General
Bringing together and hiring the best staff for your restaurant is a top priority before opening. But once your business is booming – customers are streaming in on a regular basis and the feedback is stellar – you have to keep that staff happy and motivated so that you can maintain the high level of excellence that you’ve worked so hard to establish. Nothing in the restaurant industry can be taken for granted; customers are fickle and trends are constantly shifting.
No matter what type of cooking-related business you’re thinking of launching, equipment – and the related budget – is a vital consideration. Regardless of whether you’re opening a small catering concern out of your home kitchen or if you’re jumping into the deep end with a gourmet restaurant in the ritziest part of town, the “meat and potatoes” of your business is not actually edible.
As a restaurant owner, you have to offset the demands of being an entrepreneur with the needs of your clientele, a balancing act that is both a requirement and a challenge. So when the time comes to revamp your menu – due to seasonal requirements, cost considerations, or time constraints – follow prescribed guidelines on how to do it, and – most important – don’t forget your customers, many of whom will vote with their feet if that menu change isn’t handled correctly.
Did you know that there are now 80 million Millennials in the U.S.? This group of individuals born between 1982 and 2000 now outnumbers the Baby Boomers — previously holder of the title, “Largest Generation Ever”– and makes up a full quarter of the nation’s population, according to the United Census Bureau.
Transforming one-time consumers into loyal restaurant customers is a key to success for most businesses. This holds particularly true for restaurants, and yet can be even harder to achieve due to the challenging combination of the increasingly competitive industry and today’s informed, empowered diners.
How popular are food trucks these days? The answer – very! Their popularity has soared over the past ten years with no signs of slowing down. According to current industry reports, there are currently 35,500 food trucks in the US, generating an annual total revenue of $1.2 billion — and the numbers are expected to keep growing.
The National Restaurant Association declared “sustainable seafood” to be number nine on its list of the “Top 20 Food Trends” for 2016. Also making the cut? “Locally sourced meats and seafood,” as well as “environmental sustainability”.
All three add up to one major takeaway for forward-thinking restaurant owners and managers. If you’re not aiming to show off your commitment to serving up sustainable seafood, you’re falling short of fulfilling some key requirements among today’s diners.