ChowNow

MAY 9, 2025

When youre updating your online menu or online ordering system, its tempting to just copy over the dish names from your restaurant menu and call it a day. The best restaurant menu descriptions help customers understand what the dish is and why theyll love it. If your restaurant is fun and quirky, your descriptions should be too.

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Menu Dietary Restrictions Online Ordering Mobile Ordering 195

Modern Restaurant Management

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Seventy-two percent of people choose a restaurant based on comments and images shared by others on Facebook, according to a study by Social Media Monthly. It’s time to grab a bigger slice of the metaphorical cake of the restaurant marketing world! Restaurants require patrons to physically go into the premises.

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Social Media Advertising Events Customer Experience 493

Modern Restaurant Management

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Whether you’re handling marketing for a chain restaurant, or just trying to heighten the visibility of your own local mom and pop diner, here are seven pro tips for restaurant marketing that will give your eating establishment a much-needed boost. This is true for any type of business, but especially for restaurants.

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Marketing Loyalty Program Social Media Online Ordering 474

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 7, 2021

Identifying problems has never been a challenge in the restaurant industry – there are many. Let’s look for a moment at one of those problems (challenges) and apply these three steps: PROBLEM: The restaurant industry, universally, is having an impossible time trying to find competent, committed individuals to work in all positions.

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Social Media Cash Management Blog Equipment 474

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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Café Seasonal Menu Point of Sale Social Media 518

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?

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

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. These are the restaurants where dining is much, much more than just consuming food. It’s so hard to make money on that 10 oz. Prime Filet or 14 oz.

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Pricing Consumer Goods Training Small Business 442

7 Shifts

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

In the restaurant industry, every bit counts. There is a way, to both grow profits and upgrade your customer experience at the same time: suggestive selling. In this blog post, we will discuss suggestive selling and how it can improve your restaurant's bottom line. What is suggestive selling?

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Loyalty Program Customer Experience Customer Service Point of Sale 369

Culinary Cues

APRIL 6, 2020

This storytelling through cooking evolved over centuries into restaurants that offered interesting tales to strangers and friends alike. Today, restaurants serve a multitude of purposes that has brought this industry to a status of importance that is impossible to deny. It is this understanding that will bring the industry back.

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Travel Back of House Customer Service Small Business 539

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?

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Pricing Marketing Insurance Seasonal Menu 415

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. From the dishwasher to the prep cook, line cook to sous chef, and server to restaurant manager – food cost percentages must be something that everyone takes on as a job requirement.

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Food Seasonal Menu Waste Consumer Goods 448

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

MAY 15, 2021

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. 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. What if……happens?

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Customer Experience Cash Management Customer Service Front of House 449

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

These “innovators” are constantly looking for the next interesting interpretation of food – the restaurant chef who teases them with food preparations that strike a chord, who makes them challenge how they think about food, and puts a smile on their face. That is in our DNA, we can’t really help ourselves.

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Fine Dining Café Menu Customer Experience 520

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. Why should it be any different for restaurants and their menus? YES – the menu is that important! Destiny and tradition create expectations that are hard to argue with.

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Menu Seasonal Menu Front of House Café 482

Culinary Cues

JULY 31, 2022

The end IS NOT near, in fact, restaurants have never been more important than they are right now. For the Vendor: Do you realize that if a restaurant is financially successful, they are in a better position to pay their bills and expand what they buy? Do you understand that the chef cannot sell what he or she doesn’t receive?

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Food Supply Training Supplies Café 449

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 18, 2021

So – you are a young (or not so young) person who loves food, enjoys restaurants, and finds the media depiction of becoming a chef to be exciting and rewarding. So – you are a young (or not so young) person who loves food, enjoys restaurants, and finds the media depiction of becoming a chef to be exciting and rewarding.

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Customer Experience Blog Café Education 450

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 26, 2024

This is a plea to those who work tirelessly in restaurant kitchens, the chefs who are paid to lead those operations, and the owners who depend on raving fans and some semblance of profitability. It doesn’t need to parallel those outstanding restaurants I mentioned before – just good food, made with a little passion and care.

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Dine-in Training Seasonal Menu Sports 443

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 31, 2024

When properly developed and integrated into your operation, the mission statement will impact who you hire, how you train, the products you develop and sell, the way you lead and manage, how employees interact, the way that guests are approached, and how the world perceives you (the business) to be.

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Customer Service Social Media Customer Experience Reference 413

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 22, 2020

The food and restaurant industry has evolved dramatically over the years. Stay up to date and take note of these five notable customer service trends in the restaurant industry. Similar to how businesses use chatbots, restaurants are starting to integrate technology into their processes, particularly in order. Self-Service Tech.

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Customer Service 2020 Social Media Mobile Ordering 440

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.

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Hotels Point of Sale Cash Management Training 505

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. So, where do you start?

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Marketing 2020 SEO Loyalty Program 418

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 9, 2021

The goal of every restaurant and every chef is to create memorable experiences for the guest. They can’t sell a product that they don’t know. Somewhere in our internal job description is a desire, and even a need to build an environment of WOW! It is, and must be, a team effort.

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Front of House Customer Experience Dine-in Workshop 474

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

Ah…now is the time for everyone to start speculating about what the restaurant business will look like when all of this craziness is over. Restaurants cannot wait that long, no way, no how – this is the end of the world, as we know it. THE PURPOSE OF RESTAURANTS (Where do you want to fit). I know what you are thinking – WHAT!!!!

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2022 Food Truck Front of House Merchandise 477

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).

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Cash Management Social Media Restaurant Law Communication 462

Culinary Cues

MAY 23, 2021

We can easily apply Dickens profound human summary to the state of the restaurant industry today. Without a doubt, many would paint a bleak picture of troubled times for the restaurant segment. Without a doubt, many would paint a bleak picture of troubled times for the restaurant segment.

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Guest Recovery Front of House Employee Relations Food Truck 450

Culinary Cues

APRIL 30, 2023

The same applies to any business, in this case – a restaurant. Did those high-priced ingredients build on the perceived value of the restaurant in the eyes of the guest? Whether a sporting team, tech company, banking institution, institution of higher education, or a restaurant – investment in this culture should be first and foremost.

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Employee Relations Sports Pricing Hiring 503

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. If we fail to look at the entire restaurant package, then we fail to realize how to earn profit. Come on, we know this!

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Fine Dining Food Truck Back of House Pricing 449

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

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Those are profits many brick-and-mortar restaurants would look at with envy. His goal is to open a physical location for his restaurant, something he hopes to accomplish in the next year. Why did he opt for a food truck instead of a restaurant—and how did he achieve success so quickly? Lower start-up expenses.

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Food Truck Food Food Safety Customer Service 445

Harbor Touch

MARCH 18, 2025

Running a restaurant is a demanding job. Weve worked with countless restaurant pros whove faced these challenges head-on. Their stories inspire these 10 proven restaurant management tips and tricks for success. Its practical wisdom drawn from years of supporting restaurant managers, crafted to stand the test of time.

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Management Management Seasonal Menu Cash Management 148

Culinary Cues

APRIL 24, 2020

Yesterday, I read an emotional, well-written, soul-crushing article by Gabrielle Hamilton – chef/owner of Prune Restaurant in New York City. She spoke from the heart of her “all-in” commitment to her restaurant and staff over the past 20 years while addressing the countless challenges that face independent restaurateurs across the country.

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Article Point of Sale Take-out Dine-in 409

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 13, 2022

The good news is that restaurants are beginning to see an increase in sales as more and more customers return to in person dining in addition to their new habit of ordering for home delivery. One way to approach a viable solution is to modify how we do business, what we sell, and the skill set that makes sense for today’s cook.

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Compost Fine Dining Waste Café 474

Culinary Cues

APRIL 29, 2022

Whatever you want to achieve, and whatever position you seek: Restaurant Chef, Research Chef, Personal Chef, Restaurateur, Food and Beverage Director, Teacher, Author, Consultant, or Product Developer are all within your reach. Do you want to be a chef some day in a high-volume family style restaurant? Am I exaggerating?

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Influencer Small Business Book Take-out 448

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. What else can get in the way of our success and how will we navigate around or through them.

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Guest Recovery Social Media Kitchen Safety Food Safety 382

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

I have always loved the restaurant business. My professional life has been dedicated to the kitchen, the people of restaurants, the ingredients and their source, the process and the adrenaline, the service and an opportunity to make people happy, and of course those plates as they slide down the pass.

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Food Truck Customer Service Customer Experience Food Supply 449

Culinary Cues

MAY 24, 2022

Well, there is little that can be said to those who have caught the restaurant fever – you know, when that opportunity finally knocks, and you have your sights on a café with your name on it. The feeling is hard to describe – a cross between elation and shear panic. As an example – applying for a liquor license.

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Café Take-out License Small Business 449