If you have tried, you probably already know this - getting a traditional working capital loan for your restaurant some can sometimes be pretty difficult. There is an alternative that is simple and easy to qualify for called a Restaurant Business Cash Advance Loan. You can qualify for the loan even if you have bad credit, as long as you process over $2000 per month in credit cards from your customers. If you are in need of quick cash flow this may be a good solution for you.

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Something that has worked for our restaurant: treat everyone as though they are family. We all feel like family & would do anything for the restaurant. No one steals because we would give it to them if they asked. We have the highest respect for our owners. They treat us like kings & queens. As a manager, my employees will do anything I ask. We are all on the same level.

I am a 20 year old restaurant manager, and although I have much to learn still, I feel that the most important suggestion I would have for new owners or operators would have to be while restaurants are a very difficult place to work in, keep your employees happy (compliment them always for good jobs, thank them for coming in and working). This will keep everything from going into chaos in the work place. But the most important thing to remember, is people can be rude, and suck, but they are the customer, and they are the ones buying you restaurant, so never hesitate to go out of your way to make one person happy.

If I could offer one piece of advice to a new owner/operator, it would be "communicate daily with your employees & guests!" This answer may sound as simple as the question, however, I'm talking about "real" communication. Learn about them, find out what's going on with them, as it relates to the operation and their daily routine. There is a gold mine of information inside the minds of our employees and consumers. Learn to prospect this successfully and you will reap the rewards ten fold!

Realize that the employees are YOUR customers.... As a owner or manager, you have limited customer contact. Sure, you talk to them for a minute or two during their meal, but the server talks to them for several minutes, the busser/dishwasher supplies them with clean dishes and a sanitary environment, the host greets them with a warm friendly greeting and exit, and the cooks prepare them exceptionally great food. If we envision our jobs as serving our employees that gives them the motivation to give the customer better service.

If we gave each employee a warm, friendly greeting each day, treated them with courtesy and respect, gave them a clean and sanitary place to work, and filled all of their needs (not just food needs, but also the emotional needs) they would feel great about their workplace (and the management) and would continue to pass it on to the customers.

In my restaurant, the employees give excellent guest service and are really "bought in" to the company and our goals and plans. They have never failed to pitch in when needed to accomplish a big task.

A couple of weeks ago, I celebrated this with an "Employee Appreciation Weekend" during which they ate free one day, we ordered pizza one day and we had a potluck dinner one night. They got to wear hats for a day and dress down one day. It was a great incentive. (That would be a second idea all in itself I suppose)

The most important aspect of your operation is your people. Each and every day you must be a coach/teacher. Never let a day go by that you do not teach each one of your people something new.

As a new business owner you usually are offering a new product (food, drinks, service, etc) to the location of your business. My one tip, a very important tip, would be to ALWAYS HAVE CONSISTENCY! I find that when your food is a great product & you stay consistent with it, you have better customer satisfaction, as well as consistent good service! These combined will generate successful repeat business, and loyal customers.

Manage your entire staff as ONE TEAM!
(NO front-of-house vs. back-of-house mentality.)
Make the Guest EVERYONE'S priority!

In each decision that is made, the one question is how does it help or hurt the restaurant today not tomorrow? Long range plans require planning, but short range decisions made without detailed review, such as to hire/fire/ or have a special, how does it effect the restaurant today?

Be prepared to be there all the time... Even with the most talented staff, the property will not run the same when you are not there. Be sure you and your family are ready for this fact of life.

After 16 years of successful operation of the one business... Don't let your ego get in your way... (it will cost you!!!) This is good... now how can I make it better... (forever!!!) The customer is always right... (even when you think they're wrong!!!) The minute your heart leaves your business... close the doors....

My advice is to "listen" to your customers and make changes accordingly.

Hire someone who knows what they are doing but don't trust him/her... yet. Learn it yourself, then trust his/her ways and actions, or not.

When you set a standard, whether that be in service, quality, or whatever area in your operation, consistency in meeting that standard on a daily basis is critical to your success and growth. Since you have already identified your customer base, your menu, your training, and your location, the consistency that you deliver in meeting your customers' needs and expectations is what invites repeat business and their satisfaction will provide new customers.

I think the most important thing I have learned from these years in the biz is "Don't forget you were the little guy once, and how it felt."

Never stop hiring.

Great training and team-building is the key to serving perfect product with outstanding service. Invest the time to develop each team member and always give positive feedback on a daily basis. Encourage a fun and friendly atmosphere and get to know each crewmember along with their special needs. Make the employee #1 in your book and I guarantee you will see great service and product, increased productivity, lower turnover, and customers that come back again and again.

You must keep a single standard. Always react the same way in similar situations. Don't treat people differently because you know them or have known them for a while. It causes discord among the employees. But to create incentive you must treat those who work harder... better. This causes those who are slacking off to want the better treatment. They may even complain that others are getting better treatment. But if you are involved in your restaurant like you ought to be you will have examples as to why you believe the better employees are actually better and therefore deserve better treatment. Also those better employees who get the better treatment will also want to work harder because they were rewarded for their hard work in the past. I have worked in many different restaurants as both an employee and an employer. This is the management philosophy that I have seen strengthen or shutdown GOOD restaurants. Unfortunately it is one of the hardest to stay consistent with. Good luck and keep trying. Don't quit until you have won the battle!

Know where your money is - do your weekly food cost, labor cost, and cash flow management to anticipate your expenses, and be prepared to make adjustments in your operations to meet your income when building a brand new business... the downfall of all new small restaurants seems to be in this area... the best food and service is all for not when the bills are bigger than the checking account balance.

Learn how to motivate your employees; start first with the tenet of positive reinforcement. Be prepared to coach and train with patient diligence.

Although it may sound simple, the best thing that a new owner or operator can do is to always remember that the guest is his customer and that will forever impact his/her operation and by keeping this in mind success is on it's way. Simply put: do whatever it takes to make the guest WANT to come back.

Only two words: 'HANDS ON"
Guaranteed success rate!!

Competition is great, as long as you're one step ahead of the rest.

I think the path to success lies with your employees. You must learn to understand their needs both as employees and people. If your employees feel that management cares about them, they will work harder, be less likely to steal, and promote a positive attitude toward your guests and each other.

There are 2 important pieces of advice that I would give and tell someone to live by. First treat your employees as you would a family member. It will improve their performance, lessen your turnover and improve the way they treat other employees, and most important - your customers. Second, remember that the customer is not always right but will always be the customer. With that in mind treat them as you would want to be treated. Show them courtesy, respect and that you are interested in how they feel about your product and they will be yours forever.

Oops - almost forgot another thing - it is better to make 1 dollar off a person 10 times than 10 dollars off a person once. Person number 1 will come back and bring friends.

The ONE thing I would suggest to ANY owner/operator that would truly impact their performance is very simple, but sometimes very hard, and for some people, almost impossible:

Treat EVERY Employee that you have with respect, courtesy, love, friendship, dignity, listen to everything they tell you, ask for their ideas on ways to improve things, and then put those ideas to action, work alongside of your employees, care about them. Don't sit up in an ivory tower and count your money!

I can only speak from my personal experience as an Owner/General Manager. We are an intimate, fine dining restaurant that seats 72. I still believe this can make the most important impact on even a much larger restaurants success.

Your employees are the ones who take care of your customers, if your employees LOVE coming to work and feel needed and respected they will go out of their way to do an incredible job for you. The customers see this and reward their servers with great tips, and you, the owner/operator with repeat business and referrals.

We have created quite a wonderful little family at our restaurant, I consider myself blessed with the staff I have. They work so hard for me, and are always in a great mood when at work, no whining, no bitching, no complaining. When someone does not seem to be in a good mood, or looks upset, I ASK them if they are ok, and if I can do anything. Sometimes they just need to talk to someone about something in their personal life that is getting them down. I will listen and offer suggestions on how to remedy the problem. They are not just employees, they are great friends! They are also there for me when I need them! We have a sign in the waitstation that says "JOY IS CONTAGIOUS", it is true, whatever you send out to the world will return to you threefold. If you give your staff respect and kindness, that will return to you threefold. When a server goes to a table with happiness and excitement in their heart about the restaurant they work for, the customers will return that to them and you threefold.

When I was a server at many different restaurants, management NEVER treated us well, I hated going to work, and did just enough work to not get fired, if they ONLY knew !!! I swore that if I ever had my own place I would never treat people like that, it would never be a hostile work environment. I would make work FUN! I did, and it works!

Here is an example of what treating your employees as equals and friends can do for you:

• It was snowing outside, I was tired and rushed through the check out process a bit quicker than normal. Then my husband, Frank, (the Chef) and I closed up and went home. About 1 hour later there was a knock on the door. It was Josh one of my waitstaff who worked that night. He had walked 8 blocks home, in the snow, sat down popped open a beer, and was counting his tips, he noticed I had given him $18.00 more than I should have. He had walked all the way back to the restaurant, but we were gone, then walked another 5 blocks to our house. I invited him in for coffee. He knew I would be up for hours trying to figure out where the $18.00 went, and trying to get the Quickbooks straight. He could have brought the money in the next morning, as he was scheduled, but decided to save me the late night pondering of the books and brought it back!

  Ask yourself: Would YOUR staff be that honest? Would they have even returned the money??? Ever??? At many of those other restaurants I had worked for when I was younger, I can say I wouldn't have! I would have been like "to hell with them, it's my money now! (Pain and Suffering Payment!)

• Last week I had the flu, REALLY bad, I left after lunch and said I needed to sleep, I had a high fever and felt horrible. It wasn't looking to be a crazy night or anything, I had two people on, they could handle it by themselves easily.

  It got really busy, we ended up seating 178 people that night! One of our busiest nights ever... Casey called in the other four waitstaff, got one to hostess for me, and handled the whole affair. Everything was perfect. When I came in later to do the bookwork and check outs I was surprised to see everyone there, and to find out how busy we had been. They also had done a solid cleaning of the dining room, and waitstation, AND steam vacuumed the carpets!!! Everybody gave me hugs and wished me a speedy recovery. They knew I felt horrible and didn't want to call me in to work, it was a perfect night, no glitches. Employees need to feel trusted and to be given responsibility, they need to feel part of the decision making process. Who wants to work somewhere where no one listens to your suggestions, where people say things like "You are paid to wait tables, not think!". (A manager ACTUALLY said that to me at a chain restaurant after I made a suggestion that would have reorganized the waitstation into zones for beverages, hot beverages, bread, and cash register and saved a lot of time, glass breakage and accidents).

This would be my tip for a new restaurant operator: Hire good people, don't be a tyrant, treat them with the Golden Rule, train them well, then get the hell out of the way and let them do their job! If this is too wordy, my tip would be: Lock the back door!

train, retain
train, retain
train, retain

My tip would be to remember the most important assist in this business, your employees.

Your employees.. You have to sell them your dream. They need to realize your expectations and believe in them. You have to instill the same pride you have into them. They are responsible for a 100 percent of the quests experience from the front door, until they leave. If you can't sell your ideas and dreams to your employees, be consistent with them and share the restaurants success with them then you are fighting a losing battle.

Listen to your customers and employees about how to better your business. (food, service, ambience, etc.) They will have insights and information that as the owner, you will not have. You may not make every change or implement every idea, but all of them in combination will help you find the direction you need to follow to be successful.

Use the six "C's" of leadership daily:

• COMPETENCE.....Lead by example

• COMPASSION...Pay attention to the needs and interest of your employees. CORRECT AND CRITICIZE THE BEHAVIOR..NOT THE PERSON!

• CONSISTENCY...Total commitment to policies and procedures...don't change the rules acccording to your mood or the employee

• CREDIBILITY...If you make a commitment...follow through

• COACHING....Stress team achievement---not individuals

• COUNSELING....Always end with a positive note.... one on one

I feel that if you use the leadership rules on daily basis.....you'll have a good working environment, great employees, guest satisfaction and retention and thereby have the bottom line results necessary to stay in business and be a success...