Recent conversations with some of our customers have lead to the age old question “What can I do to bring more customers in?” As the head of the AGAR test kitchen, that question is one of the most commonly asked questions we hear. Let’s start with the kids. If you have young ones, you know that most likely, depending on their age, you will go where they feel comfortable or places that have menu items they will eat. But there comes a time that you may want to mix it up a little and see if you can generate new customers with different ideas for the kids.

Here are a few simple ideas to ponder…

-Revisiting your Children’s Menu.  A lot of us have gotten “stuck in a rut” in regards to what we offer. 

-Start to approach your children’s menu like your “House” menus. 

-Look at the seasons…add a warm apple crisp or a pint sized strawberry shortcake instead of a hoodsie cup. 

-Piggyback nightly specials with a kid sized portion.

-Create a Children’s Menu based on “kid” sized portions using items off your existing menu.

Those of us with children are often “encouraged” by our little ones as to what or where to eat and if we can create a “buzz” with the kids while keeping mom and dad happy as well, everyone will win. How many times have you had to leave a restaurant because the kids did not want to eat there or they were done well before the parents were? Just another friendly piece of advice from AGAR, your New England wholesale food distributor. We offer more than just food products, we offer our years of expertise.

Now that fall is here and we’ve had a few cold days to remind us of what’s coming, I thought I would keep that warm summer feeling alive by giving you some great beef ideas. One of the best cuts of beef in my opinion is the Rib eye. It has great flavor and with a little help from some of our sauces here at AGAR, you can have a great new addition to your menu that will have beef lovers coming back for another shot at this great Rib eye recipe. Thank your New England wholesale food distributor for this fine recipe.

Ingredients,                            Amount

Creekstone Rib eye,                  1 (14# ave)

Canadian Steak Seasoning,     5 Tbl

Dijon Mustard,                            1 cup

Horseradish Sauce,                  1 cup

Dried Rosemary,                        3 Tsp

Preparation Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, combine steak seasoning, Dijon mustard, horseradish sauce and dried rosemary.  Mix well and spread evenly over roast. Preheat oven to 400 f.  Once preheated, cook roast for approx 18-20 min per pound.

Assembly:

Once roast has reached desired doneness. 130 rare, 140 medium and 150 well. Allow it to rest 20 minutes before slicing.

As the CEO of a wholesale food distributor near Boston, I recently had a chance to talk with our Corporate Executive Chef, Jeff Merry who runs AGAR’s Test Kitchen. What’s different about this conversation is that we’ve done it on our new video blog. By the way, many more video blogs on topics you’ll find interesting and informative are coming soon.

Chef meets with many AGAR customers during the course of a week to help owners and operators of independent restaurants come up with new ideas while focusing on profitability and bringing in more customers. Chef recently had a visit from the folks at Brother’s Deli near Boston and the results were well received. See my conversation with Chef Merry about the Test Kitchen process and how successful it can be for a small independent restaurant.