Food safety training and certification solutions
When you need cucumbers julienned quickly and perfectly, you need Vollrath’s Redco Instacut Cucumber Slicer.
While this tool is limited in its use, it’s a rock star in any sushi kitchen where uniformly sliced cucumbers are a main ingredient. The slicer is ten times faster than traditional cutting methods, and saving time means saving money.
Read the full article here: How Sushi Restaurants Cut Cucumbers Fast
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With the restaurant landscape always changing, ergonomics remains an important consideration in the design and engineering of foodservice facilities.
Ergonomics is the directive concerned with the interaction between people and objects in their environment, and is usually applied to the workplace. Things like the height of counters or prep tables need to be comfortable to work at so employees avoid injury, such as back problems, which can severely affect work performance.
Items need to be easily accessible by all employees, so having commonly used items on a top shelf when staff of a shorter stature need to access them creates a hassle, and the time used to pull out and climb a stepladder is time lost.
Aisle width is another consideration, since frequent movement from one location to another adds up quickly.
Having adjustable work tables and shelving can make a big difference in both productivity and employee comfort. All of these ergonomic considerations should be paramount when remodeling or building a foodservice facility.
Read the full article here: Improved ergonomics address human factor
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Business may not be booming, but restaurants are seeing an improvement as the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) has maintained a level over 100 for September through November.
Most restaurant operators are expecting sales to continue to increase into the new year, and many are planning capital expenditures for equipment, expansion or remodeling.
Read the full article here: Restaurant sales, traffic remain positive as year winds down
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Finding a table empty of people and payment is almost enough to give a server nightmares. Why? Because in many locations that tab has to come out of your earnings, and if it happens repeatedly you could lose your job.
It doesn’t seem fair to me. I think there needs to be some research done into why people dine and dash, because if servers are the ones getting penalized for it, then they are supposedly the ones at fault.
If a server is very busy and doesn’t check up on tables in a timely fashion resulting in the customer leaving without paying, that’s an issue and definitely (at least partially) the server’s fault. But how often is that the case? My guess is not very often.
I think the best thing a restaurant can do is comp or void the tab and write the incident down, just to make sure it’s not a trend with a particular server. It’s ridiculous that the server should be expected to pay for every hungry thief he/she encounters.
I wonder if dine-and-dashers know how much they’re hurting both their server and the restaurants they steal from.
Read the Facebook post that spurred this commentary here: What happens when people skip out on their tab at your restaurant?
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While the economy is steadily improving, we’re not out of hot water yet and restaurants are still feeling the pressure.
New health care costs are a concern with mandates from the Affordable Care Act that require large restaurants to offer health insurance to full-time employees.
Some restaurants are looking to new technology such as tablets to increase efficiency, though a review and restructuring of back office practices can help too.
Read the full article here: Secrets of Back Office Savings
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What do you think of when you think of a chain restaurant?
For some people, chains often bring to mind quick service and cut corners while implementing the same theme or idea in multiple locations, sometimes at a loss of food quality. It’s no wonder some restaurants are fighting against the chain stigma.
While Baby Boomers are generally content with chains, Millennials are making their preferences known with the movement toward unique local restaurants. For years the predictability of chains was the essence of their appeal, but stagnancy is bad for business.
A great way for chain restaurants to break away from unappealing stigmas is to connect strongly with the local community. Focus on sustainability and offering a unique local twist. You could implement anything from creative cocktails to changes in decor. Gathering as many ingredients as possible from local sources is sure to get you noticed in a positive way too, no matter if you’re a chain of three or three hundred.
Read the full article here: Restaurants Break Free From the Chain Gang
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One of the top menu trends of 2014 is a movement toward organic food. People are more interested in knowing where their food comes from and how it was processed than ever before, and restaurants pushing the trend are seeing success.
High quality, healthy, sustainable food with fewer “food miles” is what keeps customers coming back.
Read the full article here: Top 100: Menu Trends – Organic/grass-fed/hormone-free
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A diner seeks the atmosphere of a fine restaurant not just for the quality and convenience of a served meal, but for the overall experience. Serving wine at the table comes with unique challenges for the server. How do you persuade the customer to indulge? The answer comes from your high school English class – tell them a story.
Over at Nation’s Restaurant News, Washington State Wine Commission marketing director David Flaherty has an eloquent and insightful piece on the subject. Every wine has its own colorful history, and by telling its origin story to the customer you deepen their appreciation and add to their dining experience.
Now more than ever, consumers are interested in where their food and drink comes from. While lower food miles is often indicative of higher quality for much of the menu, alcohol is an exception. Often the more exotic, the better, and if you can craft a story about that wine or beer’s history you’re far more likely to convince diners it’s worth their dollars.
Read the full article here: Selling wine with storytelling
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When choosing restaurant dinnerware for your establishment you have several options to consider. Does the dish need to go from the oven to the table? Are you looking for something sensible or something elegant? How much can you spend? This list can help you decide.
Bone China is expensive, but elegant and very durable. Ceramic is inexpensive and can do oven to table duty. China offers a variety of colors and patterns. Porcelain and glass are more fragile, while stoneware is versatile and heavy.
Read the full article here: What Are The Different Types of China Dinnerware Material?
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Many restaurants are embracing self-service POS systems, aka tablet ordering, as a way to increase efficiency and attract the younger generation. Speed and ease of use aren’t the only draws, however. Talking tablet menus can provide a specialized service for people with visual disabilities, or simply those who speak a different language.
Developed by Susan Perry, Menus That Talk is a system housed on a custom Android tablet that reads the menu to the customer. This allows diners with visual handicaps and language barriers to feel included, enriching their dining experience.
Studies show people are more likely to spend more when they order from tablet menus as well, often tempted by the plethora of food photos. Like other tablet ordering systems, Menus That Talk can be programmed with games and other features so they appeal to consumers across the board.
Read the full article here: Talking Menus Are Breaking Barriers
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