Ken Burgin

Restaurant Productivity

Sales & Marketing

Restaurant Events

25 Easy Restaurant Events to Attract More Customers

An active calendar with a variety of restaurant events keeps staff and customers engaged and shows that your business is fresh, creative and worth another visit. Think about the customers you’d like to see more of, and those that spend well – keep them in mind as you plan ahead. Something new to talk about every month creates great word-of-mouth promotion. Seasonal Events: Phases of the moon, first day of Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter,

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Restaurant FAQ

How to Write a FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions page for a Restaurant or Cafe

The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list on a restaurant or cafe website helps the business and the customers. It adds interest to your website content, provides useful information and strengthens your marketing. It also improves the customer experience, with clear, concise answers to customers’ most common questions – it saves time and phone calls. The FAQ page establishes your authority, builds trust, and also guides staff on venue policies. You can subtly promote special services

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Restaurant Manager Training

20 Challenge Situations for Training Restaurant Managers & Head Chefs in Problem Solving

These are designed for training restaurant managers and head chefs in problem-solving and resource allocation. They don’t have easy answers and will require trade-offs and some difficult compromises. Some of the ways to use these situations for training and coaching… Let people choose the one they want to answer and give them 5 minutes to make notes and prepare their answers. Share and compare. Cut them into strips and let people choose one randomly to

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ChatGPT and Menus

Using ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter to Improve Restaurant Menu Profits

ChatGPT recently released a new feature called Code Interpreter, that allows you to upload a spreadsheet of data and ask for an analysis. So I asked it to ‘Give me 10 ways ChatGPT’s new Code Interpreter could analyse and improve menu profitability for a restaurant or cafe? Give answers that appeal to a restaurateur or accountant with fairly sophisticated financial understanding and good analytical skills.’ Here’s what came back: ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter can add significant

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Restaurant SEO

Two Essential Sales Pages on your Restaurant Website (Often Neglected)

The ‘About Us’ and the ‘Contact Us’ pages on your website can be a great way to build interest and sales, but they need to be designed with care, imagination and plenty of information. These two pages are the doorways for curious people who want to find out more about your food, atmosphere and service. Or they want to reach you with an email, phone call or social media – sometimes immediately, or by following

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Improve Restaurant Management

Using the 80-20 Rule to Cut Costs and Improve Restaurant Management

The 80/20 Rule is simple – it says that a relatively small number of causes (about 20%) is responsible for a great number of effects (roughly 80%). This is good news – if you find out what the 20% are and work on them, you can have a significant impact on sales improvement, cost reduction and improved restaurant management. This often means 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers (particular individuals, or

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restaurant photography

Photo Shot List for a Restaurant or Cafe

The bar is set high for hospitality images of food, venues, atmosphere and happy customers – phones can take excellent photos. And sometimes you need a professional photographer – their eye for light, composition and subject matter can create pictures that make a much stronger impression. Like all professionals, photographers work best with a clear and detailed brief – the Shot List. If you have it properly worked out and all the food, beverages and

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Restaurant Christmas

Prepare Now for a More Profitable Christmas

Don’t just reprint last year’s menus, plus the same decorations and corny music! Plan for this to be the busiest, most efficient and profitable time of the year. Prepare the Special Menus Finalise the Festive Menus – it may be months away, but customers want menu and price certainty. Think about how to deliver a great experience with fewer staff – that might mean more self-service and product outsourcing. Review the range of menu styles

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Customer service problem

Using Restaurant Negatives to Create Positive Improvement

A little negativity can sometimes be useful – tapping into the very human tendency to complain can yield a whole range of useful material when teaching customer service. A recent workshop I ran on ‘quality service’ was going nowhere fast: a group of strangers, a cold room and first topic in the morning. So I decided to pop the cork and ask each table to come up with their 10 pet hates when visiting a

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Increase Dessert Sales

How to Make More Money with Dessert Sales

The lack of dessert sales in most restaurants and cafes is positively unAustralian! Considering how profitable they can be, this needs to be fixed immediately – it’s usually the result of unattractive appearance, poor sales skills, the wrong menu placement, or prices that are too high relative to main course items. Desserts can create a strong first and last impression, and there’s money to be made when you mix sugar, air and water with flavour!

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