Hospitality Careers: Expert Guides and Resources

Running a bar isn’t for the faint of heart. Besides the daily needs of running a bar — for example, what condiments to keep behind the bar and what to put on the menu — you also have to deal with the rigors of management, such as keeping your employees honest, staying on the right side of your state alcohol control board, and dealing with patrons who've had a few too many.

To run a bed and breakfast (B&B) inn, you need to take care of business issues first, then go about the business of caring for your guests.To make sure guests get the best impression of your B&B, train everyone who answers the phone, get rooms ready the right way, and do the prep work for the "breakfast" part of the service.

Running a successful food truck is tougher than it may appear. You must plan and prepare everything that a fine dining establishment does (except the china and linen napkins), such as concept development, menu planning, and hiring and keeping a great staff, but then you have to take your kitchen on the road and provide your customers with out-of-this-world food and service.

Running a restaurant is a tough business. Coming up with the concept, designing the menu, hiring the right staff, and running it from day to day are all difficult and time consuming. You need to develop the right attitude, promote the restaurant, keep an eye on the competition, and communicate with your customers.

Email marketing is great from a customer retention standpoint, not only because it enables you to include promotional information for your food truck, but also because it helps you develop a more intimate relationship with your customers. Email is personal. When a customer gives you access to his inbox, it’s a sign that the customer trusts you and your brand and wants to further the relationshipYou can use your email list to update customers on what you’re up to, share personal business stories, and include information about promotions and special events you plan to attend or host to bring people back to your service window.

One of the best ways to promote your mobile business is to issue press releases to your local media. You can distribute most of your press releases by email or through online distribution services, such as PRweb or PR Newswire, to editors at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television stations. Using distribution services may lead to your news getting syndicated by all your local or regional media outlets.

Expectations are the nonverbal agreements you establish with your food truck customers about the food and service you and your staff provide them. These may be things such as the quantity or quality of your food, but they may also include the timing involved in getting an order completed or even the plating and appearance of their meal as you serve it.

Too many food truck owners center all their attention on their food instead of their entire business. Your food is important, of course, but your truck is the platform for getting your food to your customers. If it isn’t properly maintained, you may find yourself in a situation where you waste money not only by throwing away the food you’ve already prepared for the day but also by sinking in a lot of money to get your truck back on the road.