INVENTORY: 5 Reasons Why Spreadsheets Are Not Restaurant Inventory Software
“What’s the problem with spreadsheets?” you ask. You grab a paper spreadsheet to take your count. Then you type all that information into a spreadsheet on a computer. You look up prices to enter into that same spreadsheet. And you calculate COGS with a... you guessed it... spreadsheet. So, what's wrong with this picture? A lot, actually. One study found that the overall error rate on spreadsheets was an incredible 947%. This means that there were more individual errors than there were actual formulas in the sheet itself.
SURVEY: Do Sports Bars Show Women's Sports?
According to a recent Nielsen report, 84% of sports fans are interested in watching women’s sports. But are sports bars taking advantage of that fandom? That’s what we’re hoping to find out in this short, three-question survey. Once we get the results, we’ll publish them in an infographic juxtaposed to the Nielsen results, along with additional tips for how operators and managers can identify and maximize the opportunities showing women’s sports on TV can bring them.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Schultz Low Favorability
Despite toting himself as a “centrist independent”, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s lack of a clear platform seems to have quickly taken its toll. According to Change Research, a Bay Area-based public opinion research firm, Schultz has just a 4% favorability rating, compared to 40% unfavorably. That 4% is consistent across party lines. And, for reference, Trump has a 42% favorability among respondents and 52% unfavorably.
New Traveling Requirements
Beginning on July 1, 2021, US citizens will need ETIAS approval when vising any of the Schengen-member countries for tourism, business, medical or transit. This approval will be considered an extra security check and not a visa. The goal is to curb terrorism and raise revenue for the EU. Here’s more on what you’ll need to know if you’re traveling abroad.
Social Media Retirement Home
Back in 2017, Edison Research found that 79% of the coveted 12 to 34-year-old demographic used Facebook and that share has now fallen to 62%. The user share in the 35-54 age bracket stood at 72% in 2017 and that fell to 69% in 2018 and remains that way today. The data also shows that the share of people aged 55+ using Facebook grew from 49% to 53% between 2017 and 2019. No wonder all those teenagers were complaining about friend requests from parents, aunts and uncles
DON’T BE THE NEWS
Why it matters to you: If you get bad press, it’s best to have gained the trust of your community to aid your recovery.
In preparation for today’s posting, I did a quick google search on “recent restaurant news.” In every returned item that wasn’t an ad for some restaurant newsletter (ours included ;-)), there were stories of terrible performance and behavior or egregious stupidity on the part of our industry. Two examples from this week are a norovirus outbreak near Tacoma, WA and a restaurant in Bradenton, FL better known for roaches than their food quality. The more I searched the more I found. Ugh! The fact that our industry, especially at a local level, can almost exclusively return these types of negative results is heartbreaking to us.
The start to breaking this cycle is to do things that attract attention other than being lousy at restaurants. Too few of us are working to gain the trust of our local communities and that gives you very little cover if your restaurant does do something worthy of negative news coverage. There is no good way to recover from a foodborne illness outbreak -- just ask Chipotle. However, you can do things to make sure that you have sufficient community capital that an outlier error might not destroy your whole business. None of us want a negative headline blaring out our names. So begin now by engaging your community in ways that will prove your commitment and earn you the benefit of the doubt.
[Source: Tacoma News Tribune & Bradenton Herald]
THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING
Why it matters to you: Cashless restaurants are outlawed in Philly, does it matter?
Do you remember when cash was king in the restaurant industry? In fact, it was only three years that the balance of all retail sales shifted to majority credit card payments. In our industry that change happened several years earlier and continues to see only about 18% of sales in cash, according to a study by TSYS. This trend appears to be something that municipalities are concerned about and directing legislation to address. As an example, Philadelphia has outlawed cashless restaurants to ensure that those without access to modern banking facilities aren’t closed out by restaurants that won’t accept cash. This is far more relevant for quick service operators like Starbuck’s and McDonald’s.
Source: TSYS
The same study from TSYS demonstrates that those restaurants are already receiving more cash payments than credit at 28% of revenue. So, why the change? The motivation for these rules changes is to ensure that those without access to modern banking aren’t locked out of public accommodation. With so many new ways to pay, like new forms of mobile payments, it’s appears the likelihood that cash will disappear from retail transactions is higher than ever. Legislation like this is really not a huge issue for the full-service segment because we take in so little cash now by comparison to QSR. Besides, as long as there are tips on our business, you will need cash to compensate your servers.
[Source: Restaurant Business Online]
