(703) 298-2706
My Take
Employment Crisis in Restaurants
I have procrastinated on writing this summary. Our second questionnaire sought data on the current state of staffing and recruiting for restaurants. (For those who missed the first summary, there are 25 respondents to these questionnaires, representing thousands of restaurant units in all segments.) I wanted to write something profound and perceptive about the labor […]
Full PostAdvice from the Industry – Accrued Rent
It’s no secret that restaurants, especially independent and full-service restaurants, have been hit hard by the pandemic. And as common in distress situations, with crisis comes advice from all corners. Unfortunately, a lot of the advice being offered is not so good. Like the recent article featured in a prominent trade publication titled “How Restaurants […]
Full PostOpenTable Roundtable – Recruiting during the Age of COVID
Thanks to Winston Lord, Chief Evangelist at OpenTable and the rest of OpenTable team, I was privileged to moderate another virtual roundtable last week. This one centered around recruiting and hiring as our restaurant community relaunches their businesses while COVID still dominates how we operate. We had an all-star cast of top US based operators […]
Full PostSupport During and post- COVID
As you and your business work your way through this unprecedented time in the restaurant industry, you are being faced with the need to understand and negotiate the many operating restrictions created by the COVID crisis. Decisions regarding team and guest health and safety, changes in Standard Operating Practices, operating budgets and cash flow (especially […]
Full PostTableside
Tableside Semantics In the past two weeks, I’ve had no less than 6 strangers introduce themselves to me in restaurants and relate what they were going to do for me. Each time they said, “Hi, my name is Alex and I’ll be your server”, I couldn’t help but respond “ Thanks for clearing that up. […]
Full PostWhat comes after the Corona Crisis?
I started this commentary in early April, as a prediction on what the restaurant landscape would look like on the other side of the pandemic. I was writing it with my friend, Alex Robertson, CEO of e-gift card company, GiftRocker. Alex got side tracked and I put it away waiting for his input. So here […]
Full Post