April, 2023

article thumbnail

Learn from the greats: 10 extraordinary restaurants that every owner should study

Open for Business

No one knows better than hospitality pros that restaurants give cities and towns their local flavor. OpenTable wants diners to appreciate this, too. That’s why we tapped local experts in 17+ cities across North America to write up their authoritative and opinionated guides to the restaurants that infuse their hometowns with a vibrant sense of place.

article thumbnail

YOU THINK YOU KNOW HOW TO BE A CHEF

Culinary Cues

It is the classic diatribe – “I can do that better that the chef. I’ve been cooking for 15years now; I should be the chef.” Fine, that may be the case but let’s just see. If it’s your time and you’re ready then make it happen, find your spot, push for the job, step up and show them what you’ve got. But, for a moment, let’s take inventory: [] CHECK YOUR REPERTOIRE: You need not remember every ingredient, in every dish, but you must understand the methods and the result.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Wage Inequity is Plaguing the Restaurant Industry. Here’s How Four Restaurants are Fighting It.

7 Shifts

The restaurant industry has a wage problem. It's one of the only industries where workers can legally be paid under the already low Federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Restaurants can operate while paying staff a sub-minimum wage of just $2.13 an hour, leaving the rest of an employee's compensation up to the good will of customers in the form of tips.

article thumbnail

THE RETURN OF RESTAURANT EXPERIENCES

Sante

Over the past three years, something interesting occurred that was not predicted.

Reference 237
article thumbnail

Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

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.

article thumbnail

The Secrets to Successful Catering

Modern Restaurant Management

A strong catering business can be a restaurant’s biggest moneymaker. You know exactly how many people you’re going to serve, how many portions will be provided, what the cost is, what you’re going to charge and what your net profit will be. Most of the year, catering can comprise 10 to 15 percent of your total sales, but during December, if 20 percent of sales are not coming from catering, you’re missing an opportunity.

Catering 197
article thumbnail

How 3 Top Restaurant Brands Are Helping the Environment

Crunchtime

From fast-casual to full-service, restaurant guests across all formats are paying closer attention to how their favorite brands are offsetting the environmental impact of their operations. According to Forbes, 88% of consumers are more loyal to brands that support social or environmental issues. As a result, sustainability has become more than just a buzzword; it’s a driving factor for purchasing decisions and consumer loyalty.

More Trending

article thumbnail

6 Operational Learnings from Burger King, Culver’s, and Chipotle

Crunchtime

With the speed of change in the industry, restaurants face a range of new challenges that make it more difficult than ever to control profitability and deliver great guest experiences. In Cruchtime’s recent webinar , our prestigious panel of operations experts from Burger King, Culver’s, and Chipotle shared the best practices on how to compete consistently and profitably in every location, from ensuring quality team execution and training to managing the two most impactful costs to the business

article thumbnail

What is Tip Credit? Pros and Cons for Owners and Employees

The Eat Restaurant

In the United States, the federal minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 per hour and believe it or not, this amount has not been increased since 1991. The difference between the tipped minimum wage and the standard federal minimum cash wage is known as a tip credit.

147
147
article thumbnail

Spring clean: 10 tips to help ensure your ice machine meets top hygiene standards

Clean Ice

Ice safety is just as important as food safety, so we are sharing a few top tips to help you maintain your ice machine and the quality or of your ice. Clean Ice handling tips 1. Wash hands – The person dispensing ice from the machine or the storage bin should wash and dry their hands thoroughly before starting the task. 2. Clean utensils – The ice should always be removed from the machine using a clean utensil such as a scoop (hands should never be used). 3.

article thumbnail

DON’T PAINT THE BUSINESS WITH THE SAME BRUSH

Culinary Cues

The past year has been quite disconcerting for those of us who have dedicated our careers to the kitchen. To some it may simply seem like the squeaky wheel syndrome (a handful of people with loud voices) as dialogue about exodus from the restaurant business continues to raise eyebrows. I hear enough comments from cooks (new and well-seasoned) who say they had enough, the business is horrible, lacking in any form of empathy, poorly managed, uncaring abusers of hard workers, proponents of sadistic

article thumbnail

Reduce Bias in Hiring: Structured Interview Questions for Employers

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!

article thumbnail

How can specialty coffee roasters use blends to drive brand identity?

Perfect Daily Grind

There’s no denying the fact that specialty coffee blends are becoming more and more popular. Alongside offering a range of single origin coffees, developing blends allows roasters to create new but consistent products which cater to a range of taste preferences. There is plenty of opportunity for coffee roasters to capitalise on the opportunity that blends present.

Article 177
article thumbnail

Top-Effective Tech Solutions to Improve Profits

Modern Restaurant Management

Most restaurants (76 percent) are currently using automation in three or more areas of operation and agree that certain roles are more automatable than others, according to Capterra research The survey also found that more than half of restaurant leaders say front-of-house restaurant workers can easily be automated with today’s technology, and nearly all restaurants today (96 percent) use automation tools in their back-of-house operations.

article thumbnail

Summer HVAC and Refrigeration Tips for Restaurants

Goliath Consulting

Summer is just around the corner. It’s time to break out the patio furniture and put the heaters away in storage. With the warmer temperatures approaching, every savvy restaurateur knows to retrieve their end of spring checklist to guarantee this season is as smooth as it can be. Preventative maintenance is key to protecting your bottom line. From refrigeration to HVAC, there are multiple things you can do to ensure your restaurant operates free of preventable mechanical woes that stand in your

article thumbnail

Is it Time to Take the Plunge and Renovate Your Restaurant?

The Rail

By Indiana Lee, Contributor Restaurant owners must adjust to the times and find new ways to create the best place in town. While you may have had a good run for a while, you might see business decline as fewer patrons come through the doors. And there are a myriad of reasons why you might be seeing a slowdown in business, each with their own unique solution, including it may be time to renovate.

article thumbnail

Food & Beverage Industry Report 2024

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.

article thumbnail

How I Got My Job: Creating a New Vision for Vegan Cooking at a Top NYC Restaurant

EATER

Photo By Sen Floyd / Photillustration by Eater How Shenarri Freeman went from culinary student and pop-up dinner creator to James Beard-nominated vegan soul chef Shenarri Freeman is at the vanguard of vegan cooking in America. Her vegan soul menu at Cadence in New York City combines the flavors of her Virginia upbringing with her passion for sustainable, health-conscious dining.

article thumbnail

A CULTURE OF QUALITY

Culinary Cues

Like many of you, I sat and watched, with great anticipation, the days of the NFL Draft. Who will my team be able to lasso and pull into the organization? What will they contribute? Will they help us drive all the way this year? I know that if they make it to the final roster, they will be positioned to make millions of dollars in pay and bonuses and if they live up to the hype – much, much more.

article thumbnail

What is Maragogipe & how big is the market for it in specialty coffee?

Perfect Daily Grind

Within the specialty coffee market, there are a growing number of more exclusive and highly-prized coffee species and varieties. One of the most notable is Gesha – a unique variety which was “rediscovered” at the 2004 Best of Panama auction, and is now commonly used in competitions like the World Barista Championship. Rare coffee species and varieties can become more revered for a number of reasons, including their high cup quality and desirable sensory profiles.

Marketing 171
article thumbnail

Track These Restaurant Analytics (Infographic)

Modern Restaurant Management

There is a science to running a successful business. That idea holds true in the hospitality and food service industries where crucial business decisions are made every day. At the heart of this science is data. Tracked from numerous sources, thoughtful analysis of this data can be the key to prioritizing needs, driving growth and so on. Below, we’ll briefly go over the importance of collecting data and restaurant analytics and how it be used to improve efficiency and, in due course, boost

article thumbnail

Why Every Small Business Needs an HCM Solution: A Comprehensive Guide

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.

article thumbnail

Summer Cocktail Trends 2023

Goliath Consulting

The summer heat calls for fun in the sun. Whether traveling to the beach on a relaxing vacation or chilling out by the pool, cocktails and interactive drinks are what people will gravitate toward this summer. A fun way to cool off is to take a sip of some refreshing, cold cocktails that will help with the heat and add to the fun of summer. People might look to TikTok for inspiration, so be ready to share some of your restaurant’s drinks there!

2023 154
article thumbnail

What Restaurants Need to Know About Social Media Videos

The Rail

By Torrey Tayenaka, Contributor Video marketing for restaurants is an essential type of marketing campaign to inspire patrons to visit or order. This is how you show them the colors and textures of your food. Let them see the heat spilling off your freshly cooked dishes and the bubbles in your drinks, so they can practically taste it for themselves.

article thumbnail

Costa Rica’s Iconic Caldosas Combine Ceviche and Barbecue Chips

EATER

The caldosa at Fory Fay, the home of the original recipe. Ceviche piled into a bag of Picaritas barbecue-flavored chips has become a standard snack across the country since the recipe was invented by a kid in the ’90s Some recipes make a restaurant famous. Others become representative of a city or a region. Only a few have the ability to shift the axis of a country’s gastronomic culture, becoming not only ubiquitous across menus but galvanizing diners in the process.

article thumbnail

THEY JUST DON’T GET IT

Culinary Cues

My town leaders, bless their hearts, try to figure out ways to strum up cash flow for small businesses. A tip of the chef’s toque for the good old college try. It’s early spring, mud season as it is commonly called, and they are putting in a Yeoman’s effort at organizing another restaurant week. All good intentions – they want to create full or partially full dining rooms for restaurants in need.

article thumbnail

Maximize Restaurant Profitability: 5 Key Strategies to Control Costs Effectively

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.

article thumbnail

Coffee roasters: Where do you go after being a head roaster?

Perfect Daily Grind

Career progression is important for any working professional, and the same goes for those in the specialty coffee sector. For many in the industry, opportunities to develop their skills are invaluable. This includes head roasters, who often spend years honing their craft. However, after years of running a roasting team, there also comes a time when head roasters want to look for new career pathways in the coffee sector.

Equipment 148
article thumbnail

Recipe for Success – How Technology Is Revolutionizing the Restaurant Industry

Modern Restaurant Management

The hospitality industry has until very recently been known to drag its feet when it comes to new technology. This partly results from a persistent and prevalent status quo bias that adapting to new tech is costly and tricky to implement. This was however, until COVID-19 changed everything. Cloud-based technology has been leading the tide of change over the last couple of years.

article thumbnail

Guide to Connected Commerce

MadMobile

Connected commerce is a rapidly growing trend in the retail and restaurant industries, and it is changing the way businesses interact with their customers. By seamlessly integrating online and offline channels, this strategy is creating a more personalized and convenient experience for consumers. Connected commerce makes it easier for customers to access products and services at any time or place.

article thumbnail

A Comprehensive Guide to Social media marketing for Ecommerce

Bingage

Undoubtedly, social media is a powerful yet effective tool for e-commerce. In fact, it’s an easy, fast, efficient, and affordable way to reach your customers if it’s done in the right way. Social media for e-commerce has become a powerful element to prove identity in the market and gain exclusive revenue in your business. Using social media platforms to boost your sales revenue offers many benefits to building a strong business.

article thumbnail

Best Practices to Streamline Compensation Management: A Foundation for Growth

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.

article thumbnail

An Eater’s Guide to T?hoku, Japan’s Capital of Sake, Wagyu, and Sea Pineapples

EATER

Aizuwakamatsu Castle during the cherry blossom bloom in Fukushima, Japan. | Norikazu/Shutterstock A few hours from Tokyo by bullet train, the rugged northern region features Miyazaki-worthy landscapes, a coastline chock full of seafood, and some of the country’s most stunning cherry blossoms In Japan’s internationally beloved food scene, urban hubs tend to steal all of the attention.

Brewery 103
article thumbnail

Dynamic Pricing Technology: Why Restaurants are Finally Paying Attention

Apicbase

Restaurants often cater to their most loyal patrons , and because loyal and first-time customers alike tend to pay attention to how much they’re paying for their food, changing menu prices is risky business for restaurants. As a result, dynamic pricing in restaurants hasn’t been common in the past. Nevertheless, more and more restaurants are finding that dynamic pricing can significantly increase profits , offsetting the struggles restaurants are having with staffing and food prices.

Pricing 98
article thumbnail

Will consumers keep paying higher prices for specialty coffee?

Perfect Daily Grind

Over the past year or so, rising food prices and energy costs have been affecting many people around the world. In fact, in March 2023, the BBC reported that food prices had reached a 45-year high in the UK , with many other major coffee consuming countries also going through similar price increases. This is a major issue for both coffee businesses and consumers.

Pricing 162
article thumbnail

What’s the Restaurant Investment Forecast?

Modern Restaurant Management

To learn more about the current state of restaurant investing, Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine spoke with Uday Ahuja, Chief Investment Officer at RSE Ventures, who played a key role in investing and identifying/growing scalable consumer brands restaurant concepts including Momofuku, Milk Bar, Fuku, Bluestone Lane, and Magnolia Bakery. During the pandemic he helped advise Milk Bar CEO Christina Tosi’s shift from retail to ecomm—resulting in the launch of Milk Bar’s r

article thumbnail

Pricing for Profit: How to Set, Negotiate, and Succeed

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