In the hospitality industry, whether you are running a hotel with food and beverage services or a managing full service restaurant or managing a catering company, pricing food is always the key to profits and it’s more important than ever before.

Our purchasing solutions will help you meet the needs of your diverse stakeholders. Your employees will do their jobs more efficiently and you will have help managing the financial expectations of senior management and, most importantly, it will help you provide exceptional guest experiences.

If your guests remember having a hot breakfast at one of your hotels, they will expect the same if they stay at another in a different location. Guests want the peace of mind that comes with knowing that when they stay at a specific hotel brand they will receive the same level of service and quality.

Here are Source1 Purchasing’s top 5 reasons why uniforms are important in the hospitality industry.

Centralized purchasing offers more opportunities for businesses than decentralized. “There were a lot of independent operators who were buying different levels of quality” from a wide range of suppliers, he recalled. His goal was to establish standards and work with brands already familiar to consumers rather than those geared exclusively for business use.

The commodity market for staples can always impact product costs and hotel operations. At Source1 we suggest alternatives and our volume leverage can maximize availability for our customers.

By rejecting products that don’t meet these (among many) standards, a chef sends a message to the supplier that can result in higher quality ingredients being delivered to their location.

Brackins concurs. “Now, myself and company management can concentrate on other aspects of running our hotel operation, particularly ensuring improved quality and an elevated guest experience.”

In the fast-paced, grab-and-go kitchen environment, time is everything. Although some ingredients and recipes are best made from scratch, bringing quality pre-made products into your kitchen can save time and ultimately make for a more efficient atmosphere.

While pre-made ingredients almost always create efficiency in any situation, using shelf-stable products can drive down food preparation time even more. Some foods require refrigeration, or have a certain shelf life time that needs to be carefully monitored—however, shelf stable foods allow you the flexibility to store them in either dry or refrigerated locations without affecting shelf life.

Integrating these types of products, such as shelf stable tortillas, can bring immediate benefits to your kitchen:

Storage flexibility. Shelf-stable means exactly what it sounds like: you can store these types of goods wherever it’s most convenient for you and your kitchen staff.

Less prep. In addition to the flexibility of storage, shelf-stable products are also ready to go right out of the bag, which means there is virtually no prep time—which allows orders to fly out the door even faster. Utilizing the benefits of shelf stability can satisfy customers’ increasing demand for fresher, more authentic food. While guests enjoy these benefits, you and your kitchen staff will benefit from the time and flexibility created by shelf-stable products.

Menu Trends Everyone Can Use

Top chefs and restaurants are experimenting with many new ideas to spice up their menu. With a little creativity, trends today can be repurposed for almost any scenario or occasions. Here are five ideas on how to incorporate some “hot” trends into menus.

1. Ethnic cuisine won’t go away! — Having menu items that include alternative flavors gives the diner more options. Sometimes an alternative is needed from traditional flavors to spice up a menu, so including ethnic flavors in simple way is a good idea. It keeps a menu current and exciting, while not being operationally too complex. Adding an ethnic item could be as simple as topping a burger with creative ingredients such as a raspberry-chipotle spread, cilantro-pecan pesto or even raspberry-avocado salsa. Cumin, coriander, and garam masala can also be used to add rich flavor to burger patties, giving them a bit of an Indian twist. Then top with a creative sauce and you have created something that is a real alternative to the traditional burger.

2. Exotic fruits allow experimentation — Similar to the idea of ethnic cuisine, having a menu item that incorporates a not-so-common fruit might intrigue a diner. Most often, fruits such as star fruit, guava, and blood orange are incorporated into desserts. According to the February 2015 FoodBytes by Datassential, these exotic fruits can “demonstrate the kitchen’s creativity and more worldly flavor profiles for progressive operators,” meaning that diners are often intrigued and impressed when they see a change from the expected.

3. Small plates let diners taste their way through dinner — Many people today like to try a bit of everything on the menu. This lends itself very well to small plates whereas a group of people can try many different flavors in the course of their meal, rather than just having an entrée to themselves. Luckily, this is not hard to do, as lessening portion size and informing diners that small plates are available is all it takes. That and encouraging them give it a try!

4. Sriracha is just one example of spice — Diners today are really enjoying spicy food. Sriracha sauce is being incorporated into everything from sandwiches to mac and cheese. Heinz has even created a new Sriracha-infused ketchup! Developing a few menu items that appeal to this spicy craze gives diners the option to enjoy a spicy meal, while also leaving plenty of options for those who are less inclined towards spicy foods. Simple executions could include adding a bit of Sriracha sauce to a traditional meatloaf or bowl of tomato soup. The sauce is versatile and can be added to many different menu types of food. This is an ingredient where it is easy to be imaginative

5. Seasonal items are always “in-season” — Seasonal flavors keep a menu from becoming boring, and actually suggest freshness for the establishment. This is especially true with desserts. Most people would not want to be eating pumpkin pie in the middle of the summer, and most people would not choose lemon sorbet off of a dessert menu in the dead of winter. Datassentials reports that “Seasonal special desserts are of particular interest to over half of consumers,” approximately 59%. Any restaurant can put their own spin on seasonal flavors. In the spring and summer, fresh, light, and cold work well for desserts. For example, a chocolate mousse with fresh berries. As the colder months approach, people crave warm desserts and home-y flavors such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Figs, dates, chocolate and butterscotch – think sticky cakes – and even traditional apple pie are all desserts or ingredients that point towards the desire for comfort in the cold weather months.