According to a Recent Study/Survey … End-of-February 2018 Edition

Sustainable Scoop for Spring and EMP Summer House

How to Start a Restaurant (Infographic)

Starting a restaurant is a dream desired by many, but it can be daunting when you factor in all the things you need to do and consider the many challenges. However, if you’re motivated and more than willing to take on those challenges, then read on.

There is no one secret ingredient to opening a successful restaurant. However, the team at Oddle has shared some tips with Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine to help aspiring restaurateurs be better informed with this ultimate guide and the infographic below.

How to Start a Restaurant (Infographic) posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Bringing an Authentic Experience to a New Market: How to Approach Established Cultural Norms and Values

Creating an authentic experience in a new market where a specific set of traditions and cultural norms have already been established can be a challenge. In order to be authentic, brands must be able to bridge values in business and be able to pair strategies from one market to the next.

When entering an entirely new market, it is key for brands to stay true to themselves and to the system that they have perfected. Being real and consistent through messaging establishes a strong base to build upon with new consumers. However, in order to merge a concept with a new market, businesses must be open to change and transformation to fit with new customs and expectations.

Understand the People

Moving into a new market comes with a new demographic, a set of people that are unaware of a brand’s concept. A business must recognize the differences in new consumers from others in past markets. To create an authentic experience, you should gauge which parts of the concept should be given to the new market. Understanding how much consumers are willing to pay, and what types of products or services they find necessary are important factors to analyze ahead of expansion.

An authentic experience can be brought to a market where the core values and key messaging can blend with the already standardized way of living. Concepts entering new markets have the chance to compliment the already established practices of consumers, but also challenge the norm. Pushing the boundaries in terms of the service quality or products offered are subtle ways to provoke a market’s interest and quickly build trust with new consumers.

Observe the Competition

Markets across the globe have had their fair share of new, authentic businesses come to the area with both major failure and success. Taking a look at staple businesses that have been in the market for years is a way to determine not only who the competition is, but to take note on how they have managed to achieve their staying power.

Look at which businesses have a strong local presence and work to determine what has giving these brands an edge—the product or service itself, the brand story, the pricing or value. it is important to learn what portion of the competition resonates with a new market. A strong grasp on what traits consumers are looking for in a business is your brand’s opportunity to begin to match the competition and naturally blend an authentic concept into the market seamlessly alongside already established values and expectations.

Recognize Challenges

Although it is important to make your presence known, there is also a certain amount of respect that should be made when approaching a new market. Understanding that a concept is completely foreign to a market, it’s important to make proper introductions for the brand to consumers and the local business community in order to build a stable relationship.

Brands should not assume that they know the market or the people better than the locals themselves. It takes time to learn the target audience and the business environment that a new market holds. Beginning to study a new market and understand the people is a major task, and you should prioritize keeping an open mind with new approaches and techniques to connect with consumers. Forming relationships and challenging a business to imbed itself in the community is an deeply meaningful portion of staying true to authenticity of a brand, while also respectful recognizing norms.

Bringing an Authentic Experience to a New Market: How to Approach Established Cultural Norms and Values posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Tumultuous Times: Restaurant Innovation and Disruption

“There is no question restaurants are innovating—but are they moving fast enough to stay relevant in the face of evolving consumers’ tastes and preferences? This is a particular challenge for established companies where risks are magnified—there are enormous profits, thousands of jobs, and publicly traded share prices on the line.”

This quote from consultants KPMG neatly sums up the incredible challenge facing quick serve and fast casual restaurants—especially in a climate of rapid acquisitions. The business has always been about getting food out quickly and efficiently. What’s different now is that exploration, optimization, insight generation and decision-making all need to happen in the blink of an eye.

That means the insight function needs to shed old ways and embrace rapid and agile methods for generating insights. That’s why we developed a quick service insight menu, featuring fast fresh approaches to common needs.

Our playbook, Tumultuous Times: a quick service restaurant insight menu for surviving and thriving, outlines a series of agile approaches to innovation development, testing and refinement, as well as the optimization of menuboards and mail promotions. It also introduces our Digital Eater segmentation, which shines a powerful spotlight on the rapidly changing role of technology for guests.

• A section on disruptive innovation reveals how clients have found it liberating to use Idea Filter early in the development process. Because you can test an idea in a minute, it is easy to assess a wide array of ideas—including those that might have been otherwise dismissed as too risky. With this flexibility, clients have been able to test and identify ideas that make a difference.
• A segment on our end-to-end menuboard offer takes you on a journey from exploration to evaluation and activation. From qualitative mobile missions, all the way to sophisticated choice modeling of digital menuboards, these solutions help you activate the optimal menuboard, based on consumers’ feedback.
• A chapter on our Mailbox Platform reveals which promotional materials work best and worst, and why. It also delivers insights into what can be done to improve them. A case study featuring a test of materials from McDonald’s, KFC and Subway illustrates how with Mailbox, you don’t just find which one is the winner—you also find out why.
• The piece on our Digital Eater segmentation identifies five unique schools of thought and action as it relates to digital and food. This segmentation provides a revealing lens through which to view guests and evaluate strategies and tactics. Digitization is having transformational effects on where people eat, how they order, what they eat and where they learn about food and restaurants.

Changes create new winners and losers—often overnight. Owners of taxi medallions in NYC, for example, thought they had a license to print money—until Uber came along.

In the world of food, UberEATS, Grubhub, Just Eat, Chefs Plate, HelloFresh and Seamless are all disrupting the landscape. Meal kit companies like Chefs Plate and HelloFresh are redefining ning the distinctions between groceries, prepared food and food delivery.

The question is, what’s coming next?

Tumultuous Times: Restaurant Innovation and Disruption posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

New & Notable: Say Goodbye to Soggy Fries and AAA Five Diamond Winners

Defending Against Bogus Online Reviews: A Guide For Bars and Restaurants

Online reviews play an increasingly important role in the modern bar and restaurant scene.  While truthful and appropriate reviews can offer real benefits to businesses, phony or fraudulent reviews can quickly torpedo a thriving enterprise, regardless of their falsity. 

The danger of bogus reviews is obvious: readers of an online review will often have no idea whether or not the reviewer is telling the truth, but they may avoid patronizing the establishment just the same, leading to staggering losses.  This risk is compounded by the fact that many people think of the Internet as a place they can go to unleash obnoxious tirades without consequences. 

But when reviewers cross the line into spreading false and damaging claims, owners of hospitality businesses have a right to defend themselves and their livelihoods, and there are a variety of legal options available to combat the scourge of phony Internet reviews.

The Law of Defamation on the Internet

Although laws vary from state to state, as a general proposition, a person may be legally held liable for defamation when he or she posts a review that contains assertions of fact (as opposed to opinion), and when the assertions of fact are demonstrably false and damaging to the reviewed business.

What does this mean in practice?  Customers are entitled to post reviews that are statements of opinion, such as “the sauce was too spicy” or “the décor was unattractive.”  While you may disagree with a customer’s opinion, those disagreements are not proper bases for legal action.  In addition, customers can provide reviews that contain accurate statements of facts, such as “the waiter spilled wine on me” (if that is indeed true).  These types of claims are generally permissible because statements of opinion or accurate facts constitute protected free speech under the First Amendment.

However, if a review contains a false assertion of fact, the reviewer may be liable for defamation.  For example, statements like “I was charged for items I did not order,” or “there was an insect in my food,” if untrue, may form the basis of a defamation claim.

Four Steps To Deal With A Bogus Review

From a legal perspective, the best way to deal with a bogus review can be broken down into 4 steps.

First, determine whether the review contains any statements of fact.  To do this, parse the language carefully and try to determine exactly what the reviewer was communicating.  Often times, statements may initially appear to be factual but, after a deeper look, may constitute opinion (or vice versa).  It is important to keep in mind that in most courts, a reviewer cannot convert a statement of fact into protected “opinion” merely by using certain buzzwords (such as adding the phrase “in my opinion” before a clear statement of fact).

Second, if the review contains only statements of opinion, consider alternative methods for addressing it, such as politely responding to the review on the relevant platform and explaining why you don’t believe it is correct, or pursuing any “takedown” procedures provided by the platform.  You should take any possible steps to increase the number of good reviews, which can dilute the effect of one negative comment.

Third, if you believe that the review contains false statements of fact (i.e., defamation), ask your legal counsel about the relevant laws in your jurisdiction and whether you have a viable legal claim.  When determining whether to pursue legal action, keep in mind that:

• The fact that a review may have been posted anonymously does not mean that you cannot bring a claim. Under appropriate circumstances, courts will order Internet service providers to disclose the identity of a wrongdoer so that he or she may be taken to court.
• To win a case, you will need to prove that the statements in question are false, and there are many different ways of doing so. For example, an incident may be captured on film, or members of the staff may be able to provide testimony proving the falsity of a bogus claim.

Fourth, consider whether the harm is significant enough to warrant legal action.  The damage to a restaurant or bar from a widespread defamatory review can be severe, leading to the loss of multiple customers and revenues of many thousands of dollars (or more), and long-lasting reputational harm.  Therefore, a legitimate defamation claim can entitle a business to collect damages that may be equally substantial.  On the other hand, in cases of very minor misstatements, it may not be worth investing the time and resources required to pursue legal action, even if you have a valid claim.

Conclusion

Given the relatively high number of customer interactions, the presence of alcohol, the ease of writing an Internet review, and the emergence of a culture in which many people believe they are “experts,” bars and restaurants face a heightened risk for online defamation.  But with vigilance and careful analysis, proprietors can protect themselves from having a defamatory review destroy their hard-won reputations.

Defending Against Bogus Online Reviews: A Guide For Bars and Restaurants posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

The Urge to Surge: What Surge Pricing Could Mean For Your Restaurant

How Quick Serve Restaurants Will Tap Technology in 2018

There’s a common misperception that millennials are the primary generation using restaurant-related technology options. However, they’re not the only group showing interest in using technology when dining out. According to new research conducted by the National Restaurant Association, baby boomers are also using computers and smartphones to place orders. The study reports that 56 percent of consumers age 45 – 56 have recently used technology options in restaurants, with four out of ten using computers to review menu items in the past month.

As more people become accustomed to interacting with restaurants through digital modes, these solutions will be offered more frequently in-restaurant to ensure experiences are consistent. In 2018, we should expect more QSRs to blend their in-person and online offerings for a better customer experience and streamlined operations.

Step it Up with Self-Service

Self-service kiosks provide a wide range of benefits to both operators and consumers. For diners, immediate benefits include skipping the line and increased order accuracy. Kiosks can also customize the experience for each diner based on their previous order history, and intelligent recommendation engines can pair food items together, offering complimentary drinks or desserts. The suggestions provided to customers can be altered to accurately reflect the restaurant’s inventory in real-time. For example, kiosks won’t suggest the customer order fries with their hot dog if that menu item is running low. However, if there is a surplus of fries, the kiosks will suggest that menu item over another, like onion rings.

As self-service becomes more mainstream in the year to come, we should expect to see more payments conducted through mobile loyalty applications and the gamification of self-services. As an example, customers can earn points with every purchase, and can later be rewarded once they’ve achieved a certain point milestone. Additionally, restaurant owners will be more transparent in providing calorie counts and dish ingredients as customers make their digital selections, creating an overall better brand experience. 

The BOPIS Opportunity for the Modern Restaurant

One of the greatest progressions in QSRs to date has been the drive-through. Looking ahead, buy-online/pickup-in-store (BOPIS) through mobile and online ordering is the next wave of convenience and simplicity restaurants without drive-throughs are offering diners. Mobile applications will allow customers to save their menu preferences, schedule pickups and deliveries, automate payment, and reward customer loyalty. After the order is placed either on mobile or online, it’s up to the restaurant to make sure the pickup is just as streamlined, convenient and enjoyable.

To achieve this, restaurants are employing the help of touchscreens and self-service kiosks to create interactive welcome experiences to digitally greet guests and minimize lines. From these welcome kiosks, diners can pick up their orders or check on the status of their food. Restaurant managers can program promotional offerings, such as drinks or desserts, during the checkout process, too. By adding these personalized touches, restaurants can perfect their pickup process to keep customers coming back.

Next-Level Loyalty Programs

As restaurants continue to adopt self-service, loyalty programs will evolve. Technology is creating new and exciting ways to interact with customers and personalize their experience. Facial recognition, for example, is poised to make a huge impact on loyalty and reward programs in 2018.

Through facial recognition, self-service kiosk systems can recognize a customer right away to greet them with their preferred orders, and suggest promotions based on their loyalty benefits. KFC’s in China are actually using facial recognition today, and all customers need to do to pay is smile. As a growing number of restaurants look for fun ways to engage diners, we should expect to see more installations similar to the one used by KFC. 

Streamlined Table Seating

Technology can also help streamline the customer experience with self-service table seating platforms. These kiosks will allow diners to set their table preferences or select from the first available open table. They will also be able to share whether they prefer to sit in a booth as opposed to a table, or if they have no preference at all and would just like to be seated quickly. This frees up the hosts and hostesses from having to spend time answering questions about table availability and pay more attention to ensuring guests are having enjoyable dining experiences. Customers’ mobile phones will be leveraged for notification, enabling patrons to move about without a restaurant pager.

All in all, recent advancements in touchscreen technology will allow QSRs and restaurants to customize the dining experience to each person based on their preferences and purchase history. Integrating these kinds of solutions can improve the overall customer experience, and arm restaurant employees with the information needed to better service diners and increase brand loyalty.

How Quick Serve Restaurants Will Tap Technology in 2018 posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

The Reincarnation of a Restaurant

Ho-Ho-Kus Inn & Tavern was constructed in 1796, used as a parsonage and first became a tavern in 1890. Fully restored in 2009 following a $1.5M-plus renovation overseen by current proprietors Gordon and Laurie Hamm, the contemporary American restaurant is a local landmark and culinary destination.

 

In this MRM Profile, Laurie Hamm discusses the challenges of operating a restaurant on a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places and their plans for the future. As she put it, “there are plenty of moving parts. You want to maintain the history of the space, but it shouldn’t be stuffy, like a museum.”

The Reincarnation of a Restaurant posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Four Ways Female Chefs are Shifting Kitchen Culture

Whether any restaurant fails or succeeds depends in large part on the chef and the quality of food presented to the public. In years past, whenever someone was discussing a new up-and-coming eatery that provided a wonderful ambiance coupled with delicious plates, people automatically assumed the chef was male. This ideal has been reinforced with movies feeding us images of male chefs slinging pots across a hot stove and hollering directions across a bustling kitchen.

This notion, however, is quickly changing as more female chefs are making their mark on the cooking scene. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, there has been an increase of more than 50 percent for the number of female-owned establishments. The Culinary Institute of America has also noted that in 2016 they enrolled more women than men in their programs.

Having women in the kitchen is having impacts on the comradery and culture found behind the scenes. Here are some incredible ways female chefs have moved us into new territory in commercial kitchens.

Respect is a Given

Industrial kitchens, in general, are highly competitive environments, where the only way to work your way up is to earn it. Even now, with more female chefs taking charge of kitchens across the globe, this basic principle still stands. 

Cooking may feed the soul, but for many, working in those kitchens was very draining. Verbal abuse and high stress were markers of kitchen culture with berating or yelling expected as hallmarks of an average day.  In many kitchens, basic respect is not considered a necessity and will only be given once the head chef feels it has been earned.

Luckily, as more women move into positions of power, these standards are changing. Mistakes are being handled with patience rather than screaming and debasement. Chef Suzanna Cupps perfectly summarizes this ideal: “I’m not going to get what I want by screaming. I get better food by challenging cooks in different ways.”

In female-run establishments, sous-chefs and cooks treats other members of the kitchen with politeness and respect. This positive work environment is allowing creativity to flourish, which maintains a much higher rate of job satisfaction.

Proper Manners

Changes in the kitchen culture are reflecting changes in what is socially acceptable in the wider world. Ladies everywhere are taking a stand against mistreatment and harassment in all aspects of their lives, and they are also taking this ideal into the kitchen. Many individuals in the food industry are young and learn how to behave appropriately in the kitchen from their peers.

In male-dominated kitchens, there can be a frat mentality that accents interactions between staff at different levels in the hierarchy. Many individuals note that, in kitchens where women are at the helm, a significant portion of their training involves conversations about manners. There are interactive discussions to teach new hires how to act like an adult in the kitchen.

These conversations cover fundamental human rights, how to respectfully joke in the kitchen, and how to interact with both superiors and subordinates. These skills allow younger people to learn how to act in all situations, not just at work. This method provides a life-skill that garners them respect and positivity in all aspects of their lives. These women are helping to bring the golden rule back to the forefront by reminding us all to “do unto others.”

Cutting Loose

This new ideal of consistently offering a positive work environment has already had a fantastic impact. Since there are fewer negative repercussions and a wide-range of support is standard in female-run kitchens, creative juices are flowing.

By breaking loose of conventional operating standards, women are telling their staff the old way does not have to be the “right” way. Now there is an increasing number of innovative cooking techniques and a broad range of exciting flavor combinations that are popping up in female-led kitchens worldwide.

This ideal is further supported by chef Gabriela Cámara who says, “We’re less scared of innovating because there are low expectations in terms of what women can do. And women can do a lot.”

Caring

Caring about the feelings of others is a quality most women have in spades. Ladies like knowing their staff is doing alright. In traditional kitchens, the staff is given instructions to “leave their personal business at the door” as soon as they arrive on-site. This new shift in staff culture is tossing out that outdated expectation in favor of a new approach: empathy.

Female chefs are allowing their staff to share private concerns in their work environment. This gives co-workers the opportunity to become more close-knit. It has been scientifically proven that staff who feel supported will work harder and happier in the long run.

Female chefs are also more attuned to issues that primarily pertain to women and are actively working toward ameliorating them in their kitchens. A prime example of this is maternity leave.

The restaurant industry does not currently have any regulations requiring paid maternity leave. Many women in the industry are working toward enacting policies in their kitchens to allow for paid leave. Former chef Alice Waters believes, “The restaurant business has to change to accommodate real life.”

Final Thoughts

Female chefs are making positive marks in kitchens in a global way. They are moving up into traditionally male-dominated positions, showing the world all they have to offer. The presence of women in positions of power is trickling down into all aspects of commercial kitchen culture. The addition of patience and empathy are creating positive work environments that produce happier workers and innovative, delightful dishes.

With more women becoming restaurateurs and running operations behind the scenes, we can look forward to seeing positive changes abound in restaurant culture. Allowing for more individualism and understanding is going to go a long way toward more enjoyable work environments and happier customers.

Four Ways Female Chefs are Shifting Kitchen Culture posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Toast Takes on TripAdvisor and Plate It Like You Mean It

This edition of MRM’s Daily Bite has news from Toast and TripAdvisor, Grubhub and AMEX, Fourth, Tillster and McAlister’s Deli, Artichoke Basille’s Pizza and Entrepreneurial Chef.

Send news items to Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.

Toast and TripAdvisor Team

Boston tech powerhouses Toast and TripAdvisor are partnering to deliver restaurants of all sizes the best suite of tools to entice new guests. 

Toast customers are able to further enhance their restaurant’s visibility and drive traffic directly to their TripAdvisor listing by signing up for TripAdvisor Ads. Additionally, registered owners on TripAdvisor who are not yet Toast customers are eligible to receive $500 off TripAdvisor Ads, or six free months of TripAdvisor Premium.

TripAdvisor Ads is a marketing solution that allows owners to promote their restaurant via sponsored placements visible at the top of a search results page. Ads are highly targeted to reach diners who are actively searching for a place to eat. TripAdvisor Premium enables restaurant owners to enhance their listing page through features such as the ability to spotlight favorite reviews, highlight the Top 3 Reasons to Eat Here, access in-depth analytics data, and create a customized Storyboard – a dynamic visual presentation that appears at the top of a listing.

“Toast is proud to partner with a fellow Boston tech brand and even prouder to support restaurants of all sizes through our exciting new partnership with TripAdvisor,” said Aman Narang, president and co-founder of Toast. “Toast found in its Restaurant Success in 2017 Report that social media ads will see an increase of 20 percent while search engine ads will see a 36 percent increase compared to historical ad spend. Together, Toast and TripAdvisor will empower restaurants with the advertising tools needed to stay ahead in 2018.”

“Partnering with Toast will allow us to bring their customers new products to help them better showcase their business to prospective diners,” said Evan Becker, TripAdvisor head of Restaurant Commerce. “TripAdvisor Ads and TripAdvisor Premium allow restaurant owners of all sizes to quickly and easily manage their listing and ensure they’re reaching the right customers at the right time.”

Grubhub and AMEX Partner

Grubhub is working with American Express to enable card members enrolled in the Membership Rewards® program to use Membership Rewards® points to order on Grubhub and Seamless online and mobile platforms. Additionally, American Express Card Members can quickly and easily pay via Amex Express Checkout.

“We consistently hear that our diners want even faster and simpler ways to order and pay on Grubhub,” said Stan Chia, COO of Grubhub. “Through our work with American Express, Card Members can not only take advantage of Amex Express Checkout for a quicker ordering experience, but also reap the rewards of using Membership Rewards points. We’re also thrilled to offer both Pay With Points and Amex Express Checkout on our Grubhub and Seamless mobile apps so that our diners can benefit whether they are at home or on the go.”

“We know our Card Members are always looking for easy ways to use Membership Rewards points with the merchants they love, so we are excited to further expand our Pay With Points offering to now enable Card Members to use points when they order through Grubhub and Seamless websites and mobile apps,” said Chris Cracchiolo, Vice President, Membership Rewards & Loyalty Benefits at American Express. “This further builds on the Amex Express Checkout capability that we added to Grubhub and Seamless platforms late last year, which we’re already seeing our Card Members enjoy using.”
Card Members enrolled in the Membership Rewards program can now use points for food on Grubhub and Seamless at 80,000 restaurants in more than 1,600 cities.

Fourth Launches Payroll Service in U.S.

Fourth has brought to the U.S. the first payroll service specifically built to address the complexities of the hospitality industry. Fourth has been providing payroll services for more than 15 years to hospitality operators, such as Five Guys, Subway, Travelodge and Krispy Kreme, in the U.K. and has now gone live in the U.S. market with Chotto Matte, a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant operator, and Wagamama, the international restaurant and noodle bar chain.

Fourth’s Payroll Service provides a one-stop solution for managing multiple employments, varying pay rates, shift work, variable hours, temporary staff and paid time off. Built-in payroll data analytics empower hospitality operators to make faster and better decisions, materially reducing the cost and inefficiencies associated with traditional payroll services.

Part of its Workforce Management solution set, Fourth’s Payroll Service is  integrated with its Workforce Planning tool. With data inputs on logged employee hours, this tool calculates employee gross and net wages, used by the payroll service team to generate payments to hospitality employees. All hospitality-relevant labor regulations are built into the platform to ensure operator compliance.

“Wagamama USA chose Fourth’s workforce management solution because it provides a single platform for us to manage the entire employee lifecycle – and, crucially, with fully integrated payroll delivered by a team that genuinely cared about us,” explained Paul Oakley, Wagamama U.S. Finance Director.

“There was an immediate and significant increase in accuracy due to our switch in payroll providers. They do deliver – our people are paid accurately and on time, tips are paid through payroll and taxed accurately, and staff can view their paystubs as well as their schedules on the Fourth app on their cell phone.

“In addition, I have been particularly impressed with the expertise, attentiveness and quality of service from the Fourth team. They really do get the complexities of hospitality payroll. If we had any questions at all, they were on hand to answer these quickly and efficiently. To my mind, this personable and professional approach differentiates them from other payroll providers.”

Oakley continued: “And we are getting results that go further than an accurate and timely payroll. Our labor spend has improved because the system’s intelligence in labor forecasting allows us to focus on overstaffing. Creating a schedule is simple and saves hours each week compared to Excel and manual systems.

“Our approach is totally unlike other payroll providers,” noted Sheryl Steele, Fourth’s VP of payroll operations. “Our solution is specifically designed for highly complex hospitality payroll and copes easily with different rates of pay, staff who are seasonal, transient, full-time, part-time and those who carry out a variety of functions.

“We intend to revolutionize the market and provide the hospitality world what it needs from a payroll service — a service provider that can match the high standards they set as their own. It’s paramount for us to deliver exceptional quality and great customer service. Consistent, accurate and timely payroll is key to employee happiness and business efficiency, and we help our customers achieve that.”

To build upon Fourth’s payroll success in the U.K. and expand these services into the U.S. market to meet local hospitality customer demand, Steele, who has led Fourth’s global payroll operations for 10 years, opened a new service center in Tampa in October 2017. Managed by payroll operations manager Jennifer Specht, the center has hired from the Tampa area’s rich pool of payroll specialists to staff up for customers.

McAlister’s Unifies Digital Ordering and Engagement Programs

Tillster launched a consolidated digital ordering and CRM program for McAlister’s Deli® that enables them to leverage the Tillster technology infrastructure to better understand its customer base, improve the quality of guest touch points, and ultimately provide a superior guest experience.

“The restaurant industry, and even more so fast-casual establishments, are in a race to offer technology options that entice and retain customers,” says Perse Faily, CEO of Tillster. “McAlister’s Deli is second to none when it comes to customer hospitality, and the synergy that these new technologies afford is instrumental to the growth of the brand.”

Beginning in 2017, McAlister’s partnered with Tillster to modernize its CRM efforts. This database enhancement combined with targeted email content, push notifications and ongoing tests have more-than-doubled email open rates and significantly improved app engagement. These programs over time will enable McAlister’s to contextualize communications and serve content at the right moment to delight guests even more. 

At the end of January 2018, McAlister’s made its most significant move leveraging Tillster’s technology, by launching a redesigned mobile app. This latest update not only improved the guest ordering experience, but introduced a new surprise-and-delight rewards program where guests receive rewards via the McAlister’s Deli app and can redeem them through a mobile order or in-restaurant. This new program surprises guests with offers for the McAlister’s favorites they know and love, and allows McAlister’s the ability to unify digital and in-store transactional data. These added capabilities provide McAlister’s with a better understanding of its guests, allowing more targeted communications and offers, while guests receive a simplified app ordering experience.  

“At McAlister’s, we’ve always been focused on genuine hospitality and providing our guests a little something extra,” says Paul Macaluso, president of McAlister’s Deli. “Our enhanced mobile app and rewards program are the next steps that allow us to extend that hospitality outside our doors and consistently thank our loyal guests in a way most accessible to their daily lives. We look forward to understanding how our guests engage with McAlister’s technology and uncovering new insights provided by Tillster.” 

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza Eyes Staten Island

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza will open its first Staten Island location at Empire Outlets, New York City’s first and only retail outlet center. 

This is a homecoming of sorts for Artichoke co-founders and cousins Francis Garcia and Sal Basille,who first learned the food business at their family’s Staten Island restaurant, Basille’s, before inventing their own unique style of “authentic New York pizza.” In fact, they even wrote a cookbook, “Staten Italy,” and their namesake Artichoke Pie, which has taken the city by storm with its unique combination of artichoke hearts, spinach, cream sauce, mozzarella and pecorino romano, was first conceived at the family’s Staten Island restaurant Basille’s and inspired Fran and Sal to open their own concept. Since opening the first Artichoke Basille’s on Manhattan’s 14^th Street, the cousins have expanded to 12 restaurants across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens; Berkeley, California; and Miami, Florida’s South Beach.

“Francis and Sal have an unequaled passion for family, friends, and great food, and we’re so proud that they’ll be bringing their world-class pizza back to Staten Island by joining Empire Outlets,” said Joseph Ferrara, principal of BFC Partners, developer of Empire Outlets. “Artichoke Basille’s has an incredibly committed fan base that has made it clear they want to see Francis and Sal come home to Staten Island, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of their homecoming. We look forward to making Empire Outlets one of the city’s top shopping and dining destinations with the help of some of New York City’s finest brands, like Artichoke.”

“It’s an exciting venture to be opening an Artichoke Basille’s Pizza in Staten Island, where our passion for pizza and admiration for the culinary and restaurant industries all started,” said Francis Garcia.

“We’ve been swiftly expanding the brand, and to open a location in Staten Island is a natural choice. We’re finally coming back home,” added Sal Basille.                           

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza will join Empire Outlets’ diverse group of dining options curated by Michael Brais of Douglas Elliman Commercial, including Shake Shack, Wasabi Steak & Sushi, Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque, Nathan’s Famous, and MRKTPL, Staten Island’s first-ever artisanal food hall.

MRKTPL, a 12,723-square-foot artisanal food hall with a 3,000-square-foot outdoor dining space, will include a curated selection of more than 30 diverse and unique concepts.

Plate It Like You Mean It

Entrepreneurial Chef launched a national contest with Oneida to give one lucky winner a full tabletop installation in 2018.

The “Plate It Like You Mean It” Contest will run through March 21, 2018, where industry professionals can enter by submitting a photo of a featured dish, provide a compelling reason for winning, and be entered for a chance to receive one of four prize packages comprised of Oneida products collectively valued at over $40,000.

Most notably, the Grand Prize Winner will receive a full tabletop installation in 2018 for their upcoming or current establishment.

“The vision when building our platform was centered on helping foodservice professionals and entrepreneurs at various stages in business with educational content and resources, having just celebrated our first year, we are thrilled to present a collaboration of this magnitude for our audience,” said Shawn Wenner, Founder of Entrepreneurial Chef. “Oneida’s incredible prize package is a testament to their support of our mission to empower the next generation of food entrepreneurs.”

“We’re so excited to collaborate with Entrepreneurial Chef for this contest. We love their mission of supporting food entrepreneurs, and we wanted to support them and their readership,” said Jeff Jarrett, CMO of The Oneida Group. “We know it can be tough to open a new restaurant or refurbish an existing one, and we hope these prizes will help the winners bring their tabletop visions to life to create the ultimate dining experience for their guests.”

The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia (U.S.), age 21 or older at the time of entry and requires no purchase necessary. The prize packages include the Grand Prize of a full tabletop installation in 2018, a Voter’s Choice Award with $10,000 in Oneida products, a First Runner Up with $5,000 in Oneida products, and Second Runner Up with $2,000 in Oneida products.

Entries can be submitted at entrepreneurialchef.com/oneida.

Toast Takes on TripAdvisor and Plate It Like You Mean It posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Food Cost as a Factor for Menu Development

“Ask the Expert” features advice from Wade Winters, Vice President of Supply Chain for Consolidated Concepts Inc.

Please send questions for this column to Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine Executive Editor Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.

Q: What’s the best way to approach menu development?

A: Besides site selection, developing the right menu can make the difference between a successful restaurant, or just another failed restaurant statistic.  Menus must be cost effective from a product and labor standpoint, be sustainable from an availability perspective, and be versatile.  The primary goal is to develop a menu mix that ensures you are always profitable. 

When developing a menu, questions to ask might include:

• Are you going to utilize ingredients in multiple menu items? Are there any ingredients that are only used in one dish?
• What new ingredients will be required? Are the ingredients readily available and will the product cost be steady during the period it will be on the menu?
• What is the food cost, and can the staff execute the dish effectively and consistently?

Many restaurants may think they know their food cost.  But often this is based on the initial cost when the dish was developed.  This changes almost immediately due to fluctuations in the cost of goods. 

Operators must routinely review their menus and calculate their food costs to determine if adjustments are necessary.  While operators tend to think of food cost as a business metric, it should also be heavily factored into the development of any menu. 

If your food cost is low, you have some wiggle room to develop and test more premium offerings in the future.  Conversely, if it is too high, you likely need to restructure the menu.  Food costs for the restaurant industry run typically from 25 percent to 38 percent, depending on the type of restaurant and the sales mix.

So how do you calculate food cost? 

Theoretically, you would add the total cost of ingredients to prepare the item, and then divide the menu price by the food cost to determine the food cost percentage.  You would not factor in labor or waste.  However, to determine Actual food cost you must consider inventory (weekly/monthly).  Take the beginning inventory dollar value, add in purchases, subtract ending inventory dollar value and you get Cost of Goods Sold.  Cost of Goods Sold divided by food sales gives your Food Cost percentage.  Price changes and inventory value costs must be updated based on last purchase price to be accurate. 

As you can imagine, keeping prices and inventories updated is time consuming, especially if it is being done manually and for more than one location.  However, it is critical to the success of any restaurant.  There are many “back-office” software solutions for the restaurant industry that provide inventory management, labor scheduling, and food costing.  Operators should strongly consider one of these systems if they want to know what really is going on with their costs.

While having a unique, craveable menu is the key to getting customers through your door, you won’t be around very long to enjoy the success of the menu if your food costs aren’t in order. 

Food Cost as a Factor for Menu Development posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Some Not-So-Obvious Mistakes Restaurants Make

The number of failed restaurants is large, and yet, becoming a restaurateur remains a dream for many. According to research by Ohio University, 60 percent of the people who decided to open a restaurant had to close it during the first year. So, before you dive into the restaurant business and follow your dream, learn these unobvious mistakes that might make that dream a nightmare.

Lack of Value

Customers might appreciate great design or  unique menu items, but what they really want is value. When you focus on other things instead of making sure you offer the value for every dollar spent at your restaurant, you are bound to lose some customers along the way.

Many customers won’t return if the food you provide is not good enough for the price they pay. The menu  will mean nothing to them if you haven’t taken the time to pick a great chef or hire an amazing service team and priced menu items accordingly.

Improper Cash Management

Restaurateurs have a wide range of responsibilities including creating the proper portion size, checking the inventory and avoiding waste. Of course, overlooking one or two of these aspects is not a crime. In fact, there is so much to take care of in the restaurant business, there is probably not a restaurateur who hasn’t overlooked something. When that happens, finances suffer.

“Try to stay in the real world and manage your capital. It is the key to maintaining any business,” said Peter Trenton, an HR manager at aussiewritings.com. “Unexpected problems cannot be anticipated, but they can be financially planed for.”

Lack of Improvements

Whether you decide to change the carpeting or introduce a new item to the existing menu, you must improve the restaurant on regular basis.

In order to manage the finances while spending money on renovations and repairs, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the renovation/ replacement essential for the functioning of the restaurant?
• Will it improve the design and functionality of the restaurant?
• Is the more expensive solution cost-effective in the long run?
• Is the restaurant up-to-date with the latest trends in the restaurant industry?

Bad Location

People will tell you that the location is not important as long as you provide a great service. Do not listen to this advice. Real estate experts will tell you the most important aspect of a business that attracts customers in it is location. Sure, there are those popular restaurants where people wait to get a table, even though they are in a bad location. But, how many of these do you really know and why put your restaurant at a disadvantage for poor site selection?

Insufficient or Inefficient Staff

Bad service can create terrible impact of the dining experience, regardless of the quality of the meal.

What is not obvious about this part is that you can have issues with too much staff, as you can have with too little. The line between too many employees and too few is very thin.

Here are some of the most unobvious mistakes the staff makes and entrepreneurs often fail to notice before it is too late:

• Poor greeting

Try to pay more attention to the “host characteristics” of your staff. The first impression in a customer is one of the most important factors of their restaurant experience.

• Not checking in

When the staff does not return to a table to ask if the customer needs anything, the guest will feel abandoned. This can even cost you more sales, since guests often discover a small missing item, or think of something else that goes well with the meal they ordered.

• Inability to make recommendations

Servers should be prepared to make a recommendation. Make sure your staff knows how to be a sales team, and knows everything about the products they are offering.

Avoiding these mistakes will help you ensure that the guests have the best possible experience. Once you work to eliminate them from your business, you are one big step closer to living the dream of becoming the next great restaurateur.

Some Not-So-Obvious Mistakes Restaurants Make posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Five Ways to Improve Your Restaurant’s Hiring Process

Recruiting and retaining the right staff members for your restaurant can be challenging, especially for busy business owners. You need dedicated employees to ensure that your restaurant runs smoothly, but it’s often time consuming to interview and train them. Still, it should be a high priority, and something that you aim to improve over time.

Here are  five ways you can enhance your hiring process, which will ultimately allow you to recruit better employees.

Ask Current Employees for Referrals

Do you have an all-star employee who goes above and beyond? Ask them if they have friends or acquaintances who would be a good fit for open positions at your restaurant. Since they are an outstanding employee, you can trust that they’ll recommend worthy candidates. To give them an incentive to help with recruiting, offer them a bonus if they recommend an individual who remains an employee for a certain length of time (for instance, if they make it to the six-month mark).

Avoid Job Hoppers

Employee retention matters, especially at restaurants. If there is quick turnover, you’ll have to focus on filling open positions, instead of improving other aspects of your restaurant. With hospitality staff turnover rates at 70 percent, this is a serious issue for restaurants nationwide.

When reviewing resumes, you should take notice of major unemployment gaps, or a pattern of remaining at a job for a short length of time. Of course, there will be exceptions, such as personal matters or an oversaturated job market. Still, you should attempt to hire people who have had consistent jobs in the past. This will hopefully indicate that they’ll work at your restaurant for a significant period.

Delegate Hiring Responsibilities

Running a restaurant requires a myriad of responsibilities. Between placing inventory orders, providing customer service, and ensuring that operations are running smoothly, taking on another task can be overwhelming. That’s why you should delegate hiring tasks to your restaurant’s manager, or another reliable employee. Of course, as the business owner, you should still be involved in making final decisions, but you’ll benefit from having help during the initial stages. In addition, your employees will appreciate that you trust them with this responsibility, and will likely motivate them to continue working hard.

Hire a Recruiter

If you don’t have time to review resumes and conduct interviews, or employees who can handle it, consider paying a recruiter to do this for you. Of course, you’ll need to review your budget to confirm that you can afford this service. If you can, research professionals that specialize in recruiting for positions in the restaurant industry. Once you select a company, meet with the recruiter and tell them about the roles that you’re hiring for. Then, they can start the search to fill your open positions.

Provide Thorough Training

Once you fill open positions, it’s time to train your new hires. If you don’t invest in on-boarding employees, you could have worse turnover rates. In fact, according to a recent survey, 40 percent of employees that receive inadequate training leave their position within a year. Clearly, job training counts, so be sure to provide new hires with clear instructions. It can be tempting to rush training sessions so that you can focus on other tasks, but this will hurt your business in the long-run. Train your employees thoroughly, and you’ll set them up for success.

Five Ways to Improve Your Restaurant’s Hiring Process posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Untapped Sources of Consumer Research for Your Restaurant

Marketing a new or existing restaurant used to mean that a few well-placed ads and promoting relationships with local patrons and businesses would bring plenty of new prospects through the door. Today, modern marketing requires restaurant owners to know what their customers want and adhere to their style preferences, budgets and even hours in order to attract audiences from local residential and/or business areas.

Researching Public Records

If your restaurant has been open but you aren’t hitting your goals just yet, it’s time to research why. When the issue isn’t immediately clear, you may need to conduct some of your own consumer research to see how you aren’t meeting local diners’ wants. Public records are a vital instrument to help determine whether your hours, menu size, type of offerings and even prices are conducive to the lifestyles led by the customers in your area.

If you’re located near a college campus, kid-friendly lunches probably aren’t going to be the best idea. In a more rural area, happy-hour promotions may be a lost cause. And if the average home value is $85,000 and income is $25,000, then $35 dinners aren’t going to make sense to your clientele because it’s not what they want.

If you haven’t opened yet, researching local demographics will help determine the type of menu you should offer, price ranges and even hours of operation. Local income levels, average home value and whether customers are likely to be owners or renters are all viable and valuable information. Many restaurant owners fail to access these records which are available to anyone who asks for them, and have no clear idea of what their customer base really wants or needs.

Surveying Current Customers

If you’ve been in business for a while but aren’t hitting your goals, asking current customers to answer a few questions in exchange for a free appetizer or dollar off coupon to your restaurant is a great way to gauge your plan. Are there menu items not available they would like to see? Are there enough menu items in several different price ranges to give plenty of options? Are your hours conducive to when your typical clientele wants to be a patron? These are all vital questions that need to be answered, as well as satisfaction with service and quality. Simply asking them to fill out a survey will give them the sense that you care about what they want and how you can improve your service, enhancing chances of them visiting again soon.

Web Analytics

Utilizing analytics from online advertising efforts can give a good idea of how your current advertising is working online or how customers are finding you. Using the information that’s available can tell you what type of search you’re showing up on, demographics of potential customers visiting, and which pages they were on when they left the site. Tracking how many customers are finding you on a mobile device can also be helpful. If something isn’t working, something needs to be changed with such advertising. The good news is that an ad campaign can be relatively inexpensive and results will show up rather quickly.

Market Segmentation

Dividing your customer base into different groups, or market segmentation, can help to ensure you’re catering to each potential type of customer. One such example of this is offering gluten or allergy-free menu items. Another would be offering lunch specials, family nights or happy hour specials. Make sure you’re offering items at the correct times to all segments of your market so you can tap into the potential profits waiting there for you.

Field Trials and Focus Groups

Field trials and focus groups are another form of consumer research not utilized often enough in the restaurant industry. It’s another way to stay ahead of the competition and easily carried out. Field trials may consist of a limited-time offering on the menu to gauge interest and how well the customers react to new tastes and even prices.

If you have more than one location, trying new items or services at only one can give you valuable insight into its success before going to the effort and cost of offering it at all of them. However, you must follow up with quantitative data results to determine efficacies of advertising efforts and how they correlate to the specific market that location is in.

Focus groups gather small groups of customers to get opinions on menus, specials and even drinks or types of service. If you normally only serve dinner and want to try a lunch menu, offering items specific to the new menu and testing first with a focus group can give pointed criticism on pricing, variety and taste. This is always a good idea before unveiling anything totally new to the entirety of your customer base so you know you’re on the right track and have some idea of what type of response to expect.

 

Untapped Sources of Consumer Research for Your Restaurant posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

How Managers and Supervisors Must Adapt in 2018

Over the years, our Generational Shift study has repeatedly taken us back to the undermanagement epidemic. That’s because undermanagement is almost always there, hiding in plain sight. Our ongoing research shows that undermanagement is a perennial issue: The remarkably consistent data shows that nine out of ten managers fail to maintain an ongoing one-on-one dialogue sufficient to deliver on the “the fundamentals.”

It’s always been hard to manage people. It is much harder today than ever before and it’s getting harder every day. Why?

It’s always been hard to manage people. It is much harder today than ever before and it’s getting harder every day. Why? The causes of the undermanagement epidemic dovetail very much with the trend lines of the Great Generational Shift. Let’s start with globalization and technology. The pace of change is accelerating for everyone all the time – from the macro level all the way down to the micro. In today’s knowledge-driven, machine-powered, highly interconnected, fiercely competitive global marketplace, everything is complex, fast-moving, and always in flux. Work that used to take weeks takes moments. Relationships that would have been nearly impossible due to geography are now taken for granted. Communication and travel are nearly instantaneous.

Yet we are also vulnerable in entirely new ways. One technical glitch today can slow down your operation for days or weeks at a time – not just in your own physical location, but in locations with contractors and vendors to whom you might be connected, all over the world. An earthquake on the other side of the world today – actual or metaphorical – could affect you today in ways you probably cannot even imagine, including ways that didn’t exist yesterday. Not to mention the effects these factors could have on your customers, vendors, contractors, partners, colleagues, and counterparts in other departments and workgroups.

Everybody is under more pressure. The corporate order of the day is to run ever more lean and flexible. Squeeze more and more productivity and quality out of tightly controlled resources. Chase innovation and technology to keep from falling behind. Manage talent as a capital (depreciating) asset, in the wake of a profound transformation in the fundamental employer-employee relationship. After decades of constant downsizing, restructuring, and reengineering, employees no longer expect to pay their dues and climb the corporate ladder.

Job security has been dead for some time now. The default presumption of long-term hierarchical employment relationships has been replaced by a new presumptive career path built on a growing portfolio of short-term transactional employment relationships of varying scope and duration.

Never forget that most employees work because they must. They work to support themselves and their families. Most are pursuing some kind of intermediate and longer-term security, but today that plan is rarely contingent upon a long-term relationship with one particular employer. Very few employees now look at one employer as a primary source of their long-term career security, much less their long-term economic security.

The promise (implied or even explicit) of long-term vesting rewards from employers is no longer enough to get employees to perform today. Employees are less willing to follow orders, work harder, and contribute their best today in exchange for vague promises about what they might get in five years or ten years. Who knows where they’ll be in five or ten years? There is simply too much uncertainty.

Employees today want to know, “What do you want from me today, tomorrow, this week, this month, this year? And what do you have to offer me in return today, tomorrow, this week, this month, this year?”

Managers today are always in danger of losing good people. People come and go. People move around internally. These factors militate against continuity in working relationships. Sometimes those who are least likely to leave are the hardest to manage. Everybody is a special case.

The causes of the undermanagement epidemic dovetail very much with the trend lines of the Great Generational Shift.

Managing people has become an ongoing (sometimes daily) negotiation. That is high maintenance!

At the same time, most managers, like most everybody else, are being asked to do more with less. They have more of their own non-management tasks and responsibilities, increased administrative burdens, and growing managerial spans of control, often including employees working in different locations or on different schedules, as well as depending more and more on people in other workgroups and departments. With so much resource and process streamlining, there is growing interdependency in almost everybody’s work. Everything we do now involves a lot of moving parts – we depend on so many other people – all the time.

Meanwhile, everybody involved is human. People have feelings. That’s a significant complication for everybody involved.

There are so many factors beyond any one manager’s control. Some may feel that problems have outgrown the fundamentals of management. They believe their situation is too complex, their challenges are too advanced. Most managers simply convince themselves that the fundamentals are simply no longer enough, or they just don’t have time.

What is the solution?

In the research conducted by RainmakerThinking, we have studied what the very best managers do that is different from the others: the managers whose employees consistently deliver the highest productivity and quality; with high retention of high performers and high turnover among low performers; with the best business outcomes and high morale and team spirit; whose direct-reports are most likely to describe them as “one of the best managers I’ve ever had.”

What is the common denominator among those managers? An abiding commitment to the fundamentals – relentless high-quality communication. Consistently engaging every direct-report in an ongoing, highly-structured, content-rich one-on-one dialogue about the work that needs to be done by that person. Things go much better when managers consistently make expectations clear and provide candid feedback for every individual every step of the way. Use team meetings only for what team meetings are good for – and make the most of them. When managers maintain high-quality one-on-one dialogues with their direct-reports, they almost always increase employee performance and morale, increase retention of high performers and turnover among low performers, and achieve significant measurable improvements in business outcomes.

Personnel Discontinuity

People come and go. That’s always been true. But employment relationships today are far more short-term and fluid than they have been before in the modern economy, so you are always losing good people. And you are always trying to get new people on-board and up-to speed. On top of that, one great employee is worth more than three or four or five mediocre employees. Sometimes you have to go to great lengths to effectively reward, retain, and develop the very best employees.

Constant Change Coming at You from Every Direction

Whether it’s technology, the markets, the weather, geopolitics, micropolitics, customer requirements, vendor requirements, or employee requirements – there is always something causing change and change regularly forces rework.

Interdependency

More and more of our work involves lots of moving parts and, therefore, lots of counterparts here, there, and everywhere. Most people must rely on many others within and without their immediate work group in order to do their own work.

Resource Constraints

Everybody is expected nowadays to do more with less. Increasingly, people report that they are making do with tighter and tighter resources, longer and more complex supply lines, with shorter and shorter lead times. Often people find themselves trying to do their jobs with what they feel are insufficient resources. 

Employees are Human

Human beings have weaknesses as well as strengths. Humans are not always great at self-management. They have habits, and not always good ones. Not only that, but everybody has bad days. Some people have bad weeks, months, and years. Productivity and quality of work are highly variable, sometimes due to employee performance. On top of all that, humans have attitudes, and not always good ones.

How Managers and Supervisors Must Adapt in 2018 posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Separate and Kroger’s Culinary Innovation

This edition of MRM’s Daily Bite features CKE Restaurants, MTY Food Group, LevelUp and Grab, Kroger and Typsy and Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine.

Send news items to Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Go Their Separate Ways

CKE Restaurants, Inc. will create two separate, distinct brands for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. CKE said they will “continue to maintain each of the brands’ unique, ‘impossible to ignore’ personas, while keeping the quality, taste and value of the food firmly as the star.”

CKE selected Havas Chicago as Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s creative agency of record, responsible for digital, social, TV, radio and OLV content needs for both brands. Using their unique content creation model, speed to market and clear read on today’s cultural insights, Havas will build separate brand identities for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, starting immediately with Carl’s Jr.  

“Carl’s Jr. has been, and always will be a brand that’s impossible to ignore,” said Jeff Jenkins, chief marketing officer, CKE Restaurant, Inc. “We are excited to partner with Havas, whose reputation for breakthrough creative aligns perfectly with our vision for these two brands moving forward, to put our great tasting food at the forefront of the business.” 

Carl’s Jr. is the first brand out the gate with a new multi-channel campaign…and voice. The campaign, titled, “Call of Carl’s,” is powered by the voice of actor Matthew McConaughey. Together, they embark on an unapologetic crusade to create a “crave culture”. Carl’s Jr. will leverage this behavioral phenomenon to create a manifestation and vocalization of food cravings, specifically around the brand’s iconic Western Bacon Cheeseburger, CKE said.

The culinary team at Carl’s Jr. are trying to crack the code of crave culture. Their attempt to understand the reasoning behind what we crave and when, might one day point to the meaning of life. For now, Carl’s Jr. has uncovered the existence of three distinct types of cravings: Craving what the body wants, craving what the body needs, and a third craving that’s a hybrid. This third, known as “associative craving,” occurs when we yearn for food that has a rich, meaningful connection to a personal experience. Teams in the Franklin, Tennessee based headquarters reached a startling conclusion when they combined a familiar voice with the visual associations of Carl’s Jr.’s mouthwatering food, triggering a crave calling for Carl’s Jr.

“The speed of marketing today is leaving brands and traditional agencies behind,” said Jason Peterson, chairman and chief creative officer, Havas Creative, U.S. “By shifting both our thinking and making from ‘creatives’ to ‘creators,’ we’re able to come up with culturally relevant ideas, and create and execute them with immediacy. As a brand that understands the need to be one step ahead of culture, CKE embraced this model and knew this is what it would take to create inspired work for both brands.”  

Recently, Carl’s Jr.’s opened a flagship restaurant in Manhattan, in addition to the 23 new restaurants opened in January, including international growth in Mexico, France, Spain and Cambodia.

MTY Food Acquires Grabbagreen

MTY Food Group Inc. said one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of the Grabbagreen^® franchise system  for an estimated consideration of USD $2.75 million.

There are currently 27 Grabbagreen restaurants in operation, 26 franchised and one corporate, all of which are located in the United States. 

“Grabbagreen is a young and trendy brand with solid growth potential” said Jeff Smit, COO of MTY’s U.S. operations.  “We are extremely happy to add this concept to our portfolio.”

The transaction is expected to close within 45 days of this News Release but remains subject to multiple conditions customary for a transaction of this nature.  There is no assurance the transaction will be completed as described above, or at all, or that the anticipated closing date will materialize.

Following the closing of the transaction, MTY^™ expects to consolidate the corporate operations and run the franchising platform from its U.S. headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Founded in 2013, Grabbagreen’s Eat Clean^™ menu focuses on semi-organic, preservative-free, and GMO-free options. 

Kroger Open’s Culinary Innovation Center

Kroger opened its Culinary Innovation Center in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Kroger’s new Culinary Innovation Center is an exciting state-of-the-art test kitchen and education center,” said Daniel Hammer, Kroger’s vice president of culinary development and new business. “As we focus on redefining the customer experience and developing talent through food inspiration and uplift, as outlined in Restock Kroger, this R&D lab will allow us to accelerate product development for Our Brands, produce new recipes for Prep + Pared Meal Kits, explore new restaurant concepts, host food tastings and focus groups, and increase our associates’ culinary knowledge.”

Kroger commenced construction on the 12,000-square-feet, LEED-designed Center in March 2017. The commercial kitchen features multiple cooking stations, spaces and capabilities, including technology that allows video streaming of educational sessions to Kroger associates across the country.

“The Center gives our culinary team a fun, modern space to innovate and experiment with food trends, flavors, and ingredients to create new experiences for our customers,” added Hammer.

Kroger introduced its first restaurant concept Kitchen 1883 in November 2017 and launched its Prep+Pared Meal Kits earlier in the same year, which are available for purchase in stores and through Clicklist. 

“Kroger has operated grocery stores since 1883; we know food. People will always eat, but the way they eat will always change. Our new Center is one more tool we have to keep our pulse on customer trends and expand our foodie culture,” said Hammer.

LevelUp Partners with Grab 

LevelUp is partnering with Grab, the airport e-commerce platform, to increase mobile order-ahead capabilities in airports across the U.S. Through the partnership, travelers no longer have to sacrifice airport meals due to long lines and overcrowded dining areas and instead can use their mobile devices to place orders ahead of time, allowing them to avoid the line and hop on board their flights faster than ever. 

Hundreds of menus from popular airport restaurants such as Chili’s, Einstein Bros. Bagels, TGI Fridays, Wolfgang Puck Express and others are now easily accessible to millions of travelers who are looking for the speed and convenience of ordering ahead before their flight.

“With more than 719 million domestic passengers passing through airports in 2016, restaurants and other food kiosks in airports are some of the most logical venues to support mobile order ahead,” said Matt Colfax, strategic partnerships manager at LevelUp. “Travelers want to enjoy a made-to-order meal, but they often do not have time to wait in line or wait for food to be prepared. This partnership is just another stepping stone in making technology and apps work to make consumers lives easier in any possible area.”

Restaurants currently on Grab’s platform will now have exposure to massive audiences of new customers through LevelUp’s network of partners, including Facebook, Chase Pay, and Yelp, among others. LevelUp’s user base has come to expect convenience, speed and flexibility while interacting with restaurant brands across the country, giving Grab an extremely targeted potential user base.

Additionally, Grab’s technology integrates with restaurant POS systems like NCR Aloha and Oracle Micros giving restaurants a seamless integration to enable mobile order ahead.

“We are excited by the continued growth of the Grab platform with new partners like LevelUp” said Jeff Livney, Chief Experience Officer of Grab. “Together we can reach busy travelers on the go while improving the airport experience and reducing anxiety on the day of travel.”

Mobile order ahead through LevelUp and Grab is available at hundreds of restaurants in 25 airports and growing.

MRM Goes Typsy

Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine’s Executive Editor Barbara Castiglia was a guest contributor for hospitality training provider Typsy on the subject of Google My Business. Read more here.

 

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Separate and Kroger’s Culinary Innovation posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

Why Customers Want to Order Directly from Restaurants (And What’s In It for You)

Food ordering has come a long way since the days of calling your local pizza chain. The internet has created opportunities in online ordering for most restaurant categories, and these days, everything from salads to smoothies is just a click away.

So, what do your customers like so much about communicating directly?

But that doesn’t mean all online ordering is equal. With several options now at their disposal, customers can afford to be choosy about where they order. And with so many means of ordering – mobile apps, restaurant websites, third-party providers – competing for attention and dollars, restaurants must discern what buyers prefer and how to implement cost-effective solutions. Tillster research has found that the best way to serve your customers is by allowing them to order directly from you.

This may seem counterintuitive to some managers. If a restaurant is new to mobile ordering (or has experience but hopes to expand its footprint), the easiest way forward might seem to be a third-party app. After all, turning over the work to someone else is an appealing idea. However, keep in mind that you’re also turning over your own brand and experience. While there is a time and place for third-party apps – which can help restaurants acquire new customers, for example – your own ordering websites and apps help you earn actionable data and insights. They also allow customers to connect directly with you and learn more about your brand.

In fact, Tillster’s Digital Ordering Index, which examines how ordering technologies influence customers’ purchasing behavior, revealed that over 60 percent of customers prefer restaurant-branded websites and apps. What’s more, only five percent of Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) customers and eight percent of Fast-Casual and Casual dining customers prefer ordering from a third-party site.

So what do your customers like so much about communicating directly with you?

Everything Wrapped in a Tidy Package

When you allow customers to order through your own site, you give them more than just ordering power – you place your whole restaurant at their fingertips. That makes life easier for them, and it builds their loyalty to you in turn.

For example, a third-party ordering site might give hungry customers few options beyond browsing your menu and placing an order. But when diners order through your own property, you allow them to explore your brand. And, it’s easy to funnel customers toward other ordering options (brunch, anyone?) they might enjoy.

Using your own website or app allows you to maintain a distinctive brand voice, as well as present your menu in a format customers know and recognize. Channeling orders through your own properties also makes it easier for customers to recall past orders and use one-touch reordering options.

The Magic of Personalization

Because your customers want to feel you’re speaking directly to them, third-party companies’ ordering functions are not always suited to every restaurant’s needs. An ordering site that deals with dozens of restaurants, for example, may treat all customers the same, not make your returning visitors feel special. But a restaurant branded website or app will keep customers where you want them, as well as track order preferences and allow you to tailor experiences for the people you want to reach.

Personalization can extend beyond the bounds of your website experience, too. More than 70 percent of QSR and Casual dining customers would provide their email addresses to receive personalized offers, and what’s more, email remains the preferred method of communication from restaurants among both QSR diners and Casual diners. Customers want to hear from you, not navigate a separate website in order to find little more than your menu.

They Are Loyal to You (and Want Your Loyalty in Return)

Tillster research shows that on average, customers order multiple times a month from the same QSR and Fast Casual restaurant. They’re coming back to you for more, and they want you to take notice.

So now what? Remind them you care about their business. Through your own digital properties, you can offer loyalty programs that make customers feel valued and keep them interested. Eighty-five percent of both QSR and Casual dining customers reported to Tillster that a loyalty program would inspire them to visit more.

Your own properties are key to increasing loyalty, collecting insights, and building your customer base. They allow you to tailor your digital ordering experiences in ways that meet customer needs.  No matter which customers you’re trying to reach, the best way to show you’ve invested in them is to give them the personalized digital experiences they crave.

Why Customers Want to Order Directly from Restaurants (And What’s In It for You) posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

According to a Recent Study/Survey … Mid-February 2018 Edition

Combating the Biggest Labor Challenges in the Hospitality Industry Today

The restaurant industry employs nearly 15 million people in the U.S., and more than 70 percent of them leave for a new job every year. And yet, according to a recent restaurant customer experience survey conducted by Deloitte, “a staff of friendly, hospitable employees is the most important element needed for a positive experience at a restaurant.”

Labor management is at the top of every operator’s list of challenges. Unfortunately, this won’t get much easier for the foreseeable future, given a low unemployment rate as well as recent regulatory mandates on healthcare and wages, and scheduling in some municipalities. In addition to these external headwinds, many industry labor challenges are self-inflicted, such as when employees leave because of errors in their paychecks, which will be tolerated less in a tight labor market.

Nonetheless, restaurant operators can combat the biggest labor challenges, from staffing and scheduling to attracting and retaining talent to rising healthcare and wage costs, with a few proven approaches.

Staffing and Scheduling

For decades, restaurant businesses have used the traditional approach of creating labor budgets: allowed spend based on a percentage of sales. The manager then allocated labor across the week, sense-checked the allocation against allowed spend and added or cut appropriately. Operators typically applied people to set shifts with little staggering or thought to the shape of day and activity by time slot.

The restaurant industry will likely never get away from requiring a targeted allowance of hours, spend or cost to be applied, so there is nothing wrong with the fundamental basis of the approach. However, if operators do not consider activity levels by time of day and schedule accordingly, they will invariably be faced with too many or not enough team members to varying degrees across the week.

The consequences of not getting it right

Wrong number of team members, working at the wrong times and doing the wrong things, leads to disengagement and frustration. Teams know their tip average will drop, they feel stressed and embarrassed, and their productivity levels dip. An unhappy, over-stretched team will quote long waits, stop selling desserts, not sell second drinks, make mistakes or collect too many food orders from multiple tables at the same time, which can ultimately crash kitchens.

What’s the answer?

Applying science is key. Start not with what the desired spend is but with the demand forecast—what is required to deliver in relation to expected activity. Look at how much workload there is, by area and type, and how much of that work each team member can handle in a single time slot. This approach allows the scheduler to get right into the detail of how many people are needed for each timeslot, so peak trading times are covered with the right number of people in each area to drive sales.

Attracting and Retaining Talent

It is important to recruit people that are suited to the culture of the organization. Will they be suited to the business mission and aligned to the company values? What mindset is required and how does an organization ensure that this is tested thoroughly through the recruiting process? New recruits that do not align will become disengaged very quickly (assuming the business doesn’t disengage with them sooner). When the ‘right fit’ is recruited, it is more likely that they will join an organization personally engaged. They applied for the role because they wanted to work for the brand, the job description matched their skillset and their own research suggested that it was a great place to come and work. With all that in mind, the employer should maintain and enhance that engagement from day one onwards.

Using tech to drive engagement

There are tools and services that can support and enable engagement, such as annual surveys, engagement technology, employee benefits, and team building events. Smart technology is now a way of life, and the first thing many people do in the morning is to check social media on their mobile phones. There is a huge opportunity for organizations when it comes to engagement and smart technology. Many organizations rely on their internal intranet sites to share their information and to store documentation they want their employees to find. The reality is that most intranets are out of date and in many cases a ‘ghost town’ when it comes to usage. Within restaurant businesses, many employees will not even have any access to the intranet as they cannot gain access at home – another reason why the use of smart technology to collaborate and share relevant information should be a must have.

Rising Healthcare and Wage Costs

The restaurant industry faces significant and rising labor costs. On January 1, mandatory higher minimum wage rates went into effect in 18 states and almost two dozen municipalities. In addition, restaurants are challenged by a series of regulatory requirements, from the Affordable Care Act to Secure Scheduling and mandatory paid sick and parental leaves.

Manage costs by improving labor productivity

The answer to these mandates lies in initiatives to improve labor productivity. This requires operators to schedule better and plan labor better. In turn, this means they must forecast their sales more accurately. Software tools can help more accurately predict sales and align businesses operations, such as labor scheduling, kitchen prep, inventory and so on. Done properly, this work drives both top-line revenue and margin.  

The rising labor cost mandates can also put pressure on restaurant operators to deliver increased sales while at the same time reduce overall worker hours. While this forces restaurants to consider reducing their service offering, in a bid to cut workload and costs, this would not be a good move against a backdrop of increased competition for guests, for whom good service is a key differentiator. The combination of increasing sales while reducing worker hours means that the productivity of the labor force—the sales each employee generates per labor hour—must be under more scrutiny than ever before.

Using technology, data and more attentive management, restaurant operators will need to be sure that they match labor to demand more precisely to minimize any labor downtime, finding the right balance between having enough staff to meet demand, but not overstaffing. In addition, cost per employee and profit per employee are important measures to start tracking and managing more closely. Restaurants should review their staff capabilities, and implement training where appropriate, to ensure the workforce is optimized for performance.

As has always been the case in the restaurant industry, operators are beset by many labor challenges. However, as we enter into 2018, the industry is beset by recent costly regulatory mandates combined with a tight labor market that gives an advantage to the workforce on issues of compensation, scheduling and engagement. Operators can overcome these challenges through creative approaches to staff management and the right technology tools.

 

Combating the Biggest Labor Challenges in the Hospitality Industry Today posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com