The hospitality family business is different from many other types of businesses. It’s not just about the service or the food; it’s also about attention to detail and building relationships. Today’s hospitality family business owners deal with more internal challenges than ever before because there are simply too many decisions to be made, including how much time to spend in the operation vs. working on growth opportunities for your company. How do you balance that? Here are tips for running a successful family business.
Make Cleaning A Priority
Vacuuming, dusting, mopping, disinfecting. Make it a priority to clean every day. In fact, it would be a good investment move to hire a hospitality cleaning service for a thorough cleaning. Nothing will turn off your customers more than dirty bathrooms and sticky tabletops. Schedule bathroom cleanings at least once per day (if not twice), no exceptions! You’d be surprised by the number of places that only do this on an as-needed basis. And make sure you replace any worn-out mop heads daily – dirtier floors mean more frequent cleaning is needed. Plus, dirty equipment won’t work as well or for as long.
Keep Everyone Involved
It is important to keep everyone involved in the business—from your kids and spouse to uncles, aunts, and cousins. You want everybody’s input when it comes to making decisions, solving problems, and planning for growth. Besides, it’s more fun this way!
Be A Teacher
It’s important to teach your family about the business, how it operates and what is expected of them. Remember that training takes time so start early. Give them tasks that are commensurate with their experience, knowledge, and capabilities. For example, have your kids bus tables before they take orders. Teach them how to interact with customers – good things to say, comments not to make, etc.
Hire A Solid Support Staff
When hiring employees, look for people with good attitudes who want to provide customer service, if they’re friendly and confident in their abilities, they’ll produce good results. Remember, that’s what you’re paying for – not just their time on the clock, but also the level of service they deliver to your customers. Train them well and let them know how important they are to your company’s success by providing incentives for team goals met. When it comes to hiring, this can be a time-consuming process, so you may wish to work with someone like this Hospitality recruitment agency in Shropshire who will know what it takes to succeed in this particular line of work so will be able to suggest only the best candidates to take up positions within your business.
Reward Success & Provide Opportunities For Growth
You’ll always have challenges when running a successful hospitality business, but you can minimize those difficulties by providing incentives and promotions for people who display good work habits and prove themselves worthy of advancement up the corporate ladder. To keep things fair, offer raises and bonuses as well as extra benefits for those working hourly positions too
Focus On Quality And Consistency
With today’s technology, it’s easier than ever to monitor food quality and kitchen operations; use these tools smartly! Make sure all your managers are using the online reporting tools. If something comes up during an inspection or if you receive a complaint about one of your employees’ performance, pull up that report immediately and address it before it gets out of control.
Plan For The Unexpected
One of the things that make a family business unique is the number of things that can go wrong. Whether you’re dealing with a stolen wallet, a food allergy, or a complex insurance claim for lightning damage, you’ll need to work together as a team to solve problems like these quickly and efficiently. You also want to be prepared for emergencies (tornado approaching) by putting together an emergency contact list including names, addresses, phone numbers, and key information about your customers (kids attending school at location), making sure everyone knows what their role would be during this type of situation.
Communicate Often And Clearly
Frequent communication builds teamwork and strengthens bonds among family members working together in the business and support staff. Encourage regular dialogue between management and staff to ensure everyone understands company policies and procedures (no call-in sick days, mandatory vacation days, etc). Make sure you communicate often (weekly or monthly) on how things are going and what the company is doing to improve.
To make this easy, use apps. The best apps are the ones that are affordable, available worldwide and you can access anywhere. It doesn’t matter if your family is on the other side of the world, checking into an app to see what’s going on with the business is just a few clicks away. Some top picks for apps are Slack, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Running a successful hospitality family business can be hard, but it can be done. The key is working together as a team and staying positive throughout the entire process. Follow this advice and you’ll soon see that your hard work pays off.