INFOGRAPHIC: For Restaurants, Chicken Wing Trends Take Flight
We frequently discuss food & industry trends as a part of dialogue with our The Daily Rail readers. Often we point to data that specifically identifies opportunities to leverage trends for growth. Such is the case for the recent chicken wing trend that calls for variety in format (bone-in or boneless) and flavors. We’ve compiled some of the most interesting data in this infographic for you.
DID YOU KNOWS…
KFC Launches Limited Edition Candle
KFC does love its oddball marketing efforts. From fried chicken scented suntan lotion to its latest effort – gravy-scented candles. The bad news is they’re only releasing 230 of them and they’re only being given out in the UK, so if you’re dying to make your bedroom smell like Thanksgiving dinner, you’ll need to hop across the ocean to make it happen.
The Biggest Threats to Business Growth in 2019
Over-regulation and policy uncertainty are at the top of CEOs' worry lists around the world for 2019. The latest annual PwC survey of world business leaders has revealed that 35% are “extremely concerned” about these threats to growth. Close behind in third position is the availability of key skills, with 34%. Protectionism also makes an appearance with 30 percent of CEOs citing the threat as a big worry, likely with an eye on the White House and its current occupants. In North America, 38% said they were extremely concerned about this particular threat, making it the third most common response behind trade conflicts (44%) and cyber threats (45%).
UFC Give ESPN+ a Boost
The UFC debuted on ESPN+ over the past week and it spurred more than half a million new subscribers to the streaming service. ESPN is calling it the “largest event and subscription and catalyst for ESPN+ thus far.” For context, ESPN+ just hit a million subs this past September, so they grew 50% literally overnight.
EXCUSE ME MA’AM, ARE YOU DINING ALONE?
Why it matters to you: Before implementing a policy, think in terms of your guests and how it will impact them before implementation.
If you are a soccer fan, then you are familiar with the concept of an “own goal.” It turns out, sadly, restaurant operators are capable of own goals. Take one upper-eastside restaurant in NYC that enforced a rule that no unaccompanied woman can dine at their bar. The owner of upscale eatery, Nello, was determined to ensure that no call-girls were using his bar to meet clients and implemented the rule without really thinking it through. Consequently, when a regular bar guest, who happened to be woman, was refused service at the bar, she was a bit confused. Her confusion was exacerbated when she saw a solo male diner getting service with no issues.
We all have policies that are there to protect our businesses. In this case, the owner was concerned about the image that sex-workers were creating at his bar. He simply didn’t want to be a market for that type of transaction. Which, by the way, is absolutely his right. Unfortunately, the owner of Nello lacks any nuance and determined that NO FEMALES were going to eat at his bar. This, of course, presupposes that all prostitution is exclusively a woman’s domain and that any woman, whether she’s a regular or not, could appear to be on the prowl, if she’s dining alone. Now that is a colossally dumb assumption.
Wouldn’t the owner have been better off assessing the goals of each guest as they arrived? If it’s apparent that someone is using your restaurant to manage those transactions then you ban them. It’s a complicated issue that requires a complicated approach. That happens sometimes, like managing allergies. There are lot of different situations and you have to be extremely careful in how manage them. Sure, allergies are a health risk and inappropriate behavior is really only about your image. But they are both challenges that require you be smarter and more astute than the owner of Nello, to be sure.
[Source: The Daily Meal]
PRODUCE PRODUCERS
Why it matters to you: There is unique pressure on supply pricing because of the grocery store chains.
We are all a little separated from our food supply. For example, how many of you know that farmers have seen their margins dropping on commodities because the major grocery chains are having a price war? Food consumers who shop at chains like Kroger’s or Walmart don’t realize that these chains can set their prices because of their sheer size. This pushes those price drops down to lower levels so that farmers can’t increase what they pay their pickers, and the pickers are increasingly unable to live on the wages they can earn via farming. Add to that a disruptive past year with flooding and frost and you can see how much pressure there is on the labor that pics our produce and butchers our meats.
No one is asking you to take on a social justice campaign. The real concern here is how this instability might affect your business. At some point someone that can only make $50 a day when things are good, won’t be able to survive on $30. Consequently, they will either leave the industry or physically be unable to perform the jobs because they have to work harder than is reasonable to earn their money. Unless we see a significant improvement in our automated picking systems, prices are bound to rise as farmers are unable to secure the labor they need to fulfill their orders. While you can’t control what’s happening in Texas or California, you can take some easy steps to mitigate your own exposure. First, buy locally whenever you can and secondly review your menu to determine where the various products you use come from. This way you can see items from troubled areas and be prepared for any upheaval in those markets.
[Source: Fortune]
