Featured Blog Posts – February 2010 Archive (33)

Non-Operator FOHcus: Five Minutes on FohBoh

FohBoh is a powerful social media tool. If you give it time and put in some steady effort, it will begin to accelerate your networking efforts, establish your voice as a social media participant, and expand your knowledge of the restaurant industry. By engaging with the community, planting seeds, nurturing your connections, and contributing content, you will begin to see results.

It's all about committing yourself to a routine.… Continue

Added by FohBoh on February 25, 2010 at 2:31pm — 1 Comment

Non-Operator You and Greece and Goldman Sachs

So there I was, sitting on a cross-country flight, reading the most recent of several articles published in the past few weeks about the fragile state of Greece’s economy and the involvement, at key points, of Goldman Sachs (seemingly this era’s manifestation of the Wizard of Oz -- the manipulative figure behind the curtain of every economic issue). It suddenly struck me that, in at least two critical aspects, the story of Greece was illustrative of the restaurant bankruptcy… Continue

Added by Rod Guinn on February 25, 2010 at 3:30am — No Comments

How to attract and retain the best employees

It is estimated that the average cost of recruitment in the hospitality industry is around $2300 per person. If you end up with over a hundred applicants for the same job it's easy to see how this figure can mount up. You have the management time to sift through all the applications, plus the advertising, interviewing, and training. That's without considering the potential lost opportunities for productivity, customer service, and increased sales due to… Continue

Added by Jim McGinty on February 22, 2010 at 8:54am — 5 Comments

Overcoming Objections

I've been touting the benefits of social networking to my coworkers for a while now. I've spent many, many hours creating a Ning site for the restaurant where I wait tables, mainly because I am convinced that my job is more fulfilling when I have the proper tools to drill deeper into the menu and the culture of hospitality. I'm also a bit of a web geek, and love making videos, taking pictures, and writing. But only a handful of my… Continue

Added by Michael Biesemeyer on February 22, 2010 at 12:05am — 6 Comments

Small Business Social Media

I've become really fascinated with how small independent businesses can take advantage of emergent social web tools. Much of my professional experience has been in the non-corporate world (except for Ritz Carlton, Hyatt, GTE Sprint, and some early career positions); independents generating less than $5 million in annual revenues.

The growth challenges posed to independents are, I believe, much more difficult than that for larger organizations. With larger organizations comes… Continue

Added by Jeffrey J Kingman on February 20, 2010 at 4:24pm — 3 Comments

Non-Operator Water Torture -You Think Serving's Easy?

I was reading the paper and having breakfast at the counter at one of my favorite greasy spoons this week, when a guy came in and sat a few stools away. I’m always doing research for my book, so naturally I listened in. The waitress approached him with her typical, Coffee, Hon? He replied, "Yes, half regular and half decaf. Don’t refill it when I’m half done; you’ll mess up the balance of the cream and sugar."

As is often the case, I started to wonder if people realize how many… Continue

Added by Patrick Maguire on February 19, 2010 at 8:56am — 4 Comments

Non-Operator Restaurants Replacing Home Ec

I can’t stop thinking about the comments that I received after a blog I wrote a few months ago about how menu labeling was not having the desired effect on some restaurants in low income areas. A lot of you brought up some really good points about consumer responsibility and education, but I was really intrigued by the comments that I got about lack of cooking skills and less in-home food preparation.… Continue

Added by Alyson Mar, RD on February 17, 2010 at 6:10pm — 3 Comments

International Networking- The FohBoh Member Map

The Restaurants Association of Ireland is the representative group for the Irish Restaurant Industry. The Association has over 600 members and provides a wide array of benefits and services to restaurant owners. They have a… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on February 16, 2010 at 9:19pm — 2 Comments

Non-Operator Early February Chain Restaurant Earnings "Rush Hour"

With two fast casual (CMG, PNRA) and three casual dining operators (CAKE, BJRI, BWLD) reporting last Thursday and Friday, its apparent that expectations are high for high stock price multiple companies.

Ourselves, we were generally happy to see the results noted, especially since all five of these companies added and continuing to add new units. If comparable sales are/will be weak, then new units, free cash flow, adequate CAPEX, debt leverage ratios and free cash flow are paramount… Continue

Added by John A. Gordon on February 16, 2010 at 4:12pm — No Comments

Non-Operator Want More Social Media Clients? Keep Writing

Readers of my blog will know by now that my writing schedule has stepped up a bunch. What you may be shocked to hear is that I am curtailing certain other activities (use your imagination) so that I can continue to plug away at the writing. To be clear, I write for myself and because I have to. I absolutely need to write, and those days that I don't have even the shortest window to throw some thoughts down, are days that I don't feel I fully lived.

But I've noticed… Continue

Added by Zachary Adam Cohen on February 16, 2010 at 10:08am — 7 Comments

Its Cold Here in Atlanta-Try Some Comfort Food

Having spent the better part of my life in NY, Boston, Hartford CT, Burlington VT and other really cold places; moving to the south was an amazing experience. No winter hat or gloves, no scraper for the windshield and year round golf. Life was good and I swore I would never be cold again. As a result of the cold snap, I have felt the urge to continue on my comfort food kick and share some of my recent dishes served.

Yesterday I served Braised Beef Shoulder (blade cut)… Continue

Added by Chef Len Elias CEC on February 16, 2010 at 3:16am — 3 Comments

The Checklist

Now before you make fun of me and call me names like “Anal Retentive”, “Dork”, or “Old School”, let me tell you, I very rarely forget anything and some would call me the nicest a****** they know. Why, because, my strength lies in two things, I think? They are my communication skills with people and my follow up skills. When coaching, folks ask me many times, how do you remember that stuff or I can’t believe you keep talking to me about that. Why, it’s simple, I am a checklist fanatic. Yep, I… Continue

Added by Andy Swingley on February 15, 2010 at 7:12pm — 7 Comments

Non-Operator Dear Gordon Ramsey,Your Email Is Too Late

I’ve been subscribed to the Gordon Ramsay Group email list for three or four years now and today was the first time I received an email from them.

I’ve been a big fan of Gordon since I began in the hospitality industry and he has always bee nan industry idol of mine, but sadly, his business of late has… Continue

Added by Barry Chandler on February 15, 2010 at 6:00pm — 2 Comments

A Valentine's Diamond- Could be worth millions

I recently discovered a rare and much sought after diamond

among the other precious gems in my care.

I am by no means an expert in the field of precious gems, but I believe I have found a diamond that will rank high in every aspect of comparison.

The clarity and sparkle seem to fit together perfectly to dazzle even the

most amateur eye.

Yes, this diamond outshines all of my other gems.

This… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on February 14, 2010 at 5:26pm — 4 Comments

Non-Operator Cartoonists Dish on Food Safety

The expansion of the Huntington Meat Packing veal & ground beef recall to 4.9 million pounds has has become the meat of Editorial cartoonists.

Inspectors have found that a failure to follow food safety rules and unreliable safety records were contributing factors according to an article by MSNBC.…

Continue

Added by Paul Green on February 14, 2010 at 4:33am — 1 Comment

All the Buzz buzzing makes my head, well, buzz a bit

Seems like there is a lot of buzz about buzz, buzzing everywhere these days. The world moves so fast already; why are we making it move even faster?

One would think that after growing up and working in Silicon Valley, and after a stint working in NYC, I would be used to a fast pace. Well, I am. We move pretty quick around here at FohBoh. But last week, I took a pause and felt a bit winded by all the new stuff; the new ideas, the new media, all the new social media tools and networks,… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on February 13, 2010 at 12:35pm — 6 Comments

The Power of Appreciation and Gratitude

I just wanted to share an article I refer back to from time to time...

Sure, we're polite. We always say "please" and "thank you"... to strangers at least. But for some reason, it seems that we often forget to say "thank you" and show our appreciation to the people who are closest to us; to our family, our co-workers, our employees, our teachers. We especially forget to say "thank you" to the universe for our many blessings.

Saying thank you and showing… Continue

Added by Doug Golden on February 11, 2010 at 6:48am — 2 Comments

Social Media Revolution

If you haven't seen this video you must. If you already have it's worth seeing again.

Amazing how far this has come so… Continue

Added by Doug Golden on February 10, 2010 at 12:34pm — 2 Comments

Happy Employees – Not Easy But The Payoff Is Worth It

We've all heard the statistics and you've probably done your own research regarding how much it costs to replace an employee. There's the cost to recruit a new employee and once hired, you have to train the new person, which will be even more expensive. Sometimes, the new person ends up quitting or isn't right for the job and we repeat the entire process. There are also the intangible costs associated with turnover, such as repeat customers who may miss… Continue

Added by Jim McGinty on February 9, 2010 at 6:44am — No Comments