Essentials of Restaurant Management Tips

Finding the Perfect Restaurant Job

Okay, so you've graduated from culinary school and it's time to start looking for a job. Restaurant jobs can be found at any work placement agency, or through online job searches. Before you start responding to restaurant job ads, make sure you're prepared.

1) Have a portfolio ready. Your portfolio should include things like photographs of some of your culinary creations, sample menus you've created, and a resume listing all of your previous work experience (including voluntary internships) and a list of professional chefs or instructors who've mentored you.

2) Be prepared for an eventual interview. Wear nice clothes. Be well groomed.

3) Ask questions! Keep a list of pertinent questions to ask your potential employer after the interview is over. The jury is still out on whether it's appropriate to ask what the salary will be at the interview stage. Some say to wait until the job has been offered. What you could do is ask for a sample salary range. That way, you're not coming right out and saying, “What are you going to pay me?”

4) Remember, there's no rule on how many interviews you can go to. If restaurant jobs are what you're after, take as many interviews as you can.

5) Waiting to hear from a specific employer? If other people are phoning and giving you offers in the meantime, it's okay to take a day or two to make your decision.

Restaurant jobs are out there, so don't feel pressured to take the first one that comes along. Play your cards, ask the questions, and position yourself into a restaurant that offers career advancement.

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Finding Restaurant Jobs through Alternative Means

How about an alternative way of finding restaurant jobs? Instead of going straight to the want ads, or the employment classifieds, why not go to the source? Pick up as many restaurant guides as you can and start flipping through the pages. Look for new restaurants that may be looking for qualified chefs. Position yourself for a career in a high end restaurant by browsing through the Zagat Survey. This survey is intended to provide reliable reviews and ratings off all the top restaurants in the world! You won't find any fast food burger joints here.

Once you've narrowed down a few restaurant choices, try to get out and visit the establishment. Have a meal or two. Pay attention to the atmosphere. Who are the restaurant's patrons? Are they mostly families, single professionals, young or mature? What about the pace? Take a look around and pay attention to the staff. Are they ultra-serious or does it appear they enjoy what they do? All of these things are indicators you should use as a gauge. You'll know if it's a place you'd like to work or not simply by immersing yourself in the atmosphere. If it's not your atmosphere, move on. On the other hand, if you're immediately intrigued, introduce yourself, put forward your resume and portfolio, and let it be known that you're in the market for a restaurant job.

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The Importance of Restaurant Design

Give someone two plates of the same meal; one just thrown together on a plain plate, and the other carefully arranged in a visually pleasing design. No matter how delicious the food is, chances are that the person with the unsavoury looking meal would give the food a lower rating. Food presentation is important for stirring up the senses and sparking the imagination. Something that looks like a work of art, will probably taste like a work of art to the patron eating it.

The same holds true for restaurant design. You might be the world's top chef, but if your restaurant looks like it came from the set of Happy Days, your customers won't be happy. Everything, from restaurant design to the restaurant menu should be carefully planned and arranged. Have a look at a restaurant guide to see exactly what restaurants are rated on. Reviews might mention the ambiance, using words like “cozy”, “elegant”, “classy”, etc. Remember, when people visit your restaurant, they're looking for more than just food on a plate; they're looking for an experience.

From the minute someone walks through the door, there should be an immediate sense of the climate. Restaurant design, before food, is what gives your patrons that first impression. So, if you're building a restaurant or taking over someone else's, get a good plan in place. Hire an interior decorator if you have to. Bring as much of that culture into your restaurant's design. In the world of high-end restaurants, sustenance is much more than just food.

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The Italian Restaurant Experience

Interested in working in an Italian restaurant? There's something incredibly seductive about Italian food. The ambiance and energy in an Italian restaurant beckons people back. Of course, there are those restaurants that call themselves Italian, and those restaurants that really are Italian. Chances are, if you're thinking about a career in an Italian restaurant, you're not thinking about flipping pizza dough in a fast food joint. You probably want to work in a high class establishment where patrons dress up for dinner, where meals are served with fine china and crystal.

If you're a full-time student of The French Culinary Institute's sister college, The Italian Culinary Academy, you'll get about 360 hours of experience working in a top Italian restaurant…in Italy ! Both The French Culinary Institute and The Italian Culinary Academy believe in totally immersing students into the learning experience. As a result, students are quickly introduced to the finest restaurants, the best chefs in the world, and the cultural experience to enrich the whole learning experience.

If you're interested in everything Italian, including the food and culture, consider registering as a student with The Italian Culinary Academy. Graduating from a top cooking school is the best way to find your niche in an Italian restaurant.

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Starting a Restaurant Franchise

Interested in opening your own restaurant franchise? The first thing you're going to need is cold hard cash. If you've already got in mind a specific franchise, don't just visit their website for information, make sure to have a look at the American Franchise Association's website. At least at that particular site you'll get some good unbiased advice and information to get you started.

Which franchise you buy and the franchise location are two things that will determine the success of the business. Before signing on the dotted line, it's important to have an understanding of the local market, interest, demand, economy, and reasonable expectation of success.

Prepare to work long hours as you get your restaurant franchise established. Every restaurant management skill you learned in culinary school is going to be exercised with this new venture. Once the walls are up, the staff is hired, and restaurant supplies are in place, it's time to hit the streets. Visit local businesses with coupons to get people in the door. Don't be the franchise owner who hides out back or worse, at home. Make yourself visible; take a walk through the restaurant to check on patrons. Roll up your sleeves and make yourself visible. Beating the competition can be as simple as good old fashioned customer service.

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The Business Side of a Culinary Career

Not every graduate of culinary art school goes on to restaurant management. Not everyone owns a restaurant empire either. As you work your way through college, you'll soon find your groove. You'll settle into your cooking strengths and those strengths are what should mold your career choices. For example, maybe your thing is catering. You don't have to own a restaurant to do that. All you need is an inspected and approved kitchen and, of course, clients.

Running a catering business isn't a one man show. You'll need to hire and pay staff, order restaurant supplies, keep a tight schedule, manage your revenue and expenses, etc. Wait a minute! Maybe it is a lot like restaurant management. The key is doing what you love. In your own restaurant, you create the menu and recipes. When you're running a catering business, the client pretty much dictates the menu. Of course, you can create a menu roster that clients can choose from.

The point is, as a graduate of culinary school, you have career options that don't always have to result in restaurant management. However, having a few business courses under your belt will help tremendously. No matter what culinary career you get into, those business skills will be invaluable.

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Restaurant Management - Avoiding the Pitfalls

The best way to ease into restaurant management is to start small, especially if this is your first time owning and operating your own business. There are many reasons why new businesses fail, but one of the top reasons is because people start too big. They get in over their heads, can't afford what they have, and haven't planned for the unexpected. Restaurant management is probably one of the hardest types of businesses to run. Think about your favourite restaurant. How many hours is it open during the week? Restaurants don't operate like banks. They might not open until late morning, but they stay open until the wee hours. When you're first starting out in the restaurant management game, you're going to be investing every waking hour into that business. You don't have to, but if you want to success it's the only way.

Don't be discouraged! If you've already made it through culinary school, you know what it takes to succeed in restaurant management. Still, it helps to have some insight from someone who's already made it happen. Keep in touch with college alumni to find out how they succeeded in restaurant management. Ask for advice. Find out what mistakes they made, and what they did right. As a culinary arts student, you probably already understand that team work is what makes it happen. Use a little of that team work attitude to ask for help if you need it. There's no crime in asking for advice and it just might save you time and money in the long term

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