A Global Virtual Classroom Project : GVC1210

United States Restaurants

By Savanah at SPLHS

Restaurants are a popular, well-loved dining destination. They started out in Paris, before the French-Revolution. The word restaurant was derived from a French word that means to restore. They were not fun or fancy; the restaurants were made to restore the customer’s health. After the French-Revolution restaurants boomed. Travellers started flooding the local restaurants. They would sit with the locals and often felt out of place. Because of the rapidly increasing number of travellers, restaurants started to become more friendly towards visitors. Nowadays restaurants welcome everyone from visitors to regulars. (Economics and Origin of a Restaurant)

Restaurants have come so far from where they started. Now there are many administrations that create rules and boundaries. Many people who start restaurants fail because of not being able to follow the rules. It is hard to keep up with the newest addition to the rules. Because there are so many different places to go to find out about food safety, the SBA (SBA) has put all the need to know information all in one place. As a part of the rules, food must be stored in different ways. Some of the rules to keep food safe is having a refrigerator that keeps a temperature below 40 degrees fahrenheit. This is because bacteria grows on anything hotter than that. Also, the food that is delivered first must be used first. Employees must be safe and clean. This is another rule. People do not want to eat where there have been dirty hands. They must wash their hands regularly and keep their hair up so it cannot get into the food. All theses rules are in place to keep the customers safe, but for some people they are hard to follow (Regulations).

Restaurant ratings are based on the rules. Different countries use different systems of rating. In the United States, New York uses a five star grading scale. It ranges from zero to five and is mostly based on the critics reaction to climate and food. Ratings also include the price as a part of the final score. The majority of people look to reviews to help them make a decision on the places they eat (NY ratings).

Apart from ratings, there is a fork and knives symbol. This is most commonly used in Australia. It explains the facilities and style different restaurants offer. The most of the symbol that can be given is five. It normally means that the restaurant is fully licensed, meet the strictest requirements, and offer many exciting services. Being fully licensed means having the ability to sell specific foods and having the requirements needed set by the laws. When a restaurant receives one symbol it means that the establishment is very casual or not licensed. These restaurants do not have many features either. These rating over all affect the other symbols given (Regulations).

When starting a restaurant most owners start by the customer. They pick the customer, and they treat them like royalty. Normally when an owner picks the theme of their restaurant it is designed to attract certain customers. Next they focus on going above and beyond the customer’s expectations. This includes good advertising strategies, as well as just being kind. Then an owner picks their menu. The whole process includes having specialty items. There are many different things that owners have to look out for when beginning their restaurants (How to Make a Destination Restaurant).

Works Cited

1. Nicholas Kiefer. Economics and Origin of the Restaurant. Cornell University, 2002. Web.
December 21, 2012.

2. Rebecca Spang. The Invention of the Restaurant. Harvard Press. Web. December 21, 2012.

3. Set Up My Restaurant. How to Make Destination Restaurant. Web. December 21, 2012.

4. Lorri Mealey. Hot Trends for Restaurants. About.com, 2012. Web. December 21, 2012.

5. Restaurant Ratings and Symbols. Australian Good Food and Travel Guide, 2012. Web. December 21, 2012.

6. Lynn Olver. The Food Timeline. The Food Timeline, 2012. Web. December 21, 2012.

7. Rieva Lesonsky. Rules and Regulations for Restaurants and Bars. Score. Web. December
21, 2012.

8. Food and Beverage. US Small Business Administration, 2012. Web. December 21, 2012.

9. Pete Wells. Restaurant Reviewer Explanation. Diner’s Journal, 2012. Web. December 21, 2012.

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