Expert Interview: Jonathan Munsell Interviews Equipment Specialist Lenny Douglas from Tundra Specialties
Best Practices for Restaurant Owners and Industry Professionals Monthly Benchmarking and Money-making Teleseminar:
How To Insure You Have The Best Restaurant Supply, Parts and Equipment Company For Your Start-up and Existing Restaurant
Jonathan Interviews Lenny Douglas with Tundra Specialties.
Opening and maintaining a restaurant is always a challenge. This conversation will help you on your way to building a success from the start.
- We talk about the very basics (The Restaurant Development Process) of starting with a drawing, mapping out the plan in order to get a good understanding of the goal.
- We talk about understanding the options from big equipment, to counter equipment and storage, all the way to small ware.
- We even talk about what to look for in an equipment vendor.
About your Hosts:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jonathan Munsell owns two restaurant brands and a catering company. Jonathan Munsell works with current and aspiring restaurant owners specializing in restaurant startup and growth. In 2007, Jonathan launched Restaurant Success System conducting national seminars and professionally speaking on restaurant startup, restaurant operations, restaurant marketing and finance. Learn more about Jonathan by visiting www.RestaurantSuccessMonthly.com
Lenny Douglas is the Sales Manager for Tundra Specialties, which is a company that specializes in restaurant parts, supplies and equipment. Lenny grew up in Tampa Florida. He moved to Colorado in 1997, waited tables and was bartender for several locations. Lenny attended University Colorado in 1999 for Computer Science, then made a change in direction and left engineering school. Lenny then worked for a foodservice sales position with Old Timer Foods working with Regional Restaurants selling a variety of food products. He met Rob Fenton, part owner and Sales Manager with Tundra, and has been working for Tundra Specialties since January 1, 2003, starting in the Outside Sales Team.
You can find out more about equipment and connect with Tundra Specialties by visiting their website www.etundra.com or check out their blog “The Back Burner”
Their blogs about the foodservice industry at The Back Burner, which is written by the employees of Tundra Specialties, a company specializing in restaurant equipment and food service supplies.
Related Posts -
Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics - Tips 21 - 30 This is the 4th post in a number of posts I will be providing to... -
Video Blog: Where Can Restaurants Best Control Cost or Cut Cost? Video Blog This video is part of a series of videos where I, Jonathan Munsell,... - 5 Tips to Ensure Food Safety: Food safety checklist for restaurants By Rebecca Pollack on July 6, 2010 from SmartBlog on Restaurants Consumers are keeping food...
Health Care Reform Continues to Be a Moving Target
October 27, 2009 by Jonathan Munsell
Filed under Health & Energy Management, Restaurant Issues, restaurant cost control
As many of you know I am a Board Member of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association as well as an active Restaurant Owner. This is hot off the presses from the NCRLA and I think it does a great job of quickly and clearly explaining where we are as a nation on health care reform and how it effects the business owners like you and I. Your state may have a couple other options or a slightly different spin on this but as a whole it applies nationally to all of us.
The Health Care reform debate has dominated news headlines in recent months. It is a difficult issue and many dollars are being spent on both sides of the debate. As always, NCRLA, NRA, and AH&LA continue to fight for fair treatment of our industry in any bill that should be constructed. Currently the architecture of the bills being discussed by the House and Senate are constantly changing and being revised. The following is an update on the current state of the issue.
The Latest:
On Tuesday, October 12, the Senate Finance Committee passed an $829 billion plan which it hopes will extend health care coverage to an additional 29 million Americans. The next step for the bill is a formal debate in the full House and Senate.
Some Details on the recently passed bill:
• The bill would be paid for in part by cutting spending on several health care programs — including Medicare — by roughly $400 billion. Another $200 billion would be generated by imposing a new tax on high-end health care policies, called “Cadillac” plans by critics.
• New fees would be imposed on drug and insurance companies, medical device manufacturers and other industries tied to the health care sector.
• Individuals would be required to purchase coverage or face a fine of up to $750
• Companies with more than 50 full-time workers would have to pay a fee of up to $400 per employee if they do not offer health insurance.
• Businesses with 25 or more employees would be required to offer insurance or pay a fine of $750 a year for each employee not covered.
• As a way to stimulate competition and drive down premiums, the bill would provide $6 billion toward the creation of non-profit, member-run health insurance companies in each state.
• If the House and Senate manage to pass health care reform bills, a conference committee would then negotiate a final version requiring approval from both chambers before going to Obama for his signature.
Affect on Hospitality Industry
Obviously the mandates proposed in this bill would greatly affect small businesses in our industry. It remains unclear what the ultimate definition of “full-time” will be in any final bill that is agreed on between the House and Senate, but in the Senate version of the bill part-time employees are not mandated to be covered by their employers.
There are possible subsidies that would allow employers offering health insurance to their employees to be eligible for a tax credit.
• Employers with fewer than 25 employees and paying an average annual wage of less than $40,000 would be eligible for a tax credit of up to 50% of the employer’s contribution toward the employee’s health insurance premium. The credit would vary depending on the company’s size and level of contribution toward employee premiums.
• The addition of the non-profit health insurance companies in each state could end up driving costs down for premiums, however it appears that there will still be no way to shop for health insurance across state lines, which could have driven down costs even further.
As always, we will keep you updated on any breaking news. We continue to fight for fair treatment of the industry on our member’s behalf, and look forward to a positive resolution to this issue.
Let me know what you think of the current Health Care Reform discussions and the effect on you and our industry.
Related Posts - Industry Groups Laud Obama's Small-Business Plan By Paul Frumkin, Nation's Restaurant News WASHINGTON (March 17, 2009) Two industry associations hailed President...
- Restaurant workers are starved of benefits, report says I found the statistics shared in this article interesting and thought you might enjoy this. ...
- Do you Deliver Totally Outrageous Service? Totally Outrageous Service is the all about the guest. As you well know, we are...
Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics – 111-120
July 29, 2009 by Jonathan Munsell
Filed under Restaurant Financial Management
This is the 13th post in a number of posts I will be providing to offer cost effective tips and ideas for your restaurant biz.
Included Categories:
1. Food Costs and Kitchen Management
2. Bar, Cellar and Beverages
3. Packaging, Paper and Consumables
4. Cleaning Costs
5. Labor Costs
6. General & Administrative
7. Utilities
8. Repairs and Maintenance
9. Event Management
10. Safety
[Content protected for Inner Circle members only]
Could have used these great tips in your restaurant business, consider joining our awesome group here at Restaurant Success Monthly.
please click on the “Add to Cart” button to register through our secure shopping cart.
Related Posts -
Immediately Effective Tips & Tactics - Tips 41-50 This is the 6th post in a number of posts I will be providing to... -
Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics - 101 - 110 This is the 12th post in a number of posts I will be providing to... - Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics - 131-142 This is the last post in a number of posts I will be providing to...
Immediately Effective Tips & Tactics – Tips 41-50
June 22, 2009 by Jonathan Munsell
Filed under Restaurant Financial Management
This is the 6th post in a number of posts I will be providing to offer cost effective tips and ideas for your restaurant biz.
Included Categories:
1. Food Costs and Kitchen Management
2. Bar, Cellar and Beverages
3. Packaging, Paper and Consumables
4. Cleaning Costs
5. Labor Costs
6. General & Administrative
7. Utilities
8. Repairs and Maintenance
9. Event Management
10. Safety
11. Equipment and Smallwares
41. Rotate fryers and keep one for products that are heavy on the oil e.g. crumbed food. Even with filtering, this will deteriorate faster but it is common to have one changed more often than all of them.
42. Only purchase what’s needed for the week — in general large orders and ‘one-free for ten’ deals only benefit the salesperson’s commission — having large quantities of stock around leads to pilfering and extravagance and rarely cost saving.
43. Label purchase dates on boxes or cans that aren’t marked.
44. Investigate use of ‘day-dot’ type systems for marking age of food stuffs.
45. Have marker pens available and tied up near the store and walk-in cooler so items can be labeled easily and quickly.
46. Have dedicated scales in the delivery area so spot check of weights can be made.
47. Have probe thermometer and sterilizing material available in delivery area so delivery check can be made and non-conforming items immediately returned.
48. Have your policies on delivery inspection and return printed and laminated on the wall so there are no arguments with delivery people in a ‘hurry’.
49. Have your delivery times on a sign at the entrance to the delivery area — this will allow for calm receiving and checking of goods at your convenience, not at the convenience of the driver.
50. Have your delivery times printed on the delivery invoice or docket so there will be no misunderstanding about when they will be accepted.
Stay tuned for post #7. and if you are not yet an Inner Circle Member, sign up to receive great information, coaching calls and access to hundreds of downloads to help your business grow!
Inner Circle Membership $47.00/month.
please click on the “Add to Cart” button to register through our secure shopping cart.
Related Posts - Immediately Effective Tips & Tactics - Tips 11-20 This is the third post in a number of posts I will be providing to...
- Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics - 131-142 This is the last post in a number of posts I will be providing to...
- Immediately Effective Tips & Tactics 31-40 This is the 5th post in a number of posts I will be providing to...
Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics – Tips 6-10
June 8, 2009 by Jonathan Munsell
Filed under Restaurant Financial Management
This is the second post in a number of posts I will be providing to offer cost effective tips and ideas for your restaurant biz.
Included Categories:
1. Food Costs and Kitchen Management
2. Bar, Cellar and Beverages
3. Packaging, Paper and Consumables
4. Cleaning Costs
5. Labor Costs
6. General & Administrative
7. Utilities
8. Repairs and Maintenance
9. Event Management
10. Safety
11. Equipment and Smallwares
So here’s Post Number 2:
Food Costs and Kitchen Management
6. Increase some prices, especially on your middle priced items – Soc more on half a dozen items may mean a difference of 0.5% less in food costs.
7. Break down your cost cutting efforts into 2 or 3 items each week – this way staff feel it’s an achievable (even fun) project rather than a massive undertaking. Make a fuss about the good results they achieve.
[Content protected for Inner Circle members only]
Stay tuned for post #3. and if you are not yet an Inner Circle Member, sign up to receive great information, coaching calls and access to hundreds of downloads to help your business grow!
Inner Circle Membership $47.00/month.
please click on the “Add to Cart” button to register through our secure shopping cart.
Related Posts - Make Commitments, Not Resolutions! Make Commitments, Not Resolutions Commitment means to duty or pledge to something or someone, and...
- Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics - Tips 21 - 30 This is the 4th post in a number of posts I will be providing to...
- Immediately Effective Cost Control Tips & Tactics - 91 - 100 This is the 11th post in a number of posts I will be providing to...
