TRENDS: Protein Evolved: Meat Substitutes & Their Future in Restaurants
A United Nations projection foresees that by 2040, only 40% of the $1.8 trillion global meat market will be sourced by conventional methods. The report anticipates that 25% of the market will come from vegan meat replacements with the remaining 35% coming from cultured meat (lab-grown meat). But what does this mean for restaurants now and the near future?
DID YOU KNOWS…
‘Quit Rate’ Hits Pre-Recession High
The quit rate rose to an 18-year high, rising above a pre-Great Recession peak, signaling that workers feel confident in their ability to score a new job after leaving their current position, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Around 3.6 million workers quit last month, the first time the nominal number rose in a year. The quit rate measures the number of private-sector employees who willingly left their jobs in any given month.
Machine Learning Dominates Retail
When it comes to artificial intelligence, machine learning is retailers' go-to AI use across all business types, according to Capgemini. Newer and less-developed automated systems like chatbots, natural language generation, and image and video analytics were used at a much smaller rate by comparison. Retailers are introducing these automated technologies into their consumer-facing operations, meaning that some of these newer AI use case distributions aren't being fully incorporated into retailers' AI diet. How long before the same hits the restaurant industry?
Best Employers for New Grads 2019
The study found that Trader Joe's, LinkedIn, and Adobe scored top marks among the direct and indirect criteria researchers used to determine the ranking. Statista, in partnership with Forbes, surveyed over 1,000 young U.S. professionals. Respondents had less than 10 years of work experience and worked for companies with at least 1,000 employees in the United States.
WASTE NOT
Why it matters to you: Can a restaurant go waste free?
You’ve got to hand it to Chef/Owner Henry Moynahan Rich of New York City’s soon to be rebranded Metta. He’s taking a “go big or go home” approach to reopening his restaurant as the first “zero waste” facility in the United States. You will be excused if you think, huh? Zero waste? I thought chefs all over the country were doing that already and you’d be right if you limited your expectations to Nose to Tail style kitchens that claim to waste no food in the preparation of their meals.
In the case of Metta, soon to be reopened as Rhodora (after a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem, how apropos) will take zero waste to a whole new level, but literally recycling everything and not having a dumpster. Impossible, you say! Nah, there’s already several restaurants in Europe following the model. But how do you do it? Just the packaging alone from the average food delivery is enough fill the average restaurant dumpster.
For Rich, the approach has been bottom up. He is demanding that his vendors deliver on the promise of supporting his efforts. Whether it’s the bakery that delivers in reusable containers or the local meat vendor that delivers his charcuterie via bicycle daily, Rich has demanded that his vendors support his efforts to reduce waste at his restaurant. While he doesn’t require they be zero waste as well, he does coop them in his goal and many of them are happy to comply. Of course, we realize this is unattainable with our current food supply infrastructure, but what Rich is doing shines a light on one of our industry’s darkest secrets. We create an enormous amount of trash. We suggest you read the article and at least see if you can be inspired to review your sustainability approach and maybe reduce unnecessary waste just a little in your own business. Who could it hurt? Maybe we can even make the planet better in the process.
[Source: Grub Street]
RENT [Song]
Why it matters to you: Rent is one of the most disruptive expenses in our industry, here’s what to do about it.
The reality of rent is one that most Americans are intimately familiar with and few enjoy. But did you know that the average person is now coughing up more than 30% of their income towards rent in most major cities across this country? And the problem isn’t much better outside those cities.
What’s more complicated is the same problem is true for restaurant and retail operators. These rent expenses have been totally disruptive to both employer and employee and this blog discusses and addresses how to manage that problem. As an operator, whether you are struggling to pay your own rent or having trouble finding employees that can afford to live near enough to your restaurant to effectively work there, it’s becoming an untenable situation.
Given that most of the jobs in our industry are low end of the spectrum wage positions, there are fewer and fewer people that can afford them. Add to that the number of college-educated folks that can’t afford to work in our industry based on factors like rent and student loan debt, and you have a toxic mix of factors. The blog points to first understanding the revenue/rent relationship and then directs you to work more directly with your landlord to ensure you can make your rent and flourish and they retain an occupied space in their building. Rising rents appear to be everyone’s problem and it’s going to take all of us to address them.
[Source: Toast POS]
