What you didn’t know about, now is the time to learn. Basic management terms for the restaurant business world are featured.
1. “QSC” -Restaurant management basic terms 　  
Q（Quality）＝Quality Control （product, taste, ingredients, menu selections, etc.）
S（Service）＝Service, Manner of waiting on customer, Hospitality
C（Cleanliness）＝Cleanliness, Sanitation

In the U.S. it’s almost unheard of for a restaurant chain succeed without adhering to the basics of QSC, so it’s obvious that these rules will apply not only to fast food and chain restaurants, but to Japanese restaurants as well.

In order to increase your QSC level, it is important to consider “raiten doki” (motivation to visit the restaurant) and “kitaikan” (customer’s expectation).

Take, for example, a restaurant located in a business district. It’s only natural that a busy lunchtime will make the restaurant competitive and be an important factor in its business. Customers expect that they will get the value and fast service they deserve. If you assume that businessmen typically spend from $6 to $8 for lunch, they will, for this amount of money, demand a menu with daily specials and various selections. Moreover, only 1 hour is usually provided for lunch. This time includes the amount of time it takes to travel to the restaurant. Therefore, the time it takes to prepare the food becomes critical. If there is a long wait, and if the server takes a long time to take a customer’s order, it doesn’t matter how good the food is, the customers will think that restaurant has poor service, and decide, Let’s not go there for lunch”. In short, if this restaurant runs an operation that pays attention to Q (lunch menu values and options) and S (speed of service); the QSC will experience an increased level in customer satisfaction, and an increase in “added value” (value perceived by customers)
　
It seems that many Japanese restaurant owners are under the illusion that they can compete on taste only. Therefore, if the food is good enough, then customers will come”. It is a Japanese belief that “Even if the restaurant is not clean and the service is poor, as long as the food is inexpensive and tastes good enough, then customers will come.”

Americans, however, when they dine out, don’t just emphasize the quality of the food, but the ambience of the restaurant as well. A major motivation for Americans to dine at Japanese and other ethnic restaurants, in particular, is to forget about the everyday monotony of their lives, and have a fun time with their friends or family. The quality of the cooking is expected, but when combined with quality service and a clean environment-the three pillars for QSC- the value goes up, which leads to repeat customers.


  
 
2. Are you really making money? 　Check your “S.P.S.F.”
 
Sales per square foot is considered the simplest way to gauge whether or not a restaurant will generate money. This number is calculated by dividing the annual sales by the square footage of the restaurant (including restrooms, storehouses, and corridors). Let’s refer to the following U.S. restaurant industry standard. Incidentally, if NIBT (Net Income before Taxes) is 5%-10% of the sales, then that is considered a moderate profit; while 10% is considered to be high.

Square Foot Quick Reference Tabel
  Full Service Limited Service
In the Red （赤字） $150 $175
Break-Even （損益分岐点） $150-$200 $250-$350
Moderate Profit （中利益） $299-$325 $250-$350
High Profit （高利益） over $325 over 350

For example, suppose there is a restaurant that sells $400,000 annually, and the area of the restaurant is 3000 square feet. The sales volume per square foot is $133. According to the table, this restaurant is operating in the RED.
However, this square foot quick reference table is only a guideline; it is not absolute. There are many contributing factors such as restaurant size, land area, etc. that require additional investigation. For example, consider abnormally high rent areas like Manhattan where it costs more than $60 per square foot.Then the sales volume for Manhattan restaurants would be much lower than the industry average.

However, in some instances where the sales per square foot are decent, the profit may be lower when compared to a restaurant with similar sales. What exactly is the problem in this case? In order to understand this, it is necessary to take a look at the following P/L STATEMENT.
(Continued in a next issue)

  
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