The holidays have officially arrived! With the passing of Black Friday, shoppers are off and running and building up an appetite as they try to complete a list of tasks while the clock ticks down the seconds to the big day. Draw in diners this holiday season by adding a few festive touches to your menu or specials list. AGAR has years of experience providing solutions and can help provide fresh proteins, seasonal produce, spices and other ingredients to help your establishment create a festive menu. Embrace the spirit of the season and consider the suggestions below to attract diners looking to slow down and refuel for a moment during the holiday rush. 

Celebratory specials and entrees: The extra tasks and running around created by the holidays can generate generous appetites. Offering festive yet satisfying meals can draw in diners looking to quiet their grumbling stomachs while staying merry. A traditional Christmas dinner will delight those with more conventional tastes; glazed ham, mashed potatoes and a side of lemon broccoli is a satisfying and delicious meal. For something festive although a bit more edgy, the addition of a sourdough strata may be a good entrée choice. The bread-based dish is festive in appearance with red tomatoes and greens creating a sumptuous and filling meal.

Amplify your bar menu: The holidays are a time for socializing and many pop into restaurants to share a quick drink and appetizer with friends or co-workers to celebrate. While conversing, customers will enjoy sipping on festive cocktails A few fun appetizers with a holiday theme will accompany a few drinks and help maintain a merry mood in your restaurant.

Add seasonal desserts: ‘Tis the season for indulgence and sweets! The holidays can tempt even the most steadfast waist watchers to partake in delicious desserts so add a few tasty treats to your menu. Pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, gingerbread men and individual mini bread puddings can create a delicious ending to a perfect holiday meal or delight those who enter your establishment looking for a cheerful taste of the holidays. Menu additions like the 12 desserts of Christmas can further add to a joyous restaurant atmosphere and keep diners coming back over the holidays.

Festive décor and holiday music help diners enjoy the spirit of the season after long days in the cold picking out a tree or at holiday festival. Keep AGAR in mind while creating your holiday menu this month. We will provide the best quality ingredients for the cheeriest and tastiest menu to keep people joyful this time of year.

We have just seen the results and the first official weekend of holiday shopping has proved to be great for retailers. With sales up and more people out there shopping, there just has to be more hungry people, right?

Yes, we’re guessing they are hungry but they also want a good value. The economy is still not in the best of shape and anything you can do to offer more value to potential customers, the better off you’ll be. While they may be hitting the stores to purchase all types of gifts, they are still watching how they spend their money on food. So how do you bring them in during the holidays?

-Offer value: Nothing builds traffic better than good food at a great price. Take a look at your menu and see if you can beef it up with some holiday specials. Book a quick visit in our Test Kitchen and see if we can come up with a few great additions to the menu that speak value to your customers.

-Create Loyalty Programs: We have heard of operators creating value programs when if their customers spend a certain amount during the holiday season, they get gift cards or rewards they can use later in the year. It’s an old cliché but think out of the box on this one and create your own value-added promotions.

-Promote Holiday Parties After the Holidays: We are all busy with all that is happening during the holidays. You have your holiday party, your spouse’s party, the kids school play, etc… More and more people and companies are having holiday parties after the holidays. Promote this and you may even see an uptick in business in January when most restaurants are slow.

We have a wealth of knowledge here at this wholesale food distributor and I’ve always said, we are much more than that. We provide solutions for every time of the year. Make this time of the year busy and profitable.

We shot a short video last year on holiday ideas. Check it out.

So it’s been a number of weeks since our food shows and a great time to remind you what you may have missed or if you did attend, what you saw that we can remind you of again…

We saw over 100 new products at our fall food shows; everything from flavored pizza dough, to new pasta items, deserts and great meats and cheeses. We also saw some incredible savings that if you missed our food shows, well, you missed the special pricing too.

You know by now that this wholesale food distributor is much more than that; we are a solutions provider. We help restaurant operations of all sizes stay profitable, make more money, build more traffic through their doors and create raving fans through many of our innovative product offerings and brands.

We do that be constantly looking at new ideas and products and making sure we are providing you the customer with the products and tools to build and maintain a profitable operation. I think we really hit a home run this year when it came to offering new things.

Take a peek at the video below and see just a few of the new products AGAR is now carrying. And stay tuned for the dates for our annual April Food Show.

I was asked by my good friend Jeffrey Davis of Mage, a business consulting group to come on his radio show. His show called Mind Your Own Business is a show for entrepreneurs and always has great guests on it with great advice. I will be on his show MYOB on Tuesday November 22nd between 2-3 PM. You can hear the show on these stations below or stream online at:  http://www.moneymattersboston.com/

-WBNW 1120 AM – Needham, MA
-WPLM 1390 AM – Plymouth, MA
-WESO 970 AM – Southbridge, MA

We have had a good year here at AGAR and we’ll talk a little bit about what it took to get through a year like this. AGAR as you know has been following the cost of food and in the past couple of years, we have seen a roller coaster when it comes to food costs. We’ve tried very hard to keep the closest eye on these costs for both you the restaurant operator and of course ourselves so we can continue to offer great products and solutions to you.

We’ll talk a little bit about that and a few others things so please, take time out of your busy schedule and give us a listen.

Many look forward to the traditional Thanksgiving feast all year and the opportunity it presents to indulge in roast turkey and traditional dishes featuring foods abundant during the fall season.  The holiday dinner based in giving thanks and spending time with friends and family however, is not always celebrated conventionally.

The National Restaurant Association recently reported they estimate up to 14 million Americans dining out this Thanksgiving and an additional 16 million Americans ordering take-out to supplement their Thanksgiving dinner. This wholesale food distributor has a long history of working with restaurants to provide the best products, services and solutions to create the best Thanksgiving experience for your diners. Our recipe for success offers a few simple solutions to maximize business this upcoming holiday:

• Keep it affordable: Many dine out on Thanksgiving as the cost of a complete holiday meal is expensive as all items for a traditional meal add up. Keeping menu options affordable can give diners the taste of the holiday at manageable prices and manageable portions.
• Keep it delicious:  Fresh ingredients create a delectable and memorable dinner. Fresh turkey and seasonal vegetables accented with seasonal spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and rosemary create the taste of the holiday and compose a comfortable experience for diners.
• Keep it festive: Celebrate Thanksgiving with commemorative décor in your establishment by adding a few festive touches like: candles, decorative table cloths and centerpieces or place seasonal garnishes on each plate. A few special seasonal cocktails can also create a cheerful mood in your restaurant.
• Keep it friendly: It is always best to hire great service staff as they are the face of your establishment. However for the holidays, it is nice for everyone to be on their best behavior. Many dine out on Thanksgiving as they are away from home; away from friends and family. Exceptional service can create a comforting atmosphere which helps diners enjoy their entire meal.

AGAR provides affordable, quality meats, produce and additional ingredients that create a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner with all the delectable fixings for your diners. Our mission is to set your business apart by offering the best and most affordable products. Our years of experience can aide in creating an exceptional holiday dining for customers that leaves them full of great food and great memories.

There’s still time to create great menu times for this holiday season so give us a shout.

We are beginning to see much more operators and restaurants use more pork in various dishes and it’s becoming a nationwide trend. One main reason we may be seeing this is the sharp rise in beef prices across the country. For a whole host of reasons, we are seeing beef prices go up at an historic rate. From fuel costs to world market conditions, we are seeing these prices continue to rise.

Pork is not only becoming a great alternative for restaurants but it’s also becoming part of other dishes. I recently read a report that stated across the country, we are seeing an average of seven percent more pork mentions in menus in restaurants.

Everything from additional menu items to side dishes and complements to existing recipes, we are seeing a trend. So what’s your new trend?

Have you taken some time to take a look at your menu and see if you can create some new options with pork? Believe it or not, last month was National Pork Month. Don’t believe me? Check it out here.

So why pork?

-Pork is low in fat and a great alternative to higher fat content proteins.

-Pork is versatile. You can create a ton of different recipes with pork in all is shapes and sizes and cuts.

-Right now, pork is less expensive than other proteins such as beef.

Need more reasons? Contact me in our Test Kitchen to take a look at your menu and lets see what we can do to put more pork in your menus.

There are so many days just made for this wholesale food distributor and one that is just right up our alley is National Sandwich Day; November 3. We have a lot of food days we get excited about around here but as we are the pizza and sub experts in this Boston region, we know sandwiches of all kinds and know how to create excitement around this staple of our food society.

How can you celebrate National Sandwich Day? Well you can celebrate it any time you want, not just today. Take a look at your menu and see if you’re missing something. Take a chance and develop a new sandwich and create a special. In this day, many people are looking for value and a sandwich might just do the trick.

Offer alternatives. You can go healthy and you can go man style with a huge sandwich. We recommend both here at AGAR. For healthy, go with a pita salad sandwich with some light cheese and dressings. For the hungry guy who may have been hooking up electricity in the Northeast for the past five days, create a huge sub that the ordinary person might take home for another meal.

Do you have a local celebrity in your community or a mayor that might want his or her name on a sandwich? Team up with them and make their favorite sandwich one of your specials. Many places have done this with great success.

My advice? Just run with it. Throw some ingredients on the cutting board and see what you come up with. Make it fun and make it profitable for you.

Do you want to spend some time going over your sandwich menu and coming up with new ideas? Take a look at the video below about our Test Kitchen and then give us a shout to book a visit. We’ll create some winning combinations together to make you even more money in your operation.