Restaurant Business

JUNE 20, 2025

Restaurants less so How the owner of Krystal and Logan's Roadhouse makes it work Financing Olive Garden sales surge on delivery and free take-home meals Same-store sales rose 6.9% at the Italian casual-dining chain as its investments in affordability and Uber delivery paid off. and get a free chilled meal to take home.

Delivery 232

Delivery Fast Casual Leadership Point of Sale 232

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Businesses have been forced to pivot away from on-premises dining to offer on-line ordering and take-out services. Whether fine-dining or fast casual, great service now revolves around the customer experience you bring to every interaction. Prepare for Changing Conditions. Create Frictionless Transactions.

Customer Experience 598

Customer Experience Customer Service Fast Casual Mobile Ordering 598

ChowNow

MARCH 21, 2025

Without a well-defined target market, restaurants risk wasting resources on strategies that dont connect and menu offerings that dont selltrying to appeal to everyone, but standing out to no one. Key customer factors that influence dining preferences, from demographics to behavior. Lets get started and find your target audience.

Marketing 195

Marketing Social Media Email Marketing Loyalty Program 195

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 9, 2024

A chief reason is due to caution or uncertainty exhibited by conscious consumers, with 48 percent saying they are taking the ‘wait and see’ approach and holding back on spending in 2024. Moving to Multichannel Dining Experiences Dining out is… back? Orders come from a multitude of places.

2024 508

2024 Mobile Ordering Front of House Back of House 508

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

Guests are dining out more often than last year and and rewarding great service, with the highest tips at bars and fine dining restaurants, according to hospitality industry data from Lightspeed Commerce Inc. percent) and fine dining restaurants (19.9 percent year-over-year at fine dining and 3.53

Fast Casual 493

Fast Casual Fine Dining Employee Relations Customer Service 493

Modern Restaurant Management

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

This Valentine's Day edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features dining and gifting trends including the importance of experience. Restaurants saw 41 percent more transactions The busiest dining hour? Restaurants saw 41 percent more transactions The busiest dining hour?

2024 221

2024 Fine Dining Book Reservations 221

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

There’s the table-wedged-in-the-doorway approach, where one brave soul in full PPE hands off an order over a barricade of restaurant furniture. There’s also the call-us-when-you-get-here model, where the order scoots out just in time to be dropped through a rear window or popped trunk. Let us count the ways.

Kitchen Safety 590

Kitchen Safety Food Safety Customer Experience Food Order 590

Modern Restaurant Management

JULY 12, 2022

Restaurants continue to face labor and supply chain issues, plus rising food costs. With deep roots in the restaurant industry, we’ve worked with our clients to test a number of strategies to take on Restaurant Week as an opportunity to attract new customers. Offer Easy Online Ordering. Be In Charge of Your Own Marketing.

Loyalty Program 558

Loyalty Program Online Ordering Point of Sale Customer Experience 558

EATER

MARCH 27, 2025

population that dined out at least once in the past month, hoping to better understand how Americans are approaching dining out in this new era. Theres also a visual element here, with diners eating with their eyes first and being reeled into new restaurants by food imagery and what I ordered videos.

Social Media 225

Social Media Fine Dining Online Ordering Dine-in 225

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 6, 2022

And Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) solutions represent a vital component to generate revenue for restaurants by filling up dining tables with customers who feel safe and confident. The fact is that In the future guests will take a much more proactive approach in choosing where they will go based on the IAQ. Measures and Use Cases.

Fine Dining 495

Fine Dining Customer Service Kitchen Safety Employee Relations 495

ChowNow

MARCH 14, 2025

Every day, youre juggling staff, food quality, inventory, customer service, purchasing, and moreall while trying to cultivate a dining experience that wows your customers enough to keep them coming back. Its not just about putting out fires when problems arise; its about building systems that prevent those fires in the first place.

Operations 195

Operations Management Management Front of House 195

Modern Restaurant Management

JUNE 16, 2022

Reports show that 81 percent of fine dining establishments, 78 percent of family restaurants, and 77 percent of fast-casual spots added curbside pickup, pivoting away from dine-in services after March 2020. consumers being new to ordering meal delivery services (up from 47 percent in March 2021). A Fearful Transition.

Online Ordering 472

Online Ordering Management Management Point of Sale 472

ChowNow

MARCH 7, 2025

Every online order, email sign up, and reward program interaction generates valuable insightsbut if that data just sits there, youre missing a major opportunity. Think about it: What if you could automatically send a special offer to a customer who hasnt ordered in a while? Or adjust your staffing schedule based on peak ordering times?

Loyalty Program 195

Loyalty Program Email Marketing Online Ordering Point of Sale 195

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 31, 2025

This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features news of dramatic Valentine's Day shift, best food scenes, and the evolution of c-store foodservice. Food-away-from-home spending is likely to see modest growth as softer consumer spending patterns prevail. ” A Year of Challenges U.S.

Marketing 221

Marketing Loyalty Program 2024 2025 221

7 Shifts

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

Back-of-house (BOH) staff, including chefs and kitchen assistants, will focus more on food safety, food handling, and kitchen equipment use. Restaurants with large or intricate menus will need to allocate more time to staff training on the ingredients, preparation methods, and food handling procedures.

Training 195

Training Kitchen Safety Food Safety Customer Service 195

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

Outdoor dining is still top of mind as owners want to keep employees and customers safe and have questions about maintaining outdoor spaces in inclement weather. Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine reached out to Rick Camac, dean of restaurant and hospitality management, at Institute of Culinary Education, for his expert advice.

Outdoor 508

Outdoor Fine Dining Dine-in FOH 508

Modern Restaurant Management

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Over the next decade, a generation passionate about health and wellness will demand restaurants be transparent about food from farm to table. Guests will expect to know every aspect of sourcing and meal preparation, which will disrupt traditional back-of-house systems with technology that connects the farm to the food.

Mobile Ordering 539

Mobile Ordering Front of House Customer Service Customer Experience 539

Modern Restaurant Management

JULY 10, 2024

And yet, the diner who walks out with your logo beer mug is damaging your restaurant’s bottom line. After a guest thief takes what they want, the restaurant must purchase replacements and eventually report the thefts to their insurance company, which in the long run will raise their premiums, creating another drag on profitability.

Back of House 491

Back of House Fine Dining Take-out Social Media 491

ChowNow

MARCH 13, 2025

Managing delivery orders shouldnt feel like running an obstacle course, but for many restaurant operators, thats exactly what it is. Juggling multiple food delivery apps means switching between tablets, manually entering orders into the POS, and trying to keep track of ever-changing fees and commissions.

Delivery 195

Delivery Food Food Order Point of Sale 195

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 22, 2022

Different innovative payment methods are being leveraged to increase food services efficiency in fast-food joints to fine dining. Text to order is already popular as a replacement for downloading apps, especially as customers can save their repeat purchases. Voice Ordering to Ease Restaurant Interactions.

Technology 492

Technology Mobile Ordering Customer Service Food Order 492

ChowNow

MAY 23, 2025

A spike in food costs, a drop in sales volume, or one slow season can wipe out months of hard work. They tell you how much money your restaurant keeps after paying for everything from food costs to labor expenses to utilities and rent. Thats what you actually take home. There are two kinds of margins you need to know.

Point of Sale 195

Point of Sale Insurance Fast Casual Customer Service 195

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. The dining room opens in 15 minutes and the adrenaline is starting to churn. Everything looks good.

Fine Dining 520

Fine Dining Back of House Front of House Food Order 520

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Unequivocally, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs in the food industry have been among the hardest hit, economically speaking, by the COVID-19 pandemic. The normalcy of customers coming in the doors for a night of dining or even a casual lunch feels like a vision of the distant past. Keeping Staff on Payroll While Staying Afloat.

Fine Dining 502

Fine Dining Restaurant Law Food Truck Outdoor 502

Modern Restaurant Management

FEBRUARY 4, 2022

Following are some of the major restaurant trends to watch out for in 2022. Menu variety plays a substantial role in every dining experience. Diners simply don’t want the low food quality that often comes with long menus. These restaurant food trends can directly impact a restaurant’s profitability.

2022 547

2022 Customer Service Online Ordering Website Management 547

ChowNow

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

A well-crafted email can remind a past guest to stop by again, encourage reservations for a new seasonal menu, or even boost online orders with a limited-time discount. A well-timed email with a special offer, new menu item, or exclusive promotion can be the nudge they need to place another order.

Email Marketing 195

Email Marketing 2025 Marketing Online Ordering 195

ChowNow

JANUARY 23, 2025

At this point, all it takes is one lousy dining experience to sever the connection you once had with a customer who potentially spent thousands of dollars at your restaurant every year. Its significantly more cost-effective to keep your regulars walking through the door than it is to get a new customer every time you take an order.

2025 195

2025 Loyalty Program Operations Email Marketing 195

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Diners are the most willing to tip consistently at fine dining establishments. They are less likely to tip consistently at fast- food locations and ice cream parlors. •Over a one-third of Americans say it is frustrating that they are asked to tip at dining establishments they normally would not have.

Loyalty Program 473

Loyalty Program Food Truck Consumer Goods Fine Dining 473

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Quick-service restaurants are also feeling the pressure – large chains like Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s have had to close dining rooms due to insufficient staffing. Chick-fil-A even reported disabling curbside ordering in some locations to reduce strain on their workers. Rely on Technology to Increase Operational Efficiency.

2022 473

2022 Hospitality Loyalty Program Point of Sale 473

Modern Restaurant Management

AUGUST 17, 2020

This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features consumers' dining desires, the power of personalization and the untapped opportunity in localized marketing. COVID-19 Consumer Dining Trends. Mixed take-out bag.

2020 493

2020 Mobile Ordering Loyalty Program Food Safety 493

Culinary Cues

DECEMBER 28, 2021

You take time to sanitize your area, firmly place a cutting board on a damp towel to keep it from slipping, draw your knives across a wet stone while honing their edge, and quickly jotting down a prep list for the next hour. You take a deep breath and smile knowing that this is where you belong, this will be a magical day.

Kitchen Safety 473

Kitchen Safety Front of House Fine Dining Back of House 473

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 30, 2020

As a result, many restaurants have been forced to lay off all or some of their dining room staff. A kiosk lifts the responsibility for taking orders from the existing team, so they can attend to other duties. Merchants wheel the kiosk outside the restaurant so customers can place orders outside. Probably not.

Fine Dining 478

Fine Dining Customer Service Customer Experience Food Safety 478

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 22, 2020

As operators begin to firm up plans for the new year, they should keep in mind the wants and needs of their guests and take the lessons they’ve learned this year to prep themselves for what’s next to drive future success. Personalized Dining is the Future.

2021 474

2021 Fine Dining Online Ordering Travel 474

7 Shifts

OCTOBER 28, 2024

For example, if you run a social media campaign or pay for online ordering integrations, all of these contribute to your overall marketing expenses. Imagine you own a café, and you’ve just run a campaign to boost your online ordering. One thing to remember when doing A/B testing is to roll out changes one element at a time.

Loyalty Program 195

Loyalty Program Fast Casual Social Media Email Marketing 195

Modern Restaurant Management

MAY 21, 2020

However, as long as you keep the spotlight on food safety – sanitization, employee health monitoring and personal hygiene, and social distancing – your restaurant won’t be a hub of contagion. You can save up on ingredients by discontinuing the more niche dishes that rarely get ordered. Offer Disposable Menus.

Social Media 539

Social Media Food Safety Cash Management Kitchen Safety 539

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 16, 2020

To be added to this guide, reach out to Executive Editor Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com. Click here to learn the 10 steps to take now. To help ensure the survival of these restaurants, many of which are family owned, the PR industry has banded together to create a campaign called "Dining Bonds."

Food Safety 585

Food Safety Kitchen Safety Small Business Employee Relations 585

Modern Restaurant Management

OCTOBER 13, 2022

But restaurants face a fine balance in increasing costs, as customers are also impacted by the realities of inflation. Recent surveys are showing the vast majority of Americans have been cutting back on dining out. By using a POS system, customers, waiters and cashiers reduce their chances of errors when entering orders.

Technology 450

Technology Loyalty Program Mobile Ordering Download 450

ChowNow

MARCH 27, 2025

Somewhere in between is the number that makes sense for your food costs, your market, and your restaurants unique position. Food Costs: How to calculate the cost of each dish Lets start with the basics: how much does it actually cost you to make each item on your menu? Set prices too low, and youre leaving money on the table.

Pricing 195

Pricing Menu Point of Sale Customer Experience 195