Thursday, October 5, 2017
Today's Specials:
BUSINESS: Create a Genius Inventory Guide with this Mast Count Sheet [Presented by Orderly]
Restaurants that take inventory regularly increase profits by more than 24% a year. Orderly created a master inventory count template with more than 350 of the most common ingredients restaurants use. Download your master inventory count sheet here.
DID YOU KNOWS…
#Ballin
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs (Steve Jobs’ widow) just bought a 20% stake in the company that owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals. Laurene reportedly paid out $500 million for the deal which makes her one of the few women in the NBA and NHL as part owner.
Breach Is the New Black
In 2013, Yahoo experienced a pretty drastic data breach impacting a large handful of accounts, then another in 2014. Just recently the company announced that both breaches didn’t affect most accounts but ALL three billion of their users’ accounts. Info including names, passwords, phone numbers, and birth dates were all compromised.
Creepiest Urban Legends in Every State
Now that October has officially begun, Thrillist is getting into the Halloween spirit. They counted down the creepiest urban legends from every state that are sure to freak you out. Take a look at the sinister stories that take place in your state.
THINKING INSIDE THE BOX
Why it matters to you: How would you get your guests to unplug from their phones while dining?
Some restaurants have experienced backlash after policies that dictate what customers can and can’t do while dining in their restaurant. This has related to dress codes, where customers are allowed to have tattoos, and, in some cases, when they can use their phone. One restaurant in New York has taken a lighter approach with a policy by making it more of a suggestion. At the award-winning restaurant Hearth, Chef Marco Canora has placed boxes on each table with a note requesting that diners refrain from using their phones while dining. In a vast effort to get diners to interact more, Canora is encouraging guests to unplug while at Hearth.
In an interview with Eater, he said that around 60% of his customers participate, whereas some cheat along the way. Hearth is not the first restaurant to implement a strategy to get guests to interact, as chains including Chick-Fil-a that have implemented programs offering free food to diners who dine phoneless. Many restaurants are on a variety of the spectrum regarding phones while dining. The majority of establishments encourage phone usage in an era when Instagram is ruling the restaurant industry. Overall, it’s refreshing to see restaurants implementing a change of pace, especially as more of a suggestion than a requirement.
MAYBE IT’S NOT THE MILLENNIAL AFTERALL
Why it matters to you: The demise of full-service dining could be an issue of evolving consumer demand.
The ongoing conversation regarding the revenue slides for full-service dining has primarily focused on the tastes of the most obvious emerging consumer class, Millennials. However, that might not be the reason at all. When the casual dining restaurants were experiencing their heydays in the ‘90s, the demographics around dining were very different than today. Of the causes referenced in this very well written article on Eater, most obvious is that the typical chain restaurant isn’t competing for the tastes of all consumers and not just Millennials.
With the 2008 economic crash, we saw a resurgence of the small downtown area. Whether for convenience or to experience a more social existence many folks (from Baby Boomers to Generation Xer’s) have begun to flock to these revitalized downtowns.
Consumers are looking for several things at once in their dining expenditures. First and maybe foremost, they expect great quality at a fair price, but they are also interested in convenience and culture. These shifts in consumer tastes can be traced to the rise of quality dining available at home, through meal kits and grocerants. Ultimately, old-school chain operators are either going to need to update/upgrade their menu characters and beverage programs, or they will go the way of the buggy whip.
