Restaurant industry change is necessary

The restaurant industry is a combination of old and new. Preparing delicious food is a practice as old as humanity — even though the restaurant equipment used varies from a cave campfire to a stainless steel Vulcan range with 32,000 BTU burners. At the same time, diners are a discriminating bunch, and successful entrepreneurs know that today’s trendy restaurant can quickly become passe and bankrupt.

The restaurant industry must adapt to stay viable

Although the restaurant industry is cyclical, responding to the seasons of the economy, it also must evolve to prosper. And it’s apparent that the restaurant industry has often struggled with the retention of key employees. Many smart, talented individuals work in the restaurant industry — and then quickly leave it for other industry that is considered more “career-friendly.” The restaurant industry struggles from the stigma of this popular perception, and it’s not without cause. Although they can be immensely rewarding, creatively, financially, and emotionally, restaurant industry jobs can be hard and the pace is fast. This situation costs the restaurant industry dearly in high turnover rates, training costs, lower productivity, and of course, the loss of talent.

The National Restaurant Association, as part of their Cornerstone Initiative, has taken positive steps to address this situation. Their Retirement Benefit Program allows Association member restaurants can offer retirement benefits to owners and employees. The program is administered by the American Buying Retirement Services, Inc.

Restaurant industry businesses should investigate retirement benefits

If you’re interested in retaining your best restaurant employees — and who isn’t? — you should take a look at setting up retirement benefits. In this era of do-it-yourself retirement plans, you might be surprised at how little it might cost. For some no-nonsense restaurant retirement plan advice, refer to these restaurant industry tips at the NRA website.

The employees at your restaurant or kitchen won’t be expecting a full-blown pension. If you can construct a sensible 401(k), SIMPLE-IRA, or SIMPLE 401(k), though, many of them will be more apt to visualize a long-term career with your restaurant — and that’s a future you should be encouraging.

Restaurant equipment purchases and capital expenditure are on the rise, according to the National Restaurant Association. Fifty-nine percent of restaurant operators reported planning to make a capital expenditure such as purchasing new restaurant equipment, expanding or remodeling in the coming months. Also, Fifty-three percent reported purchasing restaurant equipment or making other capital expenditures in the month of May.

This news comes as the National Restaurant Association reports increased restaurant performance for the third straight month, with increases in same store sales and traffic.

Scotsman Ice Machines was awarded a 2007 Kitchen Innovations Award from the National Restaurant Association for their Prodigy Cube Ice Machine. The Scotsman Prodigy Ice Machine is considered one of the best ice machines on the commercial restaurant equipment market. The Scotsman Prodigy, with its high-tech self-monitoring system, was featured in live demonstrations during the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in May at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The National Restaurant Association’s Kitchen Innovations Award is judged by a panel of foodservice industry experts, and recognizes innovative foodservice equipment manufacturers.

The Scotsman Prodigy Ice Machine award represents the first Kitchen Innovations Award for Scotsman Ice Systems.

A key feature of the Scotsman Ice Machine that led to the Kitchen Innovations Award is the “WaterSense” adaptive purge control, a patented mineral-sensing technology. This feature of the Scotsman Prodigy Ice Machine automatically adjusts the quantity of water needed to flush mineral residue, limiting scale buildup to keep the ice machine cleaner longer. Other features of the Prodigy Ice Machine include cost-saving efficiency, self-monitoring capabilities, extended clean time and built-in antimicrobial protection.

Scotsman Ice Machines, with more than 50 years of experience, is the world largest manufacturer of ice machines, ice bins and ice maker dispensers. Scotsman makes more than 300 models of ice machines and has more than a million ice machines at work in over 100 countries.

The parent company of Scotsman, Enodis, also manufactures the foodservice equipment brands Frymaster, Cleveland, Garland, and Lincoln.

Here are some of the many Scotsman products that you can find at Shortorder.com:

Scotsman – C0522MA-1A

Scotsman – C0522SA-32A

Scotsman – SCE170A-1H

Scotsman – C0322MA-1A

Scotsman – C0322MA-32A

Scotsman – C0322SA-1A

Scotsman – C0322SA-32A

Scotsman – C0330MA-1A

Scotsman – C0330MA-32A

Scotsman – C0330SA-1A

In an article from SF Gate, professionals talk about what kitchen appliances they use. The list of “pros” includes people who work as kitchen designers, architects and interior designers. It’s always interesting to hear about what professionals are using at home — you’ve gotta assume they know what they’re talking about!

Interior designer Ann Jones raves about the Viking six-burner gas range with oven, a consumer gas range similar to the commercial restaurant ranges we carry at Short Order. Ann Jones says she loves how evenly pans are heated thanks to the burners. Jones also notes that she uses a Bosch dishwasher because it’s quiet.

Cooking school director Mary Risley also mentions that she uses a Viking commercial stove. Risley uses the Viking dual-fuel four-burner range, noting its insulation is great. Apparently a fan of Viking commercial products, Risley also uses the Viking side-by-side refrigerator.

Carlene Anderson, a kitchen designer, uses the Jenn-Air single convection oven at home — and her oven is almost 30 years old! In addition to the Jenn-Air convection oven, Anderson also uses a Wolf gas cooktop because it has such powerful burners and plenty of room for big skillets.

Seems like these pros won’t settle for anything less than the best when it comes to their home kitchens. You can find many great commercial restaurant appliances at Short Order.

Just last month, the 2007 National Restaurant Association Hotel-Motel Show hit the Windy City. In its 88th year, the National Restaurant Association held events at the show including trans-fat free cooking, green products, and other restaurant industry trends and hot topics. Tons of restaurant industry workers attended the show.

Not only did the National Restaurant Association show feature cooking trends, but it also had fantastic technology displays and vendors on hand. Companies like Micros, Pitco and Digital Dining showed onlookers what they could do for their restaurants, featuring point-of-sale technology and other efficient business solutions.

Many attendants of the NRA show noticed that there were quite a few more technology vendors at the event this year than previous years. Some felt that it’s telling of the times — with so many advancements in technology, restaurants need to keep up in order to keep customers satisfied and provide optimum levels of service. With new products and solutions, it’s made easy for restaurant industry professionals to do just that.

Keeping up with customer demands can often be tough, but great restaurant equipment can make things easier. Check out ShortOrder.com’s great inventory of commercial restaurant equipment.

As more and more people are watching what they eat, things are changing in the restaurant industry to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers. Trans fats have been banned at New York City restaurants, and now a popular food festival is requiring its vendors to meet standards on fat, cholesterol, and salt.

It’s the Taste of Buffalo festival in Buffalo, New York. Attracting tens of thousands of food-lovers, Taste of Buffalo is a two-day event that’s been going on for 23 years. The idea behind the change in the festival, according to its organizers, is to show people that healthy dishes are just as good. And some of the participants in the festival even noted that nobody could tell the difference when they changed their recipes to make them healthier. To read more about the changes in the Taste of Buffalo food fest, just go here.

At Short Order, we realize that healthy eating habits are very important. Cooking healthy meals may be made easier with the right equipment, and you’ll find everything you need at ShortOrder.com. From commercial ovens to commercial refrigerators, we have what you need to make that perfect meal.

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Celebrities opening restaurants isn’t a new thing. Sandra Bullock recently opened Bess Bistro in Austin, Texas, and Jennifer Lopez owns Madre’s in Pasadena, California. So who’s the latest celeb to open up an eatery? Legendary rocker Carlos Santana.

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According to USA Today, the fast-food industry is gearing up for a war.

On breakfast.

Yep, the breakfast market is said to be worth $77.6 billion, which makes it very appealing to the fast-food giants, who believe staking a piece of that market “can mean the difference between growth and stagnation.”

Since people generally don’t venture much when it comes to breakfast foods, this means that fast-food companies are going to have to really push their new breakfast menus to consumers. And that means getting people to try fast-food breakfasts other than at McDonald’s, which is the fast-food breakfast leader.

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Meet Chef Santo Bruno, the U.S. Pizza Team culinary coach. If you’re like us, you had no idea that the United States had its very own pizza team. But according to the U.S. Pizza Team’s website, they are “a group of pizza makers and dough acrobats whose goal is to bring the world’s attention to the talent and camaraderie of the pizza industry.”

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Shopping Online for a Restaurant Refrigerator

Restaurant refrigerators couldn’t be more important to the functionality of a restaurant. At Short Order, you’ll find many different types of restaurant refrigeration: Reach-in restaurant refrigerators, sandwich prep, pizza prep, undercounter refrigerators, worktop refrigerators, chef base refrigerators and display refrigerators.

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