TECH: How AI Can Help Optimize Your Reputation Management
In today’s world, reputation management has become a big challenge for restaurants, since the internet has eliminated all barriers between two customers – enabling word-of-mouth and conversations to spread faster than ever before. The good news is the introduction of digital technology has made it all the more convenient for operators to proactively manage their brand’s online reputation. A good online reputation not only enhances your online presence but convinces potential guests to try out your food.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Caramel, Butterscotch vs Dulce de Leche vs Cajeta
Do you know the difference between caramel, butterscotch, dulce de leche, and cajeta? Sure they’re all sweet, golden, syrupy concoctions, but their difference lays in their ingredients. Caramel is made from slow cooking granulated sugar. Butterscotch is made from slow cooking brown sugar with butter. Dulce de leche is made from slow cooking cow’s milk with sugar. And cajeta is made from slow cooking sugar with goat’s milk.
The Sunshine (Job) State
Increases in solar employment were observed in 31 states in 2019 with Florida leading the charge. The sunshine state expanded installations for both residential and utility solar while the increased availability of solar leasing allowed installers to offer customers attractive financing options. That saw Florida add 1,843 jobs between 2018 and 2019, the highest absolute number in any U.S. state.
Most Popular Ethnic Cuisines
According to Google, Mexican is the popular “ethnic cuisine” in the US. The food from our southern friends rank #1 in 27 states. Close behind in second place is Chinese with 22 states. Thai food came in third with just two states. Despite coming in second with the most states, Chinese food was the most popular cuisine by Google search score. Here’s more details and some cool interactive infographics.
OK, BOOMER, CAN YOU WORK?
Why it matters to you: People are working later in their lives and that means you have to manage them.
Have you heard? The national unemployment rate is at historic lows, which means the pressure to find and retain qualified and quality employees has never been greater. This coupled with some serious pressure on folks 55 years and older to continue working means there has been a significant shift in the age gap for the restaurant industry. As proof, we need only review the proportion of 55+ employees in our industry now versus over a decade ago. The number of adults age 55 or older working in the industry jumped 70% between 2007 and 2018 and there are nearly two teenage restaurant workers for every employee age 55 or older. In 2007, teenagers outnumbered the 55+ by three to one. That’s a huge jump and as a result the culture in our restaurants must accommodate these older employees, especially as pertains to protections for age in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
This law says you cannot discriminate against someone based on their age if they’re older than 45. In practice, this means we all must consider the impact on how we train employees, discipline them, and incorporate them into your restaurant’s community. To start, the FLSA requires that you not ask a candidate’s age during the interview process, but goes further to demand that if you terminate someone you cannot use their age as a reason.
These limits can make it more difficult to manage a senior employee, but the law is clear. Consequently, you have to be clear about expectations when you are making an employment offer and giving feedback to any employee. But have heart, this also means you are seeing more accomplished and experienced employees who can ultimately improve your restaurants performance. Either way, older employees are here to stay and will require some adjustment as our workforce continues to age.
[Source: Modern Restaurant Management]
THE FRESH KING
Why it matters to you: Once again McDonald’s gets mocked by a competitor over issues of product quality.
If you saw the Burger King ad where they time lapse a Whopper sandwich as it degrades, you may have wondered why in the world they did that. The background is that a man found a two decades old McDonald’s hamburger in a coat pocket and it looked like it hadn’t aged a day. Always desperate to differentiate themselves, Burger King shot the aforementioned ad to prove that their burgers are made from fresh (and real) ingredients. At first glance, that would seem to be a crazy idea to allow your signature product to turn super gross right before the consumer’s eyes, but Burger King is banking on the same experience Wendy’s had when the “fresh not frozen” campaign was running.
The idea is to make a clear distinction between your quality and the product being served by your competitor. Now, we aren’t saying you should let your food rot, but we are asserting that if the quality of your product is better than your competitors, that’s a difference worth marketing. It doesn’t have to be like Wendy’s -- where they specifically called out McDonald’s -- but it should certainly be clear that your product is superior. Marketing is always about convincing guests that by visiting you over the other guy, something wonderful will happen and using your quality to reinforce that expectation is an advantage that you should absolutely leverage.
[Source: Vice]
