Featured Blog Posts – November 2008 Archive (69)

Less is More

Sometimes the life of a restaurant manager can be frustrating, ugly, and downright depressing.

Sometimes I feel like the only way I am going to be happy, is

by giving up my job and my family and joining a monastery or living with the missionaries in some underdeveloped country.

Wow, did I say that?

Bill, what in the world are you thinking?

At first glance, I’m not too sure. But these are, I swear,

some of the thoughts that keep coming back… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on November 11, 2008 at 8:45pm — 8 Comments

Precision Helps Keeps Food Costs Low

With the economy verging on recession and consumers everywhere reducing their dining out budget, restaurants, cafes and bars are looking everywhere for ways to squeeze a little more profit out of every item served. You might think On Top bagged whipped topping wouldn't offer much in the way of help in this arena, but there you'd be wrong. This week we're going to talk about how On Top can help reduce food costs in a… Continue

Added by OnTop(r) on November 11, 2008 at 1:09pm — No Comments

UK beekeepers demand action on hive decline

From Associated Press via www.chron.com

Honeybee deaths are below those in U.S., but some say it is getting worse.

Beekeepers swarmed Parliament and the prime minister's office last week, demanding more funds for research after the number of Britain's honeybees dropped by nearly a third in the past year.

The British bee losses have not been as dramatic as those in the… Continue

Added by Mark McKellier on November 11, 2008 at 8:19am — 3 Comments

Non-Operator Restaurant Marketing Survey: Restaurants Turn Thumbs Down On Yellow Pages

A whopping 60% of restaurants said they have decreased their Yellow Page directory spending over the past two years, downgrading their listing from a display ad to a bold listing, or from a bold listing to free listing.

This was one of the many facts that surfaced in RestaurantMarketing.com’s “Restaurant Yellow Page Usage Report” – a survey of 214 different restaurants across the USA in various food and concept categories, from casual, to pizza to fine dining, taken in September… Continue

Added by Joel Cohen, RestaurantMarketing.com on November 11, 2008 at 4:26am — 4 Comments

Temporary Food Service Employment Agencies in the Atlanta Metro area.

Can anyone in the FOHBOH community provide some names of food service staffing agencies, here in the Atlanta metro area? Please let me know by sending a message to me or try calling me off line. Thank you all.

AHJ

Added by Food 4 Thought (Anthony Jackson) on November 10, 2008 at 11:19am — 2 Comments

Fill Your restaurant every night

Fill Your Restaurant Every Night

Almost every restaurant owner will tell you that Monday and Tuesday evenings are the hardest to fill. Of course, your restaurant may be different – your challenge may be lunchtimes or the winter season.

* Find evening classes or interest groups which meet on your quiet day and invite all of them to your restaurant with a special offer. If possible, go in person to invite them.

* Advertise one of your quiet nights as a… Continue

Added by Ray Abram on November 8, 2008 at 8:14pm — 3 Comments

Remember Tang?

If you do, you're old.

Or no you're not. You just have a good memory!

Perspective I guess.

(If you are expecting some commentary/insight on Tang, or Branding, or Marketing, or anything substantial....stop reading now)

In fact, this could almost be considering a Part 2 for one of my previous blog posts entitled;

Certified Angus, Tongs and Imperfect Blogging

http://www.fohboh.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1411008%3ABlogPost%3A221347

To… Continue

Added by Steve Paterson on November 7, 2008 at 7:47pm — 10 Comments

Thanksgiving That Dudes Can Abide

It's time for my yearly rumination on the Biggest Meal. From the perspective of undoubtedly many a wine professional – spending Thanksgivings at tables with as many as a dozen different bottles of wine at a time (the most ever for me: some five dozen with Greg and Gary Butch’s families at their restaurant, Elizabeth on 37^th in Savannah) – I… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on November 7, 2008 at 9:03am — 3 Comments

Chicken Breast Prices and Chicken Producer Profitability

The chart of the week is chicken-feed cost ratio versus chicken breast prices. This is the same chart I featured a couple of months ago but at this point I think it is an opportune time to revisit the subject. As the chart depicts, chicken producer profitability has been better in recent weeks compared to the summer. But the improvement did not occur because of production cutbacks or higher chicken prices. The improvement was due to the notable downturn in feed prices. That being said, as the… Continue

Added by David Maloni on November 7, 2008 at 8:12am — No Comments

Unemployment Rate at 14-Year High After Big October Losses

The economy lost 240,000 nonfarm jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent, the government reported, as the slowdown took a toll on households and businesses.

Is anybody hiring? How are you finding people? or are you inundated with applicants?

Added by Austin Lavin on November 7, 2008 at 6:20am — 6 Comments

Where in the world...

I always find it interesting and fun to see where fohboh members live. Check out the map feature "Map" on the members' page. Or, click here. Just mouse over the pins to see who and where.

Have fun!

Cheers!

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on November 6, 2008 at 9:51pm — 2 Comments

Non-Operator Who is the most important person you hire?

I love one liner and just got this one and had to give it a little twist

When 4-time U.S. Open golf champion Ben Hogan was asked, “What’s the most important shot in golf?” he smiled and said, “The next one.”

So who is the most important person you hire? The next one.

Think about it.

If you want more go here

Added by Mel Kleiman on November 6, 2008 at 5:46pm — No Comments

Working While Sick

As the weather changes, absenteeism due to illness starts to rise. It's an age-old problem for restaurants, one that leads to understaffing and overworked employees as they struggle to compensate for the missing personnel.

But with the economy souring and pocketbooks getting stretched thin, more employees are going to be tempted to work through that illness and keep coming in even when they should be laying in bed. "Don't worry, I can power through," they say. You should be saying… Continue

Added by OnTop(r) on November 6, 2008 at 10:01am — 5 Comments

Who Wants My Traveling Dining Dollars?

With gas prices down, it's reasonable to expect that a lot of people will be traveling over the Thanksgiving Holidays. I know I will be. What are you doing to attract the transient traffic that always comes when people are on the road for the holidays?

All, I am in North Carolina. I'm traveling home to Detroit for Thanksgiving and my Birthday. Here is my route and the dates I'll be traveling. Who wants my dining dollar and what will you do to entice me to dine with… Continue

Added by Matt Urdan on November 6, 2008 at 7:36am — 6 Comments

Cindi D's voting and leadership lesson all in a day......

Holy crap! The election is finally OVER! I can't begin to say thank you to all of the networks for all of the jibberjabber off my tv's!!!!

I couldn't be more happier. I walked into my place of voting and I was in and out in 5 minutes (score!). It was 12:30pm and I had to close, so I was sweating bullets that I wouldn't be out in time.

Leadership was chosen last night, it wasn't a popularity contest. When I think about this election, it was the canadiate who… Continue

Added by Cindi Digiantonio on November 5, 2008 at 7:43pm — 3 Comments

"It's a Beautiful Day" ~ Thank You!

To all of you who participated in the voting process, I thank you. You turned out in the millions ~ more participation than in the last 100 years. As a "boomer" how proud I am to see voters from every walk of life come together and peacefully cast their vote. Some of you stood hours in polling places and after in Grant Park (Chicago), New York, Atlanta the list is as endless as the optimism it invoked.

I have seen many elections and hard choices are always made, but yesterday your… Continue

Added by Debra Straka on November 5, 2008 at 7:22am — 7 Comments

Well. let me be the first here to offer congrat's to our new Dear Leader...

Good for you, President-Elect Obama. You've worked hard and long for this and tonight, it all pays off with victory.

You gave a great winners speech tonight at Grant Park. You are a spectacular orator. Your speech brought tears to many eyes (or was it the pot smoke?).

You are probably now realizing that the campaign was actually the easy part of the deal and that tomorrow, things start to get a lot more difficult than anyone could imagine.

(Pause.....this is not… Continue

Added by Steve Paterson on November 4, 2008 at 11:12pm — 4 Comments

Things your restaurant is doing to try to keep the guest coming in.

Hey all! I know I've been gone a little while, but I was just curious about how everyone is doing in the restaurants right now? I know times are tough, but what sorts of things are being done to keep the guests coming in the restaurants?

I know my company, a franchise of Applebee's, has extended our happy hour. It is now Monday thru Friday 11-7 and 10-close half off all appetizers and all alcohol except shots and shooters. Then they are serving half off Perfect Draft Beers all day on… Continue

Added by Kristen Siqueiros on November 4, 2008 at 6:18pm — 2 Comments

Non-Operator 4 Question HIring Quiz

Did you know a recent study by Harvard University found that nearly 80% of employee turnover is due to hiring mistakes? If you’ve made any lately, take this short quiz today and start making better hiring decisions tomorrow.

1. Do you know much time and money it costs to advertise, interview, check references, and train a new employee – only to find out after a few weeks or months that the person isn’t suited to the job?

$50 - $100

$101 – $500

$501 –… Continue

Added by Mel Kleiman on November 4, 2008 at 5:42pm — 15 Comments

I'm fascinated by umami

I just sat through a presentation by David Kasabian and Chef Tim Kushman on umami at the conference I'm at. It's actually the second time I've seen this workshop-style presentation (the last time this summer at an NRA conference), and I've realized I am absolutely fascinated by this subject.

It's not the easiest thing to explain, but it's something we're all familiar with simply because we eat. Today's chefs are well served to… Continue

Added by AnnikaS on November 4, 2008 at 2:52pm — No Comments