Culinary Cues

MARCH 10, 2022

Why do we sometimes treat dish washers as commodities – interchangeable and easily replaceable parts, when their role is so critical to the success of the restaurant (front and back of the house)? March 9 was National Dish Washer Day. If the chef doesn’t show up for some reason, there are those who might even cheer.

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Front of House Back of House Uniforms Hiring 450

Culinary Cues

MARCH 21, 2022

From first-in, first-out in the walk-in cooler to how you fold side towels and where your knives are placed – it is organization that allows a kitchen to run efficiently and keeps the mood and pace of the restaurant in sync. To some, it may seem less significant, but to seasoned professionals – this is the truth of the kitchen.

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Front of House Back of House Point of Sale Food Order 444

Culinary Cues

MARCH 26, 2022

Once established – do not sacrifice what you have invested the time in developing. [] FAILING TO INVEST IN TRAINING. Training ALWAYS pays back in dividends. Train to your standards and be very clear. Every employee needs to be trained and most relish the opportunity to learn and get better at what they do.

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Cash Management Social Media Restaurant Law Communication 464

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 22, 2022

This restaurant was their house, and they had a handle on how the house was doing. Bigger is less predictable and much more difficult to control and bigger takes cooks and chefs away from what they love to do, what attracted them to the trade in the beginning – to cook from the heart. That was it!

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Seating Front of House Back of House Cash Management 474

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 24, 2020

Far too many times the menu takes a back seat to all other planning that will lead to serious miscalculations along the way. Consider this – the menu is the most important component of a successful restaurant and once designed it can, and should, impact every other aspect of the business. YES – the menu is that important!

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Menu Seasonal Menu Front of House Reference 484

Culinary Cues

APRIL 6, 2020

Dating back to Medieval times when cooking was reserved for nobility and later during the Renaissance when merchant travelers relied on local taverns for respite and a chance to break bread – restaurants and restaurant life has always been present. It is this understanding that will bring the industry back.

Travel 542

Travel Back of House Customer Service Small Business 542

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 9, 2021

The goal of every restaurant and every chef is to create memorable experiences for the guest. Somewhere in our internal job description is a desire, and even a need to build an environment of WOW! Wow visuals on the plate and in the dining room, wow views from every seat, wow service, and of course – wow flavors on the plate.

Front of House 474

Front of House Customer Experience Dine-in Workshop 474

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 8, 2023

It’s the fire in the belly waiting to take charge, the anxiety being held in check, cold sweat running down your back even though it’s 120 degrees where you stand, and the nervous chatter of tongs clicking to the beat of a cook’s rhythm. To many cooks, it is the rush of adrenaline that calls them back every day.

Fine Dining 520

Fine Dining Back of House Front of House Food Order 520

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 28, 2021

From the moment you walk through that back entrance you are captivated by the dynamics of the environment, the structure of the operation, and the sensation of being enveloped by its alluring magic. You know exactly what to do, how to keep the rhythm, when to pull back or push forward, and how to keep the cooks, your cooks, calm and focused.

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Kitchen Safety Front of House Fine Dining Back of House 474

Culinary Cues

MAY 1, 2023

And, I have witnessed the apologies and hugs between front and back of the house that said: “Sorry I may have been abrupt, it was the heat of the moment, and you know I truly care about you.” There are many reasons why I am so grateful for the decades I spent in front of a range. In all cases – I have learned something from them.

Front of House 474

Front of House Back of House Food Order Small Business 474

Culinary Cues

MAY 28, 2022

The most important room in a home is the kitchen. This is the hub of activity, the space that portrays unity, defines tradition, nourishes the body and mind, and sets the tone for communication. This is where we celebrate and reflect – the place where a cook offers the most important expression of love through the creative preparation of food.

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Front of House Back of House Small Business Employee Relations 424

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

So choose where you want to sit and lets jump on the speculation train. [] NOURISH AND PROVIDE SUSTENANCE: Without a doubt – one of the primary purposes of a restaurant and one that supports the defined needs of a guest is to fill their stomachs. This was (is) the design of classic coffee houses, speakeasys, and corner cafes for generations.

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2022 Food Truck Front of House Point of Sale 480

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

WHAT THEY KNOW: [] Your employees know that the essential challenge is TRUST. [] Your employees know that preparing and serving food is only a part of what has kept customers coming back on a regular basis. We all know the challenges facing restaurants right now – there is little benefit in reiterating the problems.

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Kitchen Safety Back of House Front of House Customer Experience 434

Culinary Cues

JUNE 23, 2024

THEY ARE OUT THERE, and they are willing to teach, train, support, and inspire those who want to be great. Not all kitchens are alike. Not all chefs are the same. Not all cooks step to beat of the same drum. So, how detrimental is this “bad press” and what can be done about it?

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Uniforms Front of House Back of House Food Supply 448

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 10, 2021

If you pull a joker, the meal is on the house. Train your staff to build other taking points. Promoting your restaurant should start with promoting the food itself. However, too many restaurants fall into the trap of promoting items with a low food cost and high margin. Others tend to emphasize their cheaper menu options. Net result?

Marketing 567

Marketing SEO Front of House Website Management 567

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 5, 2023

In all cases I would encourage you to take a step back, breathe deep, put down your knife, and check your enthusiasm for right now. Patience, knowing that you probably don’t know what you don’t know, and fall back on perfecting what you do know first, and realize that when you are ready, you will be ready. You want more!

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Kitchen Safety Food Safety Back of House Front of House 447

Culinary Cues

APRIL 1, 2024

Looking back can provide us with context and content for making future decisions – lessons learned and all that, or it can also help us to relish what worked and hold on to that for inspiration. SOME TIME IN THE LATE 1960’S: Walking through the back entrance to the Statler Hilton Hotel was like stepping into a totally different world.

Back of House 424

Back of House Kitchen Safety Hotels Front of House 424

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 20, 2021

These are the people who worked their way up, failed countless times along the way, stumbled and picked themselves back up, were humble and grateful, and realized that contrary to the organization of the dictionary – work does come before success. Make sure the mop head is clean and changed frequently. Clean floors are happy floors.

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Front of House Uniforms Back of House Kitchen Safety 491

Culinary Cues

JULY 29, 2024

I was talking with a seasoned friend the other day, a person who has a successful professional and personal life to look back on, and we were reminiscing about how easy it seems for people to disregard the past, traditions, work ethic, strong memories, and just move on. I’m going to sound old and too nostalgic now but think about it.

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Back of House Take-out Café Blog 458

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 18, 2023

Whenever we (chefs) look back on our time in the kitchen, we’re able to categorize experiences in one of three silos: a learning experience, mission accomplished, or inspiration. The rhythm between front and back of the house is seamless, tempers are in check, and the night ends with everyone sharing fist bumps and high fives.

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Back of House Front of House Education Café 468

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 20, 2024

It is important to always keep in mind that dining out is still a luxury, even though more and more families have built it into their lifestyle. Whether a quick service restaurant, family dining, food truck, or white tablecloth fine dining operation – there will always be some level of price sensitivity. Not necessary!

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Fine Dining Food Truck Back of House Pricing 449

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 4, 2022

Thinking that the way to recover from the financial pains of a once in a century pandemic is to cut back on quality product and service and push the ceiling on pricing is short-sighted and ill-conceived as a strategy. Well then – what will? Try apathy on for size. It infects others who are easily convinced that it is the way it needs to be.

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Front of House Back of House Coaching Customer Service 432

7 Shifts

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Health, Allergen, and Food Safety Training and Certifications. Cooks and back-of-house employees tend to work with inventory management software and kitchen display technology. Cooks and back-of-house employees tend to work with inventory management software and kitchen display technology. Table of Contents.

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Front of House Back of House Kitchen Safety Food Safety 370

Culinary Cues

APRIL 18, 2023

Covid pulled the drapes back to reveal OZ as just an average guy trying to hide his inadequacies with smoke and mirrors. Plan, equip, train, evaluate, educate, and celebrate each and every employee. Everything is different since the pandemic, yet so many things are no different than they were 5 0 years ago.

Food Truck 387

Food Truck Back of House Education Training 387

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

This may seem like a strange topic for a blog focused on the restaurant industry and the world of food but hear me out. It was strange at first, but then we gradually dressed up a room in our house, set up our computers, turned on the Keurig Coffee Maker and spent our days flipping from one virtual meeting to another. So why not?

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Social Media Food Safety Small Business Retail 442

Culinary Cues

MAY 15, 2021

To attract and retain quality staff you must train well, treat them with respect, pay them a respectable wage, offer reasonable benefits, and provide them with the tools to be successful. The restaurant industry continues to be devastated – not just as a result of the pandemic but because the pandemic brought underlying issues to the surface.

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Customer Experience Cash Management Customer Service Front of House 449

Culinary Cues

MAY 27, 2023

Dedicate the effort to make it special, make the time to allow everyone to sit down TOGETHER and break bread, talk, relax, and laugh together (front and back of the house). We need to embrace the good and understand the bad and the ugly. But we need to be cognizant of a primary reason for “being connected”. Try “FOOD” on for size.

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Technology Front of House Social Media Back of House 418

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Does that story take people back in time and allow them to think about the impact the place, building, people, and food had on who they are today? Yes, life – since those who find that higher purpose will likely invest a significant amount of time in a restaurant kitchen, not because they must, but rather because they want to.

Back of House 449

Back of House Transportation Café Food Order 449

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 8, 2022

The anxiety building up to a full house in the hotel packed with a series of food events has made it impossible to relax. Well, here we go. I haven’t slept much at all over the past few days and certainly won’t until the weekend is over. The preparation has been mind boggling, now we just have to execute. Things looked good.

Front of House 450

Front of House Back of House Seating Food Truck 450

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

There are cooks and there are cooks – each has his or her list of responsibilities, required skills, and bag of tricks. Just because you are listed on a schedule as a cook does not necessarily mean that you are adept at filling every position under that designation.

Back of House 520

Back of House Dine-in Restaurant Law Ordering 520

Culinary Cues

APRIL 29, 2024

The industry expects that many managers will need to belittle and embarrass employees for their quality of work often resulting from the lack of training provided. There is a real dichotomy in understanding, a gap in understanding between the employer and employee and how each views the work at hand.

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Front of House Back of House Training Customer Service 320

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 28, 2023

If I had found myself in a toxic environment, then I would have quickly moved on to another house or my staff would have done the same with me. If I had found myself in a toxic environment, then I would have quickly moved on to another house or my staff would have done the same with me. The same is true in restaurants.

Entertainment 419

Entertainment Back of House Consumer Goods Recruiting 419

Culinary Cues

JUNE 16, 2023

Next week he would graduate from high school and James the cook at his diner invited him back for dinner and a chat. It was great, but my back didn’t agree, and I eventually had to step out of that role. Last summer he had a job as a dishwasher in a local diner. Too many of his friends took the wrong fork in the road.

Kitchen Safety 415

Kitchen Safety Back of House Hotels Food Safety 415

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

The fact is, we can’t go back, but we can look forward. There is always a level of comfort in reflection, even if there is “no turning back”. There is a bit of fear regarding what might be faced when stepping through that back kitchen door, yet at the same time there is always a twinge of excitement about the same.

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2020 Back of House Front of House Food Order 379

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 3, 2022

I can feel the knot in that muscle move slowly from the top of my ankle to the back of my knee. By 7am I am walking through the back door of the kitchen. I polish off breakfast in record time, kick back another coffee, tie on an apron, and walk through the kitchen with clipboard in hand. I nod and give him a thumbs up.

Back of House 437

Back of House Hotels Front of House Book 437

Culinary Cues

APRIL 22, 2020

Put down the knife and back away from the table. [] YES CHEF RULES THE DAY. As previously stated – you can take the chef out of the kitchen, but you can’t take the kitchen out of the chef. This time of displacement is tough on everyone. Each of us deals, or tries to deal, with this situation in our own unique way.

Back of House 456

Back of House Point of Sale Take-out Food Order 456

Culinary Cues

JULY 9, 2022

I run my fingers down the spine, or the blunt back of the blade. It’s the start of another day in the kitchen. Seven in the morning and aside from the baker and breakfast cook, I am alone with clip board in hand and my roll bag of knives placed strategically at a workstation. I like to ‘brighten” the edge before I start.

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Front of House Back of House Presentation Café 447