PASSOVER ORDERS NOW ACCEPTED Full Service Carry-Out . . Hors D'oeuvres, Soups, Salads, Desserts and Complete Meals ALL PREPARED ON PREMISES! I DELIVERY AVAILABLE I BEST OF EVERYTHING Custom Catering For All Occasions Rap On Restaurant Consultants Ranges From Bad To Invaluable 'YOU'VE TRIED THE REST-NOW TRY THE BEST! • MEAT TRAYS • SALAD ASSORTMENT ALL PASTRIES • VEGETAGLE TRAYS • CHEESE TRAYS MADE ON • FRESH FRUIT TRAYS •MINIATURE PASTRY TRAYS PREMISES BY OUR OWN PASTRY CHEF! , $ 75° OFF I DANNY RASKIN Local Columnist • Apple Streudel • Sour Cream Coffee Cake • Cheesecake • French Chocolate Cake • Miniature Pastries • Black Forest Cake • Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc., ANY TRAY . L Pickup Only • Minimm 8 Persons JN W 737,5190 Formerly Bread Basket II Location 32839 Northwestern Hwy. Tiffany Plaza, Bet. 14 & Middlebelt Farmington Hills 1 I COUPONI Ben. YA1W isARB OPEN 7 DAYS — 11 a.m. to 12 Mid. BAR-B-Q SLAB FOR 2 $10.95 Plif INCLUDES: 2 POTATOES, 2 COLE SLAWS AND BREAD FOR 2 BAR-B-Q CHICKEN FOR 2 INCLUDES: 2 POTATOES, 2 COLE SLAWS AND BREAD FOR 2 $ 7.8 • 1 Coupon Per Order • Coupon Expires 3-17-89 JN TRY OUR DAILY SPECIALS MON.-FRI. (Inquire Within) FARMINGTON HILLS — 851-7000 I LIVONIA — 427-6500 30843 PLYMOUTH RD. L 31006 ORCHARD LAKE RD. AT 14 UPTOWN A ' 1 ° III I I jinn., Ns LI DELI 28948 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD, Bet 12 & 13 (Next to Toss-A-Party) CARRY-OUT 626-3715 • CATERING 855.4733 • FAX 626-0314 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST SPECIAL Mon.-Sat. 8 a.m.-12 noon •DANISH or BAGEL or MUFFIN g 99 •FRESH FRUIT CUP • COFFEE OPEN 7 DAYS, MON.-SAT. 8 to 7, SUNDAY NOON to 5 FA 4' Cafe 29566 ORCHARD LAKE RD. Just N. of 13 Mile • Farm. Hills • 626.0804 Home-Style Family Dining • High Quality • Reasonable Prices r ------- I COUPON I NOW OPEN FOR DINNER INTRODUCTORY OFFER BUY ONE DINNER GET SECOND AT HALF PRICE MON. THRU FRI. ANYTIME TIL 9 • 1 Coupon Per Person p.m. • Expires 3-17-89 JN NEW HOURS: MON.-FRI. 6:30-9, SAT. 6:30-4, SUN. 6:30-3 64 FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1989 j hat is a consultant? A person who bor- rows your watch to tell time, then charges you dearly for the information." "This bad joke," says Charles Bernstein in his Editor's Corner column of Na- tion's Restaurant News, which has been making the rounds in offices around the country, throws the spotlight on a new industry that has arisen in the last several years: food- service consulting. "lb some," says Bernstein, "a food-service consultant symbolizes a person who is between jobs, just plain out of work, trying something new or making a lot of money by giving advice. Yet," he says, "the food-service consulting business has grown because of the increasing complexity of the industry. Experts can help in numerous ways. Menus, design, equipment, operations, marketing, real estate, strategic planning, openings and closings are among their functions. Sav- ing or renovating a business is often part of the challenge. "More than a few operators take the position that they don't want to deal with con- sultants, that 'nobody knows as much as we do about our own business? "But," notes Bernstein, "it may well be advantageous for the operator to use an objec- tive outsider, one who can of- fer expertise in a specific area. "The first known restaurant consultants were Joseph Baum and George Lang in the early 1970s. Some New Yorkers maintain these two and their expanded companies are still the only true food-service consultants who can provide a full range of advice and help, but cer- tainly not at bargain- basement 'prices. "Literally thousands of con- sultants with varying degrees of experience and ability have sprung up throughout the na- tion," tells Bernstein. "Some are quite professional, and others are not. Some have pride in their work and want to give the best to the operator. Others are in the restaurant consulting business for the money only; they could easily be con- sultants in any business. It would not surprise us to find that today more food-service executives are employed as consultants than are actual- ly with chains. This is a sign that the food consultant business has reached a point of saturation — even beyond that of the restaurant indukry. "This anyone-can-be-a- consultant approach has un- fortunate effects," he writes. "The bad experiences operators have sustained with the less capable consultants have tainted the reputations of the numerous capable con- sultants who can really help restaurants. "In a San Francisco talk last August to the Foodservice Consultants Society Interna- tional, Max's Restaurants president Dennis Berkowitz urged entrepreneurs to 'do it yourselves if you want to suc- ceed and don't rely on con- sultants: He berated 'those consultants who tellyou about all the elaborate engineering systems and elegant designs you need.' "We happen to agree with Berkowitz, who was once a consultant himself and who was not referring to the pro- fessional members of the Foodservice Consultants Society in his remarks. "All too many consultants talk restaurateurs into expen- sive, elaborate designs when a simple decor will suffice — as long as the food and service are superior. But restaura- teurs can only blame them- selves for this as they are lured by the glitz. "As New York's Clark Wolf said in Nation's Restaurant News' recent focus study on consultants, `I'm like a part- ner to the owner, but at least I can sleep at nights.' Con- sultants indeed can walk away from the problems over which restaurateurs tear out their hair." "Consultants are 'tem- porary help,' " said Los Angeles' Denise Minchella. "Restaurateurs use us only when they need us. We get no salary, no benefits." "We would emphasize," says Bernstein, "the assertion of John Gruner of Grand Rapids, Mich., describing a consultant's job as 'pulling together the dream and ex- pectation of the client, to make that happen.' "The consultant business is a maligned one, always a con- venient scapegoat for any- thing that ails restaurants. But the ultimate responsibili- ty lies with the operator, and a capable consultant can stretch an operator's perfor- mance to maximum achieve- ment." GOOD HUSBAND and Wife Tham Dept. . . . Vassos and Helen Avgoustis, very ef- ficient, courteous and knowledgeable waiter and waitress at Pegasus in Greektown on Monroe Avenue since the beautiful and well-run spot opened eight years ago. Good Hostess Dept. . . . also takes in Pegasus' evening lassie, Michelle Chave, who does an amazingly adept job of seating customers as fast as possible even though the place is packed every night .. and no reservations are taken. Pegasus, owned by Ted Kat- saros and Jim Pappas, seats Experts can help restaurants with menus, design, equipment, operations, marketing, real estate, strategic planning, openings and closings. over 300 people . . . Its food is considered among Greek- town's finest. EVEN ON HIS Thursday nights off, Excalibur bartender John Cetrone with a bag of tricks is there enter- taining people . . . Those who have seen his eye-blinking stuff behind the Excalibur bar, Northwestern and Franklin, love sitting by him evenings and seeing them over and over again. Victor Dazbaz, evening manager at Excalibur, has been doing a standout job and, in show biz terminology, is a class act. Pam Martin and her Piz- zazz trio does its fine stylings of top 40s, pops, standards, Latins, etc., Tuesday to Satur- day through March at Excalibur. AFTER A five year-stint in Las Vegas, Ron DePalma is back . . . playing and singing at Kingsley Inn's lounge, N. Woodward in Bloomfield Hills, 8:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday. A COUPLE of local lassies, Susan Bonin and Joyce Sher- man, are making healthy muffins that taste good .. . This is a rarity since muffins without all the regular ingre-