Social Media 101 for Restaurants

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Online interaction is changing the way people live. Social media continues to skyrocket with more and more people using the outlets to conveniently connect with both individuals and companies. In fact, 9 out of 10 restaurants are using social media in order to form relationships with various communities. It’s easy to sign up, but how do restaurants make the most out of their social media platforms? Use these tips to help your restaurant dominate social media channels.

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Looking Inside the Consumer’s Mind

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Choosing which restaurant to dine at can be a tough decision for most consumers. Food quality and atmosphere are key components, but with so many competing establishments, restaurants need to start looking inside the mind of the consumer for other factors that help their selection process. The National Restaurant Association’s 2015 Industry Forecast revealed several important things consumers look for, and even expect, when considering restaurants.   Here’s what you should consider…

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Saint Patrick’s Day: A Pot of Gold for Restaurants

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Whether you’re Irish or not, Saint Patrick’s Day is a holiday celebrated across the nation. Each city has their own ways of recognizing the Saint, but more than 30% of those enjoying the holiday will be at bars and ordering a themed food dish or drink. This occasion only comes around once a year, so prepare your restaurant with these helpful tips from your friends at Uncorkd.

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Restaurant iPad Wine List

Why Your Wine Menu Is Scaring Your Guests

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Are you the kind of restaurateur who is proud of your vast wine list? Do you boast about the hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of bottles you stock? I’m sorry to tell you this, but even though your wine list may be awesome, it’s probably killing your sales. Today’s article clarifies why a long wine menu cuts into your customers’ wine purchases, then gives you the method to fix that problem — fast. 

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Cheers to By-The-Glass Wine Selections

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“By-the-glass is what drives a wine program. It’s a doorway to your program as a whole,” according to Christopher Birnie-Visscher, sommelier at db Bistro Moderne. There are times when buying a bottle at a restaurant may not be of interest to a customer. However, you can still get that beverage sale by offering a by-the-glass wine list. At times it can be a challenge to implement such an option, but these four tips can get your restaurant started on the right foot.

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How to Host a Better Restaurant Week and Get More Customers

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If your restaurant is in Chicago, restaurant week is officially over. The mad rush has ended, your restaurant week customers have left, and if you’re like most restaurateurs, you’re beating yourself up for every little thing you could have done better. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Channel that perfectionist energy into making next year your best restaurant week ever with these five easy-to-follow steps. 

And if you’re not in Chicago, use these tips to maximize your success during Restaurant Week.
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How Not to Advertise Your Restaurant – 10 Ways

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Running a restaurant is expensive. Advertising is expensive. With steep costs and tricky metrics, I tend to assume that restaurateurs want to make the most of their limited advertising budgets. However, since I see the same mistakes over and over, I have to figure that restaurateurs prefer to spend their time meditating in the peace and quiet of their empty restaurants. Therefore, without further ado, I present you with ten tips you can follow to NOT advertise your restaurant. 

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Bartender’s Choice Menus: Get Free PR and Increase Profits

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Industry insiders predict that, among other things, 2015 will be the year of bartender’s choice menus. The rise of the cocktail over the past few years has whetted customers’ tastes for strong drinks with unique flavor profiles—and for many guests, your Manhattan or Sidecar with artisan bitters is no longer going to cut it. Never fear! At Uncorkd, we’re all about helping you make your cocktail menu awesome. This week’s handy post explains how you can add bartender’s choice drinks to your menu to improve your press and profits. 

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Top 3 Tips for Restaurant Employee Retention in 2015 (Part 2)

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Let’s face it: restaurant staffing is a pain in the butt. How many times in the last year did you put aside business strategizing to instead focus on dealing with trudging through yet another pile of resumes and applications? Wouldn’t it be great if you could just keep the employees you have, improve their knowledge of your cuisine and operations, and inspire them to improve all the time? Today’s post focuses on the top three ways that you can reduce the time you spend on staffing issues—and increase the time you have to grow your restaurant. 

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6 Methods Restaurants Use to Retain Staff (Part 1 of 2)

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Did your restaurant staff have a high turnover rate in 2014? Not only do constantly shifting employees spread your restaurant secrets, the time that you spend advertising, interviewing, and training new servers to replace them is time that you don’t spend growing your restaurant. I’m sure your New Years resolution this year is to improve your restaurant… but how can you do that when you keep having to resolve staff issues? Let 2015 be the year that you stop stressing out about hiring and start building a loyal, dedicated staff that your customers love. Parts 1 and 2 of this article contain the top six tips (in reverse order) that will get you started on the right path for you to retain staff in 2015.

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