Browsing Tag Constantine Kolitsas
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13 December 2022 at 09 : 09 AM
Lessons from My Father
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N.KOLITSAS Business Coach The dynamics of a father-son relationships are always complicated; even more so, I would argue, within a Greek-American family. When the father is born in Greece, and the son in America, the dynamics become even more complex. In my case, it wasn’t always easy for a son whose ...
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9 November 2022 at 11 : 56 AM
Desperate Times
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N. KOLITSAS Business Coach These are strange times for the restaurant industry, some might even say desperate times: Labor costs are through the roof (and the same goes for food costs); gas prices and escalating inflation have consumers skittish about spending; and the supply chain is schizophrenic, with ...
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11 October 2022 at 15 : 05 PM
Forward-Focused at 50
OLYMPIA FOODS, a giant in the Greek and Mediterranean specialty foods space, remains at the forefront of product development and technological innovation. By Constantine N. Kolitsas It’s hard to imagine an American foodscape without gyro. Once an ethnic curiosity, gyro has become so ingrained into the country’s culinary zeitgeist that ...
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11 October 2022 at 15 : 00 PM
Bank on This
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N. KOLITSAS Business Coach In this month’s column I’m going to take a detour to relay an experience I had outside the restaurant but has some obvious connections to business and serves as a cautionary tale. I was on my way to work the other morning when I received an email from Bank of America. I’m ...
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8 August 2022 at 14 : 15 PM
Time to Sing a Different Song
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N.KOLITSAS Business Coach For this month’s column, I thought I would review a new song by one of America’s highest earning recording artists. So, you’re asking yourself: What does a restaurateur/ restaurant consultant have to say about a pop song? Well, when the song is Beyoncé’s newest release, ...
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9 July 2022 at 10 : 07 AM
Get Festive: A Survival Guide to Summer Festival Participation
By Constantine Kolitsas Everyone loves a festival. Except me. Don’t get me wrong—I love attending festivals. I just hate being a part of them. And my business is frequently being asked to participate in them. Some are silly and a waste of time, such as a local library event where we were asked to be one of three or four restaurants serving ...
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9 July 2022 at 10 : 28 AM
Menu Workarounds
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N. KOLITSAS Business Coach If there’s one thing that running a business in the age of Covid has taught us is to find workarounds when the normal route is disrupted. And as you all know, disruptions these days come in many shapes, sizes, colors and flavors. Take today, for example. I got a call from my ...
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11 June 2022 at 10 : 16 AM
Note to Self
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS By CONSTANTINE N. KOLITSAS Business Coach Dear Me, You are a dinosaur. You’re almost 60, working in an industry where most of the managers under you are two decades younger. Your staff is for the most part less than half your age. These are people who don’t share any of your experiences that you had growing up; ...
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11 June 2022 at 10 : 14 AM
Operations: Be Prepared
Post-mortem your holidays to plan for next year. By CONSTANTINE N. KOLITSAS They say that proper planning prevents poor performance. And if this alliterative aphorism sounds clichéd, it is no less true, particularly going into a special day like Mother’s Day, which as you read this issue, is still a vivid memory. So, with details from ...
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10 May 2022 at 05 : 28 AM
Once Upon a Hot Dog
How the Greeks of the Northeast shaped an American fast food classic. By Constantine Kolitsas “BaseBall, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet.” That was the jingle from an iconic 1970s commercial; iconic, of course, because it rang so true. Although the bunned sausage was most likely a German import from the city of Frankfurt, the hot dog ...
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