How much more juice does the burger craze have left? Lots, but nothing lasts forever.  My crystal ball says watch out for pizza!  Based on numerous eating missions, Synergy Consultants has sighted a strong emergence of restaurants serving “old world” pizzas that are wood and coal fired.  The cooking style is very similar to what I experienced when I was in Naples, Sardinia and the amazing island of Panaria.

So what does that look like?  Well, after eating at Mozza in LA I am betting that the pizza niche is ready to make a move.  What do you think?

Please check out this article for more information:

Burger boom is a ‘bubble,’ expert says

Rosemont, Ill.— The recent upswing in hamburgers is a bubble, foodservice analyst Nancy Kruse said here Wednesday in a presentation covering chain-restaurant menu trends during the Technomic Restaurant Trends & Directions conference.

Kruse told Meatingplace that the “extraordinary uptick in the number of new burger-oriented chains or chain wannabes” is unsustainable, especially considering the QSR burger segment. “I’m surprised that it has continued on as robustly as it has for such a long time,” she said. “I am confident that we’re going to get to a point where we’re going to be at an oversaturation of burger newcomers clashing with an already established competitive set.”

“When [the burger bubble] is going to burst?

Sign up at meatingplace.com to read the rest of the article..

Yes, it is after the fact, but it can provide a wake up call. Do you know what you just ordered in terms of nutritional value…or lack thereof? Now you can see the nutritional value of the meal you just ordered at all 39 Burgerville restaurants in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Burgerville is the first burger restaurant chain to introduce the Nutricate program, a nutritional education and enhanced marketing solution from SmartReceipt, Inc.

Nutritional information, including calorie, fiber, fat and carbohydrate counts, is prominently featured on the front of all restaurant receipts.

Read the full press release here.

During my recent trip to Chicago, while I was checking out new burger concepts, I was also investigating wings.  I had heard that Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap had the best and hottest wings anywhere in the country. Of course, this was something I needed to confirm!

Having lived in Missouri for three years (the show me state) I had to experience this for myself.  Being an adventurous diner with a appetite for hot food I courageously ordered the hot wings.  At first glance they looked great and they were the jumbo type and crisp, just the way I like them.  After my second bite my mouth was ablaze – Dammmmn they were HOT!  After about 20 minutes of sucking on ice cubes and drinking multiple glasses of ice cold water I was finally able to speak.  I asked the chef what on earth did use to make the wings so damm hot.  He informed me that it was a pepper called  the ghost chili and that they needed a special permit by the US government to import them.  I have eaten a lot of very hot food from all over the world and if you could measure heat intensity in scoville (see below) this pepper would be off the grid.  I dare anyone to eat a dozen wings and try to have a conversation without using profanity to describe the heat intensity.  If you can, please send me an email with your comments of the experience.

More on the “Ghost Chili”

The bhut jolokia—also known variously by other names in its native region, most commonly naga jolokia — is a chili pepper generally recognized as the hottest in the world. The pepper is often called the ghost chili by Western media,^[1][2][3] possibly erroneously.^[4]

ChicagoEatsTV.com: The Hottest Buffalo Wings Around from ChicagoEatsTV on Vimeo.

Jake Melnick’s Corner on Tap

http://www.jakemelnicks.com

41 E Superior St
(between Rush St & Wabash Ave)
Chicago, IL 60611
Neighborhood: Near North Side

Wet Floors in Restaurants:  How Wet is Too Wet?

According to a major insurance carrier 65% of all lost employee work days are due to slip-and-fall injuries.  Of injuries our guests sustain, those who fall, sometimes on a liquid spill no larger than the size of a coin, account for 57% of liability claims.

1. Insist on every employee, including managers, wearing approved safety shoes such as “Shoes for Crews”
2. Train employees to clean up all spills immediately.
3. Pay attention to areas around entry/exit doors, bus stations, salad bars, self-service beverage towers and refuse containers.
4. If someone falls, make an immediate record of all details to provide to your insurance carrier.
5. When building or remodeling, consider slip-resistant surfaces.
6. See your trouble spots by mapping date, time and location of every slip-and-fall.
7. Use slip-and-fall prevention, and other safety topics, as part of your shift “cast calls.”
8. Inspect what you expect.

What’s more pleasing than a mouthwatering burger with all the fixings? When you think about it, hamburgers are truly timeless and have become an American culinary icon for decades. Burgers are so popular that most Americans need only drive 5 minutes to the nearest burger joint drive-thru window to satisfy their meaty craving. But these days, consumers have more choices than just a Big Mac from McDonald’s or a Whopper from Burger King, which for a while had become a somewhat “boring” standard.

In today’s restaurant landscape, it is apparent that there’s a resurgence in the interest of the burger. Innovative restaurants such as “The Counter” feature a “Build your Own Burger” menu made from 100% natural angus beef, and “M Burger” goes back to basics focusing on no-frills and big taste with a simple menu similar to In-n-Out’s.

On my latest eating mission, I headed out to the Chicago to take a tour of M Burger. This is a popular new concept by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (with about 70 restaurants under their umbrella) has a small footprint but huge traffic.  This progressive restaurant group is known for creating restaurants with theatrical flair and good value and M Buger is surely no exception.

It’s clear that the love for the burger will continually fuel great new concepts such as M Burger for years to come.

Burger bonus!

For all you burger lovers who’d like to stay in for dinner but would still like a fancy burger, check out the following recipes from PlateOnline.com

Burger Breakthrough

Who can resist the smell of burgers on the grill? Even if you’re not running a beer-and-burger joint, you can still flip a few patties with upscale options like lobster, lamb and truffles. Get your buns to work on these and other great burger recipes.

Mini cheese burgers with truffle oil

Chef Kerry Sear, Cascadia Restaurant, Seattle

Chicken burger with sage and roasted red pepper mayonnaise

Chef John Lupi, Appalachia Restaurant, Marble Hill Ga.

Lola’s lamb burger

Chef-Owner Tom Douglas, Lola, Seattle

Lobster burger

Chef John Kekalos, The Falls, New York

Char-grilled pulled pork hamburger

Chef-Partner Dean Small, Synergy Consulting, Laguna Beach Calif.

Search for these and more than 2,000 other professional chef recipes at www.PlateOnline.com!

When it comes to nutritious eating, going raw is certainly the healthiest route. If you believe that a salad is the only option, think again! When you’re in a pinch and craving an un-boring, delicious, healthy meal, check out your local raw food bar.

What exactly is raw food dining? As the name implies, this type of cuisine is uncooked, unprocessed, prepared primiarly with vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains. Raw food cuisine is ideal for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone seeking a healthful meal.

118 Degrees in Costa Mesa, California, is the quintessential raw food eatery. What’s with the name? 118 degrees is the temperature which maximizes the nutritional value of the food eaten — now that’s a clever name! Their mission statement, “ to empower the community of Orange County with fresh, organic living cuisine, presented in an artful context, to be enjoyed with family and friends. “  Creative dishes such as the “Living Lasagna : Layers of Marinated Italian Vegetables, Creamy Ricotta and Sweet Basil Marinara. Topped with Crispy Tomato,”  and  “Dos Tacos Plate: Portobello Mushroom Soft Taco in Chili-Flax Wrap, Verde Crispy Taco served on Nappa Cabbage Leaf, Rojo Salsa, Guacomole and Nopales Corn Salad,” leave patrons coming back for more.

Raw food bars are becoming increasingly popular as more people seek healthier lifestyles. You’ll be amazed at how delicious raw can really be!

Synergy Restaurant Consultants, the leading authority in foodservice innovation and efficiencies, further expanded the scope of its services to the industry today, announcing the appointment of human resources and risk management expert Chuck Conine as the newest member of Synergy’s talent team.

Conine, a graduate of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and foodservice industry executive with over 35 years of experience designing and developing money-saving HR programs in recruitment, compensation/benefits, employee and labor relations, insurance and risk management. Conine’s background includes positions as the senior HR and risk management officer for both public and privately held restaurant and foodservice chains. He has also served as project manager to identify and realize HR, insurance and administrative savings during the merger of two iconic restaurant brands.

Synergy managing partner Dean Small commented: “We see Chuck as a valuable asset to our team who will support our ongoing efforts to be on the forefront of providing our clients with efficiency strategies. Chuck will bring decades of HR experience to our projects, helping our foodservice clients reduce their G&A, benefits and insurance expenses while enhancing their recruitment, retention and reward programs.”

A nationally recognized foodservice consulting firm, Synergy Restaurant Consultants was founded in 1988 and has partnered with over 200 restaurant chains and independent operators to provide winning strategies in restaurant operations and management, design, menu development, training, supply chain, restaurant startups, turnarounds and new concept development.

For more information on Synergy Restaurant Consultants visit our web site at https://www.synergyconsultants.com

Nearly a third of all Americans believe they have a food allergy, making eating out at restaurants difficult.

Up to 90 percent of all food related allergic reactions are traced to just 8 items: milk, eggs, peanuts, soy, wheat, tree nuts (such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.,) fish and shellfish.

New regulations in Massachusetts, which will tentatively go into effect in July, require restaurants to display what kind of allergens they have in their food and train food service workers about food allergens, the symptoms they cause and what to do when a guest has a reaction. Restaurants also have to put a notice on their menus asking customers to inform their server if they have a food allergy.

One-third of survey respondents said they had had a reaction to food served in or provided by a restaurant, according to a 2005 Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network study. Of those, almost two-thirds (63 percent) had suffered an allergic reaction to restaurant food on more than one occasion.

In 2006, federal regulations under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act required consumers to put the eight most common allergens on food labels, but the regulations do not include labels at restaurants.

Certainly other states will follow. However, your restaurant could lead the way by introducing the practice and using the publicity generated to promote your facility. For assistance with food labeling, please contact Synergy Consultants.

A tiny restaurant “design” change that will make all the difference!

I hate wobbly tables at restaurants and so do guests.  What you find is managers placing match books and wads of napkins under the tables to stop the tables from wobbling.

When I was at the restaurant show I discovered this product called Table Shox which is a hydraulic  self adjusting table glides.  Every restaurant manager needs to have a few boxes of these in their tool kit.  If you can screw in a light bulb you can install this product.  Why have annoyed guests when the problem can be easily remedied?

A  Combo That Can Hurt Your Bottom Line

An increasing problem: restaurants that are so loud that meals become secondary to the decibel level. It breaks down to two factors: acoustics and music.

The interiors of some restaurants contain so many hard surfaces – brick walls, tin ceilings, concrete floors – that the flow of conversation is magnified into intolerable din, especially on busy nights. It’s clear that your restaurant design affect the sound level.

In other places, music is pumped in at such a decibel level that patrons feel more like they’re in a dance club.

In either case, partaking of a meal in a relaxed atmosphere becomes impossible. And some restaurants have sound “hot spots.” If you’re sitting at a table under a domed sky-light, you may have fallen into a black hole of white noise.

Patrons and business people alike will leave a restaurant if it is too noisy since conversation is part of the reason for going to a restaurant.

When there are “intimate” surroundings, the problem gets worse. In some places I have experiences, even a crowd of 10 people creates an echo and din that becomes ridiculously loud. It’s like you’re at a concert. In other places, between the cackles at the bar and the blaringly loud music, no one can have a conversation.

Granted, some restaurants that allow high levels are trying to set a mood and establish a niche, but that niche is the younger consumer; a sense of energy to attract the 18 to 30 year olds.

Restaurant owners: For people with discretionary income the food, service, price, menu, can be perfect. However if the ambiance is not perfect, if the restaurant is too loud, it repels the repeat customer. There’s an index of complete satisfaction that people look for, and if it’s not fulfilled, they won’t go back.

Consider your bottom line need, the type of clientele you wish to attract and keep and how your restaurant design will best accommodate both. Then make that decision.