Resource Center

Welcome to ARF's Resource Center! We have compiled a host of articles, practice tips and other resources with one goal in mind: to help you better run your business and ultimately to increase your business's profitability. We hope you find these resources helpful and if you have any ideas for topics you think we should add, please feel free to email us at resources@advancerestaurantfinance.com.

Financing and Credit | Marketing | Operations

Financing and Credit This one page overview compares ARF's unsecured working capital loans against a Merchant Cash Advance. This white paper compares 4 common financing options across 6 key criteria to aid a restaurateur in his or her financing decision. This article discusses how a Chicago catering company with no debt, but flat lined sales borrowed money to expand its business and almost double sales. This article reveals the truth about those "free" credit scores and also discusses the 5 areas that make up your FICO score. Marketing This 2 part practice module covers 10 ideas on ways to build sales and profilts now.It's broken up into 2 parts: ideas 1 through 5 and ideas 6 through 10. This article focuses on the economic benefits of direct mail and includes a sample margin contribution calculation that you can use to forecast and measure the results of your direct mail campaigns. This article is an intro to social media and shows you several ways to monitor what is being said about your business in the social media space, which is the first step in any social media strategy. This 2 part article discusses using coupons and gift certificates.Part 1 covers knowing your audience, aligning your program with your image, what offer to make, and measuring your results.Part 2 covers how to promote and how often, whether you should use the internet, and training your staff. In this 2 part article we discuss making sure your restaurant is ready to drive more business (Part 1) and some key things to remember as part of any marketing campaign designed to drive more business (Part 2). This article expands on the old 80/20 rule that 20% of your customers drive 80% of your sales and offers valuable insights on how to use a 4% factor approach to market to even more effectively. This article examines the economic results of businesses that invested in themselves during downtimes versus those which did not and concludes that the former consistently outperform the latter both during the down period and once the economy recovers. Operations This 2 part article details 10 of the most annoying mistakes wait people make as related by the diners who suffered through them.Is your wait staff committing any of these gaffes? This article examines the economic results of businesses that invested in themselves during downtimes versus those which did not and concludes that the former consistently outperform the latter both during the down period and once the economy recovers.