Chapter 24: Increase Order Amount and Your Bottom Line

As a restaurant manager, you want to increase the bottom line for your business. There are many effective ways to do so. This chapter will show you ways to increase the bottom line through increasing the order amount, menu add-ons, up-selling, adding additional services, and much more.

Make Changes to Your Menu and Layout

Daily Specials

There are many ways to offer daily specials. In an earlier chapter, I mentioned using daily specials as a way to test new items. You do not have to offer them every day, but you can get feedback from your customers. If the feedback is good, you can consider adding them to your menu.

You can include a daily special card in your menu. Some restaurants offer the same daily specials week after week. Others list the specials on a special board. In some restaurants, the server lists the specials for customers.

A good thing about adding different specials is it allows you to use up leftovers or over ordered items. If you have left over vegetables you can offer soup. It is better to make less than to throw away spoiled food.

Specials also offer some diversity for your regular customers without having too many items on your menu. You can allow employees or customers to offer suggestions for specials, but you have the final approval after evaluating the costs involved.

Menu Add-Ons

Some popular add-ons include personal pizzas, subs, appetizers, chicken, wings, pasta, soup, salads, and breadsticks or garlic bread.

Appetizers – Tantalizers

Appetizers are a great way to increase your average ticket price. They also give some variety and make great impulse purchases. Customers can munch on them while they wait for their order or on their drive home. Children love breadsticks and cheese sticks.

Chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, and garlic bread are offered by LaRosa’s in Cincinnati. Uno’s offers pizza skins, which are a deep-dish pizza crust with mozzarella, whipped and buttered red bliss potatoes, bacon, cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream. Bertucci’s in Baltimore offers several seafood appetizers, including Mussels Caruso and shrimp scampi.

You and your employees need to tell customers about your appetizers. Add them to your menu board, menus, and add promo pieces around the public areas to promote them. All order takers need to be trained to up sell and add appetizers to their orders. I used to hold employee contests each month. The employee who sold the most of our selected items won a gift certificate or something similar.

Almost every country and culture enjoys some type of appetizer before the main course. Americans no longer think of appetizers as a salad, cocktail sausages, or cheese and crackers. Stuffed jalapeño peppers, kabobs, spinach dips, and chicken wings have all entered the appetizer market, making “appetizer savvy” a huge money-maker in restaurant sales. Appetizers are meant to whet the appetite of your customers and get them ready to enjoy the main course. Appetizers also serve as “tantalizers” before the main meal to help your guests relax with an accompanying cocktail, glass of wine, or other beverage of choice. The following ideas will increase your “appetizer savvy” and increase sales and profit — besides adding more tips for your wait staff:

• The “eyes” have it. Eye appeal of prepared food is 90 percent of the reason people try a new dish. Be sure that your side items are presented with “eye appeal” in mind — on the dish, pictured on the menu, or described by your wait staff.

• Add flare to a meal with appetizers. Appetizers can always add a distinctive flare to any restaurant’s menu items. If you concentrate on serving appetizers with a flare, your sales will increase tenfold. Use garnishes to add color and spices to add zest. Make them look just as the name suggests – appetizing.

• Tantalize your guests with vivid descriptions. “How about a piece of our luscious cherry cream pie? It is made with fresh cherries and lots of whipped cream on top!”

• Use catchy names for your appetizer menu items. It is great to serve delicious, one-of-a-kind nachos at your restaurant, but rather than listing them on the menu as “nachos,” a name such as “Jamaican Jerk Nachos” will paint a picture in your customer’s mind of something special.

• Specialty drinks or specially-priced drinks. Be sure that each wait staff shift is aware of any specials on drinks that might not be on your menu. A customer will be more willing to try a new drink if it is presented first and sounds tantalizing.

• Rethink the positioning of appetizers on your menu to make them more tantalizing. If they are extremely popular and a great source of sales revenue, you want to increase their visibility on the menu. If you are thinking about making appetizers a bigger part of your sales, be sure to consider making them a special part of your menu. Use color and flare to make them appetizing.

Place Side Items on a Pedestal

Do not forget the side items in your quest to sell more entrées. Side items can increase your profit margin even more than a high-priced entrée. Do not disregard them in your menu-planning process. Plan promotions and displays that will appeal to your clientele. Consider the following possibilities:

• Regale your sub-menu items to reap profits. You can give your sub-menu items a special place on your menu by directing your wait staff to promote them or by setting up displays that are inviting and colorful. Promotions that feature special side items such as a mid-winter “Evening in the Tropics” served with Jamaican Rum Punch or Mango Sundaes can get your customers out of the winter doldrums.

• If you have a “Happy Hour,” be sure to offer samples of appetizers. “Happy Hour” customers can also be “return” lunch or dinner customers. They will remember a delicious appetizer they sampled at “Happy Hour” and recommend it to their friends. “Happy Hour” can be an excellent promotional tool if you make it a memorable experience for your customers.

• Do not forget the art of presentation. No matter how delicious your sub-menu items are, presentation is the key to get them noticed.

“Scratch and sniff” your menu items. You can add scratch and sniff stickers to certain parts of your menu or table tents to attract patrons to the delectable smells of the ingredients you will be using. Order yours from Mello Smello at 800-328-4876, www.mellosmello.com.

Preparation and Presentation of Side Items Promote Sales

Dare to be different in your food fare’s preparation. Try a few of the following novel suggestions for enhancing your presentation of side items:

• Prepare routine fare in an unusual way. Even a plain potato can be prepared in ways other than mashing or baking. Grill them with some liquid smoke sprinkled on top or batter chicken fingers with a Cajun-spiced mixture for extra zing.

• Enthusiastic descriptions. Be sure your customers know that you put a great deal of effort into being different. How about the following description for your potatoes: “Our smoky, grilled potatoes have a hickory flavor that complements our grilled hamburgers.”

• Side item aromas can whet your customers’ appetites. Fresh herbs produce aromas that will appeal to your customers’ sense of smell. Basil, tarragon, and rosemary are herbs that can be used in many side items to produce delicate, appealing scents. Fresh-baked bread is also a winner in the aroma department.

• Prepare side items that will please your customers’ palates. Marinating ingredients is a wonderful way to make the ordinary dish stand out. Try soaking fresh vegetables in a marinade or experiment with layering flavors within the same dish; for example, grilled chicken fingers with a tomato-cream sauce topped with Bleu Cheese.

• Flame the fires. If someone orders Bananas Foster or fajitas for their meal or dessert, try to serve the dish while it is still on fire or sizzling. The special effect will bring attention to the order and increase sales.

• Water has a calming effect. If you are serving a beautiful side dish with edible flowers, you might consider bringing out a clear serving platter that showcases some water on the bottom and gives the effect of floating fare.

• Use various cheeses as appetizers or to complement a main dish. America is sold on cheese. With today’s wide varieties of taste and color, you can create cheese appetizers that will appeal to your customers’ sense of nutrition and taste. Try using cheeses as toppings on side dishes and desserts. You can learn all about the various uses of cheese at www.cheese.com.

• Attractively displayed fruit can complement any meal. Add fruit to a plate as a garnish. Its colorful appeal is a great alternative to parsley. Try something different. Rather than grapes, garnish a plate with a thin watermelon slice, an orange wedge, or a small bunch of cherries. And do not just cut it the standard way – make it pretty.

Specialty Items

Offering specialty items can set you apart from your competition. Finding ways to prepare menu items in a different way enables you to charge more for them. Promote these special items on your menu. You can also feature them on brochure menus and flyers.

Below are some great examples of what some pizza shops are offering to their customers. Even if you do not offer pizza, these ideas could inspire some unique new dishes for your restaurant.

Altieri’s Pizza – Stow, Ohio
Item	Description
Mexican Pizza	Refried beans and burrito meat topped with tortilla chips, provolone, cheddar, lettuce, black olives, and tomato
Ranch Pizza	Ranch dressing, bacon, mushrooms, red onion, tomato, and provolone
Potato Pizza	Sour cream, potato, pizza sauce, provolone, bacon, and red onion
Barkoukis Pizza	Roasted garlic oil, spinach, gyro meat, Kalamata olives, tomato, provolone, and feta
New Orleans Style Pizza	Spicy white cheese sauce, provolone, chorizo sausage, chicken, roasted peppers, red onion, sour cream, and Tabasco sauce

Al’s Gourmet Pizza – Washington, DC
Item	Description
Chicken Kabob Pizza	Marinated chicken, green peppers, onion, tomato, cherry hot peppers, mozzarella and feta cheese, and white garlic sauce
Surf and Turf Pizza	Marinated sirloin, baby shrimp, mushroom, onion, mozzarella and American cheese, and white garlic sauce
Jerk Chicken Pizza	Chicken marinated in jerk sauce and mozzarella cheese

Countertop Displays

Generate interest in your specialties or temporary specials with countertop displays. These are also great for impulse purchases like appetizers and desserts. It is important to keep it simple. Too many signs and displays are too busy and will not influence the customer in a positive way.

HEALTHY OPTIONS

In the United States, over 60 million people are classified as obese and this is a reason many restaurants are now offering healthy sections on their menus. It is almost a public service to offer a healthy menu, but it is also a way to increase the profits for your restaurant. You can ask for suggestions about what new items should be added to your menu.

The owner of Altieri’s Pizza in Stow, Ohio, has a good friend who was allergic to gluten as a child. Altieri found one of his customer’s was too, so he searched for a gluten-free crust. He now offers this choice and sells several each day.

LaRosa’s, based in Cincinnati, has developed a “light pizza.” Their Lite Topper has 60 percent less fat than a comparable deluxe pizza, with fresh mushrooms and green peppers, red onions, pepperoni, capocolla, and diced Roma tomatoes.

Healthy eating is a trend and it is worth your effort to offer healthy options. Reviewing the basics of nutrition will help you decide which items to include on your menu. The six basic nutrients include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and water. When you plan your menu, focus on carbohydrates and fats.

Carbohydrates include fiber, starches, and sugars. Carbohydrates provide an important source of energy for the body. Foods that contain carbohydrates include sugar, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, and fruit. Vegetables contain lower levels of carbohydrates.

Fats provide concentrated energy and twice as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins. There are saturated and unsaturated fats which are differentiated by their chemical structure. Unsaturated fats are healthier. Sources of saturated fats include shortening and butter. Olive and canola oil contain unsaturated fats.

When you create a healthier menu, you can attract the portion of the population with heart disease or other chronic illnesses like diabetes. Ask customers to complete surveys for you. Find out what special needs they have. It will help you serve them better.

Customers with diabetes need to monitor their daily fat, carbohydrate, and protein intake. You can cater to their needs by offering low fat and low protein selections on your menu.

Some valuable resources to help you make these decisions include:

• American Institute of Cancer Research at www.aicr.org

• American Heart Association at www.deliciousdescisions.org

• American Diabetes Association at www.diabetes.org

Some good, healthy cookbooks include:

• Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

• The Joslin Diabetes Gourmet Cookbook by Bonnie Sanders Polin, PhD, and Frances Towner Giedt

• The French Culinary Institute’s Salute to Healthy Cooking by Alain Sailhac, Jacques Pepin, Andre Soltner, Jacques Torres, and the Faculty at the French Culinary Institute

• Healthy Latin Cooking by Steve Raichlen

• Good Food Gourmet by Jane Brody

• Heart Healthy Cooking for All Seasons by Marvin Moser, M.D., Larry Forgione, Jimmy Schmidt, and Julie Rubenstein

• Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites by the Moosewood Collective

• Canyon Ranch Cooking by Jeanne Jones

It may be easier to make adjustments to your current recipes. These are some simple ways to tweak your existing menu to cater to additional customers:

• Offer a variety of vegetarian items.

• Offer reduced-fat/reduced-calorie salad dressings.

• Use olive or canola oil instead of butter or shortening.

• Offer whole grain bread options.

• Offer low-fat mayonnaise for sandwiches.

• Offer sorbet for dessert.

• Include a simple fruit dessert that is low in sugar and fat.

• Offer smaller portion sizes for some dishes.

Restaurants can consider adding a salad bar. Packaged salads are a good convenience item. In addition to salad ingredients, you will need to stock dressing packages, crackers, and other salad items. Salads are also a hit with your health conscious customers. Salads can help you target a new customer base.

Before you make a firm decision to add a salad bar, be sure that you have a good place for the bar. It needs to be convenient for customer flow in the dining room area. You also need enough refrigerated space for these ingredients. There is special equipment for the bar. Some are stainless steel and others are lightweight plastic, which are portable. When you price the bars, be sure that you include an attached sneeze guard, lighting, rails, and plate chillers. The units are four to six feet long and prices usually run from $3,000 to $8,000. You can also search used supply stores.

Promoting Beverages

If you follow a plan to increase beverage sales in your restaurant, you can be assured of increasing your profits and tips for your wait staff! From suggesting a bottle, rather than a glass of wine – or a pitcher rather than a glass of beer – when you excel at putting beverages on the tab, you will excel at putting money in your pocket. You are in business to make money and if your guests do not enjoy their experience, they will not come back. Beverages and the service they require are a huge part of making sure that your clients leave refreshed and excited about your establishment. Focus on the following proven techniques for increasing your beverage sales:

• Think media. The media are always looking for new things to write about food service. Besides holiday events, try to think of new, creative angles about the beverages you serve that might just get a food service reporter excited enough to review and print. You may have a new and exclusive selection of Greek wines and want to have a wine-tasting event. Couple that with appetizers from regions such as “Dolmades” or Hummus served with pita bread. Spend a little on decorations that capture the feel of the region. Have a “media event.” Send a press release to your local food editor and invite him in for the experience. You can get help crafting your own press release at www.press-release-writing.com or have a professional write it for you for only $100 at www.writeconsultants.com.

• Billboards or marquees can boost traffic in your business. Using billboards can be as easy as parking your company car out in the parking lot by the street and writing on it with shoe polish. Or you can use a marquee to attract customers and let them know your Cosmopolitans are $1 or top shelf liquors are half price.

• You do not have to spend lots of money to promote beverages. Attractive table tents, wine lists, and chalkboard specials can be valuable props to promoting beverages. Always feature selections that your greeters and wait staff can suggest as soon as the guests are seated. A number of suppliers will provide you with, free of charge, props that you can use to promote beverages in your restaurant. You can order them online at www.artedesigngroup.com.

• Always suggest a “trade up” when it comes to beverages. It is particularly effective for large groups of guests who are in “party mode” and likely to settle in for the evening. Be quick to recommend a “trade up:” perhaps bottles of wine rather than individual glasses or pitchers of draft beer rather than served by the glass. Not only can this practice increase your sales, it can also let your customers know that you are interested in providing them with the most cost-effective way to purchase their beverages.

• Be known for something. If you carry 130 different varieties of Scotch, then by all means, advertise it. Hang signs in the bar that say just that and make sure the local food editor gets wind of it too so that he can pass the word.

• Always offer your guests a choice when they are ordering wine or champagne. If your guests have not already ordered wine or champagne after you take their orders, take the opportunity to suggest one that would go with the food they ordered. Many people are shy when it comes to ordering a beverage to complement their order. A couple of suggestions on your part will help them to feel more confident with their choice.

• Wine list. Create an imaginative wine list with tasting notes to accompany each wine. Include a couple of unusual wines, such as the “new technology” Bordeaux reds. If you need more information about wine, its characteristics, and grape varieties, visit www.demystifying-wine.com or www.grape-varieties.com.

• Advertise the fact that you have a comprehensive bar-food menu. If you want to keep your customers at the bar, then you can develop a special menu that offers patrons a wider variety of bar fare than most of the other restaurants.

• Happy Hour is a great opportunity to promote beverages. If you sponsor a Happy Hour at your establishment, you can use this time to offer a variety of specialty drinks that your dinner customers might not otherwise try. It is fun for your customers; it is great advertising for you.

• Do not forget to promote nonalcoholic drinks. When you are thinking of promotions to sell wines, champagnes, and specialty drinks, do not forget to include some nonalcoholic beverages. Coffee, tea, and sodas can be a source of delight to your non-drinking guests and children too.

• Children’s drinks can increase your beverage sales. If your restaurant caters to families with children, remember that children absolutely love fun drinks that they can slurp through a straw or one that comes in an unusual container.

• After-dinner drinks present a great sales opportunity. Many guests might order an after-dinner drink, such as an “Amaretto Coffee” instead of a dessert. Train your servers to know how to recommend an after-dinner drink and be sure they can make informative suggestions. These suggestions can result in a “double up-sell” when your wait staff can recommend desserts along with after-dinner drinks. If a guest orders a simple bowl of fruit for dessert, your server might suggest a “topping” of Grand Marnier or Chambord.

• Train your wait staff to offer tempting appetizers with a guest’s beverage order. These two winners – appetizers and beverages – can be paired at a special price and used as a promotion to get your customers to try something different. It is also a good way to “off-load” slow movers or excess stock that is approaching its “sell-by” date.

• Specials and promotions. Do not simply depend on your servers to get the word out. Place colorful table tents on tables or at every other bar stool to advertise drink and appetizer specials.

• Have an unforgettable promotion. In many restaurants, you will see the wait staff wearing buttons that read, “FREE dessert if I forget to tell you about our daily specials.” This promotion will keep your servers on their toes and ensure the customers are listening attentively to the delicious spiel being delivered. Order your custom-designed buttons at www.buttonstore.com.

• Suggest trying something different from the “same-old” drink. Your servers can suggest a Kir Royale rather than “only” a glass of champagne. It is a delectable drink made with champagne and a splash of crème de cassis. Blend the two and you have a sparkling, pink confection rather than “just” a glass of champagne.

• Provide samples of a beverage if the customer is not sure of what she wants. Providing samples of beverages often encourages customers to buy additional drinks. Samples also make guests feel special and promote goodwill. An excellent time to offer sample drinks is when guests have to wait for a table or as soon as they are seated.

• Call on your vendors to help you with beverage promotions. Most suppliers are only too ready to help you promote the beverages they sell. They will be pleased to help create promotions that will bring in new customers and try their products. And besides, they have a much greater marketing allowance than you. Demand their assistance to help increase your business. Call on your vendors to be present at special sales meetings with your wait staff. They can and will share valuable tips about their products to help your servers become confident in up-selling to their customers. It can only be a win-win situation for you and your suppliers.

Make Nonalcoholic Beverages Sell

Nonalcoholic beverages are becoming increasing popular. There are many reasons for this including healthier lifestyles, stricter drunk-driving laws, and a general feeling that choosing nonalcoholic is “stylish.” Provide what a growing number of customers want: a wide range of “smart” drinks. Here are a few tips for increasing your sales of nonalcoholic beverages:

• Offer nonalcoholic specialty drinks to designated drivers. Designated drivers need not be left out of the festivities. Create special drinks that look and taste appealing. For a list of nonalcoholic beverage suppliers, visit www.allaboutpubs.com. Also, try www.nonalcoholicbeverages.com to find distributors of nonalcoholic wines and beers.

• Use garnishes to make nonalcoholic drinks look tempting. Children love “Shirley Temples” made with 7-Up or Sprite and a splash of maraschino cherry juice to make it pink. Add a couple of cherries and you have a winner. Serving nonalcoholic drinks in clever containers (like coconuts) will also get your customers’ attention. Garnish them with fresh, tropical fruits and you will soon reap the benefits in sales and profit.

• Lessen your liability by training bartenders and servers how to suggest nonalcoholic beverages.

• Use herbs and spices to liven up nonalcoholic drinks; add a sprig of mint to an iced-tea drink or sprinkle cinnamon or nutmeg on a milk-based hot or cold drink to make them more colorful and appealing to your guests. Experiment with recipes to find out what your guests like. The site www.sasky.com features great recipes for nonalcoholic beverages. Keep the ingredients for some of these drinks on hand. Train your servers how and when to suggest them.

• Suggest nonalcoholic drinks to your lunch crowd. Your lunch customers are prime targets to offer a variety of nonalcoholic beverages. Rather than simply “a glass of water,” offer specialty waters such as Perrier. Teach your staff that a glass of water cuts profits for you and tips for them. By the time the glass for the “water, please” is ordered, inventoried, washed, and filled, you can run up to $1.08 in cost. And it is “free” to the customer. That means no profit for you and no addition to the tab.

• Be sure the bartender uses some of his flamboyant drink tricks with nonalcoholic beverages. If your bartender is skilled in the art of mixing cocktails, be sure he uses the same skills for mocktails. Your bartenders should also understand the basic types of flavors and know how the different combinations interact.

• Feature nonalcoholic wines on your wine list. You can also feature other nonalcoholic beverages on your table tents and menus. For a great list of nonalcoholic wines that you can order, or to simply educate yourself as to the unique flavors of nonalcoholic wines, visit the website www.organicwines.com.

• If you have a wine tasting party, set up an area for nonalcoholic wines. The customers who do not drink alcoholic beverages will appreciate your thoughtfulness. They will also see that you offer these wines and may order them when they come for dinner. Advertise that you serve nonalcoholic wines and beverages.

• Visit websites such as www.probartender.com to learn about bartender software. Some of these related sites offer recipes for nonalcoholic beverages that you may want to try in your restaurant. A nonalcoholic Black Cow can be made with Sarsaparilla (root beer) and vanilla ice cream. Great child pleaser – and you could feature it as “Black Calf” on your menu.

• Stock your bar with items to help in nonalcoholic beverage sales. Unique items such as fun-shaped, colored pitchers and cups and ice cubes that glow are all extras that you can use to promote alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages. Make any drink fun for your customers and they will order more. See www.barsrus.com for a list of supplies, videos, bartending events, and links to other bartender sites.

Unique Nonalcoholic Beverages

You can also offer unique beverages. Some of these are offered by Jones Soda. The main categories are: soda, naturals, energy, and organics. Each category includes a wide variety of flavors. You can find complete details at www.jonessoda.com. You can contact them by phone at 800-656-6050. The company has an interesting background which can be read at: www.jonessoda.com/files_new/about.html.

An unusual healthy option is available. You can offer smoothies to your customers. Smoothies are a cool and refreshing treat for your patrons. The mission of Dr. Smoothie is to provide delicious, high quality beverage and food products that are good for your health, mind, and body. The explosive, full rich flavors of Dr. Smoothie will excite and tantalize your taste buds. Their special blends will amaze you taste after taste and are available in Original or 100 percent Crushed Fruit varieties. Dr. Smoothie offers the equipment and mixes you need to serve healthy and flavorful smoothies for your customers. Visit them on the web at www.drsmoothie.com or contact them at 888- 466-9941.

Food Allergies

Food allergies can be serious and life-threatening. Common allergies and intolerances include nuts, peanuts, eggs, shellfish, and wheat. It is advisable to ensure ingredient information is available to your customers. You can list these ingredients specifically on your menu. If they are not listed on the menu, your server must communicate these details to the customers.

I have all sorts of food allergies and intolerances. This condition is much more prevalent than most people realize. Even a small amount of an offending food can cause the person to become nauseous, vomit, develop hives, have trouble breathing, and anaphylaxis is even possible. It is critical that special order requests be taken seriously and that allergens are mentioned in person or on your menu.

You can obtain more information about food allergies from the International Food Information Council at 202-296-6540, or www.ific.org.

Services To Impact Your Bottom Line

There are services that you can offer which will increase your bottom line and add convenient options for your customers. I will discuss some of these options below.

Take-and-Bake Food Items

Another possibility is take-and-bake food items. A restaurant in the Shenandoah Valley offers a recipe book with the founder’s recipes and offers prepared food items. These include entrees, side dishes, and their popular dessert items. The items are displayed in several large refrigerated units near their cash register, allowing customers to take items home or stop by to pick up items. Do you offer items that can be prepared as a take-and-bake or ready to cook item?

Carryout

Carryout offers substantial profit and very little additional expense. It is a convenient option for your customers. They will enjoy your quality food items while eating at home. Carryout is a great add-on for lunch service. Many people like to order food from local businesses for their lunch break. There are some issues that are specific to a store that offers carryout, which I will discuss.

Creating a carryout business is easier than developing a dine-in business, but it does require additional skills and a different focus. Dine-in customers usually want to take their time. Carryout customers are in a hurry and your restaurant is just one of their stops. They want to be served quickly. Your counter staff needs to understand this concept and be efficient and attentive.

If you offer various services, distinguish which areas are for carryout, delivery, and dine-in. I have been in restaurants where the decoration and flooring are different in the various areas. It is a simple way to set areas apart. Signage is another good way to direct customers in the right direction. It is best to have a separate entrance for your carryout customers. You need a simple, easy to understand menu in the carryout area.

Delivery

Delivery can be a wonderful addition to your restaurant, but it is not for all food service businesses. Consider all the pros and cons before launching a delivery service. Operating expenses are less if you only offer carryout and delivery. It eliminates the need for all dine-in extras and your pizza shop will require less space, which could save money on your rent or lease. But a restaurant that only offers carryout and delivery will appeal to less people.

There are many expenses to consider before making the decision to deliver. They include:

• Cars. There are two options with delivery. You can supply company vehicles or your drivers use their vehicles. You will have the added expense for vehicles, gas, insurance, and maintenance.

• Auto insurance. Any company vehicle needs sufficient insurance. If your drivers use their vehicles, you must have a proof of insurance, proof of a valid driver’s license, and proof of a good driving record.

• Drivers. You need drivers to deliver. Your drivers will make a minimal wage then receive tips and commissions for each delivery.

• Liability Insurance for Delivery. All businesses should carry liability insurance. Remember the saying, “Bad things happen to good people.” That is true of your drivers. No matter how good their driving records, things happen when you are on the road. Talk to your insurance agent about delivery liability insurance.

There was a time when pizza shops offered free delivery. The current price of gas has made this offer difficult. It is becoming common to charge for delivery. The companies I spoke with are charging $1 for delivery. Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa John’s are all charging a delivery fee at this time. Ironically, Papa John’s has seen an increase in business. Even at $1 for delivery, it is still a deal.

What to Deliver?

Many items travel well, so review your menu to see what you can deliver. Also consider how you will pack the items to ensure they get to the customer. Delivery containers will make a big difference in the items you can deliver. Most sandwiches and salads travel well, especially if you deliver the salad dressing separately. Prepackaged salad dressing is a great option. You can offer soup, if you find 100 percent leak proof containers. Many pasta dishes can be delivered. There are wonderful pans secured with cardboard lids. These are a great option.

Some of the companies which offer delivery containers include:

WNA is a supplier of a very wide selection of quality plastic plates, cutlery, cups, serving ware, and you can choose custom packaging. View the products by category at www.wnainc.com/products/selectCategory.php. To find the customer service information for your area, check www.wna-inc.com/company/contactus.

Biocorp offers environmentally friendly products for your pizza and sub shop. They provide quality products at reasonable prices. They also supply a line of cutlery that is heat resistant and does not have an after taste or allergy concerns. Their full product line can be viewed at www.biocorpaavc.com/index.asp. Contact BioCorp at 866-348-8348.

Wes Pak’s food service carriers are an affordable alternative for transporting food. They are one time use packages. The packages are quick and easy to use. Their lightweight design makes them an ideal choice. They can be used to cool drinks or store ice and hot foods. After the food is delivered, the packages can be thrown away. The selection can be viewed at www.wespakinc.com/section.asp?secID=5. Call 800-493-7725.

Take Care of the Children

Restaurant owners are realizing the importance of child-appeal. Children have a large influence on where the family dines. In a recent poll, over 55 percent of adults stated that their children have significant influence over which table-service restaurant they choose. Over 47 percent of adults said that the kids actually choose the restaurant. To gain the customer loyalty of children and their families you must create a child-friendly environment. Your servers play a big role in making an establishment child-friendly. Give your servers tools they can use to attain this goal. Here are some suggestions:

Keep Children Occupied

Have plenty of crayons or games on hand to keep the children occupied until the food is served. Two companies where you can find crayons, placemats, and table toys are:

• Binney & Smith, Inc: www.binney-smith.com

• Sherman Specialty Co., Inc: www.shermanspecialty.com

Besides the usual fare of coloring mats and crayons, your restaurant can set itself apart by offering small toys or books. If you are planning to offer toys with special promotions, do not offer junk; kids are smart and know the difference.

Speedy Service

Make sure your staff serves children’s drinks and something to munch on if it looks like the order may take a little while. Granted, your servers are not babysitters, but anything they can do to help the parents have a relaxing meal will be welcomed. Paying attention to children also helps your other customers, since an occupied child is less likely to be a screaming child.

If a server has a bad attitude towards children, the parents and the children will probably feel uncomfortable during the meal and — worst of all — will not come back. But, if you teach your servers to treat children as human beings and not merely something to be dealt with, you will surely attract more families to your place of business. Be sure that your servers point out the unique side items on the children’s menu and perhaps offer a special treat, such as a balloon, at the end of a meal.

Children’s Meals and Menus

Make sure your menu has a children’s section or create a separate children’s menu. It can be as simple as three or four items. Make sure it is simple and child-friendly with items like grilled cheese or macaroni and cheese.

Appetizers also make great children’s meals. Children usually do not have enormous appetites, their attention span is minimal, and if something looks good, they will probably try it. That is where using side items to attract families comes into play. A small plate of appetizers, garnished with unusual veggie cutouts in the shape of animals, will get the children’s attention — as will special beverages and fun desserts.

Make nutrition fun by offering healthy snacks, desserts, and drinks served in fun containers or carved into funny shapes and sizes. The parents will appreciate your efforts to help teach their children about healthy eating. Simple snacks, like veggie chips with a small serving of a popular dip or ketchup and a special drink served in fun containers with a “crazy” straw, are good items for keeping the children entertained.

Include Your Wait Staff in Menu Item Decisions

Ask your wait staff what works. Your wait staff will know more about what pleases the customers. Ask for their input. If they know you take their advice seriously, they will pay closer attention to customers’ feedback. The following tips will help you get your staff involved:

• Make selling side items worth their while. Promote the side items that will fatten the tab and make it more worth the wait staff’s efforts by increasing the money in their pockets – and let them know what you are doing.

• Have a contest. Award a prize to the server who sells the most side items each month. It does not have to be an expensive prize; a lottery ticket or a special button to wear showing your appreciation are great recognition prizes. You can even give them an old-fashioned trophy engraved with their name. Order them online at www.quicktrophy.com.

• Keep your wait staff informed about new side items. Be sure to post any changes in your menu and also changes to ingredients or preparation of a side item. This tactic will avoid embarrassing your wait staff. It will also avoid frustration on the part of your customers if an item is not prepared as the menu states or the wait staff fails to mention a “new” item.

• Include your greeters in promoting sub-menu items. Your greeters can be a valuable part of your team if you include them in the selling process. They can always start the “thinking” process by suggesting beverages, appetizers, a special side dish, or even desserts before the guests are seated.

• Show your wait staff the difference between a sample ticket that includes side items with resulting tips – and one that does not. Nothing is as motivating as money — and once your wait staff sees the difference that side items play in increasing tips, they will be more inclined to suggest them to their customers.

• Encourage your wait staff to make suggestions. Have regular meetings with your wait staff and be sure to compliment them (or reward them) on any side item suggestions that become a success on your menu.

• Get their attention. Motivate your wait staff to recommend side items to their customers by grabbing their attention first. Money, recognition, and praise work. Set goals for them and then reward them when they reach those goals. Be sure that you praise them in front of other wait staff.

• Schedule “kitchen” sessions to get your servers involved. The more your wait staff knows about the ingredients in your menu items, the better their sales will be. Let them taste, cook, and make suggestions for new and tried-and-true items. Your servers should always know how a dish is prepared and what ingredients are involved. You may want to offer a written manual and a kitchen notebook so that they can take notes. Always be open to their suggestions.

• Offer continuous training. A stellar training program for your wait staff will not only increase their knowledge and performance, it will also attract a higher caliber of wait staff to your restaurant. A well-trained group of servers will feel more of a part of the operation and offer suggestions more freely. Keep in mind that your wait staff is your most valuable asset in running a restaurant business.

Explaining the Menu

The server should be thoroughly familiar with the menu contents, its arrangement, and its prices. To illustrate:

1. Frequently a new customer is confused as to where to find certain items on the menu. The server should be quick to sense this uncertainty and offer assistance.

2. Sometimes the customer fails to notice specials or some other featured group of foods on the menu. The server may tactfully indicate these to the customer.

3. A foreign name or an unfamiliar term on the menu may be perplexing to the reader. In response to an inquiry, a simple explanation of the contents of the dish will be appreciated. The server should give such explanations graciously with an attitude of helpfulness and never patronizingly or curtly.

4. A customer with poor eyesight may have difficulty reading the menu. The server could read the items to him and write his order.

The Art of Suggesting Accompaniments

Training your staff in the art of suggestion is an investment that you cannot afford to miss out on. It can mean the difference between a successful operation that boasts of regular customers and the failure of a restaurant to communicate with its customers. Try the following approach:

• Do not make your customers have to ask about specials or side items. Make providing information an ingrained part of your wait staff’s service.

• Encourage your wait staff to be attentive and diligent about providing necessary information to customers. Sell more beverages by suggesting that your customers “trade up.” If a party of four orders four glasses of beer, suggest that a pitcher will cost less and provide an extra round.

• Discuss with your wait staff how to guide customers in their decision-making. As a group, discuss items that your servers (and greeters) might suggest to customers. Also discuss ways to suggest those items to your guests. A greeter can make a number of suggestions to your guests before they are seated. They will appreciate the suggestion and might spend the “extra” money on an appetizer or dessert.

• Have your servers point out menu tents that feature specialties or side items. The best time to suggest most side items is when you first greet the customer and take her drink order.

• Suggest items in pairs. When suggesting a beer or cocktail, guide your customers toward an appetizer that would complement the drink. For example, “Our Gold Margaritas are on special today and they really hit the spot with our stuffed jalapeño peppers.” When you return to the table, you can say, “Have you had time to decide on an appetizer?”

• Have greeters recommend at least two appetizers or mention any specialties you might have.

• Be sure to suggest multiple appetizers to groups of four or more. Groups of four or more present an excellent opportunity to suggest a variety of appetizers. Take advantage of this situation: Increase the tab and please your guests at the same time by making appetizer suggestions.

Suggestions and Suggestive Selling

Before a server can intelligently take an order, she must study the menu and be familiar with the day’s specials and selective menu. When a foreign name or an uncommon term is used to describing a product, she should be able to pronounce the name correctly and know what it means in terms of preparation method or the manner of service. A guest is sure to ask for such information about the product. It is annoying to the guest if the server cannot answer promptly and must take time to ask someone else. The server should not only know how a product is prepared and served, but he should also know how it tastes. Many progressive restaurants demonstrate new dishes and specialties to their servers before the serving period begins, allowing them to taste as well as see the food before they sell it. When the server is asked if something is good, his reply will be much more effective if he can say truthfully: “Yes, I enjoyed it very much” or “I think it is delicious.”

Suggesting Selections to the Customer

When a customer is unfamiliar with the restaurant, he is hesitant about his food choice, or confused about where to find certain items on the menu, the server has a real opportunity to be helpful by offering suitable suggestions. The server should be tactful in offering these suggestions and should use intelligence about their form and timing. The guest may be influenced to order more through suggestions made by the server. For example:

• When the customer orders a sandwich or a salad, the server may ask, “Which do you prefer to drink: tea, coffee, or milk?” thus influencing the customer to add a beverage to his original order.

• When the customer orders a grilled food that must be cooked to order, the server may first tell the customer the time required and then ask if she would like an appetizer or a soup.

• When an a la carte order for a meat course has been served, the server may return to the table, present the opened menu and ask, “Would you like to select a dessert?” Another form of suggestion is to name an attractive dessert such as, “The chocolate pie is very good” or “We have fresh peach ice cream today.”

Suggesting Additional Items

The server may suggest additional items to the customer, which increase the size of the order. The purpose of such suggestions should be to help the customer make a satisfactory selection, and, at the same time, sell additional food. This type of suggestive selling may be used to advantage when the customer is ordering from an a la carte menu. For instance:

• Suggest a beverage with an order for a salad or dessert.

• Suggest a sandwich with an order for a soup or a milk shake.

• Suggest a soup, cocktail, or some other “beginner” with an order for grilled or fried food that must be cooked to order.

• Suggest a vegetable or a salad with an order for meat and potatoes.

• A customer who has ordered a main course combination that does not include dessert may be encouraged to order dessert; for example, “We have fresh Georgia peach shortcake today” or “The Colorado cantaloupe is very good.” The presentation of the menu and the inquiry, “What would you like for dessert?” may initiate a sale, whereas the question, “Would you like something else?” probably will elicit a negative reply.

Promoting Specials

Before you can suggest a special, you must be familiar with the special. Ask your chef or manager for a detailed description before the shift begins; perhaps they could offer a tasting so you can better describe the special to the customers. Restaurants offer specials for various reasons. Focus on these reasons when selling them to your customers:

• Specials are made from local ingredients.

• Specials are made from seasonal ingredients.

• Specials offer a better price value.

• Specials are smaller portions.

• Specials are items that are not usually on the menu.

• Specials are items the restaurant is trying out before putting on the menu.

Suggesting Higher-Priced Items

The food suggested by the server may be more expensive than the customer would have chosen. In this case, as when suggesting additional items, the server should consider the customer’s desires and satisfaction more important than the amount of the sale. Higher-priced items may be suggested by the server when:

The customer is uncertain about his selection and remarks that a chicken sandwich is all he sees that appeals to him. The salesperson may suggest that the customer might enjoy a club sandwich made with chicken, describing how it is made.

Delicious Desserts = Big Profits!

Save room for dessert? Apparently, many diners are doing just that. If your restaurant has not already jumped on to the dessert bandwagon, it is time to do so. Recent statistics show that dessert sales in restaurants are on a rapid rise and show no signs of slowing down. Popular restaurant chains are developing desserts to sell pre-packaged to other restaurants, grocery stores, mail order, or directly to the customer from the restaurant. Refine your dessert menu now and reap the considerable profits that desserts can bring to your business. Here is how:

• Consider going all out by hiring a pastry chef. Pastry chefs are in demand, so you will pay dearly to employ a good one. Or you could buy pre-made, frozen dessert items from top brands like Marie Callender or The Cheesecake Factory.

• Follow the trends. Statistics point to the dessert boom continuing indefinitely. Technomics’ Jackie Dulen says that more sophisticated consumers are one reason. These diners are willing to take “culinary chances.” This fact has spurred a new crop of pastry chefs who are continually setting new trends in their work. Whether or not you can afford a pastry chef, go with the trend and be sure that your business offers the best desserts you can manage.

• Be sure to offer low-calorie desserts such as fruit. Low-calorie fruit and “sugarless” items are in great demand in restaurants. As people watch their diets more carefully or deal with health problems that prevent them from eating sugar or high-calorie foods, restaurants are coming up with creative ways to make these types of desserts appetizing. Using fresh fruit instead of canned is always a good idea — and sugarless sauces are easy to make and add another dimension to an otherwise bland choice.

• Today’s conveniences allow restaurants to serve high-quality desserts at a high profit. Cheesecakes from The Cheesecake Factory or pies from Marie Callender can be sent to your restaurant in a minimal amount of time, thus increasing the quality and convenience of being able to offer signature desserts. There are also “thaw and bake” items that can be prepared quickly. Order some delectable treats at www.dessertstodiefor.com. You can add your own special touches so that the simplest of desserts becomes a much-talked-about item among your diners.

• The “Grand Finale” is as important as “Fantastic Beginnings.” The “complete experience” for your diners definitely includes a top-rated dessert. You can strive to provide the best appetizers and entrées, but if your desserts fail to impress, the customers will leave disappointed. Pay attention to the quality of your desserts.

• A great dessert will make a lasting impression on your customers. More than likely, your customers will remember the last thing they eat at your restaurant. Think of desserts as a way to make lasting impressions on your diners and to increase your profits.

• Give a classic dessert a special twist. Even plain apple pie can be updated in new, trendy ways. Add nuts or raisins to the filling and a piece of melted cheese on top rather than ice cream. Think of new ways that you can give your tried-and-true desserts a “lift” and watch your dessert sales increase.

• Simple is better when it comes to desserts. Simply made and served desserts can always perk up your sales. If your restaurant is designed to appeal to families, try gelatin desserts or pudding. A beautifully molded dish of flan, swirled with caramel and served on a clear glass plate is a dish that will appeal to your customers’ sense of taste and vision alike.

• Smaller is better too. For the more petite appetites, have your servers offer “half” helpings of your desserts. Even if you offer a discount for the smaller servings, your profit margin will increase on overall sales.

• Experiment with textures – from lusciously creamy to crunchy. Try adding various types of nuts to a creamy dessert. Experiment with your desserts so that you can offer a change from the norm. Ask your customers which they prefer.

• Cheese can add a creative touch to many desserts. Cheese has always been a mainstay for any meal, but when you add it in a creative way to desserts it becomes a taste sensation. Try adding various textures and tastes of cheeses to your desserts and have your wait staff try them and compare them to the “old” method of preparation.

Promoting Desserts

Profits on desserts can make up for losses on other menu items. A great dessert can make up for a mediocre meal. The ingredients are usually inexpensive; labor is where you incur the greatest cost. Nevertheless, desserts normally have a 0 percent food cost and can help cover more pricey items on the menu. Take every opportunity to promote your dessert selection; your efforts will pay dividends. Consider the following possibilities:

• Implement a “dessert program” to increase sales. A dessert program can be as simple as Boston Market’s idea to offer a free dessert if the waitperson does not ask “Would you like dessert?” Another could be to offer a free appetizer or drink if you order a dessert at the beginning of the meal. Boston Market has seen a 10 percent increase in their dessert sales since they implemented the program.

• Gentle suggestions can be big “nudges.” Your wait staff does not have to be a group of hard-core salespeople to push the dessert items on your menu.

• Try offering desserts for two and watch your sales increase. If your customers seem reluctant to order a dessert, try offering two spoons or forks with one dessert. It does not seem quite so indulgent when they are sharing.

• Serve-yourself dessert bars are very popular. Whether your restaurant is family-style and you offer a sundae bar with all the toppings or you offer a fine-dining experience, you can increase your profits by setting up “help-yourself” dessert bars. These are becoming as popular as salad bars throughout the country and your customers will appreciate being offered a variety of desserts from which to choose.

• Suggest dessert “extras.” Dessert “extras,” such as a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top of hot apple pie or a dollop of whipped cream on top of that strawberry shortcake, can be appealing suggestions to your guests. Be sure to have plenty of extras on hand and teach your wait staff how to suggest them.

• “Your” personal favorite is a great selling tool. People love a recommendation that comes from actually trying the product.

• Ways to make your on-site desserts profitable. If you decide to go all out and hire a pastry chef to make your own signature desserts, you can make them highly profitable by selling them to outside vendors and other restaurants. Selling whole desserts, such as cheesecakes, pies, and cakes, can greatly increase your profits while advertising your own restaurant’s brand.

• Suggest and serve desserts with lots of humor. The meal is winding down and your diners are trying to decide which dessert to order. Fun remarks such as, “We’ve taken all the calories out of that hot fudge sundae.” Or, “You only live once, don’t live without dessert,” can gather smiles from around the table and make your customers happier.

• Offer whole desserts such as pies and cakes to go. Many restaurants nationwide are offering whole desserts to take home or back to the office. Large parties may order a whole dessert to continue the party back home. It is a great profit-maker and also a great way to advertise your dessert.

• Make your customers feel as if they deserve dessert.

• Display table tents that feature professional photos of your dessert items.

• After-dinner dessert accompaniments. Some patrons may not want a real dessert, so be prepared to offer them a dessert coffee and, if you want to, include a small trinket of chocolate on the side of the saucer.

• Dessert samplers make the sale. One of your choices might be a dessert sampler— where guests get to try out a bite-sized taste of all of your various indulgences.

• One dessert “made for two” will delight your guests. Restaurants are taking advantage of the trend to “share” desserts and are actually advertising desserts “made-for-two.” These special desserts can be a bit larger than a dessert offering for one and served on one plate with two forks or spoons. Even when sold at a discount, you will realize a profit from the sheer number you sell.

How to Showcase Your Desserts

A “ho-hum” attitude about desserts can ruin your dessert sale profits. When approached with enthusiasm, desserts can be a huge profit-maker for your business. The following tips will help you make the most of your desserts:

• Draw a mental picture. Use lots of adjectives. Using adjectives that whet the appetite is essential when suggesting dessert items. Luscious, creamy, rich, and crunchy are all great adjectives to use when describing dessert items.

• Have meetings where your servers sample desserts. Ask them to write down the adjectives that they would choose to describe the taste and texture. Encourage your staff to be enthusiastic when presenting them to your customers. Offer a prize for the most creative “wordsmith.” Then, encourage your servers to go out and use those adjectives when describing desserts to your customers.

• Keep your customers informed about special desserts. Chalkboards at the entrance to your restaurant, table tents, and well-trained servers are all excellent ways to inform your customers about dessert offerings. If you advertise in the community, be sure to mention dessert specials or new desserts.

• Offer plain vanilla ice cream with lots of toppings from which to choose. You can even use alcoholic beverages such as brandy and whip up a thick and delightful “Brandy Ice” served in a brandy snifter or champagne glass to make a more sophisticated dessert item.

• When you take your customers’ entrée orders, suggest that they leave room for dessert. One restaurant sells their hot blueberry and cherry cobbler specials by letting their customers know that they must order it when they place their entrée order because it is baked fresh and extra time must be allowed. Or, if you suggest a wonderful dessert before your diners order, they can be thinking of the dessert throughout the meal.

• Whet appetites by describing the aroma of certain desserts. Aromas wafting from the kitchen have sold many desserts. Your wait staff can also use aromas as a selling point for desserts by describing the aromas to your customers. Smells of vanilla bean and apple pie and cinnamon evoke memories of childhood and dining satisfaction.

• Dabble in the sweet stuff. Powdered sugar makes a great impression on guests when you dust the plate with it and then lay the actual dessert on top of it. You can also lay a cutout on the plate, and then dust it with powdered sugar. When you remove the cutout, you will have a wonderful design.

• Serve chocolate-covered platters. If you buy the old-fashioned ketchup and mustard squirt bottles, you will have your own chef’s style decorating tool to create wonderful designs in chocolate right on the plate. It is best to lightly draw on the outer edge of the plate and make sure servers know to keep their thumbs out of the sauce.

• Dazzle them with raspberry drizzle. Raspberry sauce goes well with just about any dessert – even chocolate. You can use the same technique to design a beautiful reddish drawing on the dessert platters before you drizzle a bit of the sauce right on top of the actual dessert.

Special-Occasion Desserts

You can offer frozen desserts that clients can take home to thaw and eat when wanted. Here are some other ideas for promoting your special dessert items:

• Encourage your customers to order family-size “special occasion” desserts to take home. Special-occasion desserts that can be picked up and taken home are growing in popularity as our nation becomes busier with work and home. People want quality and quantity for their hard-earned bucks. Offerings such as a “bucket of ice cream” with the order of a birthday cake is a great idea – and it might keep mom or dad from having to stop by yet another place to pick up ice cream to go along with the cake. Whether the occasion is a birthday, family reunion, or candlelit dinner for two, sending desserts home can be a great profit-maker for your restaurant.

• Have a “Sundae Sunday” special. Sunday dining at a restaurant is becoming as firm a tradition as a big Sunday dinner at home used to be in days gone by. A simple idea that will delight your guests and is easy to set up is a sundae bar.

• Promote seasonal “special” desserts. Holidays are perfect opportunities to offer seasonal desserts. Let your imagination soar; offer pumpkin cake with sage ice cream for Halloween or peppermint ice cream and a scrumptious Lane cake for Christmas. Go to the website www.restauranthospitality.com to find numerous recipes and articles about seasonal desserts.

• Be sure that you have specialty items on hand to go with your desserts. Always have items such as candles, syrups, sprinkles, berries, and nuts on hand for your desserts. Specialty dishes for sundaes and banana splits are great to show off your dessert items. If you cater to children, keep specialty items such as twisted straws and “character” spoons on hand to make them feel special.

• Christmas is a great time for special dessert offerings. Your customers will be in a more festive mood and more willing to “make room for dessert.” Try something different from the norm, such as eggnog pudding or plum pudding, rather than the usual pumpkin pie or chocolate cake. You can file away some fabulous holiday finds at www.christmasrecipe.com.

• Start a free birthday or anniversary club and offer a free dessert. If you can get people to sign up for a birthday club, you get to capture their address, which means you will be able to mail out coupons and other offers to increase traffic to your establishment. About a week before their birthday, send them a coupon for a free birthday cake and then serve them a miniature-sized cake when they come in to celebrate.

• Make your usual desserts festive at holidays by using garnishes. Try twisting flexible, black licorice sticks into “scary” shapes for Halloween, or tint your whipped cream topping with food coloring. Use garnishes throughout the year to make your desserts memorable.

• Offer “take home” desserts for holiday gatherings. Holidays are especially hectic for families who work and try to shop and cook for holidays. It is a great time for you to really promote whole desserts for holiday gatherings and increase your dessert profits. Pies and cakes are easy to transport and will keep better than desserts such as ice cream or custard desserts. People want that “down home” taste, so if you make your own pie crust, for example, be sure to advertise the fact.

PRESENTING Desserts

Special cases and presentation trays can enhance the look of your desserts and make it impossible for customers pass them by. Here are some sources for presentation products:

• Gourmet Display, www.gourmetdisplay.com, offers a wide variety of presentation products including beverage housings, pastry cases. cubes and staircases, ice carving pedestals, juice dispensers, ornamental iron, tiers, epic edge trays, riser rim mirror trays, serving stone trays, and acrylic and mirror trays. Two examples are pictured below.

• America - America Corporation produces a line of elegant birch wood commercial servings trays that are totally dishwasher safe. They are exceptionally lightweight and handsome. They also dry faster than plastic trays and can support heavy loads. A variety of colored trays are also available or you can have them customized with your company’s logo. For more information visit www.america-americabirchtrays.com.

For much more information on techniques to increase the bottom line, I recommend the books listed below from Atlantic Publishing (www.atlantic-pub.com).

• The Food Service Professional Guide to Increasing Restaurant Sales (Item # FS15-01).

• The Food Service Professional Guide to Food Service Menus (Item # FS13-01).

• The Food Service Professional Guide to Building Restaurant Profits (Item # FS9-01).

• The Food Service Professional Guide to Restaurant Marketing and Advertising (Item # FS 3-01).

• The Food Service Professional Guide to Restaurant Promotion and Publicity (Item # FS4-01).

• The Food Service Professional Guide to Bar and Beverage Operation (Item # FS11-01).

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