How to Choose the Ideal Restaurant Location

Posted by admin in Restaurant Industry on January 18, 2012

Some kinds of business work better than others, and there is no doubt about that. The hotel or restaurant industry is just another one of them. There is however one factor that helps contribute towards the success of a business like such, and that is location. Location is key, and it matters like nothing else does! If you were to give it a casual look, starting a restaurant may seem like a piece of cake, but taking a close look at what goes on behind the scenes will give you a different idea altogether. The amount of planning and deciding it takes to get a good and successful restaurant up and running is no joke. As mentioned before though, take a look at how one simple factor involved in setting up the place can turn into something exhaustive. Let’s look at how to choose a location for a restaurant.

How to Find the Best Location for Your Restaurant

When starting up a new restaurant there are some things that have to be taken into regard no matter what. Here is a lowdown on some of those important factors.

Pick a Place that Attracts Population
Any business is termed as a successful one only when there is a good flow of people. This rule holds even more valid when it comes to an eatery. It is therefore important to find a location that has a large number of people pass by from there at any given time. What would help just as much is attracting customers at peak hours such as lunch and dinner. While dinner would mean people flocking to the restaurant as part of a plan, lunch should be the result of a “spur-of-the-moment” plan. Some of the best spots would be those around schools, colleges / universities, offices, etc.

Choose a Spot that People Know Of
When looking at how to select a restaurant location, what matters a lot is easy accessibility to the place. A place that is not easy to get to, is one that not many people would want to spend their time coming to in the first place. While accessibility makes all the difference, ensure that it is one that is easy to spot just as well. A place that can be spotted with ease is also more likely to pull in more of a crowd than it otherwise would.
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Good Customer Service Tips

Posted by admin in Customer Service on January 18, 2012

Everyone into business wants his business to grow fast and further; and there are many factors responsible for the success or failure of any business. One of them is a customer service. Good customer service is very essential for any business in the world. As long as the customer is satisfied with your service, you are in business otherwise there is a great risk of being thrown out of that flow and reduce to rubble. This way you maintain communication and interaction with people without which the business cannot grow.

Any business owner would wish his customers to come again and again to buy his service or product. So, you should know the feedback of the customer and how customer is reacting to your service. Customer may not be satisfied and have complains about your products. Here all the queries should be answered in the polite way, that customer would feel comforted and out of the confusion. If given a due respect, customers may forgive your mistakes and turn at you again because you take care of them.
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Tracking Elusive Profits in the Construction Industry

Posted by admin in Construction Industry on January 18, 2012

In simple terms, profit is defined as: Profit= Income-Expenses.

But contractors and sub-contractors know it’s not that simple. In fact, if you talk to most contractors, most have only a “gut feel” if a project has actually made a profit or not. It´s true! Given that anecdotal bidding usually uses a 10-15% profit margin (sometimes as low as 5%) means that even a slight over run in labor or materials can have a big impact on the profitability of a job.

For those of you readers not familiar with the way income and expenses flow for a mid-size construction job, consider the following general example.

Example: Job XYZ

Month 1: Materials, labor and G&A expenses are paid by the contractor but only part of the contract amount (draws) has been collected to offset the expenses. At the end of month 1, the project shows a loss.

Month 2: Labor, materials, G&A (overhead) are expensed by the contractor for Month 2, but no payments (draws) are still behind the job costs for Month 2. At the end of Month 2 the project still shows a loss.

Month 3: The project is finished but the material, labor, and G&A for the balance of the project have been paid in full. But, payments are still behind the expenses. At the end of Month 3, the project still shows a loss.

Month 4: The final payments and hold back (usually contains the profit for the entire job) for the project are paid and now the project can be evaluated to see if it made a profit or not.

The bottom-line is that without proper tracking and matching of income and expenses, most construction related companies won’t know if they made a profit until the project is over. This time lag between expenses and income is the cause for the demise of many construction companies. Any overages of labor, materials or other expenses are not picked up until after the project has been completed.

Because of the special nature of construction accounting, most accountants have little understanding of how construction accounting works. Accountants are trained to provide accurate information for tax purposes-not for operational needs.

You see, if the bid for a job has been done correctly, at the end of the project the contractor should see a profit close to what was bid. Of course, there are change orders and other factors that will change the original bid, but all those changes have to be accounted for. Whatever happens during the job, a contractor must be compensated for the expenses incurred. At the end of any project, expenses must be offset by revenue plus the profit.
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