In a previous post, I discussed the benefits of implementing Core Value Marketing as part of a successful growth strategy.  This type of program creates a bond with your potential guests while providing tremendous opportunities for free publicity. Most importantly, it allows you to provide much needed support to organizations …

So, you’ve thought about it and decided that starting a restaurant is your dream job. Good luck with that. Nearly 50% of restaurants fail in their first three years.  That’s an astronomically high casualty rate.  There are many factors that add up to the success or failure of a restaurant. …

Beyond recommendations about food & beverage, there are many other questions that locals and tourists ask. Use this list to build your ‘fact file’ for staff, and quiz them regularly to check they’re offering correct answers. #1 issue for most managers is ‘staff motivation and attitude’. The interesting thing is, …

For most restaurateurs saying no to a customer is something you just don’t do.  Being accommodating is an integral part of what service businesses like restaurants do, and therefore the customer gets what the customer wants. As the New York Times reported recently, a surprising number of restaurants in New …

If you do it right, guest prefer to order themselves.  This has been proven by the advent of interactive electronic ordering kiosks, which have quickly become commonplace in European and Asian quick service restaurants. Americans are finally catching up to their European counterparts when it comes to self-service kiosks.  Early …

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) has announced the 2009 winners of their annual Kitchen Innovations award, which recognizes cutting edge advancements in improving the efficiency of commercial kitchen appliances and tools. Some highlights from this year’s list include: Advanced Composite Materials’ Silar Microwave Flatstone. This composite ceramic insert is designed …

Restaurants and commercial kitchens use A LOT of hot water.  In fact, it’s probably one of your larger energy expenses in a given month. Tips to Cut Costs Set water temperature to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Your dishwashing unit should have a built in booster heater that heats water to the …

A commercial slicer can quickly turn many of the products in your walk in into uniform, perfectly sliced pieces ready to serve, making your staff’s job very easy and improving the efficiency of your operation.  Slicers are usually used to cut meats, cheese, and eggs, among other things.  A commercial …

The host stand is the first thing your customers see when they enter your restaurant.  That first impression can be an opportunity or a potential stumbling block, and no matter which way you impress your customers, the host sets the tone.  It’s like any new relationship: every word and action …

Every restaurant needs hot water, and most of that water usually ends up being used to clean dirty cookware and cooking equipment.  More than likely you get your hot water from a conventional gas-fired water heater with a 100 gallon or larger tank.  For years the standard strategy for hot …

Restaurants always have a large amount of inventory to deal with.  Figuring out where to store this inventory while it awaits its turn on the cooking line can be a major headache.  One of your primary weapons in the storage battle is wire shelving.  Shelving units can be built to …

Seafood is a wonderful delicacy that helps form the backbone of thousands of restaurants. Seafood is healthy and great tasting, and customers love treating themselves to seafood when they go out to eat. Unfortunately, overfishing has increased exponentially in the last 25 years, resulting in the collapse of a full …

Managing a working restaurant is hard. There are a lot of moving parts that must come together just right in order to pull off a successful shift.  Add in the stress created by a couple missed orders or irate customers and the goal of making every guest full and happy …

I didn’t learn to program my first Point of Sale (POS) system until I actually become a head Chef at a restaurant and the POS system impacted my food cost. I taught myself how to use it, as there was no operating manual and none of the waitstaff or the …

Food allergies are a serious problem that millions of people deal with every day.  Sometimes those reactions can even be life-threatening, which makes the allergy problem something restaurants cannot afford to ignore. And yet for quite awhile now there has been a distinct ambivalence in the food service industry when …