Hospitality is an ever growing industry, but with unemployment levels increasing and job vacancies less frequent, it is crucial you employ the correct individual for the role. In the current economic climate, all sectors of the hospitality industry are swamped with applicants for jobs, therefore contest for the most talented candidates is as harsh as ever, especially with over 100 applicants applying for any one position posted.

Below we have provided some top tips to ensure the recruitment process is as smooth and reliable as possible.

- Social media is the newest and most cost effective way to advertise a new role externally, alongside the company website.
- Keep a sense of community spirit by promoting the vacancy locally, in community centres and local clubs.
- School leavers are a great way to bring fresh new talent into your business and can be employed through an apprenticeship scheme. Encourage existing employees to introduce new team members to the business.
- During the recruitment stage, be sure to draw attention to the benefits of working for your company .

Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year for most restaurants and bars, as customers look to wine and dine their loved ones. What better way to start off your diner’s valentine evening by offering them a glass of champagne to inspire romance?

Below we have suggested a few tips to help you upsell the bubbly.

- On arrival, offer your customers a glass of champagne as an aperitif to enjoy whilst perusing the menu.

- As with wines, ensure your staff have tasted the champagne, this will help familiarise them with the different varieties and allow them to make recommendations to customers. Remember, a passionate commendation is a highly effective sales tool.

- Sweeten your profits by creating a Valentines set menu that includes a glass of Champagne, this offers a great trading up opportunity.

- List champagne separately from sparkling wines, with them being higher priced then other bottles on the list be sure to make a special feature of them.

- Inspire your customers by using a bar display, showcasing champagne bottles, flutes, and ice buckets, to catch your customer’s eyes and attract attention.

- For a new twist on the usual champagne you may want to look up some champagne cocktail ideas from some of the best mixologists to really impress your diners.

Maintaining a high level of hygiene is imperative to any kitchen. However many establishments take extreme and often unnecessary measures to keep on top of cleanliness. The long hours, pressure to consistently perform to a high standard and the added work load when service is over, makes any role in a kitchen a demanding job.

Below we have provided some effective tips to keep your kitchen healthy and hygienic.

- It is essential to train employees and emphasise the importance of personal hygiene, washing hands regularly, wearing hats and the correct attire.

- Assess your food handlers; remember staff that have suffered from vomiting or diarrhoea, must be excluded from work for 48 hours to avoid contagious bugs spreading to customers, or other staff.

- Regularly monitor the temperature of your fridges and freezers to ensure they are running at the correct temperature and keep a record, to protect you against potential claims of food poisoning.

- Improve the visibility of any signage in the kitchen to make staff aware of potential hazards, reducing the risk of accidents, injury and food contamination.

- Be sure to rotate your stock. Labelling products with dates and freezing instructions is vital to prevent stale and out-of-date produce being used and will also help your establishment cut back on waste.

Wine lists are a fundamental part of any customer’s dining experience. Whether you run a small restaurant or manage a five star hotel, it is a good idea to stop and consider your wine list, especially since half of the average restaurant’s revenue comes from alcohol sales.

Below we have provided a few tips to build the perfect connoisseurs wine list.

- Be sure to offer a wide variety of wines by the glass, a minimum of ten. With all of the wine preservation systems available on today’s market, this should be easy to achieve.

- Make it easy for your customers to choose the wine. Create a wine list with a sufficient but not excessive number of items and organise them based on origin, category or type of grape (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot etc.)

- As a general rule of thumb, each dish on your menu should have one wine that complements the dish, helping to emphasize the flavours and accentuate the taste.

- Get help from a trusted wine supplier. They will be able to tell you the most requested brand and ones with higher rotation, as well as helping with food pairings.

- Customers are savvy about prices so ensure your pricing is right. Offer a range from higher priced wines, to mid range and don’t forget the house wine, as it is a popular choice.

It is a well known fact the hospitality industry never sleeps. Just as Christmas and New Year comes to an end, preparations begin for events taking place early in the year. The first stop being Valentine’s Day. February sees romantics whisking their loved ones away on weekend breaks or wining and dining them in beautiful restaurants.

This year, February 14th falls on a Tuesday which suggests your establishment should be busier than usual for a mid-week evening. Below, we’ve provided some useful tips on how to prepare for the influx of couples looking for that something extra special.

- Ensure you have a booking system in place to avoid overcrowding at any given time. Why not implement timed sittings to help maximise revenue?

- Set menus and offers work really well. Not only do they help to attract customers, a limited, set menu will help to keep your kitchen under control.

- Set the mood with some live music, a pianist playing classic love songs or a violinist serenading your guests will enhance the atmosphere.

As we hear in the news today that Trip Advisor has been banned from claiming their reviews are honest, real or trusted, we thought this provided an ideal opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of including a Trip Advisor link on your site.

The Pros

- By linking to Trip Advisor it shows that your establishment has nothing to hide and you expect to receive many positive reviews, as well as a few negative ones. It is worth noting here that negative reviews can also be turned into a positive as they may reveal some problems about your restaurant that you may have overlooked. Moreover publically responding via your website to a negative review, is looked favourably upon by potential customers.

- Positive reviews are extremely powerful in swaying opinions and attracting new customers.

- Any content that is uploaded is yours to use in future marketing or testimonials.

- Regularly added content will also provide SEO benefits to your website

The Cons

- You will need to regularly monitor the content being uploaded, as there is no control over how the reviews appear.

- Your reviews will appear alongside reviews from your competitors, so people can easily be drawn away from yours.

- You will need to spend time generating and encouraging content. A good way to do this is to ensure a link to wherever your reviews are posted is included in any communications with diners.

Many companies are led to believe that implementing sustainable business practices will have a negative effect on their profits and their ‘bottom line’. However, this isn’t true, being green will not only reduce a businesses’ carbon foot print it will also help to cut costs.

Nowadays, customers and employees are becoming increasingly aware of green issues, and because of this, they are more likely to be attracted by a company that has green credentials.

Below you’ll find some effective green measures that don’t cost the earth.

- Recycle glass – Install a Glass Vac system, this will help to reduce noise and carbon emissions by up to a tonne each year, as well as reducing the number of collections required.

- Grow your own – Whether your establishment is based in the city centre or in a rural location, you can still grow your own produce. Fruit, vegetables and herbs grow anywhere, as long as there is a flat outdoor space.

- Reduce deliveries – Work with suppliers to ensure minimal deliveries on a weekly, if not monthly basis. Why not source and buy locally as often as you can?

- Energy saving – Does that cooker need to be on all day? Do those lights need to stay on at all times? The answer is probably not. Cut your energy bills by reminding staff to ‘Switch Off’

As the year of the dragon officially starts today, a year that is considered very lucky and said to bring prosperity and good fortune, Chinese families across the world will gather for a big reunion dinner or a home-cooked meal to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Below we have provided some tips for how your establishment can take part in the festivities:

- Provide a selection of lucky food on your menu. Most food eaten during the New Year celebration has a symbolic meaning to promote wealth, prosperity, health and happiness. A few examples include; dumplings, these resemble gold ingots and promote wealth; steamed fish represents having extra wealth, prosperity, health and happiness and tapioca pudding resembles pearls, symbolising prosperity.

- Dress your restaurant with yellow or gold decorations, which represent wealth. The colour red is one of the luckiest colours in the Chinese tradition standing for loyalty, success, and happiness.

- Provide complimentary fortune cookies to all your diners at the end of their meal.

- Lastly, why not, train your staff with little Chinese words for welcome or good night or “bon appetite” to add a special personal touch to their celebrations!

For many people, checking a social media account, forms an integral part of their mornings routine. So it comes as no surprise, that an increasing amount of companies are now taking full advantage of these free, yet, effective marketing tools, that are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Social media allows customers to interact with their favourite brands and follow daily updates as they unfold. By interacting with customers, in a non-sales related way, such as, running competitions, uploading photographs or videos of your products your brand will quickly becomes trustworthy and fun.

Below you will find some useful tips on how to get your business up to speed and become social media savvy.

- Be wary that this not a five minute job. Ensure you have the resources to monitor your social media network properly, respond to customers and keep on top of updates.

- Be interactive – hard sell doesn’t work! Quizzes, competitions and polls are the best way to draw feedback from your customers and help build loyalty.

- Address day to day experiences – highlight any positive news, tell clean jokes and talk about any local events.

- Be creative and enjoy!