Labor Shortage Solutions
A 3-part series to help you Recruit, Train and Retain new employees during an all-time low labor market.
Labor Shortage Solutions
Part I: Recruiting
Andy Cook, Harbor Foodservice Restaurant Solutions Group Consultant covers coping strategies, attracting talent and how to recruit like a marketer in Part 1 of our series "Labor Shortage Solutions".
Labor Shortage Solutions
Part II: Training
Andy Cook, Restaurant Consultant is joined by Derek Bugge, Chef Consultant. In Part 2 of our series "Labor Shortage Solutions", the focus is kept on the state of labor in May/June of 2021. Many restaurants are needing to fill 25-40% of their staff while facing less skilled applicants, skill drain among experienced workers, and an as-yet unknown industry-wide paradigm shift.
Labor Shortage Solutions
Part III: Retention
Andy Cook, Harbor Foodservice Restaurant Solutions Group Consultant covers compensation strategies, culture and leadership and culture and staff engagement in Part 3 of our series "Labor Shortage Solutions".
third party delivery
Best practices to get the most
(and Lose the Least) From 3rd Party Delivery
Better days are ahead but they won’t magically “snap” back. For many, 3rd Party Delivery (3PD) represents a significant aspect of their Covid dining flow. Every advantage counts: NEW allowances on menu pricing, controlling waste, and more…
Grow Your Direct Takeout Business
Use the statewide 15% commission cap
on 3rd party delivery to grow your direct takeout business
While scattered reports of certain 3rd Party Delivery (3PD) services NOT honoring WA’s 15% cap on commissions have come to our attention (this article expands on that and more #questionable 3PD practices), this is still a GREAT opportunity to use the service to grow direct takeout diners.
resources for success
5 “Must haves”
for every restaurant website
New Year’s resolution: update my restaurants website. Before you do, check this out to ensure that your website is up to the expectations of today’s diners.
Family Meal Kit Concepts
Family meal kits
As “Leftover Takeout” continues to trend and support do you have a Meal Program that both satisfies their cravings AND is profitable/productive for you? Not sure? Check out this short read.
Offsite Dining
Adapting to take-out & delivery.
As our communities, governments, and society have transformed to lifestyles of social distancing resulting in offsite dining as the only operational model for restaurants. Whether your restaurant(s) have been on the cutting edge of this dining segment, a relative newbie, or somewhere in between; the following encompass traditional best practices as well as current innovations and/or considerations emerging from COVID-19’s impact on the industry.
Supporting your back-of-house operations
A back-of-house perspective for COVID-19
We all know it by now, COVID-19 has totally disrupted the restaurant industry. With major changes to operations, most resources on how to best adapt have been focused on front-of-house operations. While front-of-house operations are key, a focus on back-of-house operations can help provide even more comfort to customers dining at your location. To provide a back-of-house perspective, our Chef, Derek Bugge, shared insights on how he would adapt to support his team through COVID-19.
Managing your workforce through crisis
Workforce management
For most, your restaurant is more than a job, more than a community, it’s not unlike a family. A majority of us take this to heart and, as the head of the family, you want to take care of your staff in a manner consistent with that perspective. This is easy to do when your dining room is full, but what do you do when the government mandates you to shut your doors indefinitely?
Restaurant Restart
Refreshing your digital storefront
More than ever before, people are screen first approach when exploring their options and informing their decisions, especially for restaurants. Chances are excellent that their first (re)visit to your restaurant will be online.
Utilizing value-added
Counter a labor shortage
with Chef Derek Bugge
As every restaurant in the state is being forced to shut its doors for the next few weeks, many are opting to offer take-out and delivery. Here is a generic list of commonly used value-added items to start using immediately to assist in minimizing labor hours while maintaining those standards.
Staying ahead of the game
QR coded menus:
What you need to know (plus best practices)
Covid-19 mandated ‘single use’ menus, are costly and wasteful. Restaurants and bars across the industry are turning to QR Codes that are linked to digital menus and contain the menu exploration experience on your guest’s smartphones.
Sanitation and Operational Adaptation
Sanitation checklist
The successful reopening of dining rooms and bars as shelter-in-place regulations begin to ease will depend on the appropriate balance of adhering to currently mandated regulations and public sentiment requiring adjustments to your physical spaces and operational shifts.
Our checklist includes front and back-of-house, office areas, staff considerations and more.
Industry market reports
12/19/24
Beef, poultry & pork market update
This weekly update will give you information gathered from the meat industries to help you prepare with pricing, availability and overall expectations regarding your meat based products.
12/19/24
Produce market
Your produce market report will give you market alerts on all produce items, a weather update, a freight update and a commodities at a glance graphic so you can see exactly where the market lies for each individual item.
12/12/24
Seafood markets
This report looks at seafood markets as supplied from our vendor partner Northern Fish.