MARKETING: WiFi Analytics for Restaurant Marketing & Customer Engagement
Being noticed and remembered in the modern blizzard of marketing can seem almost impossible for brick-and-mortar businesses. For restaurants, it can appear as an even more challenging task. Fortunately, WiFi marketing can provide restaurant marketing professionals the solution they’ve been searching for. It is a relatively new marketing channel for restaurants that can lead to highly successful email marketing campaigns, while also providing that all-important customer engagement that has proven to increase guest spending, frequency and satisfaction.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Delaying Medical Care
This infographic shows the extent of the problem by level of household income. Unsurprisingly, households in the lowest income bracket who are taking home $50,000 a year are most likely to delay or put off medical care for financial reasons. High-earning households bringing in $100,000 or more aren't immune to the problem either with 40% of those polled putting off medical care for financial reasons in the past year.
American More Likely to Die from Opioids Than Car Crashes
As of 2017, Americans had a 1 in 96 chance of dying from a drug overdose while the probability of perishing in a car accident was 1 in 103. The following infographic takes a look at the lifetime odds of dying from different causes with opioid deaths coming in at number five. Heart disease is still the most likely cause of death in the U.S. with lifetime odds of 1 in 6. Cancer is close behind with a 1 in 7 chance while chronic lower respiratory disease comes third with the chances 1 in 27.
Media Usage Amounts to 10+ Hours/Day
According to Nielsen's latest Total Audience Report, Americans aged 18 and older spend roughly 10.5 hours a day watching TV, listening to the radio or using their smartphones and other electronic devices. Considering that most people are awake 16 to 18 hours a day, 11 hours of electronic media usage seems like a lot, but, to be fair, much of that probably happens while doing other things at the same time. It's a good thing people were given the ability to multitask; otherwise we wouldn't get a whole lot done these days.
PERCIPITOUS, PRECARIOUS, PREPAREDNESS
Why it matters to you: The economic news is conflicted; are headwinds already afflicting the restaurant industry?
For all measures, the economy is humming along and our industry has seen consistent growth the past several quarters. So, why did the CEO of Kona Grill, Marcus Jundt, urge caution about the consequences of an economic recession will devastate our industry? Jundt took questions about his own system during a shareholder’s call and acknowledged that the industry is over-leveraged and over-supplied. Jundt’s honesty also reflects a similar narrative across many chains where they expanded too fast, chose suboptimal locations, and turned to franchising to drive growth. There appears to be nowhere to go but down.
Unfortunately, there is ample reason to be concerned about this even if you aren’t a chain. The other major headwind to the industry is alternatives to full-service dining. One of the most vulnerable segments of that classification is family dining. They are primarily competing with alternatives to restaurant dining, like home meal replacement and fast casual. If these low volume operators are struggling while every other segment has resurged, it is further proof that the fundamentals of our industry are precarious. Not much any of you can do, but you should be aware that things are tenuous…but they seem to always be so, right?
[Source: FSRMagazine]
AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING
Why it matters to you: A Democratic proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 is on the horizon.
The mid-term election clearly energized the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and they are flexing their new muscle in multiple forms. For starters, they are entertaining a federal $15/hour minimum wage and discontinuing tip-credit wage replacement nationally. The proposal doesn’t get to $15 until 2024, but would start this year upon passing. This won’t likely pass given a Republican controlled Senate and Donald Trump in the White House, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t an important vote. The strategy is to get both parties on the record for this initiative. It’s seeds the ground for a 2020 showdown.
This is exactly the situation that terrifies many of you. With everything discussed in the post above can only be further exacerbated by a significant increase in labor cost. This will cause increased pricing and puts further pressure on your business. There is some good news, previous significant increases in the minimum wage have actually driven the economy as more people have more money to spend. Think about what you do with a raise, you spend it right? So maybe it won’t further be fuel on the fire that could be our industry in a recession. Keep your eye on this one because its momentum is growing.
[Source: RestaurantBusinessOnline]
