stuff4restaurants

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Where was this life saver when I needed it?

You could write a very entertaining book on the first night fiasco of new waiters, and I would get a whole chapter to myself.

Let’s face it, First nights are not easy, I remember all too well, trying to control the clunkiness caused by the onset of puberty, the urgent demands of a few well oiled guests, strategically placed furniture intent on tripping me up, all, whilst balancing several slippery glasses, bottles and associated pieces of table ware on an unfamiliar tray.

And of course, my then bosses best customer, also remembers it, after all, it’s not everyday you see have your photo in the newspaper, even if you are the mayor, well not with your mistress, all covered in a cream based cocktail.

So you can imagine that I was “kinda” attracted to this new tray design.

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The major chains are aggressively targeting this lucrative lunchtime market, are you getting your share?

The Office Worker Market is now regarded as one of the most profitable repeat market segments and can help any restaurant add real dollars to their bottom line.

60 percent of U.S. office workers spend lunch breaks at their desks looking for distractions, according to Los Angeles-based Kelton Research

The majors are developing all sorts of incentives to get potential customers to make that critical first purchase. Offers include coupons and target both the recipient and their co-workers. One company has even had their coupons inserted into the paycheck envelopes of office workers in their area.

Owners are reporting astounding redemption rates of between 10 and 30 percent generating high numbers of repeat business, so if your not in yet, maybe it should go to the top of your “Things To Do Today” list.

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Technorati: Restaurant, Marketing, Advertising, Small Business Ideas

Now before you start throwing rocks and chase me off the web, let me explain why I chose these sites.
These 16 sites are the ones I visit on a regular basis to keep up to date and entertained about this industry we are all so passionate and dependent upon.To put this list together, I personally have viewed literally thousands of sites, and let me tell you, it was a fairly depressing journey at times.
I discovered hundreds of sites that were poorly designed and contained content that was little more than the tired re-hashing of the self appointed sales and self improvement gurus.The sites I have provided links to below, I regard as sites that have content worthy of my and your limited time, and provide information that is useful.
1. FoodService.com
   A site that is jam packed full of up to date Restaurant and Food Industry Information and highly active forums where you can pose questions and get sensible answers.
2. Restaurant Marketing Blog:
   A blog by well known Restaurant Guru Joel Cohen. you will always find something up to date and well worth reading here.
3. Profitable Hospitality
   This popular membership site has a huge collection of in depth information for restaurant owners covering all topics.
4. Confessions of an Executive Restaurant Recruiter:
   Here you will find witty, upbeat posts about what it’s like to recruit chefs, servers, managers, and other restaurant employees.
5. WaiterBell Blog:
   This editor obviously enjoys the restaurant industry, the posts cover the lighter side of customer service, dining etiquette, negotiating the dietary preferences of picky children, and restaurant finance issues.
6. Diner’s Journal:
   As the food and dining blog from the New York Times, the Diner’s Journal is always the first to announce up-to-the-minute trends and industry news.
7. Customers Are Always:
   This blog explores the dos and don’ts of excellent customer service. Brief your staff on the principles found here, and your clientele will be impressed.
8. The Restaurant Blog:
   The Restaurant Blog, from AllBusiness.com, posts articles like “Staffing Errors Can Cost You” and “Do Your Menu Prices Shout Welcome” to help you improve your guests’ dining experiences.
9. Restaurant Talking Points:
   Browse their categories on sales, training, and customer service to get some great tips on restaurant management.
10. Bickell’s Blog:
    Bickell’s Blog is for restaurant owners looking at buying restaurant supplies, also info on industry news, and restaurant management.
11. Restaurant Spy:
    A respected independent, London-based blog that has reviews on the best restaurants in the UK. Members are able to share news and opinions on the message boards or advertise their site.
12. Vinography:
    Here’s one to go to if you want to extend your bar’s wine selection. You will also find great serving tips and wine ideas.
13. Diners From Hell:
    A fun read all about “dining disasters” readers share their experiences on the forum, and discover what customers really want when from their dining experiences.
14. Diners Nation:
    Diners Nation is a comprehensive resource for restaurateurs. Meet up with other owners and managers on the forum, post and look for restaurant jobs with the help of Employment Guide, and catch up on industry news from all over the U.S.
15. Musings from a Restaurant Maven:
    This passionate restaurant lover posts clever, insightful articles about customer service, dining experiences, tipping, and eating out with children.
16. Barista Brat:
    This is a must read for all coffee lovers. The editor of this great site “rants and raves” from the perspective of a bemused coffee shop barista. You will find all sorts of tips and wisdom for dealing with those “challenging” customers.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from these links. should you have favorites not listed here, I would love to hear about them and, if appropriate, will add them to this list.

The owners of a Chinese restaurant in south-west Moscow are to be charged after it was found they were serving dog meat to customers - disguised as beef, pork and lamb.

I’m always looking for ways to get FREE media attention and generate “word of mouth” Advertising stunts but this is just plain sick.

Read the full story here: because there is NO WAY I want the photo’s and sickening details on this site.
Source: foodservice.com

WOW, I heard that things were really hotting up in the Pizza market as the chains aggressively price cut to grab market share from independent pizza owners, but This really is stepping in DOWN a notch or three.

Pizza sellers in Western Canada have decided to buy into the old “sex sells”adage: they are delivery pornographic photos with their products. Porno Pizza, which opened recently in Winnipeg, reports they have had great success with their idea of covering the bottoms of their pizza boxes with pornographic images.

“They range from photos with an artistic bent like Playboy magazine to photos that are much more hardcore,” says Corey Wildeman, owner of the establishment, who says that the photos become visible as you eat the pizza.

Pizza porn might be the next big thing in Canada, but could it spread to the U.S.? You would have to be more than a little courageous to risk offending at least half your market, but who knows, the rain coat brigade may be a major market segment just waiting to be “uncovered”. (Yech!)

FIGHT BACK

If it’s a price game that you have found your self exposed (Freudian slip) to, then there are better ways, instead of destroying price concentrate on differentiating your product by screaming quality and content at every opportunity. Use “BOUNCE BACK” strategies that maintain your price integrity. If you get into a price war with the chains, you can not win, it simply becomes a race to destruction and that is one contest you don’t ever want to win. Here’s a BOUNCE BACK MARKETING PRODUCT that fights the price game without driving you down the path to ruination.

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Plus these ideas will help you dramatically increase your profit every other night of the year.

Every time it’s suggested to a restaurant owner they run an event to help fill their restaurant on one of those “quiet” nights, there is a long silence followed by the inevitable question: “What sort of event should I run?” so, I thought it might be helpful if I suggested a few quick ideas I have seen work, just to get you started…
YOUR BIRTHDAY
It’s the perfect excuse to contact loyal customers and make them feel special and part of your group. (Who knows, you may even get some snazzy presents)
THE CHEFS BIRTHDAY
A great night to introduce your regular customers to the Chef, and vice-versa. (that is, if he stays sober long enough)
THE RESTAURANTS BIRTHDAY
Every restaurant deserves its own birthday, and it’s a great way to invite loyal customers back along with their friends and families.
STAFF BIRTHDAYS
Regular restaurant customers always have their favourite staff member so this is a great opportunity to create two or three more Celebrations each year, plus publicly reward and recognise their role in your success.
END OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR (ACCOUNTANTS CHRISTMAS)
Most professional offices go crazy preparing all the “fibs” we present to the tax office and a celebration after all the work is over is always welcome and will bring in many more potential new customers.
END OF WINTER START OF SPRING
A change of season always brings a desire to take moment to reflect and celebrate
MOTHERS DAY
We all love our Mums (well most of us do, though I do have a bit of a problem with my Mother in law) but these days are big family spend days, and you should make sure you get your share of this market by promoting your restaurant early.
FATHER’S DAY
Ditto
THE BIRTHDAY OF YOUR OVERDRAFT
It’s a good cause and you can have fun with the wording of your invitations by explaining you are relying on their participation so you can get the bank manager off your back.
BANK MANAGERS BIRTHDAY
You can always follow up the overdraft birthday with this one, explaining that you need to get your bank manager on side before the school fees have to be paid and suggesting they (your customers) bring their bank manager with them so you can all do some serious relationship building and repair together.
EASTER
You know the score with this one, Bunnies and Eggs…
THE CATS BIRTHDAY
O.K. This one is silly, I admit it, but why not?. It’s just silly enough to grab the attention of your customers and get them talking.
ELECTION
Everyone loves to watch an accident, and election nights can be turned into fun Events by dividing the restaurant into balanced opposing camps and bringing in live video feeds and stimulating some good natured wagering on the outcome (all conducted legally of course)
SPORTS FINALS
Again, set up the big screen and dress the team and guests the colors of their favourite team
SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY GRADUATIONS
Help families celebrate these successes and you will build loyal customers for life.
NEW MENU
Regular changes to your menu are a good opportunity to invite regular customers back to sample your new creative dishes. However always offer to prepare the older favourites, for those who have built their personal expectations around them.
VALENTINE’S DAY
A time to show “real heart” and create a special romantic evening…
If you can play the violin, then tonight, is your night. If you can’t, then grab a bow and arrow, and strip down to a very sheer, very skimpy loincloth, because tonight you’re playing cupid.
REGIONAL FESTIVAL DAYS
Every region has its festivals, they are great marketing opportunities to sponsor the local beauty queen, create a float, and run an after party for a whole new group of potential customers.
THANKS GIVING
Not everybody enjoys slaving over the hot stove preparing the traditional feast. There are many families that are more than happy to celebrate this family event in your restaurant.
HALLOWEEN
Another opportunity for the whole team to dress up and have some fun.
All sorts of disgusting stuff can be served, it’s a great night to get rid of all that stuff that’s been threatening to “get up and walk out” of the freezer.
SAINT PATRICKS DAY
Just think green, everything green, Drunk and green.
It’s a great celebration that has a fiercely loyal following amongst the Irish and the broader community. If you are small of stature, you’re really in luck; you won’t have to hire a Leprechaun. However, you do risk severe bruising, as the drunken Irish attempt to capture you. If caught, you are obliged to grant their wish, so be just a little careful how you play this one!!!.
RACE DAY
Get out the big screen again, dress the staff in bright colored silks and award prizes for ladies hats. If you can get-away with it, run lots of sweepstakes and hire or create some fairground style games of chance. It’s probably a good idea to either keep it a bit secret from the local boys in blue, or invite and thoroughly involve the senior officer and local political heavyweight.
SINGLES NIGHT
It’s the old nightclub trick, fill a venue with attractive young ladies, and you will be sure to attract at least twice the number of males.
MUSIC NIGHT
Every one dresses as their favourite artist, or you set the theme, either way, it’s yet another opportunity to dress in drag, if that’s your thing, or alternatively, indulge in a slightly more socially acceptable fantasy.
CHRISTMAS EVE
You know the stuff, Ho, Ho, Ho, and stockings, and plump old men in jolly red suits with white beards.
NEW YEARS EVE
This is, of course, the traditional night where almost anything goes, and it’s sometimes hard to keep the lid on both guests and staff. A good idea I have seen is: Get all the guests to write down their New Year resolutions, then a month later invite all the guests back (sneaky huh!) to celebrate or admit their progress.
CHARITY NIGHT
A great way to imbed your restaurant deeply into the local community. Pick a good cause and work with their fundraising team to produce a fundraising evening. This will bring a whole new group of potential life time customers into your restaurant.
SPONSORSHIP NIGHT
Same as the charity night, but this time, fund raise for a local sports team.
SUPPLIERS NIGHT
Ring around all your suppliers and put the “bight on them”, arrange an evening where they can showcase their products to your customer base. Get them to provide prizes that can be used as Advertising incentives. At the very least you should be able to fill an off night with them, their team and their families.
CASINO NIGHT
There are companies that hire all the equipment so dress the place up as a casino a give your guests (and of course their friends) the opportunity to unleash their hidden greed.
FINALLY, don’t forget to invite me, I love any opportunity to celebrate anything. Some of my less than kind friends, have even suggested I would drive long distances, simply to attend the opening of an envelope.

Please feel free to add any of your ideas below.

Coffees Of Hawaii are fast earning a global reputation for doing very clever Advertising stuff.

In this case, they provided an “on water” cafe stop for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona.

Of course, the uniqueness of a floating cafe also just happened to capture more than its fair share of media attention.

It clever thinking to back up your sponsorship of Events, with stunts that grab the medias attention and insatiable need to find unique angles to stories.

It’s getting close to the time of year when bar owners are looking for gifts for some of their loyal customers.

I was sent this link which I thought had some good ideas for a low cost gifts. This site has 35 bottle openers that will thrill your customers by being a bit different.

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On the recent World Series Game Two telecast on Fox, Taco Bell, received $4.1 million worth of additional exposure thanks to the restaurant’s free tacos for a stolen base promotion.

O.K. sure they must have paid for the initial right to present their promotion, but, this time around, Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury successfully stole the first base of the Series, insuring free tacos and helping Taco Bell realize another $4.1 million of television exposure in the process. According to research conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates, which specializes in measuring the impact of sponsorships across all forms of media, Taco Bell amassed three minutes, 15 seconds (3:15) of clear, in-focus exposure time, while the restaurant chain was also mentioned 11 times.

So we all better get used to some more of this in game promotion, as the major advertisers realize the leverage that is available to them.

On a smaller scale, there is nothing to stop even the humblest of budgets sponsoring local team Events and offering additional incentives for outstanding achievements during the game, which will provide a great deal of focus on the prize and the provider.

My point here is: When you see how one of the major companies engineer these clever leverage concepts, don’t merely dismiss them as games for the “Biggies only” by using the same principles on a smaller scale, you too can leverage and stretch your promotional dollars far beyond merely taking “donation space” in local newsletters.

I am assured that no real butterfly’s were harmed. They are all made of paper, so insect rights supporters can rest easy.

Just imagine walking down the street and coming across this oddity, wouldn’t it grab your attention? wouldn’t you want to find out what it was all about? Mightn’t you take a photo of it to show your friends that you did actually see a car covered in butterfly’s and you are not completely crazy.

The critical point to turning stunts like this into successful sales promotions is: That the stunt must fit the message.

That is to say, the stunt may grab attention, but you must follow up with a message that shifts the initial attention to an action that is sales focused.

Visit Splash News for more on this

O.K. So lets imagine you own a Ritzy Italian New York restaurant and you want to get a whole lot of publicity fast.

A really good idea might (note, I did say MIGHT) be to ring all the local paparazzi from the celebrity media and tip them off that some fabulous looking female movie star is planning to visit your restaurant, and is prepared to pay, a very reasonable, $11,000.00 bucks for a rare white fungus.

Now if you were to be clever enough to do that, the chances are, that you might also be clever enough to give the delightful young attention getter, a reasonable appearance fee, plus pay her back the “very reasonable $11,000.00 bucks she has so generously parted with, on the basis that, with her help you have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of FREE MEDIA ATTENTION.

Then of course, the terminally cynical, might also suggest you get a few close friends, to make a liberal smattering of morally indignant phone calls to the local media, just to fuel the debate with a few choice comments about starving children in foreign countries.

But of course, that would be just another conspiracy theory to add to the pile.

Photos from Splash News

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In 1963, beer brewer Alfred Heineken and architect John Habraken created the Heineken WOBO (WOrld BOttle) - the “brick that holds beer”.

Heineken came up with the idea during a visit to the Caribbean where he observed two significant problems: beaches littered with bottles and a lack of affordable building materials.

The WOBO was his solution to these challenges. Unfortunately, this environmentally-friendly design failed to take off and was subsequently shelved. I wonder if it would fare better in today’s more eco-sensitive climate…?

It makes me wonder, if you were to built a house this way, would they call it a “Liquid Asset”.

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John Cricket has shown enormous courage by publishing what he regards as the top 100 business blogs on the internet, on his Business Opportunities and Ideas Site.

And it’s not all based on opinion alone, in what must have been a mamoth task, he has combined ratings from two of the leading number crunchers Technorati and Alexa.

The major task, as John explains, was sorting out the real business sites from all the rehashed “Get Rich Quick” merchants.

I’m quite sure he is “eagerly” awaiting the inevitable “Bouquets and Brickbats” that follow list publishing.

I’m just grateful that someone has done all the hard work that many of the serious players will now benefit from.

And yes, I do admit to, just a small (well maybe more than “small”) tinge of self pride that both my sites having made the list.

I thank him, and most importantly YOU dear reader, for making my humble efforts over the past few months, result in much more than a mere glimmer of hope in my imagination.

To see his full article and the list visit his site NOW at: Business Opportunities and Ideas

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A new company CleanScores, is offering the residents of San Fransico the ability to check out a restaurants Health Inspection Records online.
Look up the name of a restaurant on CleanScores’s website and the first thing you’ll see is the score awarded to the eatery during its most recent health inspection. In addition to listing health code violations (ranging from major to minor), there’s also a graph comparing scores during its three most recent inspections, along with a form for visitor comments.

Companies, governments, and public thought leaders now routinely have their actions scrutinized and evaluated by anyone able to post their opinions online.

Millions of visitors regularly check out online reviews of the products or services they’re considering consuming. Which leaves no place to hide for the incompetent. However, it also brings with it, a whole new set of potential problems, say, from frivolous and vexatious attacks by over-zealous ex staff and competitors

The ad revenues for those who publish rants, raves and inspection records are fueling this trend and are giving rise to a whole new area of potential litigation.

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These highly creative thinkers have given the humble tent card a whole new meaning with this clever gimmick.

And above all, it’s for a good cause. Can you imagine anybody at the table ignoring this gem of Advertising. Just think, they have turned a totally unused, useless piece of space into something that has real emotional grunt. I would think the biggest problem would be replacing them after each table setting due to their obvious souvenir value.

I’m sure you can think of some of your own messages that you can “hide” (there is nothing more public than a semi concealed secret)

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