Recap: Day 2 at the Restaurant

Things went much more smoothly in our second day. Our sales were down some ($674 gross, less taxes) but other than that it was a big improvement over Monday.

• We continued to have problems keeping food hot. I'm going to try reducing the amount we put in each pan to see if less food will stay hot longer. Still, it was not as bad as Monday.
• We aren't bringing in the sales we expected so our labor costs are too high. On Monday we spent in excess of 60% of revenue on labor, and that doesn't include my salary or my business partner's. To give some perspective, we need non-management labor to be about 20% of sales.
• On a more positive note, we were ready for lunch on time. Nearly everything was on the steam table by 11:00.
• I'm really concerned about our food cost. We've had a good bit of waste and we also aren't paying attention to portion sizes yet.

My goal is for us to improve each and every day. I know our customers won't give us too many chances to get things right. I also know we are moving in the right direction. We have to move fast or start looking for more funding.