Tag Archives: restaurant management

If you’re in the food service industry then you’ve heard about “local food” – ingredients sourced locally that are usually marketed as fresh, organic, and environmentally sustainable.  And while local has fast become a red-hot trend in the restaurant business, some in the industry have wondered how to make local …

Hard times make it easy for small businesses like restaurants to forget about the things that make their operation successful.  Revenues are down, customers are spending less, and costs only seem to be rising.  The problem is, we are entering an era when the customer expects maximum value for their …

A bar spotter, or “nightclub secret shopper,” is a person sent into a bar by the owner or manager to conduct a secret quality control review of bar staff.  Spotters carefully observe bartenders and other employees, watching for telltale signs of theft and misconduct.  Most spotters were once bartenders themselves, …

Think of your restaurant as a 5 gallon bucket.  Every day you fill that bucket with customers.  Sometimes there’s a steady flow, sometimes it’s just a trickle, and sometimes it seems like a flood.  No matter what kind of day it is, every customer flowing through your doors grades their …

The Stew blog, written by the Chicago Tribune’s food beat staff, posted an interesting article recently talking about the little perks that make a restaurant meal a more pleasant experience. Yet as great as these perks are, they seem pretty generic – best practices that any restaurant worth its salt …

One area of the restaurant industry we have continually focused on here at The Back Burner is management.  I don’t have to tell you that restaurant managers are often overworked and under-appreciated, and that’s on top of the stress involved with trying to manage a business in one of the …

Every restaurant has had to deal with revenue and expense challenges over the last year.  And many have probably wondered whether green practices and products in their restaurants are worth their while, both in terms of cost to purchase and the time it takes to implement new green consumer trend …

Motorola recently released a case study highlighting the latest in restaurant POS system technology: handheld, wireless ordering systems for servers.  The handheld device is about twice as big as a BlackBerry, and connects directly into the restaurant’s POS software via a wireless connection. The case study focuses on Sam’s Chowder …

In a very well written post on Waiternotes.com titled “Self-Fulfilling Prophecies,” the author examined in-depth the price reduction strategies the owners of the two restaurants where he works have employed over the last year.  The main point revolved around how cut-rate specials were bringing in more traffic (although not more …

Large parties present a difficult choice for restaurant managers.  How many times have parties of 12, 16, or even 20 shown up at your restaurant ready to experience the great food and service you have to offer? Your initial reaction is probably: “Great!  We love more customers!” Of course you …