LEADERSHIP: How to Maintain an Organized, Efficient & Clutter-Free Restaurant Kitchen
Maintaining organized and clutter-free workspaces encourages productivity and positively affects employee morale, workflow, priorities, and overall efficiency. That goes doubly so if you want an efficient kitchen that can keep up even during the busiest of rushes. Here’s how you can use the right tools to help you breathe new life into your restaurant.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Inside the NBA “Jeopardy” Gone Wrong
The Inside the NBA crew (aka Shaq, Kenny Smith & Charles Barkley) tried to play a game of NBA-inspired Jeopardy. Tried being the operative word. Anyways, if nothing else, this video is 9 minutes of hilarity to kick off your week. Enjoy.
30% of the World is on Facebook
On February 4, 2004, 19-year old Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some of his classmates, launched a little website called Thefacebook. Who would have thought back then that 15 years later, 3 in 10 people on the planet would be using the platform?
New Home Sales Hit Post-Recession High
Sales of new single-family houses unexpectedly rose to a 16-month high in March. According to figures jointly released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, new home sales climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 692,000, the highest level since November 2017 (712,000) and the second highest since the end of the recession that followed the burst of the housing bubble.
THE FUTURE OF LABOR
Why it matters to you: The recently resolved Stop & Shop strike may have long lasting implications for restaurant labor
When labor organizes, the perception is that management has an insurmountable problem. While that may be true, it speaks volumes about how you treat your staff – or, at least, how your staff feels about their treatment. The recently resolved 11-day strike at the Stop & Shop grocery store chain is another example of the tension that exists when labor feels undervalued and empowered to organize. The writer of this opinion piece on Nation’s Restaurant News makes some cynical assertions about how this labor action can be politicized for the benefit of Democrats. Well, we have an alternate theory to share. Why not take the time to really listen to your employees.
One of the key concerns on the part of the unions involved in the strike was a fear of automation. Let’s face it, while automation may be the future of many business, for retail players like Stop & Shop (and your restaurants, for that matter) much still centers on the people do the work daily. The irony is that wages were not their biggest issue. They did have concerns about reduced benefits and the aforementioned move to automation. In our opinion, management could have avoided this costly strike and the appearance the unions won by actually listening to their rank and file employees. It may be novel to not see a labor action as a political expression and more one of people asking to be heard, but it would have also avoided an embarrassing loss for Stop & Shop in the most public of ways.
[Source: Nation’s Restaurant News]
SWEETGREENS RETURNS TO GREENBACKS
Why it matters to you: The first chain to go cashless has succumbed to the pushback from the municipalities they inhabit.
Don’t let Sweetgreens assertion they returned to accepting cash because it precluded some consumers from accessing their services. This was a direct consequence of compliance with local municipalities that have outlawed cash-free operators. When Sweetgreens announced their plan to nix cash from their tender options, they cited speed of service, staff security, and money management expenses as their mean reasons. These are all totally understandable reasons to stop taking cash, but are they outweighed by the need for public accommodation, especially for those without access to full-service banking like credit cards and bank connected accounts? Well, beginning July 1st in Philadelphia the answer is yes, as that is when the cash-less restaurant ban begins.
However, that prohibition isn’t exclusive to the City of Brotherly Love, since the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts have also banned digital-only payments as well. Here’s the rub. These communities and states that are banning no-cash operations can’t stop the clear downward trend cash as a payment instrument. As it becomes increasingly easy to pay via mobile and credit card technology improves (think EMV), the power cash wields will continue to erode. Asking operators to accommodate a tiny percentage of their business for cash payers may not be realistic before long. Until then, we will all have to be thoughtful about how we handle cash and be patient as it disappears into the dustbin of history.
[Source: Restaurant Business Online]
