16 tips and THE appointment for dealing with inflation in your restaurant

In September 2022, inflation jumped by 5.6%, which continues to have a significant impact on profitability margins. So how can you best cope with inflation in your restaurant?

With creativity, flexibility, good organization and effective communication, you can reduce your restaurant's costs, multiply your revenue streams, attract more customers, retain existing ones, and thus increase your sales. Here we give you 16 tips that can only help you cope with inflation in your restaurant! 

Download the list of tips to follow!

Between inflation and soaring energy prices, you need to preserve your margins. Here we give you 16 tips. And what if we told you EVEN MORE? 👉👉👉 We're giving you Tuesday May 16 at 15:00 for a 1-hour session during which Amaury from Stoquemarket, and Louiza from Malou, will share their detailed tips for successfully reducing the impact of inflation.

📢 Because reducing portions and/or raising prices sounds like the most radical way of dealing with inflation. But these measures can undermine customer satisfaction and loyalty. So you're wondering where to place the cursor according to your positioning? What other actions can be deployed? See you on May 16!

Adapt your restaurant menu to boost profitability and keep pace with inflation

1. Focus on your most profitable dishes

On your restaurant's menu, some dishes cost less, while others are more successful. To improve your margins and keep up with inflation in your restaurant, highlight those dishes that are of most interest to you. How can you encourage customers to choose them? Make these dishes stand out visually on the menu, and create a "Must-See" or "House Specialties" category to highlight them. Having a shorter menu increases your chances of selling them.

2. Limit the most expensive products to keep pace with inflation

It's not a question of losing quality, but of intelligently rethinking certain dishes. Do you offer dishes made with expensive ingredients that don't sell much? Then you can remove the dish from the menu, or substitute the products with more affordable ingredients.

3. Reassess your card prices

The prices you set are decisive for your sales and margins. They have to remain reasonable, so as not to drive consumers away, but they also have to absorb the rising cost of raw materials and so on. Today, you need to increase your restaurant's revenues to keep up with inflation. But in a subtle way! You can apply this price increase to your best-sellers. Building on their success, you'll continue to sell them.

4. Opt for a dematerialized menu

Adapting to inflation in your restaurant means adapting your menu. You modify a la carte dishes according to the profitability they bring you, prices too to ensure your margins, ingredients... So to avoid reprinting your menu every time, prioritize a digitized menu! It gives you greater flexibility!

To dematerialize your menu, our friends at Deliverect offer you the very best services!

Reduce water, gas and electricity consumption to cut costs and keep pace with inflation

5. Reduce electricity and gas use to keep pace with inflation

These resources are essential to keep your restaurant and kitchen running. But there are many things you can do to reduce consumption without impacting your operations. Such as turning off your restaurant's sign at night, but also the kitchen equipment you don't use during service, not heating the oven when empty... For gas, Ecotable recommends short cooking times.

6. Save water

Water is also a vital resource for your restaurant: from the cleaning of cutlery and kitchen equipment to the consumption of drinking water... How can you reduce these essential tasks to keep up with inflation? Ecotable invites you to stop changing cutlery between starters and main courses, and reuse ice buckets for kitchen cleaning.

For more tips on how to save on resources, we invite you to visit the Ecotable article.

Reduce food waste to maximize inventory

7. Use products in their entirety

More and more restaurants are doing just that! A single product can be used to make a whole host of original dishes. Take carrots, for example, with the peelings turned into chips, and the tops into pesto or sauce. This practice allows you to reduce the number of ingredients used per recipe, as well as the quantity.

8. Offer daily specials at competitive prices to keep up with inflation

Slate of the day: a practice that allows you to use products from day to day, and limit waste. If you have food left over that's close to its sell-by date, do your utmost to sell it before that date. To do this, you can be creative and offer daily specials at more competitive prices than the rest of your menu, to encourage sales. 

9. Optimize your inventory

Not having too many ingredients, or too few, remains a real challenge for restaurateurs. So how do you optimize your inventory management? In addition to offering a daily menu, take a daily inventory, analyze which dishes are most in demand at which times of year...

Update your customers on the current situation to gain their understanding and cope with inflation

10. Communicate your changes in the restaurant

You have to adapt to inflation in your restaurant, just like everyone else, but don't take your customers or future customers by surprise. Be transparent, by communicating about the changes applied in your restaurant. Instagram is the ideal place to publish posts and stories on this subject, explaining why and how you need to adapt. You'll earn the respect and understanding of your customers.

11. Make customers understand what's in it for them

Some establishments decide to maintain the same prices, but reduce the quantity or quality offered. This practice is likely to have the opposite effect of making customers aware of your price increase through transparent communication. In addition to sharing your changes, use Instagram, Facebook etc. to keep showing your customers the quality, generosity and indulgence of your plates. You'll increase your chances of getting them to come back and recommend you. 

Multiply sales channels for more sources of revenue

12. Introduce or accelerate takeaway sales

The more money you bring in, the better your restaurant can cope with inflation. Takeaway sales remain an ideal way of increasing sales, especially at lunchtime. You don't need new premises, just optimal restaurant organization. And effective communication everywhere online. If you're located near offices, don't hesitate to set up a promotional offer with the companies that work there! 

13. Increase your delivery sales without paying commission

Multiply your delivery sales by 2, 5 or 10: it's possible, even with inflation! Provided you find a way to reduce the commission imposed by delivery platforms. How can you do this?Configure your webshop restaurant to reduce delivery commission from 30% to 10%. Find out more here.

Filling the room to better absorb fixed costs and cope with inflation

14. Communicate effectively to attract new customers on a daily basis

To increase your sales, and thus offset inflation in your restaurant, you need to attract as many customers as possible! To do this, you need to make yourself visible where customers are looking for a restaurant. We'll show you how to get listed as #1 in Google, TripAdvisor and other directories in this article. And to make yourself known on social media, discover all the steps to follow here.

15. Building customer loyalty 

Building customer loyalty is more important than ever in these volatile times. The French are planning to reduce their restaurant visits. Keeping your customers coming back is therefore crucial. How can you do this? Thank them for their visit, respond to all your customer reviews to show your appreciation, reflect a positive image online. We give you all our tips here.

16. Reduce no-shows

On busy days, you need to make sure you don't block a table and miss out on potential customers. This means ensuring that your customers honor their reservations. Zenchef is the ideal ally for reducing no-shows!