Do you own a restaurant and you need ideas to make profit during downtime? If YES, here are 10 profitable ways to use restaurant space during their downtime.
If you own a restaurant business and you are looking towards making more money and maximizing profits from the business, then you should look beyond just making more money from the sale of foods and drinks to other sources of income that won’t distract you from your core business, and one of the ways to achieve this is to take advantage of the downtime in your restaurant.
What is Downtime?
Downtime is a period during which an equipment or machine is not functional or cannot work. It may be due to technical failure, machine adjustment, maintenance, or non-availability of inputs such as materials, labor, power. Average downtime is usually built into the price of goods produced, to recover its cost from the sales revenue.
In a restaurant, downtime is a period when the restaurant is not serving food and drinks or a period where the door or the restaurant is closed to customers. Interestingly, every business goes through a period of downtime and it is left for the business owner to convert downtime into uptime by diversifying their services.
So in this article, we will be looking at 10 profitable ways you can make use of a restaurant facility to make money when you are experiencing downtime. Here they are;
10 Profitable Ways to Use Restaurant Space in Their Downtime
1. Organize a Stand-up Comedy Show
One of the sure means of earning additional income when your restaurant is experiencing a downtime is to organize, perhaps a Sunday night stand-up comedy show.
This idea is recommended if you have the ideal space in your restaurant facility and of course you have both aspiring and professional stand – up comedians within your network or you can partner with an event manager that will help you put up a stand-up comedy show in your restaurant.
If the show is properly planned and the publicity is top – notch, you will be amazed at the numbers of tickets you will sell and the amount you will rake in. If you try it for the first time and it is successful, you can make it part of your business offering.
2. Organize a Paid Karaoke Event
Another idea you would need if you want to convert the downtime in your restaurant to uptime is to organize a paid karaoke event. Karaoke is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers can sing along with a recorded music (or a music video) using a microphone and public address system.
Depending on the type of downtime you are going through, you can also choose to provide limited food and alcohol services as a means of increasing your revenue generation.
3. Organize a Cooking Competition
Organizing a cooking competition is yet another means of making money from your restaurant facility when you are experiencing a downtime. The cooking competition can be designed for aspiring professional chefs or perhaps for teens and young adults who would want to try their hands on cooking.
Good enough, you already have cooking utensils and all that would be needed for the competition so you won’t be spending more except for other utensils and disposable stuff.
The catch here is that, you can raise money from application fees from people interested in the competition or you can raise money from sponsorship deals from interested stakeholders. Trust me, this is a sure way of making money from your downtime without straying away from the core of your business.
4. Rent Out Your Hall for Events
Most event managers are always on the lookout for venues that suit the event they want to host, hence if you have a standard restaurant facility that is spacious with enough parking lot, then you should look towards renting out your restaurant hall for events.
Usually, the events take place within a short period of time say, between 1 to 4 hours and if that is the period your restaurant is experiencing a downtime, then it is a perfect way to make money from the downtime. The restaurant hall can be ideal for events such as birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, religious events, meetings and get-together parties.
5. Organize Fund Raising Events
Another idea that comes in handy when it comes to making use of a restaurant space to generate money during downtime is to partner with charity organizations to make use of your space for their fundraising events. All you need to do is to ensure that you give them huge discount compared to what they can get elsewhere.
Interestingly, you can make it a longtime partnership so much so that whenever your restaurant is experiencing downtime, the charity organization can make use of your space for their activities.
6. Sale Tickets for Events
When there is an event coming up in a city, one of the places you can go to for the purchase of tickets is some popular restaurant in town.
If you are lucky to own and operate one of the restaurants in town, then one of the ways of making money when your restaurant is experiencing downtime is to sell tickets for event organizers. You can sell tickets for comedy shows, musical concerts, sports events and any other events in town and make commissions off every ticket sold.
7. Organize Mini Music Concerts
You will quite agree that when it comes to music, there are loads of people who would be interested especially youths. So, one of the ways that you can leverage on your restaurant space to make money when you are experiencing downtime is to quickly organize musical concerts.
Interestingly, you don’t need to feature celebrity musical artists in your mini musical concert. All you need to do is to talk to young and upcoming musical artistes in your city and community, people that will be willing to take the fee you can afford.
Just ensure that you publicize the event very well and you will be amazed at the response you will get most especially if your restaurant is a popular and well – positioned one in your city.
8. Make Your Restaurant a Make-Shift Consignment Store
Another idea that you can leverage on if indeed you want to make money from your restaurant when you are experiencing a downtime is to convert your restaurant to a make shift store. This idea is highly suitable most especially when you have a lot of old kitchen utensils and cooking wares that you are no longer using and would want to dispose of.
All you need to do is to print fliers and post them in the appropriate locations within your city or send mails to potential customers who may be interested in buying the items that you have for sale. Interestingly, with the money generated from the sale of these old items, you will have enough funds to purchase new cooking ware or invest in expanding the business.
9. Use it as an Art Exhibition Center
Another interesting and of course profitable business you can start with your restaurant facility when you are experiencing a downtime is to use it as an art exhibition center. This is applicable if you have artists within your network or if you have interest in running an art exhibition center, a place where artists can come exhibit their art works to the general public.
You will make your money by collecting space rental fee from interested artists who want to exhibit their art works in your restaurant space. Please note that you would need to facelift your restaurant space to meet up with the expectation of your targeted clients.
10. Lease it Out as a Short – Term Storage Facility for Exporters and Importers
If you have a restaurant facility that is close to a seaport or airport, one of the thriving business you can do with the facility when you are experiencing a long downtime is to lease it out as short term storage facility for importers and exporters of goods.
Importers usually would need an empty space to keep their goods for a short period of time for effective sorting before transporting the goods to the final destination.
Similar to leasing your restaurant facility as a short term storage facility is leasing your non – functional restaurant facility. In some instances, an exporter would need a large empty facility (warehouse) to sort out their goods meant for export and they will be glad to find a restaurant facility available for short rent or lease.
In Conclusion;
Please note that all the ideas listed above may not be suitable for all restaurants experiencing downtime. Factors such as the duration of the downtime, the location of the restaurant facility, the size of the restaurant facility and of course the business network of the manager or owner of the restaurant amongst others will determine the type of idea that will work for them.