Today, QR codes are well-known, becoming an essential part of almost every business. Starting as something new for most of users, now they are a handy part of daily lives, and here we will talk about how you can successfully integrate codes into your operations, using them for advertising, recruitment, and day-to-day activities at the site.
Create your code
To attach a website or function to a code, use a specialized site or a QR generating app, widely available online with most of basic features free of charge. You will then need to save the graphics you've created to use it on your menus, posters, or stickers.
Attract talents
Connect the recruitment QR code to the careers homepage or make a special page with staff testimonials to make it more interesting. This would make your company appear more developed and approachable to candidates, who would be more likely to apply immediately using their phone.
Host your digital menus and brochures
Table tents, banners, takeaway menus can all have QR codes printed on them. This will let the customers access a digital copy of the file and even keep it in their phone as a reminder.
Provide immediate access to services
Create a code taking your customers directly to the booking page, allowing them to reserve a room, restaurant table or additional services without needing to dial reservations.
Share your favorite recipes and culinary tales
Keep a small QR code beside your signature dishes in the printed menus. Customers might be directed to recipes or cooking tips by scanning the code.
Tell the wine stories
While you may not always have a sommelier in every outlet, QR codes in your beverage menus can be a great alternative, telling stories about selected drinks and their perfect pairings.
Collect priceless feedback
Ask for guest feedback by placing a QR code on the tabletop or receipt. Even not having special programming, you can use open-source software like Google Forms to collect surveys.
Photo credits Keegan Checks
Across the globe, humanity experienced emotional trauma these past two years. As we are closer to seeing the light at the end of this bumpy road, there are important ways you can help your clients and guests heal.
Passionate about luxury lifestyle branding, service excellence and adding value through innovation, Vinicius Viana believes that Luxury and Lifestyle are constantly moving.
A wide network of contacts is essential for your success, especially if you work in a fast-paced international environment.
Here is how you can multiply your contacts and make maximum use of the upcoming meetups.
Meetup events are not only about dating. Although, it is amazing if you can find your soulmate at one of those, this kind of gatherings are great networking opportunities and can get you plenty of useful business contacts or even open a new career door.
1. Don't forget your business cards
If your want to create an impression of a professional, grab some business cards with you to share. Even if the event is set up at a bar or at the beach, a neat card with all the necessary details is a much better way to share your contacts than giving your WhatsApp number or connecting on Facebook.
2. Step out of your usual circle
It is always easier to communicate with someone from the same country, speaking the same language or working in the same department. However, staying inside a bubble, you are losing great opportunities of meeting new exciting people that might really help you in your career or become your good friends. Moreover, if your potential new boss is around, he would surely appreciate someone whose communication skills are not limited by the comfort zone.
The best thing is that these kinds of events are made for people to talk to each other, so you will rarely have awkward silence moments. So get out and mingle!
3. Don't talk only about work
Although hotelier networking events are made for the people of the same industry, discussing the daily operations shouldn't be the only option. As we all come from the same sector, we know pretty well how the thing works, so talking about the same things all evening, even if it is about different companies, can be somehow boring.
Use this chance to show yourself as an interesting person and pick a topic outside of your office routine. It can be hobbies, funny stories, countries and cities you have been to etc. And as the attendees are coming from the same industry, most probably you also have a lot of common contacts. That also can start a good conversation!
4. Get use of your LinkedIn page
While Facebook is made for sharing your personal life, your LinkedIn profile is a great tool to show your professional experience and skills. A well-presented page, filled with the details, is a good enhancement of your usual resume and will help you stay in touch with the people you met at the networking event. Who knows, maybe one of them will be interested enough to offer you a new job. And don't be shy to ask for references from your previous colleagues, it also creates a great impression.
5. Opt for a smart casual look
We all want to feel maximum comfort while having a drink at the bar or dancing at a club. But remember that the first impression is very important, and most probably people you met will remember that you were wearing that inappropriate baseball t-shirt or extremely short skirt for a networking event. The same applies to untidy clothes and dirty shoes. This might let them imagine you as a lousy person, not taking care of the details. So better at the mirror twice before you go out for the next event.
Restaurants, as well as other food-related enterprises, are finding that they are in need of altering their menu and mindsets to meet the growing appetite for vegan dining options. Smart restaurateurs are rapidly trying to revamp their menu items to assist the plant-based diet, from organic and home-grown foods to vegan desserts.
The search for new and appealing vegan recipes is a new priority area for restaurants, due to the rising population of the vegan lifestyle. Though it may appear that implementing vegan cuisine and developing innovative menus requires a lot of research and revisions, most restaurants successfully incorporate the key elements of a vegan diet as in their current menus.
Today, if a restaurant does not offer vegan food, it may start losing clients who look for innovative and imaginative plant-based recipes. And it is a growing population that restaurateurs should cater to with wonderful vegan cuisine choices.
Tips on adding a vegan twist to your menu:
Train yourself and your employees about the vegan diet basic and what it involves.
Look out for new vendors who specialize in plant-based foods and vegan essentials.
If required, invite a culinary professional keen on vegan specialities to teach your teammates.
Choose recipes that are relevant to your brand and can be organically included in your existing menu.
Make a big deal about your daily specials and get the word out.
Photo credits Ella Olsson
As employers we expect our associates to be the best of the best so they can drive the business. HR professionals spend hours recruiting talent BUT unfortunately, not all of them succeed or last in the company.
We see many candidates highlighting in bold or underlining the places where they have worked and were part of a pre-opening team of the project. In order to highlight this importance, I am sharing how is a pre-opening experience different.
I can share the below details based on my personal experience, where I have worked as part of the pre-opening and opening team of 6 international hotels and I have been involved in the pre-opening and opening of more than 20 restaurants which allows me to understand well the importance of this experience in the world of hospitality.
First, let's talk about the hotel pre-opening experience.
When a team joins a hotel's pre-opening stage normally the hotel is in the final stages of construction and handover period, so senior managers join the pre-opening period around 3 months before the opening but some might be hired even earlier or later depending on their roles and responsibilities and operator's plan for the hiring process.
When it comes to the junior staff to join on board, it is around a month before opening and sometimes a bit more, the team go through a big stage of team building, training & development during this period until opening.
Management does follow what is called "Critical Path " or "Retro-plan" or can have different names, where the Manager has every week tasks to complete similar to a puzzle where you complete parts of the puzzle on a monthly/weekly/daily basis until the final puzzle is there, and management meets once a week in order to evaluate the progress.
So, a lot of training, lot of projects, lot of team building, setting up of operational units by the team such as setting up hotel rooms or the restaurants or spas etc.... during this course all team builds up a big experience that is much more than anyone who can possibly join after the opening period, and this is where the real value lies in working in this particular stage.
What counts, even more, is when the pre-opening stage comes closer to the day of "opening ", where first guests are welcomed and business starts building up on a daily and weekly basis and occupancy goes from zero to as high as 80% and even more.
Usually, staff working during this stage of hotel pre-opening / opening do get a "Pre-opening certificate that is considered as a plus and is a motivational tool for these staff who have worked hard during this period.
In a hotel, the system is more complex than in a restaurant opening, as in a hotel there are many departments / Divisions and the staff have to understand not only their own department's duties and SOPs but also how their department is linked and interacts with the other departments.
When it comes to a restaurant pre-opening, the scenario is similar to the above, where a "Retro-plan / critical path " is followed until opening, where also projects and tasks such as (branding, supplying, planning market lists, building and studying menus/descriptions, costing ) and many other tasks are performed and executed by the team in the setup stage of a restaurant.
During this stage, the staff are divided into the kitchen (back of house ) and restaurant main dining area (front of house ), where these two divisions plans and develops their standards individually and later on collectively in order to train both divisions on menu preparations and service delivery to clients.
A pre-opening stage involves long working hours, at least a week or two during the opening stage will be days off for the staff and involves a lot of stress, which results in turnover during this stage especially with the staff that are not well experienced with pre-opening pressures. Therefore, it is important to educate staff on what will be facing them during this stage.
In fact, it is important to highlight that the biggest task during pre-opening is the recruitment and on-boarding, wherein some countries such as GCC the staff are provided with accommodation and the task of on-boarding and allocating staff in different rooms in the accommodation and the fact of making sure that they feel welcomed, is considered the biggest challenge, especially if the majority of the staff do travel for the first time outside their countries.
Staff joining after an opening, or joining an operation that is already running for some time, will get: orientation/training and product knowledge, but will not necessarily be part of developing a menu, sourcing products and other tasks that were mentioned that staff do experience during the pre-opening period ..., here comes the real value of pre-opening experience.
The head of a department is a key in making or breaking his/her department during the pre-opening stage, as experience, someone is in following a critical path and is efficient in completing tasks as required and good in leading and delegating their teams, the opening will be smooth.
So, overall I do agree that a "Plus" and advantage should be given to the staff/managers that have a good pre-opening experience, as they tend to blend, adapt, perform better under stress.
