TigerChef

Adopting popular restaurant menu trends helps your restaurant keep up with what customers have come to expect from their favorite eateries. When these trends include personalization – offering original dishes, for example, or using stylish menu holders customized to the atmosphere of your particular restaurant – you can relax in the knowledge that you are setting your business apart rather than simply following the crowd. Furthermore, when ecological awareness and nutritionally sound fare are in vogue, everyone benefits. Customize these four hot trends to your establishment and watch your business expand.

1. Local Sources

One promising trend appearing in restaurants of every persuasion is that of using local ingredients. Local produce is especially popular, but everything, from meat to alcohol to seafood, is coming more and more from local sources. As restaurant owners and consumers alike become more environmentally conscious, clients will prefer your restaurant to others based on your smaller ecological footprint. ...continue reading

New York offers some of the world’s most innovative and eclectic cuisine – as well as one of the world’s most competitive restaurant industry scenes. Achieving success in New York shows a great ability to combine a perfectionist’s work ethic with extensive knowledge of the finest commercial kitchen supplies and exceptionally artistic culinary skills. The new professionals on this list have already proven they have what it takes to make their mark on the culinary world.

Highly Competitive New York Chefs

1. Justin Bogle
Bogle, the Executive Chef of Madison Avenue’s opulent GILT, fashions equally impressive dishes. His “Modern American” style fits in perfectly with the gorgeous New York Palace Hotel, which houses the restaurant.

2. Heather Bertinetti
This new young chef, who has created pastries for Michael White, is one of the most sought-after pastry chefs in the city. Her talents are not limited to the realm of pastries. One of her more outstanding trademarks is a hot chocolate soup. ...continue reading

As a professional chef, your chef’s pans and skillets have an enormous effect on the quality of your finished dishes. Discovering the best chef’s skillets, cooking pans, and frying pans for the different types of fare you serve can greatly improve the taste and presentation of your food. This increase in caliber translates to an increase in business for your restaurant. Make sure that you are using the optimal equipment for the best results possible, always taking into consideration the particular dish you are preparing.

Non-Stick Pans and Other Non-Stick Cookware

The top choice for popular breakfast items is the Winco 12" Master Cook Fry Pan. Non-stick pans ensure effortless crepe and pancake – flipping and tidy removal of egg dishes. This pan is also the ideal size for most restaurant breakfast offerings. Other items, however, call for equipment without non-stick surfaces. Any pan that you plan to use for sauces that need to be aerated should lack a non-stick surface to prevent interference with whisking. Likewise, professional-grade woks frequently feature metal surfaces since the intense heat generated by the shape of a professional wok gently browns stir-fry vegetables to perfection but can destroy non-stick materials. In general, metals such as copper and thick stainless steel cookware provide the highest degree of long-lasting sturdiness. ...continue reading

Going green is the current rage because of the impact it can have on the environment and your finances. As a chef or food service business owner there are many ways to go green in your kitchen. You will find that you save a significant amount of money through this process and you will feel good because you are doing something beneficial in the process.

Buy Energy Star Equipment When Possible

If you already have your equipment, then replacing it might not be in the budget. However, there will come a time when you do have to purchase new equipment items. At these times you will find that purchasing equipment that is rated energy star efficient will be beneficial to you. Each of these pieces of equipment are not only helpful to the environment, they consume much less energy and allow you to save money on your utility bills. Anytime it is possible you should purchase items that have an energy star rating.

Recycle

While recycling seems quite simple, the fact is that it can be monumental in any business’ efforts to go green. ...continue reading

What your chefs wear – from the toque to the shoe soles - impacts safety, the sanitation standards of your restaurant, the speed with which employees prepare dishes, and of course, comfort. You need to purchase professional chef attire that will help instead of hinder them and make them feel and work their best. The right chef apparel keeps you and your employees safe from fire and slip-and-fall accidents. It also conforms to sanitation codes and stays out of the way of your customers’ food.

Professional Chef Hats

The most important piece of chef’s clothing that you can purchase is the chef’s hat. The perfect hat requires minimal adjustment and does not fall or get in the way. It should need to be touched as little as possible to avoid the transfer of germs or even hair to the food. Since chefs are required to wear hats by health codes for sanitary reasons, you should also make sure that any hats you buy are in compliance with your local regulations. One of the simplest ways to fulfill all of these conditions is to supply your employees with Chef Revival baseball hats. If you want to give your establishment a more formal atmosphere, or to make obvious the identity of your head chef, consider a more classic choice, such as this 12” disposable chef’s hat from Winco.

Jackets and Pants for Restaurant Chefs

One of the biggest pet peeves of a great deal of professional chefs is sleeves that are too long or bulky. ...continue reading

Choosing a commercial work table for your kitchen is one of the most important tasks you will face in setting up your restaurant workspace. Considering the type of food you serve, the manner in which you prepare your dishes, and how your customers will perceive your establishment if the table will be in plain view is paramount when making your selection. The style of kitchen work table that you use should also suit the area that you have available in your professional kitchen. Careful shopping can make the difference between convenience and wasted space.

Personalize Your Work Table to Your Professional Kitchen

Think about the elements of a work table that will provide the ideal situation for your catering business or restaurant. The materials on which you decide should depend largely on what kind of cuisine you plan on preparing on your work table. For example, stainless steel work tables, such as those manufactured by Turbo Air, prove an excellent choice for any food service establishment. These tables make a fantastic pick due to the ease of sterilization and ability to withstand aggressive chopping and strong blows that stainless steel provides. A glass or ceramic work table surface may be a more suitable choice if you serve a great deal of fish, since these materials resist odor absorption.

Convenience is one of the main factors in deciding which work table is best for you as well. ...continue reading

Keep your customers coming in all year long with a selection of the best bar drinks, handpicked especially for the year 2012. This year promises to be full of memorable events, and your customers will be sure to remember their visits to your bar once you serve these entertaining theme drinks. The drinks honor noteworthy occasions from the beginning of the year to the end. Serve them with the latest bar tools and restaurant equipment, including shakers, glassware, and wine accessories that you and your clients will love. The top five drinks to serve in 2012 include:

Outstanding Party Drink Recipes

1. Black Dragon

Why stop celebrating New Year’s at the beginning of January when the Chinese New Year festivities don’t even begin until a few weeks later – and last over two weeks? Give your clients a reason to proclaim this Year of the Dragon with a Black Dragon. To make this impressive drink, create layers in a Libbey shot glass. Fill the bottom third of the glass with peppermint schnapps and the middle third with Kahlua. Top it all off with one-third of a shot of scotch. The layers should stay separate, and by the end of the drink the schnapps have a cooling effect on the burning sensation of the scotch layer.

2. Leap Frog

A day that comes only once every four years is reason enough for a party. ...continue reading

One of the goals of any restaurant owner is to find as many ways to help the business as possible. You are already going to be overwhelmed with work and business so being able to cut some of it out will be extremely beneficial. Believe it or not, technology can play a vital role in ensuring that your restaurant runs smoothly at all times. Without modern technology, there is much more work that would be required from you on a daily basis. So in what ways does technology offer benefit to your business?

Before technology advanced to where it is today, something as simple as taking and processing orders and payments was tedious and time consuming. One would have to write out the order and give it to the kitchen staff. It would require consistent management of paper from beginning to end. One missing order sheet and even the books would turn out inaccurate.

Technology advanced that and now restaurants have the ability to use a POS system for most of these purposes. Orders can be entered on the screen and then delivered to the kitchen on their own display. Final checks can be printed with ease and the order can be pulled up quickly for payment. ...continue reading

An annual budget is more than just something that should be done in the restaurant business. It is actually a necessity. Without an annual budget you do not have the ability to keep up with your profits and losses, plan for the future and see how you will afford to keep operating. Because of its importance in your business, you should know what having an annual budget entails. This will ensure that you do it the right way from the start and have fewer problems with it as your business really begins to thrive.

The most important thing about your budget beyond the amounts it includes is how it is broken down. If you do everything on an annual basis then it will be difficult to look at it and see how it breaks down by the month or even the week. Most restaurants opt to do their budget in sections broken down by month. This allows you to make allowances for special times like holidays when you might need more inventory, but you will also make more profit. You can plan for each month and then look at how it breaks down for the entire year. ...continue reading