As a restaurant owner looking for inspiring ideas about food, décor, and how to run their business, there are few resources as invaluable as the World Wide Web. Of course, most restaurateurs don’t need to be told just how much information there is on the web, but separating the tastiest morsels from the garbage can take a fair bit of time – something that most restaurant owners can ill afford to spare. With that in mind, we thought we’d take time out to showcase a few of the best resources that no serious eatery owner can do without.
Restaurants & Institutions
Restaurants & Institutions
Geared more towards a US-based audience, Restaurants & Institutions is nevertheless a top resource for anyone who is currently – or even just thinking about – embarking on a career in the restaurant industry. With five main sections, covering industry news, careers & training, jobs, events and recipes, the site is bursting at the seams with useful info that professionals can use to propel themselves towards their ultimate goal.
Although the need to register is a slight annoyance, the resources and special reports more than make up for it, while the careers & training resource will come in especially handy for those looking to enhance their culinary prospects, as it features all the latest training courses, covering food safety, the sale of alcohol, baking & pastry among other important skills.
Stash Tea
StashTea brews up a recipe for restaurant success
There are dozens of good restaurants around, but very few places can truly be classed as great. As a restaurant owner, it’s possible to commit all manner of sins, but few can compare with messing up that most sacred of drinks – tea.
More restaurants fall flat on their faces when it comes to making a simple cuppa than we can care to mention. We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve been forced to slurp down our tepid, tasteless liquid in one quick gulp (while holding our nose). Stash of Tea can help change that. Far from being just an online store, what we have here is the ultimate A to Z for how to brew a perfect cup of tea. Packed with great articles on the most popular types of tea, their history and most importantly, idiot-proof brewing guides for each variety, there really can be no excuses for serving up a lukewarm, vile-tasting broth ever again.
Epicurus
Gourmet delights at Epicurus
For the chef who wants to excel, Epicurus is where it’s at. This magazine-style resource is much more than just a great read – it’s the ultimate guide to creating all manner of gourmet dishes and culinary specialties that restaurateurs can claim as their own.
As well as the recipes and the mouth-watering images, there are few better guides on food preparation. Epicurus works on the premise that while it’s all very well having dozens of tasty recipes to hand, they won’t do much good for anyone who is unable to get the basics right. As such, Epicurus is more focused on the methods of cooking, going into extensive detail on just about every possible way of cooking beef, pork, lamb, poultry and fish (plus lots more). Getting it wrong simply isn’t an option with this fantastic resource.
Restaurant-Owner.com
Learn how to avoid business failure with this awesome resource
Less about food, more about the business side of things, Restaurant-Owner.com is essential reading material for anyone putting their money where their mouth is. Lest we not forget, a restaurant is the one of the biggest business failures in the world today – hundreds of entrepreneurs start out with grandiose plans only to be faced with the stark reality that no one actually wants to eat whatever it is they’re serving up.
Planning is vital to restaurant success, and this is where Restaurant-Owner really works a treat. Their library of articles is gold dust for restaurant owners, packed with tips ranging from how to create a proper business plan to dealing with customer complaints, marketing ideas and everything else one needs to cook up a workable plan of action.
Restaurantica
How does your restaurant match up to the competition? Find out here
In order to taste real success, it pays to know what customers really think. Restaurantica.com is the TripAdvisor of the restaurant world, and as such is the place to be for any restaurant that cares about how it is perceived. Those who are not already on listed on here need to be so (and quickly), while those who are featured can reap the rewards of genuine customer feedback to see where they are going wrong and work out how to put things right.
Aside from that, it also serves as a handy guide to check out the local competition and spy on what treats they are serving up at the moment.
High Speed Waiter
High Speed Waiter, selling YOUR food online
One of the best ways for a restaurant to boost profits is to start doing take outs. People are lazy, and they just love ordering their dinner online, but they quickly become bored with the usual fast food delights from heart-attack factories like McDonalds and KFC.
HighSpeedWaiter.com is a fantastic product for any restaurant that wants to start selling online. Offering full turnkey solutions, from website development to online ordering systems and a range of direct marketing services, there can be few easier options for restaurants looking to expand their reach.