MENU: “Give Me All the Toppings” [Presented by Lamb Weston]
78% of guests are interested in topped fries, so get creative with your fry offerings by adding ingredients that are already in your restaurant. Put a topped & loaded shareable on your menu, or try out a topped & loaded LTO. For more menu tips visit LambWeston.com/Recipe.
DID YOU KNOWS…
What is CBD?
CBD products are on the rise in the US and it’s having retailers scramble to learn everything they can about this “magical” substance. CBD stands for cannabidiol is naturally found in cannabis plants. Unlike THC, it’s not a psychoactive. It’s been shown to have positive benefits in treating epilepsy and muscle/joint aches. And it’s being put into everything from gummy bears to pain relief oils to hamburgers. And sales are expected to explode to $16 billion by 2025.
WNBA Signs with CBS Sports
The WNBA has signed a 40 regular-season contract with CBS Sports Network. This is on top of the existing deals with ESPN’s networks and ABC for 16 regular-season games, the All-Star Game and up to 19 postseason games. The new deal with CBS Sports Network tips off on May 25th when the Minnesota Lynx host the Chicago Sky.
Atmosphere Raises $10 Mill
Atmosphere has raised a $10M A Round on the back of CHIVE TV's success in TV for Out of Home. Atmosphere is taking the "third space" with TV-for-business while the cable and streaming world is duking it out for the living room. Atmosphere is described as “ambient TV” meaning it’s not episodic or character-driven, and is easy to pick up or leave off at will. Currently CHIVE TV and Atmosphere is free, but will be changing to a monthly subscription fee soon.
DELIVERY INSIGHT #2: ARE YOU IN THE CLOUD?
Why it matters to you: If you are thinking about expanding delivery, a cloud kitchen might be your next move
Cloud kitchens (aka ghost kitchens) have become a hot topic in the restaurant industry. As consumer buying patterns shift from full-service to off-premise/delivery dining, we have seen a rise in operators creating a kitchen-only facility to fulfill delivery orders. This started with savvy operators realizing they could project as multiple delivery concepts while using a central kitchen for production. Imagine a 6000 square foot kitchen where you can simultaneously turn out amazing barbeque and sushi, then deliver that food to guests who don’t know the orders came from the same kitchen. The efficiency of a kitchen-only facility should be obvious. Apparently it is, as companies like Uber begin to foster this concept even further.
In 2017, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick build out CloudKitchens in Los Angeles. Here operators can rent fully built kitchen space in a shared work environment. Think WeWork for restaurant operators. CloudKitchens has partnerships with Uber Eats (duh!), Postmates, DoorDash and GrubHub, just to name a few. This effort and others like it are creating a lower bar to entry for delivery operators, food truck entrepreneurs, and even national concepts that want a delivery foothold, but aren’t ready to pull the trigger on a central commissary. While folks will always want identifiable food brands for their off-premise and delivery occasions, these CloudKitchens also make possible a path to business ownership by lowering the upfront expenses. For many of you, this may even be a path to your own delivery-only concept. If delivery is a significant opportunity for you, then you can test your theory without breaking the bank.
[Source: Toast POS]
MAKING IT SOCIAL
Why it matters to you: The “social” concept is storming onto the scene, will you leverage it?
We often hear complaints about the Millennial generation not wanting to interact with people to acquire service and how it’s changing our industry. However, if that is so true, then why have all these “social” concepts exploded over the past few years? A social concept is the natural descendant of “eater-tainment” and includes a selection of rich interactive experiences from bowling to video games. You need really look no further than the re-emergence and incredible success of Dave & Buster’s over the past 10 years to know this idea is here for a while. In fact, The Daily Rail and SportsTV Guide serve dozens of concepts with the word social in their names. The truth is that Millennials are just interested in interacting with their peers; they simply require more than a couch and a cocktail (which they can do at home) to make that worthwhile.
It should come as no surprise, a generation raised with busy schedules that filled their time with activities to enrich them would turn out to be interested in a social experience that encompasses more than just a traditional bar scene. The good news is that barriers to entry for delivering some form of social entertainment are that great. If you have outdoor space, there are no limits to the number of game options, like corn-hole for instance, you can offer that will divert your guests and get them to return. This post on Modern Restaurant Management should give you a solid place to start your research. So, get social and see just how happy your guests are to be entertained.
[Source: Modern Restaurant Management]
