Ken Burgin

Restaurant Productivity

Hospo Reset Spotlight

restaurant photography

Photo Shot List for a Restaurant or Cafe

July 26, 2022 No Comments

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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Dani Valent Podcast

Dani Valent on Food Media and Positive Change for Hospitality

July 18, 2022 No Comments

Dani Valent describes herself as a food journalist, podcaster, writer, eater, traveller and cook – and it’s all done with enthusiasm and a passion for sharing. I will also add that she’s a great humanitarian and advocate for restaurant workers, asylum seekers and refugees – the people who give vital support to our industry, but are often overlooked and struggle to have a good life. Find more about her work and links to her podcast

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Restaurant Christmas

Prepare Now for a More Profitable Christmas

July 17, 2022 No Comments

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

July 10, 2022 No Comments

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

July 10, 2022 No Comments

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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Restaurant Systems

Hospo Reset’s Product of the Week

July 6, 2022 No Comments

Every week in the Hospo Reset Newsletter, we share a product or service that’s caught our eye – for kitchen & beverage management, staffing, facilities management, marketing and overall productivity. This is not an endorsement, please do your own assessment of suitability for your business. Here’s the list so far, and it’s updated every month. Food, Menus and Kitchen Management Restoke manages back of house functions like recipes, menus, ordering, work lists, staff training, plus

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Community Support

Podcast 20: Building Community Support for your Local Cafe

July 4, 2022 No Comments

Every cafe owner likes the idea of building ‘community support’ and having loyal local customers, but how do you make this happen? Ken Burgin interviewed Mike Matich from Crooked Spire Cafe in Perth, about how he’s built strong local support in his area. What makes it a place that appeals to everyone in the community, from street people to tradies, families and office workers – including the local Member of Parliament? His enthusiasm for business

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Profitable Cafe

How Can Automation Make Your Cafe More Profitable?

June 23, 2022 No Comments

You’ve seen the videos – hot, fresh pizza from a machine, a robotic arm that cooks perfect fries, or a cocktail robot with flashing lights. No people = no wages – sounds like a good move, but what will the customers think? If their priorities are consistent quality, speed and value, more automation can help you achieve that. I talked with cafe owner Matt Lucas of the Coffee Pedaler cafes in Gundagai and Tumut NSW

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Restaurant Managers

Podcast 19: Developing Restaurant Managers for the Digital Age

June 20, 2022 No Comments

Management is a lot more than carrying a big bunch of keys and covering the roster. A massive increase in operational complexity makes the manager role more demanding, and also more effective if the data available is harnessed accurately to show real-time results. Ken Burgin interviewed Liz Perkins from The Hospitality Company on this very interesting topic – she has a background as a chef and business owner. Liz now coaches hospitality operators on how

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Restaurant Standards

How to Set Clear Restaurant Standards to Avoid Mistakes & Frustration

June 18, 2022 No Comments

It’s often easy for staff to misunderstand or ignore instructions. About the correct way to serve drinks, greet a customer or balance the till – if the standards aren’t crystal clear, someone will take shortcuts. There are five key issues to cover so everyone understands – not hard to write down, but they’re often overlooked. And every time you ignore someone who’s done the job incorrectly, you’ve actually set a new, lower, standard. Standards are

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