Ken Burgin

Restaurant Productivity

Productivity & Cost Control

Restaurant Marketing Calendar

Restaurant Marketing Calendar – Social & Environmental Issues

May 9, 2021 No Comments

There are special days and months all through the year, to celebrate and commemorate important themes and social issues – a great way to add depth and variety to your cafe or restaurant marketing calendar. There may be ways to include them in the calendar of events at your cafe or restaurant, on social media or just as a reminder to staff. Customers respond very positively to your support for social and environmental issues. Check

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Restaurant Forecasting

Smarter Restaurant Forecasting to Boost Sales & Stop Cost Blowouts

April 11, 2021 No Comments

With smart ‘future-watching’, you can adjust staff and purchasing to reflect expected business much more accurately. Covid disruption has shaken up a lot of business patterns, but it’s still possible to make good predictions about future sales and customer numbers. Caterers work with 100% certainty for much of the time – they get low food and wage costs because they work with exact numbers, not guesswork. So how can a café, restaurant or bar also

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Hospitality Student

How to become ‘Employer of Choice’ for local Hospitality Teachers (and help solve your staff shortage)

April 6, 2021 No Comments

Short of young staff? Hospitality is a very popular subject in secondary schools, and there are many students looking for opportunities. Here’s how to make the right connections: Get to know the careers counsellor and the hospitality teachers. the counsellor works with every school student on their career and training plans and is keen to meet local business operators who have genuine opportunities. Once they know you are honest and fair, they can often give

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C.R.C. – 3 Words to Get Much Better Results

March 22, 2021 No Comments

If your staff management, menu updates, and marketing is inconsistent, these 3 words will get you back on track. They create much-needed discipline in an industry that’s often ‘hit and miss’, and they also show staff and public that your business is professional and reliable. Calendar + Reminders = Consistency. And consistency is what makes the difference between smart ideas, and the implementation of them that creates results. Consistency is what your competitors rarely achieve

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9 Ways Staff Will Take You For Granted – if you let them

March 16, 2021 No Comments

You’re a good manager – fair, not too emotional and you care about the staff. But over time they’ve taken more and more for granted – feeling entitled to extra favours, and assuming you make so much money it doesn’t matter. Why did this happen, and how can you make a change? For most people (like your staff), if you don’t give them rules and reasons why things have to be done a certain way,

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Watch Out for These Problems with ‘Perfect’ Staff

February 15, 2021 No Comments

Do you have a dream employee? They smile a lot, cover extra shifts, keep the bar clean, and know how to fix the fryer and the coffee grinder. They can cheer up cranky guests and sell them all dessert… and they know how the boss likes her coffee. And because everything is going so well, it’s easy to leave them alone while you concentrate on fighting fires. But putting time into managing these people can

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QR Codes for Restaurant

How to Use QR Codes for Restaurant Marketing and Management – dozens of easy examples

February 9, 2021 No Comments

Everyone understands QR codes, now that they’re used for COVID check-ins. Point your smartphone camera at a QR code, and a website or app will pop up. Use QR codes for restaurant marketing, menu sharing, recruitment and daily operations. In fact QR codes have been around for many years, and widely used in Asian countries – now that they’re understood here, you can start to leverage them for all areas of your business. How many

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Reduce Noise in a Restaurant

10 Ways to Reduce Noise in a Restaurant or Cafe – and Bring Customers Back!

January 31, 2021 No Comments

Why don’t people come back, after they enjoyed your food and the service? It could be the noise – too loud to talk with friends and feel relaxed. Here’s a bunch of ideas for noise reduction, if you have to do it after your venue opens. The fact is, most architects and designers give little thought to effective noise reduction, creating hard-surface boxes with all 6 sides reflective so the noise bounces like bullets to

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Recruiting Chefs

How to Have More Success Recruiting Chefs in Rural Areas

December 8, 2020 No Comments

Your country cafe or restaurant offers good conditions, proper pay, decent hours, a friendly boss and a modern kitchen. So why can’t you find good staff? It’s time for a shift in how you promote the opportunities – the talent is out there, so let’s update the recruitment methods. Promote the benefits of your area. Check the local tourist authority and council websites – they know how to talk up the town. Country rents and

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restaurant podcast

I love this business interview with Nick Kokonas of Alinea and Tock

December 7, 2020 No Comments

Make time to listen to one of the best restaurant business podcasts I’ve heard to in a long time: Patrick O’Shaughnessy interviews Nick Kokonas, founder of 3 great Chicago restaurants Alinea, Next, and The Aviary. He’s also co-founder and CEO of Tock, an innovative restaurant booking system. Alinea broke the mould with the way they pre-sold bookings to avoid no-shows and cancellations, and introduced variable pricing (just like planes and hotels). Kokonas then developed the

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