Opening a second restaurant location is not as easy as many people may think. Just because “you’ve been there – done that” once doesn’t mean it’s going to be any easier the second time around. In fact, many restaurateurs find it more difficult than the first one.

A common first challenge is that many restaurants, even the most successful restaurants, are simply not ready or properly positioned for this type of expansion. There are numerous circumstances that need to be executed on first, many of which are often overlooked.

When you think about it, there really is no one-size-fits all approach to growing a restaurant and improving return on investment; as each concept, service style, and location is slightly different.

However, there are a series of restaurant foundations and ‘go-to’ cost effective strategies that can help pave the path to success for nearly every hospitality business, within its first 12 months.

Let’s have a look at some of the top options on growing your restaurant and improving ROI. 

It’s no secret, the choice of location for a new restaurant or hospitality business is critical to its long-term success.  Every location is unique, every footprint is unique, and every hyper-local area surrounding a location - is you’ve guessed it, unique. This is why it is essential that you’re informed with how your potential choice of location; will affect overall costs, guest impression, and long-term profit.

When choosing your location, it is ideal to follow these required steps, at minimum:

Early recognition of risk is crucial for the success of any business, and arguably more so for restaurants. To ensure proper positioning and ongoing success, it’s vital for a restaurateur to understand the variety of operational, financial, legal, systematic, and people-related risks to not only opening a restaurant, but operating one too.

Identifying risks from the very early stages will position a restaurant  to be disciplined and prepared for when things may ‘go wrong’ down the road. Identifying risks will also help streamline a restaurants’ processes while improving communication and implementing a variety of systematic control methods, something every restaurant needs for long-term success.

The opposite of risk, is opportunity, and that’s why  focusing on with these seven tips will help you avoid pitfalls before opening your restaurant.

It takes happy, engaged employees to create memorable guest experiences. To do this requires leadership, culture, and accountability. This in turn will develop a cycle of improved revenue, loyal customers, and a decrease in employee turnover.

One of the many methods used to create culture and accountability, is that of performance evaluations. This type of evaluation is extremely helpful to track an employee’s step-by-step development and is highly beneficial; for the employee,  restaurant owner, operator, or manager.

Staff evaluations highlight areas the employee may be excelling at and areas that are in need of improvement. It also provides an opportunity to develop performance based rewards, which is an excellent way to reduce employee turnover costs and keep employees engaged in their day-to-day tasks.