How to stand out in the hospitality industry
Making your business stand out in the hospitality industry is all about addressing some of the major issues this industry faces i.e competition, hiring well-trained staff, produce waste etc. As well as creating the best atmosphere possible for customers as well as staff.
The hospitality industry is a highly competitive place, with a constant economical turnover of different Restaurant’s, Cafe’s, Hotels and Pubs and growth in the sector. It can be difficult to succeed with businesses in this industry and many fail or are bought and sold within the first 5 years, unable to keep up with the demanding nature of customer service. Tackling the two main difficulties facing hospitality businesses:
Competition
Every business that falls under the hospitality category faces competition. In previous years Australia has experienced an increase in restaurants, bars and cafes due to demand. Eating out is becoming more and more preferable to eating-in for many people struggling to balance working/studying, social life, family life and fast-paced lifestyle, particularly in the younger generations.
Many hospitality businesses will agree that growing competition poses the threat of loss in revenue.
If you’re yet to open a new business, location is a good thing to consider. To avoid competition, opening yet another cafe in a cafe district would be inadvisable. Instead, consider contributing to a location something it’s lacking. If your business is the only pub in the area, it’s fair to say immediate competition becomes less of a worry.
In order to keep up with competition however, you need to make your business as appealing as possible. A neat, aesthetic and most importantly, clean, environment is the best way to ensure people are attracted to and feel comfortable in your space. And if it’s got some “Instagram worthy” areas, it could encourage customers to promote your business to their friends and family by sharing it on social media.
Staff
Hiring the best staff is not as simple as it sounds. For employees to really contribute to your hospitality business they need to be well-trained, able to keep up with the pace, have great people skills for the best customer service and be able to endure the physical labour.
Now of course, to acquire the best possible staff for your business you can do your part. For instance, create good working conditions for employees to be at their best i.e fair wages, appropriate break times, well distributed hours amongst employees and a fair and comprehensive management team. Your staff more often than not, represent your business as they’re the main communicators between your establishment and your customers.
The most important factor however, is training. If your staff is not properly inducted this could create many problems for your business.
When it comes to hospitality, there are many things to consider, including:
- Safety of procedures and OH&S
- Food handling
- Quality control
- Licenses and qualifications i.e Barista courses, RSA permit etc.
- Cash handling and POS
- Customer service
- The procedures and organisation of every individual business
For your staff to comfortably meet all the expectations of hospitality workers, they must undertake a good training process. For this, online inductions are optimal. They allow for all your workers to undergo the same training where you can track their progress and test their knowledge. You can guarantee consistency in quality by administering the same inductions to all your new
and current staff so they’re all equipped with the correct information. You can also check important documents such as licenses and permits through our online induction software. So not only will online inductions allow for your staff to be well-trained in an efficient manner, they will greatly assist in record-keeping.
Realistically, ensuring your hospitality business stands out boils down to the consistent effort you put into it. They require time, money and dedication but if you manage to stand out in the industry the work you put in should pay off given the current demand for such businesses.
Do you have any questions or great tips to share?
Induct for Work – the only online induction system you would need to run online inductions.
