Great post by the “CEO Strategist”, Dr. Rick Johnson. Good straight talk about selling in today’s environment. The Pygmalion Effect

Continue reading...

I recently had the opportunity to tap our service using a Mac laptop and I’m happy to say, it worked very well. The application necessary to support access from the Mac OS is called Parallels. Once installed with Windows XP and IE, it’s a simple as an extra double-click from the desktop. While over 90% [...]

Continue reading...

The past decade has seen unprecedented growth and investment in the restaurant space. Today, most of the industry is seeing top line revenue flatten while food and labor costs rise, putting a tight squeeze on profitability. As the credit markets continue to tighten, owners must find creative alternatives to increase earnings outside of revenue growth from new [...]

Continue reading...

As our discussion continued, my friend let me know about another employee who was terminated for behavior that would never have happened had he been on site. He informed me that he and his wife just found out they’re having a boy. With his wife 5 1/2 months pregnant, he’s trying to spend a bit [...]

Continue reading...

I sat across the table from my friend as he stated “I had to let go of three people this past month based on what I’m seeing with your video. It’s heartbreaking to see what goes on on despite the generosity and training I put towards my staff”. He used the video to watch employee behavior quickly [...]

Continue reading...

This certainly comes as no surprise. Technomic’s revised economic forecast for full service restaurants in 2008 is a mere 1%, adjusted for inflation. This is down from nearly 3% just last year. I own an SUV and wouldn’t dream of selling it in today’s market. What does one do until the market comes back? You [...]

Continue reading...

I recently had lunch with a multi-unit operator. While he’s no stranger to the restaurant business, he is fairly new to multi-unit ownership and confessed it’s much more stressful than he imagined. I asked him what specifically, wondering if it was increased food costs or perhaps a downturn in sales. He stated it was labor - not [...]

Continue reading...

It’s early August, the trade deadline has just passed and MLB teams jockeying for playoff contention. Rarely does a Cubs fan get to pump out the chest and beam “this is the year” so late in the season. Such optimistic comments are typically reserved for the off-season and certainly no later than early July. However, [...]

Continue reading...

I had every intention of penning an insightful post on shrinkage and how “acceptable” it’s become within the P&Ls of our retail and restaurant industries. Instead, I’m absolutely transfixed on TNT’s showing of The Wizard of Oz. I learned to appreciate the intelligence and beauty of this movie during my sophomore year at the University of [...]

Continue reading...

  Denver has never claimed to be a bakery-friendly city as altitude tends to complicate the process. We have only a handful of wholesale bakeries and one of them, Gerards, unexpectedly shut their doors yesterday morning. “It’s because of the economic conditions: high commodity costs; slowness in the food service business, which is who we serve; [...]

Continue reading...