Posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
While a typical restaurant owner would freak out, and maybe hyperventilate, upon hearing his employees hurl insults at his customers, Barry Nemerow and Larry Gold wouldn’t bat an eye. In fact, they’d beam with pride and encourage their employees to intensify their insults and maybe throw a French fry here and there. Nemerow and Gold own the famous Wieners Circle, a ...
Posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
There is a growing breed of consumers developing in the food market, who are eager to have their dining needs fulfilled. Meet your new customer: flexitarians. While the demographic of vegetarians and vegans in the U.S. is still a relatively small percentage of the population, vegetarian-inclined consumers are a much larger group. They’ve been dubbed “flexitarians” and they’re looking for ...
Posted on Monday, May 14th, 2012
Thinking About Offering a Deal? Read This First. Is business slow? Do you need to find a way to bring in new customers? Are you thinking about offering a deal? Hold on. Not so fast. Offering a deal might not be such a great idea, because it’s been proven that a special deal rarely helps a restaurant thrive in the long ...
Posted on Friday, May 11th, 2012
When the Institute of Medicine released its report, “Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States,” several years ago, the American food industry had to start taking action to make a long-term, collaborative effort to reduce America’s high sodium intake. As a restaurant owner, it’s time to start shaking that saltshaker less. Customers are asking for it, and your ...
Posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2012
We’re all hard-wired to be influenced by visual marketing. On average, we see 3,000 ads per day. Think about all the ads you’ve seen so far today. How many do you actually remember? Because your brain doesn’t fully register things that don’t catch your attention, you ignore most of the ads you see. That’s why companies spend big bucks on ...
Posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Many restaurant owners will need to tackle a commercial lease negotiation at least once or twice in their careers. Discussing terms with a landlord or experienced agent can be a daunting task, especially against savvy brokers and real estate agents who negotiate leases for a living. Their job is to sell restaurant tenants on leasing their locations at the highest ...
Posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
It’s 2012. That means everyone and their mother has heard of Yelp by now. With millions of reviews by real people, Yelp is widely considered to be the ultimate resource when it comes to checking out local businesses. The very existence of Yelp and its great success proves that millions of people love to put in their two cents, whether ...
Posted on Monday, May 7th, 2012
Should you restaurant be utilizing mobile marketing? The truth is that mobile is the Jekyll and Hyde of the marketing world. With the popularity of smartphones and apps and location-based mobile services, the importance of using this powerful tool to communicate with consumers is hard to ignore; however, there are some obstacles to overcome when looking to add a mobile ...
Posted on Friday, May 4th, 2012
Did you know that more than 60% of Americans own at least one dog? That’s almost 187 million dog lovers! A good chunk of those people like to bring their dogs everywhere. We all know that one person who considers his dog his child; he has a special spot in his car for his dog, brings his dog along while ...
Posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
You have a responsibility to your customers to ensure that you are following proper safety procedures to provide a dining experience that is safe for both you and your business. Even a single case of food poisoning can destroy a restaurant’s reputation. In your restaurant, you are producing large quantities of food in a short time frame, and without following ...
Posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Did you know that the main reason 8 out of 10 US businesses fail is because they don’t make enough sales to sustain their business? It goes without saying that your business must bring in enough revenue in order to stay afloat. Sometimes, especially during slow months, it may be a daunting task to keep the cash register ringing. Instead ...
Posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
Local marketing can be incredibly effective, especially for a small business. Larger media advertising isn’t right for a smaller business, in addition to being tremendously expensive. Using local marketing tactics can build a loyal and strong customer base in the 5 to 10-mile radius around your restaurant location, and can have the kind of impact you need to secure new ...
Posted on Monday, April 30th, 2012
Everyone has a favorite restaurant. If you asked me a few years ago to pick mine, I’d choose this vegan restaurant in the north side of Chicago. Oh, man, did I rave about that place to every single person I met! I left a glowing review on Yelp, brought all of my out-of-town visitors there, and had my heart set ...
Posted on Friday, April 27th, 2012
Ethnic foods are becoming increasingly mainstream in recent years, and the market is ripe for new ethnic concepts, menu items, and restaurants. Access to ethnic ingredients is getting easier and cheaper, and as our fries-and-burger loving population becomes more multicultural, they are looking for new tastes and food experiences. The once-exotic taco is longer even considered ethnic; welcome to the ...
Posted on Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Once upon a time, a gentleman so engrossed into a gambling game found himself hungry, but he didn’t want to leave his game to have a proper table meal with a plate, utensils, and a linen napkins. Like the intelligent man he was, he came up with a solution: a meal he could eat with his hands, right at the ...
Posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
Conflict is inevitable when running a restaurant. Employee disputes are a normal, if utterly vexing, part of your operations. However, they can be incredibly embarrassing and damaging if they happen in front of customers, and discord among your employees can make a smoothly running operation turn into a train wreck. Good employees can quit. Too many unresolved issues can be hazardous ...
Posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
If you haven’t heard of the blogosphere, we have news for you: you’re missing out on a valuable marketing tool for your business! The blogosphere is a wonderful tight-knit virtual community full of prospective customers eager to hear what you have to say, connect with you, and, if they end up liking what you have, spread the word about your ...
Posted on Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Two sushi concepts are taking the U.S. by storm, and leading the way in national fast-casual sushi chains. While sushi is popular in the United States, there are no major national brands. But that’s about to change. First get ready for the United Kingdom-based YO! Sushi. Founded in 1997, it introduced a slice of urban Tokyo to London consumers with kaiten ...
Posted on Friday, April 20th, 2012
Craving pizza, but too tired to dig up a pizzeria’s phone number and call them? Fear not! If you live in Dubai, we have a solution for you. Three words: VIP fridge magnet. It’s a magnet that, when pushed, automatically orders pizza for you. Red Tomato Pizza, which is located in Dubai, invented the unconventional ordering method and launched it ...
Posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2012
The health and safety of your employees is vastly important, especially when it comes to your bottom line. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), productivity losses related to employee health can cost an employer more than $1,500 per employee every year, reaching an estimated $260 billion in total losses. Slips, falls, and germs can be expensive! By ...
Posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
As Trevor Baylis (the Brit who invented the wind-up radio) puts it, “The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress. As long as you’ve got slightly more perception than the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something.” Now, if you want people to notice your restaurant, take another look at the quote above. ...
Posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
QR (quick response) codes are the evolution of barcodes, and through their unique properties they have completely revolutionized marketing. You’ve seen them everywhere, from magazines to storefronts to brochures to product packaging, and for good reason. Consumers love the interactive and easy nature of these square codes, and businesses love the incredible power inherent in this new technology. QR codes feature ...
Posted on Monday, April 16th, 2012
In 1826, the 6th president of America was in office, people wrote with quill pens, Ludwig Van Beethoven performed at the piano, and the Union Oyster House opened on Union Street in Boston. Now, 186 years later, quill pens, John Quincy Adams, and Beethoven are long gone, but the Union Oyster House is still up and running. A designated national historic ...
Posted on Friday, April 13th, 2012
Good service. It’s the reason customers return to a restaurant. The food or the atmosphere plays a role in enticing guests, but the service can make or break the entire customer experience. Whether you own a small café or a five star restaurant, your guests expect a certain level of courtesy, respect, and service from your staff when they choose ...
Posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Sometimes, when we think of a certain restaurant, we sigh dreamily and say, “if only I could eat there every day.” Many different factors, some of which include food, dining companions, and service, make up a memorable dining experience, but sometimes it takes only one for a person to fall in love with a restaurant. We took the liberty to ...
Posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Now that you’ve established your concept and the type of service your restaurant will offer, you can begin finding the right people. The following is a primer on different types of positions you may (or may not) need. You don’t want to leave a vital position unstaffed, so be sure to keep in mind all the recommendations from 'Tips to ...
Posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
A 2009 study showed that the average household spent $1,650 per year on dining out. That same year, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the country had 113,567,967 households. That means in 2009, about $187 billion was spent in restaurants alone! Dining out and being waited on was considered a luxury that was exclusive to the wealthy until the invention of ...
Posted on Monday, April 9th, 2012
The Hispanic market is the youngest, largest, fastest-growing, and most underserved market in the U.S. By 2016, this demographic is forecasted to comprise 17.8 percent of U.S. residents, increasing its already substantial impact on the U.S. economy. And as the nation’s Hispanic population surges, their buying power soars. The Hispanic market’s buying power is set to grow 50 percent in ...
Posted on Saturday, April 7th, 2012
Did you know that Earth Day has been around for 42 years? Now, it’s a worldwide celebration! At least 175 countries observe Earth Day by hosting events, raising awareness about the environment, and, ultimately, being kind to Mother Earth. Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd each year. During its infancy in the 1970s, it was observed by over 20 ...
Posted on Friday, April 6th, 2012
If you are opening a restaurant for the first time, you will need to specify which positions you must fill in order to successfully run your restaurant. The same is true if you are an established business and simply have to hire again due to employee turnover. Like the army, restaurant staffing is predominantly hierarchical, with everyone having a title ...
Posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2012
We’ve all been there. At least once in our lives, we’ve walked out of a restaurant thinking something like, “Did they actually just serve me a fly in my soup?!” On the bright side, a bad dining experience makes a very entertaining story. We took the liberty to collect a few crazy, appalling, and funny accounts from real customers around the ...
Posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012
You know a restaurant has surpassed their own expectations when people come back just for their pre-meal bread. Like they say, first impressions last forever. While it’s next to impossible to wow customers with a glass of water (unless it came with a silly straw), pre-meal bread is where you make the move. Picture a new customer sinking his teeth ...
Posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2012
Naming your restaurant is one of the most critical decisions for your business. While a restaurant doesn’t sell itself on its name alone, it is one of the most important elements of your business model. One could go so far as to say that the right name can make or break you. Because really, who wants to eat at Captain ...
Posted on Friday, March 30th, 2012
A recent web survey revealed that not only do one in eight Americans habitually tip 10% or less, a quarter of these people completely stiff their servers! Unfortunately, I know people who fall into the latter category. One time, I was out with an independently wealthy friend I had known for years. When our check came, we agreed that I’d ...
Posted on Thursday, March 29th, 2012
Millennials are a particularly valuable target market for restaurants. Millennials, loosely defined as the group of about 80 million young men and women who were born in the 80s and 90s, spend an estimated $78 billion in restaurants each year, and spend more of their income on food than any other generation. Now is when they are moving into their ...
Posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
No restaurant that serves food that has been frozen, canned, or pre-made by another company can truthfully market their dishes as “fresh, delicious, and better than mom’s cooking”. While culinary excellence is not a mandatory part of being a mom, it is expected of a restaurant to produce mouth-watering dishes no ordinary person could whip up at home. If a ...
Posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
Catering is an excellent opportunity to increase both your revenue and your customer base. Your patrons already love your food and the experience your restaurant provides - being able to bring that same experience to their special event can build stronger loyalty and introduce your restaurant and cuisine to an entirely new audience. And making the move to add catering ...
Posted on Monday, March 26th, 2012
Even though flying cars, teleporting, and robot maids have yet to be introduced to the world, interactive touch-sensitive tables beat these popular futuristic concepts to the punch and started giving us a taste of the future in 2008, courtesy of London’s own Inamo Restaurant. Called E-Table, the interactive ordering system is designed to give patrons “more control over their dining experience”. ...
Posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2012
There are many benefits to recycling in commercial kitchens, and recycling is becoming an important strategy to reducing operating costs and waste. Restaurants produce large quantities of food, which in turn produce large quantities of waste. Through the costs of uneaten or spoiled food and trash handling fees, this ends up being a major expense for restaurant operators. Engaging in ...
Posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
Can you accurately describe the last cow you saw? How about a cow from five years ago? Ten years ago? Chances are you can’t even remember what color it was. Let’s say you’re driving on a country road, and you come across a farm with a sea of cows munching on grass. All the cows are white and brown, except for ...
Posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
Operating a restaurant involves many unavoidable expenses, including labor costs. Predominantly including hourly wages for staff members, labor costs are typically understood as a percentage of sales. To figure your labor cost, use the equation: Payroll / Total sales = Labor Cost Percentage Many restaurants hope to run a labor percentage below about 30 percent. If those costs begin to rise, a restaurateur’s ...
Posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
Over a century ago, the Native Americans said, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” We seem to have lost sight of this philosophy over the years, but we’re slowly taking it back into consideration. Back in our grandparents’ day, being eco-friendly was the norm. Today, it’s considered a fad. Many hope ...
Posted on Monday, March 19th, 2012
Understanding what customers want and addressing their concerns to heighten their satisfaction can create a critical competitive advantage in the restaurant industry. Meaningful feedback from your customers can be invaluable when it comes to revealing recurring problems and underdeveloped opportunities, and to recapture disappointed customers. Technology has changed not only the way restaurants obtain relevant customer feedback, but also how quickly ...
Posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012
Remember the food pills on The Jetsons? If you grew up watching the show, you probably fantasized about having broccoli in pill form, just so sneaking it to the family dog would be easier. With the direction our food industry is headed, your childhood fantasy just might come true. In fact, we’re already popping food pills. We have diet capsules, protein ...
Posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Involving your business in charitable activities can do more than just make you feel good. It’s a way to build your brand and connect with your community. It gains the respect and trust of your patrons. You have an awesome opportunity to not only answer solicitations for charitable donations and sponsorships, but to actively create a philanthropic strategy that will ...
Posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
These days, who has time to dig up a restaurant’s phone number, find out its business hours, pick up the phone, listen to loud music while being on hold, and wait for the host to look up available time slots in order to reserve a table? Because we live in an era of convenience, people no longer have the patience ...
Posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Your business has grown to the point where you’re looking to expand into new markets and new customer bases. Congratulations! This is an exciting time for you and your restaurant. And now might be the perfect time to hire an outside marketing agency to make every new move a smart one. You’re ready to make a significant investment in the ...
Posted on Monday, March 12th, 2012
McDonald’s isn’t exactly a cornerstone of ethical business practices. When it comes to the quality and nutrition of their food offerings, their relationship with their labor force, and their continued presence in negative publicity, the corporation leaves much to be desired. However, McDonald’s is a powerful force in the restaurant industry, domestically and globally, so every move it makes is ...
Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012
As the U.S. recovers from the economic downturn and most industries still remain in a tenuous position, the restaurant industry is seeing more and more light at the end of the tunnel. Outlook reports from both the National Restaurant Association as well as the market research firm Packaged Facts project sales growth to reach 4.2 percent and for the roughly one ...
Posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012
Only in America would you find places like Disney World, the Great Lakes, and the Heart Attack Grill. The Heart Attack Grill is a restaurant situated in Las Vegas, and, as far as we know, it's the only place in the world that glorifies bad health. Unlike fast food joints, the Heart Attack Grill proudly acknowledges their contribution to obesity by ...
Posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner. If you’re a restaurant owner who’s thinking about grabbing a few green drinks at a bar somewhere, here’s a better idea: party at your own restaurant! Being at work during a holiday may seem like a drag, but in this case, you’ll get to have fun and your restaurant will get some ...
Posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
Purchasing a restaurant POS system is like buying a car. You rely on your car to travel from point A to point B, and your restaurant relies on its POS system to move the needle from point A to point B. The POS system is the driving force behind the restaurant. It’s a huge investment in your business, so you ...
Posted on Monday, March 5th, 2012
Any restaurant owner knows that a high turnover rate is expensive. From the costs of hiring and training new employees to funneling resources away from your operations in a still-lagging economy, the time and money required to counteract turnover rates is staggering. And there is no guarantee that the investment of hiring and training new employees will pay off, as ...
Posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Your mother told you to eat your veggies. Now, she’s responsible for your bread and butter, too. The market segment occupied by moms is massive and vastly important to the restaurant industry. There are nearly 32 million moms in the U.S., and their purchasing power accounts for nearly $1.6 trillion in annual spending. Moms are the primary decision makers on ...
Posted on Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Have you ever been forced to drop your plans to dine at a restaurant because their poorly-designed website didn’t offer important helpful information like their address, hours, or menu? Unfortunately, a lot of people have. In the restaurant industry, inadequate websites are a dime a dozen. In this case, an inadequate website doesn’t necessarily mean a bare-bones Angelfire website riddled with ...
Posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
I often hear people sigh dreamily and say, “I’ve always wanted to own a restaurant. It would be so fun and glamorous!” While some restaurateurs would roll their eyes at such a naïve statement, I usually smile because, to me, it means restaurateurs everywhere have succeeded in making the public believe that a restaurant is a peaceful, relaxing sanctuary from ...
Posted on Monday, February 27th, 2012
Coming up with the right names and descriptions for your menu items is both a science and an art. Your menu has the power to entice, to tempt, and to create a compelling and vivid depiction of the type of experience each dish promises. It’s another piece of your marketing puzzle, and something that has amazing potential to do great ...
Posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012
Daniel Boulud is one of the world’s best chefs. He is energetic and innovative, which puts him ahead of others. He has multiple top-rated restaurants and 1,200 employees scattered around the world in New York City, Vegas, Singapore, Palm Beach, Beijing, and Montreal. Not only is he an amazing chef, Boulud is also a world-renowned restaurateur who lives and breathes ...
Posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Not read part one? 'Should your restaurant go organic? Part 1: The Pros' The organic food trend has taken off and restaurants everywhere are trying to get their piece of the organic pie. From more sustainable agriculture to healthier, safer foods, organic foods and products are rich with benefits. But should your restaurant make the jump into a ...
Posted on Friday, February 17th, 2012
Although food trucks have been around for years, the rolling reign of food trucks has officially launched. In the past year, the mobile food industry has exploded onto the scene, from the East Coast to the West. With chefs offering delicious, affordable, and fun food, while using social media brilliantly, the food truck culture has finally found its niche. Trust with ...
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