Kitchen notebook
Insights for restaurant owners
Short, practical articles by Chef Raja Ravi Varma on menus, costs, kitchen systems and bar programs — drawn from kitchens in Dubai, Qatar, India and Canada.
Menu Engineering: 7 Tips to Make Every Dish Earn Its Place
Chef Raja Ravi Varma's practical menu engineering tips — how to sort dishes by profit and popularity, price with confidence and design a menu guests read the way you want.
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How to Cut Restaurant Food Costs Without Cutting Quality
Practical ways to lower food cost in a restaurant kitchen — portion control, recipe standardization, smart purchasing and waste tracking — from Chef Raja Ravi Varma.
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Writing Kitchen SOPs Your Team Will Actually Follow
A chef's guide to writing kitchen standard operating procedures — what to include, how to format them and how to train staff so SOPs stick. By Chef Raja Ravi Varma.
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Signature Cocktails That Boost Bar Sales
How to build a cocktail and mocktail menu that raises beverage revenue — signature drinks, costing, batching and staff training — from Chef Raja Ravi Varma.
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Opening a New Restaurant: A Chef's Checklist for Menu, Kitchen and Staff
A practical pre-opening checklist from Chef Raja Ravi Varma — menu development, kitchen setup, suppliers, SOPs, staff training and soft launch.
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Designing an Indian Restaurant Menu for Canadian Guests
Chef Raja Ravi Varma on designing Indian restaurant menus for Canadian guests — spice levels guests trust, vegetarian and vegan sections that sell, and the dishes that earn repeat visits.
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Buffet Planning: How to Run a Buffet That Makes Money
Chef Raja Ravi Varma's buffet planning guide — menu balance, portion control, live stations and the numbers that keep a buffet profitable instead of wasteful.
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Hiring and Training Kitchen Staff Who Stay
Chef Raja Ravi Varma on hiring and training kitchen staff who stay — what to look for in a cook, how to train in the first two weeks, and why most kitchens lose people.
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Healthy Bowls: Building a Bowl Concept That Sells
Chef Raja Ravi Varma on building a healthy bowls restaurant concept — base, protein, sauce and crunch, pricing bowls for profit, and what he is learning leading Project BHOL in Chicago.
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Restaurant Inventory: Stop Losing Money in the Walk-In
Chef Raja Ravi Varma's restaurant inventory guide — par levels, ordering rhythm, first-in-first-out and the weekly count that stops money disappearing in the walk-in.
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