Using Mystery Shoppers In Restaurants

There has been an increasing reliance on the use of mystery shoppers in restaurants. There are several reasons for reliance on such firms and individuals to rate various criteria. Typically, the characteristics of the restaurant that are check include how clean the premises are, how friendly the staff is, the quality of the food, whether food service is timely, correct check numbers and appropriate change given.

Although mystery shopping is a concept that is being more and more by business owners who want to know what is going on from the standpoint of a customer, finding a way to do so without constant monitoring of the premises is hard to do. Relying on the comments of those who post observations on the internet may not give a balanced view of the service and the food, since people are more likely to criticize than to praise.

A helpful feature of this type of restaurant review is that you can tailor the report to learn what you want to know. The shopping can occur as frequently or as seldom as you want to pay for. Because firms have a number of people from which to choose to do the review, they are not as obvious to restaurant employees. Some of the features that are typically checked are different than those which would appear on a Health and Sanitation Department audit.

There are some limitations that occur when using a mystery shopper, particularly when your business is in a neighborhood or community where the regular patrons are well known. The results of the review lose validity if the waitperson recognizes the shopper as someone who is not behaving in a typical manner. To some extent, being spotted is a function of a poorly trained reviewer of a company that doesn't set clear expectations.

The cost of the shop will depend on the features that are being reviewed. Some owners want pictures of certain features. For example, if the restrooms are to be reviewed for cleanliness, the reviewer might be asked to take a picture of any shortfalls. Different factors may be involved for a single diner/shopper than with a larger group.

The decision to use mystery shoppers in restaurants is one which might be considered if there is an owner or manager who is not able to be on the premises during all open hours. The time of review can be specified. The features which might be reviewed include cleanliness, food quality, service efficiency and accurate bill preparation and presentation.

Fresh Or Frozen Pros And Cons

Among many diners, there is a belief that fresh food tastes better and is better for you. In watching many of the popular food shows, you will find that fresh or frozen pros and cons are not presented in a balanced manner. There are certain types of foods where only fresh will do, but ruling out frozen foods may seriously limit the menus in some locations.

Availability is a key element. Not every restaurant has access to a fish market within reasonable distance. Nor can every cook go to the docks to pick up the day's catch to serve to customers. When it comes to seasonal foods, some are simply not available in either fresh or frozen form during certain times of the year. The availability of salad greens in northern climates during cold weather may be limited, and the lettuce itself may be several days old by the time it reaches your restaurant.

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The cost may make the different between choosing fresh food or frozen food. On the one hand, purchasing frozen food is usually more expensive than purchasing the same food fresh, because there is additional processing costs. This has to be balanced against the probability of more loss when fresh food is used. However, this equation assumes that there are no shipping costs involved.

Taste is another factor that is often used in favor of fresh food over frozen food. For most food items, fresh is better, particularly if it is not bruised or mishandled during the trek from farm, market, processing plant to the restaurant. If the correct freezing methods are used, there are steps taken to preserve flavor and avoid deterioration before freezing.

A restaurant must have the proper facilities for storage of the food items, regardless of whether it is frozen or fresh. Freezer burn is a risk even when the items are properly processed. In taste tests, diners rated fresh or quickly frozen items over those which had been frozen for more than a few days. There is also a need to thaw frozen foods properly in order to preserve flavor, without posing a health risk.

Looking over the fresh or frozen food choices, each owner or restaurant manager must review the elements of taste, cost and availability. It is assumed that the storage equipment will be adequate for either or both types of products. The sophistication of the customer palates may also be an element in making the choice.

Restaurant liquor inventory spreasheet

For owners of a restaurant who want to ensure they are accounting for all loses, profits, expenses, and product inventory, the use of a Restaurant liquor inventory spreadsheet is greatly going to help you do so for your bar. Due to the fact that the bar, in any establishment, is likely to bring in the most profits to the restaurant, as a manager or owner, the use of the right Restaurant liquor inventory spreadsheet will ensure you know all about what profits are coming in, how much is being spent on products and inventory, and whether or not things are accurate in the bar.

When choosing to use an inventory spreadsheet managers and owners can:
- track all liquor bottles;
- track what is selling and what is not selling;
- keep track of whether they are getting the right amount of pours per bottle;
- determine what items to keep in stock, what to take out of the rotation, and determine whether or not they should consider bringing in some promotional items; and,
- ensure things are not being stolen (free drinks, or a bartender potentially drinking behind the bar).
Each of these things can be tracked and analyzed to the fullest extent, when the use of the best Restaurant liquor inventory spreasheet is put in to use with your restaurant.

The use of a spreadsheet also allows you to learn about profits, and what is the best seller in your establishment. You can keep track of what beer is bringing in the most sales, which vodka or rum drinks you are selling most often, what specialty drinks are being sold, and so forth, in order to determine what should stay, what should get cut out of the bar set up, and what types of products you need to keep more inventory and stock of, due to the high sales (and vice versa). So, considering the use of a Restaurant liquor inventory spreasheet for this reason is another factor bar owners and managers should consider, when they are deciding how to keep track of profits and losses, and how to determine where they are earning the most, and where they are possibly losing on profits if they choose to keep certain items in stock which are not selling in the bar area or in the restaurant setting.

All of these numbers, figures, and sales can easily be figured out by managers and owners when the use of a great Restaurant liquor inventory spreasheet is implemented in to the restaurant's infrastructure. A properly designed spreadsheet will keep track of all liquor and beer, and drink menus, all specialty or promotional items, and all bar related expenses, profits, losses, and costs, in order to ensure the restaurant managers and owners know what has to be done to turn the highest profits. So, rather than guess, making sure to implement a well designed Restaurant liquor inventory spreasheet into use with your bar manager will ensure the results, figures, and information you want to know as a restaurant owner.

Catering Template and Forms

Running any business must rely on a set pattern or rules to abide by and follow; it helps to keep the work on the right track.  A catering business which deals only with consumable items like food and drink naturally needs to have a solid model to base their operations.  Catering templates provide exactly that – a defined outline for every aspect of the business to function smoothly and expertly without losses.

People who first ventured into the catering business learned through trials and mistakes and eventually came up with their own basic catering templates.  The guidelines evolved with the changing times and became more functional and suitable for modern day catering services.  The demands and choices of customers have changed rapidly and with it the catering services style of functioning.

Every event or occasion that needs catering, have some basic necessities which must be looked into before making further progress.  Since every catering order is for different occasions, it works best to have a ready made format to work out the requirements of the customer; and a catering template for such an event makes the work easier.  The catering template has it all there in black and white, so you do not miss out on any crucial point.  All you need to do is tick off the correct box as you discuss with your client.

Dave Lipson, who has been a successful restaurateur for the past twenty years or so, has used his vast experience to help out other restaurateurs to achieve equal success.  He has a website called FreeRestaurantForms.com where he gives out catering templates for all parts of the catering business absolutely free.  The site offers catering templates on kitchen inventory, liquor inventory, restaurant business cards, special occasion tickets like New Years Eve or Christmas, and many more such vitally necessary detail formats.  Every occasion has its own catering template as well with complete details of wine, food, people, seating arrangements, buffet style, tables, chairs, costing etc.  Catering templates help you to take care of the basics and give you more time to focus on the extra demands of the customer.

Making A Liquor Inventory Spreadsheet

When you’re in the restaurant business, keeping track of the amount of liquor you purchase with the help of a liquor inventory spreadsheet is very, very important. After all, liquor doesn’t come cheap and you need to ensure that you aren’t being cheated! Moreover, if you’re serious about making a healthy income (read profit!) from your business, this tool is essential.

In fact, don’t limit your inventory to the end of each month. Conduct one at the end of every week. Here is a free liquor inventory form you can use. Now we come to the all-important question. What should you include in your inventory? In other words, how should you go about the entire process of looking for a free liquor inventory spreadsheet?

Components

In a good liquor inventory spreadsheet, you need to include the type of liquor - Whether they fall in the category of spirits or fortified wines or table wines or draught beer or draught lager or bottled beer or even cider. Yep, that’s a whole lot of types of liquor isn’t it? That isn’t all; you need to include all the specific liquor you buy, of each type in your list!

Make sure you don’t mix up the categories! For example, Spirits should include liquor such as Gordon’s Gin, Absolut, Baileys etc. Fortified wines should include Martini Dry, Bristol Cream, Club Classic. Table wines should include Pinot Giorgio, Jacobs Creek and Piesporter.

Draught beer should include Boddingtons and Murphy’s, Draught Lager should contain Stella Artois and Hoegaarden. Bottled Beer can include Smirnoff Ice or Black Ice, Old Speckled Hen and Bacardi Breezer. Cider can have Strongbow and Woodpecker.

Tired after reading all that? Let me tell you, that’s just the beginning! Your inventory is primarily concerned with profit! So you need to put in the prices per bottle as well as prices per shot, or wherever it is applicable, prices per keg and prices per pint. Compare that with the retail prices of the same quantity of liquor, so as to best calculate your profit.

Then you need to put in a record of the number of liquor units purchased during the course of the week. Then you’re all set to get exact figures! Sounds like a daunting task, doesn’t it? Well, it is, but we, at Free Restaurants Forms are here to help you. You can get detailed forms for your liquor inventory spreadsheet all for the grand total of nothing, at our site!

FREE Restaurant Smallwares Inventory Spreadsheet An Easy Way To Keep Track Of Necessary Smallwares

Making sure you have all the proper amount of smallwares in your inventory is important to keep things running smooth. Running out of plates or silverware during the mad rush is never a good thing. There are times when plates get broken, silverware gets mangled by the garbage disposal, and shot glasses just seem to end up missing. Having a spreadsheet to keep a running count of what is in service will make ordering easier, when the time comes. A free restaurant smallwares inventory spreadsheet is one way to keep track of all smallware items and how much it will cost to order new ones.

There is a great spreadsheet, such as this, available on freerestaurantforms.com. A column on the left side of the spreadsheet is filled with many common items found within a restaurant.

This is able to be added to or subtracted from, in order to make it match with your own existing inventory.

Three columns to the right of this list of items include; inventory, cost, and total. When the inventory and cost sections are filled out with the proper number of items needed, as well as the cost of each item, the total a the far right of the sheet fills itself in.

Plenty of blank spaces are available on this free restaurant smallwares inventory spreadsheet. There's no limit to the amount of inventory that can be listed on this sheet. In order to keep totals completely accurate, the totals listed down the right side of the inventory spreadsheet are added up at the bottom of the page. This provides a complete total that will change with each addition or subtraction made to the inventory sheet. Being able to see how much money will be needed when placing an order for new products will enable you to plan a budget around this amount. Ordering new smallwares for your restaurant couldn't be easier.