Crust Ingredients 1 1/2 Cup Flour 1 Tablespoon Sugar 1/8 Teaspoon Salt 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter 3-4 Tablespoons Cold Water Crust Preparation Put flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Add chunks of cold butter and pulse until mealy. Add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse after each tablespoon until dough holds together. […]
Recipe Edition: Michael’s Famous Mulled Wine Tart Read More »
The holidays are coming… and holidays generally spur people to spend money in ways that they wouldn’t do otherwise. Folks are urged to buy, book, treat, reward, and otherwise gift themselves, their loved ones, and even total strangers. So what are you doing to capture dollars spent during those programmed (and predictable) buying frenzies? If
5 Brilliant Best Practices to Maximize Your Restaurant’s Sales During the Holidays Read More »
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, New Year’s Eve… these are the days that really test a restaurant’s staff. Is your mise actually, really, and truly en place? Being ready for New Year’s Eve, like just about everything else in the restaurant business, starts with careful menu planning. Having a menu that sets you up for success
6 Steps to Create a Fun and Profitable New Year’s Eve Menu Read More »
Often, I run across restaurant managers who find that selling gift cards is more trouble than it’s worth. People want to buy gift cards during busy shifts, someone has to grab the cards out of the safe, no one can remember how to put credit on the card, or the envelopes are too hard to
5 Ways to Sell More Gift Cards This Holiday Season Read More »
In almost every scenario that requires motivation, we see more and more that cash gifts simply don’t work. Cash gifts don’t incentivize people to work harder because cash is the expected result of having a job. During the holidays, managers often become dependent on cash gifts to pay down their holiday debt. This creates conflict
5 Great Holiday Gifts for Your Managers that Aren’t Cash Read More »
We all know the importance of the first impression and how we’re impacted by someone’s appearance, demeanor and general interaction with us. Crowd review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor have built companies that allow folks to vent their praises and critiques of service providers. Much of the commentary on these sites is about first impressions.
6 Things Your Host is doing to Turn Away Customers Read More »
“Mango” was the code word at one of my first kitchen jobs. It signaled that the health inspector had arrived and we had to stop what we were doing and start running around the kitchen to fix every health code violation we could see. Invariably we weren’t fast enough with our sharpies and masking tape
How to Ace Your Health Inspection Every Time Read More »
What’s love got to do with it? Asking the question “is there any place for love in business?” is like asking “is there any place for people who care?” We all believe relationships that have longevity are rooted in love and mutual respect. Since most businesses, including restaurants are built on groups of relationships it
Why Love is the Magic Ingredient for Restaurants Read More »
Put down that 2/3 cup and walk away. When I was in fifth grade (sometime in the 80s), my class learned that the United States would soon be converting from the imperial to the metric system. I think it was supposed to happen around the same time swarms of killer bees were going to invade.
4 Undeniable Reasons Why You Should Switch Your Kitchen to the Metric System Read More »
When opening a restaurant, it seems only right to document and put in place a structured training agenda that will aid your kitchen managers and chefs in the training of themselves and their staff. Perhaps you hire a consultant, like Blue Orbit, or you have someone on your staff who loves documents, spreadsheets and calendars just
Restaurant Opening: The Essential Kitchen Training Documents Read More »
