Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Learn How to Make Your Restaurant Get more Customers.

Anyone that has a restaurant wants more business and they want it at slow times.  So how do you do this?  The answer is not always easy.  The basic way is by marketing and putting ads in newspapers, yellow pages, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, flyers, postcards, Search Engine Optimization for traffic to your site and even Google Ad Sense.  A lot of these marketing channels are expensive and you really need to try them all to see which ones work best for your business and your client base.

Has anyone tried Mobile Web Site Coupons?  Picture this and then I will show you how it will look like.  A mobile site that loads up on a smartphone fast.  It has a home page with a picture of the most popular dish on the menu.  The name of the restaurant and a tap to call number!  Yes, tap the number bar and your phone goes to the dialer.  You just hit the dialer key to engage the call.  Then below the number, there are three tabs.  The first tab is the coupon link with social media, the second tab is the menu and the third tab is the location finder for the restaurant.  How about that?

The redemption rate for mobile coupons is 10 times higher than papered coupons.  Just look at what Google says about mobile and that local businesses need to get on board with their mobile experienced customers.  This is the trick with a mobile coupon web site... offer it to your regular customers via ads in your area by postcards and flyers with QR codes for them to scan and web addresses to take down to search.  Get them to go to the mobile coupon site for a deal, a discount or a 2 for 1 at the time you want your business to grow, your slow times.  Then change the coupon every week so to get your client base to go back to your coupon web site to see what you have new to offer.  This will work.

You are getting more customers when you need them, at your slow time.  The cost of such a mobile coupon web site is affordable.  If you want to know more about this type of marketing here are some of the links for mobile coupon sites and mobile business applications.


Web Site:  http://mobileappideasforbusiness.blogspot.ca
Web Site:  http://websitestoronto.blogspot.ca

This is what a mobile coupon web site looks like on a smartphone.




This is what a mobile coupon web site looks like on a smartphone at a 10% referral commission with a sale or a 10% discount to the business owner.  This is a limited time offer and will be good for 30 days from the date of this post.

Contact me for your referral information and your PayPal account for the payment.  PayPal takes a fee from the transaction, but you get paid instantly.

Web Site:  http://tinyurl.com/mobi-web-3-0

Contact information is on all these web sites above.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Physical Akes and Pains of Serving Food and Beverage


It stands to reason that every job has is limits. Time is the tester. Working a physically repetitive job will in time cause a repetitive injury. It is common in all industries from office work to the automotive assembly line. After the industrial revolution, working jobs were more specific and more repetitive. Skills were downgraded so as to train employees to work and manage simple repetitive work. The production line would be composed of many labours each with a specific task of labour on the product being manufactured. These employee injuries from these simple common tasks are called Musculoskeletal Disorders or MSD.

This kind of injury can happen in the Food and Beverage Industry. Many servers who have put in the time and worked for many years have developed these repetitive injuries. The most common is the wrist with carpal tunnel syndrome. The next would be rotator cuff injuries from heavy plates. Standing up and walking over different surfaces can also cause varicose veins in the legs. Repetitive pushing of a swing door with your leg while caring plates can cause a hernia. Knee pain from rapid starts and stops stresses the joints. Tendinitis can occur from heavy plates stressing the elbow. There can be back pain from adjusting your center of gravity and reaching far into the table to serve. This is a long list of potential physical injuries. If you have any of them, you need help and maybe even physical therapy to get your health back.

In Ontario the WSIB Ontario, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board will pay for your therapy if you were injured in the workplace. You need to see a doctor and mention that the injury occurred from repetitive work at your job. The doctor will issue a Form 8 and send it to WSIB. WSIB will assess the injuries. If there is merit to your case then WSIB will send you confirmation of acceptable injury and allow direct payments to the physiotherapy treatment center. Not all injuries will be accepted. Varicose veins are the hardest to prove and it can be considered cosmetic surgery. The ultimate knowledge about workplace injuries is to know how injuries can happen and how to prevent them. Learning about potential risks and then organizing systems for prevention is the goal of work safety.

Serving has its ups and downs. All servers start out young and after at least 10 years the body shows the wear and tear of the job. This is why it is important to know about the prevention of these injuries.

The Occupational Health and Safety Council of Ontario have issued guidelines for the Prevention of MSD. This will open your eyes to these work-related injuries. This is a 36 page PDF document. You can learn from it to implement Health and Safety in your workplace. Here there is A Guide to the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Every worker has the right to a safe work environment. Serving food and beverage is a physical job and has much demand on the body. Know the potential injury risk of your job and your chances of getting injured will below.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

How to tell if a steak is cooked right to order

There is nothing hard about cooking steaks.  You just need to know your grill.  The heat of the grill is different as you go up it is usually hotter as heat rises.  Steaks should never be played with, there should be nice grill marks on both sides.  The steak should be flipped or moved no more than 4 times, with each time giving a set of grill marks.  Never cut a hot steak to see how it is done.  This is a big mistake because the blood and cooked juices will escape and the steak will be dry and tough.  Cooked steaks should have 2-3 minutes of rest time before being plated to allow the internal juices to cool down.

To tell if a steak is cooked right you touch it to feel the meat.  A rare steak will feel soft and springy.  Medium rare will have less softness.  Well done will be fairly firm.  Here is the trick using your hand to see how a steak is cooked.  You move your pinkie finger to touch the thumb muscle.  What does it feel like?  Kind of firm, right... this is well done.  Now try your index finger.  How soft is that?  Rare maybe.

Thick steaks are usually marked on both sides and finished in a convection oven.  I have seen cooks use timers, but the true test is still the touch.  It will work all the time.

When you are serving steak and you think it is overcooked take it back to the kitchen (never check steaks in front of the cooks or the chef you will never hear the end of it) and have the chef assess the steak.  If you are checking steaks use a spoon (servers should never touch the food),  press it and feel the softness or firmness of the meat.  Training makes perfect.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Need to Know More About Table Side, Gueridon ?

I see some traffic to my site.  Tell me what you want to know about the gueridon service. What do you want to make tableside?  How can you learn and how can I teach?

Monday, June 6, 2011

Learn How to Become a Server: Champagne Service

Learn How to Become a Server: Champagne Service: "Champagne Service The art of pouring a glass of Champagne is truly a sight be behold. It looks as elegant as a romantic moment in life and..."

Champagne Service


Champagne Service


The art of pouring a glass of Champagne is truly a sight be behold. It looks as elegant as a romantic moment in life and certainly could be part of that memory. You can tell that I am passionate about Champagne as one should be. Champagne is a passion as it brings out our inhibited emotions. If you want to loosen someone’s feeling fast then it is Champagne which will do it.

The reason Champagne gets you feeling so good so fast is that it is the fastest way to deliver alcohol to the bloodstream from a beverage trough the mouth. The natural carbonation (carbon dioxide, CO2) occurring in the Method Champagnoise process (a double fermentation) of producing Champagne increases the rate of absorption of alcohol.


This is the reason Champagne is used at receptions, for pre-dinner drinks and especially on first dates. You will start to open up and talk to guests and dates very easily.

Opening the bottle of Champagne is easy if you know how and poring is just as easy with the proper training. The whole idea is to serve Champagne with style. The first measure to be taken is the chilling of the bottle. Champagne needs to be chilled to about 6 to 8 degrees C if it is a younger Champagne and a vintage Champagne is perfect at 9 to 10 degrees C. Over chilling could freeze the wine and destroy it. Having the wine too cool will also not allow the release of its aromas and flavours.

The best way to chill a bottle of Champagne is in an ice bucket, in a mixture of water and ice for 20 to 25 minutes. This will bring the Champagne to the right temperature.

There is a very good reason for chilling the wine other than it is white wine and should be chilled. The expansion of the CO2 in the bottle is pushing on the bottle much more at room temperature than when it is chilled. In fact, the Champagne bottle is designed to withstand 17.7 atmospheric pressures (1.8 MPA, megapascals) due to the explosiveness of the CO2. At 20 C the pressure in the bottle of Champagne is 5.5 atmospheric pressures and chilled it is closer to 5 atmospheric pressures. Chilling the Champagne compresses the CO2 and the liquid. This is the difference that causes the Champagne to rush out of the bottle if not chilled properly. So make sure the bottle is chilled.

Because of the pressure in the bottle, the cork is wired down to the lip of the Champagne bottle by a cage to prevent the accidental popping of the cork. It is important to loosen the bindings after taking off the metal foil covering the cork. Make sure to hold the cork with your thumb while using your other hand to loosen the cage. To allow for a rush of CO2 you should tilt the bottle on a 45-degree angle. Using a napkin to hold the cork firmly with one hand and the middle of the bottle with the other hand. The next step is to twist the bottle while wiggling the cork. Make sure to aim the cork away from anyone in the area. Finally, you will hear a “fizz” or slight “puff” of CO2 being realized from the bottle and the cork is off. It is not good to have a loud pop as Champagne could escape with the CO2 and you lose some Champagne. Not good for the person who is paying for it.

Now to pour the Champagne. Most Champagnes have a punt at the bottom of the bottle. The punt is the depression under the bottle. You use the punt to hold the bottle by sticking your thumb in the punt and your four fingers on the outer bottle and doing this with the label showing upwards towards the host and guests. With Champagne, there is no tasting only approving of the bottle ordered at first. If there are bubbles then the wine is good to serve. Guests are served first and the serving etiquette is used. Pouring Champagne takes a steady hand and some strength as the bottle is made of thick glass and full with Champagne which can be a little tricky. The best thing to do in order to have better control is to pick the glass off the table and pour the Champagne into a tipped glass angled at 30 degrees and lifting the angle upward as the glass fills. Adjust your pour rate so as to keep the Champagne from bubbling over the glass. Place the full Champagne glass below the water glass to the right of the guest. Repeat the process until the host is served. Remember one bottle of Champagne will fill 5-ounce glasses to the top.  If one bottle is ordered for 7 people you should pour just over half a glass to make all the 7 glasses. Presenting your skills makes you look professional and professionals get bigger tips! 

Champagne goes with every course of the dinner and is a great recommendation by the server.  The price will also pad the check and increase your potential tip.