“You guys still working on that?”

I have to thank our Expos VP, Steve Barber, for sending me this one.

In recent years, one of the most popular speakers at our trade shows has been Joel Cohen of RestaurantMarketing.com.  The site bills itself as “Real World. Real Time. Real Honest.” and the story below is a perfect example of the kind of honest advice you’ll find on the site, and through Joel’s weekly WOW! e-newsletter:

 

One hundred issues ago, (Wow #76), I shared an article that Scott Smith, who heads up The Springfield Restaurant Group — www.springfields.com — had submitted to me. Because of its importance, and as we head into the “2009 home-stretch”, I want to feature it again.

Scott said, ” We put together a list of what servers say that will kill your business. I’ve been on a campaign to make sure all our wait staff work hard on connecting with the guest and eliminate these cliches from their vocabulary. We’ve proven — and our sales bear it out — that connecting with the guest with the right words really does work!”

The 10 Things Our Servers Will NEVER Say To Our Guests

10. “Hang on to your fork”
Our servers will never tell a guest to hang on to their knife or fork following a course so that it can be reused for the next course. Clean flatware will be automatically offered.

9. “No problem” –
No one will ever say this in response to a request from a guest, or as a reply when a guest says “thank you.” You will say, “my pleasure” or “you’re welcome.”

8. “I will get the manager”
Every server is empowered to handle a guest complaint immediately. If a guest does not like their meal, you will apologize and offer the menu to the guest to make another selection. You can then notify the manager to help expedite the meal and visit the table.

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You can’t spell “flair” without “air”

Can you believe it’s been nearly three months since the 2009 CRFA Show? Nope, me neither.

As part of my nostalgia-tripping, I found this vid on YouTube, featuring the team from BartenderOne, who helped keep things hopping on the Cocktail Stage along with the legendary Dale DeGroff:

On BartenderOne’s main page I also came across a video posted just today, featuring a pretty neat contest in addition to some kick-glass flair moves. Here’s that video (if you have any difficulties getting it to play, just click on the “view on HD” icon that should pop-up in the lower right portion of the screen):

UPDATE: You can now access more info about the contest via these two links: bartenderone.com/competitions and bartenderone.com/vegasthrowdown.

BartenderOne’s Rob Montgomery, as you might recall, is the master mixologist behind CRFA’s Behind Bars. Check out his latest recipes today.

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More clicky-clicky, piccy-piccy

We’ll be posting our own photos from the CRFA Show shortly, but in the meantime, check out these luscious food shots from the show, found on Flickr.

Our photos probably won’t make you drool in quite the same way, but I promise they’ll be worth checking out.  Soon!

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I can’t believe I walked the whole thing

Ah, I’m just kidding about walking the whole CRFA Show, which wrapped up yesterday.

We’ve estimated that if an attendee walked every aisle, they’d have covered six kilometres in total, or 3.75 miles.  It would have been worth the walk to have a chance to see every single booth — trust me — but I failed to follow my own “wear comfortable shoes!” advice, so I estimate I was only able to take in about 30-40% of the entire event.

Fortunately, some intrepid/hungry bloggers took up the challenge and have posted some fantastic photos and reviews of the show:

• Suresh from SpotlightToronto.com posted a great slideshow that shows the incredible range of products, services, equipments and demos that were on display.
• DivaQBBQ‘s DivaQ snapped some awesome photos of the Culinary Salon, as well as some of our featured — and one surprise! — chefs.  Be sure to check out the link to more photos at the bottom of her post.
• Diana from RockingTheRepublic.com turned her eye and tastebuds to the tea offerings at the show, and it looks like she’ll be posting more tea reviews from the show in the coming weeks.

Please note that the opinions expressed in these blogs are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect … you get the rest.  That said, it’s been fascinating for me to read the reactions of our show guests.  If you know of any other blog mentions of the show, let me know!

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Live tweeting the CRFA Show

Subject line pretty much says it all!

Follow along under the handle jeninewsbite.

See you there, or, if you’re at the show — and you should be — see you here!

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News flashes, I can’t quit you!

Check out the judges we’ve just added to the Cooking with the Stars event.

Don’t sweat it.

I know you’re still up the challenge.

See you on stage!

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