Comparing vendor food pricing can save between 6%-12%

In the restaurant industry purchasing food can range from 25%-35% of our restaurant costs, and when you add labor we’re well within 50% – 65% operating costs. If you have a high rent, chances are you’re venting money. The responsibility for purchasing extend far beyond placing a purchase order with the food vendor and requires a significant amount of time to insure you’re getting the best prices. Food vendors change their prices frequently with little to no warning to the restaurant owner. How many times have you questioned your bottom line only to find that you’re not as profitable because many food items you purchased have gone up in price?

I remember every Monday going over an excel sheet my food vendor would send me to review my pricing and every Monday I had an issue with the prices changing. Yes there were times the pricing when down on some items, but after taking a closer look there were many food items on the excel sheet that increased. It’s no secret the food vendors have a few pricing levels. Depending on your volume you could be paying 10% – 25% more for a food item that a larger chain of restaurants receive because of their purchasing power.

Triple Seating a Big No, No!!!

My family and I eat out twice to 3 times a week because of our schedule. With two boys in elementary school, baseball, weekend parties, and just life in general we don’t have much time to prepare dinner 7 days a week. On Friday, we went out to eat at a popular chain where we were sat immediately, and a few minutes later that section was sat 3 more times. Being in the restaurant business I quickly realized the waitress was about to get deep into the weeds. She came out rushing flustered with our drinks. She told us she would be right back. I told her to take her time (Didn’t want to put her deeper in the weeds). She had to get drinks for 4 tables that took a good 15 minutes and her attitude changed completely. She seemed irritable and short of patience all of which I can understand.

How to create an html dynamic restaurant Facebook landing page

Static FBML V.S. Dynamic HTML

Several months ago I created a video on how to give your restaurant Facebook page a facelift. Today I created a new video on how to create a restaurant Facebook landing page using dynamic HTML as opposed to static FBML.

If you don’t have an FBML app already installed and integrated, then you won’t have any choice but to build a dynamic html Facebook landing page since Facebook stopped it on March 11th, 2011.

If you have one, then you may want to change since HTML will give you more flexibility to make your landing page more attractive and interactive.

This will allow you to add videos, opt-in forms, maps, multiple locations, etc…

“The importance of putting recipes together establishes a consistent high mark in terms of cooking standards… teaching someone that recipe is even greater”
- Chef Gordon Ramsay

My family and I went out to dinner last night to one of our favorite restaurants; unfortunately, my son and I were disappointed with our dishes. We both had steak and it was overwhelmingly under seasoned. After drowning it with condiments, the thought occurred to me that whoever cooked our meals skipped the recipe all together. There must have been a new grill cook as well because the temperatures on our steaks were not cooked correctly.

There is nothing more disappointing then to be looking forward to repeating a great experience from a prior visit only to be let down by the first bite. It happens a lot to restaurant that suffer from being consistent. Consistency is the key to repeat business and when that cannot be replicated chances are your customers are eating elsewhere.

Google plus for Restaurants, why it’s going to be better than Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin

Here we go again another social media site or so I thought. Google plus to me is the next evolution in social media. In Google fashion they found a way to unify several of the services we already use in Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. Not only have they succeeded they’ve also improved it over the other social media sites.It’s been that most of us will open a Facebook account for our personal contacts, linkedin for business, and twitter for both; yet, there have been times when a business associate “friends me” on Facebook, I accept not to be rude, and it never fails one of my college buddies makes a comment that’s not business friendly. Right now, I have family, friends, and business associates in what I call a social toss salad. There are times you want to post a message for family only; unfortunately, post are visible to all your friends. This has been my biggest hang up with Facebook. Google develops an awesome tool to group my friends and keep my post private to the groups I select. Best part is that no one is aware of the group they belong to as far as they’re concerned they are just part of my social network.

What should I post and do I need to join every social media website?

Today I read two very good blog post by Jill Clark title, “Social Media Sins – East Side Marios” and one by Michael L. Atkinson Social Media Tools Are Killing Their Own Value” at FOHBOH.

I highly recommend you read both post; more importantly, watch Jill’s video on the site. She explains the downside of abandoning and or ignoring your account especially when there are tweets or posts with negative comments. One solution would be to deactivate your account and she shows you how to do it, or you can get crack’in and start post’in!!! Imagine having more than one poorly attended social media site, and as Michael mentioned there are many more apps and things coming to our market real soon.

Let’s start with a poorly unattended twitter site. What do you post when you have nothing to say? I agree you don’t want to just post anything because it amounts to nothing more than noise; as a result, you’ll lose credibility with your readers and those that are loyal followers. However, just give it some thought because there is much to say that is relevant.