October marks the two-year anniversary of the U.S. migration to EMV smart-chip enabled payment technology. Despite the fact that the migration was accompanied by a card-present fraud liability shift to the party using the least secure technology, Visa reports that only about 2 million U.S. merchants have transitioned to this new level of technology. This leaves nearly 67 percent of U.S. merchants vulnerable, as fraudsters turn their focus to non-EMV enabled businesses.


EMV, which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, is the global standard for cards equipped with computer chips and the technology used to authenticate chip-card transactions. EMV cards are embedded with a smart chip that creates a unique transaction code that cannot be used again, improving the payment security for consumers.


How criminals take advantage

The Restaurant Association of Maryland and the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) are hosting the Chesapeake Chef Challenge on September 26 & 27 during the Mid-Atlantic Food, Beverage & Lodging Expo held in Timonium, MD. 
 
This ACF sanctioned competition is open to all cooks and chefs - so whether you’re a seasoned competitor or a novice looking to try a competition for the first time, this competition is for you.
 
The Chesapeake Chef Challenge is an ACF sanctioned W category event with a First Prize of $1,500.  Numerous other ACF sanctioned categories are also available to be judged during the competition in order to meet the needs of serious, novice and student competitors.

Restaurant weeks continue to be popular with the dining public and local municipalities are more than willing to host them for promotional reasons.  With over 20 different restaurant weeks occurring in Maryland each year, there are plenty of options and opportunities to dine out during these traditionally slower times for restaurants.  Customers are showing up and are taking notice – but are they taking notice of your restaurant?  Are you really making the most of your local restaurant week? 
 
The quickest and easiest way to be disappointed in your restaurant week results is to be a passive participant.  Too many restaurants sign up for their local restaurant week and expect great things to magically happen, yet are left unsatisfied when the week is over. 

​Take charge and ensure that your restaurant week participation is great for you and your customers.

​Restaurants, especially smaller establishments, need to make the most of their IT budgets to remain profitable and competitive. One way to stretch an IT budget is with Software as a Service (SaaS) for your Point-of-Sale (POS) system.
 
Instead of buying a high-priced physical copy of a software platform, SaaS lets you keep that cash flow and instead pay a reasonable fixed monthly subscription rate.

​Presented by: SynergySuite, Restaurant Management Software
 
Innovation in cloud-based software and mobile technology today has dramatically increased the ability for businesses to easily capture data to better manage their restaurants. Restaurants can analyze aspects of their business with data that wasn’t previously available or easy to collect. Restaurants can now optimize processes, make better decisions, and save time and money.
 
Here are some of the best ways a restaurant chain can take action with technology to save on food costs:

The Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation awarded over $11,000 in scholarships this past spring.  Most awards went to high school seniors and students already enrolled in culinary programs.  Each year RAMEF promotes its scholarships to help young people continue their education in the culinary arts and hospitality management fields.

​After a statewide search for candidates, the Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM) completed the annual nomination process for its Board of Directors.  The following list of new Officers and Directors were voted in at the Annual RAM Membership Meeting held at Sysco Baltimore on June 14th.

This Memorial Day weekend, restaurants across the state of Maryland will have “Missing Man” tables set in their dining rooms to honor the American soldiers who have lost their lives or are still missing in action while serving their country.  These tables are also referred to as a MIA/POW table, Empty table or Fallen Comrade table.
 
The Missing Man table is a permanent place of honor found in military dining facilities that are also set up during service balls and other military dining occasions.  The tradition of setting a separate table in honor of fallen and missing soldiers has been in place since the end of the Vietnam War. The manner in which the table is decorated is full of special symbols to help us remember the sacrifice these men, women and their families have given to their country.
 
As families and friends get together this holiday weekend, restaurants across the state will have Missing Man tables set up to remind their customers of those we have lost.  The Restaurant Association of Maryland led the effort to educate restaurants on the meaning of the Missing Man table and encouraged their members to participate.