The cold-hard facts: 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—have diabetes (American Diabetes Association). Further, type 2 diabetes comprises 90% of people with diabetes around the world (World Health Organization). Due to the detrimental adverse affects of diabetes, people battling this disease are constantly monitoring their blood sugar levels, and ensuring that they are exercising and eating healthy.

 

Since diet plays a crucial role in the health of a diabetic, many of them rigorously search for healthy food choices in order to keep their blood sugar levels in check. While grocery stores conveniently offer a variety of diabetic-friendly food options, it is not always the case at restaurants. The diabetic may find it difficult to find a restaurant that can cater to their diabetic diet — one that is low in calories, fat, and carbohydrates but still nutritionally balanced. Ultimately, it is up to the diabetic herself to make the right food choices, but as a savvy restaurant operator you can make her life easier (and millions of others), by creating a diabetic-friendly menu. Here are some practical tips on developing a menu that will cater people living with diabetes.

Creating a diabetic-friendly menu

• Create low-calories dishes by offering smaller portions
• Focus on lean cuts of protein and always offer fish options
• Limit the oil you cook with by utilizing techniques like baking, steaming, braising, and grilling versus deep frying
• Choose low-fat, or non-fat dairy products
• Fresh fruits and vegetables are great side dishes
• Limit the total amount of carbohydrates (this includes sugars) in all dishes
• Instead of only offering water and sodas, look into other low-calorie/zero-calorie and low-sugar drinks like unsweetened tea, coffee, low-fat milk, and even no-sugar added juice drinks
• Incorporate non-meat proteins like beans and lentils in dishes
• Experiment with sugar alcohol such as Xylitol — this is a low-calorie sweetener and can be used to create sugar-free desserts.

 

Taking the initiative to create a healthy, diabetic-friendly restaurant menu will not only help your patrons make smart eating choices, but can help increase your bottom line as well. If you have questions regarding healthy menu development, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.

There are a lot of new restaurant menu items to look forward to in March as well as some returning favorites. Check out our list of March’s hottest new and returning menu items from some of the most well-known brands:

• Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos from Taco Bell: The highly anticipated Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco has finally arrived and debuted nationwide on March 7 to drooling fans.
• Hazelnut Macchiato from Starbucks: Inspired by one of their best sellers, the Caramel Macchiato, Starbuck’s newest beverage features a hazelnut twist.
• McCafé Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s: This festively green and minty seasonal favorite is made with reduced fat ice cream, “Shamrock Shake syrup,” whipped cream and topped with a Maraschino cherry.
• Skinny Sorbettos from Red Mango:  The frozen yogurt  retailer has introduced a new line of dairy free, sugar free, probiotic softly-frozen treats called “Skinny Sorbettos” and is offering in raspberry and chocolate flavors.
• Brussels and Bacon Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen: Creating a tasty marriage of veggies and meats, this unique pizza truly highlights the Brussels sprouts. This LTO if offered through the end of March.
• Shrimp Burger from The Habit Burger: This promotional burger features char-grilled, ginger-teriyaki glazed 100% whole shimp shrimp with lettuce, tomatoes, grilled pineapple and homemade tartar sauces on a whole wheat bun.

Healthy food has a bad reputation for being not delicious yet somewhat expensive. It’s quite a shame, really, because with the right mix of ingredients and flavors restaurants can have a healthy and mouth-watering menu.

 

Let’s take a look into what is technically considered “a healthy menu”. Healthy menus should include dishes that meet at least one of the following criteria: low in calories, low in fat (particularly saturated fat and absolutely no trans-fat), low in sodium, no additives or preservatives, fresh, and high in nutrition.

 

We recently worked with LYFE Kitchen team to develop their signature offerings, a menu that transformed comfort foods such as fried chicken, burgers, and pizzas into delectable, healthy dishes. Our challenge was to make each of these items under 600 calories, low sodium, still taste great, and be available at an affordable price. So we put on our thinking caps and jumped into the test kitchen.

 

Most Chefs know fat adds flavor, as does salt. Unfortunately, these are the two main culprits of an unhealthy meal. One of the keys to a healthy meal delicious is infusing a dish with lots of flavor instead of relying on extra fat and salt to do so. In the test kitchen, we experimented with a variety of aromatic herbs and spices to find unique combinations to bring out the best flavor profiles of the fresh ingredients themselves.Let’s take the classic fried chicken dish for example. How could something aspire to that level of deliciousness without being deep fried? In Chef Art Smith’s dish—aptly named Unfried Chicken,Unfried Chicken— the clever use of a buttermilk and hot sauce marinade and whole-wheat seasoned Panko breadcrumbs to coat skinless chicken breast, has made this dish a top seller at LYFE Kitchen.

 

But it doesn’t end there! What about healthy pizza? Yes, it’s possible, and LYFE Kitchen has it! One of the most popular pizzas featured here is the Margherita Flatbread, a pizza made with whole-wheat and flaxseed dough and topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, sweet cherry tomatoes, basil, and pomodoro sauce. Satisfying, healthy, and delicious. The strategic usage of different flavor pairings makes this dish another LYFE favorite.

 

In the end, the road to a successful healthy menu is continued experimentation with fresh ingredients, herbs and different seasonings in order to create a strong flavor foundation that will require less fat, salt, and sugar to make delicious. If you’re ready to take on this challenge and feel your restaurant needs a menu makeover, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants, the menu development experts.

Subway has created a new online game, but instead of users earning virtual tokens and awards, the prize and concept are much bigger. This game’s goal is to help you learn how to create and manage your own Subway franchise. This is how it works.

From the official game’s website:

“Build your own virtual SUBWAY® store and you could  WIN 1 of 5 all-expense paid trips to the United States  to meet SUBWAY® owner Fred DeLuca.

1. Build: Set up your virtual store with startup capital
2. Train: Learn the biz and provehow much you know
3. Operate: Earn bonuses by achieving goals and completing challenges
4. Promote: Drive sales by driving traffic to your store

The game’s goal is to help give users with the insights to learn how to operate a successful Subway restaurant in a fun and competitive manner, with the chance to provide entrepreneurs with career opportunities.

The video below describes the “video challenge” where the contestants would promote themselves in a creative way:

The contest officially ends on March 31st.

An essential aspect to a successful restaurant is no doubt a capable and expert staff. In the heart of the restaurant — the kitchen– the executive chef plays a key role. With multiple skills required to run a successful kitchen, the need for top-notch talent becomes ever more important. You can think of an executive chef’s role very much like that of your right-hand man
(or woman).

So how do you choose the best executive chef?

Here’s our checklist:

• Years of experience, especially in the same culinary style in which your restaurant specializes in
• Must be passionate about food and have a good understanding of how to manage food and labor costs — this is a pennies business – manage the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves
• Ability to multi-task and work under excellent under pressure
• Natural leaders who work well with others and are direct and assertive
• He/she must have impeccable time-management skills
• Posses creativity, particularly the ability to add great dishes to the menu
• Be an effective communicator
• An astounding attention to detail is extremely important
• Above all else, having a passion for cooking is truly a must

There are are multiple avenues you can take when looking for chef resumes. For example, there are several sites online where you can search existing resumes and even post job ads at the same time. Try checking out your local Craigslist, iHireChefs.com, monster.com, and LinkedIn just to name a few. Never forget that referrals are also a great way to find good talent.

Hard cider is rapidly expanding beyond Martinelli’s and into a craft beverage. Traditionally made with apples, cider can also be from the juice of other fruits such as peaches, berries, and pears. The typical ABV for hard ciders are also very flexible, ranging from 2% to 8.5%. It has been cited by various publications as the next trend in beverages and a plethora of artisanal shops have cropped up, offering styles of cider for every palate.

 

Hard ciders offer restaurants an impressive variety of options to utilize for both food pairing and expanding its beverage menu in lieu of cocktails. It is also a great gender-neutral choice: in addition to 47% of women who are drinking more cider to try new brands, 21% of men are drinking more cider instead of other alcohol. Overall, 36% of regular drinkers have a very positive opinion of the beverage and 33% of male drinkers have grown to like the taste (Alcoholic Beverage DemandTracker).

 

The main obstacle to increased cider adoption is the lack of its availability in restaurants and bars. 26% of regular drinkers say they would drink more if it were more commonly offered and 15% of occasional drinkers agree. While some non-drinkers maintain cider is “not for people their age”, 8% of them state they would drink it more often if it were more popular. Thus, it seems cider protesters can be persuaded with the changing tide and the best course of action is to begin stocking the beverage as an early adapter in the changing food & beverage climate.

America’s beloved and favorite dish has certainly got to be the burger — it sure ranks as king on our list of faves. There’s really nothing more mouth-watering than a thick, juicy burger grilled to perfection with fresh toppings and homemade sauce. As restaurant consultants, we are constantly researching and eating our way through a lot of different kinds of burgers, analyzing each ingredient and seeing if there’s any “wow factor.”

 

Alright, your stomach is probably starting to grumble right now so we’ll cut to the chase. Where are all the best burger joints? Zagat recently published its picks for the best hamburgers in the USA — they broke it down by city for easier access for all your burger lovers. So here’s the list — we added some photos and link to their Yelp profiles to help you in your quest for the best burger!

 

Zagat’s Top Burger Pics

Atlanta: Vortex Bar & Grill

Austin: Hopdoddy Burger Bar

Baltimore: Linwoods

Boston: Mr. Bartley’s

Charlotte: Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar

Chicago: Edzo’s Burger Shop

Dallas/Fort Worth: Maple & Motor

Denver: Crave Real Burgers

Fort Lauderdale: Le Tub

Honolulu: Kua’ Aina Sandwich

Houston: Goode Co. Burger

Kansas City: Burger Stand at the Casbah

Las Vegas: Slidin’ Thru

Los Angeles: Golden State

Miami: Flip Burger Bar

New York: Burger Joint

Orlando: Pine Twenty2

Philadelphia: Sketch

Portland: Killer Burger

Sacramento: Squeeze In

Salt Lake City: Hire’s Big H

San Diego: In-N-Out Burger

San Francisco: 900 Grayson

Seattle: Broiler Bay

Washington: Ray’s Hell Burger

 

 

Read the original article:  Best hamburgers in the USA: Zagat’s picks in 25 cities

 

 

For some, this the wait has been too long. Nevertheless, the infamous Doritos Locos Taco from Taco Bell has a new cousin on the way – one that many haven been longing for. Well the wait will soon be over because next month, March 7, Taco Bell will release its Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco (CRDLT) across all their locations. Those that can’t get enough of that nacho cheese flavored taco shell will now have another option to savor.

 

What happens when you’ve got 4 hours to spare and have 11 hidden cameras lying around in a flower shop? A smart viral video to introduce this news to the world happened on February 13 when Taco Bell released this:

 

Check out the video

 

That day, people got wind that a flower shop in NYC was giving away free CRDLT’s when you come in and ask for a “blue bouquet.” The result: 800 CRDLT’s were given out and countless fans are rejoicing.

 

Some of the reviews are in they are positive. Check out what Business Insider, Huffington Post, and Zagat had to say about the new taco.

 

The Business Insider Video Review

 

The Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco will be priced at $1.39, and contains 160  calories and 10 grams of fat.

Greetings!

To your success,

Dean and Danny

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The “Vegetable-Forward” Menu

By Joan Lang

No, not vegetarian; vegetable forward.

It’s a sign of the times. The ever-increasing cost of animal proteins like beef and even chicken, coupled with a fascination for the local, the seasonal and the fresh-from-the-farm, has given rise to menus that pay much more than lip service—a salad or two, a few side dishes—to vegetables.

Restaurants like Noma in Copenhagen, with its foraged plants on the menu, and Eleven Madison Mark in New York, where chef Daniel Humm has famously ground carrot “tartare” tableside, have put the focus squarely on vegetables.

As Noma’s Rene Redzepi himself has said, “The dimensions of flavors you find in vegetables are so much more exciting than [those of] the three or four animals we eat all the time.”

Trend prognosticators are already proclaiming 2013 The Year of the Vegetable. Restaurant.com, an online restaurant deal resource, polled more than 100 restaurants in all segments to see what operators thought would be important trends this year. Vegetables having a more prominent position on menus ranked No. 2 on the list (after healthy menu options.

Kale and beets seem to be on every other menu. Hooters has added salads. A whole new, er, crop of quick-casual restaurants like Snappy Salads and Pitfire Pizza is replacing burgers and fries with Corn and Okra Stew and Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Pizza. Meanwhile, chefs with access to any land at all, even a rooftop, are growing their own vegetables.

 

• Justin Cucci, chef/owner of Root Down and Linger, in Denver, put in an 800-sq.-ft. on-site Root Garden that provides heirloom tomatoes, beets,kale, chiles, herbs, zucchinis and sunflowers (used for their seeds) for both gardens. Guests at Root Down can sit on the patio and view the garden directly, while they enjoy seasonal specialties like Carrot & Gorgonzola Salad with arugula, frisee, Marcona almonds, carrot leaf pesto and Sauvignon Blanc dressing, and Roasted Beet Risotto with Forbidden Black rice, goat feta, Parmesan, candied walnuts and citrus sauce

• Brick-oven pizza chain Bertucci’s has been steadily broadening its appeal into a more full-menu concept under new executive chef Jeff Tenner, in part thanks to such seasonal, produce-driven new items as a roasted vegetable antipasto, Brick Oven Beets with Blue Cheese, and Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza. A new concept, called 2 Ovens, is set to push the produce envelope still further

• In its newly relaunched Marinas Restaurant, the Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, CA, offers chef Cal Stamenov’s take on “farmed and foraged” ingredients in such seasonal dishes as Smoked Eggplant Agnolini with cherry tomatoes, Manchego and pimente d’espelette; Chilled Garden Cucumber Soup with Maine lobster, minted yogurt, compressed watermelon and cilantro; and Wild White Sea Bass with Di Cicco broccoli, baby spinach and Meyer lemon puree

• The menu at Fresh to Order, a quick- casual chain based in Atlanta, touts freshness and health through a variety of fruit and vegetable items. Current specialties include a spinach salad laced with strawberries, raisins and seasonal fruit; a fig and blue cheese salad with candied walnuts; a grilled vegetable panini; and a variety of multi-use condiments and relishes, such as Roasted Corn Peanut Relish and a citrus- and-ginger Asian Slaw

• Frog and Peach, a 30-year-old classic restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ, now under a new chef-owner, does a 4-course Vegetable Tasting Menu that was so successful when he introduced it this summer that the concept has been extended into colder weather with seasonal ingredients like pumpkin, Asian pear, root vegetables and mushrooms

• You would expect an outfit called Field Kitchen to focus on vegetables, and indeed the menu for the Sweet Tomatoes brand “reinvention” features numerous salads (including Hippy Grains & Kale and a Greek salad), plus such “suitable sides” for rotisserie meats as Roasted Squash Ratatouille and Iowa Creamed Corn

Not that while vegetarians and even vegans would be perfectly happy with these menu items, these are not meat-free-zone restaurants, nor are the menus actively promoted to the sprouts set—instead they are thoughtful seasonal offerings that showcase great ingredients and elevated techniques and flavor principles.

What’s not to like?

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An Untapped Market: The Food-Allergic

By Lara (“Food Allergy Gal”) Holland, a food-allergic foodie and owner of LaraHolland Food Allergy Consultancy

 

How many times does restaurant staff hear these words: “I am allergic to____” or “My child has food allergies to_____”? These can be the most dreaded phrases in the industry, because they hold everything up.

That said, catering to the food-allergic or food-sensitive population is a socially responsible way to bring in big revenues and create customer loyalty.

I am a food-allergic foodie who has struggled with food allergies for the last 10 years. Changing my diet wasn’t about losing weight or being “healthy”—it was about saving my life. There is an entire population of people with late-onset food allergies. And like me, they are foodies who love a well-prepared meal, yet now must worry about everything they put into their mouths.

There are 150 million people worldwide with severe food allergies, and 90% of these people are allergic to one or more of 10 specific foods. So what does this mean for the restaurant business? The food-allergic often cook at home, rarely eat out, and frequently bring their own meals to events: They are in complete food isolation land. Granted, there are sometimes vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free options at restaurants, but very rarely do I see menus offered specifically to the food allergic. For operators, this is actually quite exciting, because there is a major untapped market for serving the food-allergic.

In a recent poll I asked: “As a food-allergic or parent of a food-allergic, what would make you eat out more?” Almost 200 people replied, saying, “I would drive out of my way to eat at a place where I knew the food was `safe,’ and where there were special menus and an educated, sensitive staff.” Some respondents added that they would like to see all ingredients be listed on these special menus or easy-to-read labeling so they could select a menu item with confidence.

So why should your food business care about food allergies?

For one thing, there are legal issues to consider. A recent precedent may actually require you to make changes if your business is subject to American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance.

As of January 2009, the ADA lists and recognizes people with food allergies as being among the disabled. In January 2013, a ruling against a Massachusetts university awarded a food-sensitive person $50,000 because the university was not carrying food she could eat on campus. Additionally, they ordered that all facilities have items a food-sensitive or allergic person could eat and a special location to store them in.

And then there are the revenues and customer loyalty. According to Global Industry Analysts, the market for food allergy and intolerance products has the potential to bring in $26.5 billion of revenue in the next four years. This is an enormous opportunity for food manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators to tap into their share of a market that will only grow from here. In fact, Whole Foods attributes its 2012 success almost entirely to serving this population.

Food-allergic/sensitive people will be some of the most loyal customers you’ll ever meet. If you truly take the time to understand their needs and make meals they can enjoy without getting sick, they will travel long distances to eat at your restaurant or shop in your store. They write excellent reviews and ask all their friends to join them there.

If you have items on the menu for “special needs” diners, they will likely order it: Overall, the food-allergic are extremely deprived in the food world. If they see a dessert on the menu that they can actually eat, they will have dinner and dessert. If there is an appetizer, dinner, dessert and a beverage made without the ingredients they are allergic to, guess what? Their meal ticket is larger and you get the revenue.

What can your restaurant do to help serve the food-allergic/sensitive safely?

• Get staff trained and certified by a nationally recognized organization. It pays off! I have seen the difference between a certified food allergy staff and a “ServSafe” approved staff.

• Develop certified food/allergy-friendly menus and special request menus. These menus make it easier to serve special-request items more quickly during busy times, ensure safety of food products without triple-checking ingredients, avoid potential lawsuits for making a food-allergic person sick, and increase the confidence of the consumer and the staff.

• Work with a specialist. Culinary schools don’t teach their students this specialty, and many kitchen staffers don’t understand the importance of the issue. Most Registered Dietitians also don’t get specialty focus training on food allergies and sensitivities. Contact a food allergy specialist or a consultant to help, including Synergy Restaurant Consultants .

• Source alternative ingredients. You can still have regular macaroni and cheese on the menu, but then add a “dairy- and gluten-free mac and cheese” with a little flair and watch sales soar.

For more information on food allergies, log on to Lara’s blog at http://foodallergygal.blogspot.com/

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Dining and Whining: Dealing with Complaints

By Joan Lang

Customer complaints have been a fact of life since the first restaurant opened up for business in 18th-century France. But the landscape is shifting fast now that social media outlets such as Yelp and Facebook have come onto the scene, creating a new class of “citizen reviewers” who have been empowered to put their opinions, including complaints, out there on the internet for all the world to see.

Social media has been so empowering, in fact, that it has completely changed conventions: A new service called Reviewer Card makes it possible for reviewers, including Yelpers, to put a restaurant on notice that it may be reviewed, thus ensuring a better level of service, according to the card’s founders. (Ruth Bourdain, the Twitter-born parody mash-up of Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain, immediately and rightly put this hostage-taking practice itself on notice.)

According to the 2012 Tork Report, a whopping 92% of U.S. consumers say they will complain about a negative restaurant experience, most often online. And never mind that some Yelp reviews may be fake. Operators need to take complaints seriously, and they need to ensure that problems in the restaurant are addressed before they become complaints.

The article “Life in the Age of Yelp” which we published in March 2012 still holds true for how to deal with online complaints: Monitor postings, establish policies for responding, and watch your tone and intent if you do address negative comments. Most experts agree that you should respond to online criticisms, either publicly or privately, in a thoughtful and respectful way —which demonstrates to both the commenter and anyone else reading your response that you take your guests’ satisfaction seriously.

There are also best-practice rules of engagement for old-fashioned “real time” complaints, the kind that come directly to the restaurant in the form of food returns, requests to speak to the management, follow-up letters, and the like. In fact, closely monitoring situations in the restaurant that may lead to complaints—such as a customer not eating their food—is especially important now, because being proactive can prevent them from going public later.

• Watch your customers. Are they looking around for a server or sitting for a long time without their food? Are their water glasses empty? Have three different wines that they’ve ordered been out of stock? It’s crucial to address issues like these for the sake of good hospitality, but it’s also a way to prevent a negative experience from becoming a complaint. You should also encourage staff to inform a manager if they see any situations developing.

• Intercede when you see something that’s not right. Let guests know you are aware there is a problem and that you are willing to take responsibility for correcting it as soon as possible. Offer a free dessert after a meal that has taken too long to arrive, or take the bottle of wine they eventually order off the check—and tell them so when the bottle arrives at the table. Chances are good that they will not only feel better about the experience but they will also tell their friends, and give you another chance.

• Keeping a log of problems and complaints and communicating them with all concerned parties (such as the management staff)—either in an actual book or with a digital tool like ShiftNote —can help identify patterns and point up potential problems that need to be addressed in operations. If three sets of customers in as many weeks say the gumbo was too spicy, maybe it is. It also ensures that all stakeholders are up to date.

• Consider using customer surveys. Make a survey available to guests with the check, on your website, or at a service counter. People who fill these out may be doing so because they’ve had a negative experience or are concerned enough to want to let you know what they think. Address any problems that may surface with a personal response and an offer to correct the situation or an invitation to return and give your establishment another chance.

• Realize that guests can feel awkward about complaining face-to-face. There are programs like Talk to the Manager, which allows customers to anonymously text complaints and comments directly to a manager’s cellphone.

• Engage your staff in the process. Employees who value their workplaces and co-workers help build customer satisfaction. Employees who are provided freedom, self-governance, and an ability to make choices about their work are not only more engaged in their jobs, but they are also more likely to address service issues before they become full-blown complaints.

Want more information about customer service issues? Call Synergy Restaurant Consultants.

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Tip of the Month

Continuing education is great, but it can cost a lot in terms of both money and time. The Culinary Institute of America offers a number of free online courses through its ciaprochef.com  site, including such industry-supported eLearning modules as sustainable Alaska seafood, the cooking of Andalucia, and The World Bean Kitchen. There is also a series of four paid online Menu R&D courses conducted each year, as well as videos, recipes and other assets for foodservice professionals.

Whether you enjoyed it or not, the pop video phenomenon “Gangnam Style”  has made a huge impression on the world (a whopping 1.3 billion views as today!). The pulsing beats and funny dance styles featured in the video had people viewing, sharing and imitating like crazy. But move over PSY, there’s a new “dance” taking the world by storm and it’s a different version of the “Harlem Shake” that you might already be familiar with.

 

A dance song by artist Baauer called “Harlem Shake,” has allowed countless of people to create their own funny viral videos. All are about thirty seconds long and follow a similar template: in a public venue, one person begins to dance to the “Harlem Shake” song and about fifteen seconds in as soon as the beat drops, more people instantly appear in the shot dancing along, typically wildly and in costume.

 

Homes, classrooms, offices, businesses, news stations and yes, even restaurants have caught the Harlem Shake bug and countless numbers have uploaded their own version to the world wide web. Savvy restaurant owners are taking advantage of viral marketing and posting their Harlem Shake video. Check out these restaurants’ video, including one from our own client, Toppers Pizza.

 

Toppers Pizza

Brendan’s Pub

Siddhartha’s Kitchen

Nu Crepes