🔥 Hospo AI, Interrupting Skills, Design Upgrades, Big Catering, Smart Discounts, Manager Skills, Chef Hacks and Dolphins
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 #210
✋ 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. Find me on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on BlueSky, on the Ken Burgin blog or via the Contact Form… cheers, Ken #PeaceIn2025 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇺🇳
🔥 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)
Great to be back home after 5 weeks in England and a final week in very green Paris. Both places doing very well with tourists - in the UK we spent most of the time in the country. See more on my Instagram…
✋ Essential Interrupting Skills - for those team meetings when people go on and on. We all need to develop this…
🪴 Interior Design Upgrade - a bunch of useful and interesting ideas for restaurants.
🍅 How Chefs Are Using ChatGPT - useful ideas when you cut through the hype.
🌈 The State of AI for Hospitality. Mary Meeker has published a highly-regarded annual ‘state of the internet’ presentation for almost 20 years, and now she’s returned with a 340-page compilation of charts and quotes about AI. That’s waaaay too big for us mere mortals, so I asked Mr Chat to summarise the implications for hospitality...
💥 Do You Share Yourself Publicly? How to extend your ‘shelf life’.
🍒 You’re a Food Blogger? How to be successful using Substack (it powers this site). And here are my tips for using it as a restaurant or cafe newsletter.
😎 How to Have Friends Past the Age of 30 - good reminders for all of us. Implications for hospitality marketing…
🚛 Compass: Meals for the Masses - fascinating dissection of the growth and operations of the world's largest catering group.
🚨 The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer - a crisis of grievances means opportunity for good businesses. Here’s my 10-point summary of hospitality opportunities.
⚙️ Product of the Week: Axify - AI phone answering that handles inquiries and takes bookings.
Employment Reset...
👍 Be an Awesome Assistant Manager - what it takes in retail, many similarities for hospitality. Most so called ‘managers’ in small venues are really assistant managers. Discuss this with your leadership team…
🍄 Adapting Education to AI - fascinating look at what it means for teachers and courses, including hospitality training.
🏁 Lessons from a School Crossing Guard - the power of energy and engagement.
Marketing and Digital Reset...
☄️ How to Use a ‘Discount Fence’ - so discounting doesn't devalue your whole menu.
👀 Disabled-Friendly Website Design - simple improvements so no-one misses out.
🚀 Hospitality Marketing Insights - solid information every week from this excellent newsletter.
Inspiration and Wider Interests…
🐬 Speaking Dolphin Language - how DolphinAI is helping decode the messages of these highly intelligent animals. Octopus next?
💔 Kids Gambling - shocking research into how 'gaming' with money has infiltrated the lives of children. Shame Australia!
🇯🇵 16th-Century Japan - Historians Describe the Oddness of Meeting the First Europeans They Ever Saw
😀 We do the hard work for you… I scan hundreds of blogs, newsletters, social & X accounts every week, and Hospo Reset is where I share what I think you’ll find most interesting and useful… plus a few bonus opinions - Ken #PeaceIn2025 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇺🇳
Love it- great content, beautiful pictures. Makes me want to visit Paris again soon