Be holistic

Consider all aspects of your restaurant as ‘brand opportunity’. Work out what makes your food offer special. Is your identity and interior style distinct? Do your staff deliver a particular style of service? How do you deal with customers when things go a little wrong? The more specific you can be when answering questions like this, then the easier it will be to manage and expand a brand – you will have a framework to judge when things are right and when things aren’t.

Know your market space

Create a brand that appeals to your target audience. Are you selling attitude or authenticity for example? Do you target a niche, local custom or transient commuters? Think about where you want the brand to be in five or 10 years. When noodle restaurant Wagamama launched, it started with premium architect-designed London locations but the plan was to expand to the ‘three W’s’ (Wimbledon, Watford and Woking). In other words, retain the essence of the brand but broaden the appeal to commuter towns.

You don’t own your brand, your customers do

Successful brands live in the hearts and minds of people, so make them advocates for your brand. Starting with your current staff, make them part of the branding process – in a service industry your staff deliver your brand. If they don’t get it right, customers won’t come back.

Cookie-cutter or customised

Dream about the future. Do you intend to replicate a consistent experience in many locations – where customers know what to expect from the menu, the price, the interior and the service? Or do you want flexibility? Size and format opportunities should also be considered. For example, you may operate a restaurant seating 50 people but could the brand work in a radically different, small-format style in the future?

Get external help

If you have the vision and the rigour then you can create and manage the brand yourself, but it can sometimes be tricky to have an objective view. Working with a professional brand consultant will bring fresh sets of eyes and often design capability. Brand consultancies range from one-man bands to huge international firms. Find a consultant who you think will be easy, fun and inspiring to work with. Expect to be challenged along the way, but above all work with people who understand you and your vision.

Why do some businesses manage to stay contemporary and fresh, while others seem to become locked in the past? I’ve been concerned with the problem of how to teach business owners and managers to stay ahead of the market for some time. A spate of distressing phone calls from troubled business owners have prompted me to write about this issue.

For a business to remain healthy, it must be in a state of constant evolution. If you freeze your system, your business will stagnate and eventually die. Imagine if you had the best hospitality business in the universe and you said: ‘This is it — perfection. Don’t change anything.’ What do you think would happen? Your competition would still be innovating and they would catch up and pass you, eventually making your business a ‘dinosaur’.

There are three ‘states of change’ a business can be in. They are: no change, sometimes called stagnation; unplanned or uncoordinated change, or chaos, which is just as bad as stagnation because it leads to extremely inconsistent quality and service; and planned and coordinated change which we call ‘progress’. It is part of the proper responsibility of an owner or manager to ensure that their business is progressing — by constantly evolving and moving with the times.

Human nature often works against the need for change. We have an unfortunate tendency to cling tenaciously to behaviour patterns that have been successful for us in the past, even though they are no longer appropriate. I saw plenty of this behaviour in 1991–92 when the global recession hit hard here. A disturbing number of the old, established hospitality operators in my area failed to recognise that the market had rapidly changed and sat on their hands waiting for the good old days to return. They assumed that what had worked for them in the past was still valid. A lot of them went bankrupt.

We’ve also found that there is a direct relationship between a persons’ intelligence and their comfort creating and working with change. Bright people can assimilate new things quickly and welcome changes as a challenge. People who are not so bright have to work hard to learn new things and regard change as a threatening burden — to the point where they will resist or sabotage changes and subconsciously fight to keep things as they are. This has led me to set a minimum, measured intelligence level for all our management recruitment in environments where innovation is particularly important.

A further problem is that our ability to innovate seems to slow as we get older. I believe that most innovation is the province of the young. I tell my management students: ‘Your job is not necessarily to innovate yourself; it is to make sure innovation occurs. Most of the valuable ideas that will advance your business will come from your staff and your customers’. A constant trickle of young, new blood into a business is a distinct advantage — provided you listen to the new people and are prepared to patiently sift the practical from the impractical ideas.

A few years ago I had a discussion with a well known chef and restaurateur, who had asserted that he was the only one in his business who had the skills to create the menu that his restaurant was famous for. I told him I believed that his staff could relieve him of the burden of creativity if he went about it the right way. If you visit either of his restaurants today you will find that his cooks and chefs are required to submit dishes for assessment at regular intervals. The owner still maintains strict creative control, but he delegates most of the menu development to his subordinates. Some of the best ideas come from relatively junior members of staff.

Truly innovative people are quite rare. I see this demonstrated in commercial kitchens all the time. The majority of cooks are capable of fashionable production if given creative guidance, but without it they are lost and tend to produce stereotyped food. About one in ten cooks seem to have the ability to innovate to some degree, and only about one in fifty is gifted artistically. I suspect that the same ratios would be found in other occupations. For the majority of people innovation seems to consist of plagiarising and developing other peoples’ ideas. Observe how quickly an original idea from one of the ‘gastronomic gurus’ appears on menus elsewhere.

I’m not putting a value judgement on pinching ideas and inferring that it is wrong, by the way. It seems to be normal, human behaviour. After all, isn’t that what fashion is? Copying someone else’s ideas like a bunch of lemmings?

If you’re gifted and can innovate yourself, that’s fantastic. You are special and you should develop your skills. The remainder of us need to develop some mechanism to stay in touch with the rest of the world and to stay ahead. This usually means getting out of your business and going around checking out your competition at regular intervals, getting a feel for what is happening and what the public are responding to at the time.

I’m surprised how many business owners don’t do this. It’s not unusual for me to strike someone who has become so involved with the demands of their own business that they have not taken the time to assess the market for some years. The top restaurateurs evaluate each other constantly — that’s one of the reasons they stay on top. Others assume their initial success will continue on into the future and bog down into stagnation and decline. Once this happens it’s usually too late to save the business.

Hospitality Management Specialist, Tony Eldred

chef's uniform

Chefs, for the most part, wear their uniforms almost every day of their working lives, replete with toque, checked pants and double-breasted jacket. Though these uniforms are ubiquitous in the foodservice industry worldwide, they are often taken for granted and worn without much thought. However, many may find that the origin and reasons behind traditional chef’s attire are as interesting as it looks.

Much of the chef’s uniform has developed out of necessity. The jacket, for example, is double-breasted so it can easily be reversed to hide stains that may accumulate throughout the day; the double layer of cotton is also designed to insulate our bodies against the intense heat of the stove or an accidental splattering of hot liquid. Even the knotted cloth buttons were fashioned for a reason-cloth will withstand the frequent washings and abuse buttons often take from contact with pots, pans and other heavy equipment. Though executive chefs often wear black pants, working chefs and cooks usually don pants with black-and-white checks-the dizzying pattern of hound’s tooth camouflages minor spills and soilings. Today neckerchiefs are primarily worn for aesthetic purposes, to give our uniforms a more finished look, but originally cotton cloths were draped around ones neck to soak body sweat while working in the inferno-like kitchens of yesteryear.
The traditional chef’s hat, or toque blanche, is what is most distinguishing and recognizable of the uniform, and also the component which often causes the most debate. Chefs as far back as the 16th century are said to have worn toques. During that period artisans of all types (including chefs) were often imprisoned, or even executed, because of their freethinking. To alleviate persecution, some chefs sought refuge in the Orthodox Church and hid amongst the priests of the monasteries. There they wore the same clothes as the priests-including their tall hats and long robes-with the exception of one deviating trait: the chef’s clothes were gray and the priest’s were black.
It wasn’t until the middle 1800′s that chef Marie-Antoine Carême redesigned the uniforms. Carême thought the color white more appropriate, that it denoted cleanliness in the kitchen; it was also at this time that he and his staff began to wear double-breasted jackets. Carême also thought that the hats should be different sizes, to distinguish the cooks from the chefs. The chefs wore the tall hats and the younger cooks wore shorter hats, more like a cap. Carême himself supposedly wore a hat that was 18 inches tall! The folded pleats of a toque, which later became an established characteristic of the chef’s hat, were first said to have been added to indicate the more than 100 ways in which a chef can cook an egg.
Escoffier too, thought the cleanliness of the cook’s uniform was very important, and that it promoted professionalism. His staff was required to maintain clean and complete uniforms while on the job, and were also encouraged to wear coats and ties while not at work. To this day cooks and chefs around the world wear the same attire that has traceable origins back to more than 400 years. Along with the other conveniences the 1950′s brought, paper toques were invented to look like cloth but could be disposed of once they were soiled.
The traditional chef’s uniform may be the standard for our profession, but it’s definitely not the law. Since the mid-1980′s a legion of chefs and cooks have begun to wear non-traditional “fun” chef’s attire. These nouveau uniforms run the gamut from pinstriped baggy pants and denim jackets to full blown wildly patterned outfits with chili peppers, flowers, and even the CIA logo. While some chefs may nay-say these new-style uniforms as non-professional, others retaliate that they are more comfortable and give chefs an opportunity to express their individuality through their clothes as well as their food.
Actually, the non-traditional uniforms of today may remind some of the late chef-philanthropist Alexis Soyer, author, inventor and one time chef of the Reform Club in London. Chef Soyer was known to have his entire wardrobe-including his work attire-tailor made. Some of his headgear was as eccentric as a red velvet beret; his jackets were often cut on the bias with large lapels and cuffs. He called his individualistic style “à la zoug-zoug,” and the more his contemporaries ridiculed him the more outlandish his outfits became. Like the old adage says, “What’s old is new again.”
As a professional chef myself, I prefer to adhere to traditional chef’s attire-the uniform and its history are something to be proud of. On the other hand, I can also understand a chef’s desire to want to be expressive. As the twentieth century comes to a close, these nouveau style uniforms have their place in certain establishments; restaurants today, after all, are considered a form of theater. As with anything, the chef’s uniform continues to evolve, who knows what the future has to hold? One thing is certain though, the image of a chef, in a pristine white jacket and toque, is recognized the world over as a professional, and we have our predecessors to thank for this.

Chef Curtis Stone is making his first appearance on American television, ambushing unaware shoppers with an bid they plainly cannot refuse. Each episode in the series phoned “Take Home Chef,” starts with a covert Stone racing through a grocery shop as he searches for the ideal culinary partner. Once he is establish one he turns on the charm, offering to attend the shopper home & cook a gourmet meal utilising the details in his or her shopping cart-plus a couple of savoury extras.
Once participants appear willing to go by with this culinary adventure, they take Stone home & labour with him in their personal kitchens or out at the grill to produce a tasteful dinner. Chef Stone is probably to be sharing a lot of his secrets from Down Under, although at the same time studying how to function in an median American kitchen.

His tips to american public so far:
• When preparing more massive pieces of meat, like roasts, pile the embers on one side & spot the meal on the other. This allows for indirect preparing & reduces charring.
• Do not use charcoal clearer fluid or briquettes that have added starter fluid constructed into them. This will go away an unpleasant taste in the smoke.
• Rubs are one of the best stuff you may use to enlarge flavour to your meat. They are combinations of spices that seal in the flavor of the meat, shape a tasty crust, elaborate colour & pull moisture from the air although drawing juices from inside the meat, causing the flesh to marinate itself as it cooks.

So what is this new American television exhibit like for Curtis Stone? “Cooking in someone else’s home may be completely anything; it may be fabulous or a total disaster,” he says. “It’s the fright of the unknown that makes it so exciting.”

Marcia Pelchat is a sensory psychologist specializing in food and beverage selection (USA) said:”Women are genetically predisposed to prefer sweeter tastes, with greater sensitivity to bitterness. As a result, cocktails and alcoholic drinks aimed at women tend to be sweet — as an attempt to mask the burn — and colorful (because, you know, pink will make anything more palatable). Drinks for men, on the other hand, tend to let the bitterness take the fore: “Men who drink hoppy drinks don’t just not notice the bitter taste, they actually like it.”

I was visiting one of my alpine clients when one of those totally unexpected disasters happened. We were driving along a winding, narrow road and had a nasty head-on accident with one of my client’s 4wd vehicles. It was one of those unfortunate situations where nobody was really to blame. We both got caught with minimal steering in black ice. All I saw was a massive bull bar coming at us at a frightening pace.

My beloved BMW sustained major damage. We were not hurt, thanks to effective German engineering, but I was shocked and angry. After all the steam and smoke died down, the staff in the 4wd were treated to the highly amusing sight of their communication skills trainer (me) leaping out of what remained of his car, losing it in a big way, and soundly abusing the other driver who just happened to be their ‘safe driving in the snow’ instructor. After I calmed down, even I could appreciate the irony.

A short time later I rang my insurance company, who organised to pick up the wreck and transport it back to Melbourne. ‘This is good service’, I thought to myself. ‘Thank God I had the means to afford top dollar insurance’.

The repair shop was brilliant. They lent me a near new car (not required under the insurance policy) stripped my car immediately and prepared a quote — $20,000 worth of damage! They even invited me in, and explained that they were going to replace the whole front of the car with new parts. Great! They commenced the repair immediately, before approval from the insurance company came through.

I went about my work with minimal disruption and congratulated myself on my choice of insurance, and my luck at having the world’s best repair shop. Five weeks went by and things were going along nicely when the phone rang. It was the son of the repair shop owner: ‘Mr Eldred, could I get you to ring your insurance company? We still haven’t got approval for your repairs and the job is three quarters complete — this is unusual.’ I had that sinking feeling you get when you realise something is wrong.

I rang them straight away, and was referred to the claims manager. ‘Mr Eldred, I have to inform you that we are rejecting your claim for the accident and returning your premium to you.’

‘Why?’ I asked, in a state of shock. He replied in an officious tone, of a kind normally reserved for criminals and lowlife scumbags: ‘Mr Eldred, you did not disclose your driving history to us on your renewal form. If we had known the full picture we would not have insured your car’.

I began to see red. ‘I did disclose it to you, and besides, I’ve got a good driving history.’ His reply was steely and precise: ‘I’m sorry Mr Eldred; we’ve made our decision. You only returned a cheque each year to us, and not the disclosure form that came with your annual renewal. I’m not going to argue with you. Your claim is denied. You will receive a letter from us confirming our decision. Good day, Mr Eldred.’

I was dumbfounded. I was suddenly up for twenty grand I thought I was covered for. Oh Jeeeeeezus. I searched back through my memory and was sure I’d completed their stupid disclosure forms — but not sure enough to swear on a stack of Bibles. I just had this nagging recall of writing something on an insurance form about two years ago. A search through our files only yielded the insurance certificate. I was at my wit’s end and spent the next two days in a state of high anxiety.

The insurance certificate remained on my desk to haunt me. I’d been paying $1,200 a year for the damned thing and now it appeared to be part of a corporate bad taste joke. I re-read the details again and again — and suddenly a thought raced through my brain. I reached for the phone and asked for the claims manager. He took my call with a resigned sigh of irritation.

‘Are you still maintaining that all I sent you was a cheque, and no other documents?’ I asked as assertively as I could. ‘Yes, Mr Eldred, that’s correct,’ he replied. I took a deep breath — this was a $20,000 conversation, and I didn’t want to screw it up. ‘If that’s the case, how did you find out the name of my partner, who is named on my policy certificate as a nominated driver of the car? Are you people psychic? I believe you could have only got that information from the forms I returned to you, and I’m placing the whole matter in the hands of . . .’ (and I named a particular gung-ho legal firm, known for their hatred of insurance companies).

There was a moment’s silence, then: ‘I’ll get back to you Mr Eldred’ Click. Dial tone.

The phone rang a couple of hours later and a soothing, grovelling voice oozed from the receiver. ‘Mr Eldred, we’ve made a terrible mistake. We’ve found your forms, and you did disclose your full driving record. I will authorise the repairs to your vehicle right now.’ I went on the offensive: ‘Hang on a minute. Are you telling me I did disclose my driving history and you still chose to insure me? A few days ago you tried to get out of paying on the grounds that if I had disclosed, you would have declined the policy.’

‘It appears we have made a mistake’, he whined. ‘Bulls**t’. I said.

Keep copies of all your correspondence with insurance companies, folks.

By Tony Eldred, Eldred Hospitality

A blender is an integral part of a chef’s kitchen. Choosing the right one for you depends on a number of factors, including storage space and what functions you want it for.

Some key features to look out for when blender shopping? An internal storage drawer or separate storage box can be useful in keeping all the attachments and blades together.

Blender jugs and food processor bowls will differ in size, so opt for that which suits the amount you’ll need to process or blend.

A mini-processor bowl, which sits inside the main food processor bowl, and a separate grinder unit can be good add-ons for small loads.

Rubber feet on the motor unit will help keep it stable. And, a pulse function will provide short bursts of power, helping to distribute the load more evenly.

For making chips or vegetable strips, look for a model with a chipping blade. As well, there’s a reversible blade, which has a grating blade on one side and a slicing blade on the other – reducing the number of separate blades you need to store.

A beater or whisk disc attachment will whip cream and beat egg whites. Some models also come with a citrus juicer.

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the latest blender models on the market…

Sunbeam Café Series Blender (PB9500)

The Café Series Blender combines power and heavy-duty materials. Prepare fruit frappes and other blended frozen drinks and desserts in seconds. Or, blend ingredients for pastes and dips or puree soups and sauces to a perfect consistency. Features include a 1000 watt motor with a five-year guarantee, Smartcontrol technology that maintains RPM speed when under load, a two-litre square jug, stainless steel blade assembly, and variable speed control and pulse.

Sunbeam MultiBlender Electronic (PB7950)

The PB7950 comes with seven programmed blending functions. Its innovative, 1.6-litre, square, blending jug has also been pioneered by Sunbeam for consistent results. Other features include a 850 watt motor, high, low and pulse controls, a heavy duty, six-way, serrated stainless steel blade system, and detachable blades for easy cleaning.

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Hamilton Beach Commercial High Performance Food Blender (HBF600)

Hamilton Beach launched its brand new, variable-speed blender at the Fine Food show in Melbourne in September. Due to its variable speed control, the HBF600 can blend, chop, grind or puree the toughest food products. It is equipped with a powerful 3HP motor, which is covered by a two-year parts and labour warranty. The model is at the same price level as its sister blender, the TEMPEST (HBH650), which has a timer function rather than the variable speed – ideal for smoothies, frappes and any other blended, ice-based drink.

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Vorwerk Thermomix (TM 31)

The Thermomix is an advanced all-in-one food processor and cooker, featuring precise, powerful speed and temperature settings, allowing for smoother textures, better colour retention and a fast speed of execution. The speed is adjustable from 100 to 10,200rpm and the temperature from 37 to 114°C. The lowest settings are ideal for tempering chocolate, while at its top speed, it can mill flour from grain in 20 seconds. The rapid rotation and strength of the Solingen steel blade can crush the hardest foodstuff. (It’s even been known to make short work of an avocado pit!)

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Breville Professional 800 Collection Die Cast Blender (BBL800)

The BBL800’s secret is in its Kinetix blade and bowl system. The unique, extra wide blades – made from surgical grade stainless steel to stay sharp for longer – hug the bowl contour to minimise food traps. This is combined with a powerful 2000 watt, high torque motor and die cast construction. Other features include a two-litre jug, non-slip handle, and a two-year product warranty and five-year motor warranty.

Going the frozen option can actually help a kitchen’s budget – with the veggies being able to be stored for longer, meaning less wastage – and seasonality can be ignored.

Think veggies, plucked fresh from the farm and delivered straight to your door, are best? Not always.

Most vegetables in frozen and canned form are just as nutritious as fresh produce – in fact, in some cases, they provide even more nutrients…which is good news for the kitchen, being so convenient!

Fresh veggies can actually be exposed to conditions, which can cause changes in quality – for example, the length of time and the temperature during transport and storage, affecting nutrient content. Fresh produce usually spends about three to seven days in storage before being dished up. And, of course, the longer it’s stored, the more vitamins the produce loses.

Alternatively, frozen veggies are harvested at their peak – snap frozen and stored within hours, meaning their nutrients are “locked in” and further losses are minimised.

Susan Anderson, the national director of Healthy Weight at the Heart Foundation, gives frozen veggies the big tick. “Frozen vegetables are a terrific choice and we’re very happy to recommend them. They’re just as nutritious as fresh – in some cases, more so, since the freezing process takes place soon after harvesting.”

Anderson continues: “Frozen vegetables are popular with home cooks and chefs, because they’re so convenient and there’s no wastage.  The preparation is done and you only use what you need.” All pluses!

Of course, before freezing though, veggies do undergo blanching – or scalding – which does lead to some nutrient loss, particularly Vitamin C and folate. Though, in general, these losses are no greater than during cooking. Plus, some nutrients, like carotene (a compound converted to vitamin A in the body), may actually be better preserved when frozen, because packaging protects the veggies from the light.

In a study by Heinz Wattie’s Australasia, Frozen Vegetables – Do They Count?, the Vitamin C content of fresh and frozen spinach, green beans and brussels sprouts was measured at consumption stage. In each case, the Vitamin C levels were found to be highest in the cooked, frozen vegetables. This was said to be due to more uniform maturity of the veggies, minimum time from harvest to freezing, and the shorter time required to cook them, compared to when fresh.

Another recent study by the New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research showed that three-month-old frozen peas contained twice as much Vitamin C as three-day-old fresh peas. Wow!

As well, consumer group Choice says supermarket produce may not be as fresh as customers think, with technological advances making it possible for growers and distributors to keep veggies looking good for up to a few weeks.

There’s also the kitchen storage issue – and the impact on the hip pocket for venues. Choice Australia last year found that many frozen vegetables retained most of their nutritional value for up to a year in a freezer at -18 C, while fresh produce stored in the fridge at 4 ⁰C for one week lost nutritional value in such a time – particularly green veggies, like broccoli, beans and spinach.

Not all are convinced though that frozen is the way to go. Fresh fruit and veg marketer Perfection Fresh Australia still firmly believes “fresh is best”, according to their spokesperson. “Because it is cooked straight from the field and delivered to wholesalers and supermarkets within 24 hours. We process thousands of pallets each day, so we are motivated to get the produce to its destination as fast as possible.”

The spokesperson continues: “We specialise in broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and other leaf products, where presentation is essential and freshness is clear to see. So, there is an urgency to get the product on shelves as fast as possible. The perception that produce just lays around for days is absolute nonsense!”

It seems there are arguments for both frozen and fresh produce. But, there are some advantages to frozen produce, in some instances, that chefs should consider – such as, that most veggies are seasonal and the only way to provide certain produce year-round is to either buy expensive imports or use more affordable, frozen alternatives.

As well, using frozen produce means you are limiting your reliance on suppliers – particularly of benefit if you are operating your restaurant or hotel in a more geographically isolated part of Australia.

As for the taste test though in fresh versus frozen? The jury’s still out!

General thawing tips

• Some frozen foods are better thawed before cooking, while others can be cooked straightaway – just make sure you follow manufacturers’ instructions if using commercially frozen fare.
• Where possible, thaw food in the fridge. It allows the ice crystals to break down slowly and, thus, won’t affect the food’s texture.
• Food that has been thawed in the fridge may be re-frozen, so long as this occurs within 48 hours. Still, if any food appears discoloured or has a whiffy odour, discard it immediately. It may contain harmful bacteria.

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Cutler & Co., Melbourne

BEST NEW TALENT
Matt Stone, Greenhouse, Perth

NEW RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Ortiga, Brisbane

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE INDUSTRY
Cheong Liew, chef

BAR OF THE YEAR
Eau-de-Vie, Sydney

MAITRE D’ OF THE YEAR
Peter Sullivan, Aria, Sydney/Brisbane

REGIONAL RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR
Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld

WINE LIST OF THE YEAR
1889 Enoteca, Brisbane

SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR
Franck Moreau, Est., Sydney

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

wine sales

It is not a secret, pubs are becoming less of a local boozer and more of a place to enjoy a fine meal and a drink with your friends and family. And with customers becoming more value-savvy after GFC, the majority of drinks sales are taking a hit.
Mark it up

To start with, the pricing of your drinks offer will no doubt be more profitable than that of food, but operators need to be smart when marking up their offer.

The secret to doing this is to not be greedy. The consumer is more value-savvy than ever and can tell when he is being charged too much. It is smart to consider what product you are pricing and who are your clientele base, before deciding on a margin.

Just marking up wine by a certain percentage will give you all sorts of silly results – you’ll end up with some really expensive wines and others that are too cheap. You have to consider all the ‘local’ factors, well as the product.

For example, CBD located operators often mark their wines up by 100-200 per cent. You might get away with it in CBD but certainly not in the suburbs. And of course, you may have priced your drinks perfectly but without a team of knowledgeable staff that knows your products inside and out your sales will never reach their full potential.

Train to gain

Those restaurants, pubs and hotels whose drinks sales are flourishing will most likely have trained their staff to understand each beverage, be it a bottle of their wine or beer. If your staff don’t know what they’re selling, how do you expect them to do a good job? They need to know where the drink comes from, how it’s made and how it works with food.

While operators don’t necessarily need to have a sommelier, they do need to have someone that knows more about drinks than the customer. Their knowledge can then be filtered down through the rest of the team. Lastly, waiters should also be trained to understand the art of the upsell, which is an art of extracting profit out of a customer, without ripping them off.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…