INFOGRAPHIC: How Does Your Restaurant's Alcohol Safety Training Program Stack Up? [Presented by 2 Cool Server Training]
There are a myriad of statistics that prove alcohol is a very dangerous drug. As full-service operators, you manage the distribution, sale and control of alcohol. Let’s face it, you need every possible advantage to do so safely. Among the most accessible and most effective advantages is having a staff trained in the many aspects of responsible alcohol service. In a recent survey, our readers shared their approaches to responsible service and, frankly, we are impressed.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Now This is a Marathon
Marathon du Medoc is a unique marathon experience. While it’s the standard 26.2-mile run, runners are required to wear fancy dresses or outfits during their run. There’s also a wine, cheese and oyster stop mid-way to the finish line, as well as more food and performers at the finish line.
The Buzz about the ‘Date-Friendly’ Bar
Bumble is a location-based dating app that allows women to make the first move in online dating. Now the dating app is opening a wine bar in Manhattan in the fall. Bumble Brew will be coffee shop by day and wine bar by night, serving “date-friendly” food (aka small plates, salads and sandwiches). They’re also looking to use the space for its networking app, Bumble Biz.
Top Partners Strong-Armed by Tariffs
Mexico is the United States’ biggest trading partner. The total goods traded between the two countries is worth around 150 billion USD, which makes up about 15% of all goods the U.S. trades. China has fallen to the U.S.' third biggest trading partner as a result of the tariffs President Trump put in place.
ONE CLEANING PRODUCT TO RULE THEM ALL
Why it matter to you: Explore the benefits of an all-purpose single product cleaner approach.
If you have a moment, go check out the place where you keep all of your cleaning chemicals, then count how many different potions and elixirs you have to clean your restaurant. Is that number higher than five or six? For many of you that number is even a few factors even higher. In our industry, we are obsessed with chemicals doing the work to clean our restaurants, when in fact, it’s our people that do it. So this article on FSR Magazine that argues for an all-purpose single-product cleaner may even convince you to eject all those bottles of stuff you don’t remember why or when you bought them.
The argument for all-purpose cleaners has been made for a long time by operators. The thinking is that training staff on one chemical and its benefit and its potential negatives, you are more efficient and less reactive to turnover. It’s just much easier to keep consistency around cleaning if you can reduce the conversation to just one product to get most or all of your cleaning done.
Sure, many of you are cringing at not having bleach so your bathrooms smell sanitary or you won’t want to give up your metal cleaner because you love when those tap towers shine. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever be rid of the myriad cleaners you rely on daily, however, consider a simplification of your cleaning products to an all-purpose product will bring you value that goes beyond just convenience. Knowing that your team can be simply oriented to how to employ this chemical in multiple situations will reduce training expenses, staff confusion of products and, ultimately, improved restaurant hygiene. For those reasons alone, it’s worth your consideration.
[Source: FSR Magazine]
GROWTH FOR GROWTH’S SAKE
Why it matters to you: The restaurant industry added nearly 14,000 locations in 2018, but was that too many?
For the third consecutive year our industry has added over 10,000 new locations to the market. In 2017, we added 15,169 and last year 13,817 new locations entered the market. This is amazing growth for an industry that has already been hearing they have too many points of distribution. The question is what does this mean for your restaurant? That answer is fairly complicated, but we’ll give it a shot.
First and foremost, it means way more competition. By increasing outlets at a 2%+ pace, we are seeing our industry being forced to completely remake our paradigms to compete. Expansion into off-premise dining like delivery and online carryout ordering has mitigated some of the impact from the saturation of new restaurants. Most of the real outlet growth occurred in convenience services like mobile food services and non-alcoholic bars (coffee and ice cream outlets) to further prove that traditional methods of competing just won’t cut it in today’s market.
In fact, of all the segments, the full-service/bar & grill space saw the slowest growth. This is further proof that it’s time to see that writing on the wall and protect what you have, rather than focusing on growth. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t drive growth, but it does mean that growth will likely only occur in your current operations. Now is the time to focus on what you have and make it great, rather than how to grow your footprint to grow your sales.
[Source: National Restaurant Association]
