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Is your menu helping or hurting your restaurant?

Oct 29, 2012

Is your restaurant’s menu helping or hurting business? Let’s look at the two viewpoints, as customers and as business owners, to better understand this important restaurant topic.

 

Image credit: Flickr by robertpaulyoung

When there’s too many items on menu

When you sit down at a restaurant, the first thing you’re presented is the menu. First, how does it look? Is it just a flimsy piece of folded paper? Or is it neat, laminated and professional? Does it include any nice photos of the restaurants’ dishes? Secondly, is it easy to browse and is it organized? Any guest will tell you that if they have to flip through a number of pages just to choose what they want, they will become easily frustrated. Also, how is the menu written? Is it descriptive enough?

 

All of these items play a huge role in creating an impression on your guests for good or bad. However, in this post, we’re going to focus on the number of items on your menu.

 

What can go wrong?

Your customers come into your restaurant because they are hungry! A menu that has a large amount of items can become daunting for a guest to read through. When they take long to peruse the menu, that in turn means it will be harder for them to make a decision. All this time spent on the menu means they will have to wait even longer for their food to arrive. And we all know that hunger and waiting can be a recipe for disaster.

 

Further, the more complex the menu, the higher the chances that your restaurant kitchen will not always have the ingredients on hand, or that it a chef is not quite experienced (or used to) cooking that particular dish; this can lead to poor quality or longer-than-normal cooking times.

 

As a restaurant operator, you need to respect the concept of simplicity and efficiency; ask your self if your restaurant kitchen staff and equipment can truly handle a large menu.

 

For information on how to re-engineer your restaurant menu for efficiency, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants at 1-888-861-9212.

 

 

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October 2012 Newsletter

Oct 28, 2012

 

Greetings!

As the date for the November elections circle inexorably closer there seems to be a palpable sense of uncertainty about the future of the business world in general and the foodservice industry in particular. It’s important to remember, however, that this is no reason to stop, “wait and see” which party takes the election-we must keep moving forward.

Your competitors aren’t. In fact, recent data from the NPD Group revealed that 1,000 new independent restaurants opened over the past year (versus nearly 2,000 chain locations), a sure sign of optimism no matter who is going to be the next tenant in the White House.

This month, we have an article on a subject that’s always important: the “mathematical” formulas that make any single restaurant a success or failure. Our new associate J. Clyde Gilfillan of JCG3 Development Inc. takes us through the equations that add up to success.

We’re also taking a look at where the concept of sustainability is netting out, at a time when local sourcing and environmental responsibility have already become givens for many operators, with the move toward transparency, animal welfare and more.

And for a food trend piece, check out the carnivorous pleasures of salumi and charcuterie-these delicious cured-meat products are showing up on more and more menus all over the country.

To your success,

Dean and Danny

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Fast Food and Fast Casual: The Lines They Are a-Blurrin’

by Joan Lang

Recent efforts by Sbarro management to revitalize the aging mall-based concept into the country’s “pre-eminent” Italian fast-casual brand raises an interesting question: What exactly differentiates traditional QSRs from their newer—and more newsworthy—fast-casual competition? And how can fast-casuals continue to stay ahead when so many fast food brands are upgrading? After all, you can offer more variety and customization, which is one of the hallmarks of the fast casual niche, by simply offering more sauces and condiments.

In many ways the line between fast food and fast casual is a dotted one, but the positioning has been integral to the enviable success of concepts ranging from the well-established Chipotle and Panera Bread to the legions of nascent “better burger” chains like 25 Burgers and Shake Shack .

Both QSRs and fast-casual concepts offer speedy self-service and lower-end prices, but the prototypical fast casual concept features some if not all of the following upgrades to the experience:

  • Better food quality, including more variety, ethic flavors and authenticity
  • Menu prices and average checks that are 10-20% higher than those of QSRs
  • More customized options, such as build-your-own burgers
  • Fresh and/or made-to order menu items
  • Display cooking or food prep
  • Healthier menu alternatives, including vegetarian and gluten-free
  • Emphasis on dine-in and take-out, rather than drive-thru
  • Upgraded, less “plastic” décor (i.e., freestanding chairs) and building facilities
  • A commitment to sustainability, through such efforts as green design, local or “ethical” sourcing, and/or corporate social responsibility programs
  • High-tech amenities such as free wi-fi and online ordering
  • Beer and wine service where applicable
  • Customer appeal beyond the “heavy user” core of young adult males

It’s a field that’s about to get very crowded. This is the niche where every player seems to want a presence, especially since the Great Recession, when even affluent customers began spending more money  at self-service venues. Not surprisingly QSRs have been upgrading  like crazy lately in order to get into it. Even “cheap treats” like donuts  are getting an upgrade.

  • Wendy’s is headed more upscale, with a more contemporary new logo and an attractive “urban” prototype , as well as new menu items like the Bacon Portabella Melt.
  • Taco Bell’s growing “Cantina Bell” menu notably takes the chain in the direction of Chipotle, with Lorena Garcia designed burritos and bowls.
  • Subway is testing a larger and more laidback Subway Café concept, which features not only an upgraded environment but also smoothies, cappuccino and a falafel sandwich.
  • Starbucks is working on a Starbucks Evenings concept that includes small plates and wine and beer—the better for becoming a more sophisticated late-night desitination.
  • Quiznos is replacing its recession-era $4 “Torpedoes” with a line of $8 prime rib sandwiches (prime rib and hollandaise steak sauce, for instance) and all-natural chicken sandwiches.

Last but not least, it’s working, as the perception of QSR quality by casual-dining regulars improves.

 

For information on how to upgrade your QSR concept, or protect your fast casual from encroaching competition, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.


Live Fire Lights up Menus

Food prepared over an open fire never really went away, of course—it’s the original form of cooking, after all—but surging demand for all things rustic and authentic has inspired a revival in “live fire” menu concepts.

 

As a cooking method, fire has a lot going for it. There’s flavor, first and foremost, which can be manipulated not only with traditional methods such as marinades for meat and fresh herbs for vegetables, but also through the use of different fuels, such as applewood, mesquite and even vine cuttings. There are also the different effects produced by direct heat and indirect heat or smoking.

 

And then there’s the marketing value of an open fire. A restaurant that cooks with one smells heavenly—sometimes even from the street—but the backstory is fantastic, too. The sight of chefs taming the flames holds an atavistic appeal that’s hard to beat for drama.

 

A mini-boom of live fire restaurants in the late 1990s, led by such trendsetting restaurants as Fore Street in Portland, Maine, and Beacon in New York City (both of which are still going strong) first introduced food lovers to wood-fired grills and rotisseries.

 

In the intervening years, interest has intensified in such authentic cooking methods as pit-smoked regional barbecue and brick-oven pizza and breads. Now it seems like every chef wants some live fire of his or her own to cook with, including a wood fueled stone oven and an open wood grill.

• At Barrio 47, a Mediterranean restaurant in New York City, the batterie includes a custom-made wood-fired brick oven that produces flatbreads, steaks and slowly roasted meats like short ribs. Now chef Franco Barrio has inaugurated a Tuesday night Farm to Fire dinner series that draws attention to both the restaurant’s sourcing philosophies and its cooking style. The series will run the gamut from veal chop to oxtail cazuela, and finish with suckling pig

• Lakeside, David Walzog’s new seafood restaurant at the Wynn Las Vegas, features an entire menu section devoted to wood-oven roasted lobster and shellfish, along with mesquite smoked prime rib and premium steaks.

• At Embers Fire & Smoke, a new restaurant that just opened in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst the menu is arranged not by appetizers, entrees and dessert but rather by “fire” and “smoke.” For example, the fire section includes a brined, spice-rubbed chicken roasted on the wood fire, served with mashed potatoes and a Parmigiano-Reggiano broth with white wine, garlic, and shallots. Smoked items include traditional beef brisket and ribs, as well as trout and a stuffed entrée potato, roasted then smoked and served with brisket, pulled pork, cheddar, onion strings, and barbecue sauce.

• In Washington, DC, “Top Chef” Mike Isabella has opened Graffiato, where the wood oven turns out not only a variety of creative pizzas but also proteins ranging from seared scallops and charred octopus to crispy lamb and pork ribs

• Even in regulation-conscious Southern California, there’s wood oven smoke rising: Florent Marneau uses his wood-fired oven at Marche Moderne in Costa Mesa to turn out the likes of tarte flambée (a thin-crusted Alsatian tart topped with ham, caramelized onion, crème fraîche and Gruyere); roasted marrow served with toast, sauce Bordelaise, truffle butter and grilled asparagus; calamari with caper emulsion, lemon, parsley and garlic croutons; and roasted sea bass with tarragon-clam sauce, chanterelle mushrooms and crushed fingerling potatoes.

For more information on food trends and cooking techniques to liven up your menu, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.



Uncommon Cures for the Slow Night

Most restaurants have a slow period, depending upon their location. Perhaps it’s a daypart or day of the week, like Saturday lunch or Tuesday night. Perhaps it’s during a season when the usual customers are doing something else, like paying their taxes or headed south for the winter. Or perhaps it’s due to an external event beyond their control, like playoff games or construction on the street outside.

Fortunately, there are ways to cope that go beyond the inevitable—and possibly brand-damaging—strategy of couponing. In fact, the best business builders provide a bonus, such as bringing in a new type of clientele or allowing the kitchen to test new menu items. For example:

1. Although most of its lunch menu is streamlined for the business crowd, Big Jones, which specializes in “heirloom Southern cuisine” in Chicago, courts a more leisurely lunch crowd with its new “Boarding House Lunch ca 1933.” Served family-style for all party members, the $16-per-person feast includes biscuits and cornbread, and fried chicken with sides. Dessert is extra, but includes such choices as buttermilk pie and Warm Coriander Oat Cake.

2. Dear Mom restaurant in San Francisco puts a spin on the more typical Industry Night promotion by featuring a “bartender’s brunch” (also open to other late risers) that lasts until 5 p.m. The menu features handover-curing foods like a Fog Cutter egg sandwich and roasted Brussels with lardo, fried egg, and lemon-horseradish crème fraîche—often prepared by guest chefs so the Dear Mom crew can sleep in, too.

3. In Los Angeles, AOC’s “Flights & Bites on Monday Nights” comprises a well-publicized schedule of a particular type of wine (i.e., Portuguese Dry Wines or Nebbiolo), priced at $12 and paired with $10 small plates of complementary cuisine.

4. Restaurants in Denver do an annual Ballpark Plates food festival in August, where $25-$30 tickets allow the buyer to sample from 21 different menus in the Ballpark Neighborhood.

5. Concord Cheese Shop in Concord, MA, has a Friday Night Dinner Club promo which comprises a three-course takeout meal designed to promote romance and relaxation for customers at the end of a hectic week. The selection includes a seasonal appetizer, main course and dessert, plus a complementary bottle of wine, for $75 for two.

6. Among the many nightly Happy Hour promos (a “Case of the Mondays” $5 cocktails, “Champagne Tuesdays”) designed to build early evening business at Lemaire in Richmond, Va., is the Friday night “His and Her Night,” featuring $5 Cosmos and Manhattans for the end of the work week.

7. Yusho, a yakitori restaurant in Chicago (yakitori is a concept where the bill can add up quickly), has recently begun serving Dinner on Sunday night, with a simple menu of five new noodle dishes, plus soft-serve and a housemade soda or draft cocktail for the new customer-inducing price of $20.

8. The newly renovated Five Crowns restaurant features an elaborate $100 per person specially created, multi-course Friday Night Chef’s Supper series which also allows new chef Greg Harrison to test new menu items.

9. To fill more of its 400 seats during late-night hours, Red Door in Chicago implemented a new 10 p.m.-2 a.m. tamale menu, priced at $3 per tamale, with such fillings as bulgogi pork and kimchi, corned beef and cabbage, buffalo chicken, and duck a l’orange—most of which is extra production from the regular dinner menu.

10. The 7-8 p.m. weekend prime time window can be the bane of a restaurant’s existence; Manhattan’s Le Cirque is one of several restaurants using airline-type “load factor” variable pricing to encourage customers to dine at less busy times. Meals are discounted or subsidized by reservation time or night through Gilt City coupons and other tools, and the restaurant fills more tables.

11. Sel de la Terre, a French restaurant in Boston, has instituted a Late Night Seoul Kitchen noodle bar menu that offers lower prices and more casual dining, with Korean fried chicken, steamed buns and noodle soups, all appealing to younger diners, industry types, and other late-nighters.

12. Wednesday night is Date Night at Tao in Brunswick, ME, with a choice of four different prix fixe menu options, priced $40 for 2 to $60 for 2, for a series of 6-8 courses. Most of these are items off the regular menu, which simplifies matters for the kitchen but still offers customers an interesting meal at a good price.


Tip of the Month

For more information on fast food versus fast casual, check out the article “Fast Food vs. Fast Casual: What Consumers are Seeking”  from a recent American Express Market Briefing.

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How to make the best falafel

Oct 28, 2012

“My mom makes the best [insert name of dish here]!”

“My restaurant makes the best version of [insert name of dish here]!”

 

Okay, okay– we know there’s no denying your mother’s or head chef’s skills are best in the kitchen (and to be frank, we’d probably be scared to argue with you). But it is true that beloved dishes are highly argued over regarding how they should be made to achieve that perfect taste. From the ingredients, to the preparation and cooking technique, nothing rings truer and closer to this argument than that of the falafel!

 

Those delectable hot crispy and crunchy fried balls of goodness are a traditional Middle Easter food but also highly popular in Jewish cuisine as well. Traditionally made of a mixture of fava beans or chickpeas, herbs and spices, shaped into a ball or round shape and deep fried to perfection. Due to the huge popularity of this dish and the large number of countries (Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Israel, for example), each area has its own special way of creating this dish. Heck, even McDonald’s has its own version of falafel and yes–you guessed it–they call it the McFalafel.

 

Some people prefer to use lots of corriander, some shape them into flatter patties, some into round balls. Some will insist on only using fava beans. We say, let the debate continue!

 

Image Credit: Flickr by Mr. T in DC

 

But in the meantime, check out this great recipe for falafel over at NPR’s blog, The Salt. And don’t forget, there’s no wrong way to eat a falafel; just make sure all those delicious contents go into the mouth!

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Restaurant consultants watch their weight, too!

Oct 27, 2012

You may have noticed from our blog and social media posts that as international restaurant consultants, we travel a ton and eat a ton! Some might find our jobs plenty desirable as we eat our way through every restaurant we can during our discovery, but even then, it’s still work to us and we constantly need to watch our weight. Just as chefs battle to not overeat, we do too!

 

This article notes that even renowned celebrity chef (and chef of our own client, LYFE Kitchen) has taken it upon himself to live and eat healthier; he has managed to lose over 120 lbs through smart eating and exercise.

 

And though we find ourselves extremely fortunate to work in such a delicious field, we recognize that it is even more important to maintain a healthy lifestyle in the midst of it all. So while we can only limit our portions of what we eat during work, we all do focus on exercise and eating healthy and wholesome meals! Luckily, like our involvement with LYFE Kitchen, we sometimes get to work with amazing healthy restaurants!

 

You know that  famous quote, “Never trust a skinny chef” (or in our case, “Never trust a skinny restaurant consultant)? Yeah, you may want to rethink that now!

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The rising cost of pork and other livestock

Oct 18, 2012

The sizzling sounds of bacon and that smoky flavor wafting through the air is enough to make anyone perk up from a deep slumber. Maybe that’s why Americans regard bacon as such a huge staple in their breakfasts. And creative chefs and home cooks alike have incorporated the beloved pork belly into many other various non-breakfast dishes, further spreading the bacon love. But the price of bacon, or rather pork belly, has been on the rise primarily due to one of the worst droughts our nation has seen since 1956. The drought has even produced a pumpkin shortage in some areas, just in time for the fall season.

 

Image Credit: Flickr By www.thegoodlifefrance.com

Since the drought,  there has been less corn per acre produced translating to higher corn prices. How does this relate to pigs? Livestock such as cows and pigs are typically fed a diet of corn; this results in a more costly animal to raise. Read more on how this so-called, “bacon shortage” affects prices for the short, medium and long term.

 

How does a restaurant cope in the face of rising meat prices? It’s important to develop a well balanced menu which doesn’t heavily focus on too much animal protein and price items accordingly. Some recent interesting articles even showcase how chefs are embracing seafood charcuterie in their restaurants.

 

If you need assistance with the development and management of your menu, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants for your complimentary consultation.

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Mission Impossible, Made Possible!

Oct 17, 2012

We are so very proud to have been chosen to work with D’Cost Seafood, a highly popular and beloved restaurant located in Indonesia, on the development and design of their new location and new concept, D’Stupid Baker. Why do we say we made mission impossible, possible? We built and opened D’Cost Quick in 10 days it would’ve taken 4 months in the USA. Stupid Baker will open on 11/11 and it will be built and opened in 30 days.

 

D’Cost is a truly special brand with a wonderful heart; they’ve delivered thousands of boxes of food to the homeless in the community and run unique promotions like their “Up to Your Price” where guests simply pay whatever they want for their meal.

Synergy Consultants: Making the Impossible Possible

1. Manufacturer quoted 6 weeks to make the grill – we had it made in one week

2. Shipper quoted 3-4 weeks to get it to Jakarta and clear customs – we had it shipped and installed in 10 Days

Please check out the photos of the building process below!

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Catering to the Flexitarian: get inspired!

Oct 15, 2012

We have previously written about the relatively newer idea of being “flexitarian,” or one who is not 100% vegetarian but looks for meatless options wherever they can. In that article, we noted how veggie burgers were a great menu option for flexitarians and that huge restaurant names like Johnny Rockets and Red Robin were already offering them. A recent Orlando Biz Journals article notes that even Epcot is getting in on the movement by partnering with Gardein to provide meatless protein to the Food & Wine Fest. But there is a world more you can offer on your restaurant menu beyond veggie burgers, to cater toward the flexitarian crowd.

 

This Nation’s Restaurant News article describes how Chefs, consumers embrace seafood charcuterie using culinary practices such as smoking and curing; a great way to add a flavorful and unique dimension to vegetarian food as well as extending the life of the food. We wanted to bring some seafood and vegetarian inspiration to your menu; check out the list of dishes we found below from great restaurants that may get you experimenting in the kitchen and helping expand those menu choices for flexitarians, vegetarians or pescatarians (who choose to consume fish or seafood).

 

 

Share with us! What’s your best seafood or vegetarian item on your restaurant menu? Fire away in the comments below.

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5 Fall Drink Ideas to Warm up the Season

Oct 03, 2012

We recently posted an article about getting ready for Fall flavors using in-season produce. Today, we want to explore delicious Fall drinks that will will spice up any dish or just great on their very own. Try the following recipes or let them inspire you to create your own unique Autumn drink.

 

  • Pumpkin Divine: this alcoholic drink features vodka, pumpkin butter, cinnamon and other warm spices.
  • Candy Corn Cocktail: bring out the kid in you with this adult beverage that uses real candy corn. Okay, okay, we know “candy corn” is specifically a seasonal fruit or vegetable but it’s perfect for Halloween time!
  • Hot Cranberry Cider: if you’re a bit tired of drinking apple cider, here’s a recipe for an equally delicious and unique cranberry cider. Feel free to leave out the alcohol as you wish!
  • The Kale Mary: a fun name for a very healthy and delicious drink inspired by–you guessed it–The Bloody Mary sans alcohol! The Kale Mary features kale, tomatoes, celery juice, lemon juice, horseradish and soy sauce.
  • Fresh Fig and Rose Smoothie: a very interesting drink as it combines figs, orange juice and rose water.

 

Do you have any fall drinks that you love to prepare during the season? Share your recipes in the comments below!