Ken Burgin

Restaurant Productivity

Financial Management

Suddenly, Everything Needs to be Negotiated!

May 9, 2020 No Comments

Restaurant & cafe operatiors now have to do a lot more negotiation, and it’s not just the small stuff. Three months ago you were arguing over a 20c increase in chicken prices, or the chef wanting a $30 wage rise. Now you’re dealing with a stubborn landlord, an unknown bank manager, impatient suppliers and a cranky partner. Most of what you did before was haggling, now it’s time to work like a grown-up! Negotiating with

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Why The E-Myth is Still So Relevant for Cafe & Restaurant Owners

May 5, 2020 No Comments

It was published 24 years ago in 1986, and reverberated like a thunderclap in the world of business. You’ve heard that saying ‘work on your business, not in your business‘ so many times you could scream. That’s from the The E-Myth!, and author Michael Gerber’s message is still electrifying, even in a world run by digital systems… and facing virus restrictions and dislocation. Years ago I ran one-day management events for restaurant owners and would

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Online Events for Restaurants

Talking about Covid and Hospitality on the Hospitality Mavericks podcast – May 2020

April 26, 2020 No Comments

I enjoyed talking with Hospitality Maverick Michael Tingsager from Brighton in the UK, about Covid and Hospitality, and what we think is coming in the cafe, restaurant and foodservice industry ‘post Covid’. There’s much speculation, as things change on a weekly basis, but it’s useful to think about the fundamentals of business that don’t change, and how they will be relevant in a new business environment with less money and more restrictions. I hope you

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Working Remotely – resources for cafe & restaurant owners

March 14, 2020 No Comments

There are a lot of new habits and skills to develop – by nature we hospo people just ‘walk around and do it’. Working from home or away from a venue doesn’t come naturally or easily, and if we have to keep a ‘social distance’, we need very different tools and ways of working. We need to sit down more… Here’s a bunch of resources to help make your remote work almost as good as

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Planning for a 50% loss of restaurant sales – what will you do?

March 7, 2020 No Comments

We must plan for the worst. Now’s the time to be like swans – floating calmly on the surface, and paddling very quickly under the water. This is real folks – take a lesson from what Chinese restaurants have gone through in the last 3 months, with customers almost completely disappearing. What if half your business disappeared in two weeks? You need to plan for a specific scenario. This is not like ‘sales are down

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Preparing your Cafe and Restaurant for the 2020 Recession

February 29, 2020 No Comments

The last time we had an impact like this in Australia was back in 2001, after the 9/11 attacks in New York. Then there was the Global Financial Crisis in 2007 – 2009, which affected Australia to some extent, but a rapid economic response by the government stopped it from having the effect here that it had elsewhere. I wrote a fairly lengthy article back in 2001, with advice on how to manage the effects

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Can we talk about cash?

February 5, 2020 No Comments

With many cafes and restaurants reporting up to 80% of sales being made on card, the traditional informal cash transactions and ‘owner’s cash bonus’ have become much more difficult to manage. They’re going away – forever. We’ve relied on cash shortcuts for… The great kitchen hand with a visa problem, who is happy to work long hours for $20 ph in the hand. The electrician who comes immediately because he’s paid cash. The cook with

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What’s your Business Plan B for when the Caronavirus hits Australia?

January 28, 2020 No Comments

I’m still trying to process and understand the implications for restaurants, cafes and foodservice – the news keep unfolding every day. I’ll keep updating this over time – so much to consider… Last year we had more than 1.4 million tourists from Chinese, many of them travelling in groups – new bookings have now been stopped. How exposed is your business to overseas tourists? Even my Uber driver this morning said he often has Chinese

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Restaurant Roster System

How to Choose a Restaurant Roster & Staff Scheduling Systems

January 21, 2020 No Comments

These systems have become indispensable if you want to control wage costs and manage labour allocation. Rostering is one part of their function, and they should also allow interpretation of Awards and pay conditions, integration with payroll systems, and collection of employee data. Plus easy connection with a bookkeeping system like MYOB or Xero, and dashboards to track results. This list is regularly updated, and descriptions are taken from their websites. Terminology varies between different

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Financial Assistance for people affected by the Bushfires in Australia

January 5, 2020 No Comments

Know someone who’s lost their home, their job or their business because of the fires? There is a range of financial assistance services available, including… Financial Aid: check for Australian Government Financial Assistance. Disaster Recovery Payments for people affected by bushfires in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia Red Cross and Saint Vincent de Paul Society plus other local charities Disaster recovery grants of up to $15,000 now available to small businesses, farmers and not-for-profits

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