MEMES: Pigs Flying, Peta, Prep Work, Steve Harvey, and More!
Let’s kick off the week with some laughs. Here’s a new batch of restaurant memes to share with your staff or use as social media fodder. On tap: that look your drunk friend gives you when you arrive to a party late, using clingwrap, the science of plate-stacking, a pig finally learns to fly, and more!
DID YOU KNOWS…
Spending at Restaurants Hits New Record
Sales at bar & restaurants rose 1.3% in July to $61.6 billion, according to the Commerce Department. That brought the 3-month gain to 25.3%, the fastest pace since 1992. This is due more to people eating out more frequently than operators rising prices. The data also shows that while sales are growing, guest traffic is declining, meaning higher average checks. Now to boost the number of guests, too…
Umpire’s Menu
MLB umpire Joe West worked his 5,146thgame recently, putting him second all-time in games worked by an umpire. But umping that many games means he’s made a few frenemies over the years and a Minneapolis steakhouse decided to play a little prank on West when he dined at their establishment earlier in the week.
Insta Beats Snapchat
For large parts of the past two years, it seemed like Snapchat would be the next platform that no one could afford to ignore. However, over the past 12 months Snapchat’s growth has slowed significantly and many people are beginning to ask whether the once innovative social media app was nothing more than a passing fad. In fact, it has been Instagram, not Snapchat, that really had its big breakthrough in the past year. Having implemented, or shamelessly copied, Snapchat’s popular Stories feature, Instagram’s simple design appears to be more appealing to the broader public than Snapchat’s sometimes confusing user interface. Restaurant marketeers looking to use the “in” platforms should take note.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT MANAGER
Why it matters to you: If you aren’t serving the customer, you better be really good at serving those that do.
If you aren’t aspiring to be a great manager of people, then you might be in the wrong business. Sure technology is going to replace some of your staff over time, but it’s unlikely you will be managing just machines any time soon. That’s why this survey about the traits of a great manager matters. The better you are at supervising your staff, the happier your team will be under your leadership. This leads to lowered turnover and far better performance.
A recent survey noted several specific attributes of a great manager. The most favored characteristics were a “Good Work Ethic” and “Is Honest.” Those may sound simple enough, but if your team perceives that you are not achieving those descriptions, they will reward you with lowered work ethic themselves and far less honest behavior. This is a clear indication that people value the same things in their managers as their managers value in them.
One surprise was the third highest attribute: “Sense of Humor.” It turns out that laughter is not only great medicine, but also a terrific management trait. Maybe you can start each shift with a joke -- a cardinal, a horse and a piece of rope all walk into a bar…
WHAT CAN I GET FOR THAT?
Why this matters to you: If you have old equipment, can you sell it?
The restaurant industry is hard on its stuff. Furniture, equipment and infrastructure are constantly being hammered in their use. This leads to the eventuality that you will either need to maintain or discard old equipment. There is a balance between constantly fixing things and just buying a new item. Once you have made the decision to buy something new, is the old equipment worth trying to sell? The easier answer is not really, but that doesn’t cover the totality of concerns or outcomes.
Functioning equipment is far more valuable than broken stuff, but still not particularly valuable. You have a few options. First, try to trade any old equipment with the fixtures company from whom you purchase the new piece. It at least gets the stuff out of your way and maybe saves you a few bucks. The reality is that even stainless steel is not particularly valuable when you try to sell it. Even scrap won’t bring you much. The lesson here is that you should ring every minute out of your old equipment and then dump it when you buy new. We know if feels lousy to give away something that you paid thousands for at some point, but you’ll waste a lot of time trying to sell a piece that nobody wants.
