100 years ago, a Hungarian breed of pig called Mangalitsa was the preferred pork breed for restaurants across Europe and the eastern U.S. Over the last century their popularity declined for a variety a reasons. The Mangalitsa also fell out of favor with pork producers, because they require open pasture …
Read More »Restaurant Technology and Marketing: Become a Hotspot!
More and more restaurants, especially fast casual, coffee shop, and quick service chains, are becoming WiFi internet hotspots, allowing customers to plug in to an internet network directly from their laptop computer at their table. Turning your restaurant into a hotspot is relatively easy and has proven to help boost lunch …
Read More »The Long Hard Road To Sushi Greatness
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa always knew he wanted to be a sushi chef. From the first time his brother took him to a sushi restaurant in his native Japan, Matsuhisa he has aspired to make people happy with top quality sushi using only the best ingredients. With 22 restaurants all over the …
Read More »Restaurants and Farmers Work Together To Reduce Waste and Improve Crop Yields
San Francisco restaurants are participating in a city-wide compost collection program that has collected over 105,000 tons of food scraps and yard trimmings in a single year. All that waste used to end up in the landfill, where compostable waste makes up a full third of everything in the dump. …
Read More »Wine On Tap. Better Taste, Better Value.
A few restaurateurs in the United States have turned to some revolutionary ideas to overcome the perennial problem of wine by the glass: oxygenation. Sticking a cork back in the half empty bottle and returning it to the undercounter fridge  behind the bar is common practice, but not even close …
Read More »Digital Media For Your Restaurant In The Digital Age
TVs have slowly been creeping further and further into every restaurant’s atmosphere for years now. It started with a small black and white television in one corner of the bar so guys could watch the game. Now many bars have several HD flatscreens showing multiple games and news channels at …
Read More »Can Google Improve Food Safety?
A pilot project currently in development at Google will enable health officials to spot outbreaks of deadly food borne illnesses 7 to 10 days faster than the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) current system. Google accomplishes this by tracking queries entered into its search engine by people who are trying …
Read More »Boost Sales With A Free Meal
An increasing number of restaurateurs are looking to boost sagging sales with value-minded deals to lure customers back into their restaurants. A particularly successful strategy has been employed by the Laguna Grille in Long Island, NY: a “Bailout Program,” which randomly awards free meals to a table per shift. The …
Read More »Should You Cut Costs In Payroll?
My recent post, “Missouri Legislature Debates Wage Cuts For Servers” sparked some debate about cutting payroll expenses in your restaurant. Finding places to cut expenses as revenue falls is never an easy endeavor. And since labor is almost definitely your number one expense, it’s easy to look there first when …
Read More »LEAN Act Gaining Popularity In Congress
The Labeling Education and Nutrition, or LEAN Act, is gaining sponsors and votes in the United States congress. The legislation would create a national standard for labeling menu items across the entire food service industry. Consumers overwhelmingly support menu labeling, with some polls showing a 75% majority in favor of …
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