Thursday, May 11, 2017
Today's Specials:
BUSINESS: 3 Hidden Food Costs Too Important to Ignore
Managing food costs can be a game of hide and seek. Sometimes you know what you’re spending… and sometimes you have no idea. But you just can’t ignore it. So how do you master the food costing game?
DID YOU KNOWs…
Amy Tips Tremendously
Comedian-actress Amy Schumer reportedly left a $1,000 tip on a $77 bar tab while attending Broadway’s Hamilton. She’s said in the past that she’s a generous tipper having worked in the service industry for over 10 years. Respect.
Seven Decades of Stripes
Earlier this month, McDonald’s announced the launch of their new uniforms that have a more futuristic-casual concept. Eater featured an article that compares the evolution of the McDonald’s uniform from 1950 to 2017.
ESPN Loses Republicans
ESPN satisfaction among Republicans has been dropping steadily over the past four years. Analysts have pinpointed two key potential factors; Caitlyn Jenner honored at the ESPY’s in 2015 and the firing of Curt Schilling in 2016. This comes after a series of brutal layoffs at ESPN. Not good.
WHEN IN DOUBT, ADJUST COURSE
Why it matters to you: McDonald’s is adjusting course after lawsuits and financial woes.
Rising rent prices are a drastic concern for restaurants especially in New York City but also for top chains. A labor union is accusing McDonald’s of gouging its franchisees on rent, alleging that the astronomical rent prices make it harder to pay workers a fair wage. According to Bloomberg, “U.S. franchisees paid the world’s biggest fast-food chain more than $3 billion in rents last year, a rate of return on McDonald’s real-estate investments that’s as much as triple the industry average.” Currently, the chain makes quite a bit of money off its franchisees, which has led to the chain selling off its company-owned stores in recent years. This lawsuit is only a portion of the problems that McDonald’s is combating in the wake of various other changes.
Last week, McDonald’s announced a large restricting program which hopes to improve its financial outlook. That plan could potentially save the chain roughly $300 million annually and will entail focusing less on millennial retention, and more on franchises. This is a relatively big change from the existing pattern of top chains bending over backward to cater to millennials, offering mobile pay options and a fast casual concept. A major part of McDonald’s new plan is to franchise 90 percent of their restaurants over the next four years. It is yet to be determined whether this strategy will pay off in the future of the brand but it is clear they’re adjusting course.
TRAINING EMPLOYEES WRONG
Why it matters to you: are you making this major hiring mistake?
Employee turnover in the restaurant industry is notoriously high but there are a few things that could be an underlying contributor. One major aspect of taking on new employees that can affect their turnover rate involves the time we’re spending with the training process. BBC featured an article that looks at the employee training process in depth and found a few patterns in a variety of industries. One common misfire when hiring was that many managers didn’t always follow up after training new employees, nor even knew what their employees were learning. Often in restaurants, if an employee has experience, we don’t reinforce our current values on the values of their previous job.
A 2015 study found that 69% of employees under 40 say that training opportunities play an important part in deciding whether or not to stay at a job, while a 2016 Gallup report found that 87% of millennials say professional development is important to them in a job. Therefore, many believe if they do not feel they are adequately trained they will not stay employed very long. In addition, millennials saw increasingly similar results with regard to moving up from the position they were training for; most likely in restaurants from a server to a bartender, bartender to manager. This is an important concept to keep in mind moving forward with staff retention.
