July 29, 2016
Today's Special
HOW HOLLYWOOD SEES US: Restaurants are about bringing joy
The movie No Reservations doesn't get a lot right about the restaurant industry, but it does get one thing right -- it's all about bringing joy to others through food.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Competition leaves Twitter in the dust
Twitter’s been having a hell of a time trying to keep user’s engaged. They’ve been pushing hard for live sport streaming rights but the fact remains is they’ve basically flatlined for the past two years. What does this mean to you? Well if you use Twitter as your main social media marketing platform, you might want to rethink your plans or, at least, how much time you spend on it.
Sometimes “slacktivism” works
Remember two years ago when the entire Internet was posting videos of ice cold water being dump on them to raise awareness and money for ALS research? Well, in news that will surely warm hearts, their efforts for the Ice Bucket Challenge did some good. Not only did it raise $21.7 million, but that research money helped pinpoint a gene (called NEK1) as the likely culprit for ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Next step for scientists is figuring out what’s wrong with NEK1 and fixing it.
VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR [Song]
Why it’s important to you: The easier it is to access content via stream, the fewer guests that need us to make that content available.
Streaming sports is no longer an outlier and these two stories are continue proof of that fact.
NFL Boosts it’s Steaming Service
The NFL has expanded its streaming-only version of the NFL Sunday Ticket to now cover both four-year and two-year universities and colleges. The NFL started this last season with most major four-year institutions, and they are pricing it at half the cost of their satellite version. Additionally, they are including regular season game access and Red Zone Channel on the fourth generation Apple TV set top box. Fans can also access this content using Chromecast, Playstation 4, PS3 and select Xbox devices. Given that college-aged NFL fans are a staple in our restaurants, you will want to make clear to them just how much better watching the game with other fans at your place is than sitting in a dark boring dorm room.
Sportle Makes It Easier To Watch on the Go
Sportle is a mobile-based sports streaming service that launched on Apple in February and is already experiencing success disrupting the way avid fans consume sports. Founded by MySpace veteran Ali Tahmasbi and former FOX/NFL executive Adam Shaw, they launched the app after struggling to find a way to watch the NHL Playoffs in 2014. In May alone they gained 110,000 visitors, including 20k just to watch Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference Semifinals. Sportle represents another way fans can access content without being bound to a specific inline broadcast provider. It clearly devalues purchases like the NBA League Pass and NHL Center Ice if your guests can get their own access on a mobile device.
GREASE IS THE WORD [Song]
Why it’s important to you: Are you paying to have your grease removed? You shouldn’t be.
Grease removal is among the least pleasant tasks that a restaurant operator manages. Well, it turns out all that unpleasantness is also very valuable. Think $2 billion worth of value, annually, for the full market of rendered oil. So, it should be no surprise that some intrepid thieves would target those bulging barrels of used fry oil for stealing. The problem is they leave an unholy mess behind them that often causes the restaurant to be the object of ire from local health inspectors.
Certainly this revelation should be ample incentive to revisit both how you secure your used oil and what you pay to have it hauled. If you are paying for oil removal, know that your vendor is earning about $2/gallon. We suggest you make them either give you a share or cover their own expense out of their profit. Or you could get the black market guys to steal it for free…