The Restaurant Owner’s Manual

A restaurant can be full every night and still lose money.

Full is not the same as profitable. A room turning twice on a Friday, with a menu nobody has costed since the last supplier increase, will exhaust a team and pay nobody properly.

This manual writes the service down. Opening, prep, the pass, the booking book, covers and turns, plate costing, waste, ordering, complaints and the weekly look at the numbers are each set out as a procedure a new starter can follow.

Nothing here tells you what to cook. It assumes the food is yours and that the business around it is what runs out of hours.

Inside, you will learn how to

• Cost a plate properly, including the waste you actually generate
• Build a menu that steers guests toward the dishes that pay
• Run a service where the pass and the floor are not guessing
• Take a booking that protects the turn behind it
• Handle a complaint at the table without losing the table
• Read the four numbers that tell you how the week went