast food chains grow because they have everything planned, from the quantities of recipes to how the restaurant opens and closes, explains De la Cruz. “Whether it is franchising or not, the organization has an impact on the teams, who know in advance their routines, payment dates, the learning process…” explains the expert.

Meticulous planning of financial resources avoids many scares. One of the most common mistakes when starting a business is not having reserved a residual part of the initial investment for any unforeseen events. “This way you can tap into this reserve while billing stabilizes, that is, until income starts coming in, a process that shouldn’t take more than a year,” he says. Correct economic planning will also be viewed very favorably by banking institutions in case of need for financing, he explains.

In the restaurants that Blasco helps to float, three long-term scenarios are planned to cover all situations: positive, neutral and negative. Therefore, when difficulties are encountered, such as the Covid crisis, the entrepreneur is very clear about what he must do. For many, the solution was to start serving at home. During the pandemic, in fact, this service grew, and in many businesses it remained at high numbers. The loans launched by the Official Credit Institute (ICO) to alleviate the consequences of the confinement have also been a lifeline for many businesses.

Álex González-Urbón, founder of Hundred Burgers, was clear about what he had to do as soon as the confinement was declared in 2020. “On the night of March 13th there were customers at a table and on the 14th we turned on the app (for home delivery). And something magical happened: the question remained. Our competitors took the two-week break into consideration and gave holidays to their workers. They weren’t there. There was a lot of demand and few suppliers. “Sales doubled,” he says in the video of the first meeting The power of companiesfrom Banco Sabadell.

The team is another of the company’s pillars, explains Nieto, and its Achilles’ heel. The more prepared its members are, the more easily they will face any challenge that comes their way. The problem that the promoter usually encounters is how to consolidate a team in an industry characterized by high staff turnover. Working conditions generate this continuous change of workers, who do not last long in their jobs, indicates Raquel García Revilla, professor of the Department of Tourism and Marketing of the Distance University of Madrid (Udima). This equation, he underlines, includes salaries, which are lower than in other sectors (in hospitality the average salary is 40% lower than the national average salary, according to the National Institute of Statistics).

High turnover has a negative impact on the business because it worsens service and creates an unstable work environment. For Jordi Turmo, general director of Fedis-Horeca, the Spanish Federation of Hospitality and Catering Distribution Companies, which represents 70% of hospitality distributors, employment has lost its attractiveness, but it is up to entrepreneurs to change it.

Professionalization is one of the tools that allows us to reverse this situation, because it favors the consolidation of talent in the sector. And it is making its way into strategic positions in the restaurant industry. It all began with the figure of the chef in the nineties. Thanks to inspiring figures such as Ferrán Adrià or the Roca brothers, many young people decided to dedicate themselves to cooking. Being a chef began to be a prestigious profession. Today, explains Blasco, it is not difficult to find a good chef or head chef.

Another figure has emerged in the organization chart that works alongside the chef: the executive chef. This role involves complete management of the kitchen, with budget planning, logistics and compliance with hygiene and safety regulations. In the dining room, the role of head waiter requires more and more preparation. “Its mission is to serve diners and coordinate workers. It is present not only in high-end restaurants, but also in mid-range ones,” explains Nieto. Business schools, such as the Institute for the Development of Gastronomy and Tourism (IDEGAT), will integrate a program to train these types of professionals.

Many entrepreneurs have not undergone restaurant training before opening their first business. Something they compensate for by learning along the way and, above all, by delegating to trained professionals, explains Blasco: “As soon as the business starts to grow, it is advisable to surround yourself with a qualified team you can trust for the development of the restaurant,” he underlines.

The power of an opinion

Listening to the customer and putting into practice what he asks allows the company to better adapt to changes in demand and, above all, to prevent greater evils. Thanks to the Internet, restaurateurs can find out what their consumers think through comments and ratings on platforms such as Google or Tripadvisor, explains De la Cruz. “As users, we trust the opinion of other users and this is something very powerful. There are people who decide whether or not to enter a place based on the stars it has on Google. And as a businessman, it gives you valuable information about what happens in your place,” he adds.

This expert warns that it is crucial to take action when dealing with negative opinions. Calvo, founder of Grupo Saona, assures that if a restaurant’s ratings begin to decline, sales will decline within a few months. “That’s why it’s important to act as soon as they start to decline… It’s a thermometer of what could happen in the future,” he explains. This is, according to experts, the last secret ingredient in the recipe so that a restaurant can keep the stove on for a long time.