Archive for August, 2011



One way to entice diners to check out your business is having a good interior design. You have to make your customers feel welcome just by having a comfortable and relaxing ambiance. Plus you get a lot of buzz from people who are satisfied with how your restaurant looks. Using custom wall graphics, you can have a nicely-decorated interior without the need to spend so much money. Also known as wall stickers, these prints can have designs that will match the overall theme of your restaurant. Here are some ideas on how you will go with the designs of your wall graphics:

Design Ideas for Custom Restaurant Wall Graphics

* Food. It’s the most logical design that you can have since your business is about food and dining. Entice people to try your specialty of the house by adorning the walls with stickers that have photos of the foods that you serve. You can also use wall stickers as menu boards in the cashier station instead of the old menu boards made of wood or plastic materials.

* Family Dinner. Make your customers realize that it’s happy to dine together with family and friends. You can use photos of a family having fun while eating in your restaurant. The photo should represent a happy mood and a good bonding time.

* Outstanding Customer Service. You can also include photos or caricatures of you and your staff while serving the customers and doing each and everyone’s jobs. This will show people that you are dedicated in seeing to the clients’ needs first.

* Story. The walls can also tell how your business started and how far you’ve gone since day one. Your wall stickers can include photos of the restaurant in the early days as well as pictures depicting the story how your diner has grown in a chronological way.

* Helpful Information. Let your diners have fun while waiting for their foods to be served. You can include helpful tips and information in your wall sticker designs. For example, you can include facts about organic foods and how one person can grow organic vegetables in the backyard. You can also include trivia on the origin of a certain recipe or food.

Actually, there is no limit on the design that you can use for your custom wall graphics. Your imagination is only the limit. You can use the tips above as your guide. Combining one or more of these tips is also a good idea. However, don’t get too excited and stuff your prints with too much photos and information; you might overwhelm your customers with too much wall designs.



Making huge investments for buying a franchise may not spell success for budding entrepreneurs. However, there is more risk involved in buying an expensive franchise unit as compared to taking up a low-cost kiosk.

Low-cost kiosk format

Kiosks are small-sized shops, having a semi-permanent fixture. They are mostly present within a larger establishment such as a mall, departmental store etc. The structure of a kiosk could be designed as a standalone structure like a terminal, or a semi-enclosed booth. It offers a wide variety along with the advantage of low investment. The article enlightens aspiring entrepreneurs about low-cost kiosk franchise opportunity in various business formats.

Coffee kiosk franchise

The last few years have witnessed an upswing in the coffee culture brewing across the nation. Major companies like Coffee Day Xpress, Brewberrys and Gloria Jean’s Coffee etc have started their coffee kiosk after seeing its low-cost multi benefits. The trend of coffee kiosks has gained tremendous popularity. The key to any such venture is finding out a good location that will give maximum benefit to the sales of coffee. Adding other items such as pastries, sandwiches etc can also promote low-cost coffee kiosk.

Candy kiosk

Candy kiosks attract kids by their enticing and eye-catching colours and presentation. Candy Treats, Sweet World etc are the main players in this section. This format is usually launched in malls and airports etc.

Ice-cream kiosk

Ice-cream kiosks format is another popular category which is gaining popularity in the current scenario. Most of the major players have adopted kiosks and cartwheel formats in ice-cream section. Kwality Walls, Baskin Robbins, Vadilal’s, Amul, Gelato Vinto etc are a few names in this section. Quick service restaurant chain Nirula’s has also started its standalone ice-cream kiosk model.

Chocolate kiosk

Chocolate kiosks are also catching up speed in the present business scenario. At present there are few kiosks in this format but this is an up-coming concept with great future prospects. Chocolate kiosk can provide entrepreneurs with the right franchising opportunity in terms of low investment and high gains.

Juice and cookies kiosk

A kiosk in juice and cookies category is also a lucrative option for aspiring franchisees. Today, consumers have become very health-conscious. This awareness has led to the opening of many juice bars in the country. Similarly branded cookies are also catching up with Indian preferences. Mr. Orange is a prominent player in the juice kiosk while Cookie Man comes under the cookie section.

Taking a kiosk of any of the above formats is surely a great franchise opportunity for budding entrepreneurs. To conclude, kiosks offer low-cost franchise opportunity with high returns.



Today, more than ever, hotel security has grown to encompass more than just emergency and evacuation plans, a stern visit to a rowdy room, or a security guard at the hotel’s entrance. Like all other large facilities in a post 9/11 world, hotels must protect themselves and their guests against terrorists looking for a high-throughput environment that would draw media and public attention in the case that an event transpires there.

The connotations of contemporary threats translate into several crucial aspects regarding hotel security. First, the risk assessment is no longer an option for hotels, but rather a necessary tool. Secondly, the security manager and his or her team must be professionally trained and qualified to deal with today’s contemporary hotel security threats. Third, hotels benefit from joining an industry organization whereby they can be kept abreast of measures that their competitors are taking in terms of hotel security. Finally, hotels must have an orderly system in place whereby they are periodically updated about the local and/or national security warning level by law-enforcement bodies.

In the case that a hotel is not mandated to undergo a hotel security risk assessment by local or national authorities, it must take this responsibility upon itself. That is, a professional risk assessment will help a hotel identify its assets, the potential threats to those assets, and the magnitude of losses in the event that the threat manifests. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a risk assessment will draw conclusions and provide workable recommendations and countermeasures to be implemented by the hotel management. Although a professional risk assessment prevents a formidable investment for the hotel itself, it is the most imperative investment that the entity can make.

Most hotels have a security manager or chief of hotel security operations who is responsible for a crew of security guards. Today’s managers and their teams must be professionally trained and educated regarding modern threats that face the hotel security industry. In addition to knowing how to properly monitor security technologies such as CCTV, access-control and other integrated hotel security systems, today’s hotel security [http://www.thepsos.com/hotels] managers and officers must be trained in identifying suspicious behaviors, interpreting body language and cris-response intervention.

Thirdly, many countries or states have collective hotel associations that provide a supportive community network for local hotels. Some examples include the IH&RA ( International Hotel & Restaurant Association ), the AH&LA (American Hotel and Lodging Association), the EHMA (European Hotel Managers Association) and the IHA (Israeli Hotel Association). These fraternal organizations are the ideal platform for hotels to gain support in regards to how their counterparts are providing services to their clients.

Finally, hotels must have an orderly system in place whereby they are periodically updated about the local and/or national security warning level by law-enforcement bodies. Many national and/or local law enforcement bodies make this aspect of hotel security a requirement. That is, the hotels in a given area must be willing to have a consistent flow of dialogue between police or state security forces, and themselves. Through updates, and even set standards, these hotels will be better equipped to provide the best to their guests.