I am so appreciating all the help so far!
I had a little pizza carry-out for a couple years and we could see the need for getting into a larger place and offer sit down. So a year and a half ago we renovated and moved into what was supposed to be a turn key restaurant. I’ve been plagued with nondisclosed issues and repairs since which have drained my savings. Moving into an expanded menu and sit down was another animal I wasn’t familiar with, hired a manager who did have experience and we moved forward. That manager did not work out so I hired my current GM who at first was a consultant and has had previous experience in the industry as well. It’s been a year since she’s been here.
I have not taken any pay yet. I’m struggling to make payroll. I averaged this years sales by the last 8 months and I gross about $6800/wk. Our carry-out and dine-in run about 50/50. We also started delivery about 3 months ago which is going so-so. There is not a liquor license available in this town. I tried.
I ended up closing on Mondays because after running the numbers I have but maybe twice made enough to open the doors. So Tuesday lunch I have 1 in the kitchen/1 on the floor, pm shift 2 in the kitchen/1 on the floor; Wed & Thur 2 in the kitchen day shift and again night shift, 1 on the floor day and night; Friday day 2 in the kitchen, 1 on the floor with my help, pm shift has 3 kitchen including delivery kid (who I have washing dishes and prepping when he’s not out) and 3 on the floor; Saturday am 2 kitchen, 1 floor and pm 3 kitchen + delivery kid and 2 floor; Sunday lunch is big so 3 kitchen, 3 floor, evening 2 kitchen and 1 floor. The GM and I are here about 70 hrs a week. I’m trying to do the paper end of it and I try to leave all the day-to-day to her.
We live in a small community and although we have the highest unemployment in the state, it is harder than hell to get employees. It’s unbelievable. I feel like we train non-stop and we even have dumbed down our menu because we are so tired of the screwed up orders and lack of common sense. Today when I walked in I was informed the server gave a customer sweet tea - but after getting a funny face from the customer she realized she has salted the tea. Then they realized someone in the kitchen dumped a 25 pound bag of salt on top of the sugar. I am not kidding and this type of stupidity happens more than I’m embarrassed to say.
When I hired my GM she admitted she does not do paperwork. I can handle the paperwork side of it so we split duties. She’s more hands on, I’m trying to do the papers and marketing and whatnot, while also being in the kitchen or floor supervising/helping whenever. She does inventory but I do scheduling. I feel like I do more hands on day to day anymore that I’m behind on my paperwork as well, and don’t keep a close eye on the numbers.
We recently put in a salad bar/pizza buffet to try and get more lunch customers. Before they couldn’t get in and out timely and we lost a lot of business. The buffet has increased the traffic and increased the difficult customers. How many of you have customers who will eat buffet, then tell the waitress they changed their mind and want to order off the menu instead? Oh yeah I’m not kidding. This has happened about half a dozen times in the last month. Of course we make them pay for the buffet, then they get rude and bring attention from other customers.
With the news of the price of food increasing so high, some suppliers are saying November, some are saying January, we have thought about doing breakfast to help in getting some more income. But it terrifies me when I can’t control what we have so far.
I’ve got a mess…