December 2011 Blog Posts (50)

It’s only one, tiny, insignificant button. So how come it’s changed so much in such little time? Google plus 1 has recently come out of nowhere and it’s slowly changing the fabric of the marketing world. So let’s start from the beginning, what specifically is Google plus 1, and what are the reasons for it being so significant?  Well, Google plus one is Google’s newest revolutionary experiment. They’ve been working on it for quite some time now. It’s a fairly new aspect to global marketing…

Could there be anything better for a bar than the Super Bowl? An annual weekend sporting event that captures the attention of a huge percentage of the country and is geared towards television, food and booze?

But unfortunately as the size of High-Def TVs grows and the cost…

It has taken centuries to perfect each and every type of knife used in today’s kitchens. Each knife has its own, unique and individual function and it is important to use it for what it was intended. Many people assume that “a knife is a knife”. This is not true. A beautiful loaf of bread or the perfect filet of meat can be ruined with one slice from the wrong knife. Just to make sure everything is clear; here is an explanation of what each knife is made for.

The first, and…

Everyone agrees that going out to a bar makes for a fun Saturday night but the price of alcoholic drinks at most bars and restaurants are outrageous. Why go out and spend all of your hard earned money when you can create a high quality bar at home? Save money without skimping on the fun! Create a professional bar right at home and impress all your friends and family. Here are a few things that will help you achieve your goal of making the best at- home bar.

(1)   First things…

Does Size Really Matter?

Ahh…the age old question. But I’m talking about the size of your restaurant’s email list. (Yeah, I know.  False advertising, right? You totally expected a different angle didn’t you?)

Everywhere you turn you are being told to gather all the emails of your guests, and keep building your database, and every event you do should have a way of gathering email…

Technomic's Bob Goldin has released…

Which Downturn?

Over the weekend, I re-read an article called “Moving Upward in a Downturn,” an article by Darrell Rigby in the Harvard Business Review of June 2001.  (No, that’s not a typo, 2001 is…

When at the bars, it is not uncommon to see multiple kinds of glasses sitting behind the bar. It seems to me that most of those glasses aren’t used very often, but then again, I have a habit of ordering the same drink every time. If you are confused or curious like me, here is an explanation of what each glass is used for.

    

The first and most commonly used cocktail glasses are the highball and lowball. The lowball is generally used for “single” shot mixed drinks or for…

As the world becomes more and more fast-paced people are now trying to shave time where ever they can! That way of thinking doesn’t stop in the kitchen either. If you’re in a pinch and need to speed up your preparation time before rushing off to your next engagement, I recommend investing in a few simple tools that can drastically cut down your cooking time.

    Let’s talk about slicing and chopping first. This is a tedious process and eats away at your valuable time and if…

I predict that 2012 will be the year for paper to finally become obsolete in all foodservice business transactions and information storage. Restaurant owners, finance officers and HR teams can deliberate how long it will take, but it is obvious that the days of using paper on the business side of foodservice are numbered. What’s causing the end of the paper world? Technological advancement.

Tech-savvy consumers, employees and managers alike are increasingly fed up with paper…

            40 homeless children (aged 1-17) and their parents almost missed Christmas this year until the servers at the Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill heard about their plight.  They responded by pooling their tips and inviting them to a special breakfast at the restaurant that is located at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa on December 23 at 10:00 a.m.  Before the restaurant opens for business, the servers will volunteer their time to serve breakfast, meet with the families of Orange Coast…

It’s the holiday season, people are going out to eat and your restaurant will be seeing new faces. That’s great. Did you ever think about your strategy for attracting new customers all year-long?

Part of your marketing plan for 2012 should be a strategy for getting and keeping new customers . What are you doing to increase trial at your restaurant? There are some of the basic strategies such as advertising in the local paper or coupon book, but have you considered about how getting…

We all know they wouldn’t show up for work each day if you weren’t paying them, but is money the most effective way to get the most out of your employees?

In …

Fresh baked bread, imported meats, house-made spreads...what’s not to love about an artisan sandwich?  Well, the calorie count may be an issue to some people.  With New Years and Resolutions just around the corner it’s not a bad idea to start thinking about ways to cut calories for those diners on a weight loss mission.  Sandwiches provide an easy platform to make simple changes that will lower their fat and calorie contents.  Here are some ideas to help get started:

Wrap…

Friends, Humans, Social Media folks…Lend me your ears…For let me tell thee about the true payoff of this thing we call Social Media!

Last week myself and others started a ball rolling on Twitter to aid a small but powerful radio station in Campbell River Canada where…

Guest Post by Chuck Deibel, Senior Partner at BEVINCO

Is looking at just the change in your Pour Cost percentage enough to determine how much more profitable it is to reduce your lost sales and missing…

Now that you’ve created your restaurant’s mobile website it’s time to think about tracking results. This will help you analyze the effectiveness of your content and ultimately help you optimize your sales. The beauty of Google Analytics is that it’s free and you don’t have to be an analyst to interpret the data, or act on it.

 Key Metrics in Google Analytics

Here is a breakdown of a number of key metrics provided by Google Analytics, possible interpretations of the data,…

After putting her name on the waitlist at a crowded restaurant, anthropologist Krystal D’Costa noticed a common theme among her fellow waiting guests. Rather than engaging in organic conversation, the customer queue pulled out their smartphones and began texting and engaging in social media, sparking discussion about what they found. Few - if any - people were using their…

No, I’ve never read anything by Erica Jong, and there’s nothing zipless about this column -- nor, I trust, about the attitudes of the parties who inspired it.  (For those of less than a certain age, feel free to research Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying and the cultural touchstone it provided.)…

File this under the category of: ‘Things to do on your off-day or after closing up the bar.’

Those of us who enjoy a cocktail (or five) now and again know that music usually makes it way into the experience at some point. Whether it’s listening to the jukebox or picking an…