Sam Mustafa Blog
Improve Your Restaurant’s Menu Now!
Sam Mustafa, CEO of Charleston Hospitality Group shares his insight on how to analyze your restaurant’s current offerings of your restaurant’s menu for maximizing total profitability. This is the first step to controlling your food costs. Tackle 4 types of menu performance now!
Your Menu Is Your Life-Line
Your restaurant’s menu is more than a list of items that you sell to guests. This menu provides a guide for customers to decide what to buy. It is important for restaurant managers, owners and corporate associates to understand that your menu reinforces your branding and decide which items can be promoted or ditched. You can think of your restaurant menu as a tool to convince guests to buy certain items, choose larger sizes, and taste test your latest specials. Understanding your target guests, what menu items appeal to them and the certain factors that make guests spend more is step #1 to improve your menu.
Online Reviews are your Guest’s First Impression
If your company is not paying attention to managing and responding to online reviews, it is time to make it a habit to incorporate this into your workforce’s daily work routine, especially if you’re in the industry of Food and Beverage. Online reviews are becoming your restaurant’s first impression and once someone adds comments about their experience on one of these platforms, they are there indefinitely, and are likely to influence those who have not been to your restaurant yet. Good ones are great! Bad ones are not – even down-right damning. These reviews have the power to make or break your success. Don’t believe me? Check out these facts by Inc.com!
ABC News 4 – Toast named Best of the Best on Tripadvisor
They’ve been named Best Of The Best by Tripadvisor and now you can get the tastiness of “Toast” all day long!
Sam Mustafa uses Time-blocking to Increase Productivity
If there is one concept and mindset that all CEO’s share, it is that, “Time is money.” Time is precious and once it’s gone, it is gone forever. Utilizing your time wisely as a business leader is incredibly important. Everyday in this position, CEOs and business leaders are jumping from task to task and responding to endless emails, phone calls and personal obligations; 40 hour weeks quickly become 80 hours weeks in this position. Burnout is inevitable. This is something that I can attest to daily, and I would also like to mention that it never gets any easier! However, understanding, utilizing and managing your time makes a big difference in your overall efficiency and success of your business.
Award-Winning Toast! All Day coming to Metro Atlanta with First Franchise-Owned Location
Sam Mustafa, CEO and founder of Charleston Hospitality Group (CHG), is pleased to announce the first franchise-owned Toast! All Day restaurant, will open soon in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. The closing of this sale to business leader Deidre White, brings the award-winning Southern restaurant concept to the desirable and thriving business district in Smyrna, Georgia, and is a watershed moment for CHG, the largest restaurant and entertainment group in the Charleston area, as it continues its expansion to other key East Coast markets. Toast All Day prides itself on creating a unique Southern-inspired experience for each of its guests, one toast at a time. The new franchise location, off Cobb Parkway in Smyrna, is expected to open in Fall, 2021.
The entrepreneurially-minded Mustafa remained true to his future vision and the CHG team in the face of challenges posed by the pandemic, announcing his Toast! All Day expansion plan in October 2020, while many restaurants were struggling to survive or closing operations entirely. The current growth of Toast! All Day follows years of distinctive popularity and notable national accolades, including being voted the best breakfast by the New York Times and most recently for 2021, Top 25 ‘Best of the Best’ Brunch Spots in the nation by Trip Advisor. Mustafa’s four-year expansion strategy includes plans to open locations throughout the U.S., beginning with expansion in the Southeast as well as a ready-to-purchase franchise formula for other entrepreneurially-minded business investors.
Sam Mustafa shares insights on how to lead by example
As the CEO of Charleston Hospitality Group in Charleston, SC, I realized early in my career that no two employees work the same. All employees have their own unique skill set, personality and strengths. As a leader, it is important to bring the best of these traits in your people, while also coaching them to be the best they can be. The process of delegation and finding those responsibilities best suited for your team is not an easy task. Let’s get that straight! Understanding what motivates your employees and how to operate efficiency as a leader is the key to mastering delegation.