Every restaurant owner dreams of growing their business into a multi-location restaurant or chain.
The more restaurant locations you add, the more guests you can serve, and the more revenues and profits you can make.
However, adding new restaurant locations comes with many challenges. Chief among them is being able to manage those multiple locations or venues.
So, how do you manage a multi-location restaurant? We’ve gathered the top tips for managing multiple locations and venues effectively.
What is a multi-unit restaurant?
A multi-unit restaurant or multiple location restaurant is an F&B concept with several branches or venues. These branches can be in the same city, governorate, or country.
A restaurant with several locations can be referred to as a chain or restaurant group. Alternatively, an F&B group often refers to a company managing multiple restaurant brands or chains.
Challenges of managing multiple restaurant locations
Before we explore the tips, let’s first pinpoint the top challenges operators face when trying to manage multi-location restaurants.
Communication issues
Let’s face it. Communication is a big problem for companies in every industry. Restaurants are no exception. Especially, if your operations grow beyond a single location.
Weak or unclear communication between management, vendors, and staff can result in mistakes, which can affect guest satisfaction and overall profitability.
Having many pen-and-paper operations
Many restaurants still operate using pen-and-paper. Whether it’s taking down names for waitlists, creating a to-do list, writing general notes.
Similarly, it may involve making a note to staff about an upcoming special event at the venue. This could be a restaurant-managed event like Halloween Night, a small engagement party, a birthday, or a corporate event.
With pen-and-paper, there will likely be too many mistakes, incorrect orders, and lost information. Not to mention missed opportunities, unhappy guests, and no centralized system for guest information.
Inventory management
A big challenge for many restaurants, whether single-location or multi location restaurants, is inventory management.
Multi-location inventory management requires knowing and managing suppliers, vendors, and purchase orders. You need a process to manage orders and delivery, re-stocking ingredients, tableware,…etc.
If you’re operating multiple restaurants in different cities or countries, inventory can be even more challenging.
Lack of a centralized CRM system
One challenge restaurant operators realize they have, albeit too late, is the lack of a centralized customer relationship management (CRM) system.
A centralized guest CRM helps you collect guest information and manage this data across your restaurant’s multiple locations. You can use it to collect data like guest names, emails, and phone numbers.
Dining concepts using Servme can also collect information, such as dietary restrictions, allergies, and guest notes. Reservation managers say the guest notes feature is their favorite feature as it helps them tailor the guest experience.
A centralized CRM also helps F&B operators forget about the hassle of managing operations with pen-and-paper.
No table management system to manage floor plans
Managing multiple restaurant locations means having to manage different floor plans. Some venues may be a single-story with several seating sections.
For example, one of Servme’s customers has a large venue featuring a pool-side restaurant, an indoor restaurant, and several bars.
It’s impossible to manage all these floor plans without an effective table management system.
Costly, worn-out printed menus
Another big challenge for multi-location restaurants is the cost of creating and printing menus. Print menus wear out easily. In addition, in locations with unstable economies and price changes every few months, the cost of printing new menus is expensive.
If you’re managing restaurant locations across geographies, menu items may differ based on the food items in each location.
Marketing challenges
A major challenge for restaurants with multiple locations is consistent branding and marketing. As the number of venues increases, so do advertising and promotional budgeting challenges.
Should we have a handle or account for each location? Or should they all be under a single page on our socials? How much should we spend on ads?
Sound familiar? Consult with an F&B marketing agency or hire an effective marketing manager for your restaurant group.
Further reading: 21 Restaurant Marketing Ideas to Drive Guest Spending in 2024
How to manage restaurants with multiple locations
Now, let’s explore the top tips for managing a multi-location restaurant, whether it’s in the same city, country, or across geographies.
Write down daily tasks for every team
The first step in managing multiple restaurant locations effectively is to have clear roles and job descriptions. Every team needs to know what is required of them as a team and as members of that team.
This means you need a detailed to-do list for the front-of-house, including your servers, reservation manager,…etc., your back-of-house, that’s your kitchen, washing,…etc.
If you’re collaborating with other outside teams or members, you need to determine who is doing what.
For example, your guest relations or reservations manager may need to be in contact with the restaurant group’s marketing manager. They need to know how often to get in touch, what’s required of them on a daily and weekly basis, and so on.
This will help you organize the duties required by each team in each location. Note that some restaurant locations may vary. For example, one venue may have a garden, while another may be a two-story location.
Create a business plan for your new location(s)
Treat every new dining location as a new business and create a business plan for that location.
Consider working with an F&B consultant or agency to help you create this business plan.
Create a restaurant marketing strategy for each venue
To grow your restaurant business, your marketing efforts need to be efficient.
As an owner or operator of multiple restaurant locations, you need to create a restaurant marketing strategy for each venue. This is especially important if you manage several restaurants in several cities or countries.
If the venues are in the same city, you can create a broad marketing strategy for those venues.
Further reading: 10+ Restaurant Email Marketing Campaign Ideas for Better Sales & Retention
Hire the right team for each location
Finding the right team is imperative for managing a successful restaurant. It’s important your team has the relevant experience you need to work smoothly and offer guests a great experience.
Make sure you have a clear hierarchy within each location. Inform team members if they need to collaborate with outside team members, like a marketing manager or marketing agency.
Offer standard training for staff
Besides finding the right hires for your restaurant chain, offer standardized training for your team across all locations.
Make sure new comers receive the same training and onboarding as their predecessors. This could be a mix of virtual and on-site training. If you’re using F&B software, or have a restaurant tech stack, make sure new and current employees are familiar with it.
Research has found a strong link between employee experience and revenue in customer-facing roles. According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that score well on employee experience metrics can see a 50% revenue boost.
Use a robust, centralized CRM
Using a restaurant CRM, like Servme, to collect guest information across your venues. Besides adding data, you can use this information for your restaurant’s marketing campaigns, including email and SMS.
Having a guest CRM will also help you understand your guests better and offer insights into customer behavior and patterns.
If you’re using Servme, you can also use the auto-tags feature to add tags to guests such as top spender, frequent no-show, corporate,…etc. You can add and tailor tags to your needs.
Use restaurant management software with integrations
A restaurant reservation system, sometimes referred to as a restaurant management system, helps you manage different aspects of your restaurant.
From managing reservations, waitlists, and seating arrangements to understanding guest behavior with a CRM to manage operations and marketing.
This type of software allows you to integrate with other platforms to manage even more operations from a single dashboard.
For example, Servme integrates with property management systems (PMS) used by hotels, point-of-sale (POS) systems, online booking channels like Tripadvisor and Zomato, among others.
Servme also lets restaurants get direct reservations through Facebook and Instagram.
Also referred to as restaurant event planning software, this type of system also helps you manage large-group bookings with ease.
Servme also offers an automated table combination option where hosts can add the number of guests and the software will automatically recommend the best tables to be combined.
Further reading: 9 Ways to Reduce No-Shows at Your Restaurant
Use waitlist management software
Whether you’re managing a single concept or several restaurant locations, you need to use a waitlist management system.
Waitlist software helps you manage online and offline waitlists. If customers cancel reservations, you can easily tap into your waitlist and notify other guests of available tables.
If you’re using Servme, you can use WhatsApp to speed up communication with your guests.
Most of the best reservation management systems come with waitlist management.
Further reading: The Starter’s Guide to Using WhatsApp Business for Restaurants
Train your team to use your software
Train your team to use the software you’re using in your restaurant chain. Clarify which systems are centralized, that is shared between your restaurant locations, and which aren’t.
Your team should know how to use the POS system, the data they can get from it, and how to use it. Similarly, if you’re using Servme, you should know how to use the different features to streamline your operations.
It’s worth mentioning that one of the biggest perks of using Servme is that we train restaurant staff on how to use the software. Your team will be trained to use every new or upgraded feature. Our training is always free.
Build a website for your restaurant
Growing your business means expanding in several ways. This includes building a website for your restaurant chain.
A website can be an opportunity to share contact information, your menu, addresses to your venues, hiring opportunities, among others. Not to mention, professional websites establish branding and build authority and confidence in your business.
You can also share your dress code, information about reservation and cancellations and fees (if applicable), among other details.
Further reading: 15+ Ways to Increase Restaurant Sales in 2024
Improve employee communications across all locations
Communication is key to the success of any business. To manage a group of successful restaurants, your team communications need to be spot on. Whether communication between team members in the same location or across multiple locations.
One way we’ve streamlined communications for single and multi-location restaurants has been with the Manager’s Notes feature.
This feature lets restaurant managers share pertinent information with team members either in a single location or across the restaurant group. Managers can also schedule notes to go live on specific days or dates.
Restaurants using Servme have found this feature to be useful, especially for concepts that run events, or want to distinguish their top-spenders. Many have used it in combination with the auto-tags and reservations features.
Automate marketing and communications
Besides creating a restaurant marketing strategy, use marketing automation to speed up processes and communicate with your guests. Your strategy includes deciding which platforms and marketing tools you’ll use.
If you’re planning to use email and SMS marketing for your multi-location restaurants, you can do so with Servme.
If WhatsApp is your guests’ preferred method of communication, you can create, manage, and automate WhatsApp messages for each venue from your Servme dashboard.
Further reading: The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing for Restaurants
Use automated guest surveys
No restaurant operator wants to learn that guests prefer one location over the other. That is, guests going to location A because they think it has better staff or service than location B.
More importantly, research shows 32% of customers are likely to stop buying from a brand after one bad experience. Even if they previously liked that brand. Your restaurant isn’t an exception.
If you’re running a restaurant chain, maintaining and consistently improving guest experiences is essential. Automated guest surveys help you do that. They also keep staff in check about the experiences and level of service they provide.
Once a guest leaves your restaurant, they can get a notification via email, SMS, or WhatsApp asking them to review their latest experience.
You can tailor the questions you want to add in Servme.
Review detailed, relevant reports
To manage a group of restaurants successfully, you need to have strong reporting software in place. This software can measure various restaurant analytics and offer insights into customer behavior.
Consider using software that allows you to customize reports. Or get an account manager that tailors your reports for you. Both options are available in Servme.
Digital menu software
An important feature or software to have as a multi-location restaurant is digital menu design software. If you’re a Servme customer, you can do this directly from your Servme dashboard.
Design and activate menus based on the time of day, season, or restaurant location.
Wrapping it up
It’s no surprise, managing multiple restaurant locations can be a hassle. But you can streamline various operations to save time, money, and clear away this headache so you can focus on running a successful business.
Servme can help you manage many of those operations from a single dashboard. From reservations, waitlist, and table management, to marketing to communications, and more.
Discover how Servme can help you. Book a personalized demo now.
Nada Sobhi
Marketing
