Restaurant Management history

In the meantime, the original Kips Bay restaurant continued to thrive, prompting the owners in 1973 to open another Palm Restaurant, Palm Too, across Second Avenue to handle the overflow from the flagship unit.

At first the formula was wildly popular with modal guests – suburbanites with $15,000 annual incomes who ordered $6.95 meals and cleared out in 1.5 hours. “Seventeen million dollars and no chefs,” Rufe boasted in January of 1975.

However, by 1978 competition was up and profits were down.

The next Palm Restaurant was opened in 1980 in Chicago, housed in the posh Regent Hotel.

After a Dallas location opened in 1983, The Palm began to slow the pace.

1984 – Verifone credit card authorization system was created which was a major step toward achieving industry dominance with the introduction of its ZON credit card authorization system.

The next Palm Restaurant, the chain's tenth, opened in San Francisco on the ground floor of the Hotel Juliana in February 1986.

Then in 1989 he went to work for David Berins and Co., which then became part of Arthur Anderson & Co.'s Real Estate Advisory Group, for which he led several hospitality consulting projects.

In 1990 restaurants began using the Verifone system, providing diners faster and more efficient payment methods.

In 1992, Microsoft launched the first POS software for Windows.

In 1993 The Palm opened a restaurant in Las Vegas at the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace, quickly establishing itself as one of the most successful units in the entire chain.

1995 – Back of house management technology was created, however were mostly available to chain restaurants.

The Chicago-area Palm also changed hotels in 1996 to the Swissotel.

In 1998 the concept moved beyond the border when a new Palm Restaurant was opened in Puerto Rico in the El San Juan Hotel and Casino.

1999 – OpenTable introduced the first online restaurant-reservation service which eventually set into motion a number of startups attempting to streamline and strengthen the online reservation process.

In 2000 it opened three restaurants: a third Texas Palm, in San Antonio, as well as a second restaurant/inn located in East Hampton (the James Lane Café at the Hedges Inn) and the first restaurant in Nashville.

While The Palm saw its business adversely impacted by a downturn in the economy, the deleterious effects that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had on travel and tourism, and record beef prices, the chain persevered, although it put a temporary hold on its expansion program.

2004– User generated restaurant review sites began popping up, changing the way restaurants gained exposure and democratizing the restaurant review system.

In 2005 restaurants opened in Atlantic City and the Gas Lamp district of San Diego, close to the new baseball park.

2011 – By 2011 Back of House Management platforms went on the cloud, meaning that all data became stored and used to calculate important information for a restaurant.

2013 – Customer facing display for POS systems were introduced to the market allowing guests to pay quickly at cafes and restaurants and eliminating the need for paper receipts.