You and your employees need a clear vision if you want your restaurant to perform at the highest level.
A vision is an overriding idea of what your restaurant should be. It needs to reflect your dream. Your vision could be, for example, to be "the finest restaurant in the US," "the maker of the best pasta dishes in Boston," or "the best inexpensive quality food in town."
You can also extend it to your entire life with a vision like: "I want to own the best restaurant in town and train my staff so that they can run it by themselves so I can have freer time to dedicate to my family."

A vision must be sufficiently clear and concise that everyone on your staff understands it and can buy into it with passion.
A vision - YOUR vision - can propel your restaurant from common to greatness; it can change your positioning in the marketplace and differentiate your business from your competitors since most of them don't have a vision.
Sit for a moment and think: "Why did I open this restaurant in the first place?" Your vision must be defined in terms of how your restaurant serves and benefits your clients.
You need to create a "mission statement" that reflects your vision. Please make sure that your mission statement contains a method or system by which the mission is to be achieved. Also, it needs to contain some way of measuring so that your clients can assess whether your restaurant is living up to your vision.
The Second law of simpleology says that to hit a target, you need to see it clearly.
Simpleology is a great concept invented from marketing genius Mark Joyner. He calls it the Science of Getting What You Want. It follows four simple and logical laws.
You can find more about Simpleology and get their free module 101 and tools by clicking here: Simpleology 101.
So if you want to create a powerful Vision, you will need to visualize it, to see clearly in your mind.
Did you know that the top 20% companies in every industry have clear and written values and principles that all their employees know and are committed to?
In addition, these companies have mission statements that all their employees understand and can agree with.
Establishing a clear vision for your company based on your personal values as the owner of the company, without giving up your dreams or compromise your values is the foundation of your restaurant.
What are your corporate values? What's your vision for your restaurant in 3, 5 10 years from now? How would you know whether you have accomplished your vision? Do you have a mission statement? Do you have a strategy that it will take you there? How much you really care about your clients? About your employees?
You need to spend some time and think about all these questions. They may seem very abstract and useless to you, but I can guarantee you that without specific answers to them, your restaurant will never be up there with the top performers.
Happy meals,
Jose L Riesco
©Riesco Consulting Inc.
www.myrestaurantmarketing.com