Monday April 8, 2019
BUSINESS: 7 Habits of Successful Restaurant Owners
Every restaurant owner dreams of flowing profits, thrilled guests and a balanced life. This vision is only possible by creating healthy and sustainable habits that drive success. A survey of 500 small business owners shows what the most successful restaurant owners do consistently.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Booming Beer
The Brewers Association released its annual report on craft brewery growth. In 2018, approximately $27.6 billion was spent on craft beer, a seven percent increase over 2017. Fun fact: there is now a record-breaking 7,346 craft breweries in the U.S. with an estimated 1,049 openings and 219 closings in 2018.
Smells Like Victory
In the heat of the final four NCAA March Madness tournaments, a WSJ piece shared that many rugs were missing out of the athlete’s locker rooms just after a game. So, who would take a nasty locker room mat? Apparently Jordan Bohannon, a junior guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes. See here for the hilarious Twitter exchange.
Whole Paycheck
Amazon has announced its third set of price cuts on Whole Foods groceries. Prices will be reduced by 20 percent on hundreds of items with an emphasis on produce including mangos and tomatoes. Also, Amazon Prime members can receive an added 10 percent off of existing sale items.
ON THE BORDER
Why it matters to you: Closing the southern border promises disruptions for our industry too.
With Cinco de Mayo just 30 days away, the thought of a southern border closure should send chills down the spine of almost every restaurant in America. Why you ask? Well, let’s start with the fact that nearly half of all vegetable imports and 40% of fruit consumed in the United States is imported from Mexico. If we leave all that perishable product to rot while we contest immigration issues, not only will it devastate the Mexican economy, but it will do equal damage to ours…and especially our industry in specific.
Our entire food supply chain is dependent on those Mexican imports of fruits and vegetables. For example, Steve Barnard, chief executive of Mission Produce (the largest distributor of avocados in the world says the US would run out of avocados in just a few short weeks.
Sure that will adversely affect Millennials (yes, that was sarcastic), but be assured it will also dramatically disrupt your own operations. Think back to the romaine lettuce issues late last year and you have a great example of what a tiny disruption can look like. Now expand that to almost half of all produce. If that doesn’t scare you, then you aren’t paying attention. IMHO
[Source: Reuters]
YOU’RE WEIRD, AND IT’S GREAT
Why it matters to you: Embracing your own weird ideas might just be the key to successful marketing
Marketing is one of the fun parts of our business. Instead of toiling about keeping things clean, turning our perfect meals or managing the needs of your employees; marketing allows you the opportunity to be creative and even irreverent. It doesn’t matter if you’re a single unit operator or the CMO for a 1000 unit chain, your marketing is the face of your organization. That’s why we think this blog on Modern Restaurant Management that encourages you to embrace your weirdness when marketing is a must read.
The key notion is that you should go all in on your brand marketing, even if it might seem weird. When KFC released a chicken-themed clothing line (that sold out, btw), chicken flavored chocolate truffles for Mother’s Day and their chicken scented sunscreen, many people thought they were crazy. Well, who’s laughing now as all 3 of those ideas got huge viral recognition and were really popular with consumers.
It doesn’t stop with weird products. We need only look to Shake Shacks appeal to pet owners with their “Pooch-ini” flavored ice cream and “Bag O’ Bones” for our furry friends. Here the brand appealing to a consumer’s emotions surrounding their pets. Also, check out Hell Pizza’s Pizza Roulette Challenge. Where a guest gets one slice of their pie (kept secret during the turnout) that is doused with a hot sauce they claim is stronger than police pepper spray. You may not want to appeal to puppies or hot sauce aficionados, but there is some weird and crazy fun you can have while marketing your business; if you try.
[Source: Modern Restaurant Management]