This half-day workshop includes four sessions and is intended for existing or aspiring restaurant or food service owners, managers, and employees.  Sessions to be presented are:

Session #1 – Training Your Staff for Success – Colby Pusey, Sysco
             Hiring, training, and developing our teams in a restaurant is key to creating a positive guest experience.  Through operational systems, consistent training, and leadership, we can give our employees the tools to succeed and our managers the ability to orchestrate the day to day operations.  In this seminar, we will discuss different methods to set the expectation and follow up to ensure employees are motivated to succeed.   

Session #2 – Social Media Marketing Playbook – Cacie Waller, Fishbowl

            Every business owner and operator understands the importance of an online presence, but knowing how to streamline digital marketing efforts for the most return can be a challenge. In this session, you’ll learn how social media platforms and reviews sites influence your guests dining decisions, how to retain loyal guests and acquire new ones with strategic campaigns, as well as the best ways to drive ROI from paid advertising. Cacie will discuss easy to implement tactics and trends to watch in the ever-changing landscape of social media.

Session #3 – Restaurant Profitability – Darlene Goehringer, Sysco

            This workshop will show the food entrepreneur how to identify true food cost (calculating yields, correct portions, managing waste), menu sell price, importance of implementing inventory systems and demonstrate example of identifying your best possible food cost.

Session #4 – Panel Discussion– What I Wish I Would Have Known
            Moderator: Eden Raskin Jenkins – RAMW
                        Panelists: Local entrepreneurs with several successful food businesses