 |
|
|
|
News in Review
Market Reports
Food Quiz
Industry Discussion
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
 |
|
Who owns your kitchen's recipes? Has your chef signed an employment contract?
By: Brandon O'Dell
A popular topic lately in a couple different restaurant discussion forums I participate in is the question of who owns the recipes your restaurant uses?
Let’s look at a couple possible scenarios that could affect your restaurant.
1. Your executive chef or kitchen manager quits. Maybe one or two members of the kitchen staff leave with her/him. Your chef keeps extensive recipes written down in a book they’ve had since long before they worked for you.
2. You fired your executive chef and there are no written recipes. Everything comes from the head of the executive chef or the cooks he/she trains.
3. Your chef leaves your restaurant for a bigger, better opportunity. It’s a benevolent departure. No animosity.
What happens next in any of these scenarios?
Do the recipes the chef has written down belong to the restaurant?
Does the restaurant get them when the chef leaves?
If there are no recipes, can the restaurant make the chef create them before the chef leaves so the restaurant can continue to produce the same food?
Are any of the cooks trained enough to recreate the recipes the chef used to make?
Is this cook even going to stay when the chef is gone?
No matter the answers to any of these questions, it is very important for the continued success of your restaurant that you are able to consistently produce the same quality of product, tasting the same as before, if you want to keep the loyal customers you have. If the food was horrible, maybe you want to change all the recipes, but you’ll still want to pay attention to the rest of this article to avoid potential pitfalls with the next chef.
All this begs the question, “ Can your restaurant survive the departure of your head chef or kitchen manager?”
In addition to helping you evaluate your current situation and the risk you already have if your head chef leaves, I’m also going to help you take the steps to lower your risk and remove the impending doom of losing your top chef.
What are the risks if my chef leaves?
If you are unfortunate enough to lose your executive chef, whether it be a termination, the chef quitting, or the chef moving on to a better opportunity, there are several potential problems they could leave you with and several considerations you may have never made.
Recipes can be copyrighted, but copyrighting doesn’t keep someone else from using the same formula or recreating the same food. It may only protect any unique methods or systems of creating the food. In effect, you may not be able to keep a chef...
Read More
|
|
"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality."
- Clifton Fadiman
|
|
|
 |
|
View updated pricing and information each week on the website for the following food-commodity markets:
|
Beef, Veal & Lamb |
View Detail |
The June 1st US cattle on feed inventory was .8% larger than a year ago. May cattle placements into feedlots were 23.4% larger than last year?s depressed level and the biggest for the date in three years. The July 1st near slaughter ready cattle inventory is estimated to be 10% smaller than 2009. Beef production is projected to remain below year ago levels this summer. Fourth of July Holiday demand is helping support the beef ribeye, trimmings and ground beef markets. Models suggest that additional ribeye and beef trimming price increases are likely in the coming weeks. Price USDA, FOB per pound.
|
|
Dairy |
View Detail |
Milk production during May in the US was 1.1% more than the previous year due to a 3% rise in milk per cow yields and a 1.8% smaller milk cow herd. Milk farmers added a net four thousand head to the herd during the month making it the largest since September of last year. There is plenty of cheese and milk available currently and although output for both should seasonally decline in the coming months we are getting less and less bullish on the markets. The cheese markets have moved higher but upside risk from here may only be modest. The butter market is firm. Prices per pound, except Class I Cream (hundred weight), from USDA.
|
|
Poultry |
View Detail |
The chicken markets are mixed. With the recent depreciation in chicken markets and modest rise in feed costs, spot chicken producer margins have fallen to their lowest levels in five months. Typically, the chicken breast markets move modestly upward in the coming weeks which could help chicken production margins. Usually, the boneless skinless chicken breast market rises about 5% during the next two weeks. Retailers are anticipated to feature more chicken than other proteins this summer which should help overall chicken demand. May retail chicken prices were down slightly from the prior month, on par with January of this year and 2.4% less than the previous year. Prices USDA, FOB per pound except eggs (dozen).
|
|
Seafood |
View Detail |
US Gulf of Mexico shrimp landings during May were 56% less than the previous year due in a large part to the oil spill. May Gulf shrimp landings in Louisiana were roughly 67% or nine million pounds lower than 2009. Still, the reduction in Gulf of Mexico shrimp output represents just a few percentage points of the overall shrimp supply in the US. The shrimp markets are relatively firm especially for larger sized product. Prices for fresh product, unless noted, per pound from Fisheries Market News.
|
|
Pork |
View Detail |
Pork output last week declined .7% and was 2% smaller than last year. Pork production is anticipated to remain below year ago levels during the next several months. Fourth of July Holiday demand for ribs is influencing rib prices upward. History suggests that the rib markets could top next week and then move lower. Last year the sparerib market declined 20% during the first three weeks of July. Retail pork prices have risen 5.7% since the beginning of the year and during May were their highest since December 2008. Prices USDA, FOB per pound.
|
|
Produce |
View Detail |
The west coast, in general, experienced an unseasonably cool May which has slowed crop development and supported various produce markets. Iceberg lettuce shipments did expand 5% last week but remained below a year ago. Warmer California weather may be needed to pressure the lettuce markets notably lower from here. Tomato supplies remain abundant as the principal harvest areas shift north in the east and west. Relatively engaging tomato prices could persist into July. Buyers could be delaying potato purchases. The Idaho potato markets may have peaked for 2010. Prices USDA FOB shipping point unless noted (terminal).
|
|
Oil and Grains |
View Detail |
The US has recently experienced its own share of weather challenges with rain in the north and heat in the south. The grain markets are mostly reacting modestly higher. Prices USDA, FOB.
|
|
Canned and Frozen Food |
View Detail |
Tomato Products, Canned - California canners and farmers continue to negotiate raw product cost contracts. The markets remain steady to weak. Prices per case (6/10) FOB, unless noted from ARA.
|
Processed Fruits and Vegetables - Cool weather in the Northwest could delay some of the processed vegetable harvests in the area. The processed vegetable markets are steady. Prices FOB per case from ARA.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
How Low Can You Go? Another Cheap Customer!
Community member The Deli Diva writes...
I know we all are faced with people squeezing the heads off their nickels these days, but sometimes you just gotta stop and say...gimme a break!
We've already come up with some great value type meals at our deli/sandwich shop but these three ladies today take the cake!angry.gif
Three customers:
1. Orders a cup of soup, an egg salad (our cheapest) sandwich and a canned soda
2. Orders a small Greek salad, an egg salad...
Read More
|
Unauthorized Coupons in coupon books
Community member Gridley writes...
We have a coupon out there for a buy one get one deal, and we can't find the contact info for this book! It keeps coming out each year, and we have no idea how to stop it. I have some of the coupons, but I haven't actually seen the book it comes in. It says The ZoneBook on the back. Does anyone know anything about this coupon or have contact information for them??
Several years ago we had a similar problem with a coupon book that would not take our ad out, even though...
Read More
|
Bussing odd wine glasses
Community member Reader writes...
I'm wondering if there's a better way to do this, or if the way it is being done is acceptable. For a certain wine we use an odd glass. We have two racks of these glasses. One rack is placed in the prep area after washing, the other rack slides into the lowest level slot at a service station. The clean glasses are stored open side down. Let's say you use two of these glasses at a particular table. When the table is finished, these odd glasses are returned, usually by the server,...
Read More
|
|
|
 |
|
Shake us down and gather us up
I grow on a drought- and frost- resistant, deciduous tree, a relative of the tree that produces turpentine. My tree can live for centuries in its natural state. Just shake us down and gather us up. I know you’ll be surprised to learn that I’m a fruit. Actually, I am an ovoid drupe, but unlike a peach, it’s my pit, not my hull, that you eat. Since ancient, biblical times, as early as 7,000 BC, my treasure has fueled many peoples. The Queen of Sheba is said to have hoarded us for royal consumption only. Today, as migratory nomads travel with herds across the northern parts of the Middle East, they depend on my kernels growing in the wild. Legend claims that good fortune comes to lovers on a moonlit night that hears my shell crack as it ripens in its tree. Iranians call my open shell “laughing.” This mature split is unique and allows us to be processed and marketed in our own “package.” Migratory nomads and the Queen, however, never found these kernels dressed in red -- dyed to cover harvesting stains and attract consumers. Historically an imported or rare domestic luxury in the States, families stained their fingers each holiday season to enjoy our chlorophyll-colored, expensive treats. Then, in the 1970s, California commercially produced us on a large scale in our natural-colored birthday suits, making us more available and a bit more reasonably priced. Whole, ground, chopped, with or without salt, delight in us as a snack; love us in ice cream and other desserts and confections. Our unique, delicate, almost sweet, taste is packed with potassium, protein, carbohydrates and dietary fiber.
What am I?
The Food Quiz has is brought to you by Culinary Specialty Produce, a specialty produce broker that scours the world for the very best in specialty produce. Contact them at 908-789-4700 or by sending an email to info@culinaryproduce.com.
|
|
| Subscription Information |
To Unsubscribe: Please click
here to unsubscribe from the Foodservice.com Express eNewsletter.
If you've tried to unsubscribe but are still receiving this newsletter, please email our customer support department.
|
|
Welcome to the Foodservice.com Express newsletter, a weekly publication that provides a comprehensive review of the foodservice industry each and every friday.
You are free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues in any way you see fit. Better yet...have them to subscribe!
If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out another newsletter we recently launched called the Daily Buzz, our daily delivery of restaurant news (that's actually interesting to read!).
Best Regards,
David Smania
Founder, Foodservice.com
|
Foodservice.com
7702 East Doubletree Ranch Rd.
Scottsdale, Arizona 85258
Ph: 623-433-9690
Copyright 1996-2010 Foodservice.com. All rights reserved.
|
| |
|
