Bringing a restaurant concept from dream to reality is one of the most stressful, mind-boggling projects any restaurateur will attempt in their career.  There are literally thousands of things, dozens of people, and weeks of work that must fall into place to make a restaurant opening successful – and that’s …

Maintaining and replacing the hood filter in your commercial ventilation system is more important than you might think.  The hood filter is a metal square or rectangle that fits into the opening on your hood ventilation system.  Its purpose is to filter out grease from the smoke rising off your …

When purchasing flatware for your restaurant or commercial kitchen, the two most important factors to consider are the type of stainless steel the flatware is made from and the weight of the flatware you want to buy. 18/10 vs. 18/0 Stainless Steel All flatware is made of stainless steel, but not …

Fresh seafood will always sell well in your restaurant, and for many businesses it’s a staple item on the menu.  Making sure the seafood you serve is safe requires some careful maintenance and preparation, and it’s good to develop some strategies for ensuring the seafood you serve is safe.  More …

Anyone with a Hobart mixer in their restaurant or commercial kitchen will tell you what a great machine it is.  These mixers last a long time despite constant, heavy use, and for many kitchens they are essential to the success of daily operations.  Often the attachments that make your Hobart …

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 …

There’s always a significant amount of cost involved whenever you buy a new piece of restaurant equipment.  Those costs only continue as that equipment ages in your restaurant – from energy use to repairs, the consequences of new equipment will be around for a long time after you’ve written the …

In yesterday’s post I talked about the new reality facing restaurants, namely, the consumer expectation of great value.  This doesn’t appear to be changing despite an uptick in consumer spending.  A number of voices in the food service industry have been advising restaurants to provide value to their customers in …

Now we are getting into the multiple levels of control that make a HACCP program so effective.  Level 1 is monitoring: people who are directly involved with the food product at the Critical Control Point checking to make sure Critical Limits are met.  These people have taken direct responsibility for …

When Tundra discovered that a waste management snafu had resulted in office recycling bins getting thrown in the trash early this year, we decided a complete waste management audit was needed, and fast. The lessons we’ve learned in the past three months have been both illuminating and hard won, and …