How to Make Restaurant Ambiance “One Size Fits All”

Ambiance is the defining feature of your restaurant, but it can also box your restaurant into a certain category in your customers’ minds. Are you a casual “beer with friends” restaurant? Are you an “anniversary celebration” restaurant? Not only do these restaurant ambiance classifications limit your customer base, they also cut down on your sales. There’s no reason you should purposefully hurt your restaurant revenues, so today’s post discusses how you can create a “one size fits all” ambiance to bring in every type of customer for every kind of occasion.

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Customer Service Failures that Kill Your Business

Is your customer service less than extraordinary? You want to fix that, now. I know that I harp on a bit about good customer service techniques, but the truth is that you have too much competition in the food and beverage industry to fail in even one aspect of your business. Here are two customer service failures, as well as advice about how you can avoid them in your own business. 

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Beat ‘Em or Join ‘Em: How Do You Deal with Market Upsets?

How do you deal with market upsets? The restaurant industry is known for its ability to introduce new and innovative approaches to how food is served, consumed, and perceived by the public, but when something comes along that shakes up the industry as we know it, that’s what’s known as an “upset.” Upsets make it impossible for you to do your job the same way you always have—and today we’re talking about an upset in the food tech space that you never saw coming.

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The Newest Alcohol Finds for Your Fall Drink Menu

Do you want to add something a little unexpected to your fall drinks menu? A recent article in the New York Times, “Culinary Trends in New York” described all the new, exciting innovations that I did not see coming in the predictions I made for 2014, and they sound delicious. Try adding these three alcohol trends to your drinks menu to spice up the season.

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Uncorkd wine menu for restaurants

Whiskey Trends – Irish Whiskey Sees Explosive Growth

The beverage industry is an industry of trends and catching on to the latest whiskey trend is critical for pleasing customers and increasing beverage sales.  Whiskey has been hot for the last couple years, including bourbons, flavored whiskeys and now Irish whiskeys.   First there was the Fireball craze, with a younger generation replacing Vodka and other spirits with Fireball as their go-to shot.    In just two years, Fireball whiskey increased sales by over 30x, to $60 million in 2013.  Other producers released new brands and products in a wide range of flavors from cherry to honey.  Bushmills became the first Irish distillery to jump onboard followed by Dewar’s in Scotland, not to mention the dozens of American products.  If your restaurant or bar hasn’t started carrying Fireball and other flavored whiskeys, you’re losing money.  Don’t miss the next big beverage trend, craft Irish Whiskeys.

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Uncorkd Server Mistakes

4 Mobile Payment Apps Restaurants Should Consider

Here at Uncorkd, we’re not just interested in digital wine menus (though we sincerely hope you’re interested in them), we’re also interested in all the other new and exciting technology that people in the hospitality industry are using to make their business run smoother. Today, we’ll be looking at restaurant tech your guests can use to pay you faster and easier—without having to wait all night for a check or change.  Here are four mobile payment apps that you may want to check out.

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To TV or Not to TV? The Restaurateur’s Question

For the past ten years, I’ve noticed something in nearly every restaurant I’ve gone to, no matter where the restaurant is, the cost of the entrees, or the type of cuisine. Sadly, this thing I’ve noticed isn’t related to consistently great service (though I wish it was), and it doesn’t provide me with the fun and memorable experience that I can get from an iPad wine menu (hint, hint). The thing I’ve noticed is televisions.

In the past decade I have witnessed televisions that have ruined romantic, candle-lit dinners, but I have also seen televisions that have created stunning moments of togetherness in bars and breweries. Restaurateurs and bar owners, it’s time to consider the impact your televisions are having… and it’s time to think about whether you really need them. Read more

The Secret of a Good Signature Drink

A lot of restaurants offer drinks. What makes you different? Is it the fact that you have a wine list filled with $200+ bottles? Is it that you offer 458 types of craft beer… or that all your drinks are straight from Japan? These key differentiators make your restaurant stand out, but unless you show off your differences, your customers will never know what you have to offer. What you need is a signature drink. Read more

It’s Time to Stake Out Your Turf

When you started selling drinks at your restaurant, you (hopefully) assessed your competition to price yourself properly, to offer enticing specials and signature drinks, and to understand what was working and failing for your competitors. You built your drinks offerings around those and hey, you’ve been successful! Give yourself a pat on the back for all your hard work… because now it’s time to do more hard work. Today is the day you really start establishing your “turf.” Read more

3 Things You Should Say to Sell More Sake

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I’ve got to tell you: you’re missing out on sales. Sure, your bar is selling enough beer and wine, and man, your cocktail sales are killer. But why aren’t you selling sake? Many bars don’t feel confident in selling this super-premium beverage because they don’t think they know enough to advise a customer—or to stock their own bar. All that’s about to change though, because here are the three things you and your servers need to be saying to get your sake sales going.

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