When trying to plan for your restaurant, it’s important to have points in the future that you want to achieve. Generally, we call these restaurant goals and objectives. While we’ll break down exactly what that means shortly, the simple fact is that the goals and objectives of a restaurant are a major part of their success.
So, how do you define your restaurant objectives and goals and, importantly, why should you?
Understanding Restaurant Goals and Objectives
First things first, we need to understand the terms that we’re discussing. While they may seem like the same thing at first, restaurant objectives and goals are actually quite different.
Goals are your long-term plans (expansions, major increases in sales, etc.); they’re what you plan your extended business around — we’re talking at least a year in the future. In contrast, your objectives are shorter-term tasks that fill up that time between now and your first major goal. Generally, these will include small and, notably, achievable tasks that can be accomplished within a few weeks or months.
Key Areas for Setting Restaurant Goals
When trying to establish long-term goals, it’s vital to understand the most important areas on which you should focus. Below, we have a handful of areas that (if you focus on them properly) will help your business take massive strides to improve year over year.
Financial Goals
Arguably the most obvious of restaurant goals are your financials; most people tend to set a specific number for their long-term (year over year) growth.
Financial goals don’t have to just focus on having a specific number sitting in your account; rather, they should have specific end-game plans behind the number. Whether that’s building a suitable emergency fund, having enough to buy new (expensive) equipment, or building a down payment for a second (or third, or fourth…) location, set yourself clear and measurable goals.
Operational Goals
Operational restaurant goals are a crucial aspect to long-term success for any restaurant. While money is a great way to measure growth, the things that matter the most are often the way that your restaurant runs on a daily basis. Whether this applies to your front or back of house is up to you, but ultimately, it’s important to set internal goals for your staff to meet.
A great place to start with operational restaurant goals is consistency. Hold an all-hands meeting and establish clear boundaries and goals for your team to meet within a year. Tell your staff that you’ll be watching table turnover times, upselling, plate times, and return rates on food and then give them incentive. This can be as simple as extra PTO or a small bonus, or it can lead to raises or promotions; what matters is that they’re incentivized to work alongside you to improve the business.
Customer Service Goals
Generally customer service falls under operational goals, but it’s important to differentiate when setting long-term goals for multiple areas of your business. When establishing restaurant goals for customer service, think about what can improve over an extended period of time.
Areas like reviews and sales allow you to properly measure success; this is important, because customer service is a difficult thing to measure, as customers are their own people. Extreme cases of good or bad customer service will be obvious, but they’re difficult to measure when trying to set and meet goals. Aiming for more 5-star reviews and higher sales allows your staff to have concrete proof of their work and, importantly, show how well they do their job.
Beyond the more measurable parts of customer service, it’s also great to set more personal goals for your staff. Set goals with each employee to see them sell more confidently, become more familiar with the menu and specials, or even just to be more comfortable in their interactions with customers. Importantly, though, be sure to work with your employees on this, rather than setting goals without speaking to them.
Marketing and Branding Goals
Branding and marketing are both important parts to growing your restaurant business. By establishing clear goals for what your brand should look like, how it should be perceived, and how well-known it is (also known as brand awareness), you’ll be setting your business up for success.
Just like any other type of marketing, restaurant marketing benefits from clear goals and objectives for each campaign. Common restaurant goals for marketing and branding include an increase in followers, regular interaction on social media, or even a full rebrand!
By setting yourself a clear picture of what successful marketing will look like, you’re creating a point to work toward and, ultimately, overcome.
Staff Development and Retention Goals
Of all restaurant goals to establish, staff development and retention is one of the more crucial. We all know that restaurants are often a revolving door of employees, and likely, you’re familiar with the struggle that this can create. In fact, the act of training new employees actively costs you money!
This is why it’s vital for you to set goals related to staff retention and growth. Your employees will eventually grow out of their positions, and that’s okay, but helping them to grow can ensure that they stick around far longer. Beyond coaching and professional development, there’s really only one major way to encourage retention — benefits and pay.
Because of this, your staff retention will likely be tied to your restaurant goals that revolve around money; after all, to pay more, you need to make more. Nonetheless, it’s worth it to consider the tradeoff of periodic raises versus the (on average $1,252 per person) cost of training new employees.
How to Set Achievable Restaurant Goals and Objectives
Now that we’ve seen what kinds of restaurant objectives and goals will likely be on the top of your list, let’s talk about creating achievable restaurant goals.
Using the SMART Framework
The SMART framework is a common tool used by project managers to clarify what is realistic and what isn’t. So, what is SMART? It operates under the idea that every project, objective, and goal should be:
- Specific: In other words, your restaurant objectives and goals should be specific enough to be easily achieved. Rather than “Make more money,” we should aim to make a specific amount, let’s say $10,000 more per quarter.
- Measurable: Similarly, your restaurant goals should be easy to measure; we don’t want abstract goals or objectives. Rather, they should be quantifiable through numbers or performance.
- Achievable: We’ve harped on the importance of achievability for your restaurant goals and objectives quite a bit. That’s because being realistic is crucial to actually accomplishing any task that you set for yourself. Allow yourself the time to think about how realistic it will be to achieve your goal or objective in a given time and make adjustments as needed.
- Relevant: The long and short here is that your goals should be relevant to your business. Set restaurant objectives and goals that will directly benefit your restaurant and, importantly, that will help enforce your vision for the business.
- Time-Bound: Finally, it’s important to have a deadline. Goals shouldn’t be an indefinite “we’ll get to it” process; rather, they should have a specific point in time where they need to be accomplished.
Aligning Goals with Your Restaurant's Vision and Mission
In relation to the ‘relevant’ in SMART goals, be sure to think about what you want your restaurant to do and look like. Are you aiming to create a community gathering center or a space for intimate meals? Do you want to churn through orders and serve hundreds or thousands of guests each day, or do you want to serve a handful of guests with thoughtful, carefully crafted courses?
No matter your ultimate vision, keep it in mind when preparing your restaurant objectives and goals. They should help you achieve that vision, rather than hinder it — so consider your brand when establishing goals.
Setting Priorities: What Matters Most?
Ultimately, what matters most isn’t something that we can tell you; it’s something you’ll need to decide for yourself. If you’re struggling with employee retention, that may be the most important for you. Alternatively, you could have a great internal flow, wonderful sales, and an absolutely dead social media — if that’s the case, then maybe marketing goals and objectives will serve you best.
Realistically, this means that you’ll need to take time to take inventory of how your restaurant runs, audit your inventory and sales, and speak to your staff about what they think should be prioritized.
Examples of SMART Restaurant Goals
Before we wrap, let’s set a few examples of SMART restaurant goals to get your mind working on the same wavelength:
- Specific sales goals: After looking at your sales quarter over quarter, establish a number that you want your restaurant to reach in one month, in three, and in six. For example, you could aim for a 10% increase in special sales first, followed by 15% and 20%.
- Brand recognition: Set a specific number of followers to gain in six months, and another for one year. In that time, measure followers and their interaction with your content. For many restaurants, this can be as small as 100 new followers and comments or shares on every post; for others, you can aim big. It’s all about knowing what’s realistic for your business.
- Employee retention: If you generally run through staff every eight months, set a long-term goal to retain at least 75% of your staff for a full year. After that, bump it to two or three years.
Setting restaurant goals and objectives isn’t difficult once you know how to do it. It just requires an awareness of your business that will take time and research to accomplish. From there, the SMART framework can make the process shockingly simple.
.jpg)
