Savvy restaurants are tapping into the underserved $33 billion market of consumers eating and entertaining at home.  One opportunity is expanding carry out orders, especially for holidays, events, and sports gatherings like the Super Bowl.  Via customer carry out and restaurant delivery, the use of off-premise food warming stands, known as wire chafers, can help boost sales and profit while minimizing labor, overhead, and required seating space.

Most restaurants offer carry out, but its appeal is limited as food cools on the way home.  To avoid cold party food resembling leftovers, professional catering quality chafers, such as those by Skorr Products, can safely keep food hot during a party or gathering as wire frames support food trays over “keep warm” flames.  This frees the host from kitchen duty since guests serve themselves buffet-style.

“The next frontier for restaurants is to efficiently expand service outside their four walls, and to even out the slow and rush times,” says Robert Skorr, President of Skorr.  “You’ve got the food, the staff, and the ability to receive phone orders.  By expanding your delivery window to hours before any big event, you shift overflow orders to slow times and keep your kitchen and service staff busy.”

Skorr offers a few tips on how to easily, economically expand restaurant carry out business.

About two weeks before the event, put up in-restaurant signs or table displays promoting your holiday or big game special, he says.  Include the price, the number of people it will feed, and a few simple choices.  This will allow you to boost and spread sales over a longer period than the typical mad holiday, big game rush experienced by many restaurants.  While employees may work a few extra hours, there’s no need to hire additional staff since the added demand is planned and manageable.

Instead of expensive stainless steel chafers requiring a capital investment and retrieval after delivery, use economical, domestically produced chafers designed with safety in mind.  These can simply be left with the customer, eliminating the expense of pick up.  The nominal cost of the chafers can be included in the restaurant’s food price.  Alternately, a deposit can be taken and the chafers reused upon return.

What makes the domestic wire chafers well suited to the needs of restaurant carry out is their combination of professional presentation, safety, durability, affordability and quality. 

Further, Skorr’s wire chafer stands use a multi-patented design with four flat-bottomed corner legs for the widest stance and greatest stability in the market.  IMR Test Labs of Lansing, N.Y. found that on the tipping/spilling test, the Skorr brand of domestic-made chafers was over four times safer against tips and spills than narrow stance designs.  For greater structural integrity to prevent collapse, it uses wire of significantly heavier gauge with stronger welds than imported competitors, and has eight vertical supports from table to rim vs. typically four for imported chafers.

With the strategic use of domestic food warming chafers, a host of new customers will think of your restaurant the next time they throw a party.  Your bottom line will improve as your carry out business grows along with your kitchen and server uptime.

 

Skorr wire chafer stands have won the Best Quality Award from the Professional Chefs Association.  For a free DVD on expanding your restaurant business without adding overhead, visit www.skorr.com <http://www.skorr.com> or to see the YouTube link visit www.skorr1.com <http://www.skorr1.com> ; call 973-523-2606; Fax 973-523-3009; or write to Skorr Products at 90 George St., Paterson, N.J. 07503.