BUSINESS: How to Start a Successful Restaurant Business in 2020
Starting a restaurant business can be simple but maintaining it is another story altogether. You need to fully understand your market niche, analyze your competition, and work towards meeting the needs of your target market. By creating an impressive and purposeful engagement with the people that matter in your path, you will be cultivating the right environment for your business to thrive. Remember, starting a restaurant business is not just about the money but more of how you engage with the stakeholders in the industry, and how best you study the game.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Who Retires the Longest?
As of 2018, French women spent an average of 26.9 years in retirement, while men were retirees for 22.7 years. They are currently fighting to avoid slipping down the list in coming years. After long negotiations with the government, the French commission for pension reform proposed postponing the standard retirement age from 62 to 64 years starting in 2025 but fierce protests have been taking place ever since. As can be seen by this infographic, citizens of other OECD countries are likely to spend far less time in retirement.
Travel Ban Expanded
The U.S. has banned all immigrants from Nigeria, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Eritrea. Tanzania and Sudan are also affected and their citizens will no longer be able to apply for the green card. Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and most populous country with 200 million people and it has traditionally enjoyed strong ties with the United States, especially in recent years during its fight against militant group Boko Haram. Unsurprisingly, the ban has provoked reactions of shock among Nigerians, often considered one of America's best-educated and most successful immigrant groups.
Where Coronavirus Has Been Confirmed
According to tracking by the Johns Hopkins University, the total number of people infected with the coronavirus now stands at 7,783 with the vast majority of cases in mainland China. This map shows the number of cases of the virus reported in different countries around the world with the UAE and Finland now detecting their first cases. Finland's first case was confirmed when a 32-year-old female tourist from China was admitted to hospital for tests during a visit to Lapland.
WHO USES EMAIL ANYMORE?
Why it matters to you: If you want to succeed in communicating directly to your staff embrace texting.
Among the many things discussed at the recent Black Box Global Best Practices conference was evolving the way we engage customers and team members. By evolving we mean the way we communicate with staff and guests must reflect the way they wish to be informed. Back in the day, a note on the bulletin board next to the schedule was an effective methodology to update your team about any happenings at your operation. However, with electronic scheduling, staff simply isn’t checking their schedule that way anymore. So, how do you get their attention? Email. right? Yeah, not so much according to Andy Hooper, president and chief operating officer of &Pizza.
Hooper asserted at the Black Box conference, that he doesn’t even bother with email anymore. “I don’t read my emails like I used to,” Hooper said, noting that it’s harder to ignore unread text messages. “We manage all of our active conversations with our guests and our tribe [team members] through text messaging.” The company will text updates, contests, trivia and even podcasts and video to team members, he said. And you know what? He’s right! We have been encouraging you to access your staff on the platforms they embrace. Since most of your staff live in a mobile world and there aren’t really restrictions in what you can include in a text anymore, it’s the perfect method to directly and immediately contact your team. Ignore this insight at your own peril, or embrace it and see your communication effectiveness improve dramatically.
[Source: Nation’s Restaurant News]
STARS MATTER
Why it matters to you: Your online reviews can be an indicator of your restaurant’s sustainability when under stress.
In an article on Modern Restaurant Management focused on how online bots are the newest threat to your restaurants online reputation, there is a gem that many of you know, but assiduously ignore. The higher your Yelp rating, the lower the likelihood you will close when there are stresses on your business. The example cited in the article specifically points to the success and failure of San Francisco Bay area after the increase of the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
According to a 2017 study conducted by Professor Michael Luca of Harvard Business School, non-chain restaurants with low or middling Yelp reviews were more likely to go out of business than those with positive Yelp reviews, as demonstrated by the fact that after San Francisco increased its minimum wage, restaurants with 3.5 star average ratings (or below) were 14% more likely to close, while those with five-star average ratings were no more likely to close.
A 2016 study conducted by the same professor also found that a one-star increase in a non-chain restaurant’s Yelp rating aggregated from all user reviews led to a 5% to 9% increase in revenue. Let’s face it, the evil empire that is Yelp still has you in its clutches. You can’t ignore it. So, what do you do? You take the feedback you receive from online reviews seriously. You engage with guests that deliver negative reviews in an attempt to improve their perception. And finally, you realize the connection between your performance and the way it is perceived by your guests. Do this and you just might survive a downturn, major increase in costs, or some other disaster. Don’t and be more likely to go the way of all things. The choice is yours!
[Source: Modern Restaurant Management]
