It’s not going to do you much good if you go broke outfitting the back of the house. But if you use a little creativity here, a little elbow grease there, you can have a first-rate kitchen with money to spare. Take a look at what these inventive operators did with a little money and a lot of ingenuity. They spent anywhere from just over $13,000 to, in one extreme example, over $200,000 for a whole new prototype for an entire chain's new kitchen.

What’s your distributor done for you lately? If nothing comes to mind besides dropping off cases of product and supplies at the back door, then maybe it’s time to start asking some questions. Or even consider looking for another distributor. Today almost all foodservice distributors offer at least some value-added services to help restaurants—especially independents and small chain operators—improve their performance and profitability. A handful set themselves apart with beyond-the-norm initiatives. Here are a few we think are worth knowing about.

Before she heads off to work, managing her father’s restaurant in Elkin, North Carolina, Shannon Sparks logs onto the Internet and checks bids from the night before. Unlike most online auctions, the bidders aren’t vying to buy a camera, an antique or a slightly used iPod. They’re bidding for the right to lend her family’s business, the Basin Creek Country Store, $20,000 for a new point of sale system. Sparks is trying out a new funding source for restaurant owners, entrepreneurs and everyone else: a website called Prosper Marketplace or Prosper.com.