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10 Back Burner Posts That Will Boost Your Profits

bodellconsulting — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:27:42 +0000

This is our first article from The Back Burner blog. It is run by employees of eTundra.com, a restaurant parts, supplies and equipment company. Unlike many other business blogs, this one isn’t just a big advertisement for their products. There are lots of helpful articles about running restaurants. Check it out.

10 Back Burner Posts That Will Boost Your Profits
by Greg McGuire

After three months and 124 posts, The Back Burner is fast becoming a wealth of information for anyone involved in the restaurant industry. The downside of putting up so much content, however, is that some really good posts kind of get lost in the mix and are quickly buried in the archives.

That’s why we’re starting a new series of posts that bring some of these “oldies but goodies” back to the surface in case you missed them the first time. Recent news has suggested that food service might finally be turning around, and as we look forward to a brighter summer (couldn’t get no worse, right?), take a moment to peruse these 10 Back Burner posts that will help your establishment pile the black onto your bottom line.

1. Engineer Your Menu - Discover some simple menu layout strategies that are proven to improve check averages and get your customers buying rather than looking.

2. Improve Your Restaurant’s Energy Efficiency – Having a green restaurant isn’t just a hot buzzword, it’s a great way to brand your restaurant, build customer loyalty, and slash expenses. Get some front-of-house energy saving tips here.

3. The Economics of Free - It might seem counter-intuitive at first, but giving things away for “free” can actually help you build your customer base and boost profits.

4. Why Fast Food Lunch Is Good For Your Restaurant – Value minus time equals a busy lunch rush. Learn to market your lunch menu properly and fill your establishment all week long.

5. How To Manage Rising Food Costs – Keeping expenses down is a key component of any profit-boosting strategy. Learn how to keep food product costs down with these simple steps.

6. Dirty Restrooms Will Keep Patrons Away – Sometimes it’s the simple things that can affect customer retention and therefore profits. A recent poll shows just how badly a dirty restroom reflects on your restaurant.

7. Should You Cut Costs In Payroll? – When profits are suffering, it’s tempting to cut costs where you tend to spend the most: payroll. Unfortunately, this can turn out to be a sharp double-edged sword. Learn more here.

8. The 4 R’s Of Driving Server Sales - Well trained servers are the engine driving your restaurant’s sales. Learn how to turn that engine into a well-oiled machine that fires on all cylinders.

9. Use A Bar Spotter To Increase Profits – As tips decline for bartenders, the bar and restaurant industry have turned to “secret shoppers” for help reducing graft and improving sales for bartenders.

10. How To Improve Dessert Sales – Selling dessert is probably one of the toughest jobs any server will encounter. Get some tips on how to help your customers go from saying “No” to saying “Yes.”

Greg McGuire blogs about restaurant marketing and management at The Back Burner, which is written by the employees of Tundra Specialties, a company specializing in restaurant equipment and other food service supplies.

Help make our soldiers time overseas a little easier

bodellconsulting — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:30:58 +0000

Through the coordinated effort of a food service friend and veteran, and others who have donated time and resources, a program has been started to send portion control packaged condiments to our brave soldiers fighting in Afganistan and Iraq. While I haven’t had the pleasure of tasting the MRE’s made for our soldiers to eat, I’m told that as good as they are, a little ketchup can make it taste much much better for one of our soldiers.

To bring a little comfort to our soldiers, Steve Armstrong is collecting case lots of the following condiments to send overseas to our soldiers:

Mayo
Mustard
Ketchup
Tartar sauce
Horseradish cream
Hot sauce
Pickle relish
Creamers (dried or liquid)
Sugar
Sugar substitutes

Please visit Steve’s website at http://www.operationflavor.com/ and find out how to send them a case of whatever you can spare. It would really put a smile on the faces of some of our countries bravest men and women.

Reading suggestion – The Chef's Commandments

bodellconsulting — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:07:37 +0000

I just finished reading my pre-publication, review copy of The Chef’s Commandments: Maximize your kitchen’s profitability by J.A. Mendez from Pineapple Publications. Good read.

To be honest, I have to tell you that I was interviewed for this book, and the publisher used some of my blogs and articles for content, so I may be biased. Either way, I suggest picking up a copy of The Chef’s Commandments for yourself. The author, Antonio, has done a great job of packing a lot of useful information about operating a successful restaurant into a 138-page book that only takes a few hours to read.

Pre-order your copy here.

Antonio’s book delves into food cost control, marketing, menu creation, safety, sanitation and even managing employees. While it isn’t an “in-depth” study of any one of these topics, it does a lot to focus you in the right direction, so you know what areas of your restaurant or food service you should be looking at to obtain more profit.

At $15.95, this book is a steal.

I almost forgot. This book is the first of a series, so keep your eyes out for the next installment in The Chef’s Commandments: Happy Cooks, Happy Customers – A chef’s guide to employee management.

Sorry for the down time.

bodellconsulting — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:44:36 +0000

O’Dell Restaurant Consulting Blog has been down since July 4th due to an error in our hosting files. I apologize for any inconvenience and want to assure all of you that this blog is still here and going strong.

Brandon O’Dell
O’Dell Restaurant Consulting
blog.bodellconsulting.com
www.bodellconsulting.com

O’Dell Restaurant Consulting Webstore!

bodellconsulting — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:30:04 +0000

O’Dell Restaurant Consulting would like to remind you of our online webstore! In our store, you’ll find lots of on-site, email and telephone consulting service packages to help you solve the most pressing problems in your business. You’ll also find some great Microsoft Word, Excel, .pdf and graphic file restaurant tool downloads, some available for only $5 each!

Whether you’re searching for help solving labor issues, trying to lower your food costs, wanting creative marketing and menu ideas, or you just need someone to talk to, you can find it in our webstore! If you have already visited, but haven’t been back lately, make sure to check in and see if there is anything new!

Here it is……….. O’Dell Restaurant Consulting Webstore

http://www.bodellconsulting.com/webstore.html

Thank you for your time, and check the webstore often. I will be updating it with new downloads and services frequently.