Tuesday, November 21, 2016
Today's Specials:
GUEST EXPERIENCE: Do Your Guests Feel Scammed by an Automatic Gratuity?
The restaurant industry has been called out for how we handle automatic gratuities – calling it a “scam.” Ouch. We offer you five methods of ensuring a guest is never surprised by an automatic service charge ever again.
GALLERY: Best Thanksgiving FAILS
It only happens once a year. You figure out who is bringing what and plan accordingly. But for some, the struggle is all too real with trying not to screw up the entire meal. Here are some people who are having too much trouble with Thanksgiving and are just trying to get out unharmed.
THANKSGIVING DID YOU KNOWS…
TRAVEL TIPS FROM GOOGLE
The great technical overlords at Google are wielding their data knowledge for good this week. Their latest blog post lists the best and worst travel days for this week (spoiler: you should’ve left two days ago) and their top searched turkey cooking styles (which looks awfully familiar).
IRISH PEOPLE TRY AMERICAN THANKSGIVING FOOD
We love these videos of people from different cultures or age groups try something foreign to them. In this video, some Irish lads and lasses try Thanksgiving classics – like butternut squash, scalloped potatoes, spice roasted carrots and the turkey/stuffing/cranberry sauce combo. Check the amusing video out here.
HOW TO SPATCHCOCK A TURKEY
Do you know how to spatchcock a turkey? Learn how in this 12-step slide show or in this video from Kitchen Conundrums. Might be a cool way of spicing up Thanksgiving this week.
THANKSGIVING FEEL GOOD
Why it matters to you: It’s that time of year for the feels.
Good food and a scrappy business, straight outta Compton. Two former rival gang members turned their life around and started a business that’s now catering to big names like Kendrick Lamar and The Game. The duo combined the culinary arts and social media skills to start their own catering business that’s growing exponentially.
On the East coast, a restaurant is serving their local restaurant community. Staplehouse was named by Bon Appetit as the best new restaurant in America in 2016. The founders started The Giving Kitchen, a fund that aids restaurant workers with personal catastrophes like illness and medical expenses. Since 2012 the fund has helped over 600 restaurant workers in Atlanta. How do you give back?
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
Why it matters to you: Use your menu to tell the story your guests are craving to hear
Your menu is more than just the expression of your culinary style, it can also function as a way to communicate a story to guests that they are interested in hearing. How so? If you run a place that is frequented by culinary snobs, then rave on about how you sourced the specific ingredients. However, if you run a place where guests want healthy options then focus on why the food delivers exactly that.
Your menu is a guaranteed place all guests will spend time while visiting your restaurant. Start by polling your guests about what they value. Take that data and make sure your menu reflects that value to ensure your guests feel both heard and serviced. We live in an age where the information you need to succeed is right here in front of you. What you do with it can be the difference between success and failure. Therefore, using your menu to respond to that information just makes sense.
HEY BARTENDER!
Why it matters to you: Bartenders have a lot of different motivations. Knowing what they want is your job as a manager
In two related articles, our friends at Vinepair take on two big issues that concern our bar operations. The first is the evolving approach to bartending as a career. It’s not like 15 or so years ago when most bartenders were transient employees only there as a placeholder to their ‘real’ job. As mixology has regained its prestige in popular culture so has bartending become a more sought after profession. With that transition comes some realities about the impact of a lifelong stint behind the bar has on your physical wellbeing.
Along with the traditional concerns any career in a physically demanding vocation, like bartending, brings are the equally traditional issues of gender equality. Women make up 60% of all bartenders. Given that bartenders are a feeder system to managers and ownership, shouldn’t we be seeing a commensurate increase women’s presence in those roles? The fact that it’s not the case is proof that as an industry we have to resist our legacy opinions of what makes a successful bartender and focus on the best-qualified candidate. Remember being able to lug kegs is NOT a skill. Pick your bartenders because they are future leaders, create the atmosphere that makes your place great and acts like professionals. Nothing about gender will contribute those attributes.