This episode features Rust & Gold (https://www.therustandgold.com/), a Huntington Long Island bar and restaurant that allows families to gather and fun to happen late night.Frank came from beginnings in the music industry, but decided that the A plan wasn't going to be the one he retired on. Along with a few friends Rust & Gold opened 7 years ago. …

We get to the bottom of Justin's hatred for Uber Eats and why it's still a necessary evil in the restaurant space. They have near zero risk - and the restaurant always deals with the blame. Florida has also taken on more hurricanes than it prefers. https://instagram.com/waitingonfriespodcast

It wasn't always that Mark Taxiera was focused on opening a space outside of the city. As a guy who grew up in Ossining (a town north of New York City along the Hudson River) Mark had sights on working in the big city. After doing notable stints at Beppe & The Russian Tea Room, his wife Brianne and him decided to open up a beautiful Italian space i…

What do we care about? Providing gems and conversations for hospitality professionals everywhere to add to your bottom line. Running a business is hard, running a restaurant is worse. We talk to restaurateurs all over to discover their stories while pulling out the tricks they've learned along the way. It's no secret that AI is the hottest clickbai…

Have you seen Drink Masters yet? The show where bartenders from around the nation get to compete for the title of Ultimate Drink Master? Judged by Julie Reiner, Frankie Solarik, Tone Bell - over the course of 10 episodes the contestants get to compete showcasing techniques and skills learned over the course of their real world tenures. LPDRINKS.org…

Brenton Land is an owner/operator that doesn't believe in Defeat. His little bar, The VIG Bar is located in the neighborhood of Nolita in NYC... and although it's not packed with square footage - it's packed with people every night. In a time where bars take themselves a little too seriously, VIG bar pokes fun at trends and makes sure that there is…

Kris Baljak is the Beverage Director for a decently large restaurant group. We get to speak about hardships of managing such a large scale operation and finding key players in the space to help make his job a little easier. Kris reflects upon some of the new things we are seeing in the hospitality space with an all new work force that doesn't neces…

There's always someone in your family that returns from the restroom just to comment on the sinks and the tiles. You can't escape the fact that they are often times one of the most under-looked components to a restaurants. Let's talk bathrooms! // $500 Back when you make the switch to Toast: TOAST LINK - http://refer.toasttab.com/referred-by/Justin…

Salt Bae dodges a lawsuit from Nusr-Et staff unhappy with how tips are distributed, but that leads us to talk a little bit more about the ways tip share gets distributed. There's a few different business models out there and it's all about what works for you. // $500 Back when you make the switch to Toast: TOAST LINK - http://refer.toasttab.com/ref…

Modeled after how Justin carries out his training process at Smokehouse, let's take a look at some of the major functions of trainings and how some of these streamlined processes may aid in consistency for your own execution. // $500 Back when you make the switch to Toast: TOAST LINK - http://refer.toasttab.com/referred-by/JustinZeytoonian/ // Cont…

Bars and Restaurants are having trouble getting staff, here's where we find people!By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

Outdoor dining tips & tricks to build your brand and increase sales.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

We're getting to the point where robots are starting to replace some basic restaurant tasks. How long until these robots are making perfect omelettes?!By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

It's not everyday we get to talk about firefighting and food at the same time - but today we have done just that. AJ Fusco runs an instagram account called @Forkandhose that features plates from firefighters everywhere. He also knows what he's doing in a kitchen though as he's graced several premier establishments over the years with his Fork skill…

What's this guy know? Enough to build one business, sell it, and start a few more businesses. Matt Stanczak currently operates Good Old Days - a pizza joint in Newtown, Ct. that is looking to harbor a hip atmosphere that is doing great Detroit style pies and even has a cocktail den.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

We walk through what the complete dining experience is like from front to back and highlight a handful of the crucial points that your guests are experiencing in today's world. Are you missing opportunities? Have you maximized your check average?By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

Justin & Anum talk about different personalities in the kitchen and what we like to see when contributing to a building team dynamic.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

As Justin has almost built out his new restaurant - he's run into quite a few odd problems that need to be navigated through. Let's look at some of the ways he's thinking of how to succeed.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

As Smokehouse 1.2 gets closer to opening, Justin prepares his new space by pulling the trigger on utilizing a new POS that may offer a little more for his needs than his previous provider. Sometimes it starts to be about the ability for extensions and third party integrations.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

Justin has a bit of OCD incase you didn't know. Seriously - let him vent a little bit while Noomz highlights how many chefs it takes to change a lightbulb.... I mean cook a steak.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

People thought he was crazy when he left a restaurant designated 4 stars by the New York Times (Del Posto) to open up a BBQ place as a pop up in an empty lot in a dirty part of Brooklyn. Sure enough Matt Abdoo and his partners have been building a name, a brand, and populating the streets around Pig Beach over the last few years. We talk to Matt ab…

There's so much happening so quickly. Apparently Justin and Noomz are key to the refrigeration knowledge and have some experience to share with you if you're having issues with your coolers. Jae complained again about having a work week at the bar where there weren't enough bodies to man the bar - but somehow made do with what they had.... are you …

Yes. We're from New York. Yes. We like pizza. Yes. It's natural that we talk about it. Matt Di Gesu has an interesting story as he left New York to the west coast, just to find a couple east coast buddies that allowed him to learn everything about pizza. Soon enough - he came back.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

Recently a new hire that successfully made it through training decided that it was too much for them to deal with a busy weekend night and decided that the job called for too much. We also discuss the greed of the liquor stores as they push to maintain their higher sales they've seen through the pandemic.…

Let's talk about powerhouse party bars. Finding a balance between operating a food focused dining experience and keeping the register ringing all night with high volume liquor and beer sales isn't easy. We speak with Stephen Primerano, the General Manager of Sign of the Whale - a super high volume bar located in Stamford, CT.…

Well - here we are again talking about the Grub Hub Hijacking that is going on. Seems some states have put laws into effect that prevent third party services from taking over and portraying themselves as known establishments. These laws can fine them per day that they are operating! Also.... you know what's crazy about not getting shifts? Gotta hav…

Jon takes a second to discuss with us the frozen drink business. He didn't always sell frozen drink machines and mix - but when he did he realized that restaurants can use a lot of it.... this has made him one of the highest selling franchisee's in the Margarita Man umbrella. Let's find out about franchises as well as how he's tackling growth.…

Get off of the couch and off of unemployment benefits. We're making money considering no one is working and it's great. By the time your benefits end you're going to be out of opportunities and left without the chair to sit in. We also discuss the passport you receive when you get your shots and how that may give you added abilities when it comes t…

Getting to speak to Angelo about his history as an owner can teach you a lot about being ok with taking your lumps, how to move on and make tough decisions, being too early to the party, and keeping the wheels turning with day to day operations and ideas. We also speak about segmenting your email blasts to maximize customer engagement.…

What do you do when you live in an area where 3 states meet and have completely different opening plans? Well..... you grab the strap and you ride that bull as long as you can before she bucks you!By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

The major question always is - why should I go attend this event that I have to pay to be a part of? Well, you aren't wrong.... but you aren't right either. We cover some valid points of what you need to do to really maximize your return on investment when looking at trade shows, expos, or any industry event!…

Juicy Lucy looks to hold the title of Brisket King 2021 and we get to sit down and talk with them, Blue Smoke, Handsome Devil, Pulkies, The Gramercy/Friends of Firefighters, and Avellino Family BBQ in a short form episode recorded live on site. We'll look to have more in depth conversations with these guys in the future!…

I can't believe what we discovered that Grubhub was doing with out business. These 3rd party apps are relentless in their vulture like tactics to facilitate delivery charges... has our story happened to you?By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

What do you get when 4 Bros walk into a pizza joint? As many owners lost their restaurants and bars, other businesses began with the extra time, stimulus aid, and ability to turn dreams into a reality. Carlos, Will, Danny, & Bryan have a cumulative lifetime in the pizza business. With each brother specializing in a different part of the business th…

"You can't get away with plastic fold out chairs and tables anymore!" Justin proclaimed. This season it's time to get our business together and actually look like you want to have outside seating. Waiting on permits? Forget all that! Just get your tables back out there and start making money!By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

With three establishments under his belt and a no sleep until who knows mentality - Travis Koester is the partner and operator of The Local (a local beer bar in the truest sense), Two Villains Brewery (A micro brewery), and The Henry (A gastropbub with enough televisions to watch a game). We discuss balancing operations and the story behind these p…

With the Masters upon us we are looking at signature drinks and how they help to immerse patrons in the environment you help create. We've spoken in past episodes about creating ecosystems... well - let's look deeper at tying it all in. Also we take a look into businesses opening to help underserved communities and the outreach these restaurants (n…

Social media and blogging are a match made in heaven - but it's a lot of work as well. As PJ tells it the amount of work that gets put into his ecosystem is enormous, but also quite rewarding as he loves being involved in this industry.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

We run through the top ways we felt that you can increase traffic to your bar or restaurant without doing too much work in both costs and movement. Maximizing efficiency matters and all of these items on this list are designed to give you a ROI that's representative of how hard the tasks are to accomplish. It's busy season.…

Well, it all started in a garage. And his last name is Watson. Maybe all great things just start in a garage? Let's talk the journey from small canning lines to what you'll hear in this episode - a giant beer factory. Let's explore everything from how canning lines work to the colors all across the brand. This is On The Record, with Sloop Brewing C…

Newyorkprimebeef.com will give you food to your door. FRIES15 at checkout will take 15% off your order, you're welcome. Hearing a story from a friend in their smaller sized establishment, management has been included in a tip pool considering the lack of being able to hire appropriately with tightened funds and Justin doesn't agree with this. Jae's…

We're exploring sports bars on this episode of on the record. We jump over to a town called Norwalk to find out how this business was build and how we're dealing with covid when there's no sports, no partying, and where you make up the cash sheets when booze are a major part of paying the bills.By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

Jae's been working a lot on the website for http://cocktailgarnish.co. This brings up a super important point.... how many of you are working on SEO for your restaurants and bars to get to the top of the list for your specific restaurant searches? Does this matter? With a few simple key strokes you can significantly move up the chart.…

When you think about social media you're typically thinking about how and why your mom is always the first one to like your photos, but rarely do you think how it's been able to build out and highlight brands. Mike Puma joins us to explain how and what the Gotham Burger Social Club is and how it's come to be. Look out for the Gotham Smash Pop-up's …

Let's dive into Favorite Chef while Justin relaxes on the sunny beaches of Florida. It's ok, some of us show up to work no matter what. The Favorite Chef competition is underway and there is a lot of talk about whether this is a real competition or if it's a scam thanks to a lack of clarity, or as Jae would say - business genius! We also jump into …

Not every day is it that someone stumbles out of there internet marketing job and onto the floor of a food truck, let alone decide that the food truck isn't big enough - and it's time to build out a physical brick and mortar locations.... and then that we should open 2 Mexicue's every year. This one is interesting, lock in - there's some gems to ta…

A restaurant shut down while having mask policy problems that were turned into a Black Lives Matter PR nightmare. We're all for freedoms and beliefs in all ways - but in the workplace we should be looking uniform. Do you have your employee handbook updated and signed off on?By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants

You think you know bagels and starting businesses? You ain't known nothing until you realize that Britt is the real deal. A business of bagels that sped up during the pandemic has gained serious momentum and traction that Gold Belly has even thrown some calls her direction trying to get a piece of this dough. Ha.…

Waiting on Fries - Delving into a bit of the yacht club life. Get your pinky out for a few of these problems that occur in the day to day. In part of the new format we'll explore some relative issues and topics that we've experienced and see in our businesses. How'd your Superbowl go? Hope you didn't have to pay for all the rest of your boxes you d…

It's been a long year and we actually got to document the year in roller coaster formation. A lot of us have been punched in the face repeatedly and we're almost out of the woods. Have patience all!By Waiting On Fries: Inside Bars and Restaurants