Microbrew Rebels: Oskar Blues Does Craft Beer Their Way

When Oskar Blues opened its doors in 1997 in the tiny burg of Lyons, CO, just north of Boulder, it was just a place to get some great Southern style food and listen to the best offerings from the local music scene.  That all began to change when Oskar founder Dale Katechis began brewing beer in 1999.  In November 2002, Oskar Blues produced its first microbrew in a can, an event that has since been dubbed the “Canned Beer Apocalypse.” The...

NYC Restaurants Make Smooth Transition Away From Trans Fats

Back in 2006, despite objections from industry groups like the National Restaurant Association (NRA), New York City banned the use of trans fats in all foods served in the city’s restaurants.  At the time, the NRA said that municipal government had no place regulating restaurants, and the ban would put an undue burden on business. The deadline for compliance with the new ban was last summer, and a new study came out recently...

HACCP Principle 3: Set Critical Limits

Every CCP you identified by grouping menu items into processes now must have a critical limit set for it in order to become an official part of your HACCP program.  The FDA’s Food Code and your local Board of Health have...

Chefs Make Their Own Honey

We’ve been hearing more and more about the local sourcing of ingredients in the food service industry.  By far the most common form local sourcing takes is a small independent restaurant working out a deal for locally grown vegetables and herbs, or maybe even some locally raised meat. Of course, restaurants in large urban areas have a much harder time finding local sources because farms are so much farther away.  Some have...

4 Things You Can Learn From Restaurant Chains

Big operators like Chili’s, Applebees, The Cheesecake Factory, and others are always looking for ways to improve taste and customer experience while increasing efficiency.  These companies spend a lot of money every year in research and development, and studying the trends that come out of the big chain restaurant’s R&D can be very informative. As it was originally ...

10 Back Burner Food Safety Tips

One of the most important responsibilites of any restaurateur is the proper implementation of a food safety program.  A lapse in food safety can spell the doom of your restaurant, and if you’re just opening a new restaurant, it can mean a delayed opening night. Good food safety isn’t something you achieve once and then forget...

Menu Trends: Smaller Portion Sizes Seen As A Big Value

National chains like The Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s, and T.G.I. Friday’s have rolled out smaller, leaner, competitively priced menu items that are having considerable success targeting two primary consumer concerns: watching their weight and watching their wallets. For years the trend in the food service industry was towards bigger and bigger portion sizes.  The “bigger is better” approach worked as long as customers...

10 Back Burner Posts That Will Boost Your Profits

After three months and 124 posts, The Back Burner is fast becoming a wealth of information for anyone involved in the restaurant industry.  The downside of putting up so much content, however, is that some really good posts kind of get lost in the mix and are quickly buried in the archives. That’s why we’re starting a new series of posts that bring some of these “oldies but goodies” back to the surface...

Restaurant Management Tips: Stay Safe With Alcohol Service Training

The level of liability restaurant managers and owners face in alcohol related incidents can be shockingly high.  Protecting yourself, your staff, and your customers from dangerous alcohol related situations should be a top priority for your business.  And the best way to protect yourself is to make sure your staff is properly trained for alcohol service.  Some tips on how to train your staff: Be aware of local and state laws. ...

Restaurant Inventory: Tips To Increase Efficiency and Boost Profits

As a restaurateur, you probably struggle with inventory on a regular basis.  Balancing walk-in space, fast-selling menu items, and slow moving items can create a constant headache.  Some of your product moves quickly, some does not, and inevitably some ends up sitting in the walk-in for far too long. That sitting product is costing your restaurant money, because you’ve already invested money in it but you aren’t seeing any...