Building for Success with Your Restaurant Patio
Beautiful Patio Design at our Client, Bar Locale, in Newmarket, Ontario
Patio season is coming, and patios offer restaurants in Canada an incredible opportunity to improve profitability. Once a restaurant is up and operational, approximately 50% of incremental sales go straight to the bottom-line profit. This is because there are very few costs associated with a lift in sales — your restaurant is already up and operational, and all those costs are already being incurred — rent, utilities, cleaning chemicals, your kitchen line is already staffed, etc., etc. The only costs associated with additional sales are the cost of product (approx. 30%), some incremental labour costs (typically 15%), and a few operational costs, such as merchant fees.
Once a restaurant is open, improving revenue is the number one driver of success — and patios can help you do just that. One of the few great things that came out of COVID in some cities, such as Toronto, was the elimination of much of the red tape for patio licensing and the increase in the number of restaurants able to have patios.
There are a number of things that need to be considered in maximizing patio performance:
Patio menu and the ability for the kitchen to execute — if you are a 100-seat restaurant and, in the summer, you also have a 100-seat patio, it can be a very different operation in terms of execution — ensure the menu can accommodate effectively. Keep in mind that excellent guest experience trumps all in a restaurant, so having a patio is pointless if you can deliver a 10 out of 10 guest experience
Similar to the above, ensure your POS technology is effective for the patio – whether via mobile ordering, QR codes, or an outdoor POS station. Again, execution excellence is critical to success
Patio coverings are critical — whether for rain or for shade. Sitting outside is such a treat for our country, where we only get to do it for half of the year, and we need to ensure it is comfortable for the guests.
Similar to the above, ensure that if your patio isn’t fully covered, you have a rain plan in place. Active table checks and a strategy for sudden rain showers make for an overall smoother execution
Plan your labour effectively — with our weather being very inconsistent, having proper labour forecasting and scheduling, along with utilizing on-call shifts, can lead to much smoother execution and a maximization of sales revenues
And lastly, look into extending your patio season at both ends. There are many great companies and products that can enclose your patio, and while it may not be fully winterized, a properly enclosed patio with heaters can extend your patio season by months. It may cost some investment to do it properly, but the ROI can be massive (again, remembering that 50% of incremental sales go to bottom-line profit). If a $100,000 investment can give you an additional $100,000 of revenue, then that is a great Return on Investment ($50,000 annual profit return on a one-time $100,000 investment spend).
Happy Patio Season!!!!