Seafood Basics

Seafood becomes more popular with our residents every day and is an important part of offering a menu with plenty of variety. It also presents some special challenges. It’s perishable, delicate, expensive and can be tricky to cook. Taking all of this into...

The Case for Doing Monthly Inventories

Monthly inventories are absolutely the norm in any free-standing or hotel restaurant, whether big or small, corporate or mom & pop, yet many senior living communities do not make use of this simple tool to help control food costs. In this article Joe Abuso discusses the how any why of using inventories to control food costs, reduce labor costs and improve customer satisfaction.

Frying and Braising Basics

There are many skillsets that any good chef has, and that any aspiring chef must master. These include knife skills, good sanitation practices, building flavors, menu and recipe development, labor and food cost control, management skills and the application of heat....

Made-from-Scratch Foods

Not many people would argue with the idea that the foods we eat effect our health. Where the differences of opinion come in is about which foods are good, which are bad, and which are just plain ugly. It doesn’t help that the experts seem to alter their opinions...

Improving Front-of-the-House Service

There is not a person in the restaurant business that has any doubts that the service their guests receive is at least as important as any other aspect of their operations. No matter how compelling the concept, how perfect the location, how amazing the food and how...