Featured Blog Posts – March 2012 Archive (29)

At times I feel displaced.  I spent my first 18 years in one town then I started my life as a ping pong ball.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved my life and wouldn’t trade my experiences for the world. 

After high school it was 4 years in Ashland Ohio for…

A buddy of mine has been dating. He’s newly returned to the dating scene since his divorce and he’s trying to figure out how to feel less awkward.  He, like many people, turned to online options.  It’s been a running joke for us for…

Ready to push your restaurant into the world of online ordering? Overwhelmed by the choices of online ordering providers?   Here's a step-by-step guide to picking the solution that's perfect for your restaurant!    Need more info?   There's a link on my profile (scroll down to whitepapers) to download the Granbury Restaurant Solutions "Online Ordering Launch Guide", a great resource of ideas for promoting your online…

Many restaurants do not disclose the price of specials or cocktails on menus, hoping the impulse to imbibe will sway the customer. Restaurateurs should be aware that this practice has legal risk.

In February, 2012, the Cheesecake Factory announced that it would begin posting drink prices at its Massachusetts locations. This announcement came after a patron’s attorney threatened to sue under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) because the restaurant charged $11 for a…

I get to do a lot of cool things for my job but I don’t think it’s any secret to those that know me that about a year and a half ago I really found my passion when we started planning FSMU.  Since FohBoh started we’ve seen trends come and go, different marketing strategies win and fail and…

According to consumer surveys, a person who has had an unpleasant experience with a business will tell 10 other people. Approximately 13% will tell more than 20 other people. Customers who have a good experience tell an average of only 3 other people. One of the most important things a waitperson is responsible for is turning dissatisfied customers back into satisfied customers.

• Deal with the problem immediately. It is important to deal with a customer’s…

At some point in your life it’s likely you have offered, received or heard the advice, “If you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.” Often this piece of wisdom is shared between friends or familiar business associates as a kind of friendly ribbing. But have you ever taken the time to really think about it?

What if you could get your staff to “walk the walk?” Or to throw another common phrase out there, what if your entire staff “acted like they owned the…

FohBoh Joins Share Our Strength’s Dine Out For No Kid Hungry^™ to Help End Childhood Hunger in America

FohBoh is proud to announce its partnership with Share Our Strength’s Dine Out For No Kid…

Choosing point-of-sale software for your pizza restaurant? Avoid these common pitfalls to get the most from your investment. 

1. Forgetting the "pizza" part.

What's so special about a pizza point-of-sale system?  Isn't a pizza restaurant just like any other restaurant?   Many pizza shop owners get distracted by a local restaurant POS sales rep who convinces…

[Yes, it's another Pinterest post. Hopefully I add something new to the discussion by giving a bit of background. // Manne]

Lately there has been a lot of talk about “content curation” in online marketing circles. In this post I’ll explain what it is, why it is useful, and introduce a great tool…

Thanks to social networking, we no longer have to rely on an inspector or food critic to give us their latest report on our favorite restaurants. When it comes to food safety, and taste, we rely on one another.

© 2012 Keeping it…

An excerpt from a longer piece that summarizes how restaurants should be using social media. I wanted to share this piece for the cool infographic.

Facebook 

What it is: This is the…

In our blog titled Pinterest: How can restaurants use this online pinboard, we examined this virtual pinboard to understand how restaurants could use this platform in their efforts to connect online with new and existing customers. Since this blog was written, we had the opportunity to gain insight from…

With the current global crisis, impacting negatively on the restaurant industry. Food prices, labour costs, electricity are all increasing at quite a rapid pace. For quite a few restaurateurs this means that sales turnover is not keeping in line with increased expenses.

This leads to some restaurateurs adopting a negative and pessimistic outlook, which unfortunately impacts negatively on their business. The successful restaurateur remains positive and optimistic and they see…

It is a well known fact that a very large part of the population today share all kinds of tips, experiences, gripes, frustrations, laughs, photos and links online. Using websites and smartphone apps like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google+, Urbanspoon, Foursquare, Forkly, Path, Instagram, Pinterest, Foodspotting… where was…

First off, if you have a website for your pizza place you almost have to put Google Analytics on it.  It’s free, it’s easy to install on your website (shouldn’t cost you more than $50 - $100 to get a web designer/programmer to add the code if you’re not tech savvy).  It can tell you a lot of things about your website like how many people come to your website, where they come from, but it can tell you a whole lot more than that.  If you’re…

Last week I wrote about the big, exciting changes that facebook was making to their business fan pages.As I mentioned at the end of my article: As with all exciting upgrades, there is always a downside. In this case, it has to do with the disappearance of the default landing tab. You will no…

We all try to do a great job. But let’s face it, sometimes we slip, technology providers fail, or factors outside of our control conspire against us. Doesn’t matter how a mistake happens though, for the customer in a very disappointing situation, it’s your fault.

When running a small business, you live and die by the satisfaction of your customers,…