Restaurant Management and Operations

I’m not telling you anything new when I tell you that inventory control is very important in any restaurant.  But I think it’s surprising just how few restaurants view the use of scales as a way to manage shrink and really control how food product is used.  In fact, scales …

Some of you put customer comment cards on your tables and ask that guests fill them out and let you know how you’re doing.  I could put money on the fact that you receive more complaints on those cards than praise.  Unless someone was given absolutely outstanding service or the …

Superstars you’ve never heard of are playing a professional sport you never knew existed… and video game geeks everywhere are staying home because you decided to show the ball game instead. Some restaurateurs are finally starting to catch on, like Mad Dog in the Fog in San Francisco, and those …

A server stealing from their restaurant is nothing new. Each year this happens thousands of times. It is also very seldom reported in the media. Most of these things are handled in house which means that you have no idea if the employee you just hired was fired from their …

The short answer is yes, definitely.  As long as you build a decent site, it can’t hurt your marketing efforts and has the potential to be a big help.  Some of the things you can do with an internet presence for your restaurant: Get to know your customers.  A website …

A recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive reveals that 88% of people who encounter a dirty restroom at a restaurant think this reflects poorly on the sanitation of the rest of the establishment, including the kitchen and food preparation areas.  Of those, a full 29% said they would never come …

The tired old maxim “your servers are your salespeople” is as true today as it ever was, but just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean you have armed the front of your house with every weapon they need to drive your restaurant’s profits. Really, there’s no understandable reason why servers shouldn’t …

I would have to rate a computer as a must have for a Chef, second only to a good set of quality knives. While utilizing a POS (Point of Sale) System and knowing how to use it can be enormously useful to a chef, I think spreadsheets are the cat’s …

We’ve talked about the importance of reputation management on The Back Burner in the past, and as review sites like Yelp and discount sites like Groupon continue to influence the way consumers make their dining decisions it becomes even more important for restaurants to make sure they are engaged with …

Getting a liquor license for your restaurant all comes down to two words: it depends.  Determining how much it’s going to cost, how long it will take, and how easy it’s going to be all depend on where you’re located.  That’s because liquor licensing varies from state to state and …