Teamup Calendar – adding reservations for guests to your site

Posted on by Christian

In these covid-19 times, many restaurants coffee shops and boutique stores sudden face the need to add reservations to their website. Sure, you can use Facebook events for each day and make a number of slots but not everyone wants to use Facebook or register for events.

Using Teamup, it’s easy and free to add simple guest booking service to your website. It is one of the case demos on their site for many have already discovered this great calendar service.

calendar
TeamUp Scheduling

https://www.teamup.com/live-demo/

If you would like to add a guest booking feature to your site in these Corona times but don’t have necessary skills to do it or simply don’t have the time, get in touch with me!

Often, your POS vendor has modules he can add for you with the added benefit your reservations will seamlessly integrate with the rest of the system. Or you can use mijnplek.nl, an initiative by KPN, to add simple quick reservations to your website at the cost of installing an additional app.

Setting your business on Google My Business to ‘temporarily closed’?

Posted on by Christian

With the crisis around the Corona virus, many businesses are closed either by force or voluntarily. Changing your opening hours on Google My Business (GMB) to notify customers of your changed hours of operation is not only a nice gesture to your following, but also great for your ranking in Google Search because active business entries in Google My Business are favoured over stale ones.

However, with rules and regulations changing over days, keeping up with the changed business hours is a little time consuming. There is also an option to mark your business as “temporarily closed”… Wouldn’t that do the trick too or does it affect your rating on Google negatively?

In light of the Corona crisis, Google has changed the way it interprets these settings and due to these changes it is safe to mark your business as “temporarily closed” if it’s for more than two weeks.

Google adjusts reaction to Google My Business opening hours

Google will not drop you from search results and will not filter your business out just because it is closed. While it used to do this to more accurately reflect the state of businesses, there are so many shops that are closed now, that they changed this behavior and better serve the businesses during this crisis.

Source: searchengineland.com/

New POS system for iZi ristorante italiano

Posted on by Christian
pasta amatriciana

Very happy to report having set-up David from iZi ristorante italiano in St Maarten with a new cloud-based POS system from Lavu.com!

The new POS is software-as-a-service, which means he doesn’t need local servers anymore to record transactions. No Windows server to maintain. No software to update nor backup and restore. All data is safely in the cloud. In case of internet disruptions, the software has an offline mode that will record transactions and upload everything once the connection is restored.

Lavu POS 4.0

The expensive stand-alone (often Windows XP!) terminals that served as cash terminals or server stations can all go. The software runs as an app on iPads or iPad minis, that are easy to carry around by the waiters or set-up as a register using protective stands. The stands can also be securely bolted to counters or furniture to complicate stealing. But in case of (weather) damage, theft or malfunction, David just gets a new iPad, logs in with his Apple ID, downloads the app and after 10 minutes the new iPad is ready for business. He can then go claim the stolen equipment…

The result is a modern POS system that works alongside existing payment terminals from Sint Maarten banks for Maestro debit and credit cards. Apple Pay and Google Wallet can easily be added with a snap-on accessory on the iPad, when desired or needed.

lavu control panel
Lavu control panel on the web

Menus are easily created and added using the online Lavu control panel and price changes take literally 10 seconds. Waiters can stimulated to push certain menu items and receive a part from the profits. For instance, 5% of all Summerlicious menus they sell or 10% of the wine bottles but not wine by the glass.

Great course to sharpen your chef’s skills and become basic sommelier

Posted on by Christian
christian peper

The best thing I ever did was take a year long course at the Academy of gastronomy in * Michelin-starred restaurant de Echoput in Apeldoorn. Once a week, we’d gather from all corners of the Netherlands in a professional kitchen filled with marvelous kitchen appliances and learn about seasonal products, wine, techniques and each other’s experiences.

I’ve documented that year with my camera and made photographs of us as we progressed. This book gives you a great insight into the course as well as an overview of what topics are all covered.

If you’d like to become a better cook at home or you’ve always dreamed of getting your own restaurant, please consider taking this course. Peter Klosse is a master of flavors and has unique insight in cooking, plating and flavors. Theus de Kok was an executive chef here for 35+ years and there is nothing he cannot do or cook or recover (when you’ve managed to almost waste a fresh deer steak or salmon filet).

BY AMI: new restaurant, new website

Posted on by Christian
by ami rotterdam

My old friend and sous-chef from my days working at strandclub Doen! in Scheveningen, Ahmed, has his own restaurant BY AMI in Rotterdam. On the Kop van Zuid, of all places. Fantastic! Because so many friends are helping him out with the restaurant, I decided to build him a brand new website. He’d already parked the domain so it was easily linked to WordPress.com for reliable hosting and protection.

by ami rotterdam

Ahmed is a new-age chef, using many Internet and online services for his restaurant, so WordPress was a no-brainer rather than hosting your own wordpress.org package somewhere. It will also be trivial integrating Lightspeed HQ POS services into the site and making scheduling for employees an easy online activity.