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Despite the pressure that chefs face in their day-to-day jobs, there are ways to ensure better chances of success – and being as comfortable as possible while still dressing professionally and appropriately for the environment is one of those ways. Before getting a new job, you might need to check in to see if there is any specific dress code in place so that you can be compliant and ready to work. Still, there are always basics that any chef needs, no matter their workplace’s requirements. 

Along with having the necessary attire, here are a few tips to help you stay comfortable throughout your shift while working in a kitchen.

Choose the Right Pants

When you are dressing for your new job in a kitchen, you aren’t focusing on style. While hosts and servers at the front of the house might have a bit of leeway when dressing fashionably, working in the kitchen is all about being comfortable and dressing appropriately for the day’s work.

To that point, you will want to ensure that you stock up on comfortable bottoms that can see you through your shift. Men and women have unique shapes, so it’s important to get clothing for your bottom half. For instance, ladies will need quality chef pants for women designed specifically for their physique, enabling them to be comfortable on their feet in the kitchen all day. Such pants come in styles, colors, and fabrics that are purpose-made for kitchen work and will also be comfortable enough to wear all day long.

Invest in Good Shoes

In addition to wearing the proper clothing, it is also essential to ensure that you look after your feet when working in a kitchen. This means wearing breathable, comfortable socks and ensuring that you invest in some comfortable, supportive shoes.

As a chef, your choice of footwear isn’t going to be about being fashionable or stylish; rather, it will be about providing your feet with the support they need to carry you through those long shifts, so don’t get too caught up in how your shoes look – comfort is key.

Generally, it is worth spending a bit extra on footwear designed for working in the kitchen for long periods. This means finding shoes with good traction, solid ankle support, and cushioned soles to ensure maximum comfort. Plus, choosing a pair that’s easy to wash would not be a bad idea either; that way, you can easily and quickly wipe them clean at the end of the day.

Have a Stretching Routine

When your days are spent on your feet, it is crucial to ensure that you give your body what it needs to recover when you aren’t on the clock. As such, it can be helpful to develop a daily stretching routine that you can do outside of work. 

Being a chef is hard work – both mentally and physically – and you need to take care of your body if you want it to carry you through each shift. It’s not uncommon for chefs to experience aches and pains from being on their feet all day; therefore, focusing on stretches that target your back and your lower body can be a helpful solution that helps prevent issues in these areas. 

These will be the areas of your body that usually end up carrying most of the workload when you are working long shifts in the kitchen, which is why stretching these particular muscles daily is an important part of a chef’s routine that’ll see you lead a happier and healthier life – professionally and personally.

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However, many restaurant owners make horrible and embarrassing mistakes when buying patio furniture. In this article, we will help you avoid those mistakes easily by considering the factors mentioned below.

Never Forget to Measure Your Outdoor Space

No matter what type of patio furniture you are looking to buy, you should always measure your outdoor space before buying anything. This method applies whether you are looking for outdoor furniture in the local market, or online. Never rely on your eyeballs to measure the furniture and your outdoor space, and use a proper measuring tape for this purpose. You should also write down all the measures after taking them. You can use these measures to shop for the right restaurant patio furniture. You should leave enough space for walking in between when planning the layout of furniture in your restaurant’s outdoor space.

Ignoring The Build Quality

When you are shopping, you can easily get carried away by the shining colors newly displayed in furniture shops. However, you should never ignore the build quality and materials before investing in it.

Investing in substandard outdoor furniture is just like throwing your money down the drain. That is because low-quality furniture won’t be able to withstand the harsh weather conditions outdoors, and will only last for a small period of time.

If you do not know how to inspect high-quality furniture, you can ask an expert to help you, or you can read reviews of the manufacturer online before investing in them. Keep in mind that buying the right outdoor furniture is not as easy as you might think it to be.

You should ideally invest in metals and other materials which are made to withstand lots of harsh weather conditions and sunny days without getting much affected.

Related: How Interiors Affects Restaurants and Bars

Not Considering Your Location

Before you can invest in any outdoor piece, you should do some research on your local climate, and how different materials will act and perform in it.

For example, if you have your restaurant by the sea, the air in your local climate will have salt in it. This can cause lots of problems for certain types of metals used in outdoor furniture. The same goes for areas with trees that drip sap from them throughout the year. Colder areas can also have their own outdoor furniture requirements. So, you should consider all of these things related to your location when investing.

Not Trying Before Buying

You should always try every type of furniture before buying it. The same goes for restaurant outdoor furniture. You should try it before buying. Ideally, the furniture should both be comfortable and sturdy at the same time. This is needed to make it durable enough to withstand harsh weather conditions and different types of clients.

Some furniture pieces can be too harsh to sit on especially if they are made for elongated outdoor use. That is why you should always try the pieces before buying them no matter what.

You can also wait and read some online reviews about the furniture pieces you are about to buy. This way, you will be able to get long-term reviews from past buyers of the same pieces. This can save you a lot of money by avoiding buying substandard or uncomfortable outdoor restaurant furniture.

Not Protecting Your Restaurant Patio Furniture Properly

If you are spending a lot of money on outdoor furniture for your restaurant, it also makes sense to invest in proper protection. This means buying protective covers for every piece used in your restaurant patio. These covers are really cheap but can keep your furniture safe for years to come. For cushions and pillows, you should invest in a proper container that is waterproof as well.

This is more important if you are buying outdoor furniture at the end of the summer season. This way, you need protection even more in order to keep your outdoor furniture safe until the next summer.

Ignoring The Functionality Part

Since the restaurant patio furniture is used on a regular basis, you should invest in a large number of chairs to use outdoors. Moreover, if your restaurant is located in an area that gets very sunny in the summer season, you should invest in a patio umbrella to keep your customers away from direct sunlight. 

You can also consider the habits of your customers, there sitting and eating patterns, and then make any purchase decisions. You can invest in more small tables if you usually get small groups of customers in your restaurant. You should also invest in a few tables if you have a habit of keeping your drinks with you when out on your patio.

In the end, you can make your patio look perfect by adding a large rug underneath the patio furniture. This can help you ground your furniture, and introduce more colors to your outdoor space. A good rug can provide you with enough comfort to make you feel like you are inside your house. However, the color of your rug must match with the overall theme of your patio, and the outdoor decor of your property.

Conclusion

Thus, we can safely conclude that the biggest outdoor furniture buying mistakes can be avoided easily if you are well aware of all the factors to consider when buying it. Also, you should always invest in high-quality outdoor furniture which will last and serve you for a long time to come.

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With so many stories of long-time successful restaurants closing due to the current pandemic, you might think that opening a new one is only a recipe for disaster. While it is certainly a risky move to make, the restaurant business is one of the toughest industries to succeed. With the right planning, safety precautions, and commitment, finally opening a successful restaurant, you’ve always wanted doesn’t have to wait.

Follow Solid Examples of a Successful Restaurant

One prime example of a restaurant doing it right and finding success can be found in Hong Kong. Black Sheep, a popular restaurant enterprise co-founded by Syed Asim Hussain, is currently doing very well thanks to their committed efforts to keep their customers and staff as safe as possible. To name a few safety protocols Hussain and his team have created and enforced during this pandemic, every Black Sheep restaurant is required to:

• Make masks available and mandatory.
• Provide hand sanitizer throughout the restaurant.
• Increase sanitization efforts with an external agency deep clean every 10 days.
• Create a Health Declaration form for customers to fill out and mandate temperature checks.
• Set every other table to maintain distance between customers.

While many restaurants are closing, Black Sheep manages, and it’s partially thanks to their efforts to maintain a safe restaurant environment. Black Sheep’s COVID-19 guidelines aren’t just useful for them either. The business and its successful safety practices have been so effective that their guidelines have been picked up by Hong Kong government officials. Many of the internal guidelines from Black Sheep’s COVID-19 playbook are musts for all Hong Kong restaurants. The point co-founder Hussain especially notes, is to put safety before hospitality — at least for now.

While your restaurant is certain to face different challenges than those in Hong Kong, Black Sheep’s response is a great source to build an effective and successful foundation. While it can be tempting to hope things will return to normal by the time your restaurant is up and running, we still have no clue when that “normal” will return. Instead, work to address and adapt to the current problems you’re facing, even if you aren’t close to opening your doors quite yet. You’ll save yourself a lot of scrambling and stress later down the road.

Be Flexible with Your Ideas

When opening a successful restaurant mid-pandemic, it’s helpful to be flexible in your plans. While you might love the idea of starting your own brick-and-mortar place, it might not be the best choice right now. You have to consider the cost of renting a space and that overhead and the extra funds necessary to keep a large space as clean and COVID-19 free as possible.

A large space certainly leads to more opportunities to make money — more space means more seating. More seating means more customers; more customers mean more money, but it also presents more failure opportunities. Running at full capacity is also not a great idea right now and can even get you in trouble in some states.

With all of that in mind, it’s worth considering starting up a food truck. Of course, even a food truck still has overhead costs, and high-quality equipment isn’t exactly cheap. However, with a truck, you’ll have a lot more flexibility in how and where you serve customers. Food trucks are often held to much higher sanitation standards than restaurants, pandemic or not. You still have to keep in mind the high-risk customers. A food truck can be a viable option for those missing out on typical restaurant outings due to health concerns. This means, unlike in pre-COVID-19, a food truck could be better at reaching more customers than a dine-in one and potentially make you more money. All the COVID-19 precautions aside, you’ll still need a food handler certificate that is beneficial to any food truck business in ensuring all food safety and hygiene practices are observed during day-to-day operations.

If a food truck is not an option, though, then try taking a look at your to-go services. With limited seating for dine-in, you could make up for lost revenue by creating or enhancing to-go services. Besides your regular menu, offering to-go drinks like gourmet coffee and alcohol may attract more customers and increase foot traffic. You also don’t have to be an expert barista or mixologist either.

Learning to roast coffee beans or create signature cocktails is easier than you might think, and it’s a great way to bring in additional cash. It would also be a fun idea to add some simple, exclusive to-go menu items to really pique interest. You may not end up keeping the same services once the dust of COVID-19 settles, but for now, it could help make a positive difference in your revenue.

 Don’t Be Afraid to Be Social 

With so many people leaving their houses less often, you might struggle to get the word out about your new restaurant. Unlike in the past, when new customers would often wander into a new restaurant while shopping or doing errands, people tend to only go out with a particular purpose and place in mind now. To solidify your new place in the community, increasing your social media efforts is a must.

Currently, most businesses have a good reach online, considering people are scrolling through social media and using their phones a lot more now. From creating social-media-exclusive coupons and offers to implement a direct messaging system to sharing mouth-watering photos of your dishes, investing in your digital marketing can help catch the eye of more would-be customers. It’s also worth noting that major big-name companies like Disney and Coca-Cola withheld advertisements in a July boycott against Facebook. This could present an opportunity to buy ads on Facebook for a lot cheaper than you normally would.

Of course, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a walk in the park to run a business’s social media accounts. It takes a lot of planning, creativity, and commitment to be really successful in your social media efforts. Bringing on an experienced social media manager can help with this and take some of the pressure off your shoulders. While in the past, it was fair to question if you and your business even really needed a social media presence, living in these COVID-19 times, it now could mean the difference between success and failure.

Opening a successful restaurant during COVID-19 presents a whole new world of unique challenges. And while this pandemic situation isn’t forever, the things you learn during this time with likely be invaluable in the future. When in doubt, try looking at other restaurant success stories to keep you feeling motivated and ready to conquer whatever curveball the future throws next.

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Sketch – London, UK

London’s Sketch has so much going for it. First, it is historic, as the building dates back to the eighteenth century. Second, it is located mere blocks from bustling Oxford Street. Third, it serves as both a tea room and an upscale cocktail lounge.

And then to top it off, Sketch is decked out with pink velvet booths, a complementary coral bar back, and of course, millennial pink-painted walls, making it one of the most instagrammable restaurants in the world.

Also, it offers one of the best afternoon teas in London, boasting vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, and even gelatine-free options.   

Habanera – Madrid, Spain

A tropical and majorly Instagram-worthy paradise awaits at Habanera. This Madrid spot is covered in fresh greenery from top to bottom (seriously, plants are both on the ground and hanging from the ceiling.)

To complement the flora, there is a black and white tiled floor, bamboo light fixtures, and couch cushions in a variety of lively patterns.

Menu items vary, but in true Spanish-style, tapas is the specialty. Fresh pasta, tempura shrimp, carpaccio, cannelloni, flatbread pizza, and a classic hamburger are just a few of the items you can indulge in at Habanera (that is, when you’re not busy snapping pics.)

Hacienda Sydney – Sydney, Australia

Mint green and millennial pink is the color palette at Hacienda Sydney, a trendy bar in Australia’s largest city. If those on-trend hues aren’t enough to entice you, there are tall palms placed throughout, and a trellis ceiling complete with hanging vines and white wisteria.

Plus, Hacienda Sydney is located in Sydney Harbour, which boasts spectacular views of the renowned Harbour Bridge.

This means that whether you’re snapping pics with the view or bar in the background, you can bet it’s going to be ‘gram-worthy. In terms of food offerings, their menu mostly contains finger foods like pumpkin flowers, chicken sliders, prawn skewers, and tuna ceviche.

Meanwhile, cocktails range from Wild Ginger Julep made with bourbon-infused ginger, rosemary syrup, lemon juice, and mint to the Fresa Spritz comprising elderflower liqueur, strawberry syrup, soda water, and Prosecco.

Pietro NoLita – NYC, USA

In case you haven’t heard, NoLita is the neighborhood in which to see and be seen in Manhattan at the moment. Pietro NoLita is a tiny cafe-bistro tucked away on Elizabeth Street, offering healthy Italian fare in a retro, 1950s-style interior.

Pink tables, pink chairs, pink walls — you name it, it’s pink! They even painted the outside of the building pink for that perfect Instagram photo op. In terms of offerings, this eatery (open for lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on weekends) specializes in Italian classics like risotto, gnocchi, ravioli, grilled octopus and beef carpaccio. And, of course, don’t miss out on the chance to enjoy an authentic cup of Italian coffee (the to-go cups are as Instagrammable as the interior!). This cafe-bistro is on our list as one of the most instagrammable restaurants in the world. 

Read more:

• The Most Instagrammable Places in the U.S.
• The Most Impressive Patisseries in Paris
• Short & Sweet Bakeshop: The Most Instagrammable Bakery in Toronto

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