Dusty’s BBQ In Decatur, GA Leased to Shared Kitchens Catering by Atlanta Restaurant Exchange

Atlanta, Georgia June 3, 2010 — Atlanta Restaurant Exchange is proud to announce the opening of a new location of Shared Kitchens.

The new location will be located at 215 Laredo Dr in Decatur, right across the street from the famous DeKalb Farmers Market.  The location is scheduled to open Late Summer 2010.

The new owner found this location through restaurant broker Brian Paul.  Shared Kitchens was out of room at their Suwanee, GA location and needed to expand!

Shared Kitchens is a unique cost effective solution for culinary entrepreneurs.  Often referred to as “kitchen incubators”, “community kitchens” or “shared timed kitchens”, the concept of Shared Kitchens is a simple one.  They provide a fully licensed, professionally equipped commercial kitchen available for rent on an as needed basis.  Their customers choose a membership level that allows them the amount of time that they actually need in the kitchen.

Shared Kitchens expects space in this inside the perimeter location to fill up fast, so check out their website at www.sharedkitchens.com and give the owner Julie a call today!

“Shared Kitchens is a great concept…caterers need a space to call home that is low cost,” said Brian Paul, Restaurant Broker for Atlanta Restaurant Exchange. “I’m sure we’ll be looking for another space for the owner very soon”

Added Fred Miller, Managing Partner for Atlanta Restaurant Exchange, “This huge 8000 square foot kitchen is amazing, and I’m glad we found an equally amazing tenant for it!”

The interest in Atlanta Restaurant Exchange’s listings is increasing every day, and this particular listing was one of our most popular.

For additional information on Atlanta Restaurant Exchange or current properties they have for sale visit www.atlantarex.com.

For additional information on Shared Kitchens and contact information for the company please visit www.sharedkitchens.com

About Atlanta Restaurant Exchange:

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange is the leading restaurant broker serving Metro Atlanta.  They are a full service real estate firm that specializes in only selling hospitality related businesses.

Contact:

Brian Paul
Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
brian@atlantarex.com

http://www.atlantarex.com

Food Cost Training Classes in Atlanta Georgia

Training Series in conjunction with the
Georgia Restaurant Association’s
Institute of Professional Development

Next Food Cost Seminar Tuesday August 31th    2 – 4 pm
Limited Number, be sure to reserve your spot!

This seminar will be held at the
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Every Day we receive financials
from different restaurants.

In most cases, we can look at the statements
and immediately tell
where the problem areas are….

Food Cost Training Classes and Seminar in conjunction with the Georgia Restaurant Association’s Institute of Professional Development.

Click Here For Info about upcoming Food Cost Seminars

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Opening Restaurants and Concepts from Tomorrow’s News Today Blog – The BEST place for information about the Atlanta Metro Restaurant Scene!

Baroni (SoBu) The latest from the owners of Publik and Baraonda, Baroni is scheduled to open by the end of the month. Taking the space that previously housed Wolfgang Puck Express in Brookwood Place at 1745 Peachtree Street, the new eatery will feature pizzas and pastas and assorted other Italian dishes. Billed as a neighborhood trattoria, Baroni may turn out being the Osteria 832 of SoBu.

Buckhead Bottle Bar (Buckhead) The first of a growing trend, I’m placing Buckhead Bottle Bar simultaneously as a member of both the DeathWatch and the BirthWatch. I might as well call this place “premature.” Their website still flashes “Coming April 2010″ but in my frequent trips to Cafe Agora next door, I can see that they are far from opening. With A.D. Allushi at the helm, this place has the potential to be a hotspot for 10 minutes, before everyone realizes there are better places to go.

Boardwalk Fresh Burgers & Fries (West Midtown) After opening their first location in Sandy Springs this past March, the Maryland based burger joint will open at Selig Enterprises “The District at Howell Mill.” Taking space that originally housed the ill-fated Artuzzi’s, the new Boardwalk is said to open by late August.

Cakes & Ale (Decatur) Originally I had been told they were going to expand in their current space on West Ponce; instead they will move to Church Street just outside of the Decatur MARTA station. While I personally would have stayed put and expanded, apparently they think that they can increase revenue enough to warrant the relocation and extensive build out. As construction has yet to begin, an opening date is not yet on the horizon.

Davio’s Italian Steakhouse (Phipps Plaza – Buckhead) Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse will open later this fall in most of the shuttered Niketown space on the lobby level of Phipps Plaza. Currently the chain has locations in Boston, Foxborough, MA, and Philadelphia. While I am not a fan of more high end steakhouses in the area, Davio’s is different than most, with its Italian take, a variety of gluten-free lunch and dinner options, and a kids’ menu. The smartest idea? I have heard that the restaurant will have access from the exterior of the mall. Perhaps there’ll be outdoor dining as well?

Egg Harbor Cafe (Buckhead) Lincolnshire, IL based Egg Harbor Cafe plans to open in Buckhead later this year. Slated to occupy 3900 s/f in the former Sears automotive building at 102 West Paces Ferry Rd., significant work has yet to begin so the “fall opening” is optimistic.

Empire State South (Midtown) Originally scheduled to open in late April, then June, Empire State South from acclaimed chef Hugh Acheson is far from on track. New estimates peg opening at late August. Already with two established and popular restaurants in Athens, Five and Ten and The National, Empire State South will focus on “the food of the south.” Located at 999 Peachtree, it will benefit from the new Loews Atlanta Hotel and the expanding Midtown Mile.

Former FountainSide Cafe (Centennial Olympic Park – Downtown) Yet to be named, the former FountainSide Cafe at Centennial Olympic Park is being redesigned and enlarged. It will feature similar fare to that of the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park in NYC. Serving fresh made burgers, shakes and fries among other items, the new eatery will accommodate 175 to 200 patrons in an outdoor seating area. With work already underway, the targeted July opening seems like an easy goal to meet.

Flip Burger Boutique (Buckhead) Not officially on the books, chef Richard Blais and his business partner Barry Mills have made clear they want a location in Buckhead, just a little less clear on when and where it will happen. Months back, there was word they wanted to get their hands on the Blockbuster Video space at Piedmont and Roswell. That store is set to close permanently May 15th, but as of today, no lease for Flip has been signed.

Fritti (Buckhead) Riccardo Ullio, owner of U Restaurants, is bringing the battle for the best pizza to Buckhead. The new Buckhead location will open as part of the redevelopment of the former Sears Automotive building at 102 West Paces Ferry, next to the St. Regis Hotel.

Goin Coastal (VaHi) With one location open in Canton, this “sustainable seafood joint” will open a second location by early June. Located in what was a FIGO Pasta at 1021 Virginia Avenue, Goin Coastal should be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Goldberg’s Bagel Company & Deli (Toco Hills) Goldberg’s Bagel Company & Deli is planning to open their sixth location, in Toco Hills shopping center. They will open in the former movie theater on the Publix Supermarket “wing.” Goldberg’s will join Bagel Palace & Deli and Einstein’s Bagels in the immediate area offering similar fare. The most direct competition is clearly Bagel Palace, as they cater to the heavily Jewish (& Emory) clientele and offer essentially the same menu as Goldberg’s.

Highland Bakery (Midtown) “A favorite amongst Inman Park residents will grow to include a second location later this spring.” I spoke those words in February after being told it was a done deal and well on its way to fruition, now months later, no progress is visible and a spring opening seems far from reality. If /when it opens in 1180 Peachtree, Highland Bakery will have about 900 s/f on the 14th Street side, just below H. Stockton, in a space that has never had a tenant. The new location will serve a scaled down version of its popular menu including breakfast sandwiches, soups, salads and sandwich lunch options, as well as their fresh baked breads and pastries. Highland Bakery midtown will also serve an assortment of signature gourmet coffee drinks as well as catering options. In the meantime, a satellite location has sprouted in the lobby of the 999 Peachtree building.

IHOP (Midtown) IHOP is making a second go of it in Midtown with the opening of a new location at 428 Ponce de Leon Avenue. I say second, as less than a half mile away at 129 North Avenue, there was once an IHOP but it closed years ago and is currently Mandarin Palace II. With construction under way, an IHOP franchise representative informed me the building should be done by early June and they plan on opening June 21st.

Jack’s Sandwich Shop – (Downtown / Peachtree Center) Jack’s Sandwich Shop, a mainstay in downtown Atlanta for many years, is returning after years of absence. Jack’s originally opened in the bottom of the Carnegie Building ( Hotel Indigo soon) back in 1973, and later relocated to 230 Peachtree, near Durango Steak House in 1977, before being sold off in 1991 and closed permanently in 1996. Now, Robert Pasmanick, the owner’s son and operator of Jacks in the move from the Carnegie is bringing back what many called “the best cheese grits” in the city. Opening in a portion of the old Atlanta Bread Company space in the Mall at Peachtree Center, Jack’s will offer traditional deli offerings such as pastrami and corned beef along with his famous cheese grits and a variety of salads. Currently, Pasmanick hopes to be open by late June and keep hours of 7AM -3PM weekdays unless a special event or convention warrants extended hours.

Menchie’s (Toco Hills) Encino, California based Menchie’s will open its third Atlanta area location this summer at Toco Hills Promenade. Menchie’s will open between Maddio’s Pizza Joint and Top Spice.

Pano’s (Buckhead) Delayed a number of times already, there was talk it was never going to open, that is simply not the case according to Buckhead Life reps. Though as with many in the restaurant industry, business was tough for Buckhead Life and projects were slowed, Pano’s will open at the St. Regis hotel by year end. With Bistro Niko, their French concept, now open at 3344 Peachtree, Buckhead Life can once again dedicate themselves to the beloved Pano’s (previously known as Pano’s and Paul’s).

Pinkberry (Cobb Pkwy) The brand that many say was the domestic originator of the now wildly popular “FroYo” craze, Pinkberry, will open its first Atlanta area location in Cobb county this June. At 2937 Cobb Parkway SE, the new Pinkberry is located in the same shopping center as LA Fitness , Toys “R” Us and Hooters and will be the first of many planned for the Atlanta market. Previously there was word Pinkberry would first open in Buckhead, but the Cobb Parkway site will instead be their first location.

STK / stk out (Midtown) New York-based “The One Group” will open two concepts at 1075 Peachtree late this fall. STK, its signature upscale steakhouse on the Peachtree Street side, and “STK OUT,” a new more casual concept on the corner of 12th and Peachtree. The two concepts will be in single subdivided space, encompassing a total of 12,000 s/f on two levels.

Smashburger (Metro Atlanta) As far as I know, leases have yet to be signed though locations have been discussed from Alpharetta to Buckhead and everywhere in between. There is certainly plenty of available real estate, just a matter of the right mix. Have any idea where one may be opening? Leave me a comment or drop me a note and I’ll investigate.

Sugar Shack (Brookhaven) Delayed too many times to count, the Sugar Shack is turning into Streets of Buckhead, started, talked about but not finished. According to their Twitter account, they were “opening soon” on August 18th 2009. On September 22nd, they were “Looking at a late October opening!” November 23rd “Opening Soon.” With over 1,000 followers on Twitter, one would think they’d be more careful in their announcements. Now, with nothing having been tweeted since December 4th, what are we to think? Located in Brookhaven Station at 4046 Peachtree Road, Sugar Shack would join Hudson Grille, another Metrotainent concept if / when it it opens. Unlike many of Metrotainment’s other concepts, the Sugar Shack is a more casual setting, said to include coffee, sandwiches and desserts. On April 7th, I was informed by a Metrotainment executive that they will be open “within 60 days.” Shall I hold my breath? I think not. This concept is the second to be named to both the “BirthWatch” and “DeathWatch” simultaneously.

The Big Ketch (Buckhead) The group behind Tin Lizzy’s took over over the former Taco Stand in Buckhead and is launching this new concept. Originally set for a mid-late May opening, it has been pushed to late July. The full name of the casual seafood restaurant will be “The Big Ketch – Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill” paying homage to a favorite now-closed seafood restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida. With offerings such as fresh grouper, you peel shrimp, crab legs and fresh oysters at prices in the low teens to low $20s, they should compete nicely with the recently opened Coast Seafood & Raw Bar.

The Daiquiri Factory (Midtown) Opening at 889 West Peachtree Street, the restaurant’s owner recently received her liquor license and should be open by early June at the latest. The building once housed Acapulco Bar & Grill but has been empty for over a year so its great to see something moving in. With Hotel Palolar across the street, there is hope they will do well.

The Flying Biscuit Cafe (Alpharetta) Barbara Juhan, owner of the Flying Biscuit Sandy Springs, is opening a second location, this time in Roswell / Alpharetta. H As with Juhan’s Sandy Springs location, her new location will be modeled after the original Flying Biscuit in Candler Park and founder Delia Champion will oversee the decor. Juhan’s new location should not be completely new to readers of this site, as it was the former home of Artuzzi’s Italian Kitchen. Located at 10779 Alpharetta Highway, Suite 220, the GM tells me they will be open by the first week in June.

The Kind Pie (Buckhead) Currently located in a cubbyhole of space on E. Paces Ferry next to Park Bench and Cafe Agora, its likely to outgrow the space sooner rather than later. The owner is actively looking for a larger space in close proximity to his current spot.

YEAH! BURGER (West Midtown) + (VaHi) Set to be located in the former West Egg at White Provisions, the restaurant joins a growing number of new eateries in West Midtown such as Miller Union, Bocado and Abbatoir. Though the West Midtown location was originally set for an early May opening, work on the space has not gone as briskly as originally planned and thus the opening is not likely until late May or early June. Its anticipated that once the West Midtown location is up and running, the official announcement of their VaHi will come as will the expected opening.

Yoforia (Brookhaven) + (Athens) Yoforia how been on a growth spurt of late adding locations in Vinings and 1 open with more on the way in Charolotte. According to a Yoforia representative, Brookhaven’s location at Village Place on Dresden Drive should be open May 10th and one in Athens on Milledge Avenue will open this Fall.

Yogli Mogli (Alpharetta) + (Emory Village) + (Suwanee) Yogli Mogli, a local purveyor of the ever popular Fro-Yo will be opening three additional locations in Georgia, this summer. Yogli Mogli opened its first location at 6595 Roswell Road near the intersection of Abernathy and Roswell Roads in Abernathy Square in 2008 and added a second this past March on Johnson Ferry in East Cobb. Similar to the Yogurt Tap in Decatur and the upcoming Menchie’s in Toco Hills, Yogli Mogli offers a variety of nutritional yogurt flavors in a self serve environment and an array of toppings from fruits and nuts to cereals and candy. According to a company spokesperson the Alpharetta and Emory locations will open in July and the Suwanee location will follow.

For the BEST information about the Atlanta Restaurant Scene, Click Here to see the Original article on ToNeToAtlanta

http://tonetoatlanta.blogspot.com

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
1708 Peachtree ST NW
Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

Call Today for An Appointment
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Restaurants For Sale in Atlanta

Restaurants For Rent in Atlanta

For much of the last decade the restaurant industry has faced heightened scrutiny of its wage and hour practices. In particular, the industry came under fire from department of labor (DOL) investigations and private class action law suits. Unfortunately, operators have discovered that many long held industry practices and customs were not always compliant with existing wage and hour laws.

Whether intentional or not, when violations are found, restaurant operators face draconian penalties which include not only unpaid back wages, but liquidated damages (up to 100% of the monies owed), civil penalties, interest, and the employees’ attorneys’ fees incurred.

With no signs of these class action suits abating, and an increasingly activist Obama Labor Department, it is imperative that restaurants review their compliance with all applicable wage and hour laws.

Below is a list of the top wage-and-hour mistakes commonly made by restaurant owners throughout the industry:

Failure to Maintain Proper Records. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are required to maintain complete payroll records (including but not limited to information regarding the employees’ hours worked and compensation paid each week) for a minimum of three years. Many states require employers to keep their records for even longer periods of time.

While a restaurant’s failure to maintain such records is a violation of the FLSA in and of itself, this type of failure becomes even more costly in disputes regarding unpaid wages because, under such circumstances, the courts will typically credit the employees’ testimony regarding the number of hours worked or compensation paid.

Failure to Accurately Record Employees’ Hours Worked. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the attendance and work hour records are accurately kept and maintained.
Employees should be credited for all hours during which they are performing work for the restaurant. Employers cannot, for example, modify the time records to cut time if an employee clocks in prior to a scheduled start time but is in fact still performing work. If an employee is performing work outside of scheduled hours, these issues should be addressed through discipline, not by altering the employee’s time records.

Failure to Properly Inform Service Staff of Tip Credit. The FLSA provides that, as an express condition of taking the “tip credit” provided for in the statute (and paying tipped employees a base wage rate below the standard minimum wage rate), the tipped employees must be informed by the employer that the tip credit is being taken. Too often, restaurants take the tip credit without ever informing their service staff that they are doing so.

The notice of taking tip credit can be accomplished in many ways, but the most efficient method is to ask the employees to sign a written acknowledgement that they understand the tip credit is being applied to their wage rate. This can be accomplished at the time of hire or in an employee handbook. Of course, in states where the tip credit is not permissible (e.g. California), this notice is not applicable.

Improper Inclusion of Non-Service Personnel in Tip Pool. Another condition for using the “tip credit” is that employers may only permit those non-managerial employees who “customarily and regularly” receive tips to participate in any tip pool. This is determined by the employee’s actual role within the restaurant at issue, not on their title or the industry standard. This is typically a case by case analysis. Hosts or sushi chefs in one establishment may qualify to participate in one pool but may not in another.

Failure to Properly Classify Salaried Employees. Many employers operate under the mistaken assumption that an employee can be classified as “exempt” (and therefore not entitled to overtime) simply by paying such employee on a salaried basis. To be exempt under the FLSA, employees must receive not only a guaranteed minimum weekly salary of at least $455 per week (which is higher in many states), but they also must satisfy the “duties test” under one of the specifically listed exemptions under the statute (e.g., administrative, professional, and executive).

In other words, the test for determining whether an employee is exempt from the overtime requirements is determined by the functions they perform as well as the amount and method by which they are paid. This issue in particular is facing increasing scrutiny by the DOL and plaintiffs’ bar as it relates to line cooks misclassified as “salaried” exempt employees.

Failure to Calculate a Blended Rate for Overtime Purposes. Restaurant owners also make the common mistake of failing to properly calculate the overtime pay owed to those who do receive overtime, most notably those who work in two different positions at two different rates during the same workweek (e.g., as a server and a host). When this occurs, and the employee works more than 40 hours during that particular week, the employee’s overtime rate is determined by calculating time and a half of the employee’s “blended rate” of the two positions (determine by dividing all compensation received by all hours worked), not simply time and a half of the lower rate of pay or the rate of pay for the position in which the overtime hours were worked.

Improper Deductions. Although the rules vary from state to state, many states have laws prohibiting employers for deducting any monies from an employee’s paycheck which do not directly benefit the employee and/or which are not pre-authorized by the employee. Therefore, restaurants are often unknowingly violating their respective state law when they impose paycheck deductions for things such as breakage, “bank” shorts, and credit card fees.

Although only a sampling of common errors, operators can avoid many of the lawsuits and DOL investigations simply by avoiding the mistakes listed above. However, it is recommended that operators seek legal counsel and consider conducting an internal audit of all wage and hour practices.

Click Here For the Original Article on FastCasual.com written by Carolyn D. Richmond and Seth M. Kaplan

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
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Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

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Restaurants For Sale in Atlanta

Restaurants For Rent in Atlanta

Citing better-than-expected performance in several foodservice segments, Technomic adjusted its 2010 U.S. foodservice industry nominal growth forecast upward from a decline of 1.6 percent to positive growth of 0.6 percent. “The most significant changes are in the ‘commercial’ sectors, with full service restaurants, hotels and recreation, in particular, showing better-than-expected improvements”

“The most significant changes are in the ‘commercial’ sectors, with full service restaurants, hotels and recreation, in particular, showing better-than-expected improvements,” said Joe Pawlak, Technomic vice president. “The limited-service restaurant segment is also up slightly over earlier estimates.”

Technomic’s revised forecast seems to confirm that the foodservice industry has hit the bottom and is now beginning to bounce back. “There are definitely signs of improvement,” says Pawlak, “although the recovery will be slow going forward.”

Additional details on Technomic’s current forecast for all major U.S. foodservice segments can be viewed at their web site.

Restaurant News Atlanta Georgia

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
1708 Peachtree ST NW
Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

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Atlanta Restaurants for Sale

Atlanta Restaurants For Rent

SOLD by Atlanta Restaurant Exchange! Totonno’s Famous Meatballs in Athens, Georgia..

Atlanta, Georgia May 6, 2010 — Atlanta Restaurant Exchange is proud to announce the sale of Totonno’s Famous Meatballs.

Totonno’s Famous Meatballs is located at 720 Hawthorne Avenue in Athens, Georgia, and is serving a meatball focused menu near the UGA Campus.

The new owner found this amazing quick service restaurant through restaurant broker Brian Paul. The new owner is expanding the current menu to include Italian Subs, and Chicken Parmesan, among other offerings.

Discount coupons can be found online by clicking HERE

“I am excited to see the new owner take over this great property,” said Brian Paul, Restaurant Broker for Atlanta Restaurant Exchange. “I know he will thrive at this location, the food is amazing.”

Added Fred Miller, Managing Partner for Atlanta Restaurant Exchange, “This was a very quick sale for us, this great restaurant was on the market less than a month!”

The interest in Atlanta Restaurant Exchange’s listings is increasing every day, and this particular listing went very quickly.

For additional information on Totonno’s Famous Meatballs, including their menu, see their website, www.totonnosmeatballs.com.

For additional information on Atlanta Restaurant Exchange or current properties they have for sale visit www.AtlantaRex.com.

About Atlanta Restaurant Exchange:

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange is the leading restaurant broker serving Metro Atlanta. They are a full service real estate firm that specializes in only selling hospitality related businesses.

Contact:

Brian Paul

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange

brian@AtlantaRex.com

http://www.AtlantaRex.com

Another Restaurant Sold

About Atlanta Restaurant Exchange

Having been in the Restaurant Business
in Aiken SC and Augusta Georgia
for 17 years, and owning restaurants
in Charlotte North Carolina
for 14 years,
and buying and selling his own restaurants,
Restaurant brokerage
was a natural transition
for Doug Marranci.

We are most grateful to the Georgia Restaurant Association
for wonderful business connections and allowing us to be a part
of this Dynamic organization dedicated to the Restaurant Owner

Shoots of optimism are emerging in the high-end restaurant world.

Expense-account spending is trickling back and consumers are starting to shell out for luxuries again. Prices for some specialty ingredients have come down. And good weather conditions in many parts of the country are making for the best crop in years of wild mushrooms, strawberries and asparagus.

The combination is cheering restaurateurs, who are rolling out festive baby-lamb roasts, multicourse shad dinners and dishes laden with wild mushrooms to celebrate the season. For chefs, it’s a welcome change from last spring, when many restaurants weathered the worst of the economic storm by promoting discounts, comfort food, cheaper drinks and bar snacks.

“Last year we were in freefall at this time of year. Now we’re in recovery,” says Daniel Scherotter, chef and owner of Palio d’Asti, in San Francisco’s financial district. Last March, when the Dow hovered around 7000, Mr. Scherotter says he saw a dramatic drop in customer count and spending. Today, sales are up 30%, with more orders for veal, baby lamb and high-end wine, Mr. Scherotter says.

Like the economic recovery overall, the restaurant rebound is spotty and uncertain. The Austin, Texas, restaurant Olivia says sales are up 25% over the first quarter last year; Lantern in Chapel Hill, N.C., is up 2% and Savoy in New York is up 15%. Many restaurants say their stronger first quarters this year are back to 2008 sales levels. High-end chains, a category consisting mainly of upscale steakhouses, saw a 17% sales decline in 2009, according to Technomic, a Chicago restaurant consultant, and will probably see a 1% to 3% decline this year, mostly because discounting cuts into sales although traffic is up. Restaurateurs and analysts say that more people are visiting high-end restaurants, though they are spending conservatively.

In some parts of the country, nature is lending a hand to chefs. On the West Coast and particularly in California, lots of rain this winter has yielded a huge wild-mushroom crop and an early harvest of other spring favorites, from fava beans to English peas. The bounty means chefs can afford to be generous with special items without raising prices.

Oregon Mushrooms, which ships wild mushrooms to restaurants around the country, says it is selling morels, a wild mushroom harvested in the spring, for $20 a pound wholesale, compared with $33 a pound last year. Restaurateurs in California, where spring hits first, are paying even less. At Oliveto in Oakland, Calif., chef Paul Canales says for the first time in his career he paid $12.50 a pound for morels—half the typical price. Professional foragers stop by the restaurant offering wares they collect from Northern California forests, Ms. Canales says.

‘We’ve had a few really bad years of spring,” Mr. Canales says. “This one is going to be amazing.” Oliveto has been getting local asparagus all month—”typically you don’t see that until April,” Mr. Canales says.

Cal Peternell, chef at the Café at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, which saw a 5% sales decline last year, says the low price of morels means he can pile them onto pizza and over pasta without charging extra.

Suppliers have also been cutting prices on some high-end meats. Blue Duck Tavern in Washington is charging $28 for an herb-crusted roasted rack of lamb that last year went for $35. The reason the restaurant can charge less: Executive chef Brian McBride is paying $5 a pound for rack of lamb from boutique supplier Elysian Fields—about 35% less than he paid last year. His restaurant is starting to see an uptick in business. Last weekend brought in $10,000 more than the same weekend a year ago, says Mr. McBride.

Keith Martin of Elysian Fields says a steep drop-off in sales meant that he spent the last year growing his client list by 40% and carefully pricing each cut of meat in order to satisfy price-conscious restaurateurs. Two years ago he barely had to market his product at all, Mr. Martin says. His partner, the celebrity chef Thomas Keller, helped promote the brand and restaurants simply called and bought up all the meat available.

It is still too soon to tell how the spring harvest will shape up in the Midwest and on the East Coast, though many of the most widely available spring vegetables come from California. California grows nearly 75% of all the asparagus produced in the U.S., for instance. California asparagus began appearing in supermarkets this week. Though it is similar to the asparagus available off-season from Mexico and Peru, asparagus quality is largely a matter of how quickly it gets from the farm to the table, says San Francisco chef Melissa Perello of Frances restaurant, which can mean a local supply is superior.

Even without knowing how harvests will play out nationwide, some chefs say they feel confident enough to hold spring events that they canceled last year. Savoy in New York scrapped its annual shad feast last year, facing a 15% sales decline. This year, chef Peter Hoffman is planning a four-course dinner, priced around $95, that will feature shad, an East Coast fish with a brief spring season. He will serve shad with bacon, roasted in the restaurant’s fireplace, and a shad roe appetizer over whatever local greens look best, he says.

The recession has forced some farms to find more affordable ways to supply local produce. The Chef’s Garden, an Ohio farm that specializes in microgreens and specialty vegetables grown for restaurants, says in the first quarter of 2009 it had a 25% to 30% sales drop. To create more affordable products for its struggling restaurant clients, the farm began growing carrots that are 50% larger than its “baby” size, which incur high labor costs. The baby variety, depending on the color and variety, costs restaurants between $6 and $9 a pound. The new size, which wholesales for $3.75 to $4.50 a pound, was so successful that the farm began a similar program for lettuces. This doesn’t mean the death of that symbol of 1990s restaurant finery—the minuscule vegetable—because tiny vegetables are still for sale. But it indicates new thinking about how to sell restaurants premium vegetables that they can afford, says Chef’s Garden farmer Lee Jones.

James Holmes, chef and owner of Olivia in Austin, has found another way to cut costs. He buys much of the restaurant’s meats and vegetables from local farmers and ranchers. A year ago, he decided to convert the restaurant’s green space—which Mr. Holmes says was a municipal requirement when he developed the property in 2007—into a kitchen garden. The garden now pays for itself, Mr. Holmes says. “We just clipped 10 gallons worth of spinach and it is so good,” he says.

For all the emphasis on seasonal produce, not every diner prefers the first fruits of spring. Spring in many East Coast cities is heralded by the appearance of ramps, or wild leeks, on the menu. Ramps are usually the first wild food to be harvested by foragers out of the forest, followed by morels, fiddlehead ferns (small, unfurled edible ferns, whose green beans-meets-asparagus flavor is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition) and nettles. While ramps have become in recent years a way for restaurants to indicate they are hip to the local, seasonal trend, their strong, garlicky, raw-onion flavor can be a turnoff for some diners.

“I think way more people talk about them than willingly eat them,” says Andrea Reusing, chef and owner of Lantern in Chapel Hill, which features local ingredients in Asian preparations. “Ramps can be pretty pervasive and lingering.”

See Full Article Here

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1708 Peachtree Street NW
Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

404-892-4999

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Restaurant News – Atlanta Georgia

New Restaurant Reality Show “The Opener” Coming to Atlanta Georgia

In each episode of this exciting new one-hour TV series,
Restaurant Consultant David Adjey
does whatever it takes to help aspiring restaurateurs
get their restaurants open and running
successfully for the long haul.

We are looking for restaurants that plan to be open
within the next couple months.

The owners should be compelling characters
who would benefit from the advice of an industry expert.

Click Here For More Information about this Restaurant Reality Show

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
1708 Peachtree ST NW
Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

404-892-4999 – Office

Restaurants For Sale in Atlanta Georgia

From RestaurantOwner.com – March 30, 2010 ================================================================
Three Proven Controls That Make It Harder for Bartenders to Steal

In our article “Thirteen Ways to Prevent Theft Behind the Bar,” bar expert Robert Plotkin reveals three controls that are particularly effective at reducing theft of your most desirable asset, CASH.

1. Prohibit Bartenders From Checking-Out Their Cash at the End
of a Shift

In many operations, bartenders are required to reconcile their
cash drawers. This entails using the cash in the drawer to
compile the bar’s opening bank for the following shift, and to
itemize the remaining cash proceeds onto a deposit slip.

If the bartenders are stealing, the checkout process provides
them with an ideal opportunity to safely remove stolen funds
secretly deposited into the register’s cash drawer during the
course of their shift. Taking this responsibility away from the
employees, bartenders will be forced to either pull the money
out of the cash drawer during the shift or opt not to use the
register as a place for their stolen funds.

2. Strictly Enforce a ‘No Sale’ Policy

One of the more uncomplicated methods of theft involves a
bartender selling a drink and depositing the proceeds into the
register using the “no sale” feature. Unless someone is watching
the LCD (liquid crystal display), the act usually goes
unnoticed. Since the sale wasn’t rung into the register, the
bartender need only remove the stolen proceeds from the cash
drawer when safe to do so.

The best preventive measure against this type of theft is to
restrict the use of the “no sale” key. One technique to
deterring theft through use of the “no sale” key is to provide
the bartenders with an alternative source for making change. A
small, inexpensive container or even a cabinet drawer will
suffice.

By providing a separate source for making change behind the bar,
the bartenders will no longer have a legitimate reason for
accessing the cash drawer with the “no sale” key every time
someone needs change. This will make it slightly more
challenging to steal unrecorded sales and depositing the funds
in the cash drawer without entering any sales data.

3. Require Bartenders to Verify Cash Drawer Count

Bartenders should be required to verify the amount of money used
to comprise the bar register’s opening bank. This practice will
prevent the bartenders from claiming that their opening bank was
either over or under the prescribed dollar amount to explain a
cash shortage or overage in the register.

Periodically place an extra $10 bill in the bartender’s bank and
see if the person informs you of the cash overage. It is a good
way to verify if the bartender is counting his bank prior to the
shift, and measure the person’s degree of integrity.

If you make it easy for people to steal, guess what will happen?
THEY WILL STEAL. Use these controls to make it harder for people to steal and chance are good you’ll have a lot less theft.

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
1708 Peachtree ST NW
Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

Call Today for An Appointment
404-892-4999
Restaurant News Atlanta Georgia

www.AtlantaRex.com

How Do You Create a Community Restaurant?

A restaurant can be more than a place to eat & entertain. The atmosphere of where we eat is as important as to what we eat. A restaurant can be at the core of a community, when it places the emphasis on creating food as service. Out of the passion for cooking and sharing comes the deeper act of community service. If a restaurant entrepreneur wants more than just a dining establishment, a community restaurant can be easily created and nurtured.

Define you target audiences & determine the market. The restaurant has to have curb appeal & intrigue. Once inside, the food, the service, the decor & theme all have to come from one point of view that supports a community atmosphere.

Here are some suggestions for creating a community restaurant.

Cater to local needs:
• Customize menu to meet dietary needs: some gluten free items, some vegetarian items on menu, some dairy free items on menu, some items without nuts, particularly peanuts. Offer gluten-free/food-allergy conscious meals.
• Create a suggestion box to be used occasionally for feedback.
• Vary the menu with appeal to all age groups, including smaller portions, degrees of spicy foods, etc.
• Use local & organic produce, dairy, meats, & other food products. Feature local foods & products. Think localization when it comes to meal planning.
• Consider the needed services in the community such as:?catering, food to go, catering special events, quick meals, hosting special events
• Rallying the community: host monthly art shows on wall spaces, host: music events, open mike nights, poetry readings, book clubs, make the space a resource with a bulletin board, provide reading material such as newspapers, magazines etc.
• Create a large community table for people to share. This is great for singles & for people who don’t want to eat alone. It sparks conversations & fosters a sense of community.
• Give aways: Supply some recipes for trying at home, free samples. Provide interest on the table: small cards with inspirational sayings that customers can take away or purchase a set. (This can also be a great marketing tool.)
• Offer local discounts, frequent member cards, & prepaid monthly meal club discounts.
• Foster an atmosphere of involvement, consciousness & local support for community local & global issues.
• Celebrate holidays, seasons, festivals, special day & night of the week, ie: Sunday brunch with live music, Friday night with local music, mid-week night for groups.
• Invite local groups to use the space for their meetings & lunches.
• During local city events (such as film festivals, art festivals, seasonal events etc), sponsor “An evening with…” event.
• Decide which charitable activity is right for your restaurant & promote donation support by hosting events.
• Hold a “taste of…” event for which the local restaurant association or chamber of commerce organizes the foodservice community to provide a fun-filled day of food and entertainment to benefit charities.
• Design a customer service training for staff: Greet customers as they come in and as they leave. “Welcome to…”, “Thanks for coming in.. looking forward to your return.” Teach your services to pay attention to all customers, not just their own tables.
• Donate surplus food to a food bank. If you don’t have leftovers, considering creating some.
• Celebrate your local customers. Have a customer who has just published a book, landed a new job, or even moved to the area? Host an invite for pre dinner drinks & appetizers in a meet & greet event.

Repeat business comes from:
• good food, good value, & great service
• catering to customer needs
• personalized service
• knowing your customers names

What do you do to create community in your restaurant?

If you are interested in creating a community restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico,

visit www.AldeaLofts.com/restaurant

Atlanta Restaurant Exchange
1708 Peachtree ST NW
Suite 520
Atlanta Georgia 30309

Call Today for An Appointment
404-892-4999
Restaurants For Sale in Atlanta