Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 24, 2020

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! Far too many times the menu takes a back seat to all other planning that will lead to serious miscalculations along the way.

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Menu Seasonal Menu Front of House Café 482

Culinary Cues

MAY 12, 2022

I get it, profit in restaurants is sometimes hard to come by. Restaurants get hit from all angles so when there is a chance to push the envelope on pricing – many do. Of course, there is a handful of masterful chefs and restaurateurs who can charge crazy prices to sold out audiences. Prime Filet or 14 oz.

Pricing 442

Pricing Consumer Goods Training Customer Experience 442

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 20, 2024

There’s a reactionary movement that I keep seeing in restaurants; a movement that assumes the answer to the restaurant bottom line is to take more and give less or give too much to justify raising prices. A menu should thus be designed and priced to make those items seem essential. Come on, we know this!

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Fine Dining Food Truck Back of House Pricing 449

Culinary Cues

APRIL 23, 2022

The margins are very tight, in fact they are so tight that most business savvy people would wonder why anyone would ever want to own a restaurant. The buck seems to always stop with the chef; it’s the chef’s kitchen, the chef’s food cost, and the chef’s menu that drives marginal profit at best. Cost control begins at the back door.

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Food Seasonal Menu Waste Consumer Goods 448

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

From my experience, it is difficult to experience a dinner for two in a moderate full-service, independent restaurant for less than $120 without gratuity. Those family-owned restaurants in your town are the lifeblood of the community. How, in this case with restaurants, do these operators find a way to financial success?

Pricing 415

Pricing Marketing Insurance Seasonal Menu 415

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 23, 2021

In the restaurant business there are really only two ways to view profit: a very small amount of profit balanced by very significant volume, or a significant amount of profit on far less volume. How you approach the design of your restaurant in this regard will determine nearly everything else. So what is contribution margin?

Front of House 450

Front of House Point of Sale Back of House Customer Experience 450

Culinary Cues

MARCH 26, 2022

Are you thinking about owning a restaurant? You are not alone if the thought of putting your name on a restaurant awning has crossed your mind. One of the most tempting forays into entrepreneurship is the restaurant business. Instead, let’s look at some of the common reasons why restaurants fail (this is only a sampling).

Cash Management 462

Cash Management Social Media Restaurant Law Communication 462

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 10, 2021

While your restaurant may feature a diverse menu, delicious food, a great ambiance, and excellent customer service, you will still struggle to build a customer base without promoting it. The fact is that running a successful restaurant is more than just offering good food and good service. Emphasize Best-Selling Items.

Marketing 567

Marketing SEO Front of House Website Management 567

Culinary Cues

APRIL 15, 2023

It’s early spring, mud season as it is commonly called, and they are putting in a Yeoman’s effort at organizing another restaurant week. All good intentions – they want to create full or partially full dining rooms for restaurants in need. If you are not in the restaurant business, then maybe this sounds reasonable.

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Seasonal Menu Café Point of Sale Social Media 518

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 18, 2021

While there are clear benefits to an all-digital menu system, to get the most out them, you must first take a step back to re-examine what your menu means to you. Your menu: Part love letter, part manifesto, instructions for use and a bill of goods, all rolled into one. Should your menu move to the cloud? In your world?

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Back of House Seasonal Menu Customer Experience Fast Casual 474

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 22, 2024

Understanding your diner’s requirements, preferences, and desires is the foundation for success in the modern restaurant industry. This industry seeks to develop a value proposition that speaks to its consumers and convinces them to dine in their restaurants. How do you manage your restaurant in a modern and efficient way?

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Loyalty Program Dietary Restrictions Mobile Ordering Social Media 453

ChowNow

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

If you’ve taken a look at Grubhub’s app lately, you may have noticed an immense amount of new restaurants available for online ordering. After all, the delivery giant more than doubled what they call their “restaurant inventory” in the past quarter. Because of this, both consumers and restaurateurs pay the price.

Pricing 397

Pricing Online Ordering Customer Experience Social Media 397

Modern Restaurant Management

MAY 21, 2021

A restaurant is only as good as the team behind the scenes. For restaurants, this information could range from cooking, dining, and food preparation tips to local ingredient sourcing guides. If your restaurant has a blog, consider adding author bios to your blog posts. Include Your Customers in Your Celebrations.

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Social Media Customer Experience Email Marketing Online Ordering 508

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 8, 2021

We all knew that the restaurant industry was in need of a structural overhaul, we (those of us affiliated with the business) were well aware of the cogs in the chain, and the years of rust that had accumulated on systems and organization, but it took the pandemic of 2020/21 to shout out: THE TIME IS NOW! Such is the case in 2021.

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2021 Social Media Kitchen Safety Restaurant Law 474

Culinary Cues

JULY 15, 2022

Sorry, there isn’t a lot of good news for restaurants and chefs in recent years-except up to this point customer demand for the experience is rising. When one of the big four or five producers or distributors closes or slows down production then the trickle effect falls squarely on the restaurant and the consumer.

Food Supply 448

Food Supply Food Truck Consumer Goods 2000 448

Culinary Cues

APRIL 30, 2023

Without a CULTURE OF QUALITY, the relationship of price to results is not always clear. The same applies to any business, in this case – a restaurant. When you push those expensive ingredients to the eventual plate what is most important is guest reaction: “Is it worth the price”. Quality and price are not always synonymous.

Employee Relations 503

Employee Relations Sports Pricing Hiring 503

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

There’s rarely been a more difficult time for restaurants than the past year. Combining a shortage of customers and employees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing flux of health code restrictions, restaurants are struggling to drive traffic and relevance within respective customer bases.

Entertainment 485

Entertainment Social Media Customer Service Technology 485

Culinary Cues

MARCH 15, 2021

Sure, I know how much the restaurant/foodservice industry is suffering and how many operations are shutting their doors as a result of avoiding decades of challenges brought to a head by the pandemic, but believe me when I say that this will change. Just as the restaurant industry evolves, so too must the industry of education.

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Education Food Supply Training Communication 587

Culinary Cues

MARCH 3, 2021

The hope was that by doing more, working harder and longer, making more complicated menus, and pushing the envelope of creativity the restaurant industry would rise up to new levels of success. These small restaurant operators opened and closed their doors at an alarming rate simply because they couldn’t afford the space.

Small Business 450

Small Business Dine-in Seasonal Menu Café 450

Culinary Cues

APRIL 16, 2022

You remember those meals that you experienced and the impact they had on your career – this is what you need to re-create in your restaurant. These restaurant guest experiences will bring them back for more – seeking another chance to feel the WOW. To this end the menu that you build should always have some fluidity.

Hotels 447

Hotels Presentation Reservations Social Media 447

Culinary Cues

MAY 3, 2023

It amazes me every time I visit a restaurant – the important things that we miss. With menus the focus is, and always has been, on the protein, the center of the plate. Where we fall short is in the details of that menu, the complements, the “tag along” ingredients. Great bread IS ESSENTIAL in any level of restaurant experience.

Food Truck 474

Food Truck Customer Experience Take-out Food Supply 474

Culinary Cues

APRIL 3, 2020

As you move through IDEATION that will help to define what your restaurant concept, menu, systems, and staffing will look like as we eventually move out of this crisis, it is just as important to discuss and plan for the things that can go wrong. Assuming that it can’t happen to you is at best naïve, and at worst – tragic.

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Guest Recovery Social Media Kitchen Safety Food Safety 382

Culinary Cues

JULY 23, 2023

Most restaurant owners, managers, family members of cooks, friends of cooks and chefs, those in other professions, service staff, and restaurant patrons, don’t get it. Build in those “business decision” standards that must be present, allow the chef to interpret them, but keep them as essential to the operation of the restaurant.

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Guest Recovery Seasonal Menu Presentation Customer Experience 419

Culinary Cues

JUNE 29, 2024

Memorable food, exceptional experiences, a perfect evening…these are the types of reviews that every chef hopes for and every restaurant strives for. What would it take for guests to rave about dining in your restaurant? The service staff members have been well-trained and are enthusiastic about the restaurant concept.

Customer Experience 345

Customer Experience Dine-in Back of House Customer Service 345

7 Shifts

AUGUST 12, 2020

So far, 2020 has thrown marketing plans, advertising budgets, and restaurant growth out of the window. Whatever plans and forecasts you had for your restaurant are yesterday’s bread now. But as restaurants reopen and business starts to pick up again, it’s important you pick up your marketing plan too.

Marketing 418

Marketing 2020 SEO Loyalty Program 418

Culinary Cues

MARCH 30, 2020

The restaurant industry has been plagued with problems for decades – this international crisis has brought everything to a head. This virus has demonstrated just how important restaurants are to people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds. Without restaurants – society just seems incomplete.

Small Business 457

Small Business Food Supply Food Truck Healthcare 457

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 13, 2020

Now that the new year is here, it’s the perfect time for restaurant operators to review their 2019 performance and identify areas that can be improved in 2020. Specifically, restaurant operators will want to look at data insights from their POS system, customer transactions, and payroll to identify 2020 goals.

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2020 Website Management Online Ordering Point of Sale 364

Culinary Cues

MAY 13, 2023

Is it culinary school, working in well-known restaurants, finding an established chef to mentor them, or is it something else entirely? Oftentimes these properties boast a few a ’la carte restaurants, room service, special property events, banquets, weddings, buffets, and three meals a day in at least one of their outlets.

Hotels 505

Hotels Point of Sale Cash Management Training 505

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Long before the restaurant chains of today, decades prior to the birth of fine dining, experience dining, and molecular gastronomy, there were neighborhood cafes that were part of small communities across the country. The restaurant was for eating and catching up with the flavor of the town. Bofinger – what’s your secret ingredient?

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White Paper Hospitality Fine Dining Reference 411

7 Shifts

APRIL 3, 2020

COVID-19’s impact on restaurants around the world has been ramping up thanks to necessary social distancing measures—particularly in North America, where 4-5 meals are eaten away from home every week —and restaurateurs are feeling the squeeze on their bottom line.

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BOH POS Influencer Point of Sale 368

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 1, 2019

After paying that small bit of tribute it is back to business as usual – spending money with the familiarity of chains, well known and heavily advertised brands, and buy on-line (yes even on-line business with restaurants through apps like GrubHub). Small restaurants are the real incubators for ownership. This was someone’s dream.

Small Business 489

Small Business Customer Experience Customer Service Seasonal Menu 489

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 15, 2022

It is also this potential that allows teachers to change the direction of a young student’s life, a garden expert to beautifully landscape a home, a plumber to turn copper into a work of art, an electrician to properly wire a house, or a cook to prepare a perfect restaurant meal. www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG. Figure it out!

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Uniforms Front of House Food Safety Healthcare 450

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

I am optimistic in the ability of the restaurant business to recover and shine, to bring people together once again, to return to a position of central to the life of neighborhoods, and optimistic that this business of food will provide wonderful careers for cooks, chefs, service staff, bartenders, managers and owners – THIS WILL HAPPEN.

Small Business 445

Small Business Front of House Customer Service Communication 445

Culinary Cues

APRIL 18, 2023

The restaurant business is sometimes like the canary in the coal mine and at other times like the father of teenage children – the last to know. Most of the problems in restaurants were there before but not so vivid, not so “in your face”. Stop with menus that don’t make sense, that fail to tell a story or show any semblance of unity.

Food Truck 386

Food Truck Back of House Education Training 386

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

With more than one million restaurants in the US we can flip a coin and hope for the great, will likely step through the doors of good, and far too often settle into the mediocre. So, just in case the information is not well known to some – here is the BEST OF Restaurant 101, a good start. [] START WITH KNOWING THE MARKET.

Fine Dining 449

Fine Dining Front of House Customer Service Customer Experience 449

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine surveyed marketing experts to find out the best ways restaurants can market themselves now. Create a contactless experience via QR Codes with a contactless menu and contactless check-ins. 'Safety' An app-first experience for restaurant chains. Here are their insights.

Marketing 585

Marketing Social Media Food Safety Email Marketing 585

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 24, 2022

More than anything else, when I was in restaurant kitchens I looked forward to planning and testing the next set of menu changes. A stale menu is not cost effective, ignorant of quality issues with ingredients, uninspiring for employees, and just plain boring. Winter is, by far my favorite season to plan menus.

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Seasonal Menu Front of House Presentation Menu 346