STAFF: Tips for Mentoring & Training Your Staff for Leadership Roles
Advancing your existing employees is not only more cost-efficient than external hiring, it improves staff morale and encourages team cohesiveness. When employees see their peers ascend to managerial positions, it raises their own aspirations. You’ll see better work ethic and a desire for self-improvement even from workers you may not have expected it from. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say.
DID YOU KNOWS…
“Ménage à Trois” Wine Told to Tone it Down
According to a UK-based advisory board, drink marketing shouldn’t link booze and sex. This is a bit of a blow for Ménage à Trois, the threesome-themed winery, who has really leaned into it’s name over the years such as stating “In true Ménage style, we love nothing better than a threesome” and their bottles mentioning “satisfying your deepest desires.” Of course, the winery has been around for 25 years before someone finally complained loud enough about their theme.
Where Corruption is Rampant
Countries were scored on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) with more than two-thirds scoring below 50 and the global average working out at 43. Denmark and New Zealand were named the cleanest countries with a score of 87 each, followed by Finland, Singapore and Sweden. The countries with the highest levels of perceived public sector corruption were named as Somalia, South Sudan and Syria, all of which had a score of less than 15. With a score of 69, the U.S. dropped two points compared to last year and it came joint 23rd with France.
US Farm Bankruptcies Reach 8-Year High
Chapter 12 bankruptcies are defined as a part of the federal bankruptcy code that's designed to allow family farmers and fishermen to restructure their finances and avoid liquidation or foreclosure. Family farmers filed 595 such bankruptcies in 2019, an eight-year high. The number of Chapter 12 bankruptcies has been rising every year since 2014 when there were 361 filings. In 2018, there were 498.
EVERYONE’S FAVORITE HOLIDAY
Why it matters to you: Make Valentine’s day an experience and guests will love it.
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, as if we had to remind you. While it’s heartbreaking that it’s on a Friday this year, the “holiday” will still add volume to an otherwise dreary February night. To fully understand the impact it can have on your restaurant, let’s review some stats that might make that clear. To start, your guests plan in advance for Valentine’s Day by making their dinner reservations an average of 10 days in advance. As it turns out, 63% of those reservations are made on Open Table (well done!). This makes more sense when you consider that 55% of Millennials in a recent poll said the ideal Valentine’s Day gift is an experience.
That alone should inform how you approach your execution on Valentine’s Day. At least for Millennial guests, it’s not enough that you have best staff on and are ready for volume. They want something special to help define the night and transform it into an experience. This can be live music, giving each couple a rose, or some other enhancement to your normal execution. This might be a cool tasting menu or special table settings, but it has to feel out of the ordinary and special. By connecting your restaurant to their romantic experience, you are participating in their Valentine’s Day and they’re telling you that it’s exactly what they want.
[Source: National Restaurant Association]
THIS HOLIDAY LASTS ALL WINTER
Why it matters to you: Lent is a valid marketing opportunity, will you take it?
There was a time in our industry when responding to the Lent by having more fish available was considered savvy marketing. This year Lent is observed from February 26th (Ash Wednesday) to April 9th (Easter). Back in the day, specific religion was among the most obvious demographics available to restaurant operators and, with Catholics numbering above 70 million in the US, that demo appears to remain valid. One way to determine if addressing lent is good strategy is to see what lengths other operators are traveling to attract Lent-observant Catholics to their restaurants.
Most of the fast food operators are focusing on staple menu items like a fried fish sandwich. Arby’s and Bojangles both feature fried white fish in some form of sandwich and/or meal. In fast casual, Boston Market is offering a baked fish meal complete with their traditional sides. Meanwhile full service operators like Famous Dave’s (barbeque Salmon) and Shaw’s Crab House (fried combination platter) are serving full meals with a focus on fish.
Given that approximately 1 out of every 6 folks in the US are Catholic, it sure seems like an easy opportunity to use some old school thinking to embrace a new school audience. Whether you create a dedicated menu to engage your pious Catholic guests or run a series of specials featuring fish items, it makes perfect sense to embrace whatever major event your guests do. So, give that fish vendor a call and ask them for some suggestions or check out what your competitors are doing. Either way, you can deliver value to a specific target audience and not disrupt your business, that’s a winning formula in any marketing plan.
[Source: NRN]
