Friday, December 23, 2016
Today's Specials:
MARKETING: Farm-to-Table Marketing: How to Locally Source Your Campaigns
We increasingly live in a farm-to-table world. Here's how you can take the idea of locally farmed to your restaurant's marketing.
VIDEO: When Holiday Cheer Turns Ugly [How Hollywood Sees Us]
With the holidays upon us, we couldn’t resist including the famous bar scene from this Christmas classic, It’s A Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart plays the down on his luck protagonist who is seeing what the world would look like without him in it. When he enters the local watering hole, Martini’s, he is treated to a harsh reality that many bars present of cold indifference because they don’t recognize him.
DID YOU KNOW…
V-Day Sorrows
According to the Olive Garden, Valentine’s Day is their biggest take-out order day, even beating out the Super Bowl. Bloomberg says this should alarm restaurant operators as more Americans are choosing to eat in instead of out. It’s also more reason why you should look into on-demand takeout options.
Japan is Weird, but We Love Them
We’re pretty sure we’ve done this while intoxicated at college, but Shake Tree, a Japanese restaurant, has “invented” the “Wild Out” which is a hamburger with hamburger patties for buns. Like, how do you even eat this thing?
Beer AI
IntelligentX, a British company, has created a survey system that uses Facebook Messenger chat bots to gather feedback from consumers on their beer taste preferences. The data is fed into an algorithm to create new beer recipes. And they just used that data to create four new beers. We, for one, welcome our AI overlords.
ARE YOU HEALTHY ENOUGH FOR THE MASSES?
Why it matters to you: Only if you care about consumer trends.
2016 is coming to a close, and this year we covered our industry’s trends ad nauseam. Today we have business insider’s report of the chains to look out for. We’ve discussed how big chains like Panera and McDonald’s are pushing for healthier food to cater to consumer desires, and apparently, consumers want smaller waistlines.
All seven of the chains listed have a huge focus on health and quality ingredients. Chipotle even makes the list despite its E. coli scandal mostly because their commitment to quality ingredients has garnered them a “cult-like following” according to business insider. Do you have a commitment to a food philosophy?
SHOULD BOURDAIN SHUT UP?
Why it matters to you: How do celebrity comments influence our opinion?
Top chef and restauranteur, Anthony Bourdain is no stranger to the news. Recently, Bourdain has been in the spotlight for boycotting Donald Trump’s restaurants and expressing his “utter contempt” for the president-elect. In his politically-centered interview with Eater, Bourdain talks about his views on Trump with topics including racism, immigration, and gun violence.
Ironically, though, Bourdain said that “nobody wants to hear some successful Hollywood actor or TV person’s opinion on politics. I certainly don’t. It’s enraging.” Whether or not celebrities have political opinions, there are multiple ways that he influences fans. Overall Anthony Bourdain has a very loyal following that does in fact, care where his political views lie.
WHOEVER CONTROLS WORK AND WAGES, CONTROLS MORALS – SUSAN B. ANTHONY
Why it matters to you: Wages, Tips, staff issues are all serious challenges every operator faces
As 2016 comes to a close, it will certainly be remembered as the year of the employee compensation conversation. Whether it was the elimination of tipping or the advent of an increased minimum wage, we never seemed far from a serious discussion of those issues. Let’s take Colorado for example. They are set to increase their statewide minimum wage to $9.30 for BoH and $6.28 for tipped. The Colorado Restaurant Association claims 70+% of their members will either cut hours or eliminate staff. While other municipalities haven’t seen this reaction from increasing the minimum wage, it’s still a real possibility and should be taken seriously. Most of our readers have few non-tipped employees that earn less than $9/hour, so it won’t impact them much, it could be a disaster for the industry.
In one Boston neighborhood, a small restaurant group has implemented a 3% service charge to offset increases in labor cost for their non-tipped employees. Their experience has been primarily positive with wages increasingly significantly and hardly any negative feedback from guests. Both of these stories underscore the uncertainty many of you feel about the wage climate in our industry. It’s unlikely that the new administration will impact this because most of these issues are managed at a state level. If you are preparing for a dramatic wage increase, look at the factors that can mitigate it. Consider the labor service fee, price increases and staff efficiencies. Nothing should be off the table. It’s your business and therefore your responsibility to do what is necessary to sustain it.
Hero Image courtasy of Time.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.