Monday, July 10, 2017
Today's Specials:
WATCH: Football Marketing Bootcamp Recap
In case you missed our Football Marketing Bootcamp on June 27th, we have the four hour-long sessions recorded for your benefit. Learn how to leverage the best marketing tips for the football season straight from the pros.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Build Your Own Burrito
A Chipotle customer has caused controversy on Twitter after he tweeted a picture of his order involving each ingredient packaged in separate contains that he called “brilliant.” He claimed he intended to assemble it at home but Twitter exploded, calling his Chipotle hack wasteful and extremely annoying. Burrito backfire.
Pasta Wars
TV host and cookbook author Nigella Lawson made a big mistake by posting her spaghetti carbonara recipe to Facebook. Nigella was immediately called out by the Italian community for her use of cream in the dish which people called “the death of Italian recipes.”
Golf-Gofer Madness
Actor Bill Murry from Caddyshack plans to open their second golf-themed restaurant in Chicago. The Caddyshack Restaurant is scheduled to open in December and will seat about 265 people equipped with an oblong bar.
MCDONALD’S BRAWLS
Why it matters to you: Restaurants are playing classical music to prevent guests from fighting.
It’s no secret that the music you play in your restaurant has a direct impact on your guests’ behavior. In comparison, many late night chains are trying to do just that to help calm their customers to prevent late night drunken fights. McDonald's in Scotland, England, and Australia have started experimenting with playing classical music as a mind trick in preventing fights among their late night drunk customers. Late night altercations among customers are increasingly common in 24-hour food chains and many establishments are seeking solutions to keep the clientele under control. Some restaurants in Australia are actually concerned for the staff’s safety after one man sprayed the security guards with the restaurant’s fire extinguisher.
Playing classical music has caused a change in the behavior of many guests. A study from Duke University found that classical music has a calming effect on people due to the release of dopamine and the repressing stress hormones. The majority of restaurants that operate for 24 hours have most likely experienced challenges with drunk or rowdy customers. Changing the selection of music played during peak hours of late night rushes can drastically change the behavior of the patrons.
ST. LOUIS MINIMALLY
Why it matters to you: Should individual cities tailor their minimum wage?
When the governor of Missouri allowed legislation that will block St. Louis from raising their minimum wage to $11 in January, it marked another moment where states are trying to reign in their wayward big cities. We saw this when North Carolina slapped down Charlotte for allowing transgender folks to use the restroom that best aligned with their gender identity. With so many state legislators dominated by right wing Republicans (they currently hold 69 of 99 legislative branches nationally) this may not be the last time.
The conversation surrounding the minimum wage is nuanced in our industry. This is complicated by the presence of gratuities and the growing gulf between FoH and BoH wages. For full-service operators, they have few if any staff that are making less than the $11 called for by the city of St. Louis, so it’s hard to see the fuss. However, for QSR operators those minimum wage increases can be killer. The evidence from Seattle, San Francisco, and Boston seems to point to little or no impact on employees or the operators that employ them. Time will tell, but if you are in a big city, you may be involved in this fight sooner rather than later.
