Brandon O'Dell's Page

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About Me

: Male, Age 34
Wichita, KS
United States; Member # 622; 15 Referrals; Joined Jan 10; Seen 8 hours ago

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Discussions (10)

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Brandon O'Dell's Groups

Food Cost Wizards (58 members)
Menu Development (22 members)

Leadership (166 members)
Trainers (74 members)

Ask The Experts (88 members)

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Brandon O'Dell's discussions

It's time to Grill.

Big, fat steaks have to top my list, but I love to grill everything Doug mentioned too. I like to leave my corn in the hush though, after soaking in salt water for an hour or more. The salt water a... more

Tagged: grill

Added a post May 31

Hell's Kitchen 4/29

Not one of Gordon Ramsay's better shows. It seems to me they don't screen the talent for the show very well, and some of his rants seem staged. I prefer Kitchen Nightmares myself. The F Word isn't ... more

Added a post May 3

$40 / lb. Wild Salmon – I’m feeling faint!

"Sustainable" practices really aren't that sustainable. When you shut down mass production and choke off the supply, the price has to go up. It's inevitable.

Added a post Apr 13

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Pricing food - Why you’re doing it wrong and how to fix it

One thing I’ll never forgive formal culinary schools for, is teaching new impressionable would-be chefs to use a budgeted cost percentage to price food menus. Chain restaurants share an equal responsibility for perpetuating this bad practice by focusing their managers on food cost percentages without letting them in on the secret that the cost percentage [...]

How to teach in 10 easy steps

One of the primary reasons that some businesses training programs work, and some don’t, is in the method their managers and trainers use to teach new skills. This seems to be especially true in restaurants and food services, due to the prevelance of leaders without formal educations. Sorry if that offends anyone, but it’s true. While [...]

Are you overloading your kitchen stations?

Long ticket times are a common problem in restaurants, and nothing will scare a potential regular customer away like having to wait 45+ minutes to get their food. There are many factors that can increase ticket times. In this post, I would like to cover one of those issues, overloading a kitchen station. Part of designing a [...]

Does your restaurant have an identity?

Who are we? What do we want our restaurant to be known for? What style of service do we offer? What kind of food do we cook? What can our customers get from us that they can’t get anywhere else? How can we make our customers FEEL? What is our color scheme? These are all questions you should ask yourself about your [...]

New blog address

Welcome to the new home for the O’Dell Restaurant Consulting Blog. We’ve moved our blog off of Wordpress to our own host so we can do more with it. Thank you for your continued reading. Sincerely, Brandon O’Dell O’Dell Restaurant Consulting

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Latest Activity

Brandon O'Dell started a discussion called Pricing with budgeted cost percentages in Menu Development Jun 30

Brandon O'Dell added 2 new blog posts. View Brandon O'Dell's blog posts Jun 5

Brandon O'Dell joined the group Food Cost Wizards May 31

Brandon O'Dell added the blog post 'Are you overloading your kitchen stations?' May 30

Brandon O'Dell started a discussion called Decreasing production time tips in Menu Development May 30

Brandon O'Dell added the blog post 'Does your restaurant have an identity?' May 16

Brandon O'Dell added a song:

Jack Johnson — Better Together

May 15

Profile

Title/Position: Restaurant Consultant

Company: O'Dell Restaurant Consulting

Restaurant Occupation: Consultant

Non-Restaurant Occupation: Other

Industry: Restaurant, Service Provider, Other

Department: Other

Restaurant Segment: Casual, Fine Dining, QSR, Upscale Casual

Restaurant Type: American, Asian, BBQ, Burger, Chinese, Coffee, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Pizza, Pub, Sandwich, Seafood, Snack, Sushi, Other

Day Part: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night, Take-out

Days Open: All

Price: N/A

Website Address: www.bodellconsulting.com

Blog Address: blog.bodellconsulting.com

Interests: Discovering new wines, Consulting, Networking

Other Interests: I love to cook, and all types of wine. I enjoy creating new sushi dishes especially, and would rather eat 10 small portions of different things than a whole lot of one thing I love. I enjoy golfing and seeing different parts of our great country.

Personal Quote: "Anything worth doing, is worth paying someone else to do."

Status: Single

Seeking: Friends, Business Contacts, Clients

Biography: I'm a smart, young and energetic restaurant consultant who got into this business because of requests for help from past business associates and friends. I am here to assist quick service, full service and upscale retail establishments, as well as colleges, private clubs, and caterers. My goal is to show restaurant and food services owners/managers that they don't have to be owned by their businesses. 60-100 hour work weeks are NOT a given in the restaurant industry. You CAN take vacations, spend time with family, have hobbies, and enjoy a full life outside of your business.

Years Experience: 18

A Random Featured Photo from Travellerspoint.com

Brandon O'Dell's Blog

Pricing food - Why you're doing it wrong and how to fix it

By Brandon O'Dell on Jun 29, 2008 at 9:42pm | 19 Comments (Add) | 82 Views

One thing I'll never forgive formal culinary schools for, is teaching new impressionable would-be chefs to use a budgeted cost percentage to price food menus. Chain restaurants share an equal responsibility for perpetuating this bad practice by focusing their manager... more

How to teach in 10 easy steps

By Brandon O'Dell on Jun 4, 2008 at 7:30pm | No Comments (Add) | 40 Views

One of the primary reasons that some businesses training programs work, and some don't, is in the method their managers and trainers use to teach new skills. This seems to be especially true in restaurants and food services, due to the prevelance of leaders without f... more

Are you overloading your kitchen stations?

By Brandon O'Dell on May 30, 2008 at 12:09pm | 9 Comments (Add) | 103 Views

Does your restaurant have an identity?

By Brandon O'Dell on May 16, 2008 at 3:44pm | 3 Comments (Add) | 65 Views

Don't give your customers what you want

By Brandon O'Dell on May 2, 2008 at 1:15pm | 10 Comments (Add) | 108 Views

How to make sure your products will sell Pretty confusing main title, isn't it? I'll bet you're wondering exactly what I'm talking about. Along with the other biggest mistakes restaurants owners make, offering customers what the owner thinks is good, instead of wha... more

Comment Wall (19 comments)

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At 3:54pm on May 3rd, 2008, Ken Burgin said…: Menu Dev could well be the key group, especially at a time of price rises beyond anyone's experience. 'May you live in interesting times...'

At 8:31am on April 12th, 2008, Andy Swingley said…: Brandon, I would love to have you in the Corporate Leadership group! Check it out, if it is something you think you would like, come on in!

At 3:08pm on April 4th, 2008, Matt Urdan said…: NO KIDDING! lol....Thanks for the validation of my thoughts,though. That's important.

At 9:23pm on April 1st, 2008, Andy Swingley said…: Check out "Daynes" post tonight on menu consulting, might be right up your alley!

At 4:50pm on April 1st, 2008, Andy Swingley said…: Really awesome content in your communication Brandon. Good stuff! Thanks for taking the time to contribute.

At 12:31am on March 19th, 2008, Angelo Ferrari said…: yes! any example/s would be appreciated.
'angelo@radissonadmiral.com'
merci...

At 3:58pm on March 17th, 2008, Angelo Ferrari said…: Hey Brandon

I need to do a "marketing plan" for our new restaurant
opening soon.

as well im looking for a "template" to do the marketing plan on.

do you have any examples?

angelo

At 10:32am on March 17th, 2008, Roger Herforth said…: Hi Brandon
I have a payroll solution that provides cash back to employers every month. Significant cash back. Good for employees too!

At 4:45am on March 12th, 2008, Angelo Ferrari said…: Hi Brandon
I can finally put a name to a face.
Thanks for the invite.
AF

At 1:11pm on February 26th, 2008, Guy Bower said…: Cheers Brandon,
Finally got around to joining, it's been busy, but it seems to always be that way! Looking forward to chatting with you on the show March 8.