MARKETING: Host the Ultimate Game Watch Party for Your Fan Club [Presented by FanWide]
It’s the big day — GAMEDAY!!! You’ve done all of this hard work to find the ideal team and grow their local fan club chapter. Now you need to host those fans and give them a stadium-like experience that will keep them coming back for more. Here are five tips for hosting the ultimate viewing party.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Fornite Prize Money Blows Other Sports Out of the Water
Winning the Tour de France, the Ironman Championship, the New York Marathon and the Masters Tournament would still not match the prize money of the winner of this weekend's Fortnite World Cup. Epic Games is committed to making Fortnite the most lucrative game in esports, putting $100 million in prize money behind the game through the end of 2019. With that in mind, here’s how sports bars can cash in on eSports big prizes.
9/11 Illnesses
Officials in New York have reported that 200 firefighters have now died from illnesses related to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said that "it is almost incomprehensible that after losing 343 members on September 11, we have now had 200 more FDNY members die due to World Trade Center illness." The data on this infographic is from the Uniformed Firefighters Association of New York who list slightly more deaths - 204. A bill to re-fund the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, a first responder’s health care bill, was recently blocked in the Senate.
Staying Cool
This past weekend the US got nailed by a massive heatwave and heat appears to be one thing Americans all can agree they dislike. With ACs and fans blasting, America’s love of keeping a cool head is coming at a price -- in the form of an extraordinary electricity bill that beats out China and the EU combined.
Minimally
Why it matters to you: The House just passed a $15 min. wage law. What’s next?
If you want to stress out a restaurant manager, tell him his labor cost is going to jump dramatically without their consent. That’s what the US House of Representatives did last week when they passed a $15 minimum wage law. Let’s start with the new law. If passed fully by Congress and signed by POTUS, it would eliminate the tipped minimum wage by adding $1.50 immediately and increasing it until 2025 (when it will be eliminated, altogether). Regular minimum wage would increase immediately from $7.25 to $8.35 and then proportionally until it reaches $15 by 2025. As you can imagine the National Restaurant Association (NRA) has come out strongly against this legislation.
However, don’t get too worked up just yet. This bill passed in a Democrat-controlled House, but has little chance of either passing the Republican-controlled Senate or being signed by Trump. More likely, this will continue to be a 2020 Presidential Candidate issue that will be debated vigorously during the primaries and likely used as a wedge for the national campaign. Either way, unless your state individually embarks on a $15 campaign journey, you won’t see this increase for a few more years.
Unfortunately, if and when it does, we will all need to be prepared for the change. With no federally recognized tip credit, you cannot have one at the state level unless the bill offers an exemption. This is because the federal law always supersedes the state if it is more favorable to the employee. This means the end of tipping as it exists in today’s culture. No operator is going to pay servers and bartenders $15 plus tips if they can add a service charge and use that to offset their labor expenses. So, we all have to be prepared for that change and how we will respond.
[Source: FSR Magazine]
THAT SOUNDS NICE
Why it matters to you: Sound is crucial element of ambiance and you need to manage it.
My first restaurant had a weird configuration that placed diners on a wall that was backed by a walk-in cooler and the full prep area. If you sat at any table placed there, it would rumble every time the compressor turned on or vibrate as the dough mixer pushed a particularly heavy load. It became such an issue that we couldn’t seat guests there without destroying their experiences. Consequently, we moved the refrigeration units to the roof and reconfigured prep, so no equipment was on near the wall. But it took the guest feedback to get us there. If you are serious about the guest experience, it makes more sense to address it before there are problems that drive guests away from your business.
This solid review of the elements of sound in your restaurant is a great place to start reviewing your approach to ambient sound. As previously noted, background noise from food prep equipment, compressors and even the parking lot can be a total distraction, but it doesn’t end there. You can also look at sound dampening systems like acoustical materials and other interior design elements, especially if your space is covered in particularly hard surfaces.
This leads to another interesting discussion about sound from TV. Sports bar operators will understand the tension between sound for the game and the way it affects the overall atmosphere of your restaurant. In the end it’s up to you to address the issues of ambient sound in your restaurant no matter what your circumstances are and this primer is a good place to start, we reckon.
[Source: Modern Restaurant Manager]
