Pre-shift line checks are a requirement for running a successful restaurant. Â Line checks provide management the ability to inspect their restaurant before the meal period to: Ensure that they are stocked properly, Pars The right food is on the line, FIFO That everything is safe to serve, Temperature Control The correct serving ladles and spoons …
Tommy Yionoulis
I've been in the restaurant industry for most of my adult life. I have a BSBA from University of Denver Hotel Restaurant school and an MBA from the same. When I wasn't working in restaurants I was either doing stand-up comedy, for 10 years, or large enterprise software consulting. I'm currently the Managing Director of OpsAnalitica and our Inspector platform was originally conceived when I worked for one of the largest sandwich franchisors in the country. You can reach out to me through LinkedIn.
Chipotle’s Woes Could Happen to Any of Us
A couple of years ago I met with a Chipotle Director to show him the Inspector app of that time.  My hope going into the meeting was that he would have been so blown away that he would have walked us into the VP of Ops office.  He didn’t, full disclaimer, he wasn’t officially speaking …
Why Getting Rid of Tipping in Full Service Restaurants is Stupid
Full-service restaurants are unique in American business in that the incentive systems for service employees are perfectly aligned with the goals of the business. It is an amazing sight to see employees working to benefit themselves and simultaneously benefitting the owners and managers of the establishment. Allow me to explain. Servers in restaurants make a …
Due Diligence and Due Care for Restaurant Managers
I believe that the hospitality industry should adopt Due Diligence and Due Care as management concepts that we fully embrace and implement into our business processes. Â Due Diligence and Due Care are words associated with investing, and contracts. In my last position working in cyber security, those terms were defined as: Due Diligence: Identifying …
6 Types of Food Comps and How You Can Reduce Food Costs
I was recently talking to one of our clients about the OpsAnalitica Inspector, and he was telling me how it helps their company reduce Food Costs. See if this sounds familiar, their managers have always been required to do pre-shift line checks. Even before they had implemented OpsAnalitica they did their line checks like most …
Face the Facts: It’s a Drag and Drop World – Part III
Here’s part III of the series, the final installment. To catch up on part I click here, part II click here. How to Craft a Workflow Strategy Seek out a check-list driven workflow app provider that has restaurant specific knowledge. Examine the pedigree of the management of the app provider. The restaurant business is perhaps …
Face the Facts: It’s a Drag and Drop World – Part II
Here’s part II of this series. Part I was posted yesterday. If you haven’t read part I yet click here and read it first. Signs you are ready for Workflow Management Apps The obvious signs that you’re ready for workflow management apps are: Your operations are unprofitable You can’t identify where your problems originate You …
Don’t Market Yourself Off A Cliff
Two of the most iconic moments in film history are Thelma & Louise driving off that cliff and Butch and Sundance charging out the door to take on the Bolivian army. They are scenes of people choosing their destruction. There are restaurant owners and managers that do the same thing every day. We wrote a …
Face the Facts: It’s a Drag and Drop World – Part I
You either get dragged (or drag yourself) into restaurant management and accountability technology… Or be forced to drop out for running an unprofitable business. There is no middle ground. That’s for one simple reason: Perhaps 15 years ago it was possible to run a business without a web page, but today it is not. You …
Apps and Big Data: How They Are Changing The World of Multi-Location Restaurants – Part II
Here is part two. Part one was posted on Monday, click here to read part one if you haven’t read it already. If sales drop, for seemingly no reason, Big Data can look at customer reporting sites like Yelp through an automatic data harvest to see if bad scores are driving away people. Without Big …