It’s easy to come up with an idea for a great new menu item. It’s much harder to figure out how you’re going to serve that menu item at scale. How will you handle rushes and lulls? How will you make sure to be supplied with key ingredients? It’s important to keep in mind the end goal, and how you’re going to serve large quantities, when coming up with a new food item.

Key Takeaways:

• With wage increases and minimum wage pressure threatening profits, chefs and operators alike are pressured to trim staff and avoid increased labor expenditures.
• Modern kitchen equipment such as heated holding cabinets can provide solutions to extending the ability to serve quality product as well as helping to expedite products that are needed urgently.
• Utilizing today’s modern combi ovens function as precise low-temperature ovens capable of cooking foods over many hours, even days, to achieve exceptional tenderness and moisture retention.

“As a chef or operator, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. It is the best– maybe only– way to understand the optimal way to build a process that delivers the best quality food to that valued end consumer.”

http://nrn.com/kitchen-innovations/begin-end-mind

It is no secret that customer feedback can make or break you in the restaurant industry, and though the nature of the beast is even the best places will get complaints. How management decides to handle the customer complaints and critiques is one of the single most important things anyone in management can learn. One of the most important things is to be sincere when apologizing to the customer and be able to handle the complaint on all levels of the staff. It is important for managers to set a good example for the rest of the team.

Key Takeaways:

• The first step in receiving feedback is to actively listen to the customer’s experience with the intention of remaining empathetic to their concerns.
• A sincere, heartfelt apology is the best way to shift the momentum of a negative experience toward a positive turnaround.
• To substantiate an apology, make a significant gesture. With the example of cold soup, take the dish off the bill immediately.

“”Here are four steps for transforming bad feedback into an asset for a restaurant.””

http://restaurant-hospitality.com/management/4-ways-turn-critics-fans

Most restaurant proprietors will tell you, success in the food industry, is truly focusing in on a highly complex sum of strategies, that either lead to prosperous achievement, or a bankrupt acquisition, that turns out to be a labor in vain. Discover some intriguing misconceptions that Restauranteurs often overlook, fine tune your business brainchild, and create a recipe for success.

Key Takeaways:

• Adweek says 60 percent of online purchases begin with a web search – so ensure that what consumers are saying online about your restaurant is positive.
• If you receive a negative review, respond quickly and calmlye; QSR web reports that Google My Business also gives better rankings to businesses that respond to reviews.
• Food service in the U.S. will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 3.3 percent in the next four years, according to a new study of the food service industry by Technavio.

“If you receive a negative review, respond quickly and calmly – not just because it demonstrates good customer service; QSR web reports that Google My Business also gives better rankings to businesses that respond to reviews.”

http://www.foodservice.com/blogs/show.cfm?contentid=103731