Be SMART–There is More to Life than KPIs

Running restaurant operations smoothly is challenging. Getting time to focus on what is important and not just dealing with emergencies is half the battle. There are lessons to be learned from the ways other industries deal with this constant lack of time. Let’s see if we can learn from them.

While doing research to write this post, I found out that much has been written about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) but little about how you get to define the ones you care about. Sure, we have some obvious ones - such as Cash Flow or Food Cost - but, as with any journey one undertakes, knowing the destination is essential in order to define the roads on which one will travel.

1 - The Lifeline QuestionsBefore filling your head with KPIs, you need to ask yourself some very important, and sometimes hard, questions. What are your struggles with and your dreams for your restaurant? Making money or being profitable, while essential, can’t be all you hope for. Those questions will vary based…