Is there anything more universally loved by American eaters than a buffet? The love of the buffet is a great equalizer; from $100,000 weddings where guests feast on a caviar buffet, to Grandma's birthday bash where well-wishers chow down on barbecue and home-made potato salad. After a long, stuffy dry spell, the art of the buffet is back in the hospitality world and it's better, but not necessarily bigger, than ever. In the past, buffets were extraordinary displays of food used during banquets to feed vast numbers of people. The method was quicker and easier than plating a traditional banquet meal. Many culinary teams also viewed the buffet as a great opportunity to express their creativity; chef garde mangers and pastry chefs, along with their teams, really had the opportunity to shine. Not only was there an abundance of food, but the centerpieces and garnishes were considered equally important to the whole buffet. READ MORE

Your spa is a place that your guest delights in relaxation and escape. Not always. A spa facility has a myriad of liability pitfalls and potential risks, for both your guest and staff. It is alarming how many spa owners pay little attention to these issues, until, of course, they receive a notice from an attorney's office of a suit being filed. Then, your Spa Director is called in to determine "What happened?" By then it's too late. We offer the following guideline as a starting point to bring to light just some of the safety issues that you may not have addressed within your facility. Let's walk through your facility and address each area for its potential jeopardy. READ MORE

The lights have long been turned back on after last August's blackout that put the northeastern United States and Canada in the dark, but the work continues to prevent another major outage from happening again. While it would be impossible to guarantee that it will not, the electric power industry has come together and is putting in place safeguards to minimize the possibility. Longer term, though, the nation needs to strengthen and expand the country's transmission 'grid'. The grid is being forced to find ways to keep up with the continually growing demand for power with limited ability to site or encourage investment in new transmission facilities. The grid is also evolving from serving state and local needs to serving the regional needs of the country's evolving competitive electricity markets. The result is greater congestion on the lines. This can lead to higher power prices for hotels and all customers. It also stresses the electric system, which creates the potential for reliability problems. READ MORE

One of the greatest personal debates we often face centers on character. Do you believe that it's possible for a person to possess both a public and a private character, even if the two are very different? What you do in private is your own business, as long as it doesn't affect your public performance, right? Not necessarily - especially when your personal performance impacts your business performance. Once you divide your personality and your actions into two or more categories, you deviate from the very definition of the word "character." At its root, one's character is defined by one's integrity - "The quality or state of being complete, unbroken condition, unimpaired, of sound moral principle, uprightness, honesty and sincerity." - (Defined by Webster) Therefore, if your character - which defines who you are - is broken into two or more entities, you no longer have integrity because you are no longer "whole." Without integrity, you don't have much character. Unfortunately, without integrity it is still possible to run a successful business. However, the chance of your being successful is greatly minimized, and while certain people may do business with you, it's most likely out of necessity. When your integrity is low, "people know it." READ MORE

Recent issues of trade journals have explored the fresh importance being placed on strong sanitation practices. From outbreaks of Norwalk virus aboard cruise ships to fears over SARS as close to home as Canada, the media seems to report a new health scare almost every month. On a global level, proper sanitation can stop a number of these illnesses in their tracks. On a more everyday level, keeping a clean kitchen is just good business sense. Today, chefs and restaurant managers are not only more accountable for the quality of cuisine and experience presented to their guests, they are being held responsible for cultivating and maintaining a higher cleanliness ethic. This issue is so important that many operations are actually increasing their budgets to provide staff with both basic and leading-edge tools and training to achieve higher sanitation standards. READ MORE