Brian Bruce's Page

As a restaurant recruiter, I typically review 70+ food service resumes per day from candidates looking for restaurant jobs in a variety of leadership roles. Since I work for the restaurant client and am charged with finding the best candidate for their position, I must quickly review resumes to determine if I should contact this person now, later, or never. I will typically take 5-10 seconds to scan a restaurant resume. Here is how that 5-10 seconds goes:



I first fix on the most… Continue

With the ongoing growth of social media as a way to "get the word out" continues to grow, the seedy side always seems to rear its head. For those not familiar, Yelp is a popular online review site which contains word of mouth reviews, mostly of restaurants. The search results for Yelp tend to rank very high, meaning a post by a guest about your restaurant, whether good or bad, will often show up very readily in Google.



I read about an attempt to hold a restaurant hostage so to speak… Continue

As I reflect back on my 23+ years in the restaurant business, I’ve seen a necessary trend slowly taking place. Restaurant companies are increasingly making background checks part of the hiring process as courts are increasingly holding employers liable for "negligent hiring," or failing to check the background of a prospective employee. An employee of a major restaurant chain sexually assaulted a 3-year-old customer on the property of the restaurant in Ohio. And in Nebraska, a delivery driver… Continue

There is no doubt that in the face of current market conditions, leadership in our business most likely will not sustain and grow their groups by maintaining the status quo. Change management must have a high priority in any Restaurant CEO’s or President’s vision. The question lies in how that leadership responds to the challenges of rising commodity prices, consumers who are less willing to part with their dollars, and a lending industry wary of where and to whom they make loans. There are… Continue

In recent conversations with restaurant marketing leadership, I heard mostly familiar themes when discussing their marketing strategies. There are those smaller concepts that have found some success with a "Name your own price" promotion and other unique efforts to drive sales that have received quite a bit of media attention. But the majority of restaurant people I spoke to were sticking with more traditional strategies, with the occasional "toe in the water" when it comes to attempting less… Continue