Add a little sparkle to your Independence Day menu with these delicious and fun drink recipes:

Fourth of July Cocktail

“Triple D” host Guy Fieri heats things up – literally – with this pepper-infused concoction that’s sure to grab guests’ attention:

Courtesy of Guy Fieri, foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

1 ounce watermelon schnapps

1 big splash cranberry juice

1 very thin slice jalapeno or serrano pepper

1 slice lemon

1 slice lime

1 1/2 ounces tequila

1/4 ounce blue curacao

1/2 ounce simple syrup

Garnish:  Watermelon wedge

Glass:  Highball

Directions

Mix the schnapps and cranberry juice in a shaker; pour into an ice-filled glass.  Muddle the jalapeno pepper, lemon and lime slices, tequila, blue curacao and simple syrup (to make a batch, dissolve sugar in equal parts hot water and chill) in the shaker.  Slowly strain into the glass over the red layer.  Garnish with watermelon, if desired.

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Coconut Blue Hawaiian

A beautiful red, white and blue cocktail that will cool guests down on a hot summer day.

Courtesy of bettycrocker.com

Ingredients

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup (4 ounces) light rum, if desired

1/2 cup (4 ounces) blue curaçao

1/2 cup (4 ounces) cream of coconut (not coconut milk)

10 to 12 ice cubes

Garnish:  Fresh cherries or maraschino cherries with stems

Glass:  Martini

Directions

Chill martini glasses in freezer several hours before serving.  Place all ingredients except cherries in blender.  Cover and blend on high speed about 45 seconds or until smooth.  Pour pineapple mixture into glasses.  Garnish with cherry.

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Frosty Fireworks

A non-alcoholic drink recipe sure to please guests of all ages.

Courtesy of food.com

Ingredients

16 ounces blue Gatorade

16 ounces red Gatorade (or any red Kool-Aid or fruit punch)

12 ounces Sprite or any other clear carbonated beverage

4 -6 plain ice cubes

Glass:  Highball or tall tumbler

Directions

Fill the sections of one ice cube tray with blue Gatorade, and place in freezer for several hours or until frozen solid.  Fill the sections of the other ice cube tray with the red Gatorade (or other red color drink), and place in freezer until frozen solid.  When ready to serve, place about 4 or 5 regular (clear) ice cubes in a highball glass or tall tumbler.  Add two blue ice cubes and two red ice cubes to the glass.  Fill the glass the rest of the way with a clear carbonated soda.  Now wait to see the special effects to begin.  As the cubes melt, colored bubbles will swirl through the soda and create a sparkling “frosty fireworks” effect.

You don’t need a treadmill, a dumbbell or Zumba DVD to get your cocktail menu ready for the bikini season.

All you need are some hot new drink recipes!

Here are three you can add to your menu.  They’re sure to cool down all of your customers as the weather heats up:

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Blueberry Smash

This recipe is by the pitcher.  Perfect for a table to share!

Courtesy of bonappetit.com

Ingredients:

2 lemons, sliced into rounds

2 limes, sliced into rounds

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup (loosely packed) fresh mint leaves plus sprigs for garnish

1 1/2 cups vodka

3/4 cup St-Germain (elderflower liqueur)

Garnish: Mint sprig

Glass: Coupe or highball

Directions:

Using a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon, coarsely mash lemon and lime slices, blueberries, and mint leaves in a large pitcher.  Stir in vodka, St-Germain and 2 cups of ice cubes.  Divide drink among coupe or highball glasses; top with more ice cubes.  Garnish each drink with a mint sprig.

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Barbados Punch

A summery, frozen mixed drink perfect for day or evening.

Courtesy of delish.com

Ingredients:

1 ounce Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum

1/4 ounce triple sec

1 ounce lime juice

2 ounce pineapple juice

Garnish:  Lime slice and pineapple slice

Glass: Pina Colada

Directions:

Add Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, triple sec, lime juice, and pineapple juice to a blender with crushed ice.  Blend until smooth and pour into glass.  Garnish with lime slice and pineapple slice.

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Fresh Grape Crush

For guests who prefer a lighter option, this tasty concoction contains less than 200 calories!

Courtesy of yumsugar.com

Ingredients:

8 seedless red grapes

1-1/2 ounces grape juice

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 ounces vodka

1-3 ounces soda water, to taste

Garnish:  Lemon wheel

Glass:  Lowball

Directions: 

In shaker or mixing glass, muddle grapes. Add in ice, grape juice, lemon juice and vodka.  Shake vigorously, strain over lowball glass with ice, and top off soda water to taste. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Forget green food coloring.  This year’s St. Patrick’s Day drinks are all about taste!

Here are three unique and festive drink recipes to add to your menu that are sure to bring out the Irish in all of your customers:

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Irish Jack Rose

Courtesy of Liquor.com

Ingredients:

1 oz Michael Collins Blended Irish Whiskey

.5 oz Calvados

.5 oz Fresh lime juice

.5 oz Grenadine

Garnish: Lime wedge

Glass: Cocktail

Directions:

Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice.  Shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lime wedge.

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The Blarney Stone

Courtesy of Food & Beverage Magazine

Ingredients:

2 oz Sobieski Bizon Grass Vodka

Apple Juice

Glass: Highball

Directions:

Pour Sobieski Bizon Grass vodka into glass with ice.  Add apple juice.  Stir and serve.

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Black Velvet Beer Cocktail

Courtesy of yumsugar.com

2 oz Guinness Extra Stout

2 oz Korbel Brut

Glass:  Champagne coupe

Directions: 

Gently pour stout and sparkling wine into coupe.  Stir and serve.

Here are a few interesting facts for you, according to a recent ehotelier.com article by Caroline Cooper:

• Gaining a new customer costs anywhere from an estimated five to eight times more than retaining an existing one.
• An estimated 68 percent of customers will fail to return if they feel unappreciated.

Obviously, it makes sense for hoteliers to place as much (if not more) emphasis on keeping existing customers as they do on gaining new ones.

Thankfully, there are lots of ways to keep hotel customers satisfied and coming back to stay with you.  Here are four of Cooper’s top tips for retaining loyal guests:

1. Create a great last impression.  Develop ways to ensure your guests leave with a favorable impression that lets them know you appreciate their business.  Saying “Thank you” as guests leave is a simple, free and personal touch that goes a long way.  Additionally, consider giving little mementos for them to take home (think truffles, local specialty items, exclusive toiletries or quality items with your logo).  Some hotels stand out from the crowd by sending handwritten and personalized notes to thank guests for staying with them.
2. Reward loyalty with exclusive deals.  Offering travel packages or deals exclusive to returning customers has a tri-fold benefit:  it may prompt additional bookings; it demonstrates your appreciation of their loyalty; it counterbalances offers that are made only to new customers.
3. Ask for feedback.  How many customer problems go unresolved because you never even learned about them?  How many clients have you lost as a result?  You’ll never know unless you ask.  Make it easy for customers to tell you what they enjoy – and don’t enjoy – about staying with you.  Leave simple, short survey forms in guest rooms; follow-up after guests leave by e-mailing satisfaction surveys; give specific instructions on your web site for how to submit feedback.  When you receive a complaint, resolve issues quickly and exceed dissatisfied customers’ expectations.  When you get positive feedback, use it to your advantage!
4. Train your staff.  Unless your employees know the level of service your valued clients require, you can’t expect them to consistently deliver it.  Provide the appropriate training, tools and systems to allow your staff to deliver a great customer experience.  Equip and empower employees to resolve customer complaints – quick resolution can earn you big brownie points in the client’s mind.

Penguin Staff can rapidly supply the experienced, trained hospitality professionals you need to create a great customer experience – keeping them satisfied and coming back to you.  Contact us to learn more about our hospitality staffing services for Atlanta, D.C. and Central Virginia.

What’s the “next big thing” for travel industry?

This is the key question EyeforTravel asked of senior managers at Facebook, TripAdvisor and Google, Inc.  Here are some of the trends they identified which will ultimately impact hoteliers in 2012:

From Rohit Dhawan, Lead Product Manager, Facebook

• Word-of-mouth advertising at scale. The emergence of the social web means that people are at the center of marketing – in all industries, including travel.  As a result, hospitality marketers have a unique opportunity to create ongoing, two-way dialogues between their brands and their customers.  The best travel recommendations have always come from friends, but now hospitality businesses can achieve effective word-of-mouth advertising at scale, using the suite of marketing tools that Facebook has to offer – including ads, Pages, Sponsored Stories and social plugins.

From Barbara Messing, CMO, TripAdvisor

• Travel is becoming more social.  People are using technology and social networks to tap into the wisdom of friends to make good travel decisions.
• Mobile technology is dramatically changing the travel category. More and more, mobile will help travel-related businesses keep their travelers better informed, allowing them to find the right restaurants and attractions tailored to their interests and available time.
• The review will become more powerful and omnipresent. The hotel industry, in particular, has embraced the benefits of reviews and the importance of that content to their social reputation.  In 2012, these reviews will become even more essential to consumers in the travel-planning process.
• Green-friendly and sustainable travel will gain importance. Travelers want to know more about a hotel’s green practices, to determine if that hotel is part of the problem or the solution in promoting better environment practices.  In addition, a growing set of travelers want to see how their tourism dollars benefit local communities in certain destinations.

From Rob Torres, Head of Travel, Google Inc.

• More consumers will use mobile platforms to book travel. Travel brands should look for opportunities to capitalize on this trend.
• Consumer searches for discounts and deals will continue at record levels. Much as in 2009, travelers will again invest more time in the research process to save money.  Flash sites will continue to flourish, especially in the travel space.
• Product innovation will emerge in the travel cycle for the first time since the entrance of OTA’s in the late 90′s. In 2012 you will see quite a few travel start-ups emerge that will capitalize on the potential for innovation, particularly in the dreaming and researching phases of the travel cycle.

Capitalize on these and other 2012 travel industry trends by partnering with Penguin Staff. We can deliver the trained, talented hospitality staff your organization needs to implement the latest green initiatives, provide a better customer experience and test new service ideas.

Anyone up for a $4 Snickers?

The Wall Street Journal reports that pedestrian items like M&Ms and Diet Coke are going by the wayside in hotel minibars and being replaced by specialty and local items.  According to the article, several factors are spurring the latest “minibar makeover”:

• hotels are dissatisfied by lackluster sales (theft and billing problems eat into minibar income);
• managers are fed up with arguing over disputed charges;
• minibars have to be replenished daily and unsold items expire;
• consumers sometimes think that hotels are trying to gouge them.

In an attempt to convince guests to spring for expensive treats, hotels are making a variety of changes.  Some are trading standard items like potato chips and candy for unique local snacks or other items you can’t get at the nearest gas station.  Examples include ham-flavored Chilean almonds, locally brewed beer and specialty chocolates from upscale chocolatiers.  Omni Hotels & Resorts is even testing a gluten-free pretzel in its minibars.

Simply upgrading offerings, however, isn’t enough to tempt some guests.  Business travelers, in particular, are becoming fed-up with what they consider gouging – although hotels like the Hilton claim that minibars are actually loss-leaders.  So to further entice guests, hoteliers are using “suggestive selling” and breaking goodies out of the minibar altogether.  After all, it may be harder to resist a candy bar if it’s staring at you from the TV stand.

Hoteliers are also using technology to cut costs, reduce disputed charges and keep better track of sales and product expiration dates.  Automated minibars, equipped with sensors that detect (and immediately charge a guest’s bill) when an item has been removed, are now available.  Although the technology is not perfect, hotels and minibar manufacturers say these high-tech minibars can significantly cut labor costs.

Still other hotels have taken their minibar makeovers to the extreme.  Some have pulled booze completely from their minibars; some have completely eliminated stocked minibars – leaving only empty refrigerators for guests to use; and others have taken the opposite tack – throwing in free minibar goodies.

Have you overhauled your hotel minibars?  What changes have you made, and why?  Please leave your comments below.

Penguin Staff – Your Hospitality and Banquet Services Partner

When you need temporary banquet and kitchen employees, hotel front desk or other hospitality professionals, call on Penguin. We provide immediate access to screened, interviewed and trained employees for your on-call, temporary or direct staffing needs.  Partner with Penguin today.

These days, it seems everyone is a critic.

In addition to professionals reviews published in newspapers and magazines, sites like Urbanspoon, Zagat and Tripadvisor make it easy for customers to critique your restaurant, hotel, club or facility.

Given that virtually anyone can write a review about your business – at virtually anytime – it’s up to you to ensure that you’re always review-ready.  Use these tips to ensure that every evaluation is a great one:

Think like a critic. Conduct a self-inspection of your location, examining every aspect of a customer’s experience.  Pay close attention to the criteria most commonly rated by critics, such as: first impression, cleanliness, service (including special requests), quality of food/drink, etc.

Control first impressions. Right or wrong, critics form opinions the minute they walk into your establishment.  Increase the likelihood of receiving great reviews by controlling customers’ first impressions.  Critically evaluate the first things a guest will see, smell, hear, touch and taste when he enters your location.  Look for opportunities to win customers over from the outset, so you don’t have to make up ground later.

Treat everyone like a critic. You never know when your next review is coming, so train your staff to greet and treat every customer like a potential critic.  If your staff approaches every customer encounter as one that may be reviewed, you’ll deliver better service across the board – and increase your chances of getting rave reviews.

Pay attention to the details. You may think that the quality of a restaurant’s food or the comfort of a hotel room is what really matters to critics.  This is certainly true, but sometimes the smallest thing – a speck of food on a wineglass, a hair on a pillowcase – can make or break a review.

As a manager, it’s difficult to stay on top of little, yet critical details.  So why not enlist your customers’ help?  Ask them regularly for feedback, encouraging them to point out service or quality issues – no matter how small.  This will provide opportunities for you to correct problems you may not have known about otherwise.

Conduct a mock review. Ask a trusted associate to come in unannounced (and undercover) to review your business.  Provide a list of evaluation criteria, to make sure all aspects of your facility are properly assessed.  Once the review is complete, debrief your staff and identify opportunities for improvement.

Penguin Staff have the skills and experience to deliver an outstanding experience for your customers.  Contact Penguin Staffing today – we can help ensure your next review is a great one!

In today’s hospitality job market, competition is tougher than ever.  As a result, more and more candidates are lying – embellishing résumés, giving false employment eligibility information, even hiding prior criminal activity – to get hired.

How do you separate the good from the bad?

These days, checking references is simply not enough.  To protect your hospitality organization and make the best hiring decisions, you should conduct thorough background checks 100% of the time.  Implemented properly, background checks can:

• increase applicant quality;
• prevent workplace violence;
• minimize negligent hiring liability;
• reduce employee dishonesty losses – namely fraud, theft and crime;
• reduce turnover rates, by making the right hire the first time.

Here are a few guidelines to ensure your background checks are thorough, legal and effective:

1. Get detailed information up front. A background check will be based, in part, on information provided by the applicant.  Incomplete information can cause processing delays and oversights.  For each applicant, make sure you obtain aliases and former names, work locations, birth date, social security number and the names of supervisors and co-workers.
2. Beware of “instant” public records. The information contained in these databases is often not fact-checked, cleaned up or refreshed very often.  As the employer, it’s up to you to make sure the information you use is current and accurate.
3. Pay only for the information you need. Background-checking companies encourage you to purchase every piece of information they have on a potential employee – and charge a lot for these details.
4. Use the web. While a Google search is not necessarily a trustworthy source of information on its own (anyone can post anything they want about a person on a social networking site), you can and should supplement your background checks with a web search.  Professional networking sites like LinkedIn can provide insight into who a candidate is, whom he associates with professionally, etc.
5. Keep background checks consistent and relevant. To eliminate potential bias, use the same procedures and tools for all candidates for the same job.  Furthermore, make sure you can establish a clear connection between the background checks you use and the basic requirements for the job.
6. Stay in compliance. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), small businesses are required to have each employee sign a disclosure form granting authorization to perform a background check.  Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers are restricted from using medical or disability data in the hiring process.  For more information, visit www.ftc.gov or www.ada.gov.
7. Hire experts for background checks. Minimize your company’s risks and increase applicant quality by hiring a hospitality staffing service like Penguin Staff to manage part or all of your screening process.  As experts in pre-employment screening, staffing services can:
   - eliminate the time and headaches associated with background checks;
   - ensure nondiscriminatory hiring practices are followed;
   - conduct additional pre-employment screening, such as drug screens, to ensure the right candidates are hired the first time.