Tech WaiterBell: News on Restaurant Technology and Internet Tools

Software: MenuManager (FHG International)

July 21, 2006 at 10:09 am · Filed under Free, Menu, Programs, Tools

excerpt:
“MENUMANAGER© is a user-friendly software program which can assist restaurant managers reduce their food costs, increase product consistency and reduce considerable time of manual bookkeeping.

While the program has several sophisticated aspects which enable the restaurateur to access and manipulate a plethora of information which will be the basis for better decision making, the restaurateur need only use one of the nine reports to immediately experience a time and cost saving.

The program allows you to develop a series of controls and standards over food cost and quality which have not been available before…”

link: MenuManager (FHG International) [free download link is on the bottom of the page]

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News: Recent Restaurant Technology Headlines 7/20/06

July 20, 2006 at 1:34 pm · Filed under Headlines

News:
7/19/06
Stay tuned: TVs keep restaurant patrons up-to-date on news, sports (Altoona Mirror)

7/18/06
Company Develops Booth For Cell Phone Users (cbs4boston.com)

Press Release:
7/19/06
Restaurant.com Now Open for Restaurant Reservations (Restaurant.com)

7/18/06
Arbys Franchisee Cuts Ordering Time in Half Using Electronic Vendor Order Guides (PRWeb)

Texas Roadhouse Turns to Peak 10; National Restaurant Concept Taps Peak 10 for Disaster Recovery Solution (BusinessWire)

POS Hardware: Popeye’s Largest Franchisee Selects Maitre’D, Epson, Partner Tech For Sizeable Rollout (RetailSolutionsOnline.com)

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Media: Restaurant Podcasts

July 18, 2006 at 9:46 am · Filed under Internet, knowledge, Marketing, Media, Tools

Podcasts are significant because it opens access to radio shows and restaurant industry content that were only available locally. This is a new and interesting media resource for restauranteurs in a portable format. You can download the show and listen to it in the car, during lunch, or in the gym. Also, these podcasts are also marketing vehicles for restaurants and related businesses.

NRN Podcast Central (created by Nation’s Restaurant News)
“Foodservice News Delivered in Fresh New Ways”

Podcast Grill
“Where restaurant meets business – trends, expert interviews and more to make your restaurant more profitable than ever”

Pizza Radio
“Pizza Radio is your source for sound bytes from pizza experts.”

The Restaurant Guys
“Co-hosts Francis Schott and Mark Pascal—who own Stage Left Restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ—have interviewed food luminaries like Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl and chef Charlie Palmer in between other animated discussions. Their podcasts are adaptations of three 40-minute episodes from their radioshow on WCTC-1450 AM.”

BarServ’s Raising the Bar on Service
“Raising the Bar” tackles a variety of topics relevant to the hospitality service industry and occasionally features high-profile industry guests from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The program will offer insightful ideas to empower hotel, restaurant and bar owners and managers to improve service and increase profitability.
Read the rest of this entry »

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News: Recent Restaurant Technology Headlines 7/17/06

July 17, 2006 at 2:25 pm · Filed under Headlines

News

7/17/06
Moore: Leveraging online resources helps employers recruit the most qualified people (Nation’s Restaurant News)

7/14/06
Making healthier choices: Nutricate gives diners the scoop on menus (Pacific Coast Business Times)

Computerized kitchen puts Fuddruckers Inc. one step ahead (Austin Business Journal)

6/26/06
Chain leaders share tips on new systems at NRA show (Nation’s Restaurant News)

Blogs

7/12/06
Your Website’s Location, Location, Location (The Restaurant Blog)

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Article: “TV ads on the cheap for small biz” (Jul.2006)

July 17, 2006 at 11:16 am · Filed under Internet, Low cost, Marketing, Media, Tools, Video

excerpt:
“Findley’s meat market in suburban Atlanta had always relied on newspaper ads, direct mailings and quick radio spots to reach consumers. But after discovering Spot Runner’s do-it-yourself commercial tool for small businesses, the butcher shop ran a commercial on local cable TV ahead of Easter and again before Mother’s Day.

The commercials cost Findley’s $349 and $499 and the shop spent about $2,100 in March and $1,100 in May to air the spots on ESPN, Food TV, Fox News Channel and Fox Sports.

“We found out that it was very affordable and they help you work with a small budget,” said Findley’s owner Dolores Barr.”

source: “TV ads on the cheap for small biz” by Jessica Seid (CNNMoney.com, Jul.14,2006)

“At Spot Runner we make it easy, simple and affordable for everyone to take advantage of local TV advertising. We started Spot Runner because we saw three important opportunities:

Small and medium-sized business people want to advertise on TV but the costs of creating ads are prohibitive.
Choosing a media plan, negotiating the price, and tracking your advertising can be time consuming and difficult.
Great TV advertising could be made more quickly and at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising agencies.

We put these elements together and Spot Runner was born.”

link: SpotRunner.com

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News: Recent Restaurant Technology Headlines 7/14/06

July 14, 2006 at 4:27 pm · Filed under Headlines

News

Jul.14,2006
Ads With That? (QSR Magazine)

Jul.11,2006
What shows are left? (QSRWeb.com)

Jul.10,2006
Why not check out in the aisle? (SelfService.com)

Bartending, RFID Style (storefrontbacktalk.com)

Press Release

Jul.14,2006
Fuddruckers Gets Cooking With IBM Kiosks in the Kitchen (WebWire)

Johnny Rockets Selects Altametrics’ eRestaurant Solution (PRWeb)

Blogs

Jul.11,2006
Faster Than A Speeding Appletini: WaiterPad POS Systems (VagaBlond)

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Article: “The Wireless Touch” (Jun.2006)

July 12, 2006 at 1:05 pm · Filed under Customer Service, Magazines, POS

excerpt:

“Wireless point-of-sale (POS) systems started gaining attention in 2001, but are just now starting to pop up more often at the tables of casual-dining restaurants. This market represents an estimated 41 percent of the wireless POS market, according to 2005 research from Mercator Advisory Group, a research firm for the payment industry.

With benefits such as turning tables faster, delivering more accurate orders, and maximizing server productivity and customer satisfaction, there’s no question why restaurants are remaking themselves with wireless handheld systems.”

source: “The Wireless Touch” by Vicki Powers (Hospitality Technology, Jun.2006)

Note: This article was excerpted from Hospitality Technology magazine and is available online along with the rest of the issue. To see the other articles click here.

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News: Recent Restaurant Technology Headlines 7/10/06

July 10, 2006 at 11:42 am · Filed under Headlines

Articles

Jul.7,2006
Location Intelligence is Key Ingredient to Krystal Company’s Recipe for Success (Directions Magazine)

Jul.3,2006
New gadgets help blind, but at a cost (Star Telegram)

Olive Garden adds new dishes, plans podcasts (Orlando Sentinel)

Jun.30,2006
Still waiting for bells and whistles at LTK (Boston Globe)

Jun.29,2006
Digital ditties, Web links rocking jukebox industry (The Arizona Republic)

Press Release

Jun.29,2006
Hungry College Students Design Brand New Online Food Ordering System for Restaurants (PRWeb)

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Article: “Jump Start Your On-line Marketing With An E-mail Newsletter”

July 5, 2006 at 9:59 am · Filed under Customer Service, Email, Internet, Marketing, Tools

excerpt:
“Quite frankly, I believe the restaurant industry is “missing the boat” right now by not taking advantage of this inexpensive, yet powerful marketing tool. There are only a handful of quality hospitality resources delivered via e-mail. This fact may be unfortunate for consumers, but it presents an excellent opportunity for the restaurant owner to grab mindshare by implementing an e-mail newsletter program in their marketplace.

One restaurant doing just that is Corner Galley located in Massapequa, NY. In addition to having a presence on the Web, Corner Galley publishes an e-mail newsletter entitled “The Daily Ship’s Log…”

source: “Jump Start Your On-line Marketing With An E-mail Newsletter” by Jaime Oikle (Restaurant Report)

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