🔥 Decoy Pricing, Staff Finder, New Tech, House Wine, Review Sorting, Apology Marketing, Ice Breakers, Training Zap and Cakes
Information, Trends & Inspiration for restaurant, cafe & foodservice operators - helping to create a strong, dynamic industry in a fast-changing world. Brought to you by Ken Burgin. Issue #181
✋ Welcome, I’m a former cafe & restaurant owner, now a hospitality adviser, and consultant. Always looking for the latest trends and how-to information - this is where I share it all. Find me on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram, on the Ken Burgin blog or via the Contact Form… cheers, Ken #PeaceIn2024 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇺🇳
🔥 SPECIAL TOPIC PAGES for Paid Subscribers - with 700+ selected articles
* Recruitment & Management (updated - 350+ articles)
* Staff Training & Development (updated - 100+ articles)
* Menu Design, Presentation & Pricing (updated)
* Menu Sales, Marketing & Trends (updated)
* Cost Control, Financial & Fraud Management Resources (updated)
* ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence for Hospitality Use (updated)
* Easiest Way to Do a Restaurant Newsletter - using Substack (free)
📆 Hospitality Events Calendar - trade fairs, webinars, events and promotions
💥 Last week’s and previous » Newsletters - this week and last week are free, previous 170+ issues for paid subscribers.
🕺 Find Me Live - I’m active in the Profitable Hospitality Owners Group, with regular live Q&A sessions on management, staff, COGS and other hot topics. Join me!
🦘 Finding Regional Workers - how to attract young tourists to work at your venue. [KB]
💥 Induction Cooking - chefs take the lead, the stove top is the last front in the war on household gas.
🗜️ Tech Developments at the Chicago Restaurant Show - interesting list and photos.
📍 Starlink Mini - will it change the world? Fits in a back pack, thanks Elon!
🍷 Loss of Restaurant Trade - Steve Cumper has some ideas on what’s behind it.
🫛 Anthony the Chef - sharing his work, food and product hunts.
🇵🇸 What They Wore - sacked from a kiosk without warning, for wearing a keffiyah. They were naive, but this is harsh and maybe illegal.
🎁 Make Simple Rules for Work Gifts - so easy for this to go off track.
🎖️ Restaurant Design Features that Attract Good People - how to make an impact on recruitment and retention.
🕺 Fantastic interview with restaurateur Nick Kokonas - quizzed by a finance guy about his business journey and profit system - the man who popularised pre-paid bookings and demand pricing in restaurants.
🎯 Using ‘Strike Rates’ to Improve Sales Performance - a simple number concept that everyone understands. The improvements can be surprising… [KB]
⚙️ Product of the Week: GSE Hospitality Brokers - the best brokers I’ve dealt with in many years, for helping you sell your business, or find a quality operation to buy.
Employment Reset...
🧿 10 Meeting Ice Breakers and Tools for Better Employee Engagement - using a phone, inhouse or online. Experiment with friends, then use for training - so easy.
🧑🏽🦰 5 ways to automate your recruitment - lots of smart ideas here, can you start with one or two?
💃 20 Restaurant & Life Skills You'll Quickly Learn on the Job - great list to weave into staff training, and interviews.
Marketing Reset...
🌶️ Admit Mistakes - research shows it makes you sound more persuasive. Easy to do on socials... ‘what were we thinking!’
🕺 Decoy Pricing: it’s a well-known menu trick, and also used by publishers, hotels and services. The same principles could be used with your function menus, events and food kit pricing - create ‘soft dollar’ items with a high price, and add them as an extra very cheaply eg the special table settings, red carpet, party favours and candles. Mix it up, have fun, make money. See how it works in the article.
🍷 Adam Liaw Requests the Return of House Wine & Affordable Cocktails. Not BYO, just wines that don’t all start at $50 a bottle. He’s on to something - operators seem to be savvier with food pricing than beverages.
Digital, Tech and Artificial Intelligence
🌽 Food Mood - Google’s new AI recipe tool to create unexpected combos.
🌀 Connect ChatGPT with Google Sheets - for collecting reviews, data analysis etc.
🚗 Export Google Map Reviews - for analysing reviews in bulk.
Inspiration, Fun and Wider Interests…
🎶 Young People Singing - amazing what they can achieve.
👆🏼 16 Razors - rules of thumb that simplify decision making.
🇩🇪 Easy German - learn by watching in this easy format. Not much of my school German left, but this format is enjoyable. Plus many other languages.
😀 We do the hard work for you… Every week, I scan more than 1500 blog posts, newsletters and social media accounts. Hospo Reset is where I share the items I think you’ll find most interesting and useful, plus a few bonus opinions - Ken