Featured Blog Posts – September 2011 Archive (22)

I spend much of my life with the investors, lenders, builders, and leasing companies who provide capital to this industry.  Let’s just acknowledge at the outset that, without them, the restaurant industry would not exist -- at least not in the grand scale, and immense variety, that we see it today.  Many thanks to them for making it all possible; after all (just to cite a few statistics which bear repeating) ... this…

So it’s been a week since we gathered in San Francisco for the first ever Foodservice Social Media Universe Conference and I am finally getting the chance to sit and really reflect on everything that went on in those short two days.  Wow.

Even as a person that is immersed in the…

There has been a lot of talk in the food industry about the snacking trend as well as the popularity of small plates. This trend, which started as a way to introduce new dishes to restaurant menus without the fear of loosing profits on an unpopular dish, has grown into a major…

The second post in our series poling the opinion of hospitality industry professionals (read the first post HERE) is again related to how management handles…

By Zac Bond, Content Manager for Waitrainer

Are restaurants using social media to their greatest advantage? In July of this year it seemed like the market was dominated by hip, nimble fast-casual joints like, say, Wow Bao (@baomouth)— who have successfully established a unique personality for their Twitter account, and use it to give away stacks of steamed buns and promote goodwill among all who interact with them. Or Jimmy John's…

Facebook is rolling out a ton of new stuff and what it'll mean to you is pretty well lined out in a post by Jesse Stanchuk at SmartBriefs. (let me know if you need the link - FohBoh has told me that they do not allow posting links - how social is that?)

In the post Jesse says -

• This will happen again.
• This is an opportunity.
• This kind of user outrage happens every time.
• This will happen to you, too.

It's a good perspective that…

It doesn’t take a nutrition analysis expert to discern that most barbecue fare is not traditionally seen as the picture of health.  Creamy coleslaw, buttery cornbread, cheesy macaroni, and fatty meats come to mind when most diners picture this beloved culinary treasure.

Don’t get me…

I believe that everyone should work as a waiter at one point in their life.

Not because the money is pretty darn good or because you get one shift drink that can turn into two or three if you are good chums with the bartender. Rather, they should become a waiter to learn the true value of great customer service and its rewards.

It worked for me and I can say, with no…

1. Your URL is not customized

We know there are those among you who pay little or no attention to that long horizontal box at the top of your web browser. For those people it may seems irrelevant that your bar’s Facebook page has random digits at the end of its…

In the current economic climate most restaurant companies have been searching for a way to attract guests.  They have turned to a variety of discounts and value-oriented options to keep guests coming through their doors.  In order to maintain profitability, they have also looked for ways to cut costs.  One of the most common cutbacks has been in the area of server training.  Restaurants have been continuously allocating less of the budget to training servers.  This is often perceived as a…

It's getting colder outside and I'm starting to think about food more often. By the time 5 p.m. rolls around, I'm a lot hungrier than I was in the summer...and a beer feels even more in order.

So where do I go and what do I do? I look for happy hours. I look for the most bang for…

In the coming years Millenials (those between the ages of 18-29, sometimes referred to as Generation Y) will overtake the baby boomers as the most sought after target audience for restaurants, this according to a recent…

A show of hands if you are happy swimsuit season is just about over. You're not the only one!

As the restaurant daily deal sphere drones on, I can't help but compare them to a "get skinny fast" method that people use to drop a few pounds before hitting the beach. Sure, you can probably shed a pound or two by drinking a strange, green liquid and starving yourself for 72 hours. By the third day, you'll be running toward a bakery fast than Kirstie Alley can say "Jenny…

What is the profit per dollar in a restaurant? Most owners and managers can't even answer this question right. And they wonder why staff isn't more careful with the business. If everyone understands this in your restaurant you will have a much different operation.

MAKE SURE THEY DO!

While preparing for my Keynote next Tuesday at #FSMU, I almost want to change the title to "Stress Test, Surviving Silicon Valley". Startups are hard enough without all the strange stuff Silicon Valley tosses at you. I presented to a white-shoe venture fund a couple of weeks ago. They’ve invested in several social media companies and loved what we are doing here at FohBoh. They loved our business model, how we’ve evolved a social media insights and web analytics company, our…

This three part series will highlight three very different restaurant training styles.

For part one, click here.

There is simply no replacement for hands-on training. Talk to any culinary student who begins to work in a real kitchen and they'll…

Today's post is written by my colleague, Lara Baldwin, with whom I always find myself in conversations about the types of restaurants we enjoy most.  I love quaint, little known h***-in-the-walls.  Lara has an affinity for large chains.  I asked her to articulate her argument and let you guys be the judge.  Let me know if you feel the same way...perhaps I'll write my side of the story next time ;)

Let’s face it: chain restaurants don’t exactly have a glamorous…

About a month ago a regular at the Ugly Tuna Saloona in Columbus, OH, sent a tweet that her phone had been stolen. A few hours later she tweeted she was on her way to the bar, adding that she was having a “(bad) day.” Ugly Tuna’s…

The joints of their knuckles ached. Their wrists were stiff as the first sign of primate related Carpal Tunnel Syndrome waged war on their usually limber joints. Many of the Apes had gone to be fitted for reading glasses as the hours spent in front of computers had taken its toll. The hunt for those filthy human pests,…