Imagine increasing your business social visibility, get more loyal customers, create tailored marketing campaigns and save thousands of dollars while doing that yearly… how excited will you be?

All that translating to more business to you.

Hoping maybe someone here could help me with this. My husband and I own a cafe (coffee shop). We have a customer who comes in frequently. She is foreign and very wealthy, which I believe contributes to this problem. Basically she is very courteous to myself and my husband, and well behaved in front of us. But when we are not there she is very rude and difficult to our staff. She is demanding, complains, asks for special treatment/off menu items, and generally treats them badly. I'm not positive of this but my sense is she considers them servants- that's the vibe my staff gets from her. Meanwhile, she brings my husband and I gifts from her home country, asks after us, and even made us dinner once after I had surgery. Another aspect is that she has brought us a lot of customers from her immigrant community, which we are grateful for. Since she behaves differently in front of my husband and I we have never witnessed this bad behavior from her. Most of our staff have been with us for years and are very professional so we believe their accounts completely.

Recently she apparently berated one of our newer staff members over some issue and nearly brought her to tears. We are kind of at a loss how to proceed here. How do we confront her about something we've never personally witnessed? How do I tell her "hey you have to treat my staff like human beings, they are not your servants", in a way that will get through? My sense is part of this issue is cultural so I have no idea if she would even get what we're saying. There's also a bit of a language barrier, which adds to the difficulty. She's recently been reaching out on social media to complain about our newer staff, so this does seem to be escalating. Any help or advice from experience is appreciated, thanks.

As room managers, we know that every day brings its challenges. Between teams, suppliers, customers and daily management, what is the problem that gives you the most trouble at the moment?

Hello… We are a small chain of restaurants that do high volume, and we currently use a Taylor clamshell griddle that is at the end of its life after 11 years. Looking to replace it with something that is not a Taylor. Does anybody have any experience with Vulcan’s clamshell griddle? Biggest concern is recovery time. Thanks!

Hi there,

I've worked in the hospitality industry for a few years now and I'm considering opening a restaurant in Toronto at some point in the future. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share a spreadsheet template for restaurant/bar start up costs. I'd like an idea of all the different aspects to consider and how to structure them in a budget/business plan. I'm open to all forms of advice as well!

I'm in the works of starting a small business that fries with beef tallow. I am having a problem navigating a commercial grade fryer and the solid nature of beef tallow. It is very challenging to ensure that all the heating elements are entirely covered/submerged when melting the tallow. I'm paranoid to start a grease fire.

1. Any tips to melt the beef tallow when in its solid state?

2. How to best clean the inside of the fryer?

3. Any fire safety tips to look out for when dealing with solid animal fats?

Thank you!

This is my husband’s and my second time purchasing a business. Our first restaurant has been successful and is still running.

We recently moved to a different state to start a new venture. We found a business we like and are currently in the process of negotiating with the landlord. The "landlord" is a large corporation, and the restaurant is located in a sizable shopping center. In contrast, our first restaurant was in a small strip mall with an individual landlord. This is our first time dealing with a corporate landlord.

Our concern is that the existing lease does not include a 5-year renewal option. There are only 4.5 years remaining on the lease, and the landlord is unwilling to add a 5-year option. Based on our communication so far and feedback from neighboring restaurants, the landlord seems very strict. Does having only 4.5 years left on the lease pose a significant risk?

Hey everyone, I’m curious about the food business and wanted to get some opinions. I come from a real estate background and have spent a lot of time reading about business and talking to other entrepreneurs. One thing I’ve always found puzzling is the common statement: "Restaurants don’t make money."

To me, this feels like a blanket statement that doesn’t tell the full story. Business, at its core, is about numbers, marketing, service, and operations, right? So why are restaurants so often painted as doomed ventures?

From what I’ve seen, there seems to be a divide between struggling restaurant owners and those who thrive. When I’ve looked into the struggles, many owners can’t tell you their P&Ls, don’t know their COGS, labor percentages, or overhead. Their “profit” is just whatever’s left in the bank at the end of the month.

On the flip side, the successful restaurant owners I’ve talked to approach things completely differently. They know their numbers down to the decimal and treat their restaurants like businesses, not just passion projects. These owners often make six figures (or more) from a single location.

So, could it be that the narrative of “restaurants don’t make money” stems from the fact that most people get into the industry out of a love for food, not a love for business? Meanwhile, the ones who do succeed are often more focused on running the numbers and optimizing operations than the food itself.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Is the idea that “restaurants don’t make money” just a reflection of how most owners approach the business? Or is there something inherent in the food industry that makes it harder to succeed?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Any restaurant owners who can give me their experience on marketing/advertising their business? How important is it to advertise your services so that you can drive traffic to your restaurant? How have you done so and what are some struggles you faced along the way or are facing now?

I'm opening a cookie bakery in a couple months, and want to offer a very simple hot coffee option (reg & decaf). Looking for some advice on the setup (haven't worked in a coffee shop before) based on these parameters:

- This is not a business priority, however I personally don't want to serve crap. We won't be hiring experienced baristas, so it needs to be simple

- We are very tight on space, but will have a water line + electrical in the FOH

- Currently have this coffee maker in the plans: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/documents/specsheets/wcm50p-waring-cafe-deco-automatic-coffee-brewer-spec-sheet.pdf

I guess my questions are:

- Should we change to a brand name coffee maker (bunn, curtis, fetco)? Is service going to be an issue for a basic coffee maker?

- What are the major process steps that will make a noticeable difference with a basic brewer? Will freshly ground coffee make a difference? Should we weigh our coffee grounds, choose certain beans, etc.?

Appreciate any advice and things I didn't consider. Thank you!

Hello, I’m a 22 year old who’s been in the restaurant industry sense I was 14, I can’t see myself doing something else and I’ve always wanted to open up my own restaurant. One thing always on my mind is how do people get enough money to open these restaurants, is it a shark situation? Or should I just work my ass off the next however many years to save up 150k

Hi - I've very recently started dreaming of opening a restaurant. To either fan the flames or put them out altogether, I was curious to get some input from others on what an realistic ballpark is for the costs of opening and running one. Here's a baseline of what I could potentially be starting with.

• i want it to be slightly-on-the-high-end, good for date night and happy hour, as well as brunch.
• it's an ethnic food that maybe many consider to be low-brow, but will be elevated, showcasing high quality ingredients and advanced cooking techniques.
• I have a menu already
• the space where a recently closed restaurant (in a highly-walkable, high-transit, dense and high-geowth Brooklyn neighborhood), available, so I'm thinking with that space in mind: 700sf dining room/bar, 200sf kitchen, 700sf basement with walk-in fridge, storage, employee locker room, manager's office. The monthly rent is manageable, but the key money they're asking for kind of blew my mind when I inquired: $180K.
• Kitchen is fully equipped and needs no major improvements, purchases or changes (equipment is only 6 years old), bar and dining room may only get a paint job/different art work.
• former establishment already had a full liquor license, so will need to pay to have it transferred
• site already has permit for sidewalk cafe/seating, so will need to purchase outdoor chairs and tables to seat about 20
• will need to purchase tables, chairs to seat approx 30, approx 12 barstools
• will need to purchase all table and glassware, as well as all kitchenwares/tools, and consumable supplies
• for staffing, im expecting: FT chef, 3 sous chefs/line cooks, 2 FT and 1 PT servers, a FT dishwasher, one FT AGM, and I'd be the GM (I'm an accountant by trade, so I'd be handling all books/payroll/taxes, etc).

Not sure what else I need to think of here. How much would I need in savings/business loan to sustain such a place for, I don't know, 2 years, assuming it becomes self sustaining/profitable in that time? I have nearly $1M of equity in my home, so I'm considering drawing from that, but would not want to pull it all.

Thanks for sharing any experienced insights!

Is it safe to place the KDS in the wall behind griddle or burner?

I am trying to expand my spice business to include other dry goods…canned items, nuts, oils, etc. I am in a fair amount of restaurants, but just supplying just spices. How do I convince the chef to choose me over their existing supplier for other non-spice items? Some use Sysco and other bigger suppliers. I’m a solo purveyor looking to expand.

Hi guys. As Christmas rolls around I’m testing out new things in the shop. Was wondering if anyone had luck with drawing contests for the kids. I was also thinking of having ornaments to design for the Christmas tree. Yeah just wondering if anyone else has done this and how

Getting close to finally cooking in the new kitchen and I keep struggling with how we should hold and add the sauce for our wings when tossing. I’ve seen cold and hot inset with pumps, the tub of sauce with a pump in it,cold and hot insets with ladles, squeeze bottles, even held cold in sandwich prep fridge. What I wanna know or maybe get direction or guidance is, what has worked for you, what do you recommend, I’m leaning towards squeeze bottles or pumps but the setup is where I’m stuck at. For about 8-10 sauces it’s gonna be tricky to get a hot setup for all of them that why I’ve been looking at something like the pic below but maybe longer made for sauces.

I’m just curious what did it take to get there and how many years?

I see posts offering partnership opportunities to chefs, but I wonder what the reality of that path looks like.

The only person I know is a young chef who inherited a restaurant from an elderly owner with no family, but that’s a pretty unique situation.

What would happen if the US and Canadian governments mandated that all restaurant employees must make at least minimum wage, and can no longer continue relying on tips to make money. Would there be less restaurants? Would prices go up? Down? Stay the same? Would more servers flock towards the industry? Or away from it? What are your guys' opinions?

I posted about having issues seating large parties a couple months ago and everyone had some great suggestions and I really appreciate all of them! Repeating myself, but my restaurant is small, 13 tables, we had a large party of 17 take up three of our tables on a busy Friday night and then were not only extremely rude to the server, but we turned away table after table that we could've fit into their seats, if not just once, maybe twice.

Only three times in the last couple of months did we have an issue with someone calling with a party larger than eight, and I explained to them our new seating policy of tables of eight or less,and I got the "well I don't know your seating policy because I don't do Facebook or web sites."

The issue is that they each asked why we cant split the party into two tables next to each other, and I told them in my eyes, it is still considered one party. All this does is create a constant back-and-forth between me and the customer, mostly them making me feel guilty about not accepting their large group. I'm looking for some advice, so when they ask me about why I can't split their group into two tables, is there anything else I can say besides "well because I'm the boss/owner and I said so?"

Once again, small restaurant, small staff, we turn away two, four, and six tops when large parties are booked.

Shift4 just announced their partnership with Mesh, which enables Shift4 merchants to accept crypto payments globally, with Mesh’s API converting crypto into local currencies.

Restaurant and business owners, what do you think about accepting crypto as a form of payment?

Cheers!

Source: https://thepaypers.com/cryptocurrencies/mesh-and-shift4-partner-to-enable-global-crypto-payments-for-merchants--1270749

I told my manager that I want to do the least amount possible on Thursdays. Basicaly, just be here. She took me seriously on today's deployment chart

Running a restaurant can feel pretty lonely sometimes, and there’s a ton of stuff I’m still trying to figure out. I realized that maybe some other folks are in the same boat and might be up for collaborating, so I’m pulling together a small group of local restaurant owners to chat and share ideas.

I’ve got a few things in mind to discuss:

• Benchmarking: Stuff like sales, customer numbers, ad/marketing spend, labor hours, etc. Just to see where everyone’s at and maybe get some ideas for improvement. (am I missing anything here??)

• Vendor Recommendations: Good and bad vendor experiences. I’m especially curious where people are getting things like chicken (prices are wild right now!).

Anything else you think would be good to throw on the agenda? I’m hoping this could turn into a regular thing, so any ideas are welcome!

Probably a dumb question: But i'm an outsider, never worked in a commercial kitchen before. When watching kitchen nightmares they always emphasize fresh food, fresh produce , no frozen. But when you talk to any resturant owner, or browse this sub you quickly realize that's not the case, it seems you can't make a profit a lot of the time if you do that from what I gather there are certain foods that are fine frozen and certain ones that are really noticeable, but KN doesn't mention that nuance ever. I get that KN is a reality show and those are far from "real" but this seems like such an easily refutable premise the show has, or is there more to it?

What is the difference between the Regency wire shelving and Steelton wire shelving? The Steelton is considerably more affordable, is the quality bad?

Also, can the parts of the two brands be used interchangeably?

Avoid them at all costs. They do not care about anything but money. In a contract too bad even though they know they are at fault they will hold you to a contract. They will make your life a living hell. STAY AWAY FROM POPMENU

Long story short, I'm a prospecting with my local city to change the city code that requires the 50% of sales be food to maintain a liquor license. My business would be a speakeasy, so 50% food sales would be nearly impossible with the business model of a traditional speakeasy. And there are too many other good restaurants in the area for another restaurant to enter the scene. The area this would be located is a pool of very wealthy individuals, so the market is saturated as far as normal restaurants go. Thus, I'm working to create something truly unique that will capture a segment that doesn't yet exist unless you're willing to drive 30 minutes.

I'm currently working with the city, which has told me that they really don't want to change the code. Because it's not within their "strategic plan" to do so. Other cities with speakeasys further away have abolished their code requirement entirely that restricts alcohol sales. But again, they don't want to change it (surprises surprise). So that brings me to my main question, have any of you heard of applying for an exception? Where the business get's a pass on a specific element of the city code? Lastly, are there any ideas you all may have that you think the city would be receptive towards that would meet their needs as well as the business model of a traditional speakeasy? I'm open to ideas if anyone has any. I've run the numbers and this speakeasy could be a money making machine. So I'd like to look at all options before throwing in the towel.

Now, before I get a ton of nay-sayers, know that I'm a planner and a doer. I'm looking for ideas, not torrential downpour of criticisms. Please be respectful and productive. I'm fine with some hard truth if that's true reality, however, I don't take stuff lying down. I don't need to hear about how restaurants are hard and how this idea won't work, I'm looking for those that can add value to the conversation. Thanks ladies and Gents.

My parents opened a pizzeria around a year and three months ago. Right now we are open 6 days a week and average $1k/mon-thur, $2k/friday, $1.5k/sat. We have 5 employees (3 outside of the family) on payroll and the business supports itself and our entire family of 5. So far we have been paying off debts created when starting the business and have knocked off about $20k, with $63k left to go. The way things are I am pretty much the backbone of our operations. I work the front 5 days a week and am somewhat the "General Manager." On top of this I handle all payroll, taxes, bills, inventory ordering, and when something breaks I'm the one that calls to fix it (internet, ovens, fridges, mainly becuase my Dad's english is very poor and my Moms is good-ish but they still have me do it). I do get some time off but the business consumes a lot of my energy and really limits my future opportunities.

I graduated college with a degree in computer science about a month ago and have not committed to looking for tech jobs purely because I can't leave the pizzeria. I've pretty much abandoned getting my masters for similar reasons. I'm 22 so I want to do normal young adult things like move to a city, live with friends and start building my career. What advice would you give me to start the transition to the next phase of life outside of the family business?