Devoted to small businesses and those who run them

The Kitchen Nightmares reality TV crew headed to La Lanterna. This is an Italian restaurant in Letchworth, a wealthy town north of London.

I've been fascinated by previous episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and a similar Australian show, The Chopping Block. They make compelling viewing, entertainment wise.

There are also plenty of take away business lessons for the astute observer, and an interesting insight into the restaurant industry - at least this little slice of it.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay attempts to steer the staff and business in a more positive, profitable direction. This episode gave me a glimpse of how the importance of teamwork, workflows and timing can make or break a restaurant.

Profit Margins and Timing
No matter how good the food is, if customers have to wait too long (in this case over an hour), tempers start to fray. Too many bookings had been made for the same time, so orders all came at once.

Ramsay's solution was to tell the front of house to push the specials, which presumably had a good profit margin and were quicker to cook and get out to diners.

This took the pressure off the kitchen staff and seemed to get things back on track.  

This episode made me think about workflows in any small business and how they could be improved for efficiency. 

Any thoughts on this?