Blog posts tagged with 'restaurants'

A couple weeks ago I was browsing Reddit and stumbled across a fantastic question from an apprentice chef asking other chefs what their favourite cooking YouTube channels were. There were some fantastic suggestions that I thought was worth mentioning. So often when creative people are constantly brainstorming innovative ways of doing things – whether it be writing a new blog post, or developing a new recipe it can be hard to stay inspired. Creative blocks can be stressful and anxiety ridden and one of the best ways to unstick your head is learning something new. YouTube offers us content that can help us get out of our heads and force us to see a new perspective on our craft. Here are some chef-sourced favourite YouTube cooking channels sure to inspire a new and wonderful recipe for your next daily or monthly special.

Food Wishes

Food Wishes is an allrecipes production boasting more than 1 million subscribers and starring Chef John. The channel posts 2-3 new recipes a week designed to improve culinary skills and make viewers laugh. The food is the star on this channel – with Chef John acting as the voice instead of the talent. This channel has been around since 2007 and boasts 1134 videos and counting. The most popular video on this channel is the inside-out grilled cheese sandwich with over 6.5 million views.

Cooking with Dog

Cooking with Dog is a YouTube cooking show featuring 975,000 subscribers which stars the cutest canine host Francis and a mysterious Japanese Chef whose real name is not disclosed. While Chef cooks a variety of popular dishes in Japan, Francis calmly sits next to her and narrates the recipes step-by-step in English. This channel has been around since 2007 and has 238 videos and counting. They post a video every weekend with the most popular being how to make a bento lunch box with over 5 million views. Redditers say the cooking show has a hilarious narrator though some of the western-influenced plates are a hot mess. Look to this show for Japanese staples.

The RIVESTAURANT

Though not a professional, The RIVESTAURANT, featuring Chris Rivest has over 26,000 subscribers and has been active since 2008 with 51 videos and growing. Redditor Chahles88 says he’s highly entertaining and a lot of his techniques are pretty good (though not a professional). The most popular video on the channel is the slow larry – a bacon and cheese stuffed burger with over 475,000 views. *drool* Note that there’s a lot of swearing in this series.

Stella Culinary

A great resource for novice chefs, Stella Culinary features a ton of videos that teach you tips and techniques on how to cook as a professional chef. With over 27,000 subscribers, and 170 videos including food science, prep, knife skills, butchery & meal fabrication, cooking techniques etc., there’s something for everyone. The most popular video on Stella Culinary is how to lay out a simple fruit platter with over 1.3 million views.

My Drunk Kitchen

Honestly the most entertaining (well except for Francis the dog) channel when you need some much needed laughs after a long shift. Featuring guests such as Jamie Oliver, Whoopi Goldberg and more, the always fantastically hilarious Hannah Hart brings puns, optimism and a healthy dose of entertainment to her cooking show. With 1.9 million followers, a cookbook and a place to buy her swag, Hannah has over 630 videos to be entertained with. The most popular video on My Drunk Kitchen (MDK) is Episode 1 of MDK is Butter Yo Shit with 3.6 million views.

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo we’re busting out our margarita glasses and providing our restauranteurs and chefs with some of the must-have margarita recipes for your menu. We’re willing to taste test for you as well!

The Proper Margarita Recipe (or as Chow’s Senior Editor says “the only way to make margaritas”)

Photo Source: Chow

What you need:

• Salt for rimming
• Margarita Glass or Rocks Glass
• Ice
• 1 ½ oz 100 percent agave tequila
• 1 oz freshly squeeze lime juice
• ½ oz Cointreau (not Triple Sec)

For complete instructions head over to Chow.com for the play by play.

The Best Coconut Margarita Recipe (that’s a lot of margarita’s one had to drink to lay claim to “the best”)

Photo credit: foodiecrush.com

What you need:

• Margarita Glass or Rocks Glass
• 1½ ounces Patron reposado tequila
• ½ ounce cointreau
• 1 ounce coconut cream
• 1 ounce coconut milk
• ½ ounce fresh lime juice
• Splash of half and half
• Splash of simple syrup (1/2 cup sugar, ½ cup water brought to a boil until sugar dissolved, then cooled.)
• lime wedges for garnish

This recipe looks absolutely divine and the story behind the Patron Tequila Express train along with images is a great read and visual experience! To read the full story and get the instructions, head on over to Foodiecrush.com.

Skinny Marg’s Recipe

Photo credit: Shape.com

What you need:

• Margarita Glass or Rocks Glass
• 1 ounce añejo tequila
• 1 ounce Cointreau
• ½ ounce lime juice
• 1 pinch pink Himalayan salt
• Polar® Ginger Lemonade Seltzer

For the health conscious guest, here’s a margarita lighter on the waistline but heavy on the flavour. For instructions on how to make, head over to Shape.com.

Blood Orange Margarita Recipe

What you need:

• Margarita Glass or Rocks Glass
• 3 oz juice from a freshly squeezed blood orange
• 2 oz 100% agave tequila
• 1 oz Triple Sec orange flavoured liqueur
• splash of agave syrup (optional yet recommended by recipe creators Todd Porter & Diane Cu)

Todd Porter & Diane Cu’s blood orange margarita recipe is making my mouth water as I write this post. Check out their recipe, full instructions to produce this gorgeously hued drink along with their fantastic and famous food photography at whiteonricecouple.com.

Strawberry Margarita Mocktail Recipe

Photo credit: everydaysouthwest.com

What you need:

• Margarita Glass or Rocks Glass
• 10 oz frozen strawberries, thawed
• 6 oz can frozen limeade concentrate
• ½ cup orange juice
• 20 oz lemon-lime soda, chilled
• 3 cups of crushed ice
• Fresh strawberries for garnish (optional)

Let’s be honest – not everyone can or wants to indulge in alcoholic libations so I’ve included a mockarita (?)… mocktail margarita (?) …whatever you want to call it for those wanting to live on the edge without the edge in the drink! For full recipe and instructions, head over to everydaysouthwest.com.

What are your favourite recipes? Let us know in the comments!

Photo courtesy of: Champion Industries

Anyone working at a foodservice establishment that sells beverages, whether it be a pub, bar, club, quick-service, fast casual or full service restaurant, knows the importance of finding a glass washer that can quickly and sanitarily turn-around all shapes and sizes of bar glasses. Whenever I am in the process of purchasing a product, I’m interested in finding the best for what I’m willing to pay. Because of this, I thought it was worth rounding up the best glass washers available in Canada for foodservice operators.

Check out the companies selling glass washers below:

Champion Industries, Inc.

Champion touts themselves as the dishwashing and glasswashing machine specialists which isn’t hard to see why. They specialize almost exclusively in warewashing machines. They sell a wide range of glass washers including rotary or pass through glass washing machines. Their machines clean and sanitize up to 2000 glasses per hour with clearances of up to 12” for taller stemware. They feature a 3-pump injection system for precise dispensing.

Hobart

Hobart is a well-known foodservice brand that manufactures foodservice equipment for warewashing, cooking, food preparation and waste treatment. They manufacture four different kinds of glass washers all glass rack models. They can clean and sanitize between 770 – 2160 glasses per hour depending on the model purchased. All can fit under bar or counter and all feature no escaping steam upon opening of the glass washer door. Their larger models allow double racks effectively doubling the capacity. They boast being the first commercial glass washer in the world with active drying technology to remove moisture from the glass.

CMA Dishmachines

CMA Dishmachines is another company that specializes exclusively in glass & warewashing equipment. Their machines can clean and sanitize between 600 to 1000 glasses per hour depending on the machine. They have both rotary (carousel) and glass rack with door models. They have an energy star rated model, and the ability of a pumped drain allowing for flexible installations with no floor drain required.

Fagor (Sold through Hendrix Restaurant Equipment)

Fagor specializes in warewashing, combi ovens and refrigeration. Their undercounter glass washer features capacity for 972 glasses per hour, one year parts warranty, and high temperature sanitation to protect your glasses and have them come out cleaner and dryer than traditional sanitation methods. Their machine also doubles as a dishwasher should you need it to.

With the exception of our spandex cocktail table covers, we've been stocking all sizes of tablecloths in three colours—white, black and ivory. Our customers have loved the quality of the tablecloths and our wide range of sizes, but they have consistently asked us for more colour options. We talked with numerous customers and the most common colour requested was navy blue tablecloths by a wide margin. I'm pleased to announce that, effective immediately, we now have navy tablecloths in stock.

You can purchase a navy blue tablecloth in the following sizes:

• 60 in x 102 in rectangle polyester
• 60 in x 126 in rectangle polyester
• 90 in round polyester
• 108 in round polyester
• 30 in spandex cocktail table cover
• 30 in spandex cocktail table topper

Our polyester tablecloths are 180 gsm polyester fabric featuring a surged hem and seamless design. Our spandex table covers are 190 gsm spandex fabric also featuring a surged hem, with reinforced boots to avoid any ripping.

Menu optimization is a fine balance between attracting and pleasing customers while meeting the needs of a restaurant’s profits. It’s easy to focus too heavily on marketing while forgetting about the bottom line or focusing too much on the latter and not enough on the former. Not only that, but coupled with the overwhelming number of articles and books on menu optimization and lack of time everyone these days seems to face, it’s enough to drive someone crazy.

To help you use your time most efficiently and learn something new to make you better at your job (and hopefully more money in your pockets), we’ve compiled 16 of our favourite menu optimization tips. Study them! You’ll learn fantastic new tips you can implement on your menus to squeeze the most value out of your menu.

On Menu Items:

1. Keep track of what your customers order most and which menu items will generate the most profit for your bottom line and highlight those prominently. Source.

2. Update your menu seasonally – not only does this ensure you’re taking advantage of lower cost, in-season produce, but it also keeps the menu just fresh enough that repeat visitors are attracted back again and again. Keep the favourites and signature dishes on the menu but use seasonal specials as a way to try new menu items that can hopefully replace underperforming dishes with a high popularity, high profit margin winner. Source.

On Menu Design:

3. Never forget the attraction of mouth-watering, taste inducing descriptions combined with delicious food photography. Something that looks and sounds amazing to eat can increase sales by up to 27%. Source.

4. On average, customers only spend 90 seconds reading a menu. Reduce your menu length by eliminating under-performing menu items and increase white space making the menu easier to read while increasing the likelihood of high-margin items being chosen. Source.

5. Instead of featuring drinks and desserts on the main menu, where they can get lost, use separate menus for drinks and desserts to make them stand out. Also consider putting higher margin drinks and desserts on table tents to tantalize the appetite and leave them wanting more. Source.

6. Consider pushing more alcoholic beverage sales by highlighting complementary pairings on the menu. On average, the margin from a single-portion alcoholic beverage was nearly twice that of the average non-alcoholic beverage. Source.

7. Reduce visibility of lower margin menu items by relocating to back of menu. Source.

8. Utilize borders and shading to highlight and emphasize higher margin menu items to draw the eye. Source.

9. Reference Grandma’s homemade peach cobbler or Mama’s Succulent BBQ & Beer Pork to tug on heart strings. Utilizing menu psychology, customers like the names of mothers, grandmothers and other relatives on their menus – research shows they are much more likely to buy. Source.

10. You can also impact the sales of certain items based on their position on the page. Hot spots include the first page’s top right corner and the top or bottom item in each category. Source.

On Menu Pricing:

11. Embed price in the description of a menu item so you don’t attract attention to the price alone and unintentionally highlight all lower-priced items. Source.

12. Alternatively, remove dollar signs from the menu because it immediately reminds customers they’re spending money. Source.

13. Ensure your pricing speaks to your brand and restaurant concept – if you’re a high-end full service restaurant, pricing items with .99 is tacky and aggressive and doesn’t denote quality. If you’re a restaurant focused on providing value though, pricing that includes .99 works, but .95 works even better as it’s friendlier and more effective. Source.

14. Price the highest markup to be on the second-least expensive bottle of wine as many diners will order the second least-expensive bottle or glass of wine to avoid looking cheap. Source.

On Menu Strategy:

15. Learn to say no. In restaurants (same as in business) it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to be all things to all people by trying to put too many items on the menu to please everyone. Not only does this drive up food costs, but can also confuse customers. Focus on a niche that works with your restaurant brand. Doing this will ensure the critics fall by the wayside while the evangelists sing your praises far and wide. Source.

16. Ensure an open feedback loop exists from front of the house to the chef so guest feedback can be taken into account when revising the menu. If you don’t know what customers rave about and can do without, you won’t be able to know what to scratch off the menu and what needs more prominence. Source: March/April 2015 Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News Print Edition