If you discovered that one of your employees was receiving a monetary allowance or incentive for purchases made by your restaurant and without your knowledge, what would you think? You would probably be concerned and want to learn more about it.

If you have a prime vendor or fixed margin arrangement with a large broad line supplier, something similar to this may be happening without your knowledge. No, it's not your chef or manager who is receiving these allowances, it's your supplier. It has been going on for several years now and the practice is growing in the industry. Distributors use sanitized terms like "program money" and "sheltered income" for the practice and seldom discuss this income stream with their "end user partners" or their sales associates.

By Eric F. Nusbaum, PhD, CHA
On multiple occasions I have heard my associate Fred Smith praise service personnel who have "it". "It" is difficult to define, but "it" makes customers happy. One facet of "it" is what Fred refers to as 'table radar'. M*A*S*H viewers know that 'Radar' O'Reilly received his nickname because his 'radar' enabled him to know what was going to happen before anyone else did. With 'table radar' a server knows what the guests needs before the guest actually asks for it.

Are you spending too much time counting and calculating your monthly inventory? Are your numbers really accurate? HSG can help! HSG is now offering a simple and easy to use inventory module built right into our Eclipse program. Eclipse will provide you with easy to use inventory forms with items arranged in the order that you choose. Data entry is straightforward and your prices are automatically updated each time you place an order.

If you are an HSG member and would like a FREE trial of the new Eclipse Inventory feature, just give us a call.

Submitted By Readers Like You
We thought it would be fun to share some of the Restaurant Humor that people have sent to us over the years. Take a look. Everyone needs a laugh!