Operations Management
10 Tips for a Great Concession Stand
If you’re wondering how to build a concession stand that’s successful, you’re in luck! We’ve compiled 10 tips for operating a booming concession business, from planning your menu to buying the right concession stand equipment.
What is Liftgate Service and Do You Need It?
Typically, heavy equipment is shipped on a pallet and arrives on a semi-truck. If you have access to a loading dock, that’s great! The truck will pull up, and you should be good to go. However, what if your business doesn’t have access to a dock? That’s where liftgate service comes into play.
What to Know About Front of House Layout and Design
Set the stage for an engaging front of house aesthetic for an unbeatable dining experience, covering key principles such as lighting and decor, furniture, flatware, glassware, dinnerware, and tabletop accessories.
The Six Principles of Back of House Layout and Design
Before opening your dream restaurant, to ensure efficient operation, you must factor in these six principles into your back of house, commercial kitchen design.
How Restaurants Can Adjust to the Ongoing Labor Shortage
Few industries felt the impact of COVID-19 more than restaurants. Yet even as case rates go down and government restrictions fade, restaurants continue to struggle with the labor shortage the coronavirus left in its wake. High restaurant staff turnover has always been an issue, but the pandemic sparked a labor shortage much larger and more pervasive than ever before.
What is the Best Oil for Deep Frying?
Don’t toil over oil: Central Restaurant Product’s oil guide for deep frying. Featuring frequently asked questions about the different types of deep frying oil, and a handy guide for which oil is best for different types of food.
Clean, Sanitize, or Disinfect: Which Do I Do?
Keep every area of your commercial kitchen, restaurant, or home safe. What is the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting? Let’s review.
Grab-N-Go: School Solutions for Safe Serving, Portable Meal Programs, and A-La-Carte Upsells
The right grab-n-go solution can resolve many obstacles school meal programs have faced as a result of COVID-19. These include safely delivering meals to students, alleviating menu fatigue, and softening the financial blow by promoting a-la-carte upsells.
Contactless Hiring in the Service Industry
Recruiting and retaining top talent has always been a challenge in the service industry, but arguably more so during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Learn about the unique challenges and solutions for finding ideal candidates.
How to Create a Menu for Food-Sensitive Customers
Restaurants are adding menu items like vegan burgers, gluten free buns, tofu, and more to cater to diners with dietary restrictions. If you haven’t updated your menu recently to work in these trends, we’re here to help.
Efficient Sanitizing Solutions for the Bar and Beyond
As the foodservice industry continues to adapt to stricter sanitizing guidelines, new innovations are hitting the market to enhance efficiencies and help operators to prioritize the health and wellbeing of patrons and staff.
How Holding Cabinets Have Been Helping Foodservices Adapt to the New Normal
Holding cabinets keep food at safe temperatures and limit contact before service. We discuss benefits of holding cabinets.
10 Ways to Optimize Your Restaurant Delivery
With more restaurants turning to delivery services, we discuss how to optimize for short waits and fresh food.
Schools & COVID-19: Placing Hand Sanitizing Stations
Central laid out the best places in your school to set up sanitizing stations. Keep everyone safe when reopening schools and public places.
Restaurant Cleaning Checklist & Kitchen Procedures
A lot happens in the kitchen. Keep up with regular cleaning and maintenance for a clean safe environment that will also keep your equipment lasting longer while performing better.
Repurpose Your School’s Equipment to Meet COVID-19 Challenges
Schools are preparing for reopening their doors in the fall under new regulations for COVID-19. Utilize existing equipment to enforce safe practices.
Improve Sustainability in The Kitchen
With increases in the millennial generation’s spending share, there is also an observable demand for sustainable offerings. Nielsen reports approximately 75% of millennials are willing to pay more for products and services that make an effort to positively impact and preserve the environment. Likewise, more than half of the Baby Boomer generation are also willing to support companies in this endeavor.
How to Make a Profit Selling Juice
There’s a lot to cover when it comes to making and selling fresh juice. A juice business is nothing new, but it’s something that you should consider if you haven’t yet. In the United States, juice businesses can be profitable because of the popularity among customers for the convenience in getting required nutrients, making the juice business a natural pair.
Guide to Reopening K-12 Schools Amid COVID-19
As schools prepare for the return of staff and students, it’s important that safety precautions are impletemented to protect against the threat of COVID-19. Our guide outlines cleaning and disinfecting procedures, adapting the classroom to accommodate social distancing practices, and extra steps to protect those at a higher risk of severe illness. Is your school ready to reopen?
Cleaning and Disinfectant Procedures for COVID-19 in the K-12 Setting
Review how long the novel coronavirus lives on surfaces, how to properly sanitize, suggestions from the CDC, and more with a focus on the K-12 setting.
Reopening Your Restaurant Amid COVID-19
As state-mandated restrictions regarding COVID-19 begin to lift around the country, many restaurants will be resuming dine-in service. Precautions must be taken to protect your staff and patrons. Learn what steps to take to safely reopening your restaurant with our how-to guide.
Maximizing Your Restaurant Space While Promoting Social Distancing
While you may be accepting and seating customers again, it will be crucial to set up your dining space to promote healthy distancing. We’ve compiled our ideas to help you maximize the number of guests you can serve while continuing to keep distance between customers.
How to Properly Disinfect Your Stainless Steel Equipment
The COVID-19 coronavirus can live on a stainless steel work surface for up to three days. Cleaning and polishing aren’t enough. Step by step instructions for thoroughly killing bacteria and viruses on stainless steel work surfaces.
Foodservice Resources for Navigating COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, we’re committed to developing updated resources to help the foodservice community navigate these uncharted and uncertain times. See best practices for restaurants and government resources.
Shared Kitchens: What They Are and How They Can Help Your Operation
Shared kitchens are rising in popularity, providing sanitary commercial spaces to expand your operation, great for catering and delivery services.
Is Opening a Restaurant Right for You? The Types of Restaurants to Consider
Whether you’ve always dreamed of opening a restaurant or you’re searching for an opportunity to be your own boss, knowing all the types of restaurants and what’s required to operate will go a long way in helping you make the right decision for your goals.
How to Start a Food Truck Business
Before you run out and buy a food truck, you need to give your idea all the careful scrutiny you’d give a restaurant or any other business. That means doing some research and making a plan.
How to Open a Restaurant: Your Complete Guide
Many dream of opening their own restaurant. If you’re interested in making your dream a reality, we’re here to help with this definitvie guide to opening a restaurant, which explores restaurant concept development, seeking expert advice, writing a business plan, securing funding, site selection, operations and staffing up, and training and startup.
How to Hire a Restaurant Manager
Whether you’re opening your first restaurant or you’re an old hand, your success largely depends on a great team. Here’s how to hire one.
How to Open a Bar: Everything You Should Know
Opening a bar can sometimes be easier than opening a restaurant, but only if you have a smart plan. Learn how much it costs to open a bar, the benefits, rules and regulations, how to develop a concept and open a successful bar.
How to Hire for Restaurants
As the saying goes, good help is hard to come by. And the restaurant industry has always had notoriously high turnover rates. How do you recruit quality staff quickly? We have the answers?
10 Common Mistakes Bar Owners Make
Running an efficient bar takes hard work, and mistakes are inevitable. However, certain pitfalls can be avoided by learning about the common mistakes many bar owners make.
Best Practices for Running a Bar
Operating a successful bar takes long hours and hard work. However, these tried and true tips can make all that hard work pay off in big ways.
Deciding What Type of Bar to Open
Opening a bar first begins with deciding which type of bar to open. The type of bar that’s right for you needs to fit with your personality as well as customer needs. Learn all about the various types of bars here.
How to Save Money When Building a Restaurant (And Where You Shouldn’t Cut Costs)
Some things are necessary and others can be bypassed. Hear from experts where to save money when building a restaurant.
Equipping A Sandwich Shop
Serving the perfect sandwich starts with more than just the ingredients. Having the right equipment and supplies sets up your sandwich shop for success.
Catering Equipment and Supplies: List of Most Important Items
What equipment and supplies are needed to run a catering business? Let’s review the most important items operators need to be successful.
How to Market Your Food Truck to Stay Ahead of Competition
The food truck industry is fiercely competitive and you need to stand out. We discuss how to promote and publicize your food truck business to get ahead.
10 Reasons for Starting a Food Truck (and 7 Cautionary Points)
Food trucks are a growing trend. If you’ve had a notion to jump in, here are some good reasons why it makes sense.
39 Ways to Finance a New Restaurant
There are lots of ways to fund your dream of opening a restaurant, especially if you’re willing to think creatively. Loans are one option, of course, be they from financial institutions or private lenders. And there are many others, despite the high risk associated with opening a restaurant—and even with a poor credit rating in your history.
The Right Equipment to Build a Better Bar
The fewer steps a bartender has to take, the more drinks per hour they can make. Here are some tried and true tips for enhancing service and efficiencies in your bar.
What It Really Costs to Open a Restaurant
The cost to starting a restaurant depends on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, location, size and type, leasing or owning, and more. Learn what to expect, and download our Restaurant Startup Cost Checklist here.
Restaurant Menus: Creating the Perfect Menu to Drive Sales
Your restaurant’s menu is the first chance you have to make a glowing impression. However, writing and designing the perfect menu is a balancing act that requires research and some design thinking. Learn the dos and don’ts of writing and designing the perfect menu from industry experts.
Customer Spotlight – Fundae’s Ice Cream & Sweets
“We kept waiting for an ice cream shop to open up, and nothing opened, so finally, we were like, ‘let’s just try it,’ so that’s what we did,”
Buying Guide for School Kitchens | Printable
School kitchens are different from your standard commercial restaurant kitchen. Specific supplies are needed to serve multiple meals a day to large groups of students, all the while keeping their vulnerable immune systems and food sensitivities top of mind. While a school only operates in certain months of the year, the cafeteria needs to be well prepared for high volume cooking and serving during these months.
The ABCs of Restaurant Health Inspections
Restaurant health inspections are a necessary part of running a commercial foodservice. They are designed to protect the general public by reducing the risk of a foodborne illness outbreak. Learn the do’s and don’ts of restaurant health inspections here, and view helpful health inspection checklists to ace your next inspection!
Wine Central: A Definitive Guide to Wine Service and Experience
Enhance your profit margin potential by offering exemplary wine service. Learn the ins and outs of the wine experience in our Definitive Guide to Wine Service and Experience, featuring key tips on serving and storing wine, pairing wine with food, tasting like a pro, and more.
What to Consider Before Opening an Ice Cream Shop
Ice cream is a universally loved treat, providing, a cool, creamy respite from the heat of summer. In addition, it’s also an enticing business option for the budding entrepreneur.
School Cafeteria Nutrition
Providing healthy, whole foods to children in schools has been a hot topic among districts, administrators, and even politicians. While the goal seems easy, it can be difficult to utilize a small budget to serve an entire school nutritious and fresh food. The federal government has been making positive changes to help make this a reality, but schools are still needing to get creative to provide students this food – and get them to eat it!
Employing Minors in the Kitchen: Know the Laws
Minors will often work in foodservice as part time or full-time work during school breaks. You might wonder what restaurant labor laws apply to you as a business owner and your employees. Like all businesses, the foodservice industry must abide by the Fair Labor Standards Act when employing all people, especially minors. While you are permitted to employ minors in your restaurant, you must make exceptions in the types and hours of work that you give people under the age of 18.
Common Kitchen Injuries and How to Treat Them
Working in the kitchen can be a fun but sometimes dangerous business. Whether you are a professional chef or just cooking at home, kitchen-safety is essential. While using proper technique and being careful can help to avoid most injuries, accidents can still happen to even the most careful cooks. So, we put together a useful guide that highlights the most common kitchen injuries and provided some tips on how to treat them.
Why A Restaurant Needs A Mission Statement
A restaurant can have amazing food, but without a mission, vision, and values to drive the actions of employees, the restaurant overall will suffer.
The 8 Steps to Designing a Restaurant Concept
Designing a restaurant concept isn’t simply a matter of constructing an attractive dining space or an effective food production kitchen. It’s a fine balance of accomplishing your objectives within a manageable budget. Because restaurants are subject to so many regulations, the design must not only be efficient and aesthetically pleasing, but also keep food and customer safety top of mind.
The Soft Opening: Planning for a Smooth Restaurant Opening
Opening a restaurant is a complex ballet of moving parts. Somehow it all comes together, but are you really ready to open?
Selecting Your Equipment Dealer
Price is only one factor to consider when choosing a commercial equipment dealer. Other considerations include reach, ease of ordering, and follow through post-purchase.
Having a Plan: The Importance of Planned Maintenance
Planned maintenance is not the same thing as preventive maintenance. It’s important to schedule regular service to best maintain your commercial equipment, instead of just reacting when something goes down.
Staying on Budget When Opening a Restaurant
There aren’t many people who can get a blank check to open a restaurant. And while it takes discipline to live within a budget, there are ways to work within its limits that won’t compromise your vision.
8 Surprises to Anticipate When Opening A Restaurant
What are the common challenges you should anticipate and prepare for when opening a restaurant? How you respond could predict how successful your restaurant will be.
Lessons Learned: Equipment Solutions for School Budgets
Few budgets are tighter than those of K-12 schools. For these operators, once they start working with Central Restaurant Products, many quickly discover why it’s smart to make Central Restaurant Products (CRP) their primary source for foodservice equipment purchases.
The Ultimate Guide to Restaurant Social Media
How many times have you been scrolling through your Facebook or Instagram feed, and become instantly jealous of a friend’s meal? Suddenly, you want to try a new restaurant that you didn’t even know about five minutes ago. This example, and many others like it, are part of a growing list of reasons why social media has become a restaurant’s best marketing tool.
Supply List for School Kitchens and Cafeterias
School kitchens are different from your standard commercial restaurant kitchen. Specific supplies are needed to serve multiple meals a day to large groups of students, all the while keeping their vulnerable immune systems and food sensitivities top of mind. While a school only operates in certain months of the year, the cafeteria needs to be well prepared for high volume cooking and serving during these months.
7 Secrets to a Successful Foodservice Equipment Installation
Following a few best practices when it comes to installing commercial equipment helps ensure the job is not only done right, but goes as smoothly as possible. You can avoid equipment install nightmares by using common sense, good communication and professional installer. Check out these 7 best practices to help your install and operation run smoothly.
Stay Out of the Doghouse: Know the Laws Surrounding Service Animals
The requirements and laws about accommodating service animals can be confusing, especially to you as a business owner. We’ve broken it down to make it easier.
Restaurant Hood Cleaning Made Easy
With today’s technology, kitchen exhaust systems are very good at doing their jobs. But over time, grease and effluent can build up in the hood, plenum, ductwork, exhaust fan and even the roof itself, becoming a hazard of its own. And if you think all you have to do is clean the grease baffles or filters in the hood once in a while, think again.
How Service Can Make (Or Break) Your Restaurant
With today’s fast-paced environment, your customers are expecting quick and polite service. Everybody is busy, and the longer that your customers wait for service, the less likely they are to continue waiting.
Understanding Shipping and Delivery
Your answers to understanding costs, timing, damage control and more behind shipping and delivery.
Rising Labor Costs: 10 Tips to Balance Expenses & Productivity
Minimum wages are rising, and as the economy adds jobs good help is getting harder to find.
Implementing a Point-of-Sale System
Today’s business operations are moving faster than ever. Keep up, keep organized, and let technology do most of the work for you by implementing a point-of-sale (POS) system. Learn all about the perks.
To Lease or Not to Lease?
Leasing is a convenient and flexible option used by businesses and residential consumers alike to acquire new, high-involvement purchase items like cars, homes, furniture, electronics, appliances, etc. The flexibility of leasing assists restaurants and other commercial foodservice establishments in several ways.
Sustainable Restaurant Practices Outside the Kitchen
We lay out a few ways your foodservice establishment can enhance its environmental preservation efforts in the dining room.
5 Tips for Attracting Millennials to Your Restaurant (And Why You Need To)
In the business setting, “Millennial” has been the hot buzzword for the last decade. Millennials, also known as Generation Y, consist of all those born at some point between 1982 and 2004. They have since come into their own as far as their capabilities to make...
Guest Post: 4 Steps to Keep Pesky Pests Away from Commercial Kitchens
Kitchen pests are an operator’s worst nightmare. Not only can they result in health code demerits, but it can lead to a loss of business and reputation. A kitchen meets all the criteria for pests to thrive so learn how to prevent infestation.
