We posted a blog two days ago, The Ugly Truth about Dirty Restaurants and Yelp, and it has generated some very passionate comments about Yelp and the people who were apparently sickened by the restaurant. The original article that the blog is based off is from the Food Poison Journal. I don’t own a restaurant …
Technology
The Ugly Truth about Dirty Restaurants and Yelp
Would you eat in a restaurant if you knew that the week before they got several people sick? You would be a fool if you did. Yelp is going from a review site to the first line of defense in foodborne illness outbreaks. We’ve been very supportive of Yelp posting health inspection scores on their …
McDonald’s tests delivery in New York
As part of their turnaround strategy McDonald’s has launched a delivery service test in the NYC market. The market consists of 88 stores and the ordering and delivery will be managed through Postmates which is a mobile app technology that allows customers to place orders through their mobile device. The delivery is then performed by …
MIT Is Developing Sensors To Detect When Food Is Going Bad
An article on fastcoexist.com talks about an MIT lab working on a sensor that will tell you when food is going bad vs relying on labels placed on the items. The stat in the article cites that in the US we waste 40% of the food that we harvest. They claim that sell by and …
A Restaurant Without A Restaurant
There’s a great article in Wired about David Chang’s new venture, Maple. Talk about going crazy with implementing technology in a restaurant. Maple is a fine dining restaurant that you can’t dine in. That’s right they only offer delivery ordered through their mobile app. They have one kitchen in the financial district of Manhattan with …
Pizza chains thrive on convenience, value, technology
Nation’s Restaurant News posted an article today on the turnaround and success of large pizza chains recently. Publicly traded pizza chains posted a 6.4% same store sales growth in the 4th quarter of last year. Domino’s posted 14.5% sales growth in the first quarter. Marco’s Pizza’s net sales rose 41% last year. So there are …
Sexy Thermometer Calibration
Shame on you if you clicked on this because you saw the word sexy; you need to get some. We found this great article on Kitchen Thermometer Calibration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Here are some of the points that I found most interesting and the full article is at the bottom of the …
Busy Work the Profit Killer
Everyday restaurant managers transcribe data from one system into another manually. This manual busy work is a massive waste of time, it keeps manager’s off the floor where they belong, it is soul-crushing and incredibly expensive. Here are some common examples: 1. Take labor numbers from the register system and enter them into a labor …
Not Going Paperless Costs Money Too
It was 4:30pm on a typical weekday around our house and we had no idea what we were going to have for dinner. So my wife decided to go online and order Garbanzo. Garbanzo is a Colorado chain; they are like the Chipotle of Middle Eastern food. They make their pita bread fresh to order and …
Are consumers rejecting giant restaurant chains?
McDonald’s has been in the news a lot lately between their slugging financials and the most recently announced pay increase. This article from Nation’s Restaurant News examines the possible reasons for the sluggish performance of 4 of the top 5 restaurant chains; McDonald’s, Subway, Wendy’s, and Burger King. Burger King is the only one of the …