Hey Team! Saturday night, 7pm. Four-top, first time in your place. They're looking at the menu, one of them looks up at the server and says, "What wo…
Hey Team! Happy hour is the strangest thing in restaurants. It's the window where drink prices drop, foot traffic spikes, and, here's what nobody tal…
Hey Team! You've got a menu. You've probably got a pretty good idea which items on it are making you money and which ones are just taking up space on…
Hey Team! A cheese course is one of the highest-margin items on any menu that runs one. Think about it. You've got maybe six ounces of product, some …
Hey Team! If you've ever worked a serious BBQ spot, you know the question. Guest looks up from the menu, squints a little, and asks "what's the diffe…
Hey Team! Happy hour starts at 4pm. Your bartender knows the rail. Your server knows the tables. But ask either one of them what's in the cucumber gi…
Hey Team! Sunday brunch rush. Every table sat, a 45-minute wait out the door, your best server working a six-top in the corner. She sells every entré…
Hey Team! Picture your bar on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Place is packed, everyone wants something festive, and your bartender gets asked about t…
Hey Team! Sunday brunch. Table of six. Check hits the table and one of them picks it up, squints at the line item that says "Service Charge 20%," and…
Hey Team! Walk behind most bars in this country and you'll find the same thing. Forty, maybe fifty bottles of whiskey lined up on the back wall. Beau…
Hey Team! Saturday night, 7pm, your bar is packed. A guest waves down your bartender and asks if your specialty cocktail has egg white in it. She's g…
Hey Team! There's a server on every floor you've worked who knows the menu inside and out. Rattles off ingredients, handles allergen questions withou…
Hey Team! You spent three weeks talking to a small distillery in Kankakee to get their rye on your back bar. You're paying $48 a bottle when the well…
Hey Team! I went looking for the most expensive thing on a restaurant menu this week and ended up staring at the cheapest one instead. So I pulled t…
Hey Team! Saturday night at Fat Tommy's, one of our servers walked up to a four-top and said, "Do you want to see the dessert menu?" Flat. No eye con…
