Operations

Operating a restaurant involves a lot of moving parts – most controlled by you, but many controlled by laws, regulations, licenses and permits. Alcoholic beverages, food safety, labor practices and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (the healthcare mandate) are significant – and then there is everything else.

Get to know the regulatory agencies that govern such things as sidewalk cafes, signage, noise, fire safety and more. And, get to know about the efforts being made by RAMW on your behalf to improve the regulatory environment.

MasterCard to Require Acceptance of 2-Series Credit Cards

May 15, 2017

Beginning June 30, 2017, MasterCard will require all point-of-sale systems to accept credit cards with Bank Identification Numbers that begin with a 2. Currently, all MasterCard cards issued begin with 5. The new 2-series cards will effectively double the number of available MasterCard credit cards worldwide and will be processed in the same manner as current MasterCard cards. Please note that if you are using a third-party POS system, you should contact your provider to determine if any action is required for your system to accept the new 2-series cards. Not only could you potentially lose...

4 Mistakes Killing Your Food Cost Margins

May 5, 2017

Veteran restaurateurs will tell you that making great food isn’t the biggest challenge of running a good restaurant. Making food profitably is the real beast. Despite ever-rising ingredient costs compressing margins to razor-thinness, operators are reluctant to pass those increases on to price-conscious consumers. That makes monitoring every step of the food production process—from the loading dock to the very plates on which food is served—essential if an operation is going to make money. It's always fun to hear customers’ rave reviews about your food, but...

Heartland Lending: Secure more dough to get back to your bread and butter

January 17, 2017

Lending made easy: Secure more dough to get back to your bread and butter Balancing your everyday operating costs while investing in expenses to grow your business doesn’t have to feel like juggling hot plates. While a small business loan may seem daunting, it’s often the best way to boost your bottom line. Here are a few reasons you may consider a loan: Expansion – Is business booming out your front door? If you need a bigger space or need to hire more employees or fresh talent to keep up, a loan can help you cover the cost of expanding without wiping out your operating...

A mid-term report card on EMV

November 7, 2016

It’s been approximately one year since the EMV liability shift took effect and it’s time for a mid-term report card on EMV’s issuance, acceptance, speed, security and overall impact. EMV Issuance In terms of card issuance, I have to give the issuers a “B+” for the pure volume of credit and debit cards they’ve placed in the hands of millions of cardholders, starting even before the liability shift began. As of June 2016, Visa reported that 125 million credit cards were issued, representing 44% of all credit cards. Visa also reported that 126 million debit...

Don’t let fraudsters eat your lunch

November 2, 2016 to November 20, 2016

Liability shift lifts veil on small counterfeit charges By: Georgia Stavrakis, CPP It’s been a year since the U.S. migrated to EMV technology, and more than 1 million businesses now use EMV chip-embedded credit card readers. Unfortunately, criminals are taking full advantage of businesses that haven’t fully made the switch, leaving even small businesses vulnerable to costly chargebacks. Restaurants have been plagued for years by counterfeit, stolen and cloned credit card activity, but it’s much more apparent now that liability for these fraudulent charges shifted to the...

Save Energy and Money with Washington Gas

July 6, 2016

Whether you want to reduce operating costs, increase the reliability of your energy supply, upgrade inefficient systems, increase your revenue potential or improve the ambience of your restaurant —Washington Gas is here to help. Our team will help you determine what investments will save the most energy and money. We’ll survey your structure or planned project, assess your energy needs and recommend natural gas solutions that will give you optimal performance at absolutely no cost to you. Our team also has the experience and technical expertise to walk you through each stage of...

DC Sustainable Energy Utility Success Story: ThinkFoodGroup

June 1, 2016 to July 31, 2016

RESTAURANTS CONSUME FIVE TO SEVEN TIMES MORE ENERGY THAN OTHER BUSINESSES OCCUPYING SIMILAR SQUARE FOOTAGE. Restaurants waste more energy than a typical business—as much as $8 billion in energy every year. ThinkFoodGroup is taking steps to change that at Zaytinya. In an effort to be more energy-efficient, we enlisted the help of DCSEU to upgrade our lighting. Not only has this process saved the restaurant money, it’s also better for the environment, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. - Stew Newbold, Director of Operations, THINKFOODGROUP PROJECT DESCRIPTION...

Webinar: Restaurant Chargebacks and EMV

June 23, 2016

Have you experienced an increasing number of chargebacks in the wake of last fall's liability shift? Now that the fraud liability shift has moved to merchants, many restaurant operators are seeing an increase in chargebacks in the restaurant space. Many restaurant POS companies do not have a method (EMV) to process these cards which in turn exposes the restaurant to the liability. Join the National Restaurant Assocation (NRA) and Heartland Payment Systems for a webinar on this topic on June 23, 11 a.m. ET . During this webinar, experts from Heartland and the National Restaurant...

District Foam Ban Takes Effect January 1, 2016

December 31, 2015

(WASHINGTON, DC) December 30, 2015 – Starting January 1, 2016, District businesses and organizations that serve food will no longer be able to use containers or other food service products made of expanded polystyrene, commonly known as foam or Styrofoam™. Passed by the DC Council in June 2014, the ban will reduce trash pollution in the District’s waterways. Foam litter is consistently one of the most prevalent types of trash pollution in the Anacostia River. “Foam is easily blown by wind or washed by rain into our storm drains and waterbodies,” said Department...Read more

The ABCs of the ACA for Employers with 50-99 FTEs

October 25, 2015

Some content below provided by Heartland Payment Systems a RAMW Endorsed Provider . The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) third open enrollment is underway and there are even more changes to the law this year. The stakes are higher for everyone involved in 2016. From new, complicated tax forms to increased penalties for noncompliance, the confusion and sense of urgency mounts for business owners across the U.S. What is the ACA or “Obamacare”? Under this law, you may be required to provide your employees with a certain level of insurance coverage, and weeding through the...Read more