Just like any other business, you should anticipate competition while setting up your hotel, restaurant or café business. This means that you require a carefully drafted business plan as well as exceptional organizational skills. Below are a few tips and things you ought to know as you start your business.
Do Your Due Diligence
How do you intend to make your establishment different from others in your location? You need to make a decision on the kind of horeca business you intend to start. In addition, you also need to find that thing that is different from existing competitors.
For instance, if you are opening a café, research and find out what other cafes nearby are offering. If the competitors have negative reviews in a particular area, this is something you can improve on and offer to your future clients.
Further, identify what each horeca business is doing correctly so you can make your own just as successful in the same area. A note of the strengths and weaknesses of competitor businesses early is great market research. The research will also help you pinpoint what your potential customers want, so you are ahead of the competition even before you’ve opened your doors!
Find Your Marketing Audience
Before starting up, it’s pertinent that you understand the audience you would like to market your products and services to – in addition to how best to reach them. After audience identification, you will be able to cater to them better and create a personalized experience. For example, if you will be selling alcohol at your establishment, your research will give liquor license professionals, such as Monshaugen & Van Huff, more information on what type of license is best.
Create Plans for Your RoI
Any business requires a good Return on Investment (RoI); otherwise, all your hard work will not return a profit! While planning your money seems like a simple task, you need to cover a lot of ground if RoI is to expand your business.
One of the things you need to plan includes how much money you intend to spend at the beginning and how much you spend monthly. Money plans are always a sensible idea so you know exactly how much comes in and goes out of your business’ account. In addition, the plan will also allow you to have a good idea of how it would take before you get the money you’ve invested into your business back.
Plan Management
A successful business depends on good management, which translates into good organizational skills. Organizing your business means creating a managed plan for specific business aspects and those who will be in charge of them. Fortunately, you can make use of online tools like Clockspot to manage your staff better.
Assign different staff members specific areas they can be in charge of; for example, a receptionist for bookings and a cleaner to keep rooms clean. This allows you to manage everything, with the staff reporting to you, so you have an idea of what is going on in your horeca business.
Bonus Tip: Provide Free Wi-Fi
Horeca customers now consider Wi-Fi as an important amenity when choosing an establishment. Make sure that you offer your guests with as seamless as possible Wi-Fi experience during their visit. Free Wi-Fi is also a great platform that allows you to communicate with guests.
Conclusion
Starting a horeca business certainly has its challenges. However, the tips above can help make the process of starting it easier and manageable – the next thing you need to consider is how to grow your business. After all, it’s a business, so business tools should be used.
