Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Today's Specials:

GUESTS: Do Your Guests Feel Scammed by an Automatic Gratuity?

The unfortunate truth is, many of us allow servers to add gratuities with no real policy in place to protect the guest from adding a second gratuity unwittingly. The most efficacious way to eliminate this issue is to implement a policy is to guide the application of automatic service charges.

DID YOU KNOWS…

Sony Goes Vinyl

Vinyl is making a comeback. Vinyl records are becoming so popular that Sony plans to make them again to satisfy the demand. According to Time, more than 12 million records were sold in 2015. We might be seeing them in the hipster bars pretty soon.

Politics Over Booze?

Americans are very divided politically speaking. In a survey of men and women in the U.S, 73.3% of Democrats say they would give up drinking alcohol to see President Trump impeached. In contrast, only 30.6% of Republicans would give up booze if it meant the media would stop portraying Trump negatively.

Lab-Grown Meat to be Sold

Vegan mayo company Hampton Creek has been secretly working on technology that could grow what they call “clean meat” aka lab-grown meat to introduce to supermarkets by 2018. The owners say customers will be impressed with the taste of their meat made of plant-based proteins.

SNAP-TASTIC

Why it matters to you: Creating Snapchat Geofilters can be your most profitable marketing strategy.

Social media sites are constantly adding new features to make the user’s experience as seamless as possible. Most recently, Snapchat has introduced a feature that allows you to create Geofilters right on the app. For those unaware, Geofilters are digital graphics available for everyone on Snapchat to add to their personal content. Essentially, to access the Geofilter design studio, open Snapchat, and tap on “On-Demand Geofilters,’ then you’ll be able to create filters using a variety of templates designed around different occasions and celebrations. You can then customize these templates with text, bitmojis, and stickers (perfect for promoting a sporting event at your bar).

A couple of aspects to note about these filters are that they are only active over a specific geographic location, which you can choose. The pricing per filter seems to offer a good bang for your buck. Fees start at $5.99 for a few hours and a minimum area of 20,000 square feet (perfect for the big game) and take roughly one business day to be approved. Restaurants can create branded filters that once are approved, will be seen by everyone on Snapchat within your selected radius. Overall this is an excellent marketing strategy that can bring people (especially millennials) in your door. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create your own Snapchat Geofilters.

WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, AND WE’RE HERE TO HELP

Why it matters to you: If you don’t own your building, rising rents are a threat.

As real estate prices have climbed since the crash in 2008, many restaurants have been feeling the pinch. This applies in particular to the major cities where the commercial price index has increased by over 100% in the past 7 years. Consequently, many failed operators are claiming occupancy costs were the final nail in their proverbial coffin. Well, some cities have determined they need to support their local restaurant culture by offering grants or loans that might offset the rent increases. Once such program is being considered in Washington DC’s Ward 1.

The city is offering up to $50,000 in loans to mitigate the cost of staying in their space. A qualifying restaurant must have been in operation for 10 years in relative financial health. While this sounds like a good idea, it may actually have the opposite impact. If landlords know that their tenants are being subsidized, there is no incentive for them to work with the business owner on a solution to the rising rents problem. Additionally, some operators might use the money to cover the capital cost of equipment or other durable items. What would you do if your community offered you money to stay in business? Tell us in the comments below.