On average, diners only look at a menu for 109 seconds, according to a Gallup poll cited in a Canva article on menu design hacks. Let that sink in. That’s about as long as it takes to pump a full tank of gas.

Since time is of the essence, it’s important that you thoughtfully consider the layout, standard menu size, dish titles, etc. After all, your menu is your biggest and most important sales pitch.

It’s a persuasive and useful tool that, if designed and built appropriately, will increase sales and keep your restaurant fully booked each day.

Let’s examine the foundations of restaurant menu design and how you can leverage a seemingly simple list of dishes and beers to boost your bottom line.

Since water is the largest component of brewing beer, it’s important to understand the chemistry behind it. And what you can do, as a brewer, to make sure it’s the best grade possible.

According to Precision Fermentation’s report called “Water Chemistry for Brewers,” “by understanding the way water chemistry impacts the sensory quality of finished beer, and by analyzing fermentation and other data, brewers can control sensory aspects of their brews like never before.”

By applying water chemistry to measure the chemical characteristics of various water types, you’ll be able to adjust the water you use to elevate a good beer to a great beer.

So slip into your lab coat and best brewing boots! We’re giving you a breakdown of the chemistry of water, how minerals/ions build your beer, as well as how to determine your ideal water type for your next brew.

Fact: Clean and sanitized equipment produces better beer. Hygiene and sanitation are so essential to a brewery’s success that a majority of brewers simply spend the first several years of their careers studying how to clean the brewery, according to Craft Brewing Business.

In fact, there’s a common belief in the industry that brewing is ninety percent cleaning and ten percent actually brewing.

Cleanliness and sanitation are so important that the U.S. FDA requires all breweries to maintain an active GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) program.

For instance, GMP standards require that breweries sanitize all their equipment, including hydrometers, tanks, hoses, kegs, drains, and floors every day.

Since proper cleaning and sanitizing processes help produce the best beer possible, let’s be sure that your brewery understands the six best practices we’ve outlined below.

Afterall, everyone is happier with better beer!

We recently put together a guide for all of the hops grown in America and another for those found in the Southern Hemisphere. But while hops in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are fairly new, we can’t forget about noble hops, classic European varieties that have been cultivated for hundreds of years.

Found mostly in Germany and the Czech Republic, the four noble hop varieties—Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, Tettnanger (sometimes referred to as Tettnang), Spalt (sometimes called Spalter), and Saaz—dominated hop production around the world for many years.

In fact, Germany held the record for the largest amount of hop acreage in the world, only overtaken by the United States in 2015, according to The Hop Growers of America 2021 Statistical Report. In 2021, the U.S. harvested the largest hop acreage at a little over 61k acres, followed by Germany at 51k, and the Czech Republic at 12.2k.

Even though “sexier” New World varieties such as Citra, Cascade, and even Nectaron have become extremely popular in the last decade or so, it’s important to remember that Old World noble hops are kind of considered hop royalty for a reason.

These are hops with history. Long heralded for their quality and consistency, noble hops can be found in some of the most iconic, classic beers.

As pillars of the beer industry, noble hops deserve a deeper dive. Let’s look at what makes noble hops unique and the characteristics of the four different varieties.

Service industry employees like bartenders, wait staff, food runners, and bussers are the backbone of the service industry and your business. Your servers work hard every day to bring customers’ food and drinks to the right table (not to mention ensuring special birthday dinners go off without a hitch). And your bartenders work tirelessly to keep the drinks flowing for your patrons.

When it comes to taking care of your bartenders and servers, there are specific laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Internal Revenue Code that employers in the hospitality industry must follow. Accordingly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides a Fact Sheet to help business owners understand the differences between tips and service charges, especially for tax reporting purposes.

In this article, we’ll use that Fact Sheet to help navigate the tricky territory between tips and service charges while showing you how to stay in compliance with reporting each to the IRS.

If you own a bar or brewery, you know that profit margins are razor thin. With that in mind, attracting folks into your space every night becomes very important. While you may not need a plan for increasing foot traffic on your busy days of the week (probably Friday and Saturday), strategizing for those slow weeknights is crucial.

So here’s a question for you: What is one tried and true event to get butts in seats during the week? Answer: trivia night.

King Trivia, a trivia company in operation since 2004, reports that during their trivia nights 98% of tables are filled on average at each venue.

Now, these are just one company’s statistics, but if you haven’t already it seems valuable to at least test out a trivia night at your venue to see if it increases foot traffic and your weeknight profits. But what exactly goes into running a profitable trivia night?

You need to consider everything from buying the right equipment to potentially hiring a host and marketing. Let’s consider all the economics behind hosting a trivia night to see how you can maximize your event.

If you’re a restaurant or bar owner, your livelihood depends on customers year round.

Which is why, when it comes to federal holidays such as July Fourth or Labor Day, as a business owner you have an important decision to make: Stay open or close your doors for the day.

On the first Monday in September, restaurants and bars are often greeted by an influx of patrons ready to spend money on some well-deserved fun during a long weekend.

Staying open on that Monday could provide potential opportunities to boost your bottom line.

On the other hand, consider your employees. Should restaurant owners and staff also have the day off? Will that help with your team morale?

When it comes to Labor Day, a restaurant, bar, or brewery owner should weigh the pros to both staying open and closing for the day.

Luckily, we’ve started a list for you. And if you do choose to welcome guests, we’ve laid out a few ideas to set you apart from the pack.

As a restaurateur, it takes considerable and thoughtful effort to build not just an appetizing menu, but also one that’s profitable.

With the cost of ingredients continuing to rise, business owners are seeking out more creative and strategic approaches to market their menu to patrons in high volume. But how to lure them in?

Like the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

While it’s common for menus to exclude pictures of the food, Instagram is a perfect platform to show off all the tantalizing dishes you prepare.

Taking attractive photos of food and posting them on social media is a low-cost, effective way to drive more traffic to your business—while also demonstrating your restaurant’s culinary skills and style.

If you’re a restaurateur looking to utilize the tools of food photography and technique to engineer your menu on social media, you’ve arrived at the right place.

There are a number of reasons why your patrons might enjoy bringing their own bottle of wine to your restaurant. Not only is it affordable, but it also enhances their experience.

As a business owner without a liquor license (or even one that has a license but still offers “bring your own bottle”), letting your customers bring their own wine or bottles encourages more traffic through the door. Plus, offering BYOB helps your restaurant’s profit margin so you can focus more on the quality of cuisine and dining experience.

But before popping the cork, make sure you understand how to determine a corkage fee and the proper corkage etiquette. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a complete corkage fee guide to help you get started.

Certain cocktails benefit from a wide range of glasses that enhance both their appearance and taste. Picking the right drinkware boosts a beverage’s aroma and temperature. All this means that using the right cocktail glass is incredibly important.

But what type of glass does your bartender need for some of the most common cocktails on your bar’s menu?

Read on to learn about the most common types of cocktail glasses and how their design brings out different aspects of each beverage.