Michael L. Atkinson's Blog (208)

Inside the Industry: The Top 10

There are a number of interesting industry topics to discuss as members of FohBoh. The restaurant and related food and beverage industries are similar all over the world. But, economies are different, trends may be unique from market to market. It may be interesting to open this up for discussion, as we are growing in membership globally, to get a sense of the hot issues regionally, and internationally. The goal is to find some common ground to benchmark and discuss.

Here is a starter… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 25, 2007 at 11:32pm — 2 Comments

Chains vs. Independents

Do you agree with this?

53% of respondents who have dined out in the past year agree or strongly agree with the statement, “I don’t care if a restaurant is

independent or part of a chain."

Source: R&I, 2007 New American Diner Study

I found an article with an interesting perspective on why about a year ago by Tricia Childress.

The Price…

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Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 23, 2007 at 11:16pm — 1 Comment

How Do Restaurants Find New Employees?

How do restaurants recruit? How do they keep the employee pool interested, active, happy, motivated and productive? What's the secret? What's your secret? Is it 70% networking or 10% networking? Is BOH turnover ratios higher or lower than FOH? Is fast food turnover ratios higher or lower than casual or fine dining? What about casinos? Hotels? Resorts?

I have often wondered why…

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Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 23, 2007 at 1:57pm — 6 Comments

New Michael Mina Restaurant Opens in Miami

Congrats Michael...

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 20, 2007 at 4:29pm — No Comments

The Casual Dining Sector is in the Dumps

I was speaking with a learned friend this afternoon. He is COO at a publicly traded casual dining restaurant and has been in the industry since the beginning of casual dining. In fact, he's one of the original guys that started in the mid-1970's.

His first-hand in-the-trenches comments echoed the media's latest concerns about the casual dining segment as being crowded, tired and in need of adrenaline. He cited negative 4-7% Y/Y comps… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 18, 2007 at 4:52pm — 3 Comments

An engaged Customers is Loyal Customer

There is huge value to interactivity and engaging customers. There is also tremendous value to social networking for restaurants. Simply put fully engaged customers deliver a premium over average customers in

share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth.

That's exactly why so many smart, informed restaurateurs are benefiting from

this interactive engagement by realizing a return on loyalty (ROL). We all know that it's more valuable to keep a customer than to… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 17, 2007 at 4:39pm — 1 Comment

Happy Chefs Are the Horse

Happy chefs...what a concept. Actually, it's a concept that the industry, management and ownership should embrace. Happy chefs and happy cooks make a happy FOH. While the takes FOH and BOH to bring it all together, the BOH is the horse. If the horse is not interested in water, you cannot make it drink.

I've been in enough kitchens to witness chaos, organized chaos or not...it's chaos nonetheless. But, a happy line is a good, efficient line… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 17, 2007 at 2:13pm — No Comments

First to Market-Yes we are!

There is something very compelling and sexy about being "first to market". This phrase is hard to say in almost any other industry but technology. Imagine saying "we have a new restaurant concept that has never, ever, been done before. How often does that happen?

I love technology because with software, anything is possible. If that's true, then there will always be a "first-to-market".

FohBoh is a first-to-market in a relatively new industry called Online Social Networks. We… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 16, 2007 at 9:42pm — No Comments

Holiday Parties Start This Week

Whenever I think about going to a company holiday party, I picture that scene in Santa Claus II. The movie with Tim Allen playing Santa at his future-Ms. Claus' Christmas party. Totally lame. No one is having fun. People checking their watches and there is nothing to do. A bowl of blue punch and a few chips to munch on. Boring and a seemingly forced get-to-gether. But, that's not reality...it's a m o v i e.

I'm going to my wife's Christmas (holiday) party tonight. I get to meet… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 14, 2007 at 4:11pm — 5 Comments

U.S. Restaurant Industry Forecast for 2008

Restaurant Industry to Continue to Be Major Driver in Nation's Economy Through Sales, Employment Growth in 2008

National Restaurant Association's 2008 Restaurant Industry Forecast

reveals economic, workforce, consumer and menu trends for the coming

year

(Washington, D.C.) Restaurant industry sales are expected to reach $558

billion in 2008—a 4.4 percent increase over 2007— and… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 12, 2007 at 10:43am — 1 Comment

How much is a "s***-load"?

I enjoyed a very entertaining breakfast discussion this morning with a fellow FohBoh.com super user. She's a foodie with a lot of restaurant experience. She also loves to cook and like many of us, rarely follows a recipe. She takes a peek at the list of ingredients and then goes to work, creating her version of whatever. A pinch of this, a dollop of that and, a s*** load of garlic. We laughed when she said "I love garlic" right after saying how much she used in a particular recipe.… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 11, 2007 at 1:39pm — 9 Comments

Restaurant Ten Success Commandments

I have no idea where this came from, but I think it's pretty relevant...and logical.

Ten Commandments for Success in the Restaurant

Business

1. Overhead

2. Capitalization

3. Location/Visibility

4. Accessibility

4. Parking

5. Service

5. Quality

6. Value

7. Consistency

8. Ambiance

9. Publicity & Community Relations

10. Ownership supervision

What do you think?

I could add a few more. Perhaps sub-commandments… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 11, 2007 at 12:29pm — 3 Comments

Wagamama - Noodle this

Wagamama is a celebration of consistency and quality in everything they do and have been for the past 15 years. The first Wagamama opened in London’s in 1992.

In the fifteen years that have passed, they have opened more than 80 restaurants - in UK, Europe, the pacific rim, the middle east and most recently, in Boston.

Wagamama is the most popular chain of award-winning Asian…

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Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 8, 2007 at 11:40am — No Comments

Beer and Chips...yum

There is something about having a freshly made beer and freshly cooked potato chips or even Belgium fries. While I would have this as a regular part of my diet, my wife says otherwise. Ok, I sneak out from time to time...

Beer and Chips

November 18, 2007

When I was a college student living in…

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Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 5, 2007 at 9:07pm — 4 Comments

Cool Restaurant Concept Spotted

Minnies has been around since 1975 and if you live in Chicago, this isn't exactly news. But, it's news to me and will likely be new to you. They are not franchising...yet. This is dangerous for them because this is going to be copied.

When Segal was a boy, his mother realized that he hated sharing his food. So for his fourth birthday party, his mother served… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 4, 2007 at 11:20am — No Comments

Chef & Restaurant Management Specific Job Boards

The following sites were selected based upon a number of factors including the quality and/or quantity of their Restaurant Management job listings as well as the number of potential Hospitality & Restaurant Managers and Chefs that will visit the sites. These are listed only as a convenience to our visitors and not as an endorsement.

Starting January 19, 2008, FohBoh now has a job board!

Go to FohBoh…

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Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 3, 2007 at 6:57pm — 5 Comments

Top Grossing Independent Restaurants

I always find it interesting to learn what the top independent restaurants generate in sales volume. Maybe it's me, but I've always thought it would be easier to operate one $50 million restaurant than 50 $1 million restaurants. What do you think?

Download Top 100 Independent restaurants.xls

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 2, 2007 at 8:58pm — 3 Comments

Study finds no-reservations policy can mean significant lost traffic

ITHACA , N.Y. (Nov. 27) Nearly 60 percent of patrons dining out for business reasons will avoid an establishment with a no-reservations policy, a virtual convention among large casual-dining chains, according to new research from Cornell University.

The report from the school's Center for Hospitality Research prompted its authors to recommend that casual chains rethink their no-reservations stance to capture more of the lucrative expense-account market.

As part of the study,… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on December 2, 2007 at 11:58am — 3 Comments

Applebee's Sales Drop

Applebee’s Nov. sales drop

With the IHOP Corp. acquisition of Applebee’s International Inc. expected to

close Thursday, the Applebee’s chain reported on Wednesday a

1.6-percent year-to-year drop in systemwide, domestic same-store sales

for November.

NRN reported that surprise, surprise, Applebee's same store sales dropped. If… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on November 29, 2007 at 7:48am — No Comments

Do Restaurant Managers Work Too Many Hours?

Probably is the short answer. I just had a conversation with the COO of a growing restaurant chain last night about this. I also, coinicidently, was talking with a restaurant manager yesterday about why he was leaving the business. Both answered yes; too many hours.

Mr. COO was worried about training, turnover and the Company's ability to grow and the need for good managers. Mr. Restaurant manager, on the other hand, was just burned out and missed his family. So, why can't the… Continue

Added by Michael L. Atkinson on November 28, 2007 at 5:12pm — 16 Comments