From our video vault of 8 napkin folds, here is #7, the Arium Lilly.
If you use any of the napkin folds presented here in the United Linen blog, let us know how your's turned out. Send a picture and we'll post it here to help you show off your mad holiday decorating skills.
Have a great week,
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept.
I've reached into the United Linen video vault and pulled out this gem.
Just in time to help dress up your dining room table(s), today's napkin folding video is our 8th most popular (I figured I would got from #8 to #1 over the course of this week) and has been a crowd-pleaser ever since we posted the video. The Boot fold can be used to place in the plate and place a placecard in the upper portion of the "boot" Granted, the fold is a bit tedious, but the final product is sure to please your guests. So here it is...The Boot Fold
Have a great week,
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept.
Good morning! Hope you are having a great day so far. Ready for the OSU/OU Football game tomorrow. I know I am. Go Pokes!
This morning I ran across a few articles I thought you might be interested in. First of all, there was a story about the potential for horse meat to hit the US soon. What the heck? Horse meat? Really?! I don't know...what do you think?
Secondly, SmartBrief put together an infograph around the question, "does your restaurant take pride in it's restrooms?" Interesting results here...
1. The restaurant goes above and beyond to keep the restrooms clean 50% said yes. (this surprised me. Since bathroom perception can make or break a repeat customer, I would be all over this one)
2. There are added features for the environment or luxury. 21.95% (why not have a little something extra to create that Wow experieince for your guest? This number should be up over 60%. Check this out for adding a little something to your bathrooms that could generate alot of buzz )
3. The restaurant doesn't do anything out of the ordinary. 18.90% (too bad. But then, what's out of the ordinary?)
4. It's just a restroom 6.10% (this is sad, and probably one of the reasons why restaurants go out of business)
5. The restaurant doesn't provide public access to restrooms. 3.05% (REally? You can get away with this? More power to you!)
I've always heard, if you want to see how well a business is run, check out the bathroom.
Last but not least, John Jantsch has put together a list of 7 things he thinks your employees need to know about marketing. I've looked over the list and agree with every one of them. How about you? You can see the list here
Do you have anything to add to something we mentioned above? Feel free to share your comments, ideas and suggestions in the Comments section below.
Have a great weekend, (I hope your favorite team wins, as long as it's OSU)
Scott
United Linen's Marketing Dept
p.s. If you want to up the Wow factor for your comany's bathroom, call us, 800-259-6808 x274
Did you see it? The latest edition of B2B Magazine online edition? We had a nice mention by Christopher Hosford about B2B companies using social media channels to help "get found" and share info with customers. You can read the article here.
Are any of you out there using different social media channels to spread your knowledge and help customers find you? If so, how is it working for you?
Cool,
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept
p.s. When customers find you, let us help you create a great first impression! Call 800-259-6808 x247
While it may take awhile for these aprons to make it to mainstream USA, Chef Seamus Mullins of Tertulia has teamed up with designer Craig Robinson to make a custom designed apron for the Tertulia restaurant. For more info on this Katy McLaughlin story in the Wall Street Journal, click here.
Have a great day,
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept.
p.s. Check out our awesome aprons at www.unitedlinen.com or call 800-259-6808 x274.
Let's talk about...
When I go out to lunch or dinner with family/friends, one of the things I've noticed is more people are ordering water. Sometimes it is for health reasons and for some, it's a matter of money. Me? I feel a bit chintzy ordering water (except at breakfast and then I’m ordering coffee and lots of it) and so I most often order tea.
Regardless of the reason, restaurants are more than likely feeling a hit to their bottom-line with the water request. In an article by Tracy Turner for the Columbus Dispatch, water orders by consumers in restaurants are up, making it one of the fastest-growing beverage choice.
So what's a restaurant to do? Can a customer be moved from a water order to a more profitable choice? It's probably a matter giving customers healthier choices, and making those choices known at the table, in the menu and through the wait staff. For example, if a customer orders water, the wait staff could ask if the customer would like bottled or carbonated water. Even if the customer goes ahead and orders tap water, the suggestion for bottled or carbonated water increases the chances that the customer will pay for their water.
Does it matter what kind of restaurant it is before suggesting water options becomes an option? Does offering a filtered water help with the local/sustainability issue? Is it possible to offer healthy drink choices and move the needle from tap water orders to specialty drink orders? Probably so. But like everything else, it's more than likely a matter of focus...knowing where you are with your water orders and where you want to be.
We would love to hear your comments.
Talk to you soon,
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept.
p.s. United Linen can help mop up spills regardless of whether or not it’s water. If you are interested in our FOH/BOH wet mop program, send an email to [email protected] or call us at 800-259-6808
Here are the stories we are following for Friday, Nov 4th, 2011.
I find it very interesting that Starbucks has been able to see revenue growth, even in the midst of an unstable economy. I think this is a testament to Starbucks' working hard to keep loyal customers coming back. Wall Street Journal's Annie Gasparro takes a closer look at the numbers that loyal customers create. What's crazy is, Starbucks management thinks they can continue to raise prices without discouraging sales. I hope it works for them. So let me ask you a question...would you rather have a regular customer or a loyal customer?
A really cool story, no pun intended, is the Detroit pizzeria adding an option to have their pizzas mailed. Yep, once again loyal customers strike again. It seems that because of die-hard customers asking for pizzas to be sent to areas outside of the dtreoit area, Cloverleaf Pizza Take-Out and Delivery decided to their concept of delivery to a new level. You can read all about it in the article in PizzaMarketplace.com. Are your customers asking you for something that at first sounds crazy or unheard of? Could their requests be your next innovative idea?
Lastly, the Huffington Post has a unique story on how what you listen to paired with the wine you are drinking, has a direct effect on the taste of your wine. Sounds a bit outlandish, but here it is, read it for yourself and let us know what you think. One idea in the article that has merit is the potential for retailers to recommend/sell music pairings with wine. Very nichey and a great way to pair up audiophiles and oenophiles.
That's it for now. Have a great weekend and we'll see you back here on Monday.
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept.
p.s As an added service for customers of United Linen, we offer a window into your account through our website that let's you take at a look at your invoices, products and inventory levels. For more information, visit our Contact Us page on our website by clicking here and fill out the Online Message form.
Boo! Here are the stories we are following for Monday, Oct 31st, 2011.
Inc Magazine's Clarissa Cruz has an interesting article on how the owners of the famous Le Bernadin are keeping it top notch and relevant.
Amanda Bower over at Time takes a look at Native American food making it on to more and more menus.
And, can you say, "$3,000/lb?" If you are in the white truffle business, it's time to rake it in while the getting's good. According to Thomas Grillo at the Boston Herald, truffle prices are double what they were last year because of the weather in Europe this last year.
Here is a video from Food Network's Alton Brown explaining the difference between white truffles and black truffles.
Have you ever been to Le Bernardin? Eaten a white truffle? Cooked fried bread? Tell us all about it or anything else in the comments section below.
Trick or treat,
Scott
United Linen Marketing Dept.
p.s. Did you know...United Linen rents wet mops and dust mops to help you keep your floors safe and clean? Call us and 800-259-6808 or check us out on the web, www.unitedlinen.com.
Here are the stories we are following for Thursday, Oct 13, 2011
Chipotle's in the movie-making biz. They plan on showing a movie they made about the plight of the local family farmer. Read more here then watch their 4 minute movie below.
Pizza Hut offers up tips on how to launch iPhone apps.
Check out this story by Jonathan Blume of a quick-serve burrito shop owner creating his own Point-of-Sale system using a customized tablet. Pretty smart.
Hope to get pictures up of the Robin Black Golf Classic held back on Oct 1st. I'll post the pictures and videos here, so stay tuned.
Have a great weekend and thanks for #helpinguschangetheworldonenapkinatatime
Scott Townsend
Marketing Director
United Linen & Uniform Services
