Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 5, 2025

Customers are becoming more discerning about value and anxious about the price of a meal (from quick service to fine dining). Theres plenty of fear and loathing going on in the restaurant business. Every restaurant and restaurateur are struggling to figure it out how am I going to make this work? This is true for every business.

Fine Dining 243

Fine Dining Food Supply Customer Service Recruiting 243

The Rail

OCTOBER 10, 2024

This short blog looks into these factors and points out how you can tap into this growing market segment. Educate Your Staff: Train your workers about the benefits of sustainable coffee and allow them to share what they’ve learned with customers. Use eco-friendly materials and reduce waste in your daily operations.

Sustainability 130

Sustainability Dine-in Compost Consumer Goods 130

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

Respectable restaurants either bake their own or invest the time to find an exceptional resource for this essential ingredient in the dining experience. Before children speak, they sing, Before they write, they paint, As soon as they stand, they dance. Bacon is well served in nearly everything, but it reigns supreme at breakfast time.

Food 415

Food Front of House Back of House Point of Sale 415

Culinary Cues

APRIL 14, 2025

When prepared tableside, the well-trained server or matre d would crush garlic between sister table forks, rub the interior of the bowl, use finesse to pour the right amount of olive oil, a coddled egg yolk, fresh lemon, salt and cracked pepper, and freshly grated parmigiana cheese.

Fine Dining 343

Fine Dining Seasonal Menu Travel Presentation 343

Culinary Cues

MAY 1, 2025

The same can be true for the quality of purchased meats and fresh fish, an expanded wine list, broader selection of regional beers, an upgrade to quality coffee and tea, or even improving the sound system in dining rooms. Can there be too much competition? However, the benefits of appropriate competition are quite pronounced.

Fine Dining 356

Fine Dining Innovation Consumer Goods Customer Service 356

Culinary Cues

JULY 15, 2024

A training investment in your people is an investment in the success of the business. There is a direct correlation. [] WHAT YOU EXPECT AND MEASURE IS WHAT YOU GET Define what excellence means in your operation, show it, teach it, train to it, insist on it, measure it, and reward it. Look around and you can readily see the results.

Leadership 473

Leadership Food Truck Employee Relations Training 473

Culinary Cues

APRIL 22, 2025

It may be the skill or reputation of the chef that gives public relations power to a restaurant, but it is the cohesive nature of a team where each person contributes in their own way to the uniqueness of the operation and thus, creating its brand and how dining experiences come to life. Chef, I ran into that a few times in my career.

Employee Relations 359

Employee Relations Reference Influencer Education 359

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

The chef will likely be the most experienced culinarian with responsibility for the financial operation of the kitchen, menu planning, ordering and inventory control, training, and quality control. Although executed at different levels – this structure is something that all those whom work in restaurants can depend and lean on.

Back of House 547

Back of House Seasonal Menu Customer Service Front of House 547

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 27, 2025

” Jack Welch Welch, the visionary past CEO of General Electric points to the most important role of a leader (chef, manager, restaurant owner) which is to develop their staff, to mentor them, to teach and train, and feed their passion until they match or even surpass your own abilities. Inspiration comes in many forms.

Consumer Goods 292

Consumer Goods Presentation Leadership Dine-in 292

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 3, 2024

Nearly nine years ago, during the first twelve months of Harvest America Cues blog, one of my articles went viral attracting almost 40,000 views in one day. Try taking a few moments everyday walking around the kitchen and the dining room looking for successes and great work. However, you cannot succeed alone.

Coaching 447

Coaching Restaurant Law Training Article 447

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 9, 2021

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. Guests will return when the effort expended to create memorable complete dining experiences is front and center. The goal of every restaurant and every chef is to create memorable experiences for the guest.

Front of House 474

Front of House Customer Experience Dine-in Workshop 474

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

The story made me think about what I did for a living and my zest for cooking delicious food, traveling to special parts of the world, working and dining in great restaurants, learning from exceptional chefs, enjoying incredible wines from the hands of vintners, harvesters, and wine makers. I remember how the book moved me.

Back of House 390

Back of House Travel Government Education 390

Culinary Cues

AUGUST 26, 2024

It was a poster in the employee dining room of a hotel that asked: “Would you be willing to sign your work?” NOT KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EATING AND DINING Eating is a process; dining is an experience. Fast food is process eating and will always fall short of dining. Ugh, frustration is setting in.

Dine-in 445

Dine-in Training Sports Seasonal Menu 445

Culinary Cues

APRIL 23, 2023

Do you understand the seasonality of ingredients and how to adjust for less than stellar quality or substitute ingredients that will bring you close to the same result in a recipe? [] WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WINE: Is the wine list solely the responsibility of the sommelier, lead bartender, or dining room manager?

Seasonal Menu 520

Seasonal Menu Leadership Training Fine Dining 520

Culinary Cues

MARCH 16, 2025

People no longer view dining out as a necessity to support their lifestyle. But you might want to stop now and again and reflect on a time, not too long ago. Think back to March of 2020. Do you remember what it was like? Suddenly, nothing else mattered and the world came to a halt. What is the end game here? Hmmmnow Ive got you thinking.

Food Supply 232

Food Supply Customer Service Delivery Recruiting 232

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Put simply, now that America is finally able to dine-in, there’s a frenzy on the business end to net as many customers as possible — but it’s easier said than done. Functional uses of the technology could include employee training, customer service, food displays, chef demonstrations and more.

Entertainment 485

Entertainment Social Media Customer Service Technology 485

Culinary Cues

APRIL 23, 2022

Now that I have your attention and you are back in your chair, let me explain. 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. So, if the cost of goods is not the chef’s responsibility, then where does the buck stop? First in, first out.

Food 449

Food Seasonal Menu Waste Consumer Goods 449

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 28, 2021

Cooks are busy at work with their own preparations as breakfast orders from the dining room arrive at a harrowing pace. The cooks are in the zone as the orders attack the kitchen even faster now as the dining room fills and servers’ line up to make toast and refill silver coffee pitchers. This is magical.

Kitchen Safety 474

Kitchen Safety Front of House Fine Dining Back of House 474

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 8, 2023

The dining room opens in 15 minutes and the adrenaline is starting to churn. At 5:30 the dining room doors open, and early bird diners begin to arrive. Cooks are now bouncing from foot-to-foot waiting for the chime of the printer as orders in the dining room are being taken by servers who put on a show face that projects calm.

Fine Dining 520

Fine Dining Back of House Front of House Food Order 520

Culinary Cues

MARCH 26, 2022

These are the restaurateurs who call me up and ask: “My dining room is full, why am I not making any money?”. [] NOT UNDERSTANDING HOW TO PLAN EFFECTIVE MENUS. Once established – do not sacrifice what you have invested the time in developing. [] FAILING TO INVEST IN TRAINING. Training ALWAYS pays back in dividends.

Cash Management 464

Cash Management Social Media Restaurant Law Communication 464

Culinary Cues

MARCH 3, 2021

Menus became encyclopedic, the skills to execute these menus were over the top, the equipment that allowed for this level of creativity was space age and expensive, the intensity and stress in the kitchen was as heavy as lead, and the number of staff members required to execute this complexity was painful. Magazine: [link].

Dine-in 450

Dine-in Small Business Seasonal Menu Café 450

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. The mission statement is THAT IMPORTANT!

Customer Service 414

Customer Service Social Media Customer Experience Reference 414

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 27, 2023

This involves, first and foremost, the decision regarding who to hire as chef and sous chef and the level of control this person will be given. Either choice can be viewed as key to success or failure. Either choice can be viewed as key to success or failure. The hiring process, specifically the vetting of candidates for the position is critical.

Hiring 449

Hiring Training Pricing Presentation 449

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

The tasks of the chef are fairly universal: planning menus, putting your signature on each dish, hiring and training staff, ordering product and building vendor relationships, controlling costs and adhering to budgets, maintaining a clean and safe kitchen environment, etc.

Beverage 520

Beverage Events Food Order Website Management 520

Culinary Cues

MAY 12, 2022

These are the restaurants where dining is much, much more than just consuming food. I get it, profit in restaurants is sometimes hard to come by. We deal with highly perishable goods, unpredictable customer behavior, swinging door staffing, and constantly escalating cost of goods. It’s so hard to make money on that 10 oz.

Pricing 444

Pricing Consumer Goods Training Small Business 444

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 24, 2020

These aspects include: décor, skill level of staff, style of service, pricing, profit, type of vendors selected, kitchen layout, equipment selection, marketing and advertising, pay scales, dining room seating, type of china, glassware and flatware, even the location and color scheme for the exterior of the restaurant.

Menu 484

Menu Seasonal Menu Front of House Reference 484

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

We filled the dining room, and everyone was served, but what was their experience? Push it out, how many covers, lock, and load, finish strong, over the hump, wrap it up: this the language of the kitchen during service, these are the timestamps like the number of quarters in a football game or innings in baseball. We made it!

Customer Service 441

Customer Service Customer Experience Point of Sale Presentation 441

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. Come on, we know this!

Fine Dining 449

Fine Dining Food Truck Back of House Pricing 449

Culinary Cues

MAY 18, 2020

Whatever your end goal might be: Executive Chef in a fine dining operation, Corporate Chef, Sous Chef, Restaurant Manager, Entrepreneur, Research Chef, or Consultant – where ever you hope to land in the future – put that goal in writing. The restaurant industry is being hit extraordinarily hard, unlike any other time in recent history.

White Paper 520

White Paper Certification Food Safety Food Supply 520

Culinary Cues

APRIL 15, 2023

All good intentions – they want to create full or partially full dining rooms for restaurants in need. We want to make a respectable living, but there are few aspirations of wealth – our reward is feeling good about the product we produce, the service we offer, and the joy that can be passed on to those who chose to dine with us.

Seasonal Menu 519

Seasonal Menu Café Point of Sale Social Media 519

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

Your employees know that this is not the best way to start a dining experience. They can see the concern in your eyes over the certainty of failure when a full dining room is not allowed. We all know the challenges facing restaurants right now – there is little benefit in reiterating the problems. Ask your staff!

Kitchen Safety 434

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. There are countless examples of kitchens where proper cooking is revered, people are treated with respect, professionalism is the standard, ingredients are handled with care, and pride is evident in the pass.

Uniforms 448

Uniforms Front of House Back of House Food Supply 448

Culinary Cues

JULY 4, 2021

On top of this – restaurants are offering wages that were unheard of pre-pandemic and still employees are not inclined to return to kitchens and dining rooms. This will, of course, make it far more challenging to control quality and consistency, but with a movement towards on-going training and quality assurance – it can be done.

2021 508

2021 Food Supply Seasonal Menu Supplies 508

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. Restaurants cannot wait that long, no way, no how – this is the end of the world, as we know it.

2022 480

2022 Food Truck Front of House Point of Sale 480

Culinary Cues

APRIL 9, 2020

There are few things in life that vividly define the culture associated with a group of people more than dining out. Will the culture associated with dining out automatically return or will we need to re-learn what it means to break bread in public, raise a glass, and celebrate being alive?

Customer Experience 520

Customer Experience Customer Service Dine-in Sports 520

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Share, teach, and train others – this is the fuel that drives your own leadership engine. If, however you have the sense that cooking is more than that and you have your eyes on many years connected to the professional kitchen, then read on. So, here are some golden rules that will help you to move in the right direction.

Leadership 449

Leadership Fine Dining Workshop Training 449

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 6, 2021

I remember an experience decades ago when I had the privilege of dining at Andre Soltner’s Lutece Restaurant in New York City. There is a place for “filling station” food in support of legitimate hunger, but the experience of dining must be much more than this. If you are a dining room manager – the same question applies to you.

Influencer 446

Influencer Customer Experience Dine-in Training 446