By Marian Betancourt

Jimmy Bradley understands the ups and downs inherent to the restaurant business. On September 13, 2001, he and his then partner Danny Abrams were planning to open The Harrison, an 85-seat venture in Tribeca with 30 seats outside and a wine room for private parties. When terrorists shook New York City to its core, the men were stuck. They had already hired staff and were putting the final touches on the place. "The air was thick with pulverized rock," Bradley remembers. Rather than become paralyzed, the rookie restaurant crew worked, providing meals for rescuers during the aftermath. "We kept going forward and paid the staff," Bradley says. "In five weeks, in addition to feeding the work crews, we trained 44 people." They got lucky when Mayor Giuliani urged New Yorkers to dine out downtown. "Journalists were kind to us," he remarks. Six weeks after its opening, William Grimes of the New York Times gave The Harrison a two-star review. Other restaurant critics deemed it among the city's best, and the public used Zagat to bestow an "excellent" rating. After three years of success the restaurant flattened. "We had become a little rigid, staid, lacking verve," Bradley says. The music was stale. The lights were not quite right. The food was a little fussy. "We were not making it current. It had become a place you bring your parents to dinner for a special occasion." The partners decided to pursue separate interests. Bradley kept the team's restaurant, The Red Cat, and The Harrison. He found a new partner in Steven Eckler, formerly associated with Wolfgang Puck, Danny Meyer, and Lever House.

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By Tony Conway

I'm no Harvard Business School grad, but in just ten years I have built a small special-events business from my own kitchen into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. The gradient has been steep, at times challenging, but I have certainly learned a thing or two about effective business practices along the way—from slicing avocados to managing a team of over 200 employees. Here are seven business strategies that have helped my company grow.

Refer to your mission statement. If an impending decision is leaving you stumped, refer to your mission statement. A mission statement embodies the spirit of your company, so referring to it can bring immediate clarity to otherwise difficult choices. Our mission states that we "promise to provide world-class cuisine, gracious service, and exquisite decor." If I refer to that statement when I'm at a crossroads, it acts as a compass, always setting me on the right path.

By Paul Suplee

Resources

acfchefs.org The official site of the American Culinary Federation. Certification guidelines can guide a kitchen manager to ideas on class topics.
chefspencil.com A consortium of chefs and their ideas, with recipes and articles dealing with many contemporary and classic dishes. Free sign-up.
ciaprochef.com The Culinary Institute of America's continuing education site, which offers classes and professional education. After you have completed courses, it is a natural leap to share this information with your staff.
gigachef.com An excellent professional chef networking site, with recipes, information on the business, training ideas, and an "Ask the Chef" function.

Deciding to train your staff formally in a structured, hands-on fashion can seem a daunting task for many chefs. Often we internalize, and sometimes even vocalize, such questions as, "Where would I find the time in my already overbooked schedule?" In-house training can contribute huge value to an operation and its leaders, since it can empower staff and often lighten the workload of the manager. But for many chefs this extra duty appears on the front end as an expenditure of precious time and money.

Building Leadership and Drive

The idea of an in-house culinary instructor brings forth some of the greatest traits in ourselves as leaders of kitchens. As Brad Barnes, CMC, CCA, AAC, and president of gigachef.com, states, "From the perspective of great leadership, you must position yourself as an expert and become the 'go-to' for training your employees." While chefs can claim the in-house culinary instructor title for themselves, the honors also can be bestowed upon sous chefs and qualified line employees. Not only will this help them grow and learn (we learn more as we teach), but it will give the staff a diverse educational platform.

By Evan Goldstein, MS

Whether the grievance arises from a guest who wants nothing but the unavailable 7:30 p.m. Saturday-night table, a diner who wants to graze on only an appetizer, or an unsatisfied customer who has written a complaint letter, there are ways to turn negatives into a win-win for you and your guests.

Reservation Redress

When customers call or use an online service to make a reservation and discover that their preferred seating time is unavailable, they may become aggressive when they speak to you. To turn this negative around, don't cave in. Be firm and cordial, and do your best to make them feel important—even as you offer less-desirable 5:30 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. options. If you do have some flexibility, of course, do what you can. But if you can't accommodate them, express your appreciation for the call, take their name and phone number, and offer to call back if a spot opens. Even if they don't take you up on your offer, they'll remember you as someone who went the extra mile.

By Richard Young

Restaurants face two new and unavoidable challenges: rising utility costs and the "greening" of foodservice. Fortunately, from an operations standpoint, these two issues are related, and tackling the energy and water bills rewards you with environmental brownie points. Its a win-win that's worth taking advantage of. Knowing where to start is the difficulty for most operators. The place to begin is with the simplest, most cost-effective actions - the no-brainers, the basics that are required of any restaurant that wants to call itself "green." Here are some examples.

Analyze your utility bills. A stuck valve on a water softener in the back room can hemorrhage 3,000 gallons of agua a day and go unnoticed for months, but it will be revealed by a bump in the water bill.

By Terri Melincoff

I was listening to an interview on the news the other day in which the owner of a Chrysler dealership was being interviewed. He said that he needed to sell 80 cars and service 1,200 per month just to break even. As reported in the New York Times, Daniel Boulud estimates the breakeven at DBGB Café and Bar at $4.5 million annually, adding, "It needs to fill each of its 140 dining seats twice on high-traffic nights (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) and 1.25 times on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Anything in excess of those numbers—say 2.25 seatings on a Saturday night—is money in the bank." Knowing your break-even sales volume is an indispensable business tool—especially during an economic downturn.

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Cornell.edu – A new set of profiles of ten innovative service companies demonstrates the use of technology to create benefits for both customers and companies. The profiles are presented in a new report from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. The report, "Cases in Innovative Practices in Hospitality and Related Services (Part 2)," is available at no charge. The companies profiled are Brewerkz, ComfortDelgro Taxi, Dinnerbroker.com, Iggy's, Jumbo Seafood, OpenTable.com, PriceYourMeal.com, Sakae Sushi, Shangri-La Singapore, and Stevens Pass Ski Resort. All but ComfortDelgro and Stevens Pass involve restaurant-related innovations. Six of the companies are based in Singapore, while three are in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. "Although technology provides the mechanism for these innovative companies, the real innovation involves new concepts and applications," said principal author Sheryl Kimes, the Singapore Tourism Board Distinguished Professor in Asian Hospitality Management at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. Original Source>>

Nrn.com – The increase of government legislation targeting the foodservice industry, on the federal, state and local levels, is one of the largest challenges restaurateurs face, industry executives and operators said Monday during the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York. Jon Luther, chairman of Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin Brands Inc., the parent to Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, said the intrusion of government through such proposed legislative measures as menu labeling, card check and health care reform, would have the most profound effect on the industry's future cost of doing business. "Government, that's the greatest single threat we have," Luther said Monday during a panel discussion at the New York State Restaurant Association's trade show. "Every time something happens, it affects the bottom line." Luther added that although some of the plans making their way through the Obama administration "are well thought out," more needs to be done to ensure the success of business "for the long term." He told attendees a story about the late Roberto Goizueta, who, he said was "one of the most wonderful CEOs" in the foodservice industry. "The venerable CEO of Coca-Cola," Luther mused, "was once asked why [the company had] a huge government relations office overlooking the White House. He said, 'government could put me out of business.'" Original Source>>

Hotelnewsnow.com – If there's anything that's sunk lower than profit margins during the recession, it might be employee morale. And as workers get laid off, benefits get cut and stress takes hold, it's not just your associates who are suffering—guests are too, as they experience less than glowing service. Fortunately for the hotel industry, there are ways to motivate your work force without breaking the bank, according to panelists during a breakout session at the Hotel Association of Canada's 2010 Annual Conference. "Research tells us that professional development is usually at the top of the list of things that an employee values about their benefits in the workplace," said Wendy Swedlove, president of the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council. Other motivators include: Original Source>>

Medpagetoday.com — Hoping to curb allergic reactions at restaurants, Massachusetts will become the first state to require food workers to undergo training in preparing safe meals for customers who are allergic to foods such as nuts, milk, and shellfish. Food allergy awareness advocates are hoping Massachusetts' experience will pave the way for other states to enact laws to prevent close calls and fatalities from food consumed at a restaurant. More than 12 million Americans—or 4% of the U.S. entire population—have food allergies, according to information from the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), which worked with Massachusetts to craft its law. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics indicates that food allergies are becoming more common, although researchers aren't sure why. Original Source>>