If your car breaks down or it needs routine maintenance, would you just drop it off at the first auto mechanic you see, or would you search for someone who’s experienced working on your brand of car?  If you were buying a house, would you just hand your money over and hope for the best, or would you hire an expert home inspector to examine it before purchase.  If you needed a medical procedure, would you stop by the hospital closest to your house, or try to find a doctor who is an expert in his field?

Reasons You Need a Restaurant Furniture Expert

As is the case with almost every major purchase, when buying restaurant furniture, it is beneficial to deal with an expert.  This blog covers three ways restaurant furniture experts will benefit you.

1. Best Value for Your Budget

Many restaurant owners initial concern when beginning to looking at buying furniture is the price, and with good reason.  It is expensive to open and operate a restaurant, and every dollar saved on restaurant furniture can easily be spent on another restaurant necessity.  While price is very important, getting value for each dollar you spend is equally as important.  If you purchase the cheapest chair you can find, it may not be the right chair for your restaurant setting.  If you are offering more expensive menu items, it may be more beneficial to purchase more expensive upholstered restaurant chairs and barstools.  An expert in commercial furniture can help you find the most cost effective furniture in each category that will fit with your restaurant layout, décor and be properly integrated with the whole furniture purchase.  Most commercial furniture vendors also offer a wide range of prices and levels of products from good to best so there will be an option for every restaurant’s budget.  Furniture experts will also advise you of alternative options to achieve the right look while saving you money.  For example, granite looking laminate tables can be matched to tables made from granite to achieve a fantastic look for a restaurant’s dining room less expensively than using all granite tables.

2. You Get the Right Products

Just as important as getting great value and price for your furniture budget is making sure you get the right products.  To new restaurant owners or anyone unfamiliar with commercial furniture, it may not seem difficult to get the right products.  Consider though, that purchasing furniture for a restaurant is far different than buying a dining set for your home.  Tables, chairs and bases for residential dining usually come as a set, so the base is attached to or designed to support the table, and the base and chairs are manufactured at the right height to be comfortable with the table.  When you furniture for a restaurant, the restaurant tables, bases, chairs and barstools are sold separately.  For example, it is the restaurant furniture expert’s job to ensure that the table base you buy supports the table properly and is the style and size to match the table to make dining customers comfortable.  Experts also give advice on such things as whether the height of the chairs and barstools are the correct height for comfortable seating at a bar or a table.  Experts can assist with types of furniture that can be placed outdoors.  These are just a few of the unlimited topics experienced commercial furniture vendors can advise you on.

3. Piece of Mind with Commercial Warranty

One of the biggest assets you receive when you purchase your restaurant furniture from an expert is a commercial warranty on all of your furniture.  A warranty may not seem that important, but consider the total amount you are spending on you restaurant tables, chairs, barstools and/or bases.  For most restaurants, this is considered a large purchase.  If you purchase residential furniture instead, it may be less expensive initially, but it will cost you plenty if it happens to fall apart soon after purchase.  You would be hit with an emergency expense of time and money that no restaurant owner wants or needs.

For restaurateurs, quick shipping can be a necessity. It can ensure that food supplies are delivered on time, and that vital kitchen equipment is replaced immediately so that service can continue uninterrupted. When it comes to restaurant furniture, however, quick shipping can sometimes be an advantage; but it can often be more advantageous to plan and order furnishings ahead of time without any time constraints.

Advantages of Planning Ahead

In today’s restaurant industry, it’s easy to find a wealth of hospitality furniture businesses that advertise quick shipping on their restaurant furnishings, promising to send their products out immediately so that owners can furnish their establishments completely before opening day. In many cases, however, these businesses offer only a limited supply of in-stock items, leaving restaurant owners with little choice or variety. Likewise, their prices are often inflated, with buyers paying a premium for convenience.

By planning ahead, however, restaurateurs can choose from a larger selection of quality products, many of which can be customized with special-order finishes or laminates. In addition, they can also save substantial costs by prioritizing their needs and making informed decisions, rather than having to settle for the higher prices of quick-ship furniture. Plus, by having the time to choose, more options are available – whether it’s hospitality seating in a specific range of colors, or durable tables and restaurant chairs in a variety of beautiful natural woods.

When to Quick Ship

Sometimes, it’s imperative for a restaurateur to ask for quick shipping. For example, an owner might need to replace damaged or well-worn restaurant tables. Instead of going to an unknown quick-ship supplier, however, it’s a better idea to talk first to a well-known, reputable restaurant furnishings dealer and find out if a rush order can be placed. Likewise, if there’s an upcoming function where more restaurant chairs are needed, a reputable dealer in hospitality chairs and restaurant seating might be able to ship out a rush order that will arrive just as quickly as an order from a quick-ship dealer without the inflated prices.

In order to get the best selection of restaurant tables, chairs, bases, booths, bar stools and other types of commercial restaurant furniture at the lowest possible prices, it helps to plan ahead and order everything well in advance, leaving plenty of time for customizing and delivery. This way, restaurateurs can choose from a wider selection, compare prices and even opt for customized finishes and surfaces that will make their décor stand out from the competition.

Advantages of Quick Ship

There are advantages of quick ship options, and knowing this basic information can sometimes help you save money and time if you are in a position to take advantage. Some quick ship options may be reduced price items that the manufacturer is trying to clear out. If these items are suitable in functionality and color for your restaurant, you can potentially save quite a bit of money. Ensure the quick ship restaurant furniture supplier has sufficient inventory to meet the quantity of restaurant furniture for your specific needs.

There are other advantages of quick ship as well. If the restaurant tables or seating you like happen to be in-stock items for quick ship, you will be able to get exactly the products you need at the time you need them. You will also have the advantage of not having to tie up your cash until you need your restaurant furniture. Consider the pros and cons of quick ship when researching restaurant furniture before making a decision whether it is the right option for your business.

Like any other industry, restaurants are prone to cyber security attacks. A typical restaurant witnesses a large number of credit card transactions regularly from its customers. Additionally, with limited protection in place, the restaurant business often becomes a soft target for hackers. In a restaurant, a cyber-attack is most likely to seek any of the following details.

• Personal information about your staff and customers
• Credit card information of your customers
• Bank account information and business details of the restaurant

Compromising personal data of your staff and customers can be detrimental to your restaurant’s reputation. This breach of trust can also result in decreasing your restaurant’s foot traffic. As a restaurant owner, it is your responsibility to provide a safe and rewarding dining experience that instills trust and prompts your customers to visit repeatedly. In your restaurant, the following four areas are most vulnerable to cyber crimes.

• Online Banking
• Point-of-Sale System (POS)
• Internal Network
• Online Sales

Things to Know about Cyber Security for Restaurant

With due diligence and proactiveness, you can secure your establishment with affordable IT infrastructure.  Read on to know how you can protect your customer’s information from cyber threats and create a safe environment for them.

1. Educate Restaurant Management about Cyber Security

If properly trained, your staff can be your most reliable and helpful defense mechanism against cyber-attacks. By educating your management about the importance of cyber security for restaurant, they can help in developing long-term and successful business associations. Such awareness helps them in avoiding suspicious websites and deleting phishing mails on your restaurant’s computers. These intuitive yet efficient practices create a human firewall against cyber-attacks. These strategies help in creating a secure environment in your restaurant to stay ahead of cyber-threats.

As technology keeps on evolving, defending data keeps becoming more difficult than ever, and your management must update accordingly. After all, while sitting in the restaurant booth, the last thing you would want your customer to worry about is the theft of his credit card information.

2. Alert Employees for the Battle Against Cyber Threats

Apart from making your employees aware of the best practices of cyber security, general caution and vigilance can make your restaurant secure as well. Quite often, hackers pose as utility service repairers like electricians, network operators, computer operators, etc. While visiting your restaurant, they would request access to your restaurant’s servers/ computer systems to install malware. These programs automatically gather credit card information and other sensitive files from your restaurant’s systems.

Sometimes, you will have to make the necessary changes in your restaurant layout as well. For example, it is always advisable to keep the business computers and servers away from the customer’s view as it decreases the chances of any unauthorized access. If you train the staff in knowing what to look for, they can act as watchdogs. So, in addition to just waiting at the restaurant tables, they can contribute to creating a safe environment at your restaurant as well.

3. Investing in Secure POS Systems for Restaurants

Hackers, like any other thieves, look for vulnerable systems/places that require minimum effort to breach and provide substantial results. POS systems, used for payments at the restaurant barstools or chairs, continue to remain the weakest link of the chain of digital payments. Without much effort, cyber criminals can hack these systems to obtain the personal and financial information of your customers.

Investing in POS systems with EMV chip card readers can boost your restaurant’s digital security significantly. These updated POS systems adhere to the regulatory guidelines and use encrypted computer chips to secure and authenticate transactions performed through cards. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance is the industry benchmark to ensure that your restaurant accepts, processes, stores, and transmits the credit card information securely. In addition to providing an extra layer of security, PCI compliance build trust among your customers as well.

4. Utilizing Services of IT Professionals

After making your systems secure, investing in taking the services of a professional IT firm is another wise decision that pays in the longer run. Rather than managing the cyber security yourself, it makes sense to let the experts do it for you. With an expert and professional IT service provider, you get complete peace of mind about your restaurant’s digital security. You can manage the other aspects of your restaurant more confidently. From finding the best products to installing them, from updating the systems to providing on-call support, a competent IT firm can cater to all your needs.

5. Have a Communications Crisis Plan

Despite investing in the best systems and following the best practices, restaurants can still become a victim of a cyber-attack. Under such unfortunate events, apart from regulatory fines, the brand image of a restaurant also suffers significantly. While you hope for the best, it’s wise to prepare for the worst. Having a well-chalked out crisis plan helps in rebuilding your restaurant’s reputation and loyalty of your customers. Under these situations, transparent and effective communication to inform and assure your customers is key to resolving the issue. Having a dedicated crisis manager boosts the confidence of your customers that you are addressing the issue and working on the solution. Moreover, having a single point of communication prevents any leakage of sensitive information as well.

6. Building Trust Among Your Customers

The restaurant business, like any other hospitability industry, thrives on the trust of its customers. In case of a cyber-attack, rather than financial concern, a restaurant’s reputation and the trust of its customers suffer irreparable damage. Building trust among your customers requires you to take several steps in every aspect of your restaurant. Since your staff is crucial and perhaps the only point of contact with your customers, ensure that you hire credible people. For example, while recruiting them, you can carry out background checks to ensure that they can handle sensitive information and build trust with your customers.

Conclusion

The sad reality of the digital age is that it just takes a few seconds for the hackers to break into your restaurant’s systems and dent its age-old reputation. The repercussions of such a data breach can be irreversible, and it may be hard to recover from it. As frightening as it might sound, proper planning, vigilant staff, modifying the restaurant design, and investing in robust IT infrastructure are some of your weapons against hackers.

This article mentions some of the well-proven practices to enhance the cyber security of a restaurant. Hopefully, with thoughtful planning, meticulous execution, & taking note of these points, you will be able to secure your restaurant against hackers. Remember, to win this battle against hackers, you have to win every time while they have to succeed only once.