According to a recent Zagat Survey , 57% of participants cited service as the weakest link in the dining-out experience, and “hospitality” of the overall dining experience as a 20 out of a possible 30. Although both these figures represent an improvement over previous results, it’s doubtful that any savvy restaurant professional would judge these to be good enough.

The data also hints at what the service experience really is—not just the ferrying of food and drink from bar and kitchen to table, but the niceties that go along with it.

• Someone should always be available to greet an arriving guest. Nothing is worse than walking into a restaurant and being unacknowledged. A staff member should always approach a new customer upon entry, even if it’s just to tell them that someone else will be right there to help them.

• By the same token, a staff member should say “goodbye” and “thank you.” No, it doesn’t need to be like the sushi bar where the entire crew bids arigatou, but the server should make every attempt to be there when the table leaves, and if that’s not possible someone else should do the honors.

• Make sure your staff is familiar with your menu. Customers ask questions; servers and other front-of-house employees (bussers, host, bartender, etc.) should be able to answer them. And that requires training and, ideally, tasting. Staff should be thoroughly trained about what’s on the menu, where the ingredients come from, how they’re prepared and so on, including specials. That’s where the preshift meeting comes in handy.

• Friendliness is next to godliness. Not scripted, nor overly familiar, not perfunctory. Hire people who are genuinely concerned about and open to other people; the mechanics of service can usually be trained if the basic personality is there.

• Good service is everyone’s responsibility. There are no such words as “that’s not my table” or “that’s not my job” in the properly managed foodservice establishment. Everyone should chip in to make sure guests get what they need, whether it’s another fork, or directions to where they’re going after dinner. That includes managers themselves.

• Speaking of managers, they should empower staff to make service decisions wherever possible. Within reason your servers should be able to do what it takes to make substitutions, address problems, and generally be flexible enough to meet customers’ needs. They should be armed with solutions, not impediments.

• Don’t try to save money by cutting back on service staff. This should be the last place you try to economize: See all the above.

Need more help improving your service? Contact Synergy for a consultation.

 

Greetings!

For many U.S. operators, June marks the start of a whole new season, not just from the point of view of food and the menu but also operationally. Perhaps you have a patio that’s opening and a lunch trade that’s starting to pick up, or your customer base is moving into a more casual, school-vacation mode. You may even be welcoming back part-time summer staff to help with the extra volume.

That makes this a great time of year to focus on team-building issues. Our Senior Operations Associate, Chuck Imerson, shares some communications strategies for getting everyone pulling in the same direction as you gear up for the warmer months ahead.

We also have some ideas for making your website work harder for you, and a look at one of the exciting new food trends we’re tracking, the Japanese-style izakaya pub.

 

To your success,

Dean and Danny

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Don’t Let Silence Become Your Approval

By Chuck Imerson, Senior Operations Associate

We’ve all heard the adage “Silence is Approval.” If your team lacks performance, your silence could be why. A manager’s failure to communicate properly with the team produces a lack of employee motivation. It causes distrust among employees, and it will inevitably end in employees being disengaged. The absence of communication with your whole team will most certainly result in an overall lack of understanding of both your company’s philosophies, and of its procedures.

Ask yourself this: “When I witness a coachable moment, do I seize the opportunity to coach? Or do I simply kick the can down the road?” If in fact you do let the moment just pass by, your silence consequently conveys to your team members that you accept their behavior, and that the rules simply do not apply to them. Your approval is your silence! The question is, how do you make time for these coachable moments?

Managing in the hospitality business is always “live.” For much of the day, a manager works with the team in action-stations, helping them out-of-the-weeds, and therefore ensuring that the guests have a great dining experience. To ensure that team members don’t receive the “silent treatment,” managers must focus on the following:

• Take advantage of the “minute” with ongoing and constant communication. One-minute conversations will add up throughout the shift, and they will keep the staff motivated, informed, and focused.

• When you observe individual team members doing something exceptional, acknowledge them before their peers. When employees see and hear peer recognition, it becomes contagious. They immediately achieve the behavior that you, the manager, desire. Everyone likes praise, and employees always want more of it. Your actions will go a long way in improving employee morale.

• Take time to stop, look, and listen. By doing this, you identify coachable moments, and you can avoid handing out the silent treatment. You gain buy-in from your team members when you explain to them why a task is done this way, and when you demonstrate how to do it. This why and how is crucial for success

• Understand both the value of communication, and the consequence of the silent treatment on the team.

And finally, never pass on an opportunity to make your team better, because that will help make your operation stand out from all the competition. Remember always that for the continual success of any business, the manager must give back. The more you give, the more the employee gives. So, try to incorporate your give-back actions into your daily plan of action.

Contact Synergy Consultants if you’d like a free consultation to discuss your team-building programs.

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Iza-whatta?

By Joan Lang

Izakaya. Think of it as the love child of a tapas bar and a neighborhood pub, by way of Japan—the logical next step after sushi madness and a bad economy. There’s probably one coming to your town soon.

Starting life as sake shops where workingmen could sit and imbibe (the name means “sitting in a sake shop”), with the eventual addition of small snacks, the traditional izakaya serves an essential role in Japanese social life, just like the pub in England and the tavern in the United States.

Restaurant Business pegged the izakaya (pronounced ee-ZAH-ka-ya) as one of the Next Generation Japanese concepts headed our way, and the wide acceptance of both sushi and small plates as a way of dining has led to a recent proliferation of izakayas here in the United States.

Then, too, there are only so many chef-driven gastropubs dispensing drinks and reasonably priced food-to-be-shared that any given market can take. Izakayas offer this eating-and-drinking model in spades, with the relative exoticism of another culture thrown into the bargain.

Rather than dispensing sushi, however, the izakaya specializes in grilled foods like yakimoni (skewered foods), fried chicken, dumplings, rice and noodle dishes, and other menu items that are great for both absorbing and spurring sales of sake, beer, shōchū (a traditional Japanese distilled beverage made from barley or rice), and cocktails.

Some examples of new stateside izakayas include:

• Ki, in San Francisco – This “eco-sensitive” izakaya featuring local ingredients and sustainable seafood also features a sake lounge and a sushi bar. Owned by Paul Hemming and helmed by Chef Brian Beach (an alumni of Aqua restaurant), Ki offers modern interpretation of traditional Japanese pub grub, including kurobuta pork dumplings, a variety of yakitori (chicken skewers) and curry pork sliders

Ki Grand Opening from Temple Nightclub on Vimeo.

• Kushi, in Washington, DC – One of the granddaddies of the izakaya trend in the U.S. specializes in a menu of wood-fired robata-grilled items like asparagus, mushrooms, squid legs, quail and duck, as well as cross-cultural kobachi (small plates) such as Japanese potato salad with Bayonne ham), steam edamame and a daily chawanmushi custard

• Tanuki Tavern, in New York City – Restaurant impresario Jeffrey Chodorow’s entry into the field is the new Tanuki Tavern in the Meatpacking District’s stylish Hotel Gansevoort. The small-plates-intensive menu touts everything from fish and chips with yuzu tartar sauce to miso braised beef marrow bone, and there are several dozen esoteric and artisanal sakes on the wine list

• Sasa, in Walnut Creek, CA – Chef-owner Philip Yang has transformed a 100-year-old brick building into a fusion-style izakaya featuring foods from local farmers’ and fish markets; edamame hummus, Delta asparagus tempura, pan-seared dayboat scallops with carrot-ginger puree, and chicken “lollipops” with sweet and spicy glaze. The cocktail list features a number of interesting cross-cultural libations (Suntory Manhattan, anyone?)

Want more on food trends? The team at Synergy are all experts on what’s hot and how to implement it for your menu.

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Is Your Website Up to Snuff?

By Joan Lang

In this digital age, a good website can be the second most important ancillary marketing tool a restaurant has, after a well-designed menu.

Although today’s restaurant websites look and function a lot better than they used to, there are still plenty of substandard or just plain bad websites around: hard to use, ugly, complicated, lacking in a consistent message, or uninformative.

Like all marketing tools, your website and any associated social media—Twitter and Facebook feeds, a blog if you have one—should speak with your voice. Whether your operation is a small independent with limited resources, or a chain with a dedicated staff to produce it, your website is an extension of your mission, personality and marketing message.

Take a look at the site for Kitchenette , a “home-cooking” restaurant in Manhattan. Though the two locations are in high-density uber-urban areas, step inside the website and you’re in another place and time entirely, one where a meal is like dinner at Grandma’s house.

The design and graphics are charming, the voice and subject matter are authentic, and from a technical perspective the site makes sense and is easy to navigate and understand. There are recipes for items like chocolate cake and Nana’s Chicken Noodle Soup, and a new blog where you can read about Sunday suppers and vegetable gardening. Even if you’ve never been to Kitchenette, you feel like you understand the place and know the owners. It’s not a sophisticated blog, per se, but given the concept it shouldn’t be.

Meanwhile, Dunkin’ Donuts has recently redesigned its website to be more locally friendly. Inspired by Facebook feedback, the company added GPS functionality for smartphone users as well as a tool that allows customers to enter their zip code to access information about their nearest DD, its hours of operation, Wi-Fi availability and so on. You owe yourself to check it out.

Technical subjects like search engine optimization and analytics are a whole separate matter, but here are some common-sense tips to keep in mind when evaluating or redesigning your website (or, heaven forbid, launching your first one):

• Take it easy with bells and whistles – Three years ago, animation and other examples of technical wizardry were de rigueur. But keeping in mind that some 50% of Americans are using a mobile device like a smart phone, that’s no longer a smart strategy. Slow-loading screens, flash animation, complex slide shows and other bells and whistles will simply crash your customers’ browsers

• Be careful with the music – The right tunes may set a mood in the restaurant, but can be annoying on a website: The volume may come on too loud; the noise can be distracting; and it can be an embarrassment to the poor schlub who’s trying to make a dinner reservation from an office desk

• There must be a menu – Absolutely, positively, even if it’s a sample one. Including prices is extremely important (many chains deal with market-by-market differences by having a menu link for each location). You can offer a pdf but it shouldn’t be the only versions—remember than smart phone user? And of course it should be current

• Play up the basics – Contact information (address, phone number, email address) should be on every page; why force someone to go back to the home page or, even worse, a separate contact page after they’ve perused that menu? Hotlink the phone number. Days and hour of operation, reservations policies and other nuts-and-bolts information (credit cards taken, availability of parking) should also be prominently displayed. Don’t make customers hunt to give you their business

• No pages under construction – Yes, your web designer has put in a template for photos or a future blog. They have no business on an active site

• No bad food photography – Digital cameras are getting better, and you may be able to take photos yourself, but if you can’t afford professional photography that does your food justice, don’t use it

Finally, remember that like anything design-oriented, websites can look dated after just a few years. Like any marketing tool your site has a shelf life, and should be updated as necessary for content, appearance and functionality.

Synergy Consultants can help you design a better website. Just contact us today for a free estimate.

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Tip of the Month

By Joan Lang

 

The USDA’s iconic Food Guide Pyramid, introduced in 1992 and much criticized in the past several years for becoming both irrelevant and overly detailed, has been replaced by the plate. For many foodservice professionals who grew up with the pyramid, this represents an interesting paradigm shift, although the message to enjoy your food but eat less of it overall will come as no surprise. For information, check out the new site, choosemyplate.gov.

By Joan Lang

Pundits say that the two most recession-proof businesses are booze and funerals, and the latest data does seem to bear out the former. Consider getting your fair share by taking advantage of some of the beverage trends that have been booming away in the past 18-24 months.

 

Handcrafted cocktails, craft beer and interesting wines by the glass are at the heart of the premium-imbibing movement that was sweeping the foodservice scene before the Great Recession descended, and they continue more-or-less unabated even as the economy returns to iffy-ness today. The runaway success of the TV show “Mad Men,” with its high-profile drinking, has helped to revive the whole cocktail party culture vibe.

 

Small wonder. These tony quaffs are extremely profitable, and have turned the bartender into a rock star—not to mention a key position in any operation that has a liquor license. They’ve also energized the concept of bar menus, small plates, ‘60s-style snacks like deviled eggs, and anything small and salty and/or fried that can encourage patrons to order another round.

 

Here, in no particular order, are some of the newest wrinkles on the liquid side:
Orange and Black are the New Black. As in orange wine and black IPAs. Orange wine is produced from white grapes that macerate and even ferment on the grape skins, adding a coppery tinge and tannic body, as well as creating a uniquely marriageable wine with the characteristics of both white and red. This centuries-old winemaking technique is being revived by winemakers in Italy and the U.S. As for the burgeoning black IPA category, the fusion of two popular styles–India Pale Ales and porters and stouts–has created an intriguing beverage that appeals to both beer geeks and craft aficionados.

 

Signatures of the House. If your bar staff hasn’t created a selection of one-of-a-kind cocktails specifically for your venue, get a new one. Bespoke drinks that echo the menu concept (a chili-infused rum drink for Caribbean-themed food, for instance) will help set your business apart.

 

Make a Session of It. The proliferation of high-alcohol and other extreme beer has created a need for interesting “session” beers, brews that can be drunk in multiples over the course of a single session or meal occasion.

 

Bid Adieu to Wine Bottles. Large format wine containers like kegs, boxes, and even the unfortunately named bladders are being marketed by an increasingly serious group of producers and importers, making wine service more affordable, convenient and versatile. While wine on tap is the biggest trend, the whole field is evolving rapidly. This is in addition, of course, to the growing variety of wine serviceware, from tasting-size glasses to classy quartinos and classy carafes.

 

Yes, Virginal. Not everyone drinks—not all the time, anyway. Whether for reasons of health, sobriety, age, personal or cultural beliefs or just being the designated driver for the night, there are teetotalers who might appreciate a good “virgin” option that doesn’t call attention to the fact that they’re not imbibing. Artisanal sodas, distinctive tea-based beverages, and other complex nonalcoholic signatures meant to be enjoyed with or before food are a welcome gesture toward nondrinkers.

 

The Bloody is Back. In all the rush to make cocktails like Aviations, Manhattans and Fizzes, the classic Bloody Mary got a little lost in the shuffle, but now it’s coming back with such iterations as do-it-yourself bars and even special menu sections featuring the ever-beloved brunch drink in multiple versions.

 

Bartenders in the Walk-In! Chefs take their inspiration every day from what’s fresh and best in the larder and now so too do bartenders. Fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs are all fair game for cocktail creativity, inspiring flavors, juicy, infusions and garnishes. Raiding the walk-in also allows for seasonal cocktails, such as spring rhubarb and fall quince. Cucumber mint cocktail with rosemary syrup anyone

 

Beer Taps on Rotation. These days it’s not good enough to offer just a few different draft beers for customers to choose between. With so many kinds of beer available by the keg, it’s much more common to see a dozen or more tap beers at the very least. Very one new gastropub/tavern concepts, such as James Wood Foundry in New York City, offers 14 taps from the U.S., U.K.,  and Belgium, in additional to bottles

 

Small-Batch American Spirits. Small artisanal distilleries are opening all over the country, from Cold Rover vodka in Freeport, ME, to Old Potrero Strait Rye Whiskey in San Francisco. Used to make cocktails as well as for sipping, these artisan made spirits join other handmade local products, like honey, cheese, cured meats, and condiments.

 

Must-Haves: Benedictine, elderflower liqueur, absinthe, Prosecco and Luxardo. Whether centuries old, born-again or new, certain specialty alcoholic beverages have become de rigueur on trendy bars. By the time you read this, these five products may have passed into last week’s news, but right now, the 19^th century herbal liqueur made by the Benedictine monks and the refreshing Italian sparkling wine known as Prosecco are on everyone’s cocktail list du jour.

 

The Ice Age. One ice cube does not fits all, when spherical shapes melt slowly to keep from diluting single-malt Scotch on the rocks or spears chill shaken mixtures like a Tom Collins. Some cubes even have items like rosemary leaves frozen into them for flavor.

 

Low, Lower and Lowest. It’s not all about high-proof spirits. Unfortified beverages like wine, sparkling wine and beer have become mixers in signature drinks such as the French 75 (gin, Champagne, lemon juice, and sugar) and the chelada  (Mexican beer with tomato juice or Clamato, lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers). There are also aperitif-, digestive-, and fortified-beverage based specialties such as the sherry flip, Pimm’s Cup, and the Americano (a blend of Campari, dry vermouth and club soda) to provide a lighter buzz.

 

The ubiquitous smart phones and tablets are more than just for making surfing the net and texting easier – it’s also a tool to make online ordering at restaurants as easy as a touch of a button. With such convenience literally at a consumer’s fingertips, it’s ever important to tap into this growing trend. In fact, the Internet top information tool that consumers use to decide where to eat.
At this year’s NRA Show, OLO Online Ordering CEO Noah Glass and Five Guys project manager Steven Teller presented useful information on everything online ordering.

Simply put, online ordering is important because it makes it extremely easy for consumers to place and order and pay online whether it is from their home computer or smart device which can equate to more business. OLO operates as the facilitator for this interaction and provides restaurants with the technology to implement it for their own use. Even greater is the ability for OLO to be embedded on relevant high trafficked sites such as Google, Urbanspoon and Facebook allowing restaurants to spread their reach.

Glass states, “The average online order is 25% larger than a phone order, largely because of a more relaxed ordering environment.” Concerned about upselling? OLO actually allows for suggestive selling with pop-up boxes asking customers ( “would you like fries with that,” for example.)
Read this post on how Five Guys implemented online ordering.

Our own Dean Small and Danny Bendas were present at the LYFE Kitchen Fork Lifting in Palo Alto, CA. today with Founder Stephen Sidwell and CEO Mike Roberts among other esteemed food industry professionals and celebrity chefs.

LYFE  Kitchen (Love Your Food Everyday), the restaurant brand promoting healthy and good-tasting food, launched its “Fork Lifting” today to showcase their dishes to the special crowd.

“Eat Good. Feel Good. Do Good. “– that’s the LYFEstyle this brand encourages through their thoughtful and socially responsible practices. Be on the lookout for a LYFE Kitchen near you soon.

Synergy was hand-picked by Mike Roberts and the team to help bring LYFE Kitchen to life by collaborating with celebrity chefs and principals to build the organizational and operational infrastructure needed to roll out the brand.

 

Synergy managing partners Dean Small and Danny Bendas played an integral role in developing operating strategies and creating best practices while the Synergy design team captured the vision by designing a look that supports LYFE’s transformation guest experience.

 

Still think vegetarianism is a fringe movement? Think again. The news that the Meatless Monday program now has a remarkable 50% awareness among Americans—up from 30% just six months ago—is ample proof that vegetarian menu options will be growing in demand. In the latest Nation’s Restaurant News magazine, NRN provides further evidence on this trend as noted in their article ,

And that isn’t just among avowed meat avoiders. Increasingly, diners are ordering if not seeking out meatless items, not because they’re vegevores per se but because they’re starting to buy into the growing body of belief that Americans eat too much meat for their own health and the health of the planet overall.

Whatever you think of the various premises behind the movement (that overconsumption of meat is contributing to obesity, that it has a role in declining heart health, that large-scale meat production is inhumane and damaging to the environment), the fact remains more people are open to eating plant-based meals more often.

Writers like Michael Pollan—whose “In Defense of Foods” advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” has become like a mantra for the flexitarian revolution—as well as influential chefs like Mario Batali, who is famous for his love of meat and his early adoption of Meatless Mondays, have been making serious headway in the last few years.

Although critics say that being “a little bit vegetarian” is akin to being a little bit pregnant, the truth is that the image of vegetarian food is changing from one of tasteless nuts, sprouts and soy protein to one of fresh, healthy, seasonal and delicious.

Rather than choosing to eat meatless for social, moral or religious reasons, people will order vegetarian items because they’re trying to eat less meat, or watching their calorie intake. Many diners don’t even make a distinction between items that have meat in them and ones that may happen to be meatless—they just order what sounds good to them.

Although some operators have shied away from the vegetarian because they’re afraid the items won’t sell—or they’ve offered a perfunctory vegetable plate or salad option—savvy operators are treating meatless items as another category along with beef, fish and other center-of-plate staples.

It’s no longer simply a matter of accommodating that relatively small portion of the population that never eats meat—although you can do that by making delicious food that just happens to be meat-free. That way, you can serve the vegetarian minority but not restrict the appeal of your meatless specialties to those patrons with dietary restrictions. This all-inclusive strategy has led to many interesting developments that any diner can embrace:

–         Ethnic items (i.e., Indian and Mexican) with a tradition of plant and grain ingredients

–         Vegetable tasting menus and farmer’s market specialties

–         Produce-intensive items like salads which the diner can choose to order with or without a meat topping

–         Creative tofu, seitan, and other meat analogs

–         Easy-to-be-veggie categories (egg dishes, pastas, sandwiches, pizza, soups, and the like, which can be vegetarian without being overt about it)

 

Even restaurants that specialize in vegetarian and vegan options (which feature no animal products whatsoever, including eggs, diary and honey) ain’t what they used to be. Just look at Gather , in uber-hip Berkeley, California, with its “mindful” menu that includes vegan charcuterie alongside a perfect burger, plus a full bar stocked with all biodynamic and organic California wines and cocktails and spirits distilled from wholly organic grains.  Who wouldn’t want to eat there?

Founding partner of Synergy Restaurant Consultants, Dean Small, was asked to extend his restaurant expertise in the latest Politico article.

By MJ Lee

Nearly a week after President Barack Obama’s unannounced visit to a Rudy’s Hot Dog joint in Toledo, Ohio, the residents of Five Points are still abuzz about the unexpected presidential visit to their neighborhood.

“The locals have been driving me nuts and going crazy,” said Harry Dionyssiou, whose family operates six Rudy’s diners. “Everybody wants to sit at the same table, on the same chair that the president sat in; they want to eat the same thing that he ate.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56554.html#ixzz1OpbaqSpn

Amid some confusion about the restaurant economy—is there a recovery going on, or have consumers changed their dining-out habits for the duration?—it helps to have a strategy for building sales.

While the overall outlook is indeed improving and people are returning to restaurants, recent data from Harris indicates that they’re not spending any more and that in fact, average checks are decreasing slightly as guests continue to seek value-priced options.

What can operators do to help counter this, short of the tenuous path of raising prices? Here are a few ideas to consider.

1. Offer cooking classes, wine tastings and other events during gaps in service. Not only can you charge for these events, but you can also partner with other local businesses, like wine distributors, to help defray costs. Classes also have become increasingly popular for participatory parties, such as bridal showers, which helps get the word out to other potential customers.
2. Ramp up your social media efforts. Savvy chains and independents have enjoyed great success via internet-abetted vehicles like Facebook and Twitter, promoting everything from contests and sweepstakes to coupons, news of IPOs, and specials.
3. There’s also a growing trend toward online ordering apps, with some 50% of consumers now using a mobile device for shopping, according to Arc Worldwide.
4. Speaking of coupons, be cautious about services such as Groupon. Like discounting, it needs to be carefully managed so as not to cut into profits, annoy potential customers or watch the service otherwise backfire.
5. Take advantage of texting. This efficient, relatively inexpensive tool can be used to manage waits, coordinate scheduling and other communications with employees, and reach out to regulars—for instance, to remind them to consider celebrating their upcoming anniversary with you (remember that database you’ve building?) or alert them when their favorite soup is about to offered.
6. Invest all of your employees in the process of building sales. A good consumer experience is one of the surest routes to repeat business, positive word-of-mouth and overall good karma. Share your concerns, expectations and plans with key employees, and help them provide better service with tools such as training, empowerment, support.
7. Engage in socially responsible business practices. Whether it’s buying locally produced or Fair Trade goods, recycling, extracting maximizing energy savings, contributing to relief or providing health insurance to employees, you want to get the word out about, since surveys repeatedly show that consumers are becoming increasingly supportive of such efforts. You don’t have to go all green to reap the benefits of “doing the right thing.
8. Add a retail component to your business. No, we don’t mean price tags on your paintings—although promoting local artists can be a very good idea—but seeking out sales opportunities wherever you can. Moe’s Southwest Grill,  for instance, recently entered into a deal to sell branded products at BJ’s. A smaller restaurant can sell baked goods or homemade pizza dough.
9. Need capital? Take a page from CSAs and sell “shares.” Community Supported Agriculture Groups raise upfront cash and promote their existence by preselling shares in future crops—for every $100 a customer gives them, for instance, $110 worth of produce is delivered. We’ve heard of independent restaurants getting money for efforts like remodeling and advertising by selling x-dollars’ worth of dining scrip for a discounted price up front.  Offering such a deal to a regular customer such as a local business that orders a lot of lunch takeout or does a lot of entertaining at your place can be a particularly smart idea.
10. Repurpose your assets. Got a commissary truck that can be used for catering, a parking lot that can be “leased” to a crafts show or farmers’ market on an off-day? Exchange meals for services like local PR representation, in the age-old system known as bartering. Be creative.

Synergy can help you find ways to make your business more profitable. Call us today for a free consultation.

 

During recent eating expeditions I’ve noticed the ingredient yuzu has been showing up on more menus than Sarah Palin on a bus tour.

So what exactly is a yuzu? What the lime is to Mexico the yuzu is to Japan: an East Asian versatile citrus whose bumpy rind (similar to a small grapefruit) and juice is used in variety of dishes. Yuzu flavor? Think of it as a cross between a mandarin orange and a lime. The juice makes for a floral vinaigrette; it is also used in Ponzu and as an additive to sauces. Aside from sauces, yuzu has been used for marmalades, syrups for tea and even ingredients in alcoholic beverages.

With citrus flavors being so popular today I am betting that yuzu will be one of those ingredients that slowly make it’s way into casual dining.