September 20, 2016 By Merilee Kern
Ultraviolet lamps safeguard every home, restaurant, retail store, business office, school and any other location where people share air and touch the same spaces
The dreadful multistate E. coli outbreak at Chipotle, which hospitalized 21 and prompted JP Morgan analysts to forecast the company will have lost three years of earnings between fiscal years 2014 ... Read more about this post
September 7, 2016 By Sean Moon
Whether it’s a prestigious culinary institution such as Ottawa’s Le Cordon Bleu, a respected college program such as those offered by George Brown or Holland College or just the plain old school of hard knocks, earning their cooking chops in restaurant kitchens across the country, chefs have long had a variety of options ... Read more about this post
September 1, 2016 By David Hopkins
When I named our company The Fifteen Group in 2001, it was because we believed that any decent restaurant should make at least 15 per cent profit on sales (or potentially more, under the right circumstances). We still stand by that viewpoint today, however if I were naming the company now, it might ... Read more about this post
August 17, 2016 By Alice Sinia
As a restaurant operator, you know how challenging it can be to keep a culture of cleanliness in your kitchen. With staff coming and going, good routines and habits can be hard to reinforce. Errors in kitchen sanitation can lead to bigger issues, such as contaminated food, botched health inspections or worse.
Foodborne illnesses, ... Read more about this post
July 28, 2016 By Chad Finkelstein
It is an exciting time to be a restaurant owner. Marketing options to reach customers are limitless. A carefully established brand has more resonance and power than ever before. Emerging technologies in the area of mobile payment are keeping costs down and transactions moving faster. And the franchise model continues to show its ... Read more about this post
June 27, 2016 By Jennifer Mathers McHenry
Setting up and running a restaurant is risky, expensive and a heck of a lot of work. I can understand why restaurateurs, both new and experienced, want to avoid unnecessary costs. I can also understand why having an employment lawyer involved in your business when everything is running smoothly can seem like ... Read more about this post
June 6, 2016 By Hugh Johnston
With food inflation at a troubling 3.9 per cent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2015, operators have more reason than ever to be concerned about rising food costs. Leading the way were beef (up 12 per cent), fresh vegetables (up 11.5 per cent) and pasta (up 10.5 per cent). If you make ... Read more about this post
May 31, 2016 By Dr. Alice Sinia, Ph.D.
Each season brings different challenges when it comes to pest prevention. Some pests that bug you during the spring and summer months are not likely the same pests that will bother you in the fall and winter. For this reason, regardless of the season, it’s important to take a customized approach ... Read more about this post
May 19, 2016 By David Turk
In the restaurant and foodservice industry, the easiest and least expensive option in the short term often ends up being inconvenient and more costly in the long run. Whether it’s the headaches associated with unreliable equipment in the kitchen, a disappointing dish made with sub-standard ingredients or a bad customer experience because of ... Read more about this post
May 3, 2016 By Jordan Knox
Restaurateurs may have started seeing a trend of food costs rising and profit margins shrinking, which puts an increased focus on managing the controllable costs as much as possible.
Many costs associated with owning a business are fixed: rent, utilities and to some extent, staffing. The one intangible that can make or break a ... Read more about this post
April 26, 2016 Water is the most-used commodity in North American restaurants. In fact, it is estimated that the average restaurant consumes over 30 litres of water per patron. For an establishment seating 100 patrons per day, that adds up to more than one million litres a year. More than half of this water is likely used in ... Read more about this post
April 21, 2016 By Ryan Fyfe
The advent of online scheduling software has been a game-changer for just about every service industry, especially the restaurant business. The time-saving element alone is enough to make purchasing such software an easy decision as far as return on investment is concerned.
However, not many talk about the advantages of scheduling software for the ... Read more about this post
April 20, 2016 By Kevin Freeborn
When customers visit your restaurant, they notice several things — the taste and presentation of the food, the quality of the service and the ambience created by the lighting and décor. But one thing that may not immediately be apparent is the safety of the food they are about to eat. For any ... Read more about this post
April 19, 2016 By Sean Moon
Dishwashing equipment, the true workhorse of any restaurant kitchen, can also be an unsung hero for foodservice operators in terms of cost-savings and energy efficiency. While the basic functions and purpose of dish and warewashing equipment have remained fairly constant over the years, manufacturers are adding new, money-saving features every year.
Canadian Restaurant & ... Read more about this post
April 18, 2016 By Diane Chiasson
Is it time to expand your restaurant? You have a reliable customer base and a profitable ongoing restaurant operation. Instead of going through the hassles of looking for real estate, dealing with major construction and suffering the headaches of opening another branch, consider an expansion of your existing location. Try these eight other ... Read more about this post
