Featured Blog Posts – February 2012 Archive (24)

The official announcement from Facebook is today, but there are tips floating around the interwebs.  Below are a rundown of some links to check out.

This is an opportunity for restaurants to really think about how you graphically represent your brand.  There's a large "cover" image that will go at the top of your page.  It's not…

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, UrbanSpoon? HELP!

Restaurateurs are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the many options for social media marketing today. How do you decide which site is best for your restaurant?

(This article was originally featured in the Louisiana Restaurant Association's eNewsletter, The Dish.) 

Consider Your Time Constraints

If you have a limited amount of time to spend on actively marketing your…

Here I am, entrepreneur by day and FOH by night. One thing I do have to say is that the service industry is amazing for the reasons of great hours, unique interactions and lots of room for growth. Being a FOH employee from busser to server to bartender has taught me a lot about myself, from how I interact with others to how I handle my own stress. Growth in this business has been wonderful except for the fact that because I started in casual dining, I am stuck with it. 

Living…

For generations Americans have had a fairly straightforward approach to cocktails – gin and tonic, highball, rum and coke – without ever giving a second thought to the possibilities a true bartender genius is capable of. Back in the 1800s and early 1900s, specialty cocktails were commonplace, featuring interesting flavor pairings and even more interesting names.

Those days are starting to come back as the craft cocktail movement gains momentum in big cities including New York and…

Restaurants frequently market through a sweepstakes or contest on Facebook or other social media. A prize promotion can publicize an updated menu, the opening of a new location, the revamping of a menu, or promote loyalty among followers.

Yet, in their enthusiasm for using this exciting marketing tool, restaurateurs frequently expose themselves to legal risk. Here is a list of ten mistakes that restaurants frequently make in launching a social media prize…

This week my company had the unique opportunity to be involved with one of the biggest “reality” TV shows out there, The Celebrity Apprentice, Sunday’s at 9pm on NBC-TV.

I’m the Director of Marketing and Social Media for Café Metro’s parent company S.T. Management Group here in the quiet little…

“Nobody puts HR in a corner.” Recognize the line? It’s a classic. Well, it’s a slightly-adjusted classic. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” might sound more familiar. It’s the line from “Dirty Dancing” when Patrick Swayze retrieves Jennifer Gray from a corner seat so they can do the last dance of the season. The point being that her character has grown up and can be more than her peers and parents expected.…

If you lead a company, a property, a kitchen, or a team of any size, you do not have the luxury of being “non-confrontational.”  If you are working toward a goal, that means you and your team are being stretched to perform at higher levels.  That will produce stress and expose weaknesses.  As the leader you cannot allow such stresses to keep you from achievement, and therefore you will have to…ahem…confront them.

Confrontation does not have to be a combat.  It shouldn’t be.  You can…

Part 1



The Foodservice Chain Buyer's job is to minimize the risk associated with the fluctuating food processing and commodity markets.  The Fortune 500 foodservice chains buy on the cash market, use "futures" transactions and employ advanced buying techniques, which makes them  smarter than the average 5th grader!



Emerging chains and progressive owner / operators can move faster than the big chains, providing them…

There’s been a lot of buzz around Pinterest in the media lately. According to an article published this month in TechCrunch citing data collected by comScore, Pinterest hit 10 million unique visitors per month faster than any standalone website ever. Its rise to prominence can be demographically credited to 18-34 year old women from the…

Is it an impulse or a compulsion that makes you want to eat that soft pretzel? Or is it simply the tangy mustard pumped onto it? Displayed food must look its best when laid out for speed and convenience, even for captive audiences at arenas, stadiums and outdoor entertainment venues.

No matter whether concession fare is pretzels, hot…

Tricks to make home-style cuisine appealing to the health conscious diner 

Unfortunately for the restaurant industry, diners trying to watch their waistlines typically avoid most barbecue fare.  Creamy coleslaw, buttery cornbread, cheesy macaroni, and generous slabs of meat are most often associated with this beloved culinary treasure.

Rather unfairly, barbecue has built up a bad reputation for expanding summer waistlines.  This is quite a shame,…

Google+ appears to be having a problem with connecting to the consumer audience out there - I want to know why.

Could it be that the brands that appeal to consumers, are not there yet enmass?  Could it be that the engagement options are limited?  Could it be that the 3rd party developer community that has made Facebook so useful is not yet invited to the party?

The answer is yes, yes, and yes - but I'm…

Ok so I am jumping on the "[Insert your interest here] Social Media Explained" train. If you haven't seen them there are a few that have been circulating the web using Donuts as a point of reference as well as using the bathroom to explain social media. 

Well here's my stab at restaurant social media…

In the restaurant industry, being fully staffed — with top-quality employees — is Holy Grail of HR. It is constantly sought after, rarely achieved and rumored to be difficult to achieve. More often than not a restaurant has a decent team, with a few outstanding employees and the occasional bad apple. It’s not uncommon to find a manager or head chef stepping in to cover a “no-show” staff member.

Foodservice faces such high turnover rates that managers often jump to quickly…

Service First

By: Monica Constantino

Service is more important than food.  It defines the restaurant EXPERIENCE.  Food may define the restaurant, but we all know we can find great Korean BBQ in the tiniest food truck in Brooklyn, or the best fried chicken in the deepest neighborhood in Compton.  The experience is what the consumer is looking for today.  As the economy shifts upward, the competition…

As many restaurant owners have found, investing in an active Facebook page takes consistency, creativity, and time.

Creating a Facebook page and leaving it to sit dormant is like having customers sitting in your booths and no servers to take their order or fill up their glasses.  Customers get annoyed and your restaurant look like they don't care.

Running a contest on your restaurant's Facebook fan page is a great way to grow your…

Have you been trying to figure out how to integrate Social Media into the email communications you send out for your Restaurant? Fear not! It's actually far easier than you think.

Each, taken on their own, are effective. Put them together though and you will have something very powerful. Email marketing and social media go together perfectly,…

Reality Chef Programming:

I'll be the first to tell you I throw pillows at the flatscreen when young chef's banter with some of the most respected chefs in the country. "Alfred Portale just dosent understand my style of food" Jesus really? I need to throw bigger objects at my Television (my son is trying to put a parental lock on the food network, who's the parent I ask you ) Chef Portale was doing the most amazing cutting edge cuisine when most of these "Chefs" were in…

There are two distinct, yet related, ideas in brand extensions which have been in the news recently.  I’m going to be following both with more than idle curiosity to see if they create added brand awareness, added traffic, or a negative backlash -- or all three.

First ... Friendly’s and Burger…