8February2010
Posted by Crystal under: News.
Last week, OpenTable.com announced the 50 most romantic restaurants in America for Valentine’s Day. OpenTable is the leading provider of real-time on-line restaurant reservations for diners, and the list was compiled based on nearly 4 million reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for over 10,000 restaurants all over the US! That makes for quite an impressive list with information that is both accurate and is based on the large number of survey participants. Here are some interesting picks for Valentine’s Day dinner:
Different Pointe of View – Phoenix, AZ. Poised 1,800 feet above the Valley of the Sun, this Mountaintop restaurant offers diners an unforgettable view atop North Mountain in Phoenix, with floor-to-ceiling windows. Chef Anthony DeMuro uses local and regionally grown selections of ingredients for his Contemporary American-style dishes. The diners will find themselves enjoying their Valentine’s dinner while comfortably seated at an outdoor upper terrace with stunning views and a nine foot fire pit on the cliff side.
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5February2010
Posted by Crystal under: Equipment Maintenance & Tips; News.
Keeping food safety standards up to par is an important part of managing the restaurant. If strict safety rules are not followed, you may lose your reputation or even be forced out of business. Implementing effective food safety standards involves properly training your employees and creating a bullet-proof system of controls that will help reduce food risks for your customers. Here are some tips related to common food safety issues:
Health inspections. Inspectors usually arrive unannounced, which means your restaurant should be ready for a safety inspection at all times. Never refuse an unexpected inspection, always accompany the inspector, and take notes of any violations the inspector finds. Show your willingness to fix problems right away. To get prepared for such inspections, it is critical to conduct regular weekly assessments of food safety standards, using the same guidelines and forms that the official inspector would use. Convey the importance of food safety to staff members and provide extensive training. For instance, during the kitchen self-inspection, make sure foods are kept at appropriate food temperatures according to food types, and make sure all cleaning standards are followed, including hand-washing. Ensure that proper temperature guidelines are in place, which includes regularly checking the temperature of arriving products, stored products or meals ready to be served. This procedure alone statistically reduces food borne illnesses occurrence by 70 percent.
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4February2010
Posted by Crystal under: News; Recession Tips & Tricks.
As the competition in the food service segment gets increasingly fierce, getting publicity has become an important marketing strategy. While there are many “high-tech” ways to gain positive publicity for your restaurant, such as properly utilizing social media and other modern media channels, there are still good old proven ways, which are sometimes undeservingly neglected. For instance, one great way to gain publicity is to help charitable organizations in your community and at the same time promote your charitable events in order to garner positive attention and thus increase visibility for your establishment:
Establish connection with community-service organizations. Utilize “cause-related” marketing for your restaurant by supporting charitable organizations in your community. Not only does that allow local charities to thrive – you also get the benefits from the publicity around such events. It will increase positive perception of your business by the public, expose you to a larger pool of potential customers, and provide you with free advertising. Charitable events may involve working with a homeless group, volunteering yourself and your employees for public benefit events for disabled people, donating your restaurant space for a fund-raiser, and so on. It is important to pick a cause that is exciting for you and your employees, so that everybody involved can contribute and continue to participate on a volunteer basis.
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1February2010
Posted by Crystal under: News; Recession Tips & Tricks.
It takes tremendous dedication and a willingness to work hard to have a successful restaurant. According to statistics, 70% of all restaurants that open close within the first 5 years. If you are currently capable to keep your restaurant profitable, why not capitalize on your experience and open the second location?
Expansionism can be good. Here are some important prerequisites for opening your 2nd location:
Location. Location is one of the top reasons why most restaurants fail, so it is important to assess it very carefully. Analyze and research your possible location, make sure you have enough traffic going through it. Obtain a history of previous restaurants in the same area – have they failed or succeeded? Wait for the right location, scout the spots until you find the right one – it will make you or break you.
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29January2010
Posted by Crystal under: News.
Romance and fine dining always go together, and Americans love to celebrate Valentine’s Day by dining at their favorite restaurants. In fact, Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular holidays for eating out, and many restaurants sell out well in advance of the holiday. Taking a creative approach to Valentine’s Day celebration at your restaurant not only provides romantic dinner for guests, it adds to restaurant’s bottom line and increases repeat business from your clients. Take a look at some practical ideas for hosting a romantic Valentine’s dinner:
Ambiance & Décor. Transform your establishment into a romantic place by decorating premises with fresh flowers, such as fresh carnations in pink, red and white; red ribbons, hearts and other festive accessories. Create an ambiance of romance to entice couples into your restaurant and make them feel special and pampered. Restaurant’s atmosphere should be that of a private party, with corner tables, candles, attentive service staff, and so on. Invite local bands to provide the romantic background music, have other entertainers, DJ’s, and dancing. Read the rest of this entry »
28January2010
Posted by Crystal under: News.
We continue to look at the food trends of the last decade according to the Food Channel. This time we’re looking at the list of Top Food News Topics of the Decade:
Slow Food. Over the last decade, Slow Food has become a global grassroots movement, a way of living and eating. Slow food movement is about teaching people how to enjoy foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown. Preference is given to farmers and artisans who grow, produce and serve wholesome food. Dining and food are promoted and linked to pleasure, culture, community, and family activity. Slow food movement also aims to preserve the cultural cuisine, promote taste education, educate consumers about the risks of fast food, and bring attention to the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness.
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25January2010
Posted by Crystal under: News; Recession Tips & Tricks.
Isn’t it always interesting to know what your customer preferences are, what innovations have been introduced by other restaurant owners, and what the latest hottest trends are? Big companies often pay huge amounts of money to obtain such kind of marketing research information. Why? Because accurate market data helps companies in defining their direction, provides them with guidance and helps companies to make decisions based on information. Well, last week the Food Channel Network came up with the list of the top trends of the last decade in the restaurant industry. Here are the most popular “new” restaurant concepts that have worked beautifully for the last 10 years:
Fast Casual Concept. This concept refers to restaurants that strive to provide their customers with more upscale version of fast food. Instead of offering regular fast food like burgers and French fries, the fast casual restaurants offer something more sophisticated and healthier like vegetable or chicken wraps, Peking duck, or organic tacos.
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22January2010
Posted by Crystal under: News.
Restaurants and Institutions (R&I), a trade publication serving food service professionals at independent restaurants, chains and institutions, makes an annual list of America’s top 100 most successful independent restaurants. “Independent” is defined here as any restaurant brand with fewer than five locations. Those are the restaurants that have fared very well financially in the past year. As R&I points out, what makes or breaks the restaurant to make it to the list is that the most successful restaurants know their financials, such as food-and-beverage sales, they know how many meals they served in the past year, what is the share of revenues accounted by food, wine and other alcohol beverages. Successful restaurants stress the importance of hospitality and personable service. Here are the top 7 most successful restaurants for 2009 according to R&I’s list:
TAO, Las Vegas. Tao is located at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. It is rightfully considered the hottest restaurant and nightclub on Las Vegas strip. Tao bistro offers the Pan-Asian cuisine, with a perfect blend of food, music and people-watching. The place is frequented by celebrities, such as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Madonna, and Jessica Simpson. Architectural design alone is quite impressive: a 42,000 square feet entertainment complex features a large banquet facility with a 20-foot-tall Buddha floating above an infinity pool.
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21January2010
Posted by Crystal under: Recession Tips & Tricks.
Any successful restaurant owner has a range of skills that have allowed him/her to succeed, such as business savvy, creativity in the kitchen, operational wisdom, choice of location, and, of course, solid marketing skills. It’s important to create unique menus and state-of-the-art dishes, provide customers with great service and ultimate dining experience. However, if more potential customers aren’t aware of the existence of your wonderful restaurant or if customers don’t feel connected to your dining establishment, the restaurant will not generate the revenue required to keep it afloat.
Unlike in the recent past when you had to pay for any marketing or PR services, these days restaurant owners are pretty lucky: with enough discipline and passion, any restaurant operator can be his/her own effective marketer through cost-effective social media tools. These tools provide a unique capability to effectively connect and market to your customers:
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18January2010
Posted by Crystal under: News.
Alcohol is an important part of the restaurant experience, and some of the hottest restaurants’ trends in 2009 were the surge in the creativity level for mixed drinks and the trend to pair food and alcohol drinks other than wine. Compared to the past, the tastes of the American consumers have grown more sophisticated in the last decades setting higher standards for the restaurant industry. The art of tending bar is coming back with a whole new generation of bartenders that call themselves Bar Chefs or Mixologists. So, what is a Mixologist?
Creates New Drinks. Mixologist is like a bar equivalent of a culinary chef. A Mixologist not just pours the drink; he creates new ideas and signature cocktails by utilizing new culinary and savory concepts and knowing how to use ingredients. A Mixologist’s objective is to showcase the versatility of beverage alcohol and enhance the guest experience by creating sophistication. Many new trends have been recently introduced by Mixologists, such as food-beer pairings, for instance, with restaurants now hiring the so-called beer sommeliers to work closely with chefs to select complimentary beer flavors to meals. Mixologists also expertly pair other alcohol drinks, such as cocktails, with dishes to complement the flavors, textures and the style of any cuisine.
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