One of the biggest sources of contamination in any restaurant are the people who prepare and serve your customer’s food. According to official food safety regulations, sick workers are supposed to go home, or even better, not come in at all while they are capable of spreading germs. Unfortunately, two …
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2010
Menu Trends: Restaurants Are Introducing A South American Super Crop
This is a story about how an Incan super crop is starting to take over health food stores and trendy restaurants in the U.S. The rest of the world is already on board with this mysterious super plant; we’re just now catching up. What’s so great about this plant? Well, …
Read More »The Birth of Interactive Dining
If you’ve been to The Back Burner before, then you’ve heard me talk about one of the hottest culinary trends of the past year: so-called “underground” fine dining. This movement started on the West Coast and has quickly spread to most of the major cities in America. Each version is …
Read More »The Power & Money Behind Drink Sales in Your Restaurant
Drink sales can deliver large profit margins for your restaurant. The quantity, variety, and quality of non-alcoholic drinks available in restaurants has grown exponentially in just a few years. This trend isn’t an accident – according to a recent study by Technomic, 86% of consumers purchased a beverage somewhere in …
Read More »4 Steps For Building An Effective Sustainability Plan For Your Restaurant
Making the decision to make your restaurant a more sustainable operation has gotten considerably easier in the last few years. That’s because as consumer awareness grows there are more and more benefits associated with “green” restaurants. If you’re in doubt, simply look at the National Restaurant Association’s sustainability efforts, or …
Read More »Why Secrets Make For Good Restaurant Marketing
Kansas City based casual dining concept Houlihan’s has been around for almost 40 years. In that time they’ve seen the rise of the casual trend and a lot of ups and downs. In the early 2000’s Houlihan’s was seeing more down than up, and a new management team was brought …
Read More »Cooking In Public: Restaurants Bring Food Prep To The Customer
Cooking in public is the new trend in the restaurant industry. Kitchen culture has captured the American public’s attention in recent years with the explosion of celebrity chefs, various reality shows featuring said chefs, and dedicated cable channels like the Food Network. All of this media attention has made consumers …
Read More »Managing Social Media Marketing For Restaurants
2010 is the year of social media, and the food service industry has really started to embrace the world of social in a big way. As I’ve mentioned on The Back Burner before, the biggest expense marketing with social media is your time. That’s good news for tight marketing budgets …
Read More »Move Over Beer: Craft Cocktails The Latest Trend
Move over beer, craft cocktails are the latest trend. For generations Americans have had a fairly straightforward approach to cocktails – gin and tonic, highball, rum and coke – without ever giving a second thought to the possibilities a true bartender genius is capable of when given the space. Back …
Read More »Making The Grade: Should Restaurants Post Food Safety Info?
The Center For Science In The Public Interest, an advocacy group that has tangled with the food service industry before over menu nutrition labeling, is pushing for letter grades of restaurant’s latest health inspections to be posted in the front window. This food safety info works on a 100-point scale …
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