6+ Restaurant Operations Plan Templates & Samples – PDF, Word
Day in and day out, your restaurant will be serving countless customers. As such day in and day out, you have to prepare a lot of things before opening time. Things like food stocks, food preparation, restaurant cleanliness, and who is going to do the waiting and serving for this shift are the things you need to plan out for your day to day operation. Yes, you might already have a strategic plan put into place. However that strategic sample plan will not prepare you for the hustle and bustle of the day to day operations of your restaurant. What you really need is an operational or operations plan. You may also see Operational Plan Templates.
Restaurant Operational Plan Template
Food Truck Operational Plan Sample
Restaurant Business Operational Plan Sample
An operational plan would do wonders in your restaurant’s environment. The daily operations of a restaurant can be chaotic especially if that said restaurant is in demand by customers. To keep up with the customer’s demands and to not ruin its reputation, it is essential for a restaurant to maintain the quality of its food, service, and ambiance. The restaurant reputation is built on trust. How is your customer base going to trust your establishment if you cannot be consistent in the quality of your food and level of service? That is why you need to plan out your day-to-day operations. You may also see Operations Plan for a Business.
Restaurant Business & Operation Plan Example
Operations Plan VS Strategic Plan
One might think that there are too many things to plan in running a restaurant. It is tempting to just throw caution to the wind and just do it. Maybe if you are just starting out then yes, and even then it is still advisable to have a plan before venturing out on what you set to do, like run a restaurant for example. However, you are now running a restaurant and as such a lot of things are in the line. You may also see operational plan free templates.
Your restaurant’s reputation is on the line. Your business is on the line. Your employees’ livelihood is on the line. You need a plan to stay above the line. You need both a sample strategic plan and an operations plan. But what are they really and how do they differ? A strategic plan is plans formulated to meet the organization’s or the business’ goals while an operational plan is a plan established that contain the finer points on how to go about executing the strategic plan. Therefore, they differ in:
1. Time Period – A strategic plan’s duration is usually for a longer period of time. This means accomplishing a goal set between 2 to 5 years. An operational plan scope meanwhile is for a shorter time period. This can cover a few months up to a whole year. You may also see security operational plans.
2. Scope – A strategic plan will usually affect almost all aspects of the business. This could include the fiscal goals or even the size of the labor force. Meanwhile, an operational plan will cover and affect the operations of a department. In a restaurant setting, this could mean the shift schedules or what specials will be available for the day. You may also see event operational plans.
3. Degree of detail – As it concerns itself with the broader aspects of running the business, a strategic plan is usually less specific and more general while an operations plan is more specific and carry the details of how to go about the business’ day to day activities. You may also see marketing plan templates.
4. Management involved – Strategic planning is usually done by higher-level management as the plan involves the overall direction and trajectory of the business. An operational plan meanwhile is crafted by the different members of the departments that are or will be affected. This could mean which table is assigned to which waiter or who is going to cook what in the kitchen.
Temporary Restaurant Operational Plan Template
Small Business Operation Plan
What to Include in an Operational Plan
There are certain things that must be included in crafting an operational plan. These are things that make that said plan work.
1. Tasks
The operational plan details the daily activities of an establishment and as such these tasks and activities should be included in the operational plan. Writing the tasks is not enough though, details on how to do the tasks should also be specified to guide your employees on how to go about them. You may also see recruitment plan templates.
2. Schedule
In addition to the description of the activities to be done, it is important to include when they are to be done. Including a sample schedule, time, or sequence in your operations plan ensures that the operations will be done in a smooth and orderly manner (unless there are emergency situations). It is important to set a schedule so that goals will be met on time and no time will be wasted.
3. People Responsible
Most of the time, when people are not assigned to a task, they will usually pick the easier ones first. You will need to detail in the operations plan of who is assigned to which task. Giving responsibilities to your employees builds accountability and ensures that tasks will be finished. Assign the best people to lead the task to ensure greater success. You may also see emergency operational plans.
4. Resources needed
In all businesses, restaurants included, there will be a need to keep track of your resources available. Doing task usually requires resources including manpower. It is essential for your operational plan to specify which resources are needed in doing which tasks. Doing so allows you to allocate and manage your resources exactly. No more, no less. You may also see military operational plans.
5. Progress Monitor
Planning takes a lot of hard work and at the end of the day, you would want to know and make sure that all that planning worked otherwise, you would have worked for nothing. No feels worse than knowing your plans failed. That pill is difficult to swallow, but it is a must. Having knowledge of your plan’s progress is important. It gives you knowledge on which aspects failed and where do you need to improve on. Executing a plan while not knowing whether it was effective or not is just as bad as having no plan at all.
Restaurant Operational Manual Template
Restaurant Operations Plan & Manual Sample
Steps in Creating an Operational Plan
Creating a plan requires a sequence of activities. Even in creating your operational plan, you need to have a strategy before proceeding. You will need a strategic plan for that. You could theoretically create a plan without following a step-by-step process but you risk missing important details and aspects that could be very well essential to your operational plan. You may also see sample restaurant marketing plans.
1. Take a stock of the situation
It is paramount to have a grasp of the current situation of where you are in before even taking the first step towards the planning process. Take a note of the proposed strategies and defined goals before doing any planning. Take special note of how your resources are allocated especially the simple budget. Craft your plan around these things to know where your limits are.
2. Set Your Priorities
Assuming that you are done with your restaurant’s strategic plan, there will be goals set for your restaurant to accomplish. You would want to accomplish all these goals immediately and in one fell swoop. Doing so would be ideal however it is also impossible. The goals planted in the strategic plan are set to be accomplished in an eventual matter. Furthermore, your resources will not be sufficient enough to tackle all these goals together. Prioritizing which goals to tackle first would be ideal. You should prioritize which thing in your table you should tackle first to get a better plan.
3. Build Your Plan
Once you have a good grasp of your situation, your budget and how it relates to your goals and priorities, it is time to build the operational plan itself. Crafting the operational plan should be done in cooperation with other departments to ensure there will be no clash of interests and to ensure that all operations would sail smoothly. You may also see restaurant marketing plan templates.
4. Implement Your Plan
The end goal of any plan, the operational plan included, is to be implemented. An operational plan that remains in the paper is a dead plan. You can break down the tasks to be done in sets when you implement your plans. In the context of a restaurant, you can use your schedule for this purpose. You can break down your activities into tasks to be done during the pre-opening, operating hours and closing. You may also see restaurant business plan samples.
5. Monitor Your Plan and Then Evaluate it
The monitoring and evaluation of your operational plan are usually written together. However, those two are very different things. The monitoring of your operational plans is usually done continuously while you are still in the implementation period. Through monitoring your operation plan, problems within the said plan can be easily identified and changed accordingly. It is through constant assessment of the plan that managers and implementers, in this case, you, can identify if the plan is running smoothly and if there are any bottlenecks that need adjustments. You may also see restaurant business plans in a word.
Evaluation meanwhile seeks to determine the effectiveness of the tasks and activities specified in the plan. This is usually scheduled after a fixed period of time Evaluation of your plan is essential in order to tell if the targets and milestones that your restaurant needs completed have been accomplished efficiently and effectively. You may also see cleaning service operations plans.