GUESTS: The Major Audience Restaurants are Missing
Our mission at the SportsTV Guide is to help you stay in front of trends in our industry and facilitate you leveraging those trends for your business. That is why we are embarking on a comprehensive review of where the future of sports is heading with a series focused on eSports.
This series is focused on the why, how, what and when of eSports for restaurants and bars. This first post will focus specifically on why you need to take eSports seriously and the implications for your operation, especially for sports-themed operators.
DID YOU KNOWS…
All They Do is Win, Win, Win, Win…
Since the inaugural 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China, the U.S. women never finished worse than third, winning four out of eight tournaments held so far. In Megan Rapinoe, the U.S. also had the player of the tournament. Having scored six goals over the course of the competition, Rapinoe won the Golden Boot for the best goalscorer as well as the Golden Ball for the best player overall.
America’s Stance on Equal Pay
In March, 28 members of the 2015 World Cup squad sued the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) over gender discrimination, arguing that they are unfairly treated both in terms of pay and employment conditions compared to the (significantly less successful) men’s soccer team. While fans of women’s soccer are (unsurprisingly) in favor of equal pay for female players -- they even chanted “equal pay!” following the U.S. victory on Sunday -- where does the general public stand on the issue?
Climate Change & the Economy
A recent analysis by Moody's Analytics focused on the economic impact of climate change. There would be winners and losers in the most-dire scenario, a 4°C temperature increase. If that came to pass, it is estimated that India would suffer the biggest blow to its GDP in 2048 out of all of the world's biggest economies, with a 2.45% contraction compared to the baseline model. Given its lower share of service industry employment, India suffers greatly from the heat stress impact channel.
WE’RE HERE FOR YOUR LIVER! [Video]
Why it matters to you: Context is needed to understand if CBD is good or bad for you.
If you have been paying attention, then you know that the legal marijuana market has exploded over the previous five years since Colorado legalized it for recreational use. Just last week we published a blog promoting the use of CBD in making cocktails. Which is why the headline in this post that screams CBD may cause liver damage caught our attention. After reading the full article, it’s clear that for those that take high dosages of CBD there is a potential for liver damage. This finding was made while testing the epilepsy medication Epiolodex. This is the pharmaceutical version of Charlotte’s Web, the highly touted tincture that started the CBD popular revolution.
When the medication is prescribed, patients are required to be tested for liver enzymes that might cause organ damage. A study with mice showed that a small percentage had liver issues under huge dosages of the medication. This may or may not be proof that CBD is bad for your liver, but it also needs to be seen in context. First, the amount of CBD necessary to do that liver damage appears to be enormous. Second, since most of you are not treating epilepsy and tiny amounts of CBD actually delivers demonstrable results for people seeking relief from anxiety, inflammation and depression there is likely nothing to be concerned about. It’s worth noting that until more thorough study is done to fully understand Cannabinoids in general, there will be a lot of misinformation. So, it’s up to you to decide if CBD is right for you, but moderation will most certainly make that a simple choice.
[Source: Forbes]
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
Why it matters to you: Is Restaurants Unlimited’s bankruptcy the beginning of the end?
In 2016, Seattle passed an ordinance to increase their minimum wage to $15. As the first major city to settle the Fight for $15, Seattle has become the lab experiment for the impact of increased minimum wage. With Seattle’s own Restaurants Unlimited (RUI) declaring bankruptcy, we see a bit of proof that a growing minimum wage is not without negative impact. The chain operates 38 restaurants in six states where all of them have increased minimum wage levels. Sun Capital, the owners of RUI, claims that their labor increased in Seattle from $9.47 to $16 (a jump of 69%; San Francisco $11.05 to $15.59 (41%); and Portland $9.25 to $12.50 (35%). These rises were unsustainable and they were forced into bankruptcy protection.
There were some other factors including an ill-advised investment in two new restaurants and other cash management issues as laid out in this thorough post on FSR Magazine’s website. As we have repeatedly pointed out, there is more to the current climate than just labor cost increases. Traffic and growth have stalled across the industry and of, course, there are just too many full-service casual-themed restaurants. Guests are inundated with choices and have a finite capacity to enjoy them. This confluence of labor pressures along with sales declines was a recipe for this disaster. What can you do to avoid the problems that RUI has experience? Well, start by looking honestly at your circumstances. Don’t wait until you have mounted so much debt that you can’t crawl out from under it and don’t be afraid to raise prices if you have to increase your revenue. What’s the alternative, closing? In our industry, hoping things will get better has never worked. Consequently, take a look at your finances and don’t follow the lead of RUI into big debt coupled with declining sales without at least trying to mitigate it.
[Source: FSR Magazine]
