HALLOWEEN: Five Restaurant Horror Stories to Make Your Skin Crawl
Working in a restaurant is tough enough without the weird and gross stuff guests do from time to time. Just in time for Halloween comes a collection of “whispers.” You’ll be grateful didn’t happen to you, but they still might give you nightmares.
DID YOU KNOWS…
The Best Tippers
Ever wonder which demographic makes for the best tippers? According to a study by CreditCards.com, that would be women and Baby Boomers. Women are 6% more likely than men to tip, and Boomers are a whopping 23% more likely to tip than Millennials. However, Millennials leave an average of 22% tip while Boomers drop just 17%. Of course, this study doesn’t take into account paying with credit and tipping in cash, so take the numbers with a grain of salt.
Death Toll of European Witch Trials
Peter T. Leeson and Jacob W. Russ published "Witch Trials" in the Economic Journal and it provides an interesting overview of witch-trial activity across European countries between 1300 and 1850. The toll of trials and executions is now presented in the context of the continent's modern borders. During the above period, 16,474 people were put on trial for witchcraft in Germany and close to 7,000 were put to death.
Beyond Meat Grows
Beyond Meat has delivered its third quarterly earnings report as a public company, posting beefy earnings and its first quarterly profit. The plant-based meat substitute producer beat analysts' expectations with net revenue of $92 million, higher than the $82.2 million Wall Street expected. Despite that, company shares fell as much as 15% in extended trading, though approximately half of those losses were recouped. Nevertheless, the company's quarterly results were strong with net earnings climbing 250% compared to Q3 2018.
CHAAAAARRRGGGE!
Why it matters to you: Fighting a chargeback can be a disruption, but only if you aren’t prepared.
There are few things more unnerving as an operator as a chargeback. If you don’t know the term, this is when a customer that has authorized a charge at your restaurant contacts their credit card provider and disputes a payment to you. This can have multiple deleterious effects and should be taken seriously. You only have a limited amount of time to refute the chargeback, so it requires organization and discipline to drop what you’re doing to address a chargeback situation. It is your right to show the documentation of the person’s authorization which is why holding onto sales receipts is important even if you hate the clutter. It is the only way to verify your position, unless you use a digital payment solution. In that case, you have a partner in this and need their help proving the charge was valid.
So, how do you avoid chargebacks in the first place? This post describes all aspects of chargebacks, but specifically describes steps you can take to avoid them. Among the suggestions are steps like addressing guest satisfaction and following the guidelines established by the major card brands. But too often issues of chargebacks come from fraud committed by your staff. This happens in a few different ways. For example, changing a tip amount is a typical cause for a chargeback. Consequently, while chargebacks can result from a variety of causes, it’s the self-inflicted ones that are the most important to safeguard against. Ultimately, a chargeback is a disruption that can be avoided if your systems are proactive and your team is held accountable. Diligence, discipline, and organization can make a chargeback go away.
[Source: Toast POS]
GROCERY WINGS TAKE FLIGHT
Why it matters to you: Your newest wing competitor is in the strip mall next door.
Wings, wings, wings… it feels like we talk about them a lot. Of course, they are a staple in almost every bar & grill restaurant in the country, and that means they’re important enough for our focus.
Unfortunately, it appears that we aren’t the only ones that are focusing on wings. Stop & Shop, the grocery retail Giant (yes, that’s capitalized because they also own Giant grocery stores) is now committing to a wing bar in nearly 200 locations. The wing bar will include eight flavors and price at $7.99 per pound. As if there isn’t enough competition for guests discretionary spending, retailers like Stop & Shop have been eroding our margins for the last 10 years by adding more high-quality prepared foods to their offerings. Yes, you have much more to offer than a grocerant, but them giving guests more high-quality wing options is not a good thing for restaurants.
This coupled with the improvements in home viewing over the past several years and there is a clear new competitor that demands your attention. From a pricing perspective, $7.99 for a pound of wings is also extremely cheap compared to what we charge for a full service experience. This is why you have to press the value of the extras you offer that a grocery store can never replace. Whether it’s the variety of cold beers or the atmosphere created by fans gathering to watch their favorite team, it’s your job to point out the differences and turn them in to a call to action. You could also create your own wing bar for guests to enjoy during big game days with a fixed price. This will not only satisfy the guest desire for variety, but also show you as a direct alternative to your grocery store competition.
[Source: Nation’s Restaurant News]
