September 2, 2016
Today's Special
How Hollywood Sees Us: When Regulars Become Family
When you see the same faces day in and day out, it's hard for them to not become family. Just ask Phil Connors.
DID YOU KNOWs…
Beer League
In this most Canadian thing ever, two thieves broke into a beer store and stole a few packs of brew. And, of course, one was dressed in full goalie gear. Check out the security footage.
Zoom, Zoom!
Starting yesterday, you can pinch to zoom on photos and videos on Instagram. Now diners can see every molecule of your delicious meals. It’s just for iOS users now, but Android is expected to get the feature soon..
All Good Things…
Florida went 3,965 days without a landfall hurricane, but Hurricane Hermine is slated to hit the state this weekend. Even Cal Ripken Jr. is impressed by that streak.
APPS ARE DELIVERING YOUR GOODS
Why it’s important to you: New services to deliver food to customers are growing every day.
Once upon a time if you wanted delivery, your options were pizza or Chinese. Now you can get pretty much anything you want with the click of a button. With new delivery offerings from UberEATS and Amazon Prime Now, the field of competition is large and growing. A Houston-area news station decided to put the new delivery services to the test. They had three producers order their lunches at the same time via Favor, UberEATS and Amazon Prime.
From their report, Favor had the fastest delivery but also the highest price, charging $12.51 in fees that included tip. UberEATS came in second in time, arriving four minutes after Favor but also five minutes after the original estimated delivery time. They’re charges were significantly lower at $3.99 and tipping isn’t required. Last but not least was Amazon Prime Now, 16 minutes after Favor. That delivery was free, but with a $20 minimum and no tip included. It’s hard to say who the real winner is here. What do you think?
CAN YOU HEAR ME, CAN YOU HERE ME RUNNIN’
Why it’s important to you: The battle between privacy and technology is coming your way.
You may want to pay closer attention to that permission request your phone prompts when you download a new app. You know the one, “Give us permission to locate you” or “Give us permission to access your photos.” In a class action lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors, the team, app creator and beacon technology provider are all accused of accessing peoples’ microphones unnecessarily. To explain, beacon technology uses the phones Bluetooth and microphone to discover if a guest is nearby and communicate with it. If an enabled app is present and the user’s phone is identified as close, offers can be delivered and behavior tracked.
Also, as it turns out, the microphone can be turned on and recorded. This technology has incredible potential for our industry. Imagine a guest approaches the host stand and their image and profile is delivered to the host so they can greet them by name. They are also then show an “app users only” special menu or rewards opportunity. The key is to insure you are balancing the utility with their right to security. It’s a shame this tech is getting national attention because the app maker went too far in accessing element of a user’s phone. This technology is coming and has far reaching implications for how you will interact with regulars in the not too distant future.
TRUMP BUMP
Why it’s important to you: A weak dollar can be both a blessing and a boon.
It’s been a tough summer for American restaurants, but not in Canada! Thanks to a weakened Canadian dollar, tourism to Canada has seen a healthy increase this summer compared to last. The majority of the boom is thanks to American visitors which account for 80% of the country’s rise in tourist visitors. Conversely, Canadians haven’t been travelling much this year, possibly contributing to weaker numbers in the American food and beverage industry this past quarter.
One area of Canada in particular saw a large increase in tourism thanks to, wait for it…Donald Trump! Cape Breton saw a 31% increase in visitors from the United States compared to a 12% increase in Nova Scotia. What does Trump have to do with it? Back in February, radio DJ Rob Calabrese invited Americans to move to Cape Breton in the event that Donald Trump is elected president come November. It started as a joke, but according to the numbers, people are taking it seriously.