Back in September/October of 2013, The NPD Group released a report on the coffee market. Included in that report was a graph showcasing the amount of coffee consumed in Japan, Australia, UK, US, China, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Canada. Out of all countries, Canada ranked second indicating the high amount of coffee Canadians drink.

"73% of Canadians drink coffee, consuming an average of 12.4 cups per week or nearly two cups per day." - The NPD Group’s What’s Brewing in the Coffee Market: A Consumer Perspective

Quick Service Restaurants in Canada have already jumped on this market opportunity, revamping their coffee menu offerings or offering coffee for the first time, offering loyalty card rewards and even partnering with major financial institutions to offer an innovative way to purchase their coffees while earning rewards. But while the Quick Service industry seems to be making a lot of press on its new and innovative coffee programs, it seems as if the Full Service restaurant industry is lagging behind.

Barbara Smyth of The NPD Group wrote an article on the What’s Brewing in the Coffee Market report for the Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News Magazine and suggested that expanding a full service restaurant’s menu should bode well for business. In fact, Technomic, another foodservice analyst firm wrote a blog post about Coffee Café's stating these particular chains have experienced a 5.6% increase in sales. If you think about it, if Canada ranks second for the amount of coffee consumed, it’s a no brainer to include a coffee program as part of an expanded menu.

What are some options that fullservice restaurant operators can use to include a coffee program and leverage the market opportunity?

I found an article from 2011 (I know a little dated but the article holds true today) from the Coffee Buyer Report on how innovative flavour programs in coffee are an opportunity waiting to happen. The report goes on to mention that "an elevated perception of flavoured coffee as a 'specialty beverage experience' is driving sales increases in other flavours" besides the traditional Vanilla and Hazelnut flavour variations.

A Full Service Restaurant Operator could use this to their advantage – finding and developing a flavored coffee program to create an innovative beverage experience based on this country's most treasured beverage. Operators could also challenge their front-of-house and back-of-house staff with a friendly inter-restaurant competition to devise new coffee beverages to offer on the menu – for either credit on the menu (for the fame hungry) or a monetary fee such as a gift card or a day off. Alternatively, perhaps you offer a coffee tasting similar to a beer flight as a dessert or beverage option as a romanticized experience rather than just a beverage.

Whatever you choose to do, it makes sense to try to capitalize on the sheer size of coffee drinkers in this country. It could be good for your business too.

You will notice before purchasing our NES Wood Cruiser Tables that this product does require some assembly. What does some assembly mean in this case? To find out, this blog post will walk you through the assembly of an NES Wood Cruiser Table (Hint: There is very little assembly required!). These steps can be replicated on any size pole height and any size table top we own.

What you should receive:

• (1x) Wood Table Top (24", 30" or 36")
• (1x) Pole (30" tall or 42" tall)
• (1x) Table Base (includes 4 screw in adjustable cruiser table feet)
• (1x) Connector
• (6x) Screws

Tools Required (not included):

• Phillips Screwdriver
• Tape measure
• Pencil

Step 1:

First, using your measuring tape, measure across the bottom of the table tabletop (the bottom is not clear coated). With the pencil make a mark in the center of the table.

Step 2:

Turn the tape measure 90 degrees and mark the half-way point again. These points are not likely to line up perfectly but this will give you the approximate center of your table.

Step 3:

Take your connector and place it so the center of the connector is over the two center marks that you made in step 1 and step 2.

Step 4:

Screw the connector onto the bottom of the table, hold the connector firmly in place to prevent any movement. We also recommend that you start all of the screws before tightening them down.

Step 5:

Place the pole on the table base, note that the side with two slots cut into the pole should be pointing up.

Step 6:

Place the table top and connector onto the pole; rotate the top until the connector slides into the slots on the pole.

Step 7:

Use and enjoy your fully assembled cocktail table! You will also note that it can be easily broken down into three pieces for easy transportation (Pole, Base, Top with connector attached).

Most obviously the biggest problem that exists for rental companies & catering companies when stocking inventory of porcelain plates is the issue of transporting them safely to your customers. While storage systems do exist to contain plates in easy to transport boxes such as plastic milk crates how do you ensure you’re minimizing the amount of scratching that can happen when the firing ring of the plate is continually rubbing against the porcelain plate below it?

I found this tip from Lifehacker.com – an awesome website for tips and articles on just about everything. While originally this article was written for consumers who were moving, this tip applies to companies who have to move porcelain dishes as well!

How Rental Companies Can Protect Porcelain Plates with Coffee Filters

Step 1:

Buy Commercial Sized Coffee Filters from your neighbourhood drug store, big box store or grocery store.

EverythingKitchens.com

Step 2:

When placing porcelain plates into plastic milk crates or boxes for transport, alternate placing a porcelain plate then the coffee filter until you’ve reached the top of the box.

Photo credit: RealSimple.com

And there you have it! An inexpensive way to ensure your precious (and breakable) inventory scratch-free. If you’re worried about customers returning dishes without coffee filters, add it as a mandatory requirement in order to accept the return and charge a maintenance fee if this doesn’t happen.

Do you have any hacks or tips that you use to help your business? Let us know in the comments!

Last week I opened the August issue of Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News and was quite frankly appalled by one of the articles I saw. The article was titled “Women of Influence” with the subtitle “Women leaders are good for business”…Women. Leaders. Are. Good. For. Business.

Is this not 2014? Women leaders are good for business just as much as men leaders are good for business. Both genders have been scientifically proven to have different ways of looking at issues and opportunities that can heavily benefit an organization that embraces a gender-balanced leadership team. This is actually not an attack on the magazine or the article author. I am a huge fan of this magazine and frankly I applaud them for writing a piece about the lack of women in the foodservice industry who have career aspirations to the senior leadership. I’m just so astounded and taken aback by the fact that in this day and age, when Amazon is testing drone delivery of packages that women are still dealing with biases (whether unconscious or otherwise) and a lack of leadership positions across the country.

Perhaps it was because I was raised in a household that focused more on who I was, what I thought and how I acted than my gender. I was raised to believe I could do anything that my younger brother could do. Did I want to do everything my younger brother could do? Hell no, but having the option there without it being taken away from me gave me the freedom to choose whatever I wanted to pursue in life. I’m just so disappointed that this article needs to exist to coach women to take responsibility for their own careers. Where is your passion, ladies of the foodservice industry? This is an industry that takes no prisoners. You invest blood, sweat and tears into this industry. You owe it to yourselves to step up to the plate and make an investment in yourself.

The article in Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News does a fantastic job at profiling women of influence in the corporate foodservice world. But that’s not the only way for women to succeed. Just look at what happens when women make the investment in themselves. Lynn Crawford, owner of Ruby Watchco, trained at George Brown College in Toronto, worked her way up the ranks to become the executive chef at the Four Seasons in Toronto and New York before competing on the Food network’s Iron Chef America and subsequently debuting her own Food Network Canada show. Rose Reisman is an intelligent and innovative entrepreneur who began her career by self-publishing a cookbook in 1988. Since then she has extended her brand into a multitude of businesses including a catering company, a daily food delivery service as well as a personal website devoted to preventing diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and other diseases controlled by lifestyle and nutrition. Note that their paths were not through the corporate foodservice world but through employing passion, innovation and entrepreneurship to succeed as women of influence. These are just a small number of women who have pursued a path to career success. Looking to them as an example should hopefully show women of the foodservice industry that are struggling with unconscious or conscious gender biases that there’s more than one avenue to career fulfillment and success.

One of the biggest struggles when attending a cocktail reception is the awkwardness of juggling a wine glass and plate of appetizers. It pretty much means foregoing either the wine or the appetizers or the entire attendee pool clusters around the food stations and cruiser tables so they have places to set their plates or glasses. What if you could offer your customers a solution to this problem?

Enter the Cocktail Plate.

This nifty plate allows for guests to hold their crystal wine glass and appetizer plate in one hand enabling them to freely use the other hand to shake hands of newly acquainted guests or use gestures to properly illustrate their story.

One of the questions we get asked most is "How do you use a cocktail plate?"

The answer lies ahead.

Imagine you’ve just arrived at a party and after some preliminary circling have headed for the bar to imbibe in a fabulous Chardonnay.

Step 1: Pick up fabulous Chardonnay

In order to make sure you behave professionally and alcohol doesn’t cloud your judgement, you’re going to want to have something to eat. So you head to the food stations to pick up some food.

Step 2: Pick up appetizers

By now you have two hands full and none available to network with. Here’s where the cocktail plate really shines.

Step 3: Place stem of wine glass in ‘c’ indent of cocktail plate and let wine glass rest on plate

Voila! One hand free to shake hands with everyone in the room!

A note of caution: This cocktail plate really shines when you’re mixing and mingling standing up – just be careful that you remove your wine glass BEFORE placing your plate down on a table. If you forget this, you’ll have a glass of wine all over yourself, the table or both.

Your customers will love being able to rent a plate like this that helps solve a common networking problem.