Candles as Condiments?

Who knew candles are good for more than Michigan Restaurant mood lighting?  According to a Food Network Magazine article, cooks in one Chicago restaurant are using candles as condiments.  Chef's at David Burke's Primehouse make edible candles out of bacon and beef drippings.  The wicks are coated in vegetable wax.  They use these edible candles to finish dishes with a few drops for flavor.  Not living in Chicago?  You can still try this trick yourself at home by ordering candles from the restaurant.  Just light one and add a little bacon flavor to your salad.  Perhaps Restaurants in Michigan should give this trick a try.  It is certainly a way to add a little "wow" to your menu.

Looking for interesting restaurants in Michigan or an interesting way to market your Michigan restaurant?  Visit http://www.miflavor.com/ to learn about a fantastic Michigan restaurant advertising opportunity or call 248.302.2738 to speak with an account representative.

How Michigan Bars and Restaurants Can Retain Current Customers and Attract New Diners with Their Daily Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Drink Specials

So you've put together a collection of fantastic daily breakfast, lunch, dinner and drink specials.  Your chef has worked ceaselessly on his or her signature dishes to highlight on the dinner specials menu.  You've decided which drinks to feature for your happy hour.  You have a fantastic breakfast special that rivals any morning fare available.  My question to you?   How can you use these specials to bring in new diners and retain your current customers?  And perhaps more importantly how do diners find out about these specials? 

I've asked this question of restaurant after restaurant.  Answers vary from "we post them on the board in the entryway" to "we put them up on our sign" to my favorite "we post them on table toppers".  Those are all fine answers.  The problem?  No one is going to know about your specials unless they were either already walking through your door or just happen to be driving by your establishment slowly enough to read your sign.  You're definitely not getting the most out of your specials.  Your specials should be attracting new business.  Your specials should be drawing diners back into your Michigan restaurant for repeat business.

The only way a restaurant in Michigan can use its breakfast, lunch, dinner and drink specials to attract new business or draw repeat business is if potential diners know about these specials ahead of time.  Wouldn't it be great if customers could search the web specifically for such specials?  Wouldn't it be great if diners could search for a type of special in a specific city or area and get a full list of establishments that match that diners search?  Guess what?  Now, they can.


Michigan Flavor is a fully interactive, online Michigan restaurant and bar directory that allows users to search for establishments by location, cuisine, features, specials and events.  Each restaurant or bar with an enhanced listing on the website has a dedicated page complete with photo gallery, contact information, map and directions, hours of operation, a description of your establishment, links to your website and social media sites, your menus and perhaps most importantly, your breakfast, lunch, dinner and drink specials.  So how can you use this enhanced listing of your specials and events to attract new diners and retain current customers?


If a Michigan restaurant or bar has an enhanced listing on miflavor.com, potential diners can browse that establishment's daily breakfast, lunch, dinner and drink specials or events.  If a user is looking for a happy hour in a specific city and your Michigan bar has listed your happy hour, chances are that user may walk through your door and become a valued customer.  If a user is looking for a place to hold a breakfast meeting and your restaurant's breakfast specials are listed, chances are, that breakfast meeting will take place in your establishment.  If a couple is looking for a new place to have a date night and your dinner specials are listed, that couple will probably end up with a reservation at your restaurant.


The point is this, if your establishment has great daily specials and exciting weekly events, you should be shouting them from the rooftops instead of hoping customers will happen upon your establishment by chance. Given that according to a recent Google study 90% of Americans use the internet to search for information about Michigan bars and restaurants, listing your specials and events online increases the chances of your specials and events being found by potential customers exponentially.  Michigan Flavor offers your establishment the opportunity to take full advantage of the power of your fantastic specials and popular events.  When users go to the site, they can search specifically for the kinds of things that your restaurant or bar specializes in.  It's time you started capitalizing on this phenomenal opportunity.

To learn more about Michigan Flavor, visit the website at http://www.miflavor.com or call 248.302.2738 to speak with an account representative.  An enhanced listing on Michigan Flavor restaurant and bar directory offers your Michigan restaurant or bar the chance to attract new customers and to turn your current diners into regulars.  With our mobile version up and running and our I-phone application in development, the opportunities for your establishment to be seen are endless.  Don't miss out on this one of a kind opportunity to become a part of our directory of Michigan bars and restaurants.

Restaurants and Institutions Magazine’s 2009 Menu Census: Top food items restaurant owners across the industry rely on to bond their menus.

Every two years,  Restaurants and Institutions polls  commercial and noncommercial restaurant owners and managers to communicate what is currently anchoring their menus and what they're considering adding. Below is a depiction of what's frequently featured on their menus mounting sales and garnering the most attention.

Appetizers: Commercial

1. chicken wings
2. Chicken Strips/fingers/tenders
3. Onion rings
4. Mozzarella sticks
5. French fries

*Items commercial restaurants may perhaps include in their menus: Mini burgers, flatbreads, stuffed jalapenos/peppers.

Appetizers: Noncommercial

1. Chicken strips/fingers/tenders
2. Chicken wings
3. Chips and salsa and garlic bread (tie)
4.  Mozzarella sticks
5.  Nachos

Items noncommercial restaurants may perhaps include in their menus: Mini burgers, bruschetta, Asian lettuce wraps.

Center of the Plate Proteins: Commerial Seafood        

1. Salmon
2. Grilled/broiled/sautéed shrimp
3. Scallops
4.  Breaded and fried shrimp
5. Crab cakes

Center of the plate proteins: Commercial Meat

1.  Rib eye steak
2. Filet mignon
3. Strip steak
4. Pork ribs
5.  Prime rib/sirloin steak (tie)

Center of the plate protein: Commercial Poultry

1. Grilled Chicken breast
2. Chicken strips/fingers/tenders
3.  Chicked wings
4. Sliced turkey
5. Grilled/broiled chicken

*Center of the plate proteins commercial restaurants are considering adding to their menus: Calamari, crab cakes, hanger steak, short ribs, duck, chicken pot pie.

Center of the plate proteins: Noncommercial seafood

1. Canned tuna
2. Cod/scrod
3. Breaded and baked fish portions
4. Breaded and fried shrimp
5. Tilapia

Center of the plate protein: Noncommercial Meat

1. Meatballs
2. Meatloaf
3. Roast Beef
4. Beef stew
5. Baked ham

Center of the plate protein: Noncommercial poultry

1. Chicken strips/fingers/tenders
2. Sliced turkey
3. Turkey breast
4. Chicken nuggets
5. Grilled chicken breast

*Center of the plate proteins noncommercial restaurants are considering adding to their menus: Scallops, tilapia, beef and pork ribs, chicken pot pie, rotisserie chicken.

Side Dishes: Commercial Potatoes

1. Straight cut french fries
2. baked potatoes
3. Mashed Potatoes

Side Dishes: Commercial Vegetables

1. Broccoli
2. Mushrooms
3. Carrots

*Side dishes commercial restaurants are considering adding to their menus: Sweet-potato fries, house-made potato chips, asparagus

Side Dishes: Noncommercial Potatoes

1. Plain mashed potatoes
2. Baked potatoes
3. Straight cut French fries

Side Dishes: Noncommercial Vegetables

1. Broccolli
2. Carrots
3. Green Beans

*Side dishes noncommercial restaurants are considering adding to their menus: Sweet-potato fries, spiral/curly/waffle fries, steamed/grilled vegetable platter, sugar snap peas.

Desserts: Commercial Desserts

1. Brownies
2. Hard Ice Cream
3. Cookies
4. Bread Pudding     
5. Creme Brulee

Desserts commercial restaurants are considering adding to their menus: Mini desserts, crème brûlée, cobblers/crisps, dessert samplers/flights

Desserts: Noncommercial Desserts

1. Cookies
2. Brownies
3. Fresh fruit
4. Cobblers/crisps
5. Bread pudding

*Desserts noncommercial restaurants are considering adding to their menus: Gingerbread, mini desserts, frozen yogurt, éclairs/cream puffs. 

Resource:-- Restaurants and Institutions, 12/16/2009 10:51:00 AM

Read More:

2009 Menu Census Data: Breakfast

2009 Menu Census Data: Soups, Salads and Sandwiches

For a fully interactive directory of Michigan Restaurants, visit www.miflavor.com or users on the go can visit our mobile version at http://mobile.miflavor.com.  Search for Michigan restaurants based on a variety of features and cuisine types, browse photo galleries, download, view and print menus, search Michigan dining specials and events and so much more.  www.miflavor.com is the only Michigan dining resource you'll ever need.