GOOD LUCK, FELLOW SERVERS

Tonight is the eve of the most dreaded, horrid, and awful day in the world for the restaurant world: Mother's Day.

Maybe not the most dreaded for business owners.. After all, they're busy trying to shove and squeeze last minute reservations in the book even though it appears that it is booked!

The wheelchairs, the walkers.. All out in full force tomorrow.

Snobby sons and ditsy daughters. Many of them seeing mom for the first time since they chose to take her out of the home a year ago.. Most likely on Mother's Day.

"Get anything you want mom."
"I just want pudding, or a sandwich."

Mom eats half a cup of soup and sandwich while the kids dine away on prime rib and shrimp scampi. Ain't life grand?

I never understood why exactly Mother's Day was the busiest restaurant day of the year. It's unpleasant beyond mom's wildest expectations.

Even the nicest and best restaurants end up serving lackluster food, cramping too many people in, and end up with slow service. It's the time to not be at a restaurant.

But it's the kids that think it all up. "Let's take mom out this year!"

A rose, or carnation, and a steak dinner. Or chicken dinner. Or just soup. "I'm not hungry."

Back to the home.

It's going to be over soon, servers. But get ready: The worst is yet to come. And when it's 9pm on the East Coast it will only be 6pm on the West. Good luck all.

Keep smiling.. Make it out alive.

AND be forewarned: It never fails, at least one worker will be a no-show on Mother's Day.

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MISSISSIPPI GOING TOO FAR WITH FAT

Maybe they are. It's not a law yet, but as the SMOKING GUN website is reporting, Mississippi may be the first state in the union to make it illegal for a restaurant to serve someone 'obese' food!

But what is obese!

According to the SMOKING GUN, the bill is dead on arrival.

But it's also alarming on arrival. As we all know, time heals all wounds.. and makes it easier for fanatical health nuts to dictate the way we all should live.

There are problems with obesity in America .. especially Southern food. Let's not forget how there is a lot of enjoyment of fried food, high in cholesterol, and low in fiber, foods across the South..

But the problem, really, is that a few legislators trying to make others healthy .. by making it illegal for them to eat in retaurants and making it illegal for the owner of a food establishment to give them food..

The bill attempts to create a situation that giving food to obese is like giving a gun to a murderer.. Obesity is not a crime. And should not be. And it should never be criminalized for a restaurant to serve food.

And by the way.. who determines what is too fat to go into a restaurant? A scale at the front door.. A bouncer having to remove patrons?

It will have to be a big bouncer. Hopefully not obese. Or he won't eat.

From some of the sites I've been reading.. Mississippi isn't too happy with their Bobby Shows, W.T. Mayhall, Jr, and John Read .. the authors of the ridiculous bill...

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DINING OUT WITH LESS MONEY

STARBUCKS is abandoning its hopes for new restaruants in the United States.. And economic downturn isn't helping across the world.

But it made me think. If people can't afford the $4 dollar cup of coffee, are they affording to go out to eat as much as we all think they do?
What are the trends during a downturn? After all, if you went to the grocery store lately, everything is getting higher in price.

In 2007, the downturn started to effect the food service industry. With the exception of a few places that never seem to get hurt quickly by economic problems.

The National Restaurant Association said that the food service industry declined for a fourth consecutive month in 2007. December 2007 saw the lowest level of sales since February 2003, according to the Association report.

And it's not just customers changing their habits. According to the report from the Association, the percentage of restaurant owners that are concerned about the performance of the economy is also up. More from the report..



And with all the news of the industry a little nervous about the future, Burger King is boasting big sales. BK claims big growth in sales globally..



What will 2008 bring?
Can America stop dining out as much as it does?
One restaurant owner told me that he sees the same if not more people coming to his establishment. But what they order is different. No prime rib dinners.. instead it's baked pork chops, chicken, or a sandwich.

Our love for dining out isn't going to change. If the market changes the industry, the industry will evolve. The true people that the downturn could eventually hurt would be tipped employees..

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Class reunions

Reporting my feelings and thoughts in the same vain that I reported last month's dictation on wedding rehearsal dinners, I dislike class reunion dinners too--maybe on an even larger scale than I dislike the rehearsal dinners..

What happens to people over time? Men's stomachs get bigger.. women's hair gets bigger.. Both genders have an attitude that encompasses their entire being. I guess they have to try to continue to impress those they want to school with. Whether you're 18 or 80, there are still people that try to be the loudest, most obnoxious, and rude of the group.

Things change with time, but time doesn't change everyone. Or maybe it's just a memory thing. They try to bring back those old days by acting out in the same manner that they did when they were sitting around a lunch table in high school..

I'll be there soon, too--if my class has a reunion. At some point in life, I'll be old enough to at least be invited to class reunion (maybe). And if I go, perhaps I too will act out and appear snobby to the bartender or server..

Being tested with time.. And we all fail in the end.

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I hate wedding rehearsal dinners

I don't know quite what it is about a wedding rehearsel dinner that makes the bridal party's nose go so high in the air they can't see straight. What makes the mother and father of the bride and groom become demanding.. more so than the average typical demanding customer can be..

The men huddle up into their gang of Coors Light drinkers, the women decorate and drink Cosmos. The "adults" of the party sit back and complain their coffee is too cold or the food is taking too long to be served..

Much to the chagrine of others, I often tell my fellow servers that I'd much rather wait on a funeral dinner than a wedding.. And now, I can add.. I would much rather wait on a wedding dinner than a wedding rehearsal..

Maybe it's because we are a new generation of people that believe we are entitled to everything.

Don't get me wrong, it should be a nice affair for all involved. No doubt..

But the average snobbery rate of a wedding rehearsel dinner far exceeds what a server normally must put up with.

Just a thought. OVER AND OUT.

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Restaurant nation

According to very early numbers from the week box office, Michael Moore may have to film a movie about evil restaurant owners in America to beat a rat..

The restaurant craze in America--well into its 200th year, continues in box offices. RATATOUILLE looks to be having a great weekend.. The film has been getting healthy reviews too. It's a family film with adult fanfare.. A movie about a simple cook that makes friends with a kitchen rat at a restaurant..

The entertainment industry continuing to pick up on the constant obsession with the restaurant industry. .this time animated. Perhaps a HELL'S KITCHEN film will come yet with Gordon Ramsay as superhero..

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Shut down: What causes good restaurants to flop?

I cannot proclaim to be an expert on anything.. but in my area of Pennsylvania, you can fast become an expert on how not to run a business. Restaurants, or anything else for that matter, can begin with a wonderful premise.. a sports bar named after a team that were famous football champs the beginning of last century for example? Bankrupt in two years..

So what does this?

There can be a few different ways it can happen too. Places with a base amount of customers that does NOT lose customers but still closes..

I knew of a place that actually expanded but kept its books so sloppy that it finally had to declare bankruptcy.. The business became to decline when distributors wouldn't cash checks anymore because there was no money.. it led to workers' checks bouncing because there was no money to cover the amounts.. It led to the demise of what seemed to be a flourishing restaurant/catering hall.

Maybe it's too much money being spent too quick in the beginning of a business' opening. The money that goes out for remodeling expanses of an old building can bury a new owner .. especially when it comes time to hire a staff that he or she must pay a decent wage to keep and train good people.

Staffpersons can also be devestating to a business if theft occurs. A restaurant I used to work out closed because bartenders were giving away the house in drinks after owners left each evening.. Bankrupt.

And of course it can be equally bad when the owners of the restauant plant themselves up to the bar .. people notice. The word gets out.

The restaurant business. To make it you have to be near perfect. To fail you have to just make a few little mistakes that can snowball into disaster..

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Manager sues over KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

Chef Gordon Ramsay makes at least one chef angry..

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Goat on the menu

And it causes E Coli

A slaughter of a goat in a kitchen in North Carolina leads to sickness and a Health Department investigation..

We know weird stuff happens in all kitchens. Perhaps the goat slaughter... ahh.. a little too far?

Interesting footnote to this article: I knew a man once that owned his own establishment that slaughtered goats in the alley way behind his building. Actually never served the goat--we all hope--but his family ate it himself.

I also took note to this portion of the story:

"Now, that employee says the restaurant owner is refusing to pay some former employees their checks from the last week of work.

The former employee explains that the owner told staff, "that he lost his restaurant and he’s not paying anybody nothing. The waitresses are due two weeks and the cooks are due a week’s worth of pay.""

Ahh, yes.. the age old practice of holding paychecks from hard working employees for no valid reason...

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The new fad in dining

Maybe it's because the entire world seems willing and ready to give up all of its secrets.. or maybe it's just the new trendy 'in' thing..

Either way, when you go to a restaurant in the near future, you maybe won't get as much as that romantic privacy that you once craved.

TIME MAGAZINE reports that communal tables are becoming the new way to dine.

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