marketing

Ignorance is no excuse

By Bill Main on Nov. 08, 2000

Without carefully verifying background information and references, the hiring process can go very wrong. It is important to follow a standard procedure when hiring and to dot every i.

Self-publishing a cookbook

By Patricia Cobe on Apr. 01, 2013

For several years, Hank Holliday, owner of Peninsula Grill in Charleston, South Carolina’s Planter’s Inn, talked about doing a cookbook to showcase the restaurant’s culinary legacy.

Phone contact with restaurant guests

By Bill Main on May 23, 2001

In a perfect world, your hostess would answer the phone and deliver an exquisitely stated description of your restaurant, provide clear and accurate directions, add the guest's name to the preferred seating list, and not hang up without conveying her sincere interest in making their acquaintance later that evening.

Marketing

The Feltenstein Formula for better social media

By Steve Holtz on May 30, 2013

In the mind of marketing consultant Tom Feltenstein, branding is how your brand makes people feel about themselves.

Second-hand learning

By Bill Main on Jan. 02, 2002

There never seems to be enough time in the day. The dynamics of foodservice are accelerating. It's impossible to keep up with all the changes in the competition, training methods, technology, inventory, pricing, and customer needs...

Familiarity breeds loyalty

By Kelly Killian on Oct. 21, 2013

Whoever uttered the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” may have gotten it wrong—at least when it comes to restaurants. A new study suggests that familiarity actually makes customers more loyal.

Comps

By Bill Main on Aug. 22, 2002

One of the most common errors in the financial statements of restaurants is the incorrect recording of food and beverage comps — food or beverage served free of charge, or sold at prices lower than normal retail.

Travelin' brand

By Sam Smith on Feb. 20, 2014

Taking your restaurant’s show on the road through catering is a growing opportunity—as long as you don’t lose your identity along the way.

In the balance

By Restaurant Business Staff on Mar. 05, 2003

Front page news tends to be gloomy, but especially so when the economy is wobbly or our foreign relationships are on the rocks. Instability of any kind creates divisions within communities and countries.

To market, to market

By Kelly Killian on Jun. 17, 2014

Shopping for business ideas in the grocery aisle. If our team spends one more hour at Chicago’s Eataly, we’ll have to start forwarding our mail there.

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