The Restaurant Industry Will Never Be The Same: We Reflect on 2018

Take a deep breath. You made it.

You didn’t just survive 2018 – you thrived in 2018. Somebody break out the kleenex, this girl has got the feels.

You tapped into the power of restaurant technology to streamline operational headaches and elevate the quality of your guest experience.  

You crushed your 2018 restaurant marketing goals and took some of the pressure off of customer acquisition in your restaurant by developing a winning customer retention strategy.

You mastered your metrics, created a restaurant forecast for the year ahead, engineered your menu for increased revenue, revisited your approach to inventory and purchasing decisions, increased your profit margins, and got your food and liquor costs under control.

You increased your restaurant’s staff retention rate, created an employee referral program, re-formatted your pre-shift meetings, explored new business models, and brushed up on predictive scheduling laws as well as the new minimum wage roll-out.

You listened, learned, and leveraged these insights and skills to create a memorable dining experience for every guest who visited your restaurant or placed an online order.

And so I raise my glass for a toast, to you, to us, to all we’ve accomplished together this year on The Toast Restaurant Management Blog. In keeping with this retrospective vibe, let’s take a look back at the posts and people who made this year everything we hoped for and then some.

Why We Do What We Do

Whether you joined us for the first time in 2018 or you're a veteran of The Toast Restaurant Management Blog, we want to thank you for supporting our work.

Because of you, we get to wake up every day and help restaurants around the world do what they love by doing what we love: creating bite-sized restaurant content to inspire, inform, and indulge in. We asked our readers to share ways that our content has helped their restaurant thrive; here's what they had to say:

• “I don't own a restaurant, but the Toast blog has inspired me as a Marketer to want my company's blog to look like yours! I'd say the blog helps keep me motivated.”
• “I utilize your amazing blogs to help manage and train my team.”
• “While my main role is in HR technology for restaurants, I also own two cast casual restaurants (“Freshii” franchises). Some of your marketing posts have been very helpful.”
• “Toast helped me get a better insight about the industry, which in turn allows me to offer better services.”
• “We use the posts in our ongoing training programs”
• “making sure we are staying on task with what we are doing”
• “It gives me ideas or concepts to use or remind me to get back to”

Your Favorite Pieces From This Year 

We asked, you answered. Below are just a few of the many 2018 blog favorites from our readers. 

• “How the gig economy can help restaurants succeed” [Click Here to Read]
• “The No call, no show” [Click Here To Read]
• “lots of them but restaurant trends in September and staffing” [Click Here, And Here, to Read]
• “restaurant marketing plan” [Click Here to Read]
• “How to open a Restaurant with No money” [Click Here to Read]
• “O' Maddy's Case Study” [Click Here to Watch]
• “the one about line-busting with tablets” [Click Here to Read]

Resources We Created This Year To Make Your Job Easier

A restaurant professional's work is never done. Nor is their job description set in stone. 

It's hard to wear multiple hats at once; we get it, and we want to help. Here are the ebooks, reports, whitepapers, webinars, and more we created this year to help make your job a little less stressful and your goals easier to accomplish:

• The Guest Experience Bootcamp
• Restaurant Success in 2018 Report
• The Evolution of The Modern POS System [Infographic]
• The Future of The Restaurant Industry Whitepaper
• Restaurant Productivity Calculator & Time Tracker
• How to Enhance Your Restaurant's Customer Engagement [Webinar with OpenTable]
• The No Call, No Show
• The Employee Retention Playbook
• Restaurant EMV in 2018
• Restaurant P & L Statement [With Customizable Template]

Our 20 Most Popular Posts from 2018 

Check out the 20 most popular posts our team created this year: 

• The 20 Best Excuses to Call Out of Work [Couldn't Make These Up If I Tried]
• 38 Catchy Restaurant Slogans (+3 Tips on How to Write a Slogan)
• How to Open a Restaurant With No Money
• How to Calculate Restaurant Labor Cost Percentage [Free Calculator]
• 10 Common Restaurant Health Code Violations & How to Avoid Them
• The Top 10 Restaurant Trends Spotted in 2018 So Far
• How To Calculate Liquor Cost in Your Bar or Restaurant
• How to Set Short and Long Term Goals for Your Restaurant
• How to Become a Bartender: 13 Tips, Steps, and Skills You Need
• What is a Corkage Fee? The ABCs of BYOW (Bring Your Own Wine)
• 11 Things You Should Know About Leasing Restaurant Space
• The Best Restaurant Shoes (and Worst Ones) to Wear at Work
• The Ultimate Guide To Restaurant Employee Benefits
• 40 Kitchen Slang Phrases to Know in Your Restaurant
• The 10 Most Influential Restaurant Groups and Enterprises in 2018
• The 10 Best Restaurant Ads of All Time
• 5 Nightclub & Bar Trends for Nightlife Professionals in 2018 [Podcast]
• 11 Restaurant Manager Interview Questions to Ask
• Let's 86 The 73% Annual Restaurant Staff Turnover Rate
• The Top 12 Restaurant Food and Tech Predictions for 2018

The Team Behind The Scenes

We're  an enthusiastic, ambitious bunch of  creators and storytellers who eat, sleep, and breathe restaurants. 

Not only do we have the pleasure of running one of the restaurant industry’s top blogs,  but we also host an industry leading podcast called The Garnish, and consistently create new tools and resources that enable restaurant leaders all around the globe to do what they love and delight their guests.

Allow us to re-introduce ourselves...

Allie Tetreault

Content Marketing Manager

Amanda McNamara

Content Marketing Specialist

Cassy Lee

Social Media Specialist

Gabby Pinto

Marketing Designer

Erin Burris

Marketing Manager - Design

Phil Wesson

Marketing Manager - Video Production

See You In 2019!

If you thought we did a lot in 2018, just wait until you see what we have in store for the year ahead. Thanks again for supporting The Toast Restaurant Management Blog : we can't do it without you!