Many times, it can be easy to overlook this part of your menu – you put the pre-packaged Folger’s in the brewer, pour in some water, press a button, and voila – your customers get their daily dose. But what makes some people go to Starbuck’s and spend maybe twice as much to get their coffee over yours? It’s about time you make your coffee so good it becomes your customers’ favorite morning ritual.

But how?

Before we can talk about how to make it better, we should first discuss the basics of how it’s made. The first thing to note is that the coffee “bean” isn’t really a bean at all – it’s actually a roasted seed from the coffee plant. The seed is picked when it is inside the coffee plant’s cherry. To add to the confusion, the “cherry” isn’t a cherry at all, but a drupe – a more generalized description of a fleshy fruit with a pit. We’re not botanists, so from here on out we’ll simply refer to it by the misnomer we all know and love – “coffee bean.”

There’s literally hundreds of species of coffee plants, each with it’s own flavor. The plants take four or five years to mature, and then will produce a harvest for fifty or sixty years thereafter. Once the plant is grown, and once the 9 month ripening period is over, the fruit from the coffee plant is picked – usually by hand. Once picked, they are dried, and the outer layer is separated from the seed. The coffee is shipped unroasted – this is known as green coffee.

As a restaurant owner, all of this matters in regards to how the coffee you serve your customers tastes. Because of differences in soils and water cycles, coffees from different regions taste different: the Americas provide a crisp taste, the African coffees are often more acidic with a lingering aftertaste, and Indonesian coffee tends to be bolder. For mornings, American coffees are a crowd-pleaser – strong enough to wake you up, but not so strong that it’s considered a dessert coffee.

Once the coffee has been picked, stripped, and shipped, it needs to be roasted. Roasting is an art and a science, with the temperature and length of time changing depending on what type of result is desired – stronger coffee requires a darker roast and longer heating time, lighter coffees require a lighter roast and shorter heating time. After roasting, the beans take on the familiar dark color, and the roasting brings out the natural flavor so it can be transferred during the coffee making process.

Restaurants generally serve a medium roast coffee in the mornings, splitting the difference for patrons. To stand out from the crowd, it may be a good idea to offer both a dark and a light roast, or to offer a medium roast all the time (a “house” coffee) and a different specialty coffee or roast every day or week.

Once roasted, coffee is ready for grinding. Many restaurants, perhaps yours included, leave this to the experts, and buy coffee in already-ground form. Once you expose ground coffee to air, it starts losing it’s flavor, leaving you with blander coffee later in the week than at the beginning. Some coffee connoisseurs turn their nose even at the least offensive pre-ground option, which is vaccuum-sealed single-serving packages. Even though no air can reach the contents, and they don’t lose their flavor over time, there still may be a legitimate reason for this abhorrence.

When you grind your own coffee, the dust that is created doesn’t stay in the grinder; it floats throughout your establishment, creating a distinct and delicious smell – one that is oft-loved even by non-coffee drinkers. This alone may be a good reason to grind your own coffee. Besides this, however, fresh-ground coffee does just taste better, and you have more control over how it is ground. There are probably entire books devoted to how to make the daily grind, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just note that grinds go from coarse to fine. Coarsely ground coffee is used for specialty brewers like the French press or even more exotic Toddy cold-brew method. Finely ground coffee is used for espressos and other specialty brewers like the AeroPress. Since you are more than likely using a conventional drip-coffee brewer, a medium grind works best.

So now that you have your coffee ground, just throw it in the coffee maker with a filter and some water, and you’re good to go, right? Almost.

First, if you still use paper filters, it may be time to make the switch to a non-disposable filter, usually made out of fine metal or plastic mesh. Paper filters absorb coffee oils, removing some taste from the final result. Not that much, mind you, but if you are looking to serve your customers the best, it’s something to consider. Also, you’ll be cutting down on costs in the long run, as well as keeping filters out of the landfill.

Secondly, since black coffee consists of 99% water (shocking, I know), it’s important to know what’s going into it. The difference between filtered water and regular water is night and day, so you can imagine what happens to the coffee when you put hard water that smells like eggs in your brewer – not good. So, get a water filter; if you are a low-volume coffee-serving operation, Brita will work, for larger volumes, a dedicated in-line water filter will be best. Trust me, your customers will thank you.

That about covers the basics. Feel free to send us a Tweet if you liked this article or learned something from it, and if you want to purchase a coffee machine from us, visit www.coffeemakerworld.com. A new coffee machine, with the aforementioned tips, may just be the ticket to getting a boost in your early-morning traffic.

Sure, your kitchen equipment can handle the day-to-day tasks of a restaurant and the rigors of a fast paced food service operation, but can it handle a true torture test? What do you do with a piece of equipment that simply won’t perform or falls short of your expectations?

Here at Restaurant Equipment World, we pride ourselves on offering the best quality equipment at he lowest possible prices. It sounds a little sales-y, but its absolutely true. We take that same mentality and apply it to the hundreds of pieces of used and consignment restaurant equipment that we currently carry, holding each piece up to the highest of standards for quality, performance, durability, and reliability.

So what exactly happens when we find out that a used piece of equipment doesn’t measure up? Click on the video above and find out for yourself.

We take restaurant equipment sales seriously. Very seriously.

For more information on our standards of quality, email us or check out our website.

Submit your own ideas by sending us a tweet (@REWonline). We’re always looking for cool new ways to punish sub-par equipment.

I finally got my hands on an Orange Coke at a Freestyle machine.

It was a fizzation of flavorful bursts of orange followed by the familiar syrupy sensation of carbonated (artificially flavored) kola nut juice sliding down my esophagus.

However, the rest of the line-up that I attempted before succumbing to uncontrollable fits of burping consisted of beverages that required, shall we say, acquired tastes. Seagram’s Lime Seltzer was a flavor that, while not soon forgotten, I wished it were. Soda water has never been a favorite of mine, but with the added lime flavor, it’s bitterness only grew. To each their own, I suppose.

As for Fanta Lime, with the not-soon-forgotten Segram’s deeply ingrained in my mind, the lime flavor was only a painful reminder. Perhaps on another day, after full amnesia, will I be able to objectively describe it. After soothing my distressed palette with a few ounces of Orange Coke, I went back to the single-serve machine for more. They were out of Minute Maid lemonade, which I assumed would go well with several flavorful additives, so that was out of the question.

In lieu of that, I gave Vanilla Barq’s Root Beer a try. I was pleasantly surprised; the vanilla gave a soft edge to the already smooth root beer, this combination completely earns the title “soft drink.” This, while not quite as enticing as the Orange Coke, certainly should be on store’s shelves.

All in all, it was a liquid adventure that I will want to repeat. After all, I have about 120 more flavors to go. Maybe Orange Coke is only a sliver of taste compared to another caffeinated corn-syrup concoction within.

The world is moving at a fast pace,

and the restaurant industry is changing right along with it. Nearly ever new piece of major equipment sold has a computer chip in it somewhere, for starters. This has led to better regulated temperatures and cooking times; now delicate food offerings can be offered at a better consistency.

This trend isn’t regulated to just food, either. Coca-Cola has been steadily marketing it’s Freestyle Coca-Cola machines, and are soon going to launch a nation-wide campaign centered around the new-ish device. For those not in the loop, the new machine can crank out 125 unique drinks out of a single spout, thanks to ditching the traditional bag-in-a-box design, adding RDIF tags, and an innovative touch-screen. In fact, Coca-Cola recently added 19 drinks to the existing 106-drink lineup in anticipation of their 125th Anniversary. So, did a serviceman come out and update the machines? Did they add new syrups? Nope, it was all done in an automatic software update via the internet. It’s been touted as the next-generation soda machine, doing to traditional soda fountains what soda fountains did to soda jerks.

Watch this robot use a Free-Style dispenser

So, there’s a lot of hype, but is it really that big of a deal? In early August, Firehouse Subs, the fast-growing chain, announced plans to implement these new Coca-Cola Freestyle soda machines in every last one of their stores. That’s a pretty big investment. As a side note, as Coca-Cola controls something like 60% of the soda market, they probably have enough money to pull off some hefty customer satisfaction surveys. But then again, they also thought New Coke was a good idea. And yet again, they probably learned from that mistake.

What does this all mean? Is there truly anything special about this cacophony of carbonated concoctions?

Let me find that out for you. I just noticed that one of these Pininfarina-designed beasts (yes, really, the company best-known for it’s Ferrari designs, including the Daytona, F40, and 599 GTB) has been installed nearby, and I’ll be sure to report back when I try it. Peach Fanta is first on my list, followed by Orange Coke.

Obviously, this machine is exclusive to Coca-Cola, and Restaurant Equipment World does not sell it. Although we never enjoy watching your business go elsewhere, you can contact your local Coca-Cola representative about getting one for your establishment. With that being said, the Scotsman Prodigy C0322 and C0522 ice machines are definitely sold by us, and they are completely compatible with the new Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. So if you happen to get one, remember who let you know about it.

For reaching yet another lofty sales goal,

While all pieces displayed talent and creativity, the REW staff staged a small competition for best artist in the office. Each piece was closely scrutinized by each member of the REW team as they voted for their favorite.

And The Winner Is…

First place winner Kevin B. was awarded a gift card to Mellow Mushroom for his multi-colored Dragon. Honorable mentions go to Yoly C. and Telma D. for their 2nd and 3rd place finishes.

Thanks to REW’s Patty Nuzzo and the staff of All Fired Up for organizing the event!

It may be the most difficult part of the foodservice game, and the ways to make it happen are rapidly changing. While word-of-mouth is still the reigning champion in promoting your business, the forms that it comes in varies greatly. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Blogger, and many others are encroaching on the physical person-to-person discussion of where to eat. The greatest benefit of these new digital communications is that you can often drop in on the conversation.

If you have great food, you’re already in a prime position to tap into this discussion and further promote your business – chances are, plenty of people are talking about you already. The digitized world is big, though, and it might be hard to know where to start. Let’s break it down by service, arranged by how important we think they are to your foodservice operation.

1. Twitter

Twitter is a premier tool to engage with your audiences, and with good reason. With instant responses that can spread through the Twittersphere, your name can be broadcast loud and clear through the internet. It goes without saying that you need to be short and to the point, but being clever and current doesn’t hurt, either. To get people to follow you, you need to follow them first; if they don’t follow back within a few days, unfollow them and try somebody else. A good goal is to have slightly more followers than people you follow, but it takes some work to get there.
It’s easy to get started, just visit Twitter and you just need to provide a name, email, and password.

2. Facebook

The key here is contests and engagement. If you offer a free appetizer coupon for a limited time to people who “like” your page, you’re going to be in for a treat yourself. Ruby Tuesday offered 100,000 free burgers by liking their Facebook page and, as of today, they have over 500,000 followers. That’s a lot of exposure, and even if every single free burger was given away, there’s still money to be made – people tend to bring their friends and will certainly buy some appetizers, sides, and drinks. Make sure you are visiting those who “like” your page and thank them personally. Do this until the volume of likes far exceeds your capacity to personally thank each Facebook friend, and you’re well on your way to creating a viral effect.
Starting a Facebook page is simple. Go to Facebook’s Create A Page portion of their site, choose Local Business or Place, and it’s easy as pie from there on out.

3. YouTube

This is probably the most rewarding outlet in social media; since videos generally have a higher production value compared to the snippets of conversation within other media outlets, they tend to get more attention. Add some behind-the-scenes videos, recipes, or footage from special events. You don’t even need to invest in much; just a Flip camera or similar will do fine, and free editing software such as Windows Movie Maker will do for most operations. If you have the budget, the better your videos are, the more attention they seem to accumulate. Keep adding videos every once in a while to keep your channel fresh and leverage your other social media outlets to drive views and interest.
Signing up is simple: visit YouTube, and you can either sign in with an existing Google account, or just give an email, username, and password and you’re in.

4. Google+

The new kid on the block is quickly becoming the gorilla in the room. Since, as of right now, Google+ is an invite-only platform, and they don’t have any tools for business, you’re best hope is to use your operation’s Google account to engage users as an unbranded “friend,” and hope that they add you to some well-populated circles. The flip-side of the Google+ coin is the user-generated promotion of your site through what Google calls their “+1 Button.” Similar to Facebook’s “like” button, it generates interest and puts your restaurant’s site nearer to the top of the list when people search for places to eat on Google.
Signing up for Google+ is as easy as finding someone who will email you an invite. To do this, appeal to friends, family, and customer’s to see if any of them have invites. To add the +1 button to you’re website, go to Google’s site to get the code. If you’re still new to site development and coding, have your website’s team do it for you, or your neighbor’s kid.

5. LinkedIn

Often viewed as a site to boost your resume, LinkedIn actually has useful tools to keep you connected with colleagues and other business owners. If you’re in the foodservice industry, you know there is plenty of healthy competition, but plenty of friendships as well. As you foster these relationships, you may find strength in numbers.
Visit Linked In and put in your first and last name, your email, and a password and you’re well on your way.

6. Your Own Site

This is an oft-overlooked tool in your arsenal. The most important part reason for having your own site is that you ultimately determine the content and how it is formatted. Put up your menu, daily deals, and push your Facebook and Twitter. Just having a website adds legitimacy to your business and makes customer’s who are looking to try something new visit you in-person; however, having a well-designed and often-updated website can really sway a customer’s decision to choose you over the competition.
You can make your own site, even if you are not a web guru. If you visit a hosting platform such as GoDaddy, you can buy a domain, get hosting, and design a basic site all in one day. If you don’t have the time to make your own site, there are plenty of web design companies who will take care of all the nerdy tech stuff for you. Do a search to find reputable ones in your area.

7. Groupon

Groupon offers daily deals to a rich database of consumers; they might offer a coupon for $30 worth of product at your establishment for as little as $10. That $10 profit is then split between your business and Groupon. It’s much pricier than many of the other social media tools, but the turnout is hard to beat. Just make sure you’re ready for the rush, and you can financially support such a loss-leader. The Groupon folks will push you to drive your prices down to nearly nothing, so go into negotiations with a set percentage off that you are willing to settle for. Also, be honest about your chances that this will result in repeat business – will folks come back for more after the initial coupons are used?
Visit Groupon Works for more information about how it works, and then go to the Get Featured section of Groupon’s site to apply as a business. The bar to get featured is actually pretty high, you’ll need to provide information about your business such as your reviews on Yelp! and City Search (if any).

8. Business Review Sites

We decided to lump these all together. This includes City Search and Merchant Circle, among others. Usually, these sites will allow users to add business themselves, so chances are, you’re already on there. Job well done, right? Not quite. Often, you will want to provide additional information that reviewers have not added yet – your menu, average price of food, business hours, additional pictures. The best part about these sites are that people on them are generally genuinely looking for a place to eat; it’s free advertising! The downside is that even a few negative reviews can affect your restaurant’s business. Often, you are able to respond to customer complaints on these sites, so it is good form to professionally apologize for any inconveniences caused by your establishment and offer for them to try you again (and you may entice them with a free drink or similar). For every customer that puts the effort into adding a review, there are often hundreds who are just looking – it’s important to keep up appearances for those potential customers.
As noted before, you are probably already listed. Visit Google Places, Yelp!, Yahoo, Urban Spoon, and the others to make sure you are listed and reviewed well.

9. Blogging

Though we nearly ironically made a blog post about this in the past, it’s important enough of a point to be made again. If you feel as though you have the time and the content to update a blog on daily basis, you need to start one. If you have your own website (and you should), WordPress offers an easy way to start blogging once it’s installed. In all reality, it’s the only way to go as far as blogging is concerned. It’s free, updated constantly to keep pace with current technology, it’s simple to use, and versatile.
Just visit WordPress’s site and check out their Famous Five Minute install. If you have any questions, visit our past blog about the subject for more info.

10. Email

Email may be on the back burner in the minds of social media gurus, but it is still a force to be reckoned with. Nearly everyone with access to the internet has an email account. Even if all of the other ways of contacting your customers over the internet fail, if you have an in-store sign asking customer’s to sign up for your email marketing campaign in exchange for a free dessert, you are sure to pick up some of the less technically savvy customers you miss with your other online marketing campaigns.
While you can run an email campaign all by yourself, it can become tiresome coming up with new ideas and adhering to good formatting rules. Companies like Constant Contact will help lighten the load for campaigns such as these, for a small monthly fee.

It looks like you have some homework to do! Keeping up on all of these communication outlets can prove time consuming, but if you want to improve foot traffic, they can be a boon to your restaurant business.

Not sure if that’s your restaurant…or some other guy who has the same fries.

Everybody’s got their own idea about who makes the perfect french fry, and they often subscribe to one large chain or another when arguing about it. If you run into anybody who doesn’t have an opinion about how they prefer their fried potato slices, start running the other way. They are not human.

Fries are a staple for many restaurants, and you currently have them on your menu, it may be a good idea to try to encroach on the mega-chains ground when your customers start arguing with their friends about the subtleties of sea salt and crispiness. Maybe you already make world-renowned fries, and if that’s the case, feel free to stop reading. However, if you are just slicing up potatoes, throwing ‘em in the frier, and tossing salt on them, or if you are buying frozen bags of them from a supplier, we think there are better options.

First of all, if you get frozen fries from a supplier, you are on the right track. As we tweeted earlier, this guy knows the secret of the perfect fry – the freezer. Breaking down the internal structure of the fry reduces the starchiness and creates a soft-n’-steamy interior for your customer’s enjoyment. However, getting those supplier fries means that customer’s may have had your fries a thousand times before at any number of surrounding restaurants. The more original, delicious cuisine you have, the more chance that a customer will remember you next time for dinner. You’re goal is this: the next time an argument about fries comes up (as they often do), you want your customer to be an ambassador for your establishment.

While there are many recipes online that inform you of the perfect fry, you’ll really have to experiment on your own to find some that compliment your existing menu and speak to your customer’s palate. Don’t be too shy, either. While steak with steak fries may be a perennial favorite, you could always try heavily salted string fries instead, or as an addition to your existing menu. You may be surprised at the number of customers who prefer one over the other, and in addition, you can bet there will be a conversation about it at the table if both are ordered.

However, the buck doesn’t stop at the size of the fry or amount of salt. Seasonings, such as chili powder or dry ranch, can liven up a menu. If you aren’t sure of which fry your customer’s enjoy the most, offer a fry-trio appetizer for a limited time. Plate three of your favorite variations as a single appetizer, then judge customer reactions and keep track of which variations are left on the plate after the meal. As long as all three are sufficiently tasty (so you don’t get any nasty remarks about the fries that don’t pull their weight), and sufficiently varied (so they don’t confuse which fry is which), this is a great way to give your customer’s the ultimate decision in what lands on your long-term menu.

Don’t let your fries languish to the side; make them just one more reason customer’s want to choose you for lunch or dinner.

When it comes to being a restauranteur, your recipes are your life. They are trade secrets, sometimes handed down from generation to generation, and there are miles of non-disclosure agreements for chefs and bakers to further prove the point. Each time you use great-Grandma’s apple pie secret recipe, you probably get a bit of nostalgia and reminisce about simpler times, and you share this history and familiality whenever you hand a piece to a customer.

Yes, those trade secrets that customers come to you for are invaluable. Yet, Grandma was not infallible; there can always be improvements. Maybe the age-old recipes have been put on a pedestal, and thought to be made perfect by the passage of time, and maybe you have already tried to improve on them with little success – a little more this and a little less that just made it “not taste the same.” That doesn’t mean that those old recipes are the be-all and end-all of culinary perfection.

So why not try to up your game? If your reading this blog, chances are you’ve been into social media for a little while. One of the best ways to use the social sphere to your advantage is crowd sourcing. One example that uses this to drive traffic to your restaurant, increase brand identity, and prove yourself that “fun, hip company everybody’s talking about” is offering an “Improve-Our-Recipe” contest, with the winner getting the new recipe named after them or some other significant prize. You could give him or her free food for a year, or a hefty check, but sometimes the best prizes are those that are free to you and invaluable to the world – and putting a customer’s name in lights is an excellent motivator.

So how would you judge such a contest? Again, crowd-sourcing. Have your customers post their recipes on Facebook or add them to YouTube, then let the people vote on which creative interpretation of your recipe they prefer. If you still feel a little nauseous at the thought of posting your recipe for the world to see and modify, you can always just ask customers to replicate a version of it on their own, without revealing the intricacies of great-Grandma’s family secret.

In the end, you will be left with your original recipe, a much-loved new version, and gained interest in both. Run the two side-by-side, or offer one for a limited time. No matter how you cut the new-and-improved pie, it’s a win-win situation.

That isn’t to say that new counter-tops don’t have any advantages. If you run a buffet, modernizing your establishment can bring added business by word-of-mouth, especially if you go with a much different or ultra-contemporary design. Incorporating round warmers, frost tops, heated wells, and ice cream freezers may also allow you to expand your current offerings, as well. Even if the design of the counter is classic, the counter material can really make a difference in how your food is perceived; for example, granite or stainless steel counter-tops can add some class. Either way, a new counter offers the ultimate in heated well flexibility – at a cost.

However, if your current counter design works for you, there are more (and often less expensive) options. Hatco’s heated wells, for example, can fill nearly any hole left behind by your old units. Even the controls are designed to more-easily replace the broken equipments’. In addition, if your counter is made of flammable materials (wood covered in faux granite, for example), Hatco offers optional mounting kits that make your operation fire-safe and compatible with most local codes.

If the holes from your old unit or units are extraordinarily oddly sized, it isn’t the end of the world for your old counter. Hiring a professional to widen those counter-top’s holes to accommodate traditionally-sized heated wells may be your best option, especially if you are working with expensive-to-replace granite. If the holes are already too big, talk to a professional carpenter or handy-man to see what your options are. If your counter-top is laminate-covered, depending on local codes, they may be able to add supports and material to make the hole smaller and then re-laminate your counter-top. If it is granite or a synthetic substitute, it may be possible to add a step-up ring that could incorporate a smaller warmer yet be supported by the surrounding counter-top. Again, it is best to consult with a professional who can assess your unique needs.

The take-away lesson is this: broken built-in equipment doesn’t necessarily mean unusable counter-tops. Check out all of your options before spending too much!

Now that I’m a believer, I want to experience everything that Orlando Foodtrucks have to offer- one meal at a time. My experience last week with the Korean BBQ Taco Box (@koreanbbq_2011) was amazing, but I’ve decided to venture out a little bit further (quite literally a block further up University Blvd.) and try some other trucks. Before leaving for lunch last Wednesday, I checked twitter and found that The Crooked Spoon (@TheCrookedSpn) and Mobile Deli (@ilovemobiledeli)were going to be serving at the Citgo on the corner of University Blvd and Metric in the Fullsail area. Perfect. Everything I’ve seen on line so far has given these two trucks nothing but stellar reviews. They were right.

After looking at some pics on The Crooked Spoon’s Facebook page, I was dead set on trying their Mac & Cheese while my coworker Jared wanted a Bistro Ham sandwich. Oh, man were they good. I’m not a food critic or foodie by any means- I don’t even play one on TV- but this was some of the best Macaroni and Cheese I have ever had. You definitely need it in your life.

The Snaps:

Though the food is amazing…

The coolest thing about The Crooked Spoon is how friendly they are and their understanding of social networking. The foodservice industry is plagued with restaurants and manufacturers that just don’t get it when it comes to Facebook or Twitter. I guess that’s why I’ve taken such a liking to the food truck movement; it appreciates and embraces the relationships that social media can build for small businesses. I was thoroughly impressed with The Crooked Spoon when they were willing to just hang out and talk social media/ SMM shop with me while my order was prepared. Like I said before, the food was amazing- but it was their candor and willingness to connect (even in person) that went a long way with me.

Check out The Crooked Spoon on Twitter (@TheCrookedSpn)and get them on Facebook to connect. If you’re looking for their next location or evening foodpod, their twitter is probably your best bet. You won’t be disappointed.

If you own or operate a food truck in Orlando and you’re reading this, get with me on twitter (@REWonline). In the very near future, I would love to come out and talk to you about your food truck operation. We can make a quick video and upload it to youtube, or I can write up an article about your food/story for our blog. No sales pitches, I promise.