Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 27, 2023

One of the dilemmas restaurateurs’ face is the approach taken with the management and delivery of a restaurant concept and menu. To make it simple, the restaurant can choose to be either chef centric or restaurant centric. Either choice can be viewed as key to success or failure. Emotional connections are a significant driver in these operations.

Hiring 392

Hiring Training Pricing Leadership 392

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

It was a new taste, something exceptional, a surprise, or it may have been a moment when the busy breakfast cook pulled you from the dish machine to help set-up plates on the line – whatever it was – you woke up. It had only been a few hours as a line cook, but that steak or fish portion was your first work of art as a cook.

Food Order 342

Food Order Presentation Café Waste 342

Indoor Media

JANUARY 2, 2019

What content has performed best for your blog? Since our blog is fairly new (started in the fall of 2017) we’ve been experimenting with different content topics, audiences, and writing styles. Still, blogs geared toward auto shop and restaurant owners seem to reign supreme. Here are our top 5 blog posts of 2018.

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Blog 2018 Coupons Advertising 78

Wasserstrom

MARCH 15, 2024

In this article, we present an overview of the ways operators are using AI. […] The post Can AI Boost Your Restaurant’s Bottom Line? In this article, we present an overview of the ways operators are using AI. […] The post Can AI Boost Your Restaurant’s Bottom Line?

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Blog Customer Experience Article Presentation 133

Culinary Cues

JUNE 16, 2023

When business was crazy, the cook (James) would pull him onto the line and show him how to drop fries, grill sandwiches, garnish plates, and read tickets. Before long this was his steady diet: get ahead on dishes, tie on an apron, and jump on the line during rush hour. Too many of his friends took the wrong fork in the road.

Kitchen Safety 327

Kitchen Safety Back of House Hotels Food Safety 327

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!

Fine Dining 389

Fine Dining Food Truck Back of House Pricing 389

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 8, 2023

Line cooks had been busy prodding and busting on each other, laughing, and pushing each other to break the tension. It’s been building up for hours now, ever since each cook arrived around 1:00 to start pulling together their mise en place. Time check – 5:15, the chef just walked through, tasted sauces, and reviewed mise.

Fine Dining 460

Fine Dining Back of House Front of House Food Order 460

Culinary Cues

JANUARY 15, 2024

Good morning, Jake (my very adept breakfast cook who has been jumping and jiving on the line since well before 6), how are you doing? Good morning, Jake (my very adept breakfast cook who has been jumping and jiving on the line since well before 6), how are you doing? So, today, a busy Friday service will be a challenge.

Front of House 248

Front of House Food Order Back of House Café 248

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Walking down the streets in the once most robust city in proximity to my home, I was deeply concerned at what I saw. This was a tradition of early holiday shopping, hoping to beat the maddening crowds that typically flood shopping districts and restaurants this time of year. Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind.”

Customer Experience 362

Customer Experience Customer Service Food Safety Retail 362

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Then, as it got busy, the cooks would pull them onto the line to help set-up plates or flip pancakes, drop French fries at night, and keep things organized. Before they knew it, they had moved from dishes to prep work and in some cases helping on the line. She spent a year in school and then landed a job in Boston as a line cook.

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Back of House Hotels Uniforms Certification 265

Culinary Cues

MAY 8, 2023

I was just listening to some old Beatles tunes and A Hard Day’s Night came up. It sounded like an appropriate title for an article about life in the kitchen. As much as I loved my time in front of the range (more than 50 years) and the monumentally great moments that are burned into my subconscious, there were many, many “hard day’s nights.”

Kitchen Safety 428

Kitchen Safety Food Safety Coaching Training 428

Culinary Cues

APRIL 9, 2024

You thought you were good, a solid line cook or prep cook, a couple years of experience under your belt working in a busy restaurant. Most of us have been there at some point. You know the feeling and you shake your head thinking back to those moments. You were on fire and felt confident that you would be a star in any operation.

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Uniforms Waste Café Take-out 323

Culinary Cues

APRIL 1, 2024

How clear is our memory and how often do we tend to embellish on the positive and diminish the negative? 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. Chefs are often nostalgic.

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Back of House Kitchen Safety Hotels Front of House 318

Culinary Cues

JULY 14, 2021

You know – the individuals who found their mission as a cook – they have been tucked away since March of 2020 waiting for an opportunity to open that knife roll bag, draw their essential tools across that water stone and hone the edges on a steel and counting the days when they could once again find the rhythm of the line.

Food Order 473

Food Order Café Ordering Inventory 473

Culinary Cues

MARCH 10, 2022

If you doubt my belief – think about this: If a line cook calls out – we simply spread the work out among those who are present. How frustrated would a line cook be if he or she had to clean their own sauté pans after every use? We grumble and curse, we step up the pace and show our anger on our face, but we get by.

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Front of House Back of House Uniforms Hiring 447

Culinary Cues

MARCH 21, 2022

Plating salads for a large group – all the plates are lined up perfectly and ingredients placed in the exact same spot on each plate. Plating salads for a large group – all the plates are lined up perfectly and ingredients placed in the exact same spot on each plate. It becomes natural – how he or she lives.

Front of House 353

Front of House Back of House Point of Sale Uniforms 353

Culinary Cues

OCTOBER 19, 2023

How many people in your kitchen alone could be the next great chef, the owner of a chain of restaurants concepts, the developer of a great new food product line, or the winner of a James Beard Award as a Rising Star? What about that moment when the training wheels came off and you were able to balance and ride your bike independently?

Training 367

Training Seasonal Menu Back of House Leadership 367

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. Each experience is a moment in time, something that we might want to replicate or forget, but something that will never appear in the exact same manner again.

Back of House 379

Back of House Front of House Education Café 379

Culinary Cues

MAY 1, 2023

I have seen pride in the eyes of a line cook who finished plating a beautiful menu item as it was presented in the pass, and the look of appreciation when the team of dishwashers was offered a special employee meal – a meal that said: “We couldn’t do it without you.” I could not think of a career more rewarding than being a cook and a chef.

Front of House 427

Front of House Back of House Food Order Seasonal Menu 427

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

We may not remember too much from the rest of the story, but we do remember that line. Why do we remember this line and what significance might it imply in relation to work in a kitchen? Why do we remember this line and what significance might it imply in relation to work in a kitchen? So, let’s take inventory.

Employee Relations 385

Employee Relations Fine Dining Training Communication 385

Culinary Cues

MAY 19, 2022

Jake didn’t even spend much time at the expo station until this first group of reservations was well underway – the line could handle it quite well. The early crowd sputtered in – parties of two mainly, usually no appetizers – they got down to business with the less expensive entrees and a cocktail.

Seating 374

Seating Dine-in Seasonal Menu Leadership 374

Culinary Cues

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Get it done, no mistakes, and pick up the pace are all directives that help line cooks make it through another day or night. Take a moment to assess, to line up the results of your work with your vision of the plate, the guest experience, and the brand that you are trying to build. Mission accomplished. The answer, of course, is YES!

Customer Service 344

Customer Service Customer Experience Point of Sale Uniforms 344

Culinary Cues

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Every shift, especially those in summer months, a line cook is likely to lose a pound or two of water weight. A typical shift for a line cook is 10 hours or more during which he or she will be on their feet almost the entire time. Ah, but heat is only one aspect of the physical nature of cooking.

Article 412

Article Take-out Café Customer Service 412

Culinary Cues

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Chances are, these are the players who refuse to lock themselves into the groove of always playing it safe. Playing conservative may win an occasional baseball or football game, but it rarely inspires the players, coaches, or spectators. Ah…but when did predictable ever inspire, excite, invigorate, and bring people to their feet?

Coaching 350

Coaching Small Business Café Entertainment 350

Culinary Cues

MARCH 15, 2021

This means that the top line drives the bottom line (more students equals the ability to continue providing their products and services). This means that the top line drives the bottom line (more students equals the ability to continue providing their products and services). LACK OF COHESIVE MISSION.

Education 539

Education Food Supply Training Communication 539

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Sometimes they are very explicit and state that their job sucks or that they can’t get ahead. A number, after the pandemic, chose not to return to the kitchen claiming that it was either a dead end or they were not valued. You must give and invest in order to receive. You want greater pay and benefits – then bring more to the table.

Workshop 361

Workshop Article Uniforms Take-out 361

Culinary Cues

MAY 4, 2021

As states wrestle with decisions to open everything back up and whether the timing is right or premature – the real demon remains those who deny their role in turning things around whether it is preventative measures or standing in line for their vaccination. We are so close to the turning point, so close that we can almost taste it.

Customer Service 487

Customer Service Customer Experience Training Pricing 487

Culinary Cues

MARCH 4, 2022

We read the articles and listen to chefs and restaurateurs desperate to fill positions of line cook, sous chef, chef, manager, etc. I would assume that many chefs who read this article – at least the ones from my generation have reflected on where they are, what they have done, and what they are still able to do. How true it is.

Coaching 472

Coaching Training Fine Dining Article 472

Culinary Cues

APRIL 22, 2024

A new word has been bantered about over the past few months, a word that ticks off consumers and demonstrates either greed or an inability to understand the public’s perception of “value”. It only takes a few seconds to move from being a “go along for the ride” consumer to feeling screwed. Hardly worth the $8-$12 that restaurants charge.

Consumer Goods 284

Consumer Goods Pricing Customer Experience Hospitality 284

Culinary Cues

APRIL 23, 2022

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. Now that I have your attention and you are back in your chair, let me explain. Let’s look at how this works: [] SMART BUYING.

Food 381

Food Seasonal Menu Waste Point of Sale 381

Culinary Cues

MAY 16, 2022

As a cook or chef there are many days that go well and a few that challenge the best. There are times when a service kind of clicks and the night ends without any problems – these are nights that allow you to feel good about what you do and the level of skill that you have built. Your dictionary.

Café 345

Café Front of House Point of Sale Back of House 345

Culinary Cues

MAY 12, 2022

It seems impossible to push a positive bottom line selling that beautiful halibut fillet or Diver’s scallops, so we have to charge $60 for a steak or $45 for a piece of fish. People will understand, so let’s just keep charging more and more until we cross that line of “what the market will bear”. Prime Filet or 14 oz.

Pricing 352

Pricing Training Consumer Goods Customer Experience 352

Restaurant365

APRIL 16, 2021

They order at their own pace and feel more inclined to browse through all your menu offerings, increasing add-ons, average order value, and bottom line. Statista notes that in 2020, 760 million users were using online ordering for their restaurant takeout and delivery orders, a 20% increase year-over-year. Drives More Revenue.

Online Ordering 78

Online Ordering Blog Ordering Front of House 78

Culinary Cues

JULY 23, 2022

We remember those days prepping an impossible amount of food for service, working a hot line with sweat rolling down our backs, flames looking for every opportunity to burn the hair off your arms, the relentless ticking of the POS printer, a board filled with dupes, and your mise en place getting dangerously low.

Employee Relations 373

Employee Relations Workshop Events Social Media 373

Culinary Cues

JULY 8, 2021

So, here we are – the battle lines are drawn and as challenging as competition has been in the past – it is now becoming brutal. A local business (with a high-profile clientele) is offering upwards of $60,000 a year for line positions that previously paid less than half of that. The strong survive and the weak shall perish.

Sports 473

Sports Take-out Café Training 473

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 28, 2021

You earned this title through years of hard work, loads of unique experiences, trials and tribulations moving through positions from commis to prep, line cook to sous chef, and now having arrived at the helm. It was that first time in the lead position – the commander of the kitchen brigade.

Kitchen Safety 423

Kitchen Safety Front of House Fine Dining Seasonal Menu 423

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 19, 2022

It made perfect business sense to take advantage of this opportunity to boost a restaurants’ bottom line and fill a need expressed by restaurant guests. There was a time when the major holidays, those times of the year when we relished the chance to spend quality time with family, were sacred and protected. But it won’t be the same.

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Hospitality Café 2022 Specials 375