Why Your Restaurant Profits Are Inconsistent

restaurant profits staff working cafe deli
Restaurant profits staff working cafe deli
  • Day & Nite
  • Imperial Dade
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • RATIONAL USA
  • Food Export Northeast USA
  • Red Gold BBQ
  • Specialty Food Association Winter Fancy Food Show 2025
  • Easy Ice

Are you tired of seeing your potential restaurant profits slip through the cracks? Whether it’s due to inefficiencies or high costs, it’s time to take control and build consistency in profits.

Understanding why your restaurant’s financial performance fluctuates can be the key to unlocking steady, reliable growth.

A critical aspect often overlooked in building consistent profits is accountability. When accountability is missing in a restaurant’s culture, everything from financial targets to basic operational procedures can start to slip through the cracks.

Without someone responsible for each part of the process, issues go unnoticed until they become major problems.

  • Red Gold BBQ
  • Specialty Food Association Winter Fancy Food Show 2025
  • Imperial Dade
  • RATIONAL USA
  • Day & Nite
  • Easy Ice
  • Food Export Northeast USA
  • BelGioioso Burrata

Consider a scenario where a restaurant had a great month followed by a sudden drop in profits. Upon review, it was found that inventory management lapsed, causing excessive waste.

Schedules were also created based on intuition rather than budget, and customers started noticing the restaurant’s decline in cleanliness due to neglected checklists.

Here’s where accountability plays its part. If each shift had a designated person responsible for inventory checks, discrepancies would have been caught much earlier.

If schedules adhered to the budget, labor cost would have remained in line. And if each shift ensured checklists were followed and completed, customers would have continued to enjoy a clean and welcoming environment, increasing the likelihood of their return.

So, how do we fix this?

Regular restaurant financial reviews

Regular restaurant financial reviews are crucial. Start with having a restaurant budget. This means not just looking at your profit and loss statement at the end of the month but analyzing your numbers weekly using a weekly prime cost budget variance report.

Ordering and scheduling should be done on budget, and these reviews should be conducted weekly, if not daily. Structured reviews led by specific team members ensure everyone knows their responsibilities.

Employee training

Proper employee training ensures your team understands their roles and feels empowered to act when things go awry. Continuous training programs help maintain high standards and operational consistency.

Clear sales performance metrics

Set clear performance metrics for your restaurant. Everyone, from your head kitchen pro to your servers, should know what success looks like in their role and how they directly impact the restaurant’s profitability.

Take these insights and put them into action. Implement regular financial reviews, enhance your training programs and establish clear metrics for accountability.

This isn’t just about avoiding losses; it’s about creating a pathway to consistent restaurant profitability and success.

  • Imperial Dade
  • Day & Nite
  • Easy Ice
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • RATIONAL USA
  • Red Gold BBQ
  • Food Export Northeast USA
  • Specialty Food Association Winter Fancy Food Show 2025
David Scott Peters
David Scott Peters is an author, speaker, restaurant expert and coach who coaches restaurant operators how to stop being prisoners of their businesses and to finally achieve financial freedom. His first book, Restaurant Prosperity Formula: What Successful Restaurateurs Do, teaches the systems and traits restaurant owners must develop to run a profitable restaurant. Thousands of restaurants have worked with Peters to transform their businesses. Get his free 30-minute training video at David Scott Peters' website.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments