Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

Welcome to another insightful episode of the Waiting On Fries Podcast! 🍟 This week, we're diving deep into the heart of what makes a bar or restaurant truly stand out in today's competitive hospitality landscape. We explore the unique elements that attract patrons and keep them coming back for more. 🔍 Episode Highlights: The Power of Originality: Discover why replicating another establis...

When some people tell stories you ask others if they're true. James Zinkand is no exception to this as it's hard to believe anyone would be biking around the world multiple times from coast to coast, find himself stranded overseas without a Visa, living one adventure to the next. So how'd we land into creating a spirits brand for those that enjoy adventure? He's got to tell this one to you - and w...

We're here, and it's another chance to find ways to take advantage of the sporting events for sports bars. Justin runs through some of the arguments he had internally about how to gain further restaurant traction as well as what kind of promotions fit the business and establishment he's building. There's reasons certain advertising styles work in some locations and may fail in othe...

Welp. We discussed that aging and sports just doesn't work the same way one would think... Since Justin's all roughed up, but the restaurants certainly need to continue being worked on and managed - he's got a plan. We get into the thick of booking parties, looking at his Toast system and more. We should assume much computer work will be done over the next few months!

Consistently joking about the busiest time of Justin's restaurant not being Christmas Holiday area, and actually being Super Bowl Sunday - this is his Super Bowl. Justin runs through a few techniques he uses to get through the week leading up to the Super Bowl and how he handles people once their at the restaurant. Also, is it too hard to ask people to parent their children in restaurants? There's...

What's this stuff people are drinking? Kombucha? Is it healthy? Is it fizzy? Is it delicious? Who knows. We're speaking with Julz Enriquez today who started Feel Good Booch while working in plenty of amazing bars and restaurants. Juggling how to start a business is never an easy task, and a scary one when your income is derived from elsewhere. This is what also makes Julz drive and hustle harder a...

Have you always wanted to figure out how to scale your business to the next level? We're talking to a group of guys who weren't even really in the restaurant business prior that have managed to assemble strengths and "figure it out". Sitting with Carmelo, Nick, and Sebastian we learn that they all come from largely different roles and found themselves in the restaurant business together. Along wit...

The year end is upon your restaurant and bar. Did you already figure out your budget for next year? Justin takes us through what he's done to account for what he expects to be spending on for 2025 at Smokehouse, his BBQ restaurant. Filmed At: Smokehouse Tailgate Grill, New Rochelle, NY

It's great being able to get deep. Nick put his phone down for a bit and let his notorious hospitality and bar industry meme account run itself for an hour before a pop up he conducted in collaboration with Kabin NYC and Campari. This conversation covers so many different thoughts from making a conscious decision to adopt sobriety, how the business found itself as a meme page, cease and desist let...

It's the end of the year so we're talking balance sheets and what we're looking for to know our bars and restaurants are healthy, different ways of looking at the books, and what percentage of growth we want to see. We're also looking at what point it's too late to keep booking holiday parties. Would you agree that most companies have already booked their parties for the end of year?

What we're discussing: PR Firm Functions Event Planning Lead Generating Taking without Giving Potential to do good

What we're talking about? A dress code!? Not at this steakhouse. The new generaation cares far more about being comfortable than dressing to the nines. Paying attention to detail about a belief system we care about. It says a lot about an owner that genuinely cares. Leaving guests satisfied even when they didn't have a great experience. SBA Loans and interest rates, applying for credit on your bus...

How do we talk about more business topics? #shiftbeers is a covnersation that has a ton of different gems about current topics happening in our Bar and Restaurant ownership journey. What are we talking about today? • Planning the year's events through calendar to prepare for correctly. • Different levels and types of events: Natural Holiday's, Municipality Created, Personal Events. • When do you h...

This episode features Baked After Midnight's Gianna Khader (https://www.bakedaftermidnight.com), a cookie company that uses high end ingredients and is gaining ground in bars & restaurants. Gianna literally quit her job to pursue making cookies. She was always baking, literally for years - but doing it after midnight was therapeutic as no one is often around late night to bother. We discuss things...

This episode features Rust & Gold ( https://www.therustandgold.com/) , a Huntington Long Island bar and restaurant that allows families to gather and fun to happen late night. Frank came from beginnings in the music industry, but decided that the A plan wasn't going to be the one he retired on. Along with a few friends Rust & Gold opened 7 years ago. The pandemic also wound up accelerating...

We get to the bottom of Justin's hatred for Uber Eats and why it's still a necessary evil in the restaurant space. They have near zero risk - and the restaurant always deals with the blame. Florida has also taken on more hurricanes than it prefers. https://instagram.com/waitingonfriespodcast

It wasn't always that Mark Taxiera was focused on opening a space outside of the city. As a guy who grew up in Ossining (a town north of New York City along the Hudson River) Mark had sights on working in the big city. After doing notable stints at Beppe & The Russian Tea Room, his wife Brianne and him decided to open up a beautiful Italian space in another outside of New York City town, Mamar...

What do we care about? Providing gems and conversations for hospitality professionals everywhere to add to your bottom line. Running a business is hard, running a restaurant is worse. We talk to restaurateurs all over to discover their stories while pulling out the tricks they've learned along the way. It's no secret that AI is the hottest clickbait conversation across all sectors at the moment. T...

Have you seen Drink Masters yet? The show where bartenders from around the nation get to compete for the title of Ultimate Drink Master? Judged by Julie Reiner, Frankie Solarik, Tone Bell - over the course of 10 episodes the contestants get to compete showcasing techniques and skills learned over the course of their real world tenures. LPDRINKS.org | FOCUSONHEALTH.org Thinking about switching over...

Brenton Land is an owner/operator that doesn't believe in Defeat. His little bar, The VIG Bar is located in the neighborhood of Nolita in NYC... and although it's not packed with square footage - it's packed with people every night. In a time where bars take themselves a little too seriously, VIG bar pokes fun at trends and makes sure that there is plenty of fun to be had. Drop our name and receiv...

Kris Baljak is the Beverage Director for a decently large restaurant group. We get to speak about hardships of managing such a large scale operation and finding key players in the space to help make his job a little easier. Kris reflects upon some of the new things we are seeing in the hospitality space with an all new work force that doesn't necessarily have years of training in dealing with the...

There's always someone in your family that returns from the restroom just to comment on the sinks and the tiles. You can't escape the fact that they are often times one of the most under-looked components to a restaurants. Let's talk bathrooms! // $500 Back when you make the switch to Toast: TOAST LINK   - http://refer.toasttab.com/referred-by/JustinZeytoonian/ // Contact us directly to get set up...

Salt Bae dodges a lawsuit from Nusr-Et staff unhappy with how tips are distributed, but that leads us to talk a little bit more about the ways tip share gets distributed. There's a few different business models out there and it's all about what works for you. // $500 Back when you make the switch to Toast: TOAST LINK   - http://refer.toasttab.com/referred-by/JustinZeytoonian/ // Contact us directl...

Modeled after how Justin carries out his training process at Smokehouse, let's take a look at some of the major functions of trainings and how some of these streamlined processes may aid in consistency for your own execution. // $500 Back when you make the switch to Toast: TOAST LINK   - http://refer.toasttab.com/referred-by/JustinZeytoonian/ // Contact us directly to get set up with Atmosphere TV...

Bars and Restaurants are having trouble getting staff, here's where we find people!