Thursday, September 21, 2017

Today's Specials:

BUSINESS: How You Can Score Big with Free Restaurant Apps

Apps are super easy to use, deployed in minutes, and cost next to nothing. Over the last few years, there's been a handful of apps specifically made for restaurants. Here’s how you can score big with free restaurant apps.

DID YOU KNOWS…

Carl, Don’t Mess with Wendy

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, don’t mess with Wendy. Last week, Carl’s Jr. took a stab at the notoriously savage Wendy’s twitter account, and it didn’t end well. Take a look at the most recent Twitter war between the two restaurants. Carl’s Jr. just wasn’t ready for the clap back.

LOL they don't
— Carl's Jr. (@CarlsJr) September 13, 2017

Yeah, for one, if we were going to diss another restaurant we'd have more than zero likes and RTs after 13 hours. https://t.co/VUDXEHKqEB
— Wendy's (@Wendys) September 13, 2017

Piggybacking
— Wendy's (@Wendys) September 13, 2017

The internet misses nothing...

“Don’t Make Us Call ‘Your Mom’”

A Stranger Things-themed popup bar in Chicago received the best cease-and-desist letter from Netflix that you will ever see. Take a look at the hilarious letter here.

Shake Shook

An ex-Shake Shack employee has filed a lawsuit against the company alleging that a NY location repeatedly allowed workplace-safety violations, and that he was fired for confronting the manager about them. Shake Shack replied that the suit was “without merit” and that food safety procedures are in place in all locations. The lawsuit is seeking $1 million in damages.

ADAPTING TO NEW CONCEPTS

Why it matters to you: Here’s what restaurant operators say about adapting to delivery.

As with many trends in the restaurant industry, many fluctuate and differ depending on the region, demographics, and proximity to your customers. Restaurant operators have been dealing with the delivery concept for quite some time now, and some have determined that the extra effort is not worth the profit. Other establishments have seen huge success in offering delivery with the help of third party apps like GrubHub, UberEats, and Caviar. An Eater article examined how restaurants have adapted to the food delivery boom. One San Francisco restaurant claims that delivery makes up nearly 25% of their total business, whereas other restaurants have cut ties completely because it was more money spent than gained.

The major obstacle is that most restaurants need to incorporate a delivery command center into their existing operations. Third party delivery apps only provide delivery; restaurants need to adjust to the incoming orders, pickup, and management on their own. A common mistake that many establishments make is catering to multiple different delivery apps which only complicates the process as it entails juggling multiple different devices. What restaurants should keep in mind when considering delivery is that you can adapt based on the shift. One owner quotes, “When we start seeing a huge influx of delivery orders starting to slow down ticket times, we cut delivery off,” so in-house guests are not inconvenienced.

NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN [Song]

Why it matters to you: Overall prepared food growth isn’t translating to full-service dining -- why?

Much effort is applied to understanding when things go bad in our industry. Given the overall slide most of the major full-service dining chain operators have experienced, you can read about their justifications (see: excuses) for sales declines. They point to drops in traffic at malls (where many of them live), bloated menus (Chili’s) or misdirected priorities (Applebee’s) like focusing on those damned Millennials. In the end, it comes down to how you operate each business in its own locale. With so many of our subscribers being independent and small chain operators, we feel like the story might be different for those outside the chain universe.

Do you see same sales declines? Applebee’s is down 7% for same store sales. Ruby Tuesday’s is down over 3%, and even Cheesecake Factory experienced their first quarterly sales decline since 2009 in the second quarter of 2017. If you aren’t watching your sales slip, then maybe these chain operators should be looking down to you, instead of you looking up to them. Local management matters in our business. The people that actually interact with guests are the ones that determine the success or failure of a restaurant. So, tell us where you stand and what you are doing to stay strong. That way we can help our chain friends learn from the best.