(Newswire.net — March 1, 2021) — Diving into the restaurant industry takes a lot of hard work and time. It requires lots of early mornings and late nights. It will also require a large budget. Aside from the initial costs of starting the establishment, there will be significant recurring expenses that restaurant owners need to manage for the business to be successful. Planning and managing the budget for a restaurant means understanding expenses. There will be consistent obvious costs like food and labor expenses. However, there will be other expenses that you should plan for that include things like marketing, equipment upgrades, utilities, and improvements.
As is the same with any business, there will be some costs such as the lease, mortgage, or insurance on the space that will be fixed and remain relatively consistent over the life of the business. Other expenses, however, will vary and will need a little more attention and planning. These costs include labor wages, utility payments, and volatile food costs. Aside from these expenses, at some point, there will be broken restaurant equipment, broken dishes, plumbing problems, or issues with restaurant supplies that will have to be addressed. If owners aren’t careful, the expenses of the restaurant could quickly sink the business. Let’s take a look at how to handle common restaurant expenses.
Varying Costs
Let’s start with the hard part first. Building fluctuating costs into your budget will be tricky because they can vary from month to month and even from week to week. A good chunk of restaurant expenditures will go towards fluctuating expenses. These costs will be things such as your food expense, hourly wages, and utility payments. You will need to rely on your sales figures to help determine what these will be each month. For example, if a menu item becomes increasingly popular, you will need to purchase more of that item and that will impact your overall food cost. You will need to look at these figures carefully and determine what percentage of your overall sales should be set aside for fluctuating costs.
Another variable that you’ll need to consider is your equipment and supplies. It will be inevitable that refrigerators will go out, freezers will stop working, and the oven will break. Your success is at the mercy of the pieces of equipment in your restaurant. You will want to try and consider maintenance and replacement costs when figuring your budget. Shopping around for used restaurant equipment in Seattle and other restaurant industry equipment suppliers will help mitigate some of the cost of new equipment. Restaurant warehouse stores are also a good place to replace broken glassware and pots and pans. Your equipment and supplies will be the backbone of your success and you will need to factor these into your budget as they will break and need attention from time to time.
Fixed Expenses
Your fixed expenses will be the easier part of your budget. These are the costs that don’t really change from month to month. These are easier to plan for as they generally remain the same over time. Expenses such as a mortgage or rent payment, insurance premiums, loan installments, and salaried labor costs are usually the same amount each month. These will be costs that you know are coming and you can take them off of the top of the budget each month.
Any membership fees or association dues will also be a fixed expense and can be accounted for fairly easily. Typically these are costs that occur yearly instead of monthly. Fixed expenses will be the easier part of your budget as they don’t change and you can count on them each month. These are the bills that you know are coming and will be able to budget a specific amount for.
When you first get started in the restaurant industry it might be difficult to establish your budget when you don’t have sales data from last year or last quarter. Once your business takes off, however, you will find it easier. Budgeting will be the key to handling common restaurant expenses. From bills to equipment, you will want to make sure that you have everything planned and accounted for so that there will be no surprises.