Featured Blog Posts – April 2008 Archive (120)

Commitment

“No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.” Michel De Montaigne, French Renaissance Essayist.

It seems like I am having the same conversation four or five times a week these days. You know the one that goes “How is it out there? I am dying here. My numbers just keep dwindling. I can’t figure out why the when I drive by the chains, their parking lots are still full. I serve better food than they do. What is going on? What do they have that I don’t?” Those are… Continue

Added by DJ Tryba on April 30, 2008 at 7:37pm — 2 Comments

FohBoh meet up scheduled during NRA show in Chicago!

Come join your fellow FohBohites for some food, fun and drinks 70’s and 80’s style! We are holding our first ever meet and greet at the Reagle Beagle in Chicago during the National Restaurant Association tradeshow. Mark your calendars for Monday May 19th at 5:30pm. Located in downtown Chicago, Reagle Beagle is one of the most unique hot spots with a throwback to the 70’s and 80’s. More than just drinks, the Reagle Beagle serves delicious… Continue

Added by Sarah on April 30, 2008 at 5:55pm — 7 Comments

Relating to International Employees

I am a trainer at the Grand Canyon. We train and work with a large workforce of internationals for 3 month periods.

Does anyone have experience teaching, relating to, counseling, and communicating with international employees?

Have you seen a website with kitchen terms and translations? "Behind you....86ed"

What experiences and foux-pas have you dealt with in communication with internationals? Do you have tools and stories for basic communication? Do's and Don't of… Continue

Added by Carrie Lynn on April 29, 2008 at 4:26pm — 5 Comments

Non-Operator What a week!

Well I had intended to start the Meta-Physical posts on running a restaurant when I was asked to help remodel one of Johannesburg's most popular restaurants - the catch? we had to close, strip, and remodel in just 6 1/2 days...

The schedule was non negotiable - as the 90 seater restaurant serves up to (and often over) 200 meals an hour during peak times. The loss of income should the restaurant not re-open on time would have been enormous.

As Applied Meta-Physics is the… Continue

Added by Stephen J Serva Dei on April 29, 2008 at 11:10am — 1 Comment

The economic downturn has cash-strapped customers leaving less.

So true! At restaurants sometimes I sit and wonder, what recession?! The lobby is packed, the restaurant is full, people are enjoying their dining experience and seem to be paying good money for dinner. It seems as while people are cutting back on spending on food tips are suffering as well. Good article, and as a former server, I feel their pain!

The economic downturn has cash-strapped customers leaving less.

By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times Staff… Continue

Added by Sarah on April 29, 2008 at 10:39am — 6 Comments

Omoma Coffee in The Gourmet Retailer Magazine

We're excited to be featured in the May issue of The Gourmet Retailer Magazine. They are a great industry magazine about all the greatest gourmet products, so it's an honor to be included.

I'll let you know when you can see it online as well.

Added by Jennifer on April 29, 2008 at 9:44am — 1 Comment

Web Order Integration for POS Systems

We just added a new Video that discusses Web Order integration with your POS system. Everyone who is anyone these days has a website. However many of these are static and probably haven't been changed since they first went on line. 'Customer 2 You' is a way to make the web pay for itself, increase sales without adding overhead.

Customer goes to your website, finds your complete menu, chooses the items they would like either for delivery or pick-up, places order, pays for order… Continue

Added by ACT-POS on April 29, 2008 at 5:01am — No Comments

Why I won't eat at your restaurant...

My top 5 reasons are:

1. You don't source your ingredients locally or seasonally, preferring to buy from a multi-national wholesaler who only cares for profit and not the amount of carbon their trucks destroy my planet with. Because you don't buy your ingredients seasonally you customers have the choice of bland monocultured fruit and veg that's got as much nutrition as the nasty plastic packaging it came in.

2. You don't care about animal welfare, preferring to buy… Continue

Added by Mark McKellier on April 28, 2008 at 6:40am — 8 Comments

Poems of Wine, the Grand Illusion

Opening a bottle of wine is an act

of optimism. We’re confident it will

improve the moment, the conversation,

the relationships. Each time we pull a cork,

it’s as if we’re saying, Here, I think this

will help make things a little better.

- Joseph Mills, Wine’s Beautiful Illusions

We all feel pathos and passion, we crave levity and we despair of invariable disappointments; and in the compelling rhythms of songs and poems, we find… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 27, 2008 at 2:10pm — 1 Comment

You know you've opened a restaurant when...

You know you’ve opened a restaurant when…

*You showed up and there were no windows and electricity, and you did intro night with flashlights and jackets.

*A piece of long sheet metal fell on you during a directional on the back dock in Tennessee.

*You took the entire staff out in a field, and played Zoom during the health department inspection.

*You spoke English, and Jacques spoke Spanish, while writing the prep list in French.

*You have a beautiful flip… Continue

Added by Stoligirl on April 27, 2008 at 2:43am — 6 Comments

Peeking Behind the Scenes at FohBoh, Inc. | #2

Hi again,

Yesterday was a great day for FohBoh. We spent the day at an all-hands meeting with our new amazing advisory board discussing our vision, status, growth and plans for the future. The talent, wealth of experience, passion and excitement was inspiring. I am grateful for their commitment and participation as I know that FohBoh will feel their impact in the coming months.

We are the leading online social-business network for the restaurant industry. Our plan is to… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on April 26, 2008 at 9:56am — No Comments

Non-Operator The Proper Care and Feeding of P.R. Firms

Many of my clients have asked me, since I've been a franchisor, franchisee, and

independent restauranteur before starting Heilpern Group, "When is it

appropriate to use a P.R. Firm? What value can I expect both long term and

short term? Is there a formulaic cost/benefit approach to analyzing P.R.

Firms?" Since these have become such common questions I have chosen to

publish this article illustrating the benefits and drawbacks (of which… Continue

Added by Jerry A. Heilpern, CFBE, FMP on April 25, 2008 at 10:56am — No Comments

Common Wine Accents (and How to Apply Them)

Although as Americans, probably none of us (including myself) are as good as we should be about placement of correct accents in European wine related words, there’s really no excuse. It’s as important as spelling potato as potato, not potatoe (as one of our former vice presidents once did, for a classroom full of kids).

Let’s put it another way: if you’re serious about your wine program – be it restaurant or retail – then you’re serious about your spelling of European… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on April 24, 2008 at 8:22pm — 4 Comments

Peeking Behind the Scenes at FohBoh, Inc.

Hi all,

I have been asked by more and more members to start sharing what's going on at FohBoh.com (FohBoh, Inc.). The reality is that as a start-up Web 2.0 company engaged in the social media industry, I guess we should walk-the-talk and become a bit more transparent. Now having said that, there are certain strategic matters and IP that we can't share (those pesky competitors), but suffice to say, we need to, plan to and will be more open. This is your community, not the Michael and… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on April 24, 2008 at 11:53am — 4 Comments

Management Recruiting for your Restaurant..... Where is the committment?

One of the today's early fustrations is the fact that quality candidates are not out there. The biggest identifier is the committment to a company. I understand with all the events we live with today (price of gas, war, housing market, price of food, etc), we tend to live in the NOW..... Well..... what about the future? Is it all about the dollar, title? Is that why people leave from job, to job so quickly? What happened to joining a solid company and growing within that company. Are we to… Continue

Added by Dusti Guzman on April 24, 2008 at 11:34am — 4 Comments

Integrity vs. Cost of running a business

You come into work and are organizing your walk-in, you come across several out of date products.

What do you do?

Do you re-label it

Do you put it on "special of the day"

Do you cook it up and serve it to the employees

Or simply do you toss it.

I ran across a situation the other day where I found product that was out of date. I informed my superior of the problem and asked how does he want to account for the product. He reacts by not throwing it away, running… Continue

Added by Brandon M Kidd on April 24, 2008 at 10:51am — 13 Comments

GMs and Owners are the Protectors of the Values!

An important factor for a positive work environment is safety and trust in the leadership that runs the business. Integrity, open door communication, fairness, and no favoritism are just a few of the positive values that employees want in their work environment to stick around for the long term.

GM’s, Owners, Supervisors….you are the protectors of these values and you must be constantly on the lookout and vigilant to uncover any and all violations of these basic values. “They don’t… Continue

Added by Andy Swingley on April 24, 2008 at 3:58am — 8 Comments

Takeout – The Competition

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin

A recent survey from Technomics revealed that while in home dining is increasing, 42% of those meals are not prepared in the home. Apparently, gone are the days of genuine home cooked meals. Where are consumers getting these “faux home cooked meals?” A growing number of them are turning toward to-go options at their favorite restaurants. They aren’t… Continue

Added by DJ Tryba on April 23, 2008 at 5:26pm — 2 Comments

Operator Value Of A Restaurant?

How do you determine the value of an independent restaurant or to be more exact a coffee house?

The actual real property is on a 5 year lease, the cafe is equipped with albeit small, a full commercial kitchen. There is also a very nice large mobile kitchen to compliment the whole package.

I know the average daily gross and the owner will show us the books but he is open to lease or sell and wants us to make him an offer. The business runs fine as is but the owner wants to be… Continue

Added by Chef Rox on April 23, 2008 at 3:47pm — 4 Comments

Slow Food Is Good Food

So apparently slow food has nothing to do with crockpots. My bad. I know people that insist on cooking everything on low heat for hours (green bean mush, anyone?), but the slow food movement has nothing to do with that, either!

According to a slow food article on Chef2Chef (my site) the ideals of slow food are: