This year, like last, has seen extraordinary challenges for the restaurant industry, as operators have tried to adapt to a new reality born from the pandemic. We’ve got some strategies to help make 2022 successful and profitable.

Set Goals Now

Goal-setting is essential when it comes to planning. Only when you are able to identify, quantify, and create timelines around your goals can you hope to achieve them. Begin by taking a look at the past year for data that can help inform decision-making for 2022. What were in-house sales like vs. delivery? What were your busiest days and hours? Your slowest? Dive into the numbers with your management team to isolate exactly what’s working and what needs to be improved. From there, you can begin to identify potential menu changes, staffing needs, and marketing strategies based on the information you collected.

Master Inventory

Inventory is what allows you to make money, so it’s important to have a firm grasp on what your inventory looks like at all times. Knowing your inventory inside and out is more important than ever because it can be difficult to rebound when you’re out of items. Take time at the end of the year to do a complete, thorough inventory of all perishable and nonperishable items. Make sure staff are trained to complete inventory checks to your specifications, and put a plan in place for regular inventory checks.

After you’ve created or refined your inventory system, you can begin to look at the details within your numbers, such as yield and profitability of certain items. It’s also a good opportunity to standardize your recipes and address proper portion sizing among all BOH staff so that you can have a better understanding of what products are going in and out at any given time. Waste is another huge issue when it comes to inventory management. As you create an inventory system, make sure it accounts for waste. Staff should be properly trained in FIFO (first in, first out), safe handling, and labeling to help mitigate loss, whether from spoilage or theft.

Streamline Menus

Once your inventory is under control, turn your focus to your menus. Look for areas where you can improve profitability, especially by examining COGS (cost of goods sold) and looking for opportunities to make improvements. Use your numbers from 2021 to determine your highest selling and most profitable menu items as well as those items that could be taken off the menu due to lackluster performance. Think about seasonality throughout 2022 to identify potential specials or long-term menu items that will raise ticket averages while keeping customers happy.

Get Fully Digital

Over the past two years, we’ve seen the importance of creating an online presence, as diners have been going online for their restaurant orders. Now more than ever, it’s important to take control of your online presence. The first step in owning your online presence is to make sure all of your online profiles are accurate — location, hours, and especially contact information should be correct and easy to find.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to get a Google My Business listing. While not SEO exactly, Google My Business does position your business higher in local searches, and most restaurant searches are locally based, so this is a huge plus. You also have the opportunity to choose the images associated with your listing, and this is very important as consumers are driven by visuals when determining where to eat and when to order.

If you haven’t done so yet, make 2022 the year you invest in some search engine optimization for your website. SEO isn’t the most intuitive concept, so this is a great place to bring in an expert, and an investment in SEO will pay off in the long run, as customers are able to find your restaurant more easily. After you’ve taken these steps, it’s time to make sure your ordering process is smooth and streamlined. Evaluate your online menus to make sure they are accurate, free of typos, and easy to navigate. Just as you might consider menu design for physical menus, it’s also important to consider when it comes to online menus as well. And unlike physical menus, online menus provide multiple opportunities for upselling, so take advantage of that customization when you are putting your menu online.

Improve Responsiveness Online

Just as customers are flocking online to order food, they’re also sharing their experiences online, which means it’s a good idea to keep an eye on review sites and social media for guest feedback. Timely and thoughtful responses are extremely important when it comes to addressing negative reviews, but it also goes a long way to respond to positive feedback as well. Create a plan for addressing feedback that includes when and how you will respond, and then make sure someone on staff is responsible for that task. Make a plan to utilize the feedback you receive to make improvements. For example, if a customer complains about leaky packaging on to-go orders, it would be worthwhile to look at other options for packaging or to address the proper way to pack orders when training staff to avoid customer complaints in the future.

Consumers also report that responsiveness on social media is a factor when deciding where to eat, so it can be useful to make sure you have a team member assigned to handling social media inquiries, especially during business hours when your attention may be elsewhere. If you’ve had a great exchange with a guest on social media, share it! Screen grab (making sure to obscure the customer’s name unless you have permission to share it), and post those interactions for all to see.

Reevaluate Marketing Plan

The way people interact with restaurants is going to be different in 2022 from what we saw prior to the pandemic. Online ordering, takeout, and delivery will continue to be trending upwards. Guests will be looking for convenience and exceptional service and, of course, great food. Restaurant meal kits and online availability of grocery items with to-go orders will continue to be popular.

As you put the finishing touches on your marketing plan for 2022, take into consideration the lessons you’ve learned from the past two years. Look for ways to reward loyal customers because those are the customers that spend the most money, the most often, at your restaurant, and they’re extremely important to the overall success of your business.