Monday, April 17, 2017

Today's Specials:

SOCIAL MEDIA: These Restaurant Tweets are Pure Gold

If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you know the struggle. We've found a collection of tweets that most accurately sums up the everyday challenges of servers, hostesses, expo, and chefs. Let us know what you think!

DID YOU KNOWs…

Beer Myths

Beer is what makes the world go round. Thrillist counted down ten beer myths you should stop believing with the help from beer writers and scientists to debunk some of the most pervasive beer myths. Let the chugging begin.

The Ultimate Tip

A server in Hawaii hit the restaurant industry jackpot when an Australian couple promised to pay off her student loans. The server works two jobs and had to drop out of college because she could no longer afford it. In addition to paying off her loans, the couple also tipped her $400. Aloha!

Boozy Billions

In 2016, Americans drank the equivalent of 4.24 billion bottles of wine, making the U.S. the biggest global wine consumer for the sixth year straight. France came in second at 3.6 billion bottles, and Italy was third at 3 billion bottles.

YELP + NEW MINIMUM WAGE = CLOSINGS

Why it matters to you: lower rated restaurants on Yelp may be more likely to close due to a new minimum wage.

The minimum wage hikes have begun to cause repercussions across the country with varying effects. According to BuzzFeed News, restaurants with a low rating on Yelp are more likely to close in cities with a rising minimum wage. A study released by Yelp data researchers working with Harvard Business School found that in the Bay area, a $1 increase in the minimum wage led to a 14% increase in the likelihood of 3.5-star restaurants closing. Overall, they found a $1 increase in the minimum wage increased the likelihood of a restaurant closing by 4% to 10%. Just a one-star increase in rating on Yelp makes a restaurant 50% less likely to go out of business.

Although restaurants on Yelp with a 5-star rating saw no impact, this could be a telling trend the minimum wage increase could have on lower rated businesses. There can be multiple reasons why the lower-rated restaurants are affected by the wage hikes, some analysts have noted the possibility that higher rated restaurants could already be paying above the minimum wage, therefore will not be affected. Likewise, the more satisfied customers from the higher-rated restaurants may be more willing to accept a price increase in menu items. The restaurant industry is also difficult to anticipate due to the many factors that determine success and failure, therefore, this trend may vary depending on location.

BURGER KING INVADES YOUR HOME

Why it matters to you: Burger King is thinking outside the box with upcoming advertisements.

New advertisements will either take off or they’ll fall really flat. Burger King is the latest brand to jump on Pepsi’s recent advertisement controversies with the premier of their “Okay Google” ad. Essentially, during the ad, a Burger King worker invades viewer’s phones by saying “Okay Google,” then if they have a Google Home device, they “will then be treated to a totally not-asked-for reading of the top search result for a search of ‘Whopper Sandwich.’” Although the idea of the ad was creative and interactive, there was a major problem with the advertisement’s execution.

The voice command will bring up the Wikipedia page for ‘Whopper Sandwich’ to give views a full detailed account that was not able to be said in 15 seconds. The problem was that if someone edits the Wikipedia page, Google Home will read whatever information is currently displayed on that page, even if it’s inaccurate. Burger King is not the first brand to use digital assistance and voice-activated commands, though it is unclear how the ad will resonate with viewers. It is too early to determine whether the new intrusively creative ad will boost or hurt revenue for the fast food chain.