If you run a restaurant, you’ve tried your hand at in-house marketing. Maybe you’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of stuffing daily specials into table tents, only to see your customers push them off to the side like a dirty plate. Or you’ve looked into the glazed-over eyes of a customer who is clearly not listening as you list off the night’s specials. If not, then you’ve definitely shuttered in horror at the blatant typo on the event flyer you just printed and planned to tuck into guest’s checkbooks.
Many of these methods are used all over the restaurant industry, from mom-and-pop diners to white table cloth bistros. But these efforts are often overlooked by guests because they’re scattered advertisements that don’t come to guests at the right time.
But if you’re restaurant is using digital menus, you can better integrate marketing to guest’s into the dining experience. And you’ll never have to worry about replacing table tents again.
Here are some tips for using digital menus for marketing.
Read more
How to Deal with the Free Drink Dilemma
/in Customer Experience, Industry Trends, Restaurants, Tips & Tricks /by Kyle ThackerThe free drink is an apocryphal tenet of bartending. The comped shot, or buy back, should never be given away willy nilly by a bartender. It also shouldn’t be expected by a customer. But, if used properly, that privileged dram can be a powerful tool for rewarding loyal patronage. The danger of the free drink is if this privilege gets abused. Restaurant operators can’t have their employees giving away the bar, and bartenders shouldn’t rely on comped drinks in lieu of good service. But, if exhibited with finesse, a drink on-the-house can be a tradition both time honored and beneficial to all parties. And a party it is. But, as a restaurant operator, how should you go about enforcing a policy that keeps bartenders honest while also giving them the ability to show love for a well-liked patron?
Read more
Uncorkd’s Weekly News Round Up
/in Industry Trends, News & Information, Restaurants /by Kyle ThackerEvery Friday Uncorkd will compile a list of the restaurant and beverage industry stories that had us talking this week. Here’s our list of must read articles from the web this week. Featuring Whisky Advocate awards, salvaged foods, new dessert trends, and the ever present purchasing power of millennial diners. Read more
4 Ways Restaurants Can Wipe Out Food Waste
/in Food, Industry Trends, Restaurants, Tips & Tricks /by Kyle ThackerFood waste is a big problem for restaurants. It means higher costs. It’s also a larger community problem as it compounds front page issues like sustainability and hunger. Cutting back food waste should be high priority for all restaurants. For one, it reduces operating costs while helping kitchens run more efficiently through improved oversight. Wiping out food waste also creates an opportunity to become an active and positive member of your local community. By becoming a leader in combating local issues, restaurant’s can gain followers from the glow of positive PR. It’s a win/win for restaurants and the community. Here are a few ways to avoid food waste. Read more
Best Moscato Wines to Look for on the Restaurant Wine List
/in Wine /by Josh SaundersI was about to start writing about drinks for the holidays, it is December after all, and people are looking to brew up some eggnog. But I thought, let’s go against the grain – what’s one of the biggest trends right now in wine (even in these cold winter months for some of us)… Moscato! I started looking at Google search trends and two things immediately popped up in rising popularity, Fruity Alcoholic Drinks and Moscato. In fact, searches for Moscato and best Moscato wine have surged 1550%. Read more
Beverage Trends for 2016: Technology
/in Industry Trends, Restaurant Technology, Technology /by Kyle ThackerThe world is tripping over itself trying to keep up with how fast it’s changing. New apps and gadgets are announced everyday. Some are simply cool ideas that don’t pan out, others can’t get enough users to become useful. But each year it seems we see a few products innovative and accessible enough to disrupt entire industries. The major effects these tech advances have had on the restaurant industry is in fast-casual restaurants and through delivery services. As these technologies become more focused on mobile, consumers will have easier access to food services than ever before. While more casual and quick eateries have successfully adopted new modes of operating, how will full-service restaurants be impacted by technology in 2016.
Read more
Beverage Trends for 2016: Beer
/in Beer, Industry Trends, Restaurants /by Kyle ThackerThe aftershock of the craft beer boom is still being felt, and not just the tremors. The explosion has been more like a night of fireworks than a single detonation. The do-it-yourself ethos of microbreweries has blown holes in Big Beer’s dominance of the U.S. market. New breweries and brewpubs are popping up all across America, and as distribution increases, more bars and restaurants have craft-minded beer lists. Regional beer markets have created new forms of tourism, and gives local beer geeks more ammunition to argue with in comment threads on blogs across the globe. With no signs of slowing, what trends should we expect to see in 2016? Read more
Beverage Trends for 2016: Wine
/in Industry Trends, Wine /by Kyle ThackerIt’s that time of year again. We dust off our crystal balls and look ahead to the new year and predict what fun awaits us after winter. Last week, we looked at cocktail and spirit trends to watch in 2016. This week, we venture into the wide world of wine. 2015 saw big growth for sparkling wines like Prosecco, and the rise of Rosé brought us the amazing term “brosé.”
What wine trends will break out in 2016?
Read more
Creating Dynamic New Marketing with Digital Menus
/in Ipad Menus, Restaurants, Technology, Tips & Tricks /by Kyle ThackerIf you run a restaurant, you’ve tried your hand at in-house marketing. Maybe you’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of stuffing daily specials into table tents, only to see your customers push them off to the side like a dirty plate. Or you’ve looked into the glazed-over eyes of a customer who is clearly not listening as you list off the night’s specials. If not, then you’ve definitely shuttered in horror at the blatant typo on the event flyer you just printed and planned to tuck into guest’s checkbooks.
Many of these methods are used all over the restaurant industry, from mom-and-pop diners to white table cloth bistros. But these efforts are often overlooked by guests because they’re scattered advertisements that don’t come to guests at the right time.
But if you’re restaurant is using digital menus, you can better integrate marketing to guest’s into the dining experience. And you’ll never have to worry about replacing table tents again.
Here are some tips for using digital menus for marketing.
Read more
Beverage Trends for 2016: Cocktails & Spirits
/in Cocktails, Industry Trends, Spirits /by Kyle ThackerIt’s an exciting time to drink in America. In most cities, you can head in any direction and find a bar to saddle up to that will serve you an inventive and original house cocktail. The current cocktail and spirit renaissance has brought on a new golden age of imbibing. With a refocus on ingredients, technique, and integrity, bartenders have helped drinkers shake off the hangover from the days of over-sweetened drinks made with premixes of unearthly colors. Bar patrons only seem more curious and open to trying new things, so there doesn’t look to be any signs of the renaissance slowing.
What will the beverage trends for 2016 be?
Read more
How Your Restaurant Can Create Innovative Cocktails
/in Cocktails, Industry Trends, Restaurants /by Kyle ThackerCocktail bars have reinvigorated drinker’s imaginations over the past decade. They’re the lifeline that has pulled cocktails from the depths of saccharine swamps filled with frozen daiquiris and sugar-rimmed cosmos. While these bars have certainly been innovative hubs of creativity, they’re most notable achievement, on a whole, has been as revivalists. While cocktail bars often look to the past for inspiration, one cocktail trend is set in the present. Culinary cocktails celebrate the philosophy of the kitchen. In today’s dining world, that means locally sourced ingredients with fresh flavors that reflect the seasons. Though exciting and inventive, culinary cocktails haven’t made as big a splash as some other beverage trends. More so, they’ve been a ripple: subtle but widespread. If you’re a restaurant thinking of revamping your cocktail program, you should look to the kitchen for inspiration.
Read more