FOOD: "If You’ve Got My Fav Fries, I’m there." [Presented by Lamb Weston]
We hear it from guests all the time. That’s because 41% of patrons go out of their way to find their favorite fry. How does your menu stack-up? To make your place a can’t miss fry destination talk to a fry expert at Lamb Weston.
DID YOU KNOW…
Jose Garces Sued
Iron Chef Jose Garces is being sued for underpaying multiple vendors. He’s got a total of six lawsuits against him from food suppliers, investors, and a landlord. One lawsuit likens Garces restaurants to a Ponzi scheme. Ouch.
Blood vs. Water
Fox was reportedly willing to try to move Giants’ games off of Thursday Night Football. Why? Because Peyton Manning didn’t want to criticize his bro, Eli, twice a year. In the end, however, Peyton decided that the broadcaster life wasn’t for him… this year.
Carbon Emissions
Carbon and carbon dioxide aren’t dangerous compounds; they’re found everywhere in our natural environment. The problem is that ever since the onset of the industrial revolution in the 19th Century, mankind has steadily increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. According to the now defunct Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), more than 400 billion metric tonnes of carbon have been emitted through the consumption of fossil fuels and cement production since 1751 - half of which was emitted since the 1980s.
FOOD RECALLS
Why it matters to you: Trash all of your romaine and check your eggs.
After a truly rough week for food recalls, we have to ditch all of our romaine lettuce and check where our eggs came from. This all comes from a CDC advisory that warned of an E. coli risk that was then updated, telling everyone to throw away any romaine that they did not grow themselves (so that makes pretty much everyone). The outbreak has already affected 53 people from 16 states and is growing, so we need to take a better safe than sorry approach here for ourselves and our customers. E. coli infections cause massive gastrointestinal risks that can lead to a type of kidney failure. This wouldn’t be the best press for your establishment (just ask Chipotle), so toss the romaine and use a different green until we get the all clear!
On to the eggs. Nobody likes a bad egg and we heard about around 200 million of them. Rose Acre farms of Seymour, IN issued a voluntary recall of their eggs which came from a farm in North Carolina and distributed to numerous retail stores and restaurants. The locations of the deliveries are as follows: Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The eggs were recalled due to a salmonella braenderup risk. This particular strand can be fatal to children, the elderly, or other at-risk people. Check to see if your eggs came from Rose Acre farms and look for the plant number P-1065 followed by codes from the range of 011-102. This can be confusing so we’d say it might be best to ditch any eggs from this distributor; similar to the romaine, it is a better safe scenario. The safety of your guests is everything and peace of mind can play a large part in where they decide to dine. Plus, food poisoning sucks, so let’s save everyone the trouble!
UBER VS THE INDUSTRY
Why it matters to you: The restaurant industry may be losing employees to Uber.
If you’re having trouble keeping staff, you might want to give the stink-eye to Uber. This realization comes after research showed that Uber drivers aren’t looking to replace a 40-hour work week. Instead, they are replacing gigs around the 25-hour mark which is where people would traditionally fill in the gaps as a waiter or bartender.
These types of gigs can really affect our industry in unforeseen ways. If someone can pay their bills with a less mentally and physically draining activity, they almost always will. We can’t decide whether or not people who have worked in the industry before would be more or less likely to make this transition vs someone who hasn’t worked in the industry, but we’re certainly sure that it is tempting for both sides. You can tell this is the case especially when considering the FOH and BOH turnover rates industry-wide. We need to lower these rates ASAP in order to not lose more people to Uber and the like.
Do we, as an industry, have any real way to ensure that Uber doesn’t poach more of our kind? Maybe? We could start by paying our staff better, giving them better hours, days off/sick days, and/or benefits. Any of these would surely set us apart from Uber (and Lyft) and give us the competitive edge we need to not fall by the wayside. We need to offer things that the ride-sharing apps cannot.
Culturally, the US needs to start looking at the service industry as a profession and not “just a job.” We too often look down on those who serve us and that sets up a situation where staff are going to want to bolt as soon as “something better” appears.
