Archive for September, 2009

One key aspect to running a profitable restaurant is managing the controllable costs, such as food, labor and supplies. With these, food can be the most difficult cost to handle.

Simultaneously monitor portion sizes, prevent theft, watch waste and order efficiently must be done in order to manage food costs effectively.

An inventory software will be able to help you identify accurately when your food costs are out of line. Using inventory control software will typically save you 1 to 2 percent of sales, and possibly will save you much more. And it’s savings that goes straight to your bottom line as profit.

A POS-based inventory control system, operators will easily spot and solve food cost difficulties apparent by just simply focusing on portion control. And when your employees know that the system is carefully keeping track, it can prevent more waste as well as theft.

A single restaurateur will be able to realize this lesson, when it comes to food cost problems, probably a week of using inventory control software.

Inside his restaurant, he’s portion controlling, yield testing and conducting physical inventory, but it wasn’t until he uses an inventory software where he discovers his inventory was out by exactly 20 pounds of blue marlin each week; coincidentally, a box weights exactly the same! Upon knowing, it was relatively that easy to identify the source of the problem: one of the prep cooks was stashing a box of goodies every Friday night.

Boosting the bottom line

In a typical restaurant point of sale inventory control program, the operator sets up the software by first entering their recipes and product costs. The system then tracks the restaurant’s ideal usage according on those recipes and actual sales.

The inventory control software can aslo track product usage in situations where some orders is not in line with the standard recipe. The operator can then do a physical inventory and generate reports compare it with the calculated ideal usage to be able to spot their differences. The software can be set up to track as many items as the operator chooses.

In a majority of restaurants, in their top 10 items 80 percent of their food cost problem. And you can schedule nightly counts of key items and weekly or even monthly counts of some other items.

Even an ounce of over-portioning 1 item per order can mean hundreds of dollars in a month for restaurants. By eliminating over-portioning on 100 orders per day for 30 days on a $1.67 per pound of one item, may well add up to more than $300.00 in savings or $3600.00 in a year!

Reduce waste and free up cash for other things! A better tracking and control of stock helps an operator reduce the amount of stock they keep on hand. Losses due to carrying too much extra inventory can add up to a loss of between 2% and 5 % on an average operator’s profit-and-loss statement.

According to one of our clients it was a lot of work to set up because they have a fairly extensive menu, and by helping them program it properly, we were able to drop their food cost by 2 to 4 percent – all of which went to their bottom-line profits.

So if you’re using a restaurant POS system or are deciding on a purchase make sure you understand the additional profits that you can reap and the “how to’s” by learning and properly using the inventory module of the system.

 


 

The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-Fof-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience in restaurant point of sale (POS) helping restaurants nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits.

Visit POS-Fof-Restaurants.com for more information on how our national network of restaurant point of sale professionals can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times.

 

 

Newly laid off from her work and suffering from COPD and asthma, Mary Brewer faces a lot of difficult issues. Once she lost her job in San Diego a few months back, she lost her healthcare insurance, too, and a few of her prescription medicine cost a bundle.

“Having to select between food, mortgage, and the utilities|power|gas bill|electric bill, I on occasion don’t choose my prescription medicine,” the 37 -year-old said. She shouldn’t be skipping her prescription medicine because it leaves her out of breath and light headed.

After contacting an private prescription assistance company, she is fully on her way to receiving the prescription drug help that she requires. The recession and the political discussion over health care change have caused more than a few of the pharmaceutical organizations to loosen up their program procedure.
Like the majority drug companies Merck for example, operates a prescription assistance program that provides prescription medicine, for free, to those who meet the requirements. The patient have got to have no health insurance or your presciption insurance coverage is lacking. A few months in the past Merck increased the earnings guidelines from 200 % of the federal poverty level to 400 percent.

Two other companies, Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca P.L.C., just announced they would ease their guidelines and permit laid off citizens to sign up, in spite of of how much they used to make. They still need to offer confirmation that they are on unemployment.

Paperwork remains a key hurdle, however, since several people need prescription medicine from a number of organizations and each company has their own forms that you have to fill out. It’s frequently a difficult process and every pharmaceutical company is a little different. Generally companies call for the physician to join in the process and largely still require proof of earnings. Denials for not completing the long forms perfectly are not uncommon.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance, an trade-sponsored group, says it has helped in excess of 6  million individuals over the last seven  years locate programs that help people without coverage receive their medicines for free.
Nowadays, she uses quite a few different ways to receive the help with prescriptions that she needs. She buys two  of the generic drugs she needs at Costco for $4 each, per month and four  of the extremely costly brand name prescription medication she receives for free directly from the pharmaceutical company.

She is still looking for employment and states “I’ll take on anything”. The last time she worked was in the fitting division for the cable company. Nonetheless, she is glad to have some support.”I am out of work and I have no healthcare insurance” she said. “Being able to find help with prescription medicine is incredible.”

Website Design in Gainesville in 2009 & Beyond

If website design in Gainesville is on your “todo” list, you should know that there are quite a bit of designers to choose from. Knowing what you are looking for in a website can definitely help you to choose the right person for the job.

Let’s face it… If your business doesn’t already occupy a spot on the internet, you are getting passed up by boat loads of potential new customers. Due to the current economic state, more people are surfing the internet than ever before. Phone Books and Yellow Pages are quickly becoming obsolete because people can find images and video of the things they are searching for without leaving their homes.

The rest of the world can access your talents, goods, and services through your website. It shows people your personality and the potential ways that you can help them. The internet is limitless place to do business because you can connect without physically being there. A website will work for you 24-7, allowing you to get back more of your time.Once you have it set up properly, it can do a multitude of things for you including contact information capture and sales.

Sometimes website design and development is misunderstood. Lots of people are designing websites, and almost anyone can do it. You should understand that your website will be worthless without a plan to market it. Having a site without a marketing plan is like having a car with no gas, or like having an awesome restaurant with great food and no one to eat it.

Some designers understand that, and others don’t. Knowing this can put you well on your way to finding the right person to build the website you envisioned. If you do not start this process, you will be left behind as the people who do get it move ahead.

Stimulates Business Productivity

Your home based business success can depend largely on how much you get done. Productivity quickly becomes central to your focus - how to do it all, and do it well.

5 Rules To Help Increase Your Home Based Business Productivity
1 - Create a big picture plan. Start from the end and work back.
2 - Have clear boundaries between work hours and family hours.
3 - Work on one project with complete focus at a time.
4 - Prepare ahead.
5 - Take your work time and your business seriously.

What is happening with the paper in your work area? Do you notice that you are sometimes having some ‘productivity issues’ because your paper is ‘running amuck’? Although it seems like a simplistic idea, the first action you need to take is to make sure you have a physical “in box.” Four ways to use your inbox to assist you are:

  1. Have one.
  2. Have one and only one in-box.
  3. Use your one and only one in-box for ALL kinds of paper (including mail, magazines, ideas that have popped in your head and you’ve written on a post-it® note, etc.)
  4. Process what is in your in-box - daily - to determine what you need to handle, discard, delegate, file, or other action.

Begin to work from the concept that your in-box is THE place for everything that is ‘incoming.’ If you don’t have a designated place, then it is all over the place… And you never know whether things are handled or not. This is not good.

One of the reasons that paper has a negative impact on productivity and an organization’s health is when you have items that need to be filed but aren’t. It may be that they aren’t filed because you don’t know what to call the item and other times, you don’t have someone who can file for you. There are any number of reasons. Not filing is a sure way to have your productivity pulse racing. If you have paper piled around, you’ve got responsibilities, tasks, projects, etc. that are piled around and buried.

Conclusion:

Remember that the fruits of labor are always delicious. The implementation of your strategies may take some time to show results but it will surely take your business opportunity to greater heights. Additionally, being optimistic and confident with your endeavors can make even the hardest tasks easy. What we think and believe can be achieved. Thinking is not all of it; neither is believing. It is the doing that gets the job done

Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez H.
Trabajar desde casa es fácil si sabes como
Todo sobre Juegos para gente que le gusta jugar
Encontrar un Trabajo – Empleo es fácil si sabe dónde buscar

Create Your Own 4-Hour Work Week

Serial Entrepreneur & Ultravagabond

Timothy Ferriss, author of the 4 Hour Work Week, is a self-described “serial entrepreneur and ultravagabond” who lives a lifestyle that most of us could only dream about — until now.

Ferriss presents a step-by-step guide to his free-wheeling lifestyle, allowing us to follow in his footsteps and realize lifelong dreams. Albert Pope, derivatives specialist at UBS World Headquarters, has called him “Indiana Jones for the digital age”.

This exciting book has been number one on three different best seller lists: Wall Street Journal, NY Times and BusinessWeek.

Replace Obsolete Assumptions

His basic premise is that we need to embrace the “Rules of the New Rich” instead of out-dated assumptions that limit our lives.

Entrepreneurs need to replace the limiting assumptions that prevent us from enjoying life now. We need to be able to manage our businesses, and our lives, from anywhere, anytime.

Freeing our time and increasing our mobility are pathways to the lifestyle of the New Rich (NR).

Rules of the New Rich

According to Ferris, the “Rules of the New Rich” include the following:

  • Retirement is Worst-Case Scenario Insurance
  • Interest and Energy are Cyclical
  • Less is Not Laziness
  • The Timing Is Never Right
  • Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission
  • Emphasize Strengths, Don’t Fix Weaknesses
  • Things in Excess Become the Opposite
  • Money Alone is Not the Solution
  • Relative Income is More Important than Absolute Income
  • Distress is Bad, Eustress is Good

The 4HWW Model

His model provides us with a roadmap for realizing our own lifelong dreams. He shows us how to:

  • Live like a millionaire
  • Free time and automate income
  • Outsource our lives to overseas virtual assistants for $5/hour
  • Travel the world without quitting our jobs
  • Eliminate 50% of our work in 48 hours
  • Trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and mini-retirements

He uses the DEAL acronym to describe his model, where:

  • D = Definition
  • E = Elimination
  • A = Automation
  • L = Liberation

He encourages us to use “Dreamlining” to design our own luxurious lifestyles. We can join the New Rich (NR) by focusing our current efforts on elimination, simplification and outsourcing.

Lifestyle Design (LD) incorporates elements of both art and science. Lifestyle Design (LD) relies heavily upon automation, i.e., building systems and processes that remove ourselves as bottlenecks. Don’t automate anything that should be eliminated, and don’t delegate anything that should be automated or simplified.

Carpe Diem!

Ferriss shows us how to recognize and seize opportunities that others don’t see. Along the way, you’ll come to realize that having options; i.e., the ability to choose, is the real power in life.

If you’ve ever wanted to work less and enjoy it more, read this book.

Tim Ferriss shows us how to apply our courage and self-confidence in realizing our lifelong dreams - easier and cheaper than we ever thought possible.  I plan to implement many of his ideas into my own life and am presently automating my income using the FREE MaxPro Report & Audio.

If you want to check out the resources Ferriss references in this book, he’s kindly provided extensive website references.

I highly recommend Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work Week book - and his website, as well. This is a great book that I recommend to every home business owner.

How To Stop Foreclosure - 3 Legitimate Solutions

A great resource: Stop Foreclosure Houston

To Stop Foreclosure in nearly any city in the United States of America, there are basically only a few legitimate options. Some of these you’ll know, and some will be brand new to you.

Here are a few directions you can take:

  • Sell your house prior to the foreclosure auction. The value of this idea will vary heavily depending on the nature and quality of your local real estate market. If you’re in a market that still has very slow resale rates, selling your home could be a challenge. Ask a local real estate agent to determine the average number of days on the market for properties in your area.
  • Initiate a loan modification. A loan modification is a process through which your lender changes the payment terms of your loan to more closely match your ability to pay. While this is not a guarantee, loan modifications have become more popular in the last 12 months.
  • Refinance the property. If you are not yet fully into the foreclosure process but have reason to expect you will fall behind on your payments, it may be wise to try to refinance your mortgage to a lower rate. If your property is worth less than the balance of the mortgage, you’ll want to inquire regarding a “short refinance”, which is when a lender forgives a portion of the debt against you in order for you to refinance your property and pay off the remainder of the debt you owe.

When you’re trying to stop a foreclosure, the key is fast action.

Warning: Be very wary of people who aggressively attempt to purchase your home for investment purposes. While there are many legitimate real estate investors, there has been a significant amount of fraud with “Stop Foreclosure” scams, and it is wise to be very, very careful.

Please remember: The crisis you now face will soon be over. As a foreclosure survivor myself, I’d like to encourage you to remain hopeful, and to understand that your future does not equal your past!

Thanks for reading this information about how to stop foreclosure. I hope you’ve found value here.

A superb resource: Stop Foreclosure Houston

To Stop Foreclosure in nearly any city in the United States of America, there are basically only a few legitimate options. Some of these you’ll know, and some will be brand new to you.

Here are a few directions you can take:

  • Sell your house prior to the foreclosure auction. The value of this idea will vary heavily depending on the nature and quality of your local real estate market. If you’re in a market that still has very slow resale rates, selling your home could be a challenge. Ask a local real estate agent to determine the average number of days on the market for properties in your area.
  • Initiate a loan modification. A loan modification is a process through which your lender changes the payment terms of your loan to more closely match your ability to pay. While this is not a guarantee, loan modifications have become more popular in the last 12 months.
  • Refinance the property. If you are not yet fully into the foreclosure process but have reason to expect you will fall behind on your payments, it may be wise to try to refinance your mortgage to a lower rate. If your property is worth less than the balance of the mortgage, you’ll want to inquire regarding a “short refinance”, which is when a lender forgives a portion of the debt against you in order for you to refinance your property and pay off the remainder of the debt you owe.

When you’re trying to stop a foreclosure, the key is fast action.

Warning: Be very wary of people who aggressively attempt to purchase your home for investment purposes. While there are many legitimate real estate investors, there has been a significant amount of fraud with “Stop Foreclosure” scams, and it is wise to be very, very careful.

Please remember: The crisis you now face will soon be over. As a foreclosure survivor myself, I’d like to encourage you to remain hopeful, and to understand that your future does not equal your past!

Thanks for reading this information about how to stop foreclosure. I hope you’ve found value here.

Why Use CMMS When You Already Have EAM or ERP?

Meeting the needs of business in today’s economic climate encourages CMMS provider to enhance the functionality and usabilty of their products.

1. Increased functionality

Today’s maintenance systems have a broad range of sophisticated functionality, and the more powerful systems provide:

  • Work schedules produced systematically
  • asset type maintenance schedules
  • Stock control enhanced over long time periods
  • Equipment issues recorded and alerts issued
  • Flexible asset register creation with the ability to trace components
  • Project management capabilities
  • Shutdown planning capabilities
  • Immediate access to key documents, photographs and AV training aids
  • Real-time distribution of information by email, text message and web

 

2. Greater systems integration<>Maintenance Management is increasingly believed to hold the key to profitability and now features in most enterprise management tools. The Alphabet spaghetti that is CMMS, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) systems, all claim to deliver maintenance management capabilities. A CMMS delivers specific information to meet the needs of the maintenance team and can provide information to increase profitabity. To gain the benefits of efficient maintenance and receive enterprise wide information management, businesses need to link a flexible computerized maintenance system with their ERP or EAM system.

3. PDA based systems enable mobile maintenance

Today Maintenance Engineers are on the move more than ever. Over the last 5 years the meteoric rise of wireless communications has enabled CMMS suppliers to support the need for mobile maintenance the computerised maintenance management system. To support greater mobility and flexibility, new PDAs have been introduced. Mobile technology. The following areas are where CMMS benefits are most obvious:

  • Monitoring of assets
  • Maintenance project scheduling
  • Parts inventory and stock movement
  • Text/email alerts for critical breakdowns minimise downtime

4. Easy capture, dissemination and access for personel

As an important aid in the fight for increased productivity, a CMMS should be used widely across the organization by appropriate staff. We inhabit a world with a multi-ethnic workforce where employees’ computer skills vary markedly.
Intuitive, simple dashboards encourage all employees to contribute to and “own” the system. There is considerably less need for training when the interface is “familiar” to staff. Where manual data entry is required, text editors and pop up calendar scheduling makes text entry straightforward. Functionality on up-to-date systems allows job completions and adjustments to be changed all at once.

A considerable advantage of computerised mainenance management systems is their ability to easily trap and disseminate data. With an aging workforce, documenting and collaborating on procedures for the next generation of maintenance engineers is critical. The effective computerised maintenance management system packages enable staff to locate and attach several files to both work orders and tasks and link multiple standard texts with a task. Some systems allow for multiple users to share the same PC, with user configurable desk-tops and reports.

5. Enhanced visibility

Maintnenance managers are able to spot progress of projects, current problems and the position of important assets. Reports allow managers to analyse the value provided by the maintenance department. Shared ownership of data promotes effective improvements across the workplace. The economic climate has forced companies to review the performance of its maintenance operation. The maintenance team holds the key to maximising assets, minimising downtime and controlling costs.

CMMS investment is vital if asset management is to move in a proactive direction, driven by effective equipment maintenance.

This article outlines simple pragmatic steps to resolve many of the root causes of computer errors. Each recommendation can usually be implemented in less than 15 minutes.

Most Common Computer Errors - Computers have brought dramatic changes in our day to day lives, yet like any machine, they need regular maintenance and upgrade. There are many simple tasks which will fix computer problems and prevent errors.

In the majority of cases, errors exist in the EXE, DLL and driver files. This takes place often due to invalid or corrupt entries in the registry. These files are essential as they are referenced in the registry and used by the computer to function correctly. Damaged or corrupt registries lead to random computer responses and this dramatically slowing down any system.

Run Defragmenter - To begin with, run a disk defragmenter. This operation reorganizes the way information is stored on the hard disk (the parts of the many files on the disk are stored closer together and contiguously).Defragmenter also creates larger regions of free space using compaction and this enables your computer to find information on the hard drive faster as well as reduce many errors.

Registry Scan - In order to fix computer errors in the registry, it is also advisable to complete periodic registry scans, as this enables unwanted data to be detected and subsequently deleted. This operation can be done easily using any popular registry fixing software. There are many registry repair programs which also have the functionality to complete registry maintenance tasks, for instance deleting undesirable programs such as viruses and spyware, scanning and fixing computer errors in the registry, in addition they can backup the computer registry and defragment the hard disk. Click on fix computer errors for more information.

Remove Spyware and Viruses - Spyware and virus programs create most of the computer errors. Computer viruses are malicious programs which often adversely impact computer performance. This contrasts with spyware, which often copy malevolent software onto the hard disk which are later used to steal confidential information. Frequently, this code is subsequently transmitted later for further malevolent use. Fixing computer errors requires a common sense approach, which entails updating any anti-spyware and antivirus tools. Click on adware and spyware removal for more information.

Fix Boot Sector - Faulty programs, in addition to virus infections can also damage computer boot sectors, and this can prevent the system from booting. In order to fix computer errors, which relate to booting, it is advisable to use the relevant operating system booting CD usually provided with your computer. For example, the Windows XP boot CD is helpful to repair the Windows XP installation.

Upgrade Your RAM - Insufficient memory is another source of errors, which can lead to various computer problems. Usual symptoms of these problems include the system crashing, blue screen, system hanging, sudden reboot and programs crashing and becoming unstable. Fixing computer errors that relate to memory can often be achieved with freeware, which help resolve RAM and related issues. These programs are easy to use and also grealy improve computer performance. In addition it is highly advisable to complete a computer memory test.

Click on fix registry problems for more information.

Most Adware are undesirable - Adware are programs designed to display ads, which can also dramatically slow down your computer and cause issues. They adversely impact computer response times by using RAM and PCU resources and often reducing the speed of any internet connection. This article gives four simple rules to eliminate Adware from any computer.

Rule 1: Use Adware remover software - Our recommended solution is simply to use an adware removal software and follow some simple steps to prevent undesirable adware installation on your computer. Adware removal software - free versions can be tried first - Using the free version of any popular adware removal software is usually very easy. This method is a good one, to check if a software meets your needs as well as experience any support and customer service. Click on how do I get rid of adware for more information

Rule 2: Avoid P2P- It usually pays to be cautious with the programs you download from the internet. For instance some software tools should be avoided, for example those delivered using Peer to Peer networks (Peer to Peer/ P2P). Many of these software intrude computers to install adware, (whether or not their publishers would admit to it), and in practice leave computers vulnerable to virus attacks. This is a problem for many users who rely on Peer to Peer networks to share film content and music. You should make a conscious decision on whether or not to use Peer to Peer networks, and in that event use a popular adware removal program soon after downloading any file from any P2P network in order to eliminate any adware.

Rule 3: Stay clear of “weird” emails - Another good way to prevent the installation of adware on any computer is simply not to open any emails from unrecognized sources, especially if they contain attachments. Remember, if an email title looks too good to be true then it is probably a scam anyway so hit “Delete” instead of opening it. Click on how to remove spyware for more information

Rule 4: Disable cookies -  Unless you know and trust the site you are browsing, you should disallow cookies. Cookies were once meant to make browsing the Internet easier by enabling websites to recognise you, but cookies also open the door to adware, including spyware which are programmed to copy and send important user information, which can ultimately end up in the wrong hands.

Click on how to remove adware for more information.

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