Having spent a combined 100+ years working in restaurants, our team understands the stress. The sick calls, the never-ending reservations and wait times, the intense prep before every shift, and four hours of sleep every night while you think about how you’re going to get through another 14 hour day. 

Team Ameego is based in Canada and living in the frozen tundra for half the year really makes us appreciate a good patio. Canadians count the days until they can eat outside, and we know that we’re not alone in this. According to a study by the Simons Advisory Group, a great outdoor space can help increase restaurant profits by up to 30 percent. So how do you get in on that action?

Now that you’re using Ameego for scheduling (RIGHT?!) you have a lot more time on your hands to focus on the other things that go into making a restaurant successful, like marketing! A strong knowledge of how to promote your business is key to making sure your restaurant stays full, but where do you start?

Let’s talk Valentine’s Day. We know that you’re probably sitting in your restaurant (or if you’re lucky, still lounging in bed!) exhausted from the gong show that just exploded in your dining room and kitchen. There may have been proposals, or break ups, or just heaps of mushy love, but we KNOW that it was an intense day for you and your staff.

Once upon a time in a land called Winnipeg, a bunch of young adults met while working in a downtown restaurant. Bartenders. servers, cocktailers, and supervisors, these dedicated employees loved everything about their job and were the best of friends. Life was wonderful.

Well Ontario, $14 minimum wage is here and $15 minimum wage is just around the corner. In the restaurant industry this is understandably causing some major anxiety. This industry is labour heavy and with one of the biggest costs increasing dramatically, profitability is something that seems less and less certain.

It's kind of funny now, to think about the way we used to order pizza.

Find the phonebook under the sofa or above the fridge. Flip to the back to the phonebook to find the pizza places and their menus. Walk to your rotary telephone in the kitchen. Dial the number, fingers dusty with the inky scent of the yellow pages, give your order to the kid on the other end of the phone, tell him your address and give him directions.

Check to make sure you have cash—you had to have cash. About an hour later, the kid’s beat-up car pulled into the driveway, quarters and bills shifting in his fanny pack, and the doorbell rang.

When it comes to sports fans, we know this much:

1. They like to watch the game live.
2. They like to drink while they watch the game.
3. They like to eat while they watch the game.

In short - sports fans are good for business.

What do you need to know about getting more sports fans in your door?

To give you a sense of who your sports fans are, the impact they can have on your restaurant, and how you can best prepare for them, we’ve profiled four unique sports species: NFL fans, fans of that other kind of football, MLB fans, and NHL fans.

A trio of after-work ladies is saying cheers to Friday with happy hour sangrias, a heat wave drove your patio to hit an all-time sales record Saturday, and now that it’s halfway through summer, front and back of house are rocking.

Someone might even catch you smiling.

In the midst of all this bliss, it might be easy to shove to the back of your mind the ‘f’ word.

Fall.

We’ve all been there: Dozens of guests trampling over chairs to get inside during a flash rain.

All hands on deck racing to carry plates and drinks from the patio to who-knows-which-table inside the restaurant.

Flushed servers scrambling to find their guests, switch tables, swap bills.

It’s humid.

It’s crazy.

In a few minutes, it’s sunny.

And everyone wants to go back outside with a mojito.

It’s hot out, you’re hungry, and you’ve just stumbled upon a patio where people are tipping back cold margaritas and soaking up the sun.

We’ve all been there: Despite knowing full well that the service on patios is often sub-par, we ask for a table outside.