Archive | December, 2011

Chefs: How To Decide Between Apprenticeships Or Culinary School

Having a formal education is a wonderful thing to be able to put on a resume. Training under an experienced Chef can also teach you just as much practical information. There are pro and cons to both. Culinary schools are more structured environments. Apprenticeships are more unstructured environments. If you have the opportunity to do [...]

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50 Restaurant Resolutions For A Sucessful 2012

If ever there was a good time to make some positive changes to your restaurant’s operation, now is that time.  An okay year is ending after a couple bad years and next year looks just about as good as can be expected.  Now is the time to kick things up a notch and really go [...]

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New Super Fast Pathogen Tester Could Change Food Safety

It seems like every year there are a growing number of food product recalls in response outbreaks of illness caused by nasty bacteria like E. coli and salmonella.  In 2010 we had outbreaks in lettuce, tomatoes, and alfalfa sprouts that sickened hundreds of people.  In fact, there are 48 million reported cases of food borne [...]

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Portion Control: Are You Losing Money To Food Waste?

Imagine for a second that you run Coca-Cola instead of your restaurant.  You sell millions of cans of soda every day, and you’re making a decent profit.  Now imagine that as the founder and owner of Coke, you never bothered to standardize the size of each can, so some cans are 12 ounces, others are [...]

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Restaurant Management Tips: Hiring and Training Employees

Restaurants and commercial kitchens have always been relatively high turnover work environments, making new employee recruiting and training a constant chore for management. A few basic procedures can help you maximize employee retention and reduce turnover, which in turn reduces costs and increases efficiency. Cast a wide net. When you have a job opening, get the [...]

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Adventures In Restaurant Maintenance: Refrigeration

In this article I would like to talk about the refrigerators and freezer units commonly found in a commercial kitchen and restaurant. The average unit will give long service with minimal maintenance; however there are a few things you should know that could possibly prevent breakdowns. You should also read Greg’s article on this subject [...]

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Watch The Hamilton Beach Rio Bar Blender In Action At The Rio Grande

The second installment of our Product In Action series takes us to the Rio Grande mexican restaurant in Boulder, Colorado.  They use the Hamilton Beach Rio bar blender to mix up the best margaritas this side of the border. The Rio bar blender is a durable workhorse that can handle a range of tough tasks [...]

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Hubbell Booster Heater

Restaurant Dishwasher: A Complete Buying Guide

Deciding on the right restaurant dishwasher for your restaurant or commercial kitchen depends on a few important factors, and it’s vital to get the right machine for the job.There are multiple types of dish machines depending on what you plan to wash and how much of it you plan to wash in a given day. [...]

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Can You Trust Generic Restaurant Equipment Parts?

Any restaurateur who has dealt with equipment parts has heard of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and generic parts.  If you haven’t, here’s a quick rundown: OEM parts are produced by the manufacturer of the piece of equipment or a subcontractor commissioned to make parts for the original manufacturer.  OEM parts are distributed by the manufacturer [...]

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Huge Money Saver Or Needless Middle Man? KlickKitchen Offers Online Ordering For Chefs

The website KlickKitchen, launched over a year ago, allows chefs to source food products for their restaurant or commercial kitchen exclusively through the web.  Vendors upload their food products and restaurants log in and order what they need from the website’s catalog of foodstuffs.  The site is the creation of Jordan Glaser, formerly of the [...]

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