Restaurant Revenue Management Practices in Johannesburg

The concept of revenue management (RM) is becoming increasingly important globally as more and more restaurants are interested in how these strategies can help them become more profitable. The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of RM practices used by restaurants located in Melville, one of Johannesburg’s suburbs, to ensure their financial sustainability. Data for this exploratory qualitative study were collected during semi-structured interviews with ten restaurant managers or owners. The findings indicate that while restaurant managers lack the theoretical knowledge of RM, many of the strategies developed in this area are already part of management practices, e.g. restaurant managers try to minimise costs while maintaining the quality of the products and services. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the struggle for restaurants’ financial sustainability persists because of the reluctance and slow return of customers, changes in economic status, ever-increasing expenses, and additional operational costs. According to the interviewees, employee training, marketing and customer relationships play a vital role in day-to-day operations. On the other hand, they see the need to implement other RM strategies regarding pricing, capacity, time management, menu engineering, customer relationship management, and restaurant reservations.