Friday, December 2, 2016
Today's Specials:
VIDEO: Don't Mess with Matilda [How Hollywood Sees Us]
Restaurants operators deal with a lot. Usually, children with super powers are every business owner's worst nightmare. Thank goodness children like Matilda only occur once in a blue moon.
SOCIAL MEDIA: 4 Steps for Taking Money-Making Food Porn Pics
Food porn has been taking social media by storm and is bringing restaurants significantly more business. Restaurant owners can post their delectable pictures on Instagram, menus, and other social media sites. Here are four easy steps to take money-making food pictures for your restaurant.
DID YOU KNOWS…
This Time it Doesn’t Count
MLB has announced that the All-Star Game will no longer determine who has home-field advantage in the World Series. Instead, players will be playing for a cash pool. The amount hasn’t been announced.
Spotify Trolls its Customers
Spotify has started a new campaign that takes aim at an unusual target – their own users. The music streaming company has dug into their data and came up with some fun tidbits for a little trolling fun. Billboards like: "Dear person who played 'Sorry' 42 times on Valentine's Day, what did you do?" Check out pics of te billboard here.
Nestle Works Magic
Chocolate company Nestle says they’ve figured out a way to cut sugar by 40% but keep chocolate just as sweet. The trick is restructuring the sugar crystals so they dissolve faster, tricking your tongue into thinking there’s more sugar present. Color us intrigued!
DALLAS MAY CLOSE UP EARLY
Why it matters to you: What are you doing to make sure your business isn’t negatively impacting the community?
The Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life Committee is contemplating changes to the city’s noise and parking regulations pertaining to bars and restaurants. Under the proposed changes, Dallas bars would be required to close at midnight instead of 2:00 AM, with additional regulations for restaurants with outdoor patio seating. The proposal is due to various complaints from Dallas residents living near popular nightlife spots that filed reports of noise and disorderly conduct from surrounding establishments.
A couple of residents brought up alarming issues such as people urinating and vomiting on their property as well as on community sidewalks. Few have complained about people passing out on their front porches. As restaurant owners, it is our direct responsibility to ensure our business is not negatively impacting the community. A key factor in the success of our restaurant is keeping the public happy. When surrounding residents complain about noise and disorderly conduct, we are clearly the culprit. Ways to avoid these issues include taking precautionary steps with bartenders overserving and controlling overall restaurant noise levels. It is up to us to make sure our restaurant doesn’t generate a bad reputation causing for a drastic city-wide regulation.
AN ENGAGING PROMOTIONAL EXAMPLE
Why it matters to you: Learn how the Blackhawks are promoting fan engagement.
The Blackhawk’s marketing efforts are on point. They’ve turned game watching into a game in and of itself where fans watching their favorite NHL team at bars can win prizes and can engage with the team outside of the rink. The rewards program has partnered with 345 bars, initially trading Blackhawks décor for showing Blackhawks games on half of their TV’s.
Now fans receive a special code when they “check in” at the partner bar. Check-ins win points with real prizes. The special program has evolved to include more bars in the partnership with an expectation to continue growing. It’s a beautiful partnership where both the bar and the Blackhawks benefit. The hockey team is able to engage with their fans who can’t make it to games in person and bars are able to incentivize fans to visit their location more. It’s a win-win.
BECAUSE I’M BUSY, THAT’S WHY!
Why it matters to you: Increasingly busy guests are choosing their meal by access to an on-demand ordering app.
We have been talking about the on-demand economy quite a bit lately. Those of you that registered for our recent webinar, heard us review the myriad ways that guests can now access the services they want. One popular way is ordering through their mobile devices without interacting directly with a service representative from the restaurant. A recent story in The Greenville News tells of one guest that is more likely to order on mobile than visit a restaurant directly to order. Renee Bergman who frequents the Southern Pressed Juicery says, “I can be in the middle of getting ready and just clicking buttons and it’s ready to go, I don’t have to talk to anybody, I don’t have to think about it, it’s just there.”
This is a sterling example of guest looking to engage in self-care ordering while looking to manage her time, at her pace, and not that of a restaurant. Other on-demand examples like Nowait’s seating management systems or mobile ordering systems from industry giants like Starbuck’s and Dominos have dramatically increased their sales by offering the same such services. If you are ready to give your guests the flexibility of on-demand service, then check out our webinar presentation here to get started and learn about your options.
In today’s restaurant news: how to leverage social media influencer marketing, the restaurant industry collapses under COVID-19, how Congress has failed the restaurant industry, and more.