INFOGRAPHIC: 2019 Restaurant Trends to Keep an Eye On
Over the last few years, hungry diners visiting restaurants have become more discerning in their choices. These choices include new cuts of meat, dishes inspired by street food around the world and, most importantly, healthy meal options for children. Now new research reveals the trends that we can expect in the food business as we move into the next year.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Top Resolutions
With the new year upon us, many people are already worrying about shedding all of those holiday pounds. A survey about New Year's resolutions published by Inc. has found that diet and healthy eating is top of the resolution list for Americans (71%) as they welcome 2019. Exercising more comes second (65%) followed by losing weight (54%).
Sports Media Stories for 2019
2019 has no major international sports like the World Cup or the Olympics to eat up large swathes of the sports calendar. So what sports media stories will be big in 2019? Awful Announcing makes their predictions – what will ESPN do with MNF, what will happening to the Fox regional sports networks, the impact of DAZN and more.
A True Gust Buster
Like gingerbread and the Alien series? Well, Carolina Eriksson, a Norwegian cake designer, has created an impressive and gigantic Xenomorph gingerbread sculpture. She made the tasty structure by building the gingerbread around an iron frame and use melted sugar to stick everything together. It’s an impressive feat of food engineering.
PRICES FOR THE MINIMUM
Why it matters to you: With 30 states increasing minimum wage, how will YOU respond?
It’s the New Year and with it a slew of states and municipalities have raised their minimum wages. Some of those were state legislature initiated like Massachusetts, New York, Washington and Colorado while others were done via referendum like Arkansas and Missouri. Regardless of how it became law, our industry is among the most directly impacted by increases in the minimum wage. For many operators, this means they have to decide whether to increase prices or reduce hours to make up the $10-12,000 increase in their payroll costs in 2019.
Some operators have determined that small price increases can cover the cost of the wage inflation, while others are considering service charges to make clear their response to the increase. Either way it’s a natural economic affect that prices rise along with wages. The question is how bad might it get -- or conversely, will it actually be a positive that wages have grown?
Several studies over the years of minimum wage implementation have shown that increases are actually good for the overall business climate. The argument is that people who get minimum wage increases almost immediately turn it into consumption. So, while it may feel like it stings, we may see an overall bump in the economic affect. We would love to know how all of you are responding to increases in your area.
[Source: Yahoo]
BEING ACCOMMODATING
Why it matters to you: Avoid a PR nightmare and train your staff on how to manage protected behavior in your restaurant
Several weeks ago we reported on a story about how a woman was treated while breast-feeding her infant daughter at a Texas Roadhouse location in Kentucky. As you may recall, the woman contended that while she was feeding her seven-week-old baby, the manager came by and demanded she cover up because he was fielding complaints. When the woman asserted her legal right to be feeding her baby, the manager tossed down a napkin he meant for her to cover up and stormed off. The guest was so uncomfortable at her treatment that she and her husband ultimately left the restaurant feeling horrible.
It appears the woman is not satisfied by the response from Texas Roadhouse and has chosen to sue the company. This story is a powerful reminder that line managers in our industry must be better trained to handle the various legal protections that are required to serve people with special accommodations. Whether it’s a breast feeding mom or someone with a service animal, we have a legal responsibility to ensure their accommodations are met and they are treated with dignity and respect. Now is a great time to review with your teams the various regulations in your community to remind and reinforce to your staff. This way you may avoid an unnecessary confrontation that leads to a law suit.
[Source: Delish]
