Friday, December 16, 2016
Today's Specials:
CALCULATOR: Do You Know What Your Guests are Worth?
Do you know your restaurant's customer life value? Do you even know what that is? It's an important number to identify because it should factor into how much you’re willing to spend to acquire new customers. Use our calculator to get your number.
WATCH: How to Avoid a Killing Spree: Don't Quote Restaurant Policy [How Hollywood Sees Us]
Just because it's in the rulebook doesn't always mean it's the correct response. Many times restaurant managers quote restaurant policy with good intentions but overlook the guest's easy-to-satisfy needs.
DID YOU KNOWS…
“Warmest” Greetings We Can Do Without
Thanks to the Internet, we have a bastardization of McDonald’s holiday cup (the one with the two white mittens). Well, someone took it a step further. Prepare yourself for this GIF.
This is Excellence
Doesn’t matter if you love him or hate him, Bill Belichick’s a symbol of excellence in the NFL. Just how good? Well, he’d have to lose a ton (and we mean a ton) of games to be on the same lowly level as these other NFL coaches.
“Alexa, Ask Pizza Hut for a Pizza.”
Pizza Hut and Amazon have teamed up to allow Alexa users to voice actively order pizza. Alexa is Amazon’s new AI called Amazon Echo. Users can choose a handful of items via voice command menu and Alexa can connect to the user’s Pizza Hut account when it comes time to pay for the order. Similarly, Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas will be installing an Echo into every one of its hotel rooms. We live in the future, folks.
HOW TO HANDLE KIDS IN RESTARAUNTS
Why it matters to you: Restaurants have a duty to all of their patrons.
Children in restaurants is a highly debated topic, one that we’ve discussed before. Recently a globe article detailed the scathing remark a mother of two received after daring to bring her four-year-old twins into a kid friendly establishment. Deserved or not, what’s the appropriate behavior for either side? Many commenters and reactions to the article show it’s the restaurant's duty to make sure all parties are happy.
We agree. If one table is disturbing another, it’s the duty of the restaurant to be aware of the discomfort and find a solution. Change seating, or offering a free meal or beverage for the inconvenience. Everyone is entitled to a pleasant evening when dining out, parents and non-parents included.
SAVED FROM CO
Why it matters to you: Would you know if there was a problem in air quality at your establishment?
An off-duty Lewisville firefighter saved over 30 people from carbon monoxide poising in a North Carolina restaurant. While attending a dinner party, he noticed guests were starting to feel nauseous, complaining about headaches and some were even starting to feel chest pain. An investigation found high levels of CO stemming from a broken heating system inside the restaurant. Do you know how to detect a problem with carbon monoxide? Here are a few way to tell if CO is present in your establishment. Making sure that our guests are safe is our number one priority.
JINGLE *BARFS*
Why it matters to you: Are you prepared for the crazy drinkers in the holiday rush?
What can we look forward to this holiday season while working in a restaurant? According to a Munchies article, quite a lot! Some very interesting scenes take place according to four people that have worked in bars across Britain during the Christmas season. While bartending over the holidays they share horror stories all from restraining drunken guests to breaking up fights. Make sure your staff is ready to handle any craziness thrown their way these next few weeks because apparently, the holiday season can cause some pent-up anger among some guests.
THAT’S GOTTA STING
Why it matters to you: Is Trump as immune to a bad restaurant review as he was to criticisms of his candidacy for president?
It’s our worst nightmare in the restaurant business: the awful review. For most of us, a poor review could devastate our business. However, if you are Donald Trump and his eponymously named restaurant, Trump Grill(e), then it probably doesn’t matter…until it does. Vanity Fair contributor, Tina Nguyen reviewed the ground floor eatery at Trump Tower in NYC in not so complimentary terms on Wednesday calling the dumplings, “our flaccid, gray Szechuan dumplings with their flaccid, gray innards” and her special Trump Burger as tasting like, “an M.S.G.-flavored kitchen sponge lodged between two other sponges.”
Most of us would probably crawl into a hole after receiving a review that destroys almost every element of our business but most of us are Donald J. Trump. As you can image the President-elect was none too pleased and responded via twitter saying, “Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!” It’s hard to tell from the review whether the writer was motivated by her disdain for our new POTUS to be or really just sharing her opinion on a sub-par restaurant experience. Either way, we sure hope none of you ever get a review this bad.
Image courtesy of metr.com
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.