All Blog Posts Tagged 'cost' (29)

Non-Operator 2013...Are you ready for the changes?

The elections are behind us, Thanksgiving has come and gone and many of you are embroiled in the Christmas/New Years rush! Hardly time to think of all of the changes coming on line in 2013. However, as savvy business men and woman who run operations on shoe-string budgets and penny margins, don't you think it's time to at least put the thought on the burner?

As an individual who went from running multi-unit, multi-million dollar operations to building a business development firm…

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Added by Tony Martinez on December 11, 2012 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Non-Operator The restaurant business in BC

In British Columbia we have been presented with an extremely trying 2 year stretch between 2010 and 2012. Not only have we been presented with the world wide economical challenges that have driven our tourism to an unexpected low but there have been many inter-provincial changes that have caused the economic challenge to be even more difficult to manage.

Last June we saw a new tax law come into play in BC called the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). Previously consumers were only…

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Added by Joel Lazeski on April 19, 2011 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Non-Operator The Cost of Nutrition Analysis: Local Spotlight

Hi all, a busy week at the office, so I took some blog material from the FoodCALC consumer blog Dining by Numbers, I hope you like it:

As someone who works in the restaurant industry, I know that a big complaint among restaurant operators when I ask them about providing calorie information to their customers is simple: cost. You see, the traditional method that…

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Added by Alyson Mar, RD on March 24, 2011 at 7:54am — No Comments

Free recipe food cost tool

I don't think I have to tell you how important it is to know your cost when preparing a recipe. Here is a tool my team and I developed to help figure out those costs. We want to make this the best FREE recipe costing tool with your help. Try our tool and post your suggestions. We want to hear from you!…

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Added by Robert Vasquez on March 22, 2011 at 7:00am — No Comments

Non-Operator Cutting Portions, Not Profits

In the world of American cuisine, size does matter. We are a big people obsessed with big food. And, while plentiful and delicious, this “healthy” American appetite is taking its toll on our waistlines and overall health. After all, more food = more calories = more body mass.

The trend of giant portion sizes also takes its toll on restaurant operations and costs. When you serve more food food costs obviously increase which can cause operators to order lower…

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Added by Alyson Mar, RD on September 8, 2010 at 7:30pm — 1 Comment

Restaurant Text Pager Systems and Cell Phone Pager Systems - A Cost Benefit Analysis

The purpose of this article is to explore the practical applications of Cell Phone Pager or Restaurant Text Pager system, to evaluate their return on investment and speculate as to the future of the guest pager.

Guest Pager system technology has evolved beyond the Coaster Pager to what is now known as the "Cell Phone Pager" or "Restaurant Text Pager".

Savvy…

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Added by Brandon Munson on July 4, 2010 at 6:00am — No Comments

Non-Operator 20 steps to lowering your food or liquor costs

This article will be one of the most important I've ever written for restaurant owners and managers in other food services. In this article, I'm going to do something you won't see from another consultant. I'm going to share with you the exact steps of an action plan I created to help a restaurant create a food cost fitness program, along with some helpful commentary from me. These steps would be the same for liquor costs, but would focus on different employees in a different area of the… Continue

Added by Brandon O'Dell on June 3, 2010 at 7:27pm — No Comments

Non-Operator Announcement: Bevinco Partners With TheBarBlogger.com

BEVINCO, an independent profit control and revenue enhancement service for the hospitality industry, is announcing its partnership with TheBarBlogger.com. The new alliance will foster growth and enhance information sharing throughout the hospitality community.

Barry Chandler, aka The Bar Blogger, is known for his bar and nightclub management Web sites that provide online resources for bar operators.… Continue

Added by Barry Chandler on March 21, 2010 at 10:36pm — No Comments

Lifecycle of a New Manager

I have seen two approaches to placing a new manager into a restaurant. The first angle is train them fast, throw them in the deep end of the pool and they either drown or they tread water long enough to find the edge of the pool and get out safely, learning never to be allowed to be thrown in the pool again, but it takes a lot of time and money to get them out of the pool. Some drown and don’t make it. The second approach is train them effectively, put them in a learning environment, and foster… Continue

Added by Andy Swingley on March 15, 2010 at 8:03pm — 9 Comments

Inventory Forecasting: You Can't Manage If You Don't Measure

Last week I kicked off a series of articles on controlling food costs.

I had the opportunity to work for one of the most respected CEO's in the restaurant industry who mastered the art of controlling costs. He was always saying, "You can't manage what you don't measure". It is an old management adage that is accurate today. Unless you measure something, you don't know if it is getting better or worse. You can't manage for improvement if you don't measure to see what is getting better… Continue

Added by Jim McGinty on January 6, 2010 at 9:10am — 4 Comments

Buying a POS System: Making the Most of Your Investment

Restaurant operators make significant investments in a restaurant, from kitchen technology to décor and aesthetics to furniture and equipment. Each investment helps build the brand, streamline operations and keep the doors open. More than any other investment, a POS system can help restaurant operators control costs, improve guest experience and order accuracy, and enable high productivity in the operations.

Oftentimes in our industry and especially in today’s economy, many… Continue

Added by Jessica Lundberg on December 14, 2009 at 9:20am — No Comments

Non-Operator Cost Control is a Mentality and can’t be “Scheduled”

I hosted an event online yesterday for 50 Irish and UK hospitality businesses where I spoke for two hours on the subject of inventory control or stocktaking as it is referred to in Europe.

The unfortunate truth about stocktaking is that for many bars/restaurants they are either reluctantly undertaking a physical inventory every so often or they are doing nothing at all and to be quite honest, neither is good enough.

In this day… Continue

Added by Barry Chandler on December 9, 2009 at 11:03pm — No Comments

Non-Operator stop popping wobble bubbles.

a short, hot day or two ago (i live in Phoenix), i remembered a stat that i had heard on many occasions, but each time the numbers were conflicting, maintaining the consistency of snowflakes and fingerprints. confused, as i should be, i decided to google this stat to finally achieve the satisfaction of knowing the true answer. this mind-blistering stat states that “man’s knowledge doubles every X years.” turns out, google produced every number from 50 years to 2 years, so every conflicting… Continue

Added by Jeff Sharp on October 28, 2009 at 7:03am — 1 Comment

Non-Operator Do you “portion control” your bar?

I’m travelling between Columbus Ohio and San Antonio Texas today on my way to my quarterly mastermind meeting (more about that later). Walking through the maze of gates and terminals in Chicago airport, I was reminded how the larger chain restaurants and cafes can teach smaller owner run establishments a lot about portion control and cost control.

As a restaurant chain grows and more outlets are added, the risk of group failure… Continue

Added by Barry Chandler on October 25, 2009 at 10:04pm — No Comments

You Wear a Name Tag – Right?

I find it funny that we use labels to identify humans, but not product. It’s the idea of nametags versus labels. After all, isn’t it much easier to identify a human wearing a uniform in comparison to items and product that are hidden behind closed doors or behind other items?

A few weeks ago I was in one of those office supply giants having some printing done. After the first test page was complete we noticed that the black ink was causing… Continue

Added by Leslie Howard on April 16, 2009 at 11:45am — 6 Comments

R&I Magazine surveys foodservice industry on Purchasing Trends.

Occasionally, I come across an article that leaves me confused, angry and annoyed.

I came across one such article today in Restaurants and Institutions

Foodservice Purchasing Power is the title and you can read the entire article here:

http://www.rimag.com/article/CA6641696.html

What really got my blood boiling was this section, called

10 Ways Purchasing Habits are Changing

Three-quarters of operators say business concerns such as increasing… Continue

Added by Steve Paterson on March 31, 2009 at 8:31pm — 6 Comments

2009 tax incentives for restaurants and small businesses

Here are some updates to the tax law and some new incentives for 2009 -

Extension of the Commercial Building Tax Deduction

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) of 2008 (also known as HR-1424) extends the benefits of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, including the CBTD, until December 31, 2013.

The Commercial Building Tax Deduction (CBTD) establishes a tax deduction for expenses incurred for energy efficient building expenditures made… Continue

Added by Dani on March 26, 2009 at 5:39am — 1 Comment

Keep It Simple Stupid!

*Please be advised that I am not calling anyone stupid.

As we look for ways to cut cost and increase revenue, look for the simplest solution. It could turn out to be the million dollar winner.

To quote an old adage:

"An inventor spent 1.5 million dollars to invent a pen for NASA to use so that Astronauts could write in space..."
"The Russians used a pencil"

Added by Leslie Howard on March 19, 2009 at 10:06am — 5 Comments

Non-Operator Inventory = Money, Managing your assets properly

Early in my career, before I became a restaurant expert, I remember being walked into a walk-in cooler and asked, “What do you see on the shelves?” I started listing what I could see on the shelves, but I was stopped short and told the answer was, “Money!”

This was a very important lesson and one I encourage anyone who owns, manages or works in a restaurant to learn. Inventory is money! To manage it properly, you have to calculate, know and manage your inventory… Continue

Added by David Scott Peters on March 11, 2009 at 2:00am — 4 Comments

Steal from me will ya…..

Alright, so I hate to go there but theft, shrinkage, and stealing goes on in every restaurant. If you think it doesn’t you are having more stolen from you than realize. The best way to reduce your loses from theft is to first acknowledge it happens and then put controls in place to stop it. If your team knows your systems are so tight they are a lot less likely to reduce your inventory unethically. Here are just a few examples of theft happening right now in your… Continue

Added by Andy Swingley on January 7, 2009 at 6:59pm — 21 Comments