Circle

Top 6 Restaurant Challenges and Examples

60% of independent restaurant close within three years.

image of 6 Things that will Destroy your Restaurant booklet

What You’ll Learn About Common Restaurant Challenges:

  • The top issues that new restaurant owners face
  • Best ways to overcome common start-up issues
  • Strategies to keep your customers and staff happy
download now [dflip id="6916" ][/dflip]

60% of independent restaurant close within three years.

Opening a restaurant is hard. Maintaining one is even harder. That’s why it’s so important to learn about common restaurant challenges so you can identify obstacles and overcome them. By gaining a better understanding of restaurant industry problems, you can mitigate risks and set your business up for success. After all, you don’t want to become part of the 60% of new, independent restaurants that close within the first three years of operation.

So what can you do to get started on your path to success? Download our free guide on the top six common restaurant challenges to start learning about prevailing restaurant problems and how to avoid them. 

If you’re looking to start identifying potential roadblocks that could impact your business growth, here’s a preview of what’s inside this free guide to restaurant challenges: 

Top 6 Restaurant Challenges and How to Solve Them

Use this guide to learn to identify common restaurant challenges so you can mitigate risk and set your restaurant up for success:

Inexperience

The first challenge to overcome is inexperience. In our guide, you’ll discover why restaurant problems related to inexperience can be troublesome for your business. This section also covers valuable skills that will help you overcome this challenge, like gaining management experience and learning to set proper expectations and outline key responsibilities for each role. 

Money Management

Another everyday restaurant challenge we’ll cover is poor money management. New businesses are vulnerable to unexpected circumstances, including major financial expenses, so as a restaurateur, you’ll need to budget your money carefully and prepare for setbacks. This section will help you understand common financial restaurant challenges, like recurring expenses for inventory, labor, and fixed costs like rent or utilities. 

Market Differentiator

The third challenge in our list of the most common restaurant problems is having no market differentiator. As a new restaurateur, it’s essential to learn how to stand out in a heavily saturated market of countless restaurant options. Our guide will help you understand how to define your unique market differentiator and how to attract your target customer.

Broken Communication

When it comes to common restaurant industry problems, broken communication lines is another area where things get messy. Poor communication can lead to a variety of restaurant struggles, like issues with inventory control, staff scheduling, and even customer relations. In our chapter on communication, you’ll learn different ways to improve communication practices, like instructing your head chef to constantly update staff members on items that are out of stock or running low, and to let their team know about any daily specials available well ahead of service.

High Employee Turnover

Related to the issue of communication is the challenge of high employee turnover. When employees quit, your restaurant’s bottom line takes a direct hit because you need to spend extra money recruiting, hiring, and training new staff. Discover why high rates of turnover are so problematic in the hospitality industry and what you can do about the fifth section of our guide. By the end of this chapter, you’ll understand how operators can take meaningful steps to improve work productivity and employee satisfaction – both of which can help reduce your turnover rate.

Lack of Consistency

Lastly, a lack of consistency completes the list of the six most frequent restaurant challenges. Consistency is the reason massive chain vendors like McDonald’s have had such rapid growth because customers know what to expect at any of their fast food restaurant chains anywhere in the world. Providing a consistent experience means training your staff the same way, keeping your menu largely the same, and retaining your best employees. By the end of this chapter, you’ll better understand build trust with customers and keep regulars coming back.

At the end of the day, running a successful restaurant business takes a lot of time and effort. By reading our guide to learning the key restaurant challenges, you will be able to overcome the odds. Download ‘Top 6 Restaurant Challenges and How to Solve Them’ to receive a free PDF that clearly explains the warning signs of these six restaurant struggles and how to act on them.

Success! Click below to access the download.

We’ve also sent you a confirmation email with a personal download link so you can access the content at any time.

download now

Up Next

More Articles

Image of the TouchBistro Product Guide open to the inside POS page.
By Katherine Pendrill

Sign up for our free weekly TouchBistro Newsletter

Join over 35,000 subscribed restaurateurs and unlock

  • Free industry reports, checklists, templates, guides, and more
  • The latest restaurant trends delivered straight to your inbox
  • Tips for running a successful restaurant
A group of happy coworkers drinking wine and enjoying a conversation over a meal at a restaurant.