Restaurant management is not easy, and it is tough to find the formula for how to run a successful restaurant.

Managing a restaurant, bar, or cafe is tough – and it involves a broad array of skills, from managing inventory and suppliers, to managing finances and running marketing, as well as hiring, motivating and firing employees.

Hospitality consultants The Perry Group published a bleak analysis on the lifespan of restaurants (and food-service businesses): a majority failed in their first year, and 70% of the survivors would fail within the next 3-5 years. A published study suggests 80% go under in 5 years.

We’re here to help with guides, content and advice for every aspect of restaurant management, from some of the best resources online, pages with expertise, and some of our own Candybar pages.

How To Run A Successful Restaurant (Or Bar, or Cafe, or F&B Business)

(click to jump to each section)

Hiring and Motivating Employees

For the business to succeed, you’ll need employees to help out and work together as a team.

restaurant management - hiring and teamwork

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Business Planning

Whether it’s a 100-seater restaurant or a 10-seater bar, it’s important to manage costs and carefully watch the margins – and grow the business and customer base over time.

candybar restaurant management - business growth planning franchising

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Customer Service & Experience

Good customer service is no longer enough – the key here is to find opportunities to surprise and delight your customers so they feel happy, spread word-of-mouth about you, and keep coming back as regular customers.

candybar restaurant management - customer satisfaction

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Restaurant Marketing

On a separate page, we have listed every restaurant idea you need to survive in today’s economy. Here are some of the top posts:

candybar restaurant management - restaurant marketing ideas

Candybar: A smart and easy way to keep customers coming back
Loyal customers spend more, and keep coming back over time. Turn customers into repeats and regular – try Candybar loyalty today.

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Learning Resources

Journey before destination. Our guide is comprehensive and well-researched, but not exhaustive. Here are a few more resources from blogs to books:

best restaurant management books

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Visual Inspiration

Sometimes a striking picture or a memorable logo speaks a thousand words and stays in the memory. We’ve captured some examples of great visual design if you’re looking for inspiration.

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Case Studies

Journey before destination. Our guide is comprehensive and well-researched, but not exhaustive. Here are a few more resources from blogs to books, including entrepreneur stories from small business owners:

Singapore

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Global
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And with that, we’ve come to the end of our comprehensive restaurant management guide. As the Candybar blog grows, we’ll continue to keep building up

Candybar: A smart and easy way to keep customers coming back
Loyal customers spend more, and keep coming back over time. Turn customers into repeats and regular – try Candybar loyalty today.
Darren Foong

Posted by Darren Foong

Darren works on Growth at Candybar. He spends too much time reading fiction, performing improv, and doing things that don't scale. One day he hopes to be quite interesting.