5 Mistakes Hindering Your Restaurant’s Efficiency

Do you feel like your restaurant could do better in terms of operational efficiency?

If so, you might be making some of the mistakes discussed in this article.

We’re going to reveal five common mistakes that restaurant owners and operators typically make, often without even realizing it, that drag their operations down.  

Stay with us to get expert insights, real-world examples, and practical tips that can help you turn things around and take your restaurant’s efficiency to the next level.

Not Aligning Staff Levels with Customer Demand

If you don’t align your staff levels with customer demand, you can expect a range of operational headaches.

For starters, you might end up understaffed, which can negatively affect both your workers and your customers.

A patron of one such short-staffed restaurant in California explained to CNBC what this feels like from a customer’s perspective:

“It was the type of experience that makes me not want to eat out as much. I felt bad for the servers, because they were trying, but they could only do so much, not having enough cooks.”

Not only did he have to wait almost two hours for his food to arrive, but it was also very clear to him that the staff were overworked and struggling to keep up.

And what happens when employees are exhausted and guests are unhappy?

You risk losing both.

Of course, being overstaffed isn't a great situation to be in either.

Having too many workers during slow periods leads to unnecessarily high labor costs—with no revenue to justify them.

As President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, Jot Condie, says, rising labor costs are already squeezing restaurant budgets, forcing owners to make tough choices.

Illustration: Tablein / Quote: New York Post

They either have to raise prices, leading to potential customer dissatisfaction, or reduce staff, which could impact morale and, therefore, productivity.

So what can you do about this problem?

It’s actually fairly simple. All you need is a bit of reliable data.

By tracking and analyzing your busiest and quietest times, you can schedule your workforce to meet customer demand more accurately.

And if you use a table booking solution like Tablein, even better—the system will analyze that for you.

Source: Tablein

The software crunches all the numbers and then displays the data in a colorful diagram, rich with information, so you can better understand your traffic and leverage those insights to power your decision-making.

As a result, you’ll have more efficient operations and happy guests.

Poorly Managing Inventory

Having enough ingredients for cooking meals is just as important as having enough workers for each shift.

Understocking, in particular, can seriously slow your team down.

It may force cooks to improvise recipes or make last-minute trips to suppliers, significantly disrupting kitchen flow in the process.

Or, they just might go the easier route and temporarily remove dishes from the menu, which could disappoint your customers.

But, you have to be careful not to go overboard and overstock, either.

If you order too much stuff, you tie up your cash in inventory that’s never going to be used.

That way, you waste food, money, and time of your employees who now have to handle and conduct quality control for this excess inventory.

No matter how you look at it, proper inventory management is an absolute must.

Research from the National Restaurant Association has revealed that food costs are already a huge challenge for the vast majority of restaurant operators.

Illustration: Tablein / Data: National Restaurant Association

And when you’re stuck dealing with these increasing food prices, you can’t focus as much on improving your efficiency.

You have to renegotiate supplier contracts, look for alternative sources for ingredients, or adjust recipes, just to stay profitable.

David Brugnoli, owner and chef at an Italian restaurant in New York City, Angeletto, knows how hard this can get:

“Absolutely, our food costs have gone up. Just one example is semolina flour. We do fresh pasta here in the restaurant, and I used to buy that for $17.85 in 2019. Now, I'm paying $42.95 for a 25-pound bag of the same product, same quality. Plus, we’ve had problems finding the products.”

The lack of effective inventory control only makes this problem worse. It contributes to the mismanagement of products that are already costing you too much.

Fortunately, we’re in an age where inventory management software and advanced AI-powered forecasting tools can help with this task.

KFC, for example, uses one such forecasting solution.

They have software that analyzes their historical data, detects patterns, and predicts trends, guiding their decision-making and ensuring they always have the right amount of stock on hand.

As Matt Forsyth, KFC’s Director of Franchise Operations, explains, this is their key to efficient and profitable operations.

Illustration: Tablein / Quote: QSR Media Australia

That’s right. It’s all about that delicate balance of freshness, availability, and waste.

If you can achieve it, your efficiency will soar and your business thrive.

Having a Poor Kitchen Layout

Believe it or not, the design of your kitchen can significantly impact overall efficiency.

Jun Aizaki, Owner and Principal of CRÈME, an acclaimed creative design agency based in Brooklyn, agrees.

Illustration: Tablein / Quote: Architectural Digest

Essentially, in an ideal kitchen, every element is purposefully arranged for smooth, efficient workflow from the moment an order is placed to when the food is served.

A poorly designed kitchen, on the other hand, makes it difficult for staff to move freely or causes them to take longer routes between stations, leading to bottlenecks and slowing down the process.

A good example of how an effective kitchen design can make all the difference is Wendy’s “Global Next Gen” restaurant concept.

Introduced in 2022, this design focuses on boosting speed and accuracy in their operations, improving service for drive-through, dine-in, and online order pick-up.

Abigail Pringle, Wendy's President and International & Chief Development Officer, highlights that this new setup has dramatically increased capacity, especially for digital orders.

Illustration: Tablein / Quote: Wendy’s

Plus, their “Global Next-Gen High-Capacity Kitchen” design, used in their busiest locations, is estimated to raise kitchen output by an additional 50%.

It features extra sandwich production areas, dedicated zones for digital orders, and more prep space, all aimed at maximizing capacity and minimizing the time staff spend moving between stations.

Okay, but you’re not Wendy’s. You can’t exactly afford to remodel your restaurant, let alone build a new one.

Don’t worry—there are simpler, far more cost-effective solutions.

Take Kitchen Display Systems (KDS), for example.

These digital order viewers (shown below) replace printed or handwritten tickets—which often get misplaced anyway—and adapt to your kitchen.

Source: Fresh KDS

More specifically, they allow you to choose ticket layouts that match your kitchen stations and workflows the best.

So, each station (e.g., grill, fry, prep) can have its own screen or customized view that suits their specific needs, making it easier for team members to focus on their tasks without feeling overwhelmed.

Plus, KDS tracks orders as they progress through the preparation stages, helping kitchen staff manage their workflow more effectively and prioritize tasks.

Some systems even alert you if there are potential delays.

Meredith Sandland, the CEO of Empower Delivery, a SaaS company that specializes in restaurant management, elaborates on the benefits of such systems.

“So, it integrates the consumer journey, product journey and the logistics journey all into one system. As a result, everything is timed to perfection, meaning that there’s no latency in the system. [...] it’s more profitable, it’s faster, the consumer gets a fresher, hotter product. No one’s ever waiting.”

It’s definitely a great way to achieve the efficiency of those industry giants, without breaking the bank.

The bottom line?

Even if a full restaurant redesign isn’t in the cards, there are still ways to maximize your efficiency through the use of your space.

You just need to find the right system that will help you make the most of your existing kitchen layout.

Lacking Standard Operating Procedures

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are detailed, written instructions restaurant staff need to follow to ensure safe and effective operations. 

They cover various aspects of running a restaurant, including:

• Food preparation
• Customer service
• Staff management
• Safety and hygiene
• Inventory control and more

Having clear SOPs promotes consistency in your procedures and recipes, eliminating any confusion, errors, and poor food quality.

This, in turn, leads to better resource management and customer experience.

In fact, did you know that, according to a Crunchtime survey, increasing the quality of operations execution can boost restaurant sales by an average of 22%?

Illustration: Tablein / Data: Crunchtime

It means that well-thought-out SOPs can increase both your efficiency and profitability. It’s a complete win-win situation.

On the flip side, without operating procedures in place, you’re not only risking inconsistent food quality or slow service but also opening the door to serious legal and compliance issues.

This can set you back financially or even force you to shut your restaurant down.

Or, your restaurant could end up like Dave’s Sushi, a sushi restaurant in Bozeman, Montana.

A lack of proper food handling led to a foodborne illness outbreak in 2023 that made 50 people sick and even resulted in two deaths.

They were temporarily closed and a thorough investigation was conducted, during which even more violations were uncovered.

As a result, the restaurant’s reputation took a massive hit, and though it’s now reopened, regaining customer trust will not be an easy task for them, judging from this Reddit thread.

Source: Reddit

Therefore, to avoid becoming a similar cautionary tale, dedicate time and effort to creating a detailed, yet clear and easy-to-follow SOP.

Make sure that your team can quickly find answers to their questions and regularly update the procedures to reflect your evolving needs and customer expectations.

If you’re unsure where to start, try tackling the areas causing you the most trouble first.

Michael LaMarca, the owner of Cleveland-based Master Pizza, did just that:

“One of the first headaches I experienced was people calling in to take the day off right before their shift. I created a standard, saying you have to call off at least four hours before your shift, and I also created an “on-call” shift, so you knew you would be on call should someone call off. This also relieved the stress of scrambling to find a replacement.”

Of course, you can’t expect to anticipate and address every possible scenario.

However, focusing on the elements that are most important to you and constantly updating your SOP can make a world of difference and reduce the risk of operational disruptions to a minimum.

Not Investing in Modern Restaurant Technologies

In the restaurant industry, the concepts of tradition and authenticity certainly have their appeal, but they don’t necessarily need to dictate every aspect of your operations.

While traditional recipes and classic décor do have their place, clinging to old-school tech and processes could be just holding you back from achieving your full potential.

This is especially true today when there are so many different types of technology developed specifically for making restaurants more efficient.

From POS systems that manage entire restaurant operations to CRM solutions that track customer preferences and help improve their dining experience, these tools can make your operations simpler, faster, and overall better.

According to another National Restaurant Association survey, many restaurants invested in technology in 2023 precisely to boost their productivity and efficiency.

Illustration: Tablein / Data: National Restaurant Association

Moreover, 76% of them report that modern tech gives them a serious edge over the competition.

Why is that?

It’s because technology allows them to eliminate many time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks and focus on higher-value activities like menu innovation or improving customer service.

Take online reservation software, for example.

As shared by one area manager of a Chicago bar & grill in a TouchBistro research, these systems do wonders for operational efficiency:

“One thing that makes life easier is doing reservations and the booking procedure online so it frees up staff. We used to have the person behind the counter in the front who was responsible for taking all the calls and adding everything to the seating book. Now we’re able to do a lot of that online and that has really streamlined operations and changed the cost dynamic.”

No-shows, double bookings, or lost reservations—these are all challenges you face when you handle bookings manually. Not to mention the resources this process wastes.

However, with table booking solutions like Tablein, those problems can finally be solved.

Tablein places the reservation process in your guests’ hands, letting them pick a date, hour, duration, and party size all on their own.

Source: Tablein

After they make a reservation, they automatically receive a confirmation email, and their reservation is logged into the system without any intervention from your team.

You can, then, get a clear overview of all your bookings through a user-friendly dashboard, whether it’s on your phone or desktop.

Source: Tablein

This way, your staff is free from the hassle of managing bookings, and the risk of human error is significantly reduced.

When you skip out on restaurant technology you miss out on an opportunity to completely transform your operations.

Just as you wouldn’t use a butter churn today, there’s no reason to stick to manual reservations, cash-only transactions, and other outdated processes.

It just doesn’t make sense from an operational perspective.

Conclusion

Are you feeling empowered to transform your business into a powerhouse of efficiency yet?

Because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing once you start implementing what you learned from this article.

Regardless of how you feel about the current state of your operations, one thing is certain: with a bit of patience and the right digital tools, you can certainly make dramatic improvements.

So, what are you waiting for?

Start improving your processes today and watch your restaurant soar to new levels of productivity and success.