by more than
In the food-service industry, a restaurant’s atmosphere can run the gamut from high-end and elegant to fast and furious. Chances are, though, that your restaurant’s style is somewhere in between – say, casual and laid back, with an emphasis on good food and good times. For many people, dining out means getting together with friends for a long leisurely meal; for others, though, having a good time means inviting along their loyal pet.
Commercial refrigerated merchandising units – a.k.a. merchandisers – can be found in food-service operations of just about every type. They are designed to openly display prepackaged chilled foods or beverages through a glass door or an open front, so that customers can reach in and take the beverage, cake, sandwich, or snack that they crave without bothering the wait staff or cashier.
If you own or manage a restaurant, you undoubtedly have to deal with one of the most annoying and disruptive phenomena of the industry: customers who don’t honor their reservations and simply fail to show up with no warning. For restaurants in general, and small establishments in particular, a no-show represents a missed opportunity to seat other guests – or a tableful of other guests – which is a painful blow, particularly if it happens night after night.
Instagram has been around for a while and, from its inception, the photo-based app has been positioned at the center of trends in food and beverages in general, and in the restaurant business in particular. Restaurants are offering rainbow-colored “unicorn foods” with Instagram in mind, and creating fabulous and original spaces, and then waiting for the lines to form after images of their products and menus go viral.
Much has been written – including right here – about why a restaurant’s location is so important to the success of the business. Visibility is the number-one factor in choosing a site for a new restaurant, as being seen is the basis for drop-in business, which is vitally important. For this reason, off-street locations have long been considered undesirable real estate options.
These days, more and more people are trying to eat healthy. They are looking to boost their vegetable intake and, at the same time, lower their meat consumption. While the traditional beef burger still has a large and avid audience, there’s more reason than ever to add plant-based burgers to your restaurant’s menu and to attract a clientele that will appreciate your efforts to keep their interests in mind by creating meatless offerings.
For many people – and many restaurants – food and drinks go together. And when we say “drinks,” we mean alcohol. Restaurants that want to offer a complete dining experience have bars that are stocked with the latest spirits and manned by the most knowledgeable and skilled bartenders. However, word on the culinary street is that there is a trend afoot that might alter the food-drink synergy.
After exploring commercial refrigeration inside and out, it’s time to take a closer look at the most important, and ubiquitous, units of all – reach-in refrigerators and freezers. No matter what type of restaurant or catering business you have, your kitchen will inevitably need a reach-in unit which will improve the quality and speed of both food preparation and service.
Although you may not realize it – and you may not even know what “it” is – your restaurant can definitely use an expeditor. If you find that the service in your restaurant is sluggish and the kitchen-to-dining process isn’t flowing smoothly, an expeditor can help alleviate the problem and turn your restaurant into the efficient establishment it has the potential to be.
In our previous post, we discussed the types of cookware that are vital for a well-stocked commercial kitchen. These include high-quality fry pans, stock pots, sauce pans, skillets, and roasting pans. Other pieces of specialized cookware are nice to have on hand, as well – such as a wok and a paella pan – but we covered the basics to ensure that your kitchen gets off to a good start.