10 Common Mistakes Restaurant Owners Make & How to Avoid Them

Starting a restaurant is no easy feat. The restaurant industry can be difficult to navigate, and you might fall victim to common mistakes restaurant owners make.

We’re here to help you avoid those by looking at why they happen and how you can find better alternatives. Let’s start!

1. Not giving staff hiring and training the attention it deserves

One of the main mistakes to avoid when opening a restaurant is not spending enough time hiring the right team. Your staff is the backbone of your business. Hire the wrong staff and you will end up with dissatisfied customers and an unproductive restaurant.

Solution: Create a detailed hiring, onboarding, and training plan

Start by putting together a detailed hiring and onboarding plan, from the interview questions you want to ask to the benefits you plan on offering, as well as a training manual to help keep everyone on track.

Your goal should be to hire staff that align with your restaurant culture and think of creative ways to motivate and retain them. Happy employees = productive restaurant.

2. Not putting themselves in the customers’ shoes

Equally important as your staff, the customer is indeed king. If you don’t cater to the needs and desires of your target audience, you won’t succeed as a restaurant in a competitive and oversaturated market.

Solution: Think like your target audience

Don’t think about what you want as a restaurant owner. Think about what the customer wants. Once you’ve defined your target market, put yourself in their mindset to attract and retain them.

While the specifics will vary depending on your audience, there are some key things all restaurant customers want:

• Great food at an affordable price
• Nice and knowledgeable staff that pays attention to their needs and remembers them if they’re regulars
• The option to book a table online and order their food in advance

• Multiple payment methods, including online payment

• Access to information about the menu items, such as allergens and nutritional values

• Regular promotions, special offers, and discounts

3. Spending too much on useless tools

One of the most common mistakes restaurant owners make is believing you have to spend money to make money.

Especially if you have a limited starting budget, you can’t afford to use an expensive POS, or online ordering system, or give away upwards of 30% of your profits to food delivery apps.

Solution: Invest in free and affordable restaurant technology

Seek out affordable restaurant technology that enables you to innovate without breaking the bank.

If you want to start accepting orders online, look for a free online ordering system that doesn’t charge you commissions or hidden fees.

You’re in luck! The online ordering system from GloriaFood is entirely free and easy to set up in minutes. Here’s how:

Plus, it comes with a slew of other affordable features that allow you to accept table reservations, food pre-orders, online payments, set up attractive promotions, and more.

You don’t need multiple expensive tools to grow your restaurant online. You just need one: the GloriaFood online ordering system.

4. Ignoring reviews and customer feedback

As much as you fear negative reviews, one of the biggest restaurant mistakes you could make is to ignore them.

You need constructive feedback to grow and improve your business, and even if some customers will complain no matter what, you can gain valuable insight from negative reviews.

Solution: Welcome and respond to all reviews on multiple online platforms

First, fill in your Google Business Profile and create profiles for your restaurant on popular review websites in your area. This will let customers know you care about what they have to say.

Next, make it a point to reply to all reviews regularly. The faster you solve incoming problems and complaints, the better it will look for potential customers.

Not to mention that replying to a negative review with a thoughtful solution can turn that review into a 5-star.

5. Fearing change and innovation

As a small, family business restaurant owner, you may be wary of new technology and pricey tools that promise but fail to make your life easier. However, not all technology fits that description.

Solution: Listen to your customers and innovate on a micro level

Not all change needs to be large-scale to make a real difference. The key to restaurant innovation is to listen to what your customers want.

Are you getting complaints about long wait times? Rethink staff schedules and consider switching to a QR code menu that allows customers to place the order online the moment they sit down, without having to wait for a server.

Are customers frustrated that they can’t find your website or understand how to order from you online? Upgrade your website to a sales and SEO-optimized one that helps you rank higher in Google and is designed to convert visitors into customers.

6. Not promoting the restaurant online

Another one of the classic mistakes restaurant owners make is relying solely on offline promotion. While that still works, it’s no longer enough in a world where most people spend their time online. After all, you have to be where your customers are.

Solution: Take advantage of free and budget-friendly online marketing for restaurants

If your main concern is the cost of advertising your restaurant online, fear not. Most online marketing is thankfully free or costs very little.

It’s free to create social media profiles for your restaurant on the most popular platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), as well as review websites (TripAdvisor, Yelp).

If you’re on social media, you can also take advantage of user-generated content as free publicity for your restaurant.

Email marketing is another strategy worth exploring, as it can help you increase loyalty and motivate customers to come back to your restaurant.

Take a look at the video below to learn how to leverage the power of email marketing to boost sales and promote your food offers:

7. Having a long menu that sacrifices food quality

One of the most common menu mistakes is having an interminable menu. Remember when we told you to consider what your customers want? Well, a long menu is not it.

Not only does this lead to indecision but it also signals you’re not focusing on quality as much as quantity.

Solution: Create a small menu with many customization options

Small menus are all the rage now. They are cost-effective, help you reduce waste, take the pressure off your staff, and allow room for customization.

A small menu doesn’t mean you can’t keep things exciting and interesting for your customers. Instead of making them choose from a long list of dishes, enable them to customize their dish with toppings, extras, sides, and add-ons.

Here’s how easily you can do that using the online menu builder from GloriaFood:

And you don’t have to stop there. A small menu also gives you the opportunity to experiment with limited menu items, daily specials, and surprise dishes.

8. Not hiring the right manager

We’ve already mentioned one of the most common mistakes restaurant owners make is related to hiring. A good manager sets the tone for the rest of the team, so hiring the right one is crucial for your restaurant’s success.

Solution: Hire a manager that will motivate and inspire your staff

Good restaurant management makes all the difference. Look for these qualities when hiring a restaurant manager:

• Hands-on experience managing a restaurant team
• Excellent communication skills
• A passion for innovation
• The ability to delegate tasks successfully
• The capacity to own up to their mistakes and use them as learning opportunities
• Multitasking in a dynamic environment
• The desire to constantly learn and improve themselves

9. Not taking advantage of local produce and seasonal ingredients

Restaurant mistakes like not capitalizing on restaurant seasonality can impede your long-term growth by raising costs and decreasing profits. Not to mention seasonal ingredients are also more sustainable, so you’re doing the right thing for yourself and the environment.

Solution: Buy local and create a seasonal menu

Look for local suppliers that can provide you with fresh produce all year round. Update your menu every season to take advantage of delicious, in-season ingredients and offer customers variety throughout the year.

10. Forgetting to update the menu every time they make a change

If there’s one thing customers hate is ordering something off the menu and being told it’s no longer available or the price has changed. This can lead to disgruntled customers and bad reviews. The same if the menu differs from platform to platform.

Solution: Use an online menu that you can update in seconds

The easiest way to ensure your menu is up-to-date and consistent on all platforms is to use an online menu builder that allows you to make changes on the spot and publish them instantly across the internet.

You can use this menu to accept tableside orders via QR code, publish it on your website and social media to accept takeaway orders, and add it to your Google Business Profile and other review platforms so users can check out your menu at a glance.

That way, you won’t have to print expensive PDF menus and every change you make will be propagated everywhere your online menu is displayed.

Take a look at the basics of creating your online menu for free with GloriaFood:

Avoid mistakes restaurant owners make to run a successful establishment

A restaurant that makes mistakes isn’t automatically doomed to fail. All new business owners make mistakes, that’s inevitable.

What’s important is to learn how to avoid common mistakes restaurant owners make. If you do make mistakes, learn from them and use them as an opportunity to grow and do better in the future.