Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

Look deeply into these businesses and the people who own and operate them and you will see an unrelenting effort towards achieving excellence in design, product quality, efficiency, value, and service. The culture of these businesses insists on the relentless pursuit of greatness. It is your job to SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.

Uniforms 450

Uniforms Fine Dining Small Business Customer Service 450

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

What changes might occur in your operation if everyone was required to sign their work and take public responsibility for it? Maybe, just maybe, that name on their uniform is the same as signing their work – something that the individual wants to respect with a “best foot forward”.

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Seminar Front of House Back of House Workshop 426

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 20, 2021

Respect for fellow workers, for the safety of the guest, for the image of the operation, for pride in work, and for the traditions of the profession begin with cleaning. www.harvestamericacues.com – BLOG. Everything is everyone’s job. At the top of the list is cleaning! PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER. Learn by doing. CAFÉ Talks Podcast.

Front of House 482

Front of House Uniforms Back of House Kitchen Safety 482

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 15, 2020

Take pride in the chef’s uniform. The uniform represents a proud history of exceptionally committed professionals who made it possible for the restaurant industry to be such an important part of people’s lives. When you wear that uniform you are paying respect to them. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. Be a proud cook.

Uniforms 384

Uniforms 2000 Consumer Goods Small Business 384

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

What if you, with your name stitched on the face of your uniform had to deliver that plate of food to the guest and introduce yourself in the process: “May name is Jack Jones, and I prepared this dish”? For this to work, that chef/operator must instill that importance in their staff. Not a clip-on name tag, a part of the uniform.

Uniforms 439

Uniforms Article Café Small Business 439

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

I see it through the eyes of the operator, the chef, the cook, server, and customer – it is a virus that continues to spread and grow exponentially.

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Training Customer Service Uniforms Leadership 423

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 29, 2024

We have labored over the effects of this change but have been very slow to reinvent the way that we do business – to once again, create an environment where individuals relish the opportunity to learn and grow as cooks, exhibit passion about the craft, wear their uniforms with pride, and feel great about saying: “I’m a cook!”

Kitchen Safety 440

Kitchen Safety Guest Recovery Uniforms Food Safety 440

Culinary Cues

MARCH 21, 2022

Front and back of the house demand this organization if the end result is a smooth operation and happy guest. When a chef talks about those minute details of placement, process, timing, and uniformity – keep in mind what the intended result will be. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER.

Front of House 424

Front of House Back of House Point of Sale Food Order 424

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 29, 2022

When the house is operated in the way it should, the way it was meant to be; when the property is committed to doing things right, when the standards are high and the expectations even higher, then a serious cook can find a home to celebrate. My answer is: “If this is the case then you are in the wrong operation.”

Uniforms 450

Uniforms Café Training Operations 450

Culinary Cues

MARCH 10, 2022

One of the hidden painful costs of operating a kitchen comes from the cost of chemicals used in the dish area. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. Think about this: The most expensive piece of equipment in kitchens is the dishwashing machine. Who is responsible for this machine? The dish washer! Who is in control of this?

Front of House 450

Front of House Back of House Uniforms Hiring 450

Culinary Cues

JUNE 26, 2021

Owners and operators will typically shake their heads at initial designs holding their ground that “chefs” like to create elaborate kitchen palaces that they really don’t need and that they (the owners) can’t afford to build. Are hospital administrators fine with operating rooms that are not quite right?

Design 434

Design Fine Dining Uniforms Waste 434

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 4, 2022

It is apathy that kills a restaurant, not environmental factors that make operation challenging. We need to stand up and fight apathy, stand up against mediocrity and push hard for excellence as the standard of operation. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. Now is the time to renounce apathy and commit to excellence.

Front of House 401

Front of House Back of House Coaching Customer Service 401

Culinary Cues

JULY 6, 2020

They may be tweaked a bit – after all, a lot has changed over the past five months, but for the most part – the rules of operation that cooks have always lived by, are still the rules. Your principles, and those of the cooks who proudly wear the uniform of the kitchen, are your stakes in the ground. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG.

Kitchen Safety 520

Kitchen Safety Uniforms Presentation Café 520

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Isn’t it the same reality in a full-service operation where pushing the numbers is priority number 1? Right down to their station set-up, organization of pans, cleanliness of cookware, uniforms, the way they cut vegetables and fillet a whole fish – excellence is a habit – make it so! [] SHOW NO TOLERANCE FOR MEDIOCRITY IN ANYTHING.

Customer Service 417

Customer Service Customer Experience Point of Sale Presentation 417

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

I relish great restaurant experiences, take pride in the operations where I have worked, feel connected to nearly anyone who works in professional kitchens and restaurants, and admire restaurant folks who find comfort in being the best that they can be. Walk through the operation as a guest would. Plain and simple.

Fine Dining 444

Fine Dining Front of House Customer Service Customer Experience 444

Culinary Cues

JULY 14, 2023

If you are opening a full-service, high-end restaurant then make sure that it is unbelievably great, a restaurant that becomes a destination, the type of operation that is a benchmark for everyone else, a place that gets people excited and leaves them scratching their head wondering: “how can any restaurant be that great?”

Cash Management 372

Cash Management Uniforms Food Supply Café 372

Culinary Cues

MARCH 26, 2022

How everyone cares for their grooming, their uniform, their attitude, their hospitality persona; the way they treat each other and the respect they show for the ingredients they use; how honest they are and how they care for the space and equipment they use is all part of that professionalism package. [] NOT KNOWING LABOR LAW.

Cash Management 439

Cash Management Social Media Restaurant Law Communication 439

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

From a purely economic perspective – cooks have a real impact on the national economy, the quarterly jobs reports, and the operation of more than 1 million restaurants that are part of the economic pulse of communities from New York to California and Chicago to New Orleans. Let’s look at the hard data first: In the U.S. there are 1.3

Consumer Goods 467

Consumer Goods Uniforms Café Blog 467

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Even the most loyal guest will start to drift away if they can’t depend on the service, the product, or the hours of operation. Before you close and shift hours of operation think completely about the potential domino effect. [] NOT INVESTING IN COMPETENT EMPLOYEES. Every operation that serves prepared food is your competition.

Cash Management 324

Cash Management Point of Sale Leadership Website Management 324

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Yet tomorrow morning you will wake well before sunrise, put on that starched, white uniform, walk through those kitchen doors and face the challenges of a chef once again. The body sometimes begins to lose a step with age even when the other aspects of a chefs being are still operating a peak performance. PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER.

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Seating Uniforms Take-out Communication 572

Culinary Cues

APRIL 30, 2023

Did that experienced, higher than normal paid employee contribute to the operation as you intended? This is the most important measure of success when it comes to investment in people or ingredients.” Did those high-priced ingredients build on the perceived value of the restaurant in the eyes of the guest?

Employee Relations 476

Employee Relations Sports Pricing Hiring 476

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 14, 2024

The media went from bowing their heads when a chef walked into a room to seeking out the angry and disgruntled, the outliers and the pundits, the cooks who are unworthy of the uniform and the tattered and worn who are simply burned out from aligning with the wrong operations.

Uniforms 374

Uniforms Book Article Café 374

Culinary Cues

MAY 20, 2024

Looking back, Escoffier would probably admit, to some degree, that this was not the best approach and would encourage chefs and operators to build in this balance. His kitchen organization: the kitchen brigade, revolutionized how the back of the house operated, and the experience of the restaurant guest.

Hotels 327

Hotels Front of House Fine Dining Back of House 327

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 31, 2019

All in” refers to a physiological, mental, emotional, and even spiritual connection to the work, to the operation, and to the greater culture of culinary arts. Owners and operators expect it, peers expect it, staff demand it, and customers just have a feeling that the chef is always present. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG.

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Reference Uniforms Take-out Social Media 346

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

After a couple years she moved back here as the chef of her current operation. Today you will meet everyone on the team and learn just how important a great dishwasher is to the operation. Now, let’s get you in uniform and I’ll walk you through the kitchen.” It was intimidating at first – very formal, very structured.

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Back of House Hotels Uniforms Certification 321

Culinary Cues

APRIL 9, 2024

You were on fire and felt confident that you would be a star in any operation. Your uniform is right, knives sharp, and the skills you developed over the past two years were second nature. The smells in the kitchen were intoxicating as were the sounds a cool, calm, and efficient operation. Are you okay with that?” Embrace it.

Uniforms 395

Uniforms Waste Café Take-out 395

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 28, 2023

You know this voice is present the minute you walk into a dining room or step foot in the kitchen – there is an energy hard to deny; an energy that permeates every part of the operation. Uniforms will be pristine, the demeanor of cooks will be professional, knives will be sharp, and pans scrubbed clean.

Food Supply 436

Food Supply Dine-in Uniforms Presentation 436

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Respect for the place where you work, those who own and operate the business and the physical property for which you are responsible is paramount. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. Be that person. PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER. Harvest America Ventures, LLC. Restaurant Consulting. CAFÉ Talks Podcast.

2021 467

2021 Point of Sale Take-out Reference 467

Culinary Cues

MARCH 24, 2020

And – due to the level of split second communication that takes place throughout a kitchen day – these operations develop their own language that is a cross between French, Italian, and street-smart urban English. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. So, now the cook’s restaurant is closed. PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER.

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Take-out Uniforms Food Order Blog 364

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

DISSHOVELED APPEARANCE: When a once professional looking (well groomed, uniform clean and pressed, shoes clean, station in impeccable order) cook begins to look like he or she simply doesn’t care any longer, then it’s time to pay attention. If they respond: “I’m fine” when you know they are not, this is a call to action.

Employee Relations 441

Employee Relations Training Fine Dining Take-out 441

Culinary Cues

JUNE 16, 2020

Time will quickly tell as restaurants begin to open and operators try to coax back those cooks, chefs, and servers to an industry that still has a few warts that need to be addressed. Part of listening is to acknowledge the problems that are systemic in the restaurant business as well as those that are unique to your operation.

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Social Media Entertainment Email Marketing Customer Experience 334

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

It is important to their outlook on life. [] PROFESSIONALISM: Grooming, uniform, respect for others, dependability, work ethic, honesty, cost consciousness, and respect for the ingredients that cooks work with – the best cooks approach their craft as consummate professionals. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG.

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Education Consumer Goods Training Back of House 358

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

So, what if we defined these for a restaurant operation (their meaning will vary to some degree depending on the concept of the restaurant) and built them into the same ring model used on my Apple Watch? Have you established a uniform and grooming standard in your restaurant and is it equitably enforced?

Fine Dining 388

Fine Dining Dine-in Front of House Design 388

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

I have built a reasonable set of technical skills along the way, and have learned – through trial and error, how to become a better than average chef and manager of kitchen operations. When I see a cook in a clean uniform taking a quick break from his or her work – I feel his or her condition and appreciate whom they are.

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Uniforms Food Order Presentation Fine Dining 191

Hot Schedules

MAY 21, 2020

How the COVID pandemic forced them to update operations, sanitation, communication and much more. Designate a single employee per shift—ideally with a clearly identifiable uniform or badge for customers to recognize—to oversee safety and sanitation measures.”. Reopening Lessons from Two Independent Restaurateurs. Related Posts.

Back of House 148

Back of House Employee Relations FOH BOH 148

Goliath Consulting

MARCH 19, 2021

With most restaurant operators in a tighter bind to find new talent, high employee turnover has come at a greater cost. Here we suggest five operators can reduce employee turnover. You can read more about what work culture is and how you can make a great one in our previous blog article here (17). The Takeaway.

Recruiting 195

Recruiting Small Business Magazine Hiring 195

Focus POS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

While curbside pickup and delivery operations were able to hold many different restaurants over, for the time being, the ban on indoor alcohol sales was a little trickier to get around. However, the regulations aren’t entirely uniform across the board for how restaurants can offer this service. However, the regulations aren’t uniform.

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License Restaurant Law Online Ordering Uniforms 162