Useful tips to save money in your hospitality business

As you know, hospitality includes a set of services that include much more than accommodation; in fact, it involves everything related to leisure within its facilities, so it can include from restaurants to bars or event rooms, among others.

However, nowadays, the effects of the pandemic have generated certain negative effects in this field, which in most cases can generate more expenses in the maintenance and operation of your hospitality business, than in the perception of income. That is why in this article we are going to give you some tips to help you to stay afloat and reduce your expenses; write them down and apply them for the benefit of your hospitality business. Let's see!

Subject the menu to market research

Food is one of the main strengths of some hospitality businesses, so, if this is your case, you should evaluate which dishes you can continue to offer.

Furthermore, depending on the area where you are located, you can either open your premises respecting security measures, or you will have to offer home delivery service. Whichever option you take, you have to understand that the possibility of continuing to offer the entire menu is not feasible, much less profitable, because the raw material is perishable and risking losing it is the worst decision of all.

That is why the best thing to do is to carry out a market study, but how to do it? Simple, check the order history of your premises in recent times, evaluate which are the most requested dishes by the most regular customers, check on the networks which are the most acclaimed meals in your sector and start to promote yourself based on this.

Choose the right suppliers

If necessary, do not hesitate to change supplier, if the one you already have does not enjoy payment benefits or concessions. Ideally, you should be able to count on people who can supply you with quality raw materials at a low cost, and who can guarantee you a delivery service in optimal conditions, as it is better to do that than to waste time queuing in long lines to be delivered.

Reduce advertising costs

Like any accommodation and recreation business, you have many channels of communication with your customers and potential prospects, something that can undoubtedly cause you great expenses; that is why it is best to remove certain advertisements, such as radio ads or those you have with business partners, and adapt to new technologies.

Use social media, and if you don't have the expertise or enough time, you can hire a community manager to help you with this.

In this regard, I give you the following recommendations:

Have a Whatsapp Business account, which will give you a serious image in front of your clients. Therefore, make sure that this number is available 24 hours a day and that the answers provided are as quick as possible, as there is nothing more pleasing than a quick and friendly response.
Create profiles on the most popular social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.
Design stories, channels and posts that are engaging. Make sure to always include the price so that potential customers are more attentive to advertisements.

Publishing content in the online world gives you benefits such as no longer having to pay for advertising, and you may pay for content uploads and account updates, but it is still cheaper. Also, you reach a larger target audience and more quickly, in fact, statistics show that a post can reach 100 views in minutes.

Reduce staff

It may seem cruel (it all depends on which side of the fence you're on), but as a business owner you don't have the luxury in times of austerity of having idle people, so it's more feasible to make a liquidation and proceed to firing those you no longer need.

Keep in mind that there is no point in having a large human capital if there is not a large number of customers to serve; the best thing to do is to have the essential ones who can help you in several areas. In the future you will see the numbers decrease.

Offer benefits to the staff you leave, keep them happy and motivated, so they will be happy to carry out their activities. Likewise, you should keep your employees informed about everything related to saving materials, save them and remind them of things like avoiding wasting product in cooking or wasting water, among other things.

Control the cost of basic services

This is one of the rents that are necessary to pay and that surely provides you with a large amount of expenses; that is why I recommend the following:

Make a review of the use that is being given to electrical appliances.
Check that all the elements are in perfect condition, that is to say, check that there is no fault that could cause an increase in costs, such as a faulty freezer that causes us to lose product.

If you find any faults, make sure you contact the experts in the field so that they can help you to fix it properly.

On the other hand, if you want to make any repairs, you should also consider opting for those machinery or goods that are of continuous use and necessary for your business; for example, if you are not receiving people in your premises or restaurant, it is not necessary to have so many tables, so you can sell some and invest in other services that are more in demand.

Choose an economical delivery service

In order to be able to better meet your customers' requests, it is advisable to choose a good delivery service. This is so that you can get good rates in exchange for an efficient service.

Remember also that this service can be less expensive if you do it by motorbike, as you will save on fuel and you will be able to make deliveries much faster, which translates into good quality services, satisfied customers and closer ties of loyalty that make them prefer you over the competition.

Organise and optimise your stock

It's not good to allow products to sit in the back of your stock and expire, or worse, some end up fermenting. So, there is nothing better than having a control and organisation system that allows you and your employees to keep a constant overview of the goods that are available.

In case you have products that are about to expire, or you have a lot of the same products, you can place them in offers or even include them in groups so that people can buy them. Often the price at which you offer them may be the same as the price at which you bought them, but it is better to recover capital than to lose materials and products completely, without them generating any profit.

Look only for the machines you really need and buy them online.

Certain considerations must be taken into account when supplying machinery to your hostel business, since many times, because you want to offer everything, you make the mistake of buying machines that are not according to your services and do not meet the demands of your customers, and then you end up investing more money than you should.

For example, if you are going to open a coffee shop, the machines you really need are coffee machines and dishwashers, but nothing has to do with a yoghurt maker or a gelatin maker, because these are not related to the niche of your business, and you should not lose focus.

Similarly, consider that the best way to acquire these machines is to check the prices and offers on the internet, which can offer you variety and quality, and you can choose calmly from the entire catalogue of products that are available in the online shop.

Choose a small, affordable and friendly shop

Although large premises can make customers feel more comfortable, we know that at the moment there are not so many people, so moving or starting in a small shop would not be bad for you, as these are usually cheaper. Even so, check that the fact of being low cost is not because it is an unpleasant space, think that it must be correct and where customers want to stay.

So now you know, put these tips into action, increase your income and reduce your expenses. Good luck!

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