7 Shifts

JANUARY 26, 2021

2020 was a year that the restaurant industry won’t soon forget. From a projected record growth at the top of the year to a decline of nearly $240 billion in sales and 2.5 million out of work, it was nothing short of devastating. Through it all, we emerge from the year as an industry in evolution—and our restaurants need to evolve with it. We’re not talking about just surviving the pandemic—but thriving through 2021 and beyond, and setting new standards.

2021 370

2021 Front of House Social Media Mobile Ordering 370

Embrace the Suck

JANUARY 19, 2021

Gather ‘round and allow me to tell you a tale. The names have been changed to protect those not so innocent. Let this tale be a precautionary lesson for you to not go down the same path lest you suffer the same fate as this restaurant did. You’ve been warned—stop reading now if you’re happy with the status quo. In an average town, there was an average restaurant.

Take-out 396

Take-out Small Business Marketing Training 396

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 8, 2021

It is always safe to say: “things change”. Change is an inevitable part of life and as we all know if we fail to recognize that and adapt – we can become obsolete. Throughout history there are countless examples of those who ignore or seem paralyzed by the need to change as their industries or specific job descriptions evolve. This is reality, a reality that is quite predictable although the pace of change is now much more rapid than in the past.

2021 466

2021 Social Media Kitchen Safety Restaurant Law 466

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 27, 2021

COVID-19 has forced restaurants to rely on takeout and delivery sales to drive the majority of their sales. For some, off-premise already constituted a large percentage of their revenue, and they had the systems in place to pivot when dining rooms closed. Many others, however, had to build their off-premise operations from scratch to combat sudden dine-in closures.

Ordering 215

Ordering Online Ordering Social Media Delivery 215

Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

2025

ChowNow

JANUARY 27, 2021

If your restaurant isn’t using email marketing, now is the ideal time to start. It may seem like a big undertaking—especially given everything else you’re probably managing—but it’ll be worth your while. Restaurant email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ideas to stay top of mind, engage with your customers, and increase sales. . Online ordering has become extremely popular, so much so that digital sales will account for more than half of limited-service and quick-service sales b

Email Marketing 148

Email Marketing Marketing Online Ordering Front of House 148

Restaurant365

JANUARY 5, 2021

At long last, Congress agreed on a new $900 billion stimulus package and the president signed it into law last week. Mercifully, it contains some help for restaurant businesses hurt by the pandemic, with the inclusion of funding for a second round of forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses experiencing significant revenue losses.

Insurance 148

Insurance Small Business Employee Relations 2021 148

Embrace the Suck

JANUARY 20, 2021

The bad news : Here we are, waiting for the world to end. I know I wrote a post a little while back saying that there would be a restaurant apocalypse in 2020. I did not see this curveball coming. The good news : The world is not going to end! However, it is going to change, and to deal with that you need to get ready now. In fact, this market adjustment is needed.

Social Media 417

Social Media 2001 Online Ordering Take-out 417

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 4, 2021

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about a comment made by Chef Jeremiah Tower during our recent podcast conversation. He stated: “The restaurant industry needs an Einstein Moment.” There are numerous ways that we categorize these occurrences: Eureka moments, aha moments, or light bulb moments; but what we are referencing are those points in time when we suddenly understand the solution to a problem or the need for something that no one has pondered before.

Customer Service 452

Customer Service Customer Experience Hotels Small Business 452

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 20, 2021

While times are difficult right now, it could be the perfect opportunity to consider making some changes to your business model, including shifting to a more sustainable approach for the future. Not only is sustainability a hot topic in the restaurant industry, but certain sustainable practices can actually help you to manage risk and keep your business going if another disaster should strike.

Sustainability 215

Sustainability Food Supply Front of House Waste 215

ChowNow

JANUARY 22, 2021

Now that you’ve invested in your own restaurant app for online ordering , your next question is likely, “How do I encourage my customers to use it?”. Incentivizing app downloads is important because it gives you a boost in visibility and customer loyalty. In fact, diners who download restaurant apps order twice as often as diners who don’t, according to ChowNow internal data.

Email Marketing 148

Email Marketing Mobile Ordering Social Media Download 148

Advertiser: Paycor

Structured interview questions are a valuable tool for reducing bias in hiring. They help: Ensure all candidates are asked the same questions in the same way Level the playing field so all candidates have a fair chance of being successful Improve credibility, reliability, and validity Download the guide to get the most out of your interview questions!

Hiring

Xtra Chef

JANUARY 6, 2021

Building your restaurant’s tech stack for 2021. If you’re an xtraCHEF client, you’re already taking control of food costs, managing your inventory, improving productivity & increasing profit. Entering 2021, there are a wide range of restaurant technologies that you should consider adding to your tech stack to superpower your business.

Delivery 146

Delivery 2021 Management Management 146

Future Food

JANUARY 19, 2021

Harbord Diggers Image Via Covered Hub. Melbourne vs Sydney What makes a ‘Sydney’ restaurant? In the course of our work, we have noticed that there are some venues that just say ‘Sydney’. We also know that over the years, Sydney restaurateurs haven’t lit up the world in Melbourne (and vice versa, we might add). All of which got us thinking about why this is so: What is it about the market that creates a ‘Sydney’ venue?

Food Supply 158

Food Supply Influencer Entertainment Dine-in 158

Embrace the Suck

JANUARY 20, 2021

If you’re like the majority of restaurants and bars in your market, you’ve been struggling to find staff. Many operators are struggling to find any staff! Are they breathing? Can they form a coherent sentence? Yes? Hired! The new hires stay for a few weeks but end up leaving, and the cycle of anxiety begins again. If you feel like you’re desperate to find people, if you feel like staff treats your business like a revolving door, you need a new plan to put an end to your state o

Recruiting 384

Recruiting Coaching Hiring Take-out 384

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 23, 2021

In the restaurant business there are really only two ways to view profit: a very small amount of profit balanced by very significant volume, or a significant amount of profit on far less volume. How you approach the design of your restaurant in this regard will determine nearly everything else. How you approach profit will determine what your physical plant will look like, the scope of sophistication in your kitchen, who your vendors will be, how many employees you will hire and the depth of the

Point of Sale 450

Point of Sale Front of House Back of House Customer Experience 450

Advertisement

Driven by a diverse and exciting ecosystem of passionate, ambitious, and often young entrepreneurs, the Food & Beverage (F&B) sector is a highly competitive environment full of immense challenges and exciting opportunities. Expert Market’s 2024 industry report, sponsored by Toast, is informed by a survey of 522 U.S. food and beverage professionals, from restaurant owners to food service managers, providing insights into the real-time challenges and opportunities within the industry.

Beverage

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 25, 2021

If one thing is clear, it’s that outdoor dining is here to stay. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants have had to rethink their spaces in order to accommodate additional outdoor dining capacity. All over the country, restaurants have gotten creative to reconfigure outdoor spaces into al fresco dining areas. It makes sense that customers are wary of the indoor dining experience right now.

Outdoor 212

Outdoor Technology Customer Experience Dine-in 212

ChowNow

JANUARY 6, 2021

To say that 2020 changed the restaurant industry would be an understatement. More than 110,000 restaurants have closed permanently or long term, according to the National Restaurant Association. And as an owner or employee of a restaurant, no one is more uniquely aware of the challenges faced than you. In this blog, we’ve compiled tactics for restaurant success that will help you start 2021 on the right foot.

2021 148

2021 Mobile Ordering Online Ordering Download 148

The Eat Restaurant

JANUARY 3, 2021

The Food & Beverage industry is a constantly evolving playing field. Practices that were acceptable just a few years ago are quickly becoming phased out in favor of faster and more efficient methods of operation. One aspect of restaurant operation that has seen the most change is that of restaurant management software. Every day new systems pop-up that are able to do certain tasks in a fraction of the time and with more precision than what was previously achievable.

Management 158

Management Management 2021 Beverage 158

Indoor Media

JANUARY 22, 2021

If you want to get ahead in this world, you’ll need to get busy. If you’re a small business, you need to be advertising locally, effectively, and immediately. Depending on your business, it may feel difficult to design a new campaign from scratch. If you have a previous idea to build off of or a template you’re dying to repurpose, the path will be even easier.

Coupons 157

Coupons Advertising Small Business Customer Service 157

Advertisement

Managing HR tasks like payroll, compliance, and employee data can overwhelm small businesses. That’s where a Human Capital Management (HCM) solution comes in. Our eBook, Why Every Small Business Needs an HCM Solution: A Comprehensive Guide , shows how an HCM system automates tedious processes, ensuring your business stays compliant and efficient. You’ll learn how to simplify payroll, eliminate costly errors, and empower your employees with self-service tools.

Small Business

Embrace the Suck

JANUARY 13, 2021

Author’s Note: This is an excerpt from my new book title Your Restaurant Culture Sucks! Coming out in late February 2021. You’ve heard it said to you by every consultant out there.You need to work ON your restaurant and not IN your restaurant. Yet, here you are still slugging it out every single day doing battle on the front line. While working ON your business sounds great, it appears to you to be more like a mythical creature that you will never catch.

Coaching 360

Coaching Back of House Front of House Take-out 360

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 18, 2021

There are a handful of very significant decisions that we make in life – decisions that involve tremendous commitments of time, effort, focus, and yes – money. Starting a relationship, a decision to marry, buying a house or an expensive car, opening a business, and enrolling in college are all decisions that would be considered “monumental”. The right decision can lead you to self-awareness, long-term gratification, rewarding careers, and the foundations of family.

Customer Experience 438

Customer Experience Blog Café Education 438

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 19, 2021

Temporary pop-ups have long been a way to test a new concept without building out a full location. Creating an entire restaurant, after all, is a massive undertaking, even when not in the middle of an industry-wrecking pandemic. But, along the boulevard of online ordering, new locations are built with a handful of pixels, not a truckload of bricks. Welcome to the age of virtual restaurants.

Front of House 212

Front of House Online Ordering Food Order Small Business 212

Goliath Consulting

JANUARY 11, 2021

Now that 2021 is finally here, it’s out with the old and in with the new. And in the business side of beverages, no topic is more trendy right now than “functional beverages.” Functional drinks are just what it sounds like. They’re beverages that serve a “function,” or basically, products that claim to benefit health, wellness or performance (1). And according to The Hartman Group’s Functional Food & Beverage and Supplements 2020 report, 29 percent of consumers have been consuming more funct

Beverage 139

Beverage 2021 Consumer Goods Sports 139

Advertisement

Running a profitable restaurant requires more than great food and service. Our guide breaks down five actionable strategies to help you control costs and maximize profitability. Learn how to track and reduce food waste, optimize labor costs with smart scheduling, make data-driven decisions with regular P&L reviews, and manage fixed and variable costs efficiently.

Food

EATER

JANUARY 12, 2021

Illustration by D’Ara Nazaryan. The Food Timeline — librarian Lynne Olver’s years-long endeavor to catalog the entire history of food — was in danger of disappearing forever, but it’s found a new home at Virginia Tech’s special collections archive A few years ago, I was working on a story about bread soup when I stumbled upon a gold mine of culinary research called the Food Timeline.

Food 145

Food Book Reference 2015 145

Hot Schedules

JANUARY 25, 2021

Blog. What Is the SUTA Tax & Why Is It Going Up in 2021? I t’s probably fair to say that most entrepreneurs didn’t give much thought to the complexities around payroll management and taxes before starting a business and hiring employees. The fact of the matter is that business owners have a variety of tax obligations, and there are likely acronyms like SUTA (State Unemployment Tax Act) and FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) you’ve never heard of before that you need to know as they relate

2021 148

2021 Insurance Employee Relations 2020 148

Embrace the Suck

JANUARY 19, 2021

What’s going on with you? Seriously—why haven’t you started taking action on your big goals for this year yet? Still, waiting for a couple of key elements to fall into place? The position of the moon not favorable for this grand venture? Do you need to hire that one person who will allow you the time? Here are three words to write down: b t, b t, and b t.

Back of House 348

Back of House Take-out Reference Hiring 348

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 12, 2021

Our industry recently lost a giant of the professional kitchen. Chef Phil Learned stood tall in the kitchen of The Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch, NH. In its day, the Balsams was one of the finest destination resorts in the country – a place of elegant relaxation, beautiful surroundings, and most notably – exceptional food. This place tucked away in the hills of the northeast represented the epitome of culinary arts in their American Plan dining room.

Seasonal Menu 472

Seasonal Menu 2005 Hotels Customer Service 472

Speaker: Joe Sharpe and James Carlson

Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.

Management

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 4, 2021

2020 was difficult for everyone, and the restaurant industry wasn’t spared. With millions out of work and nearly 100,000 restaurants closing, the industry took a hard hit. $165 billion in revenue was lost just from March to July, and it’s estimated to be $240 billion by the end of the year, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Advertising 208

Advertising 2021 Small Business Customer Service 208

A Wine Story

JANUARY 27, 2021

Virtual Wine Tasting Kits. Virtual Wine Tasting Kits Virtual Wine Tasting Kits. How could any wine lover endure the pandemic without them? The Unified Wine Symposium recently featured an informative seminar about virtual wine tasting kits. These may shape the wine tasting experience of the future. Virtual Wine Tasting Kits The phrase “virtual wine tasting kits” is something of a misnomer.

Seminar 148

Seminar Email Marketing Consumer Goods Events 148

EATER

JANUARY 14, 2021

The imagery of veganism propagated by the wellness industry erases the long — and often radical — history of plant-based diets in the Black diaspora I used to think of pork as a life-giving food. One of my happiest childhood memories is shaking a fat pork chop in a Ziploc bag full of Shake ’n Bake seasoning before my grandmother slapped a few on a tray and put them in the oven.

Food Order 145

Food Order Consumer Goods Seasonal Menu Influencer 145

Indoor Media

JANUARY 1, 2021

Today, legal blogging is a competitive world. Many law firms have turned to blogging to reach potential clients and keep their brand relevant during Covid-19. The pandemic may have limited how businesses pursue client outreach, but it’s also created a competitive content market online. While it may look easy, there’s actually a lot to running a successful legal blog.

Blog 148

Blog Advertising SEO Article 148

Speaker: Igli Laci, Strategic Finance Leader

In today’s competitive market, pricing is more than just a number — it’s the cornerstone of profitability. The right pricing strategy ensures that you capture the true value of your offering, paving the way for sustainable growth and long-term success. Join Igli Laci, Strategic Finance Leader, in this exclusive session where he will explore how a well-crafted pricing approach balances customer perception with business objectives, creating a powerful tool for securing both competitive advantage a

Pricing