The countdown to 2012 is just around the corner.  Is your bar ready to ring in the New Year?  Try adding one of these refreshing and festive cocktails to your drink menu:

Champagne Sparkler, courtesy of Liquor.com

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Don Julio Blanco Tequila
• Splash simple syrup (one part sugar, one part water)
• .5 oz Champagne

Garnish: Strawberry slice

Glass: Champagne flute

Preparation:

Add the Blanco Don Julio Tequila, simple syrup and champagne to a champagne flute.  Garnish with a strawberry slice.  This recipe works best when both the tequila and champagne are chilled.

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Very Sexy Martini, courtesy of Liquor.com

Hosting a black-tie affair?  Serve this glamorous cocktail, which calls for muddled raspberries and mint and has a citrus vodka kick.

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 Raspberries
• 5 to 7 Mint leaves
• 1 oz Fresh lime juice
• 1 oz Simple syrup (one part sugar, one part water)
• 1.5 oz Premium citrus vodka
• 1.5 oz Moët & Chandon Rosé Imperial Champagne

Garnish: Mint sprig and raspberry

Glass: Martini

Preparation:

Muddle the raspberries, mint leaves, lime juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker.  Add the citrus vodka and fill with ice.  Shake vigorously and double-strain into a chilled Martini glass.  Top with champagne.  Garnish with a mint sprig and a raspberry.

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Grand Champagne Cocktail, courtesy foodnetwork.com & Bobby Flay

Strawberry puree and honey give a fresh twist to the traditional champagne cocktail.

Ingredients:

• 4 shots orange-flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)
• 4 teaspoons honey
• 4 fresh strawberries, tops trimmed
• 1 bottle champagne, well chilled

Glass: Chilled champagne flute

Preparation:

Add the orange-flavored liqueur, honey and strawberries to a food processor and process until smooth.  Fill the chilled glasses halfway with the strawberry mixture and then fill the rest of the glass with champagne.

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Frozen Peach Champagne Cocktail, courtesy foodnetwork.com & Rachael Ray

This recipe is a Bellini-esque slush for grownups.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar, to rim glasses
• 1 pint peach sorbet
• 2 shots Triple Sec, Gran Marnier or Cointreau
• Chilled champagne or sparkling wine, to fill blender, 1/3 bottle
• Raspberries and four sprigs mint, optional garnish

Garnish:  Raspberry and mint sprig

Glass:  Cocktail glass

Preparation:

Place a shallow bowl of water alongside a shallow bowl with 1/4 cup sugar in it.  Dip four cocktail glasses in water, then sugar to rim glass.

Place four scoops peach sorbet in blender.  Add two shots orange liqueur.  Fill blender with champagne to maximum fill line or up to one inch from top of blending pitcher.  Place cover on blender tightly.  Blend until smooth and pour into cocktail glasses, keeping an eye out not to wreck the pretty sugar rims.  Garnish with a few raspberries and a sprig of mint and serve.

Happy Holidays from Penguin Staffing – your choice for highly qualified and trained hospitality professionals!

Many surveys say that the number one issue facing businesses today is finding and keeping good employees. That’s partially because nationally, the average annual employee turnover rate is 14.4 percent. Turnover is a major problem in the hospitality industry.

While businesses routinely record and report costs such as wages and benefits, workman’s compensation insurance, utilities, materials and space, most don’t track and report the cost of employee turnover.

How to Estimate Turnover Costs

• SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, once estimated that it costs $3,500.00 to replace one $8.00 per hour employee when all costs — recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, reduced productivity, etc., were considered. But SHRM’s estimate was the lowest of 17 nationally respected companies who calculate this cost!

• Do a quick calculation: Think of a job in your organization that has experienced high turnover, maybe managers. Estimate their annual average pay and the number of managers you lose annually. If their average annual pay is $40,000, multiply this by .125% (125% of their annual pay). The result? It costs $50,000 to replace just one manager. If you lose ten managers a year, you’re spending $500,000 in replacement costs.

Do These Numbers Seem Unbelievable?

Actual turnover costs are usually much higher than we think they are.

If you want to find out exactly how much turnover is costing your organization, find an online employee turnover calculator. Just remember that only tangible costs can be calculated on these sites. Intangible costs are just as real and sometimes much greater than quantifiable costs, but they are difficult if not impossible to measure.

Why Don’t More Companies See This as a Costly Problem?

Many companies don’t realize the true cost of turnover, which costs companies in both expertise and dollars, because they have never examined it. Here are four possible reasons:

1. No process is in place to tabulate the costs of turnover.

2. If they are measured, those costs are not reported to top management.

3. Employers think it’s an inescapable cost of doing business — but it’s not!

4. Costs are underestimated, so they don’t cause concern.

How Can You Measure Turnover Costs in Your Organization?

A comprehensive program measures the following costs:

• Separation costs
• Replacement costs
• Training costs
• Vacancy costs

Separation costs include:

• administrative functions related to termination
• separation/severance pay
• any increase in unemployment compensation.

Replacement costs include the cost of:

• attracting applicants
• interviews
• preemployment administrative expenses
• acquisition and dissemination of information.

Training costs include both formal and informal training costs. Vacancy costs include the net cost incurred due to increased overtime or temporary employees needed to complete the tasks of the vacant position.

How can you reduce turnover?

When turnover costs are unacceptably high, do an assessment. Find out who is leaving and why. Then develop a retention program based on your findings.

If you’d like advice on how to lower your turnover costs, contact Penguin Staffing today!

Imagine you’re a hospitality manager interviewing for a new banquet captain position.  You walk into the waiting room and see two candidates, ready to be interviewed.  One is dressed professionally, looks you in the eye and smiles.  The other is wearing jeans and a ballcap, and is sitting with his head down listening to his iPod.

Which is the better candidate?

The correct answer is that it’s too soon to be sure.  You shouldn’t ever make hiring decisions based on first impressions…right?

Well, the reality is that a potential employer is heavily influenced by first impressions, or what his experience tells him are “pivotal moments” in his interaction with you.  Fair or unfair, he sizes up you and your abilities within the first few minutes of meeting you.  And the more experienced he is, the more likely he is to draw conclusions about you based on limited information.

So whether you call them first impressions, hunches or simple intuition, an interviewer’s snap decisions are critical to the success of your job search.  Make sure you do everything you can to really “wow” your hospitality interviewer from the get-go by using these tips:

Do your homework. Spend a good amount of time before the interview date researching the employer.  Their company website is a great place to start.  Don’t just skim through the information – really read it.  Find out everything you can about the organization’s history, mission, lines of business and key personnel.

Next, Google the company and find out what others have written or said about them.  Check newspapers, business magazines or other reputable sources to further educate yourself.  When you finally head into your interview, you’ll have an additional level of knowledge and confidence that will shine through – and keep from looking like a “deer in the headlights” if the interviewer asks you to tell him what you know about the company.

Remember that actions speak louder than words. The nonverbal cues you send from the moment you walk into an interview are scrutinized.  Pay careful attention to your posture, handshake and eye contact to create a positive first impression.

Come prepared. Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes.  What would you think of a candidate who had to ask for a pen, or who rifled through a cluttered briefcase to dig out a wrinkled résumé?  Have a crisp copy of your résumé and references, as well as a pen and notepad for notes, ready to go.  Doing so will allow you to hit the ground running and immediately focus on the interviewer.

Avoid common interview mistakes. To succeed in your job search, you need to back up your skills and experience with a first impression that leaves no doubt that you’re the right person for the job.  Arrogance and sloppy attire are mistakes you simply cannot afford to make.  Be confident, but make sure you’re not cocky.  Overconfidence could be misconstrued as indifference – suggesting you could take or leave a job offer.  Similarly, you should dress for interview success.  Failure to do so could convey that you don’t really care about the job opportunity enough to dress appropriately.

Ask only relevant questions. Show the interviewer that you’ve done your homework by preparing a few questions pertinent to the job or the company (use the research you’ve conducted to help you generate ideas).  If they’re answered during the course of the interview, don’t feel pressured to make up new ones on the spot.  Throw-away questions won’t impress an interviewer – they’ll only end the conversation on a down note.

Thank the interviewer. Expressing thanks is one of those “pivotal moments” an interviewer may hang his hat on.  So without fail, thank the interviewer for his time both at the beginning and the end of your conversation.  Tell him that you’re excited about the opportunity.  Positive emotion and good manners go a long way toward creating a lasting favorable impression.

Ask for the job. Good salespeople ask for the sale; good job seekers should ask for the job.  Beyond thanking the interviewer, say, “I would really love to work here.”  This sounds simple, but so many candidates fail to do it!

Land Your Dream Job with Penguin Staffing

At Penguin Staff, we match hospitality job seekers like you with rewarding front of the house, back of the house and culinary professional employment opportunities every day.  Contact us today, and find out how we can help you land your dream job.