Center for Human Services (CHS)’s Post

Happy Pancake Day! 🥞 To all hospitality businesses whipping up delicious pancakes this 13th February, we wish you tremendous success. Embrace the tradition, from shriving sins to flipping pancakes, and make the most of this day to draw in customers.   Remember, days like these are golden opportunities to showcase your culinary skills and engage with your community. Here are 5 ways Pancake Day and other national food days can elevate your business.   1.    Special Menus: Create themed menus to attract attention and offer a unique dining experience. 2.    Social Media Buzz: Use hashtags and engaging content to promote your specials, enticing customers to visit. 3.    Community Engagement: Partner with local suppliers or charities to build community ties. 4.    Promotions: Offer discounts or contests to draw in crowds. 5.    Customer Loyalty: Use these days to reward regulars, enhancing loyalty and repeat business.   Let's make it a flipping great day! #PancakeDay #HospitalityIndustry #Profitability #SpecialEvents Ken Dulieu Marcus Jones Mike Porteous Lee Bowen Steven Willey Nick Gay Karen Percival

Top 9 Tips for Greater Palm Springs Restaurant Week

Are you looking for more ways to expand your beverage profits? A mobile bar can be the perfect solution for you. Here are some benefits of a mobile bar: PROFIT FROM MORE POINTS OF SERVICE – When the bar can be moved from point A to point B, that means point B can now be a profit center. PROFIT FROM MENU EXPANSION – You're able to serve different beverages based on what guests want at different locations. PROFIT FROM CROWD CONTROL – When operators have the ability to space service out of the entire footprint of the service space, crowds can be easily dispersed. PROFIT FROM SPEED OF SERVICE – When crowds are evenly dispersed, it will inevitably lead to reducing wait times at the bar. #foodservice #profits #mobilebar #solutions

Digging into the latest trends from our team at HB Consulting Co, it’s clear that staying ahead in 2024 means understanding the diverse needs of your audience. One trend I personally love? Bars offering an exciting range of mocktails. It’s not just about offering an alternative to alcohol; it’s about inclusivity and ensuring everyone has a great time. As someone who navigates health restriction, this is a big win. It’s a reminder that understanding and accommodating your audience’s diverse needs is key — a principle we live by in our consulting work. Here’s to more places catching on! 🌟 #InclusiveBusiness #MocktailMagic #HBConsultingCo

Lehi Bakery customers often ask us to start making new products. Most of these requests are either too niche or would be too costly. But, every once in a while, an insightful customer request turns into a permanent menu item. Last April, a frequent customer wanted to order some donuts for a school birthday party. She requested 32 "mini square donuts". Despite never making them before, we figured it was an order we could easily attempt. After the mini square donuts were completed and beloved by the entire staff, we started testing them in our retail cases. They have been a hit ever since. Not only are they adorable, but they provide a lower cost menu item in a world of rapid food cost inflation. Being receptive to our customer's requests and feedback helps us continuously refine our products and procedures. We are grateful for our passionate customer base and their insights that help us become a better version of ourselves each day. (Photo: Several varieties of our mini square donuts. Thankfully, their cuteness offsets the far less adorable guy in the picture.) #smallbusiness #bakery #donuts #hospitality #customerinsights

In my opinion, a lot of food waste comes from wanting to be a 'good host.' An example is always the number of condiment packages provided at food outlets with our purchases. Our vendors don't want us to run out and leave our meal halfway to get more supplies, so they over-provide.   It's a practice and mindset that I hope we can break soon. Still, until we do, I appreciate Premium Outlet Collection Edmonton International Airport for partnering with the Leduc & District Food Bank Association to ensure wastage is avoided and awareness is raised. The alternative is also to use your 'refuse' option politely, if you get an opportunity ask for just what you need and give back over supplies at the foodcounter. #foodwastereduction #bestpractices #refuse #reuse ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I help trailblazing DMOs and business event professionals change the World through the power of regenerative business events.   Subscribe to my YouTube channel, Look Ahead with Anna, for weekly industry insights and ring my bell 🔔 to get alerted to my posts. (Image shows a collection box for unused condiment packages, kepchup packets in the box and a label saying: "Donate your unused condiments and help the Leduc & District Food Bank".

How did National Cheesecake Day breakthrough the clutter of food holidays? The Cheesecake Factory (CCF) is a great example of how menu innovation and commitment can bring exposure to a food holiday through intense promotion from a dedicated restaurant. While food holidays are ubiquitous, CCF has made National Cheesecake Day an anticipated celebration via a new dessert each year. Sometimes, it’s even been two! They create excitement with their fan base through marketing, promotions and of course, an incredible new cheesecake. It took years of promotion for National Cheesecake Day to gain a spot as one of the most celebrated food holidays. The anchor of a beloved brand certainly helps, but remember, they were a local emerging chain at one point. Other fine local independent restaurants and chains also participate. When the numbers of offerings and participants of a food holiday increases it creates a rising tides lifts all ships environment. There is opportunity for the manufacturer and restaurant alike. Ask Foodservicexpert how we can help you create excitement around food holidays to drive incremental sales. https://lnkd.in/gZfbShnb #nationalcheesecakeday #foodservice #foodholiday #cheesecake

More from my speaking notes a recent LBOL session! Food insecurity in Guelph & Wellington County is a bigger problem than you might think. 18% of households in our community are food insecure, and 52% of those people have wages, salaries or self-employment. Some of my ideas to spend less money on food included  = sprouting & winter sowing = CSA share and batch-making a smoothie & soup “of the week” = keeping scraps for broth = starting a soup exchange group = switch to dried legumes from canned = instant pot, chest freezer and vitamix and items available from the GTL Then we went into a small group activity to share ideas to spend less money on food, and to prioritize our top questions/themes for next week’s expert guests! Our talking points included:  -share your experiences for the best deals or habits when it comes to smart shopping. -what things do you need to consider when shopping? -what are your go-to meals? -what is available to you for cooking? -do you have dietary restrictions? -how do you decide what you are going to eat? Then we created a group flip chart page our IDEAS and QUESTIONS! My favourite might have been the idea of harvesting all the neighbourhood jack o lanterns to eat and to harvest seeds from… At the break we signed T-you cards for previous presenters, and filled out ballots for draw prizes.  I had donated a daikon radish from my CSA share for folks to taste, and was delighted when Susan wanted to take home the leftover.  Liz won a big free rutabaga and some leeks, which were purchased from our refreshment budget! Another person won a frozen package of lean ground beef that was on the free surplus table at the Seed (sliding scale market) earlier that day.  The main prize was a Starbucks gift basket of a travel cup and two kinds of coffee… nothing was re-gifted this week for future draw prizes, so as kooky as some of those winnings might seem, they were well received!

In the film "12 Years a Slave," there is a poignant scene where the overseer, citing the Bible, tells the slaves who can't read that they must labor tirelessly from sunrise to sunset, giving their all, and self-flagellate if they fail to meet expectations, to cleanse their sins. This scenario eerily mirrors the current dynamics between restaurants and food delivery platforms. These platforms, far from being charitable, continuously optimize their algorithms to their advantage, forcing restaurants to depend solely on them by phasing out their own delivery operations. This dependency has led many restaurants to shut down, while others struggle to reclaim their delivery services, realizing too late the damage done to their reputation and customer base. Personally, I don't blame these restaurant owners for their initial trust in a system they did not fully understand. This situation highlights the need for continuous adaptation and strategy refinement on my part to effectively support restaurateurs. Success in this industry is gauged by four critical factors: rating, staff service, delivery time, and packaging quality. When a restaurant effectively manages these areas, it significantly advances towards achieving success.

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