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How to Increase Restaurant Sales and Cut Losses in 2016

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With our new year just a few days away, it’s time you start thinking about how to improve your restaurant in 2016. For savvy restaurant operators, this starts with taking a fine tooth comb to your 2015 financial reports. As a business resolution, this is the equivalent of cursing that last piece of honey baked ham you ate before stepping on the scale, noting the pounds, and then analyzing your eating habits to identify the junk and grease you need to cut from your diet. Instead of the resolution to loose weight, a restaurant’s resolution should be to increase profits. Like any New Year’s resolution, this means you eliminate bad habits, accentuate good ones, and add a few productive bits to your routine. There are now a host of new restaurant technologies available to help you do all that. Read more

Uncorkd’s Weekly News Round Up Dec. 12 – 18

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Every Friday Uncorkd compiles the most recent restaurant and beverage industry stories that had us talking. Here’s our list of must-read articles from the web this week. Featuring La Liste, good restaurant sales numbers, more Whisky Advocate awards, and an incubator space for chefs. Here is our round up from December 12th – December 18th.  Read more

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New Study Shows Why Wine Tasting Notes Are Important

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The Drinks Business recently detailed a study commissioned by wine subscription service taste4. The study sought out the top 10 wine terms that consumers are most confused and put-off by. The 2,000 consumers surveyed gave insight into the way many wine drinkers approach buying a bottle. While some of the terms on the list may be surprising, like “tart,” “legs,” or, “nose”, the take-away message of the survey is something very familiar to us at Uncorkd.

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How to Deal with the Free Drink Dilemma

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The free drink is an apocryphal tenet of bartending. The comped shot, or buy back, should never be given away willy nilly by a bartender. It also shouldn’t be expected by a customer. But, if used properly, that privileged dram can be a powerful tool for rewarding loyal patronage.  The danger of the free drink is if this privilege gets abused. Restaurant operators can’t have their employees giving away the bar, and bartenders shouldn’t rely on comped drinks in lieu of good service. But, if exhibited with finesse, a drink on-the-house can be a tradition both time honored and beneficial to all parties. And a party it is. But, as a restaurant operator, how should you go about enforcing a policy that keeps bartenders honest while also giving them the ability to show love for a well-liked patron?

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Uncorkd’s Weekly News Round Up

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Every Friday Uncorkd will compile a list of the restaurant and beverage industry stories that had us talking this week. Here’s our list of must read articles from the web this week. Featuring Whisky Advocate awards, salvaged foods, new dessert trends, and the ever present purchasing power of millennial diners.  Read more

4 Ways Restaurants Can Wipe Out Food Waste

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Food waste is a big problem for restaurants. It means higher costs. It’s also a larger community problem as it compounds front page issues like sustainability and hunger. Cutting back food waste should be high priority for all restaurants. For one, it reduces operating costs while helping kitchens run more efficiently through improved oversight. Wiping out food waste also creates an opportunity to become an active and positive member of your local community. By becoming a leader in combating local issues, restaurant’s can gain followers from the glow of positive PR. It’s a win/win for restaurants and the community. Here are a few ways to avoid food waste.  Read more

Best Moscato Wines to Look for on the Restaurant Wine List

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I was about to start writing about drinks for the holidays, it is December after all, and people are looking to brew up some eggnog.  But I thought, let’s go against the grain – what’s one of the biggest trends right now in wine (even in these cold winter months for some of us)… Moscato! I started looking at Google search trends and two things immediately popped up in rising popularity, Fruity Alcoholic Drinks and Moscato. In fact, searches for Moscato and best Moscato wine have surged 1550%. Read more

Beverage Trends for 2016: Technology

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The world is tripping over itself trying to keep up with how fast it’s changing. New apps and gadgets are announced everyday. Some are simply cool ideas that don’t pan out, others can’t get enough users to become useful. But each year it seems we see a few products innovative and accessible enough to disrupt entire industries. The major effects these tech advances have had on the restaurant industry is in fast-casual restaurants and through delivery services. As these technologies become more focused on mobile, consumers will have easier access to food services than ever before. While more casual and quick eateries have successfully adopted new modes of operating, how will full-service restaurants be impacted by technology in 2016. 

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Beverage Trends for 2016: Beer

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The aftershock of the craft beer boom is still being felt, and not just the tremors. The explosion has been more like a night of fireworks than a single detonation.  The do-it-yourself ethos of microbreweries has blown holes in Big Beer’s dominance of the U.S. market. New breweries and brewpubs are popping up all across America, and as distribution increases, more bars and restaurants have craft-minded beer lists. Regional beer markets have created new forms of tourism, and gives local beer geeks more ammunition to argue with in comment threads on blogs across the globe. With no signs of slowing, what trends should we expect to see in 2016? Read more