Doing the right things to ensure your restaurant is profitable should always be your top priority as a manager or owner. But sometimes, we can be overly giving, which can quickly plummet revenue. You have to think as a business owner, which means keeping an eye on credit card fees, growing food prices, fickle markets and so on. To help you stay on the right track with your profits, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind:

• Avoid automatically serving up water. Giving out water to your customers without them asking could prevent them from ordering other drinks, like alcohol, sodas, milk, tea and so on.
• Tactfully promote profitable items when guests first sit down. Have servers recommend complementary, yet profitable items with the guests’ orders.
• Keep watch of how much is being thrown away or given out for free. You’ll likely find small items like crackers, butters, creamers, jelly and iced tea lemons are disappearing too fast. These are cheap, but can quickly add up.
• Add items to your menu that are profitable. Aside from having your waiters promote your most profitable food choices (based on market conditions), you should also include them on your menus. Remember, your menus are your number one selling tool.
• Buy important items in bulk. Having a reliable supplier that offers bulk deals is important for every restaurant business. This gives you the chance to save money and prevent the need to order multiple times out the month.
• Bundle together meal parts, such as the appetizer, salad and entree. Having these combos will improve guests’ dining experience and maximize money spent.

With these simple tips, you can easily increase your revenue and cut back on unnecessary spending.