Any retail outlet has a black hole that sucks up money like nothing else. A restaurant is no different. Most owners easily get carried away and spend large amounts of money on decor and equipment that they can easily do without. We spoke about this in one of our previous posts about the things new restaurants splurge on. There’s no end to the number of ways you can cut costs in your restaurant. Not just one time cost, but also avoid recurring ones. Invest in what will bring you back your money – menu, ingredients, produce, marketing, etc. Anything else, you can find ways to curb your costs fairly easily. Let’s look at at least three of them here.

Do away with the frills

…quite literally. How many restaurants today have tablecloths? It’s unnecessary and simply keeps adding to your expenses. If you don’t have them go begin with, you cut the cost of it right there. No tablecloths, no dirty linens – so to speak. Moreover, baren tables look a lot better without anything on them. It’ll give your restaurant a more relaxed and rustic look. Look at second hand furniture and check out artifacts at flea markets to get decor pieces at a bargain. Even your plates can come cheap. Look at all options – glass, earthenware, copper, etc. Measure what weighs less on your pocket and go with it. Don’t be afraid to mix and match. Give your restaurant an eclectic feel with such creativity while sticking to your budget.

Save them trees

A few of them, at least. It’s not an entirely undoable option. There are restaurants and cafes that have a really small regular menu printed on very little material and then they have a large black board with the mains and other specials. This way you save on printing costs and are able to rotate the menu whenever you please. It’s also a great way for your staff to engage with customers and talk about the food. Do away with tent cards and other distractions on the table. Rather have the waiters talk to the customers about offers at the restaurant. Again, these can also go up on a blackboard.

To market, to market..

You have your vendors supplying you whatever you need – meat, fish, vegetables and other produce. But if you can find a farmers market or a good market for produce, you should cut back on your supplies from vendors and make a couple of trips to these markets. In addition to reducing costs, you’re also getting produce fresh. This is how you can also find seasonal produce earlier on and whip up some really nice specials for your customers. Being a regular at these markets will also eventually lead to you getting the best stuff before others do. For instance, let’s say when mango is in season and you make your trip to the market on time, even before the vendor brings you the produce, you can create some specials that day itself go give your customers something to look forward to next time. This works best for seafood. Seafood is brought in from Chennai and Mangalore. When you’re there early morning you quite literally get the worm first.