OPERATIONS: Improve Your Restaurant’s Tabletop Layout with a Tabeltop Audit [Sponsored Hack]
There is precious little real estate on the typical restaurant dining table. We want to simultaneously fit the most tables without adversely affecting the guest experience. This means our tables must be efficiently set with whatever we believe best serves that guest experience. We suggest you do a tabletop audit and examine the function and value of anything on the table. Here’s what to keep in mind.
DID YOU KNOWS…
No, no. The Other Burger King
Typically you can’t run a restaurant with the same name as another restaurant unless you own both or are part of a franchise business relationship. Yet, there stands a Burger King in Illinois that’s not affiliated with the Whopper-slinging fast food franchise we all know. How’s that possible? Here’s their story.
Jailed Journalists
Once again, Turkey was named as the world's worst jailer and as of December 1st, 2018, 68 journalists were identified as being in prison there. China came second with 47 while 25 are imprisoned in Egypt. Collectively, Turkey, China and Egypt are responsible for more than half of all jailed journalists for the third year in a row.
Fast Internet
Norway had the fastest mobile internet speed this year, clocking in at 67.17 megabits per second. Most Norwegians would not have had a problem streaming Netflix in Ultra HD quality on their phone, which requires a download speed of at least 25 megabits per second to work. People in the United States, Germany, and Spain may have had a harder time streaming that ultra HD quality on their devices, with average download speeds in 2018 hovering around 30 megabits per second for each country.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Why it matters to you: Be cautious about outside investment as growth approach.
We root unapologetically for our subscribers. Unfortunately, like most of our industry, some of our audience will experience troubles that slow or even derail their business plans. Such is the case for a longtime subscriber and really solid operation, Scotty’s Brewhouse. On December 12th, the company that now owns Scotty’s group filed for bankruptcy. They noted in their filing that increased competition and changing customer demographic as causes. We don’t dispute the accuracy of these filings, but instead would assert there is a lesson in their bankruptcy for any of our subscribers that want to grow -- and do so quickly. Be careful what you wish for!
In the case of Scotty’s, its longtime owner had a vision for his business and sought the type of resources and upside growth provided by the private equity firm he sold them to in 2016. As you know from reading our blog, we have been pointing to both the changing demos and high location inventory in our industry as real threats to our traditional operating models. Sometimes growing slowly allows you more power over the choices that will be made versus instant growth by seeking investment. There is no right choice; only the right one for you. We don’t know if Scotty’s would change anything now, but we do know their choice mattered. Yours will, too.
[Source: FSRMagazine]
WHAT A WASTE
Why it matters to you: Food waste is killing your profit and fixing it is the ethical thing to do.
Restaurants have a significant food waste problem. No denying it when a statistic shows we toss almost $162 billion in food each year. In fact, in 2010, the food loss and waste at retail totaled 32% of the US food supply. It estimated that the average annual waste at restaurants varies from 25,000 – 75,000 pounds. These numbers are alarming and show no signs of abating. You would think that the obvious profit shrinking that comes with a $75k loss would be sufficient motivation, but there are solid marketing reasons as well. Given that 72% of your guests care about responsible food supply management and 47% of them would pay extra knowing that you have an active food recovery program. Also, for every dollar you put into recovery/reduction you get an $8 return, which is a great return on investment.
With that settled, what do you do? Start by looking at your food usage and ordering patterns. Take notice for one full week of everything you toss. Keep a log and then review the way you ordered. Assuming your inventory management isn’t the biggest issue, then you can try things like freezing ingredients that are close for later use. Also, you can make soups or specialty sauces using anything that might be close to expiring. However, ordering better is only one part. You can also take your refuse and render it. For oil, you can even get paid in some markets by giving your oil to a processing company. Your vegetable food trimmings can be composted or given to a local farm. They will also come and get it. There is also donating it food pantry for things like canned items or certain foods. There are rules around this, but you have some protections. You can use an app like GoMkt who created this great infographic about food waste.
[Source: Toast]
