Increases in minimum wage can drive business owners to try to make up for the increased cost by cutting back on labor. This is often a bad idea, chances are the number of staff is already close to the minimum amount needed to effectively run the business. If increased wage costs need to be recovered, prime costs should be considered first.

Key Takeaways:

• Many restaurant owners think the solution to rising minimum wages is to cut labor.
• There are not enough labor controls any restaurant owner can put in place to limit the impact of increasing minimum wages on the business
• In short, you need to understand, calculate and then attack your prime cost.

“Many restaurant owners think the solution to rising minimum wages is to cut labor.”

http://restaurant-hospitality.com/management/tackle-prime-costs-survive-minimum-wage-hikes

The steady increase in mobile technology is making restaurant owners rethink their payment systems. In the past, almost all orders in a restaurant had their payments processed at one central desktop computer. As mobile electronics get smaller, cheaper, and more efficient, some restaurants are switching over to table-based POS systems that allow the customers to pay for their meal.

Key Takeaways:

• Restauranteurs are considering transitioning to a tableside mobile POS system
• With a well-formed strategy, the benefits of so-called “Tableside POS” improves almost every aspect of the dining-out experience
• With hand-held devices that allow servers to take orders tableside, restaurateurs get rid of the need for a server to run to a kiosk or the kitchen to place or amend an order

“With mobile technology on the rise, restaurant owners and managers are starting to take a harder look at the benefits of installing state-of-the-art, tableside mobile POS systems that do more than just allow the customer to pay.”

http://nrn.com/sponsored-content/transforming-way-which-restaurateurs-handle-payments