How-To
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.
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.
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.
The restaurant business is exciting and fulfilling at best, and volatile and stressful at its worse. Juggling menu offerings, maintenance, budgets, and staff is a job for a wizard – and that’s when things go smoothly. When things go awry and a situation gets out of hand, a restaurant owner has to reach deep in his or her bag of tricks to come up with answers.
As we discussed in a previous post, refrigeration units will be one of the most important purchases you make when you set up your commercial kitchen. In this post, we’ll talk about two other useful types of refrigerators found in many commercial kitchens: the refrigerated prep table and the refrigerated chef base.
A key requirement for food preparation, in general, and restaurants in particular, is to adhere to food-handling procedures that ensure that food is safe to eat. Proper food hygiene prevents germs, which can cause food-borne illnesses, from contaminating food. Whereas health inspectors will visit your restaurant from time to time to inspect it for compliance with legal health and safety requirements, it is up to you to provide the proper food safety products and training to help your staff promote food safety in your restaurant.
Cookware is essential equipment in every commercial kitchen. Whether you’re making soup or a stew, pan-searing chicken or stir frying noodles, choosing the right cookware will make a significant difference in the quality of your food and the efficiency of your kitchen. There are a multitude of options available to the executive chef and head cook, and we’re here to explain the advantages and disadvantages of each type of cookware to help you move forward with your purchases.