So I just opened a pizzeria two weeks ago and am having to adjust my business plan significantly due to larger sales numbers than expected. I know that new businesses generally see a honeymoon period, where everyone is trying you and there is a bit of a buzz. I know my numbers could drop off but what I have to sort out is, how much?
When I put my business model together I was shooting for 24-26k in sales and 18k in total payout monthly.
We did about 25k in sales the first 2 weeks. My pre-opening payroll was around 2200 weekly including taxes and right now I am staffed at around 3800 weekly. I don’t feel like I can really trim much off payroll because we have so much prep, dishes etc.
If we are doing 13k a week with initial buzz, how much should I expect sales to drop off? I understand there are a lot of variables here…
Mine never drop off, just keep growing. Train your guys well and keep up the quality of food/service and keep pushing for more. For now, worry about handling all the extra business you luckily have and they’ll keep coming. Both feet on the gas pedal and congrats!
Eventually your staff will be more efficient with their time and they will be able to get more done with less hours. You could try scheduling a small percentage of hours lower each week in order to slowly drop your labor cost. However, it is better to be over staffed for a period of time in order to give the best service / product possible.
Our sales did drop after a honeymoon period. If we were to open a 2nd location though, I don’t think the case would be the same. We have worked out a lot of kinks that we ran into once we opened that could / did drive customers away.
Durbancic, I will have to chip away at the labor hours after the first month. We definitely had a few kinks to work out after the first week that could have driven a few away. We have been adjusting on the fly and last week was a much more solid week.