148 – Restaurant Engineering Examples for Your Restaurant

This is the third episode in our Restaurant Value Engineering podcast series.

In the last episode, we broke down the marketing and business strategy of KFC Japan through the lens of Restaurant Value Engineering and how you can implement a similar concept for your restaurant.

This episode talks about 5 great ways Restaurant Value Engineering can be used to increase profitability. Think of your restaurant as a manufacturing business delivering products to meet customer demand, and how you can use your assets, goods, and services to make an impact and sell.

What we will go over include putting your prices up the right way to create value, telling a story about your food that will grab customers’ interest, and making the most out of technology to establish a brand aligned with your business strategy.

Restaurant Engineering Examples for Your Restaurant

Some restaurant owners put in 70 hours of work each week, only to see their business lose money. Other restaurants remain profitable while requiring only a few hours of work from the owners each day.

What’s the difference?

It all boils down to increasing the perceived value of the food you serve, so you can offer it at higher prices. Restaurant value engineering can help make this happen.

In this episode, we will discuss the first five of our big ten restaurant value engineering ideas that will improve the profitability of your business.

Build a following

Duncan Robertson, an ‘evangelist for Thai food’, sets his restaurant apart from the competition by building a following on Youtube. He creates videos of his own recipes, building his brand in the process. His recipe for pad thai, for one, has been watched half a million times.

Using video marketing, Duncan Robertson has added value to his own name. His followers are now willing to pay a premium to eat food that he himself has cooked. This is the value of building a brand. And you can do this using many different distribution channels, including Facebook and LinkedIn.

Publish a recipe book

Adam Sobel, the chef and founder of The Cinnamon Snail, created a buzz around his brand by publishing a book on how to create great vegan food. The book allows him to position himself as an authority in the industry. People who have read his book would definitely want to eat at his restaurant and pay more for the food he’s serving. 

Offer cooking classes

Cooking classes allow you to make the most out of your assets. For one, you can hold the classes in your kitchen. This means you get to use your kitchen for another income stream. You also get to build a community around your brand using the cooking classes. Take the opportunity to build a solid reputation for your business.

Sell your secret sauce

How about providing your customers with the ability to cook the food themselves? This is ideal if you have a sauce that defines the distinctive flavors of your food offerings. You can ship the ingredients to the customers, so they can enjoy the unique experience at home. This is not just another revenue stream for your business, you also get to build up or promote the experience that people associate with your restaurant. It helps build your brand.

Provide prepaid bookings

Traditionally seen in fine dining, prepaid bookings allow restaurants to improve cash flow. To convince people to commit hundreds of dollars beforehand, you must be able to offer an experience that increases the perceived value of your services. This usually works for fine dining restaurants where people have to wait in line to land a table. 

Mid-market restaurants that don’t sell out every night can make pre-bookings work by offering gift certificates. This way, people can give the experience of eating in your restaurant as a gift to someone else.

We’ve just finished discussing the first five of our ten restaurant value engineering ideas. Make sure you catch our next episode. And of course, take the time to listen to this podcast episode so you can learn more about the awesome ideas we’ve discussed. It’s a quick and enjoyable 25-minute chat!

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Check out the Secret Sauce podcast shownotes for more information on this episode.

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