Facebook is an ideal platform for bars and restaurants to socialize, actively look for new customers and re-connect with current ones. It allows for a level of customer engagement that can make or break your brand online.



What you may NOT have been aware of is the fact that not all content posted to Facebook is treated equally. In fact, Facebook has created an algorithm that ranks each piece of content posted, whether it be to a personal profile page or a fan page.…

Don’t confuse Twitter with a sales channel. Twitter is, by its very definition, a “social network”. Follow our rule of 1:4 for content. This means for every 1 promotional tweet, you should have 4…

I’m still basking in the memory of a Caribbean cruise.  My first encounter with a ship the size of a small town.  Forty-five hundred passengers and sixteen hundred crew members.  The fact this thing could float still boggles my mind.  

Throughout the years I’ve talked to lots of folks about their cruise experiences and when they’d ask me about mine the conversation would come to a screeching halt.  Those days are…

As we begin a new decade and move ever closer to the end of the Mayan calendar, I'm still trying to understand the future of food and how much the press forgets that, ultimately, consumers are the drivers of the industry. The popular phrase “from farm to fork” may have seemed like the rule of thumb for my parents’ generation, but to my generation food took a more scenic route from farm to factory to franchise to fingers. Wasn't that the goal, to make food inexpensive, convenient and able to…

There are 2 words that I constantly repeat while helping restaurants to improve their dining room service; balance and consistency. Both concepts can easily be applied to restaurants where waiter performance is basically 1/2 physical abilities and 1/2 mental abilities.

The physical aspects of balance is obvious; carrying/serving more than one plate at a time, carrying/serving cocktails on trays, balancing one’s feet while in motion etc.

For physical consistency, it amounts to…

It has been a full year since First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let’s Move campaign to the Country.  The campaign’s main focus is to reduce the rate of childhood obesity in America.   To the public, Let’s Move emphasizes the importance of healthier eating…

More and more I am seeing articles, blogs, webinars, etc talking about the “social media expert”. This title has become one of my biggest pet peeves. Before I read or watch any of these I always seem to have the same initial overwhelming reaction. To me, social media experts don’t exist. You may be thinking, why would someone who lives and breathes social media and executes social media campaigns for several restaurant clients say something like this? Allow me to explain. 

To…

We’ve been traveling for a week and we’ve had the opportunity to experience all kinds of customer service from airports to cabs to village restaurants.  I have to admit if I net it out there was more good than bad.  It probably helped that we spent most of our travel time cruising the Caribbean aboard The Liberty of the Seas!  

I will…

Many bars and restaurants are taking advantage of Foursquare, a location-based mobile platform. Foursquare allows users to “check in” and share their location with friends while earning virtual badges and discovering nearby deals and discounts.



Foursquare…

In January and early February, we had a lot of restaurant earnings and investor conference news, from YUM, Darden (DRI) Wendy’s Arby’s Group (WEN), Brinker (EAT) and McDonald’s (MCD). And we’ll count SBUX too, even thought they are hoping to transition to a CPG company. As always, we look for interesting notes and common denominators.

Retail activity surprise: the January 2011 traditional retailer same store sales monthly values were shockingly…

Technique is an extremely important part of improving restaurant customer service, yet the attitude of service is just as important. Why? Customer perception. It is a great feat when a waiter has all of the mechanics down pat. But, if this waiter is perceived by customers as providing poor or indifferent service, he/she will not shine as much as the waiter who does not do everything correctly, but enthusiastically tries to please each and every customer.

The word restaurant itself has…

What Is This Funny Little Graphic And How Can It Help You Grow Your Restaurant Business?

[scanning the image to the left will actually bring up my business card - but it could do a lot of other things as well - read on to discover more]

These little graphics are called QR (or quick response) codes and they are simply amazing.  They are basically 2-D bar…

A few weeks ago, The Economist contained a piece entitled “The Pivotal Moment: Bet on a boss who can twirl on his toes” (Dec. 4-10, 2010 edition, P. 84).  The piece was about the surprising discovery (?) of some seasoned venture capitalists that it was perhaps more valuable to invest in managers with the ability -- and agility -- to quickly shift their budding business’ focus, given the rapid rate of change in the world, rather than back a…

Encouraging customers to tag themselves in photos on your Fan Page is one of the easiest ways to encourage interaction and engagement.

Tagging is a way for users to identify themselves in photos. Once someone has been tagged in your photo,

it will appear on their profile as…

Twitter my friend, we had you all wrong.

What started out as a 140 character ego fest has once again proven itself in the battlefield. Literally.

This last week we all watched as the uprising, the REVOLUTION,…

If you're vacationing in a tropical paradise, there is a lot to see: sandy beaches, gorgeous vegetation, and the crystal clear ocean. But none compare to the real reason people love beaches: the phenomenal sunsets.

Shawna and Geoffrey Simpson, vacationing in Waikiki, missed that sunset when they found themselves having to stay within 250 feet of a restaurant in order for their buzzer to go off. Through this and a series of frustrating events, the couple came up with a way to…