Baltimore Business Journal’s Post

I remember the first few times my family went out to eat in restaurants when I was in my early teens. I came from humble beginnings so for me, eating at fast food joints was a treat. Taco Tuesdays at Taco Bell where you can get 50c tacos was the 💣. Add in an order of fries supreme and bottomless Dr. Pepper to make it a combo, nothing could make me happier. Then along came Toonie Tuesdays at KFC. Pfffttt, it was over as my family enjoyed fried chicken. Then I got into Arby’s 99 cent Roast Beef sandwiches…I could go on about the meals I enjoyed as a teenager growing up. Then as time went on and as I got older, my family started eating at restaurants like Cactus Club or Joeys, very popular restaurant chains today. I remember coaching my dad after each meal encouraging him to tip properly and appropriately. You see, I didn’t want to feel embarrassed leaving a restaurant after a meal. I believed that if you couldn’t afford to tip appropriately, you shouldn’t be eating out at restaurants. I did have that one friend I avoided making dinner plans with for that very reason lol. On a positive note, my father often publicly gave me credit that I taught him how to tip. 😏 These days, the pic attached is what I often see after the end of each meal. I’m curious what each of you think of the starting 18% tip option!! A close friend of mine recently opened a new restaurant in East Vancouver on 22nd ave. It’s a Sushi and Korean concept. I’m happy to report that they are doing quite well and business is booming. However, one problem they can’t seem to solve is how alarmingly low the tips have been. I hear stories at how clever some patrons are so they can leave minimal tip. For example, if the bill is $100, patrons ask to pay half in cash so they only tip on the remainding $50 on the machine!! 🤯🤯🤯. My friends are puzzled and perplexed and are considering giving the place a face lift to see if a nicer interior would inspire patrons to tip appropriately. I don’t think this is the answer. So I’m asking you my LinkedIn friends, if you owned this business and assuming the food is good and priced well, and service is great, what strategy would you use to increase the tips and keep your servers happy? Please leave a comment or slide into my DMs. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and help. Asking for a friend, JZ

How to run a restaurant successfully? Learn more:  https://lnkd.in/gCWVeUKi #nearestrestauranttome #linkedin #indianrestaurantnearme #sushinearme #l8nkedin #restaurant #food #socialmediapost #ads #banner #letsconnect #hire #recutres

If you know me, you know that my Super Bowl food preparations are not amateur. If you're running a professional food service operation on Super Bowl Sunday, you might need some extra tips to shine like a pro and get through the big game with ease. Check out this article from Food Institute, where I was quoted, for six restaurant strategies for Super Bowl Sunday. Link: https://lnkd.in/d-d2S8WC

Download SayNoCash App now and order your favourite food at Restaurant price. #SayNoCash #download #foodorder

THURSDAY IS THE NEW FRIDAY 🙂 Shrimp Shack is the new family restaurant in Streatham for seafood lovers!🦀🦐 Hence fishy Brand strapline 💯🤣 Only 1 choice for us vegans, burger🍔🤣 Mocktails only, alcohol free restaurant, hubby upset...🙄 Gone are my Friday hangovers, staggering to the station and missing my midnight bus!🤣 Life has certainly changed - rebranded, reinvented, renewed 🤸🏿♀️ Still living life in the fast lane even if it's just drink as much as you like soda 🤣 Whatever you're doing this weekend enjoy 💃🏿 #personalbranding #brandmanagement

Restaurant marketers. Hey. You doing OK? Seems to be an unusual number of Valentine's Day promos this year acknowledging the flip side of love, with deals for the recently dumped and those doing the dumping. Just wanted to make sure you're all right. #restaurantmarketing #marketing #restaurants #valentinesday

Thriving Amid the Plethora of Fast Food Chains: The Power of Discipline for Family-Owned Restaurants #Familyownedrestaurants #Smalltowndining #Competingwithfastfood #Restaurantdiscipline #Localdiningexperience #Qualityfoodservice #Resilienceinrestaurants #Communityfocuseddining #Supportinglocalrestaurants #Timemanagementinfoodservice

https://lnkd.in/gCiwZwMJ McDonald’s Chicken Big Mac has been spotted in enough locations around the world to spark social media fodder, reaching a fever pitch last weekend at a popup in Los Angeles, where guests unknowingly sampled the new menu item from a fictional concept called “McDonnell’s.” Now, McDonald's is bringing the Chicken Big Mac to restaurants nationwide starting Oct. 10 for a limited time while supplies last. Pricing is determined by individual market. The offering features the same signature Big Mac toppings (minus the onions) – special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and a sesame seed bun – but includes two tempura-battered chicken patties in lieu of two all-beef patties. “By tapping into some of our fans’ biggest passions from dupe culture to live-streaming, we’re able to serve up more than just a sandwich. There truly is something for everyone to enjoy in this campaign and we’re bringing experiences that will surprise and delight them, all before the Chicken Big Mac hits restaurants.” “Dupe culture” is the practice of finding cheaper alternatives to in-demand products often bragged about online. McDonald’s leveraged the trend with its McDonnell’s popup experience, offering the menu item for one day only as “The Chicken Sandwich” served alongside other signature items from the chain, such as beef tallow fries, deep-fried apple pie and soft-serve ice cream. The Chicken Big Mac launch comes as McDonald’s works to turn around a rare same-store sales decline from last quarter as lower-income consumers pull back from dining out. The company launched its $5 Meal Deal in late June, which has helped generate traffic, prompting an extension of the promotion through December. Reports have shown the Meal Deal has also helped McDonald’s gain some market share in this promotional environment. The introduction also comes as McDonald's leans more heavily into chicken, an intensifying category driven by consumer demand. Last year, McDonald’s rebranded its crispy chicken sandwich to the McCrispy as part of its broader strategy to gain share in the chicken market. The McCrispy has since become a $1 billion brand. The initial crispy chicken sandwich was first launched in 2021 and has performed well, helping the chain to gain about a point of share on chicken in its first year. During McDonald’s Investor Day event in December 2023, executives said its chicken business is now on par with its beef business, generating about $25 billion in sales. The company has plans to push the gas in this category, teasing an expansion of the McCrispy platform with items like tenders and wraps, as executives have repeatedly called chicken a “big opportunity” for the company.

A new analysis of SafeGraph data found that 85 percent of counties in the United States have at least one Mexican restaurant, and only 1 percent of the American population does not live in a county without at least one Mexican joint. Texas and California combine for 40 percent of Mexican restaurants in the U.S., and Los Angeles county has the most of any county in America, with 5,484 Mexican restaurants. Florida, New York and Illinois all have 4 percent each of America’s Mexican restaurants, meaning that 51 percent of all Mexican restaurants in the U.S. are in those six states.

Why do so many restaurants fail? Restaurants have one of the highest failure rates of any industry. Cory Saffran, the Managing Partner of Fortu explains why so many get the business side of food wrong. Check out the full episode by clicking the link in the comments! #restaurantinvestors #restaurant #fortu #tampabay #stpetersburg #foodie #foodstagram #linkedin