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Tis the Season for Festive Menus!

Dec 20, 2013

Tis the season!  Restaurants are making menus festive with special holiday limited-time-offer items.  This is a great way to add some excitement to your menu while showing guests that you’re in the holiday spirit. As stated in the this Huffington Post article, these holiday dishes can become cult classics that keep guests coming back with their families year after year.  We love using these seasonal dishes to create holiday traditions and consumer loyalty.

Take a look at what some of the country’s biggest chain restaurants are offering this season.  It seems that gingerbread, peppermint, and eggnog are some of the most popular holiday flavors being offered.

Starbucks Caramel Brulee photo: Tamara Spain CC by 2.0

 

 

 

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December 2013 Newsletter

Dec 17, 2013

Greetings!

We’ve been busier than ever at Synergy, a sure sign that the economy is continuing its slow-but-steady recovery.

The end of the year brings many opportunities to stop and reflect on our personal and professional lives, and to look ahead to what’s next.

2013 has been a challenging but ultimately fulfilling time for the foodservice industry in general, and for Synergy in particular. The economy has been recovering—slowly and in fits and starts, but at last more reliably, and we are looking forward to 2014 with renewed optimism.

But the last few months have also been clouded by the loss of some of our guiding culinary lights. Charlie Trotter, who closed his eponymous and influential restaurant just last year, to focus on the next part of a life that was suddenly cut short. Jean Banchet, the dedicated French chef who proved that food lovers would travel anywhere for quality and innovation when he opened Le Francais in suburban Wheeling, IL. And most recently Judy Rogers, the chef-owner of San Francisco’s beloved Zuni Café, who helped to convince the world that comforting food could be a beautiful thing.

All of this serves to remind us that life is precious, and you need to grab it with both hands and hang on.

We wish all of you a holiday season filled with peace and happiness.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas

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Fast Casual Update

By Joan Lang

The fast-casual segment continues to make news, driving the lion’s share of growth, sales and innovation in the industry. In fact, according to NPD CREST, in the year ending May 2013 visits to fast casual restaurants increased 9%, while the rest of the industry was flat. Technomic tells us that the sector is now worth $31 billion, and while that’s only 14% of the overall limited-service restaurant business, its sales are growing by double digits every year.

No wonder so many ambitious entrepreneurs—including those who have made names for themselves in full-service circles—are rushing to establish a beachhead in the superhot fast casual marketplace, which accounts for 7% of unit growth.

While none of the following concepts may become “the next Chipotle” (the company that has become the Holy Grail for new FCR development), they provide a fascinating picture of the creativity that’s going on in the segment.

  • Tau Poco, a global street food concept in Birmingham, AL, was famously opened on a $15,000 budget, but it offers customers an almost infinite variety of build-your-own choices. “Carriers” include various international-style wraps and breads (Moroccan flatbread, all-American lettuce wrap), which can be accessorized with proteins, sauces and sides ranging from Korean bo ssam pork and Japanese miso to Argentinean chimichurri—the whole world is a playground for experimentation, in other words

 

  • Further along in its journey, Little Greek  is a franchised “neighborhood Greek restaurant with an American influence,” supporting locations in Florida, Texas and Arkansas. While the menu is localized, signature dishes include such approachable choices as pita sandwiches, Greek salads, and platters showcasing souvlaki, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), gyros, the Greek lasagna known as moussaka, and other familiar favorites

 

  • Flower Child, the newest concept of the successful Phoenix multi-unit entrepreneur Sam Fox (who already has a tremendous hit in True Food Kitchen), will occupy the quick-healthy-food niche that fast casual seems destined for. It will feature many socially conscious, GMO- and gluten-free ingredients and preps including grass-fed beef, wild salmon, organic poultry and veggies, salads, sandwiches and bowl-like hotpots, and there will also be wine and beer. The first Flower Child is scheduled to open in early 2014

 

  • Moving into the drive-thru arena that has so far been underexplored by fast-casual chains (with a few notable exceptions, including Mooyah and Panera) is global burrito specialist Boloco, which is testing the waters with a new unit in Rhode Island. What sets this move apart is the fact that Boloco’s brand promise of allowing customers to create their burrito concoction is at odds with the speed and accuracy concerns of drive-thru—but the company has introduced a new set combo program to address that

 

  • Newton’s Noodles, in Washington, D.C., was born from the popularity of the “Fuzu” noodles that became a house signature at Newton’s Table, a fine-dining restaurant owned by classically trained chef Dennis Friedman. Borrowing from the sweet-and-salty flavors of pad Thai, the original Fuzu recipe has been recast as a Build Your Own concept at the fast casual spinoff. And the customizable noodles have become so successful, in turn, that they have been introduced back at Newton’s Table as the basis for the full-service restaurant’s first-ever lunch menu

 

  • Launched by Thomas John, formerly executive chef of Au Bon Pain, and fellow ABP alumni Tim Oliveri, Piperi Mediterranean Grill in Boston has a menu centered around the signature gozi, a griddled flatbread that’s a variation on a traditional Turkish bread recipe. Diners can customize their made-to-order sandwiches from a list of ingredients that includes falafel, chicken, hummus, Moroccan carrot salad, olives and feta; the build is also available as a salad or mezze plate. Expect bigger things: The bread is trademarked

If you’ve noticed a buzzword pattern here to how the fast-casual segment is evolving—healthy, fresh, made-to-order, customizable, socially conscious—you’ve been paying attention. This should be an interesting ride.

 

Need help developing your new fast casual idea—or any concept, for that matter? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.


 


How to Make Your Beverage Program Work Harder for You

By Joan Lang

The holidays are a great season for beverage sales. Here are 10 ideas for making your beverage program work a little harder, now and throughout the year.

1. Use a Beverage Menu – The first rule of getting more from your beverage menu: Make sure you have one. Although separate menus for wine, beer and cocktails may be too much for all but the most ambitious beverage programs, you should have some kind of printed list that guests can refer to. This will encourage them to try new things and help create a signature perception. You should also seriously consider including the beverage menu(s) on your website.

2. Don’t be Afraid to Specialize – Nowadays you don’t have to be all things to all people; there are restaurants that specialize in particular spirits or even particular drinks. I Sodi, an Italian restaurant in New York City, is known for its Negronis, for example, while Chicago’s Sable recently launched a Spanish-style gin-and-tonic menu.
Check it Out: InterContinental Hotels has had considerable success with branding select bars around a single beverage category, such as RumBa in Boston and vodka at Proof in Toronto

3. Run Specials – Feature a “chalkboard” cocktail, wine, and/or beer of the day and promote it through hand-selling. Not only will this build sales, it will also allow you to test the reception of potential new products, take advantage of distributor/importer specials, and sell to holidays and micro-seasons (such as an unexpected warm spell or the arrival of pomegranates).

4. Tap the Appeal of Glassware – You already know that beverages have moved beyond the days of one-size-fits-all glasses. Make sure your glassware is commensurate with your offerings—for instance, if you have a lot of interesting beers, invest in purpose-built vessels for different varieties. And simply displaying interesting glassware at the bar may spur questions like, “What’s that neat tiki glass for?” ‘Nuff said.

5. Looks are Everything – By the same token, a beautiful-looking drink will attract attention even from those who didn’t order it (the “What’s that?” effect). Garnishes, glassware, colors and other aesthetic highlights will support that all-important premium pricing strategy and make all of your beverages more memorable.

6. Reach for the Top (Shelf) – Speaking of premium, high-end imbibes are where it’s at. The economy may still be somewhat dicey, but when it comes to spirits and beer, the action’s on the top shelf, especially when it comes to the influential Millennial set. Depending upon your concept, this could embrace anything from micro-distilled local spirits and hard-to-find specialties (can you say Pappy Van Winkle?) to traditional premium pours like Belvedere vodka and Macallan Scotch.

7. Don’t Forget the Nondrinker – From underage family members to designated drivers, there are plenty of people who don’t drink alcohol but do deserve an interesting beverage nonetheless. Possibilities for them include:

• Housemade, local/regional, and “gourmet” sodas
• Sophisticated virgin cocktails that employ the same attention to balanced flavors and presentation as their alcoholic kin
• Smoothies and juices
Bottled water
• Ethnic specialties like horchata and or the Puerto Rican barley refresher known as the Resbaladera
• Specialty tea and coffee, either on their own or in recipes

8. Consider Pairings – Wine pairings are becoming more commonplace, particularly with prix fixe tasting menus or for special events, but there are other ways to spur sales of the “perfect beverage” for any dining occasion.

• Suggest one or more wine-by-the-glass or beer pairings for each item on your menu, including specials
• Train staff to offer pairing suggestions with specific orders
• The folks at Unilever have a clever tool for pairing iced tea with food; does this give you any ideas?
Check it Out: The new Coppervine, in Chicago, casts itself as the place for pairings, offering a cocktail, beer and wine selection for every single item on the menu, from marinated olives to daily house-made ice cream

9. Explore Seasonality – Just as in the menu, cocktails and other beverages that are seasonally driven make good business sense. This works both for ingredients (such as warming spices like cinnamon in cold weather cocktails, and fresh fruit in the summer) as well as styles of drinks (heavy stouts are more appealing in the wintertime than are refreshing sour beers). Consider adding a seasonal section to your regular drink menu—but think hard before removing a popular or signature core item that regulars expect.

10. Invest in Staff Training – This is important not just for bartenders and cocktail servers, but for all front-of-house personnel. Waitstaff should be as well-versed as possible in the beverage program so they can answer questions and make recommendations; use preshift meetings, tastings and distributor resources for all they’re worth. There are also many online educational options to consider.

Owners and managers can also help by:

• Making sure no cocktail is so complicated that it cannot be made in a minute or two
• Investing in adequate equipment and supplies, including ice, glassware, inventory, and so on
• Scheduling enough people to cover busy periods, as well as prep time
• Adhering to policies and standards, such as when to cut a patron off

If you need help building your beverage program, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.


Watch Out for Unemployment Cost Overruns

Short note on unemployment insurance: 11.2% of the expenses you are charged from the state are wrong. Meaning: Your account may be charged for people who are deemed ineligible or that past employees who received benefits are still getting them after acquiring gainful employment elsewhere or any myriad of other reasons.

Reducing improper payments and strengthening program integrity are priorities for the Administration. They are equally a priority within the Department of Labor. The problem is so big that the DOL has stated the following:

“We are aggressively working to identify new strategies and tools to support our state partners in addressing the rising UI [Unemployment Insurance] improper payment rate. [We] might also add that addressing improper payments relates to UI trust fund solvency. Particularly now, when trust funds are under extreme pressure and states are borrowing at near record levels, it is essential to ensure that UI benefit payments are made properly”

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) routinely reports an annual improper payment rate based upon data collected from audits that detect many errors that are not within the control of the state agency. As a result, they report two rates for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Program: the overall annual rate based on all sources of error, and the operational rate, which represents those improper payments.

Unfortunately, the UI improper payment rate has increased during the most recent reporting period (July 2009 to June 2010) required under the Improper Payments Information Act. The department reports that during this reporting period the overall rate was 11.2%, of which 10.6% represents overpayments.

This is unbelievable. The operational rate for the same period was 5.7%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There has never been more clear evidence that we as operators need to monitor, very closely, each name on the unemployment reports that we get, look at how much they were paid, and from what time to what time. Chances are (and certainly the data above proves this), one or more of our past employees have been paid when they lost their unemployment case, have been overpaid when they won or are continuing to get unemployment benefits—at our expense—even after they have gained full employment.

be substantial.


Tip of the Month

Each year, December marks the release of one of the most influential “hot new trends” predictions of the season: The National Restaurant Association’s annual “What’s Hot” survey, conducted in collaboration with the American Culinary Federation. Fast Casual has posted a particularly useful article about this year’s survey, which also contains links to the full report, as well as last year’s analysis. Have a look.

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Refresh your Beverage Menu for 2014

Dec 16, 2013

Stop in to nearly any bar and you’ll notice the drinks are becoming more complicated. With fresh squeezed juices and unique flavor profiles, consumers are looking for fancier drinks, and bartenders are using technology to meet these demands.

beverage trends

 

With innovative equipment such as vacuum machines, tabletop stills, and commercial filters, even the most seemingly simple drinks are being refined with technology. Not only does using technology create interest for customers, it also can help to create a higher quality product, and potentially generate a lot of buzz (no pun intended). Get inspired and check out the slideshow from Popular Science for ideas on how to take your bar to the next level and be sure to read our article on designer ice that is showing up in the nation’s hottest bars.

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Looking Ahead: Food Trends for 2014

Dec 08, 2013

Near the end of each year, hospitality industry experts such as the National Restaurant Association, like to predict what food trends the new year will ring in. The NRA’s 2014 Culinary Forecast has the low-down on what diners will likely be noticing on their plates in the year ahead.

 

For 2013, the NRA surveyed chefs to find what they thought would be a hot food trend– the top three of the list were locally sourced meats and seafood, locally grown produce and healthy kids’ meals. How do the 2014 predictions stack up to last year’s?

 

Local is still going to be big, and tops off the first two items of the NRA’s Top 20 Trends.

 

1. Locally sourced meats and seafood

2. Locally grown produce

3.  Healthful kids’ meals

5. Gluten-free cuisine

6. Hyper-local sourcing

7. Children’s nutrition

8. Non-wheat noodles/pasta

9. Sustainable food

10. Farm/estate branded items

 

Read the official report for the entire list of trends and results.

 

 

 

 

 

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Restaurant HR: How to Handle the I-9 Form

Nov 24, 2013

You may have heard about a problem with pre-populating Section 1 of the Form I-9 — ignore it!

There seems to be some confusion among our esteemed policy-making agencies about the issue of whether it is legal or not legal to pre-populate Section 1 of the Form I-9:

 

Immigration Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) have provided inconsistent statements. Earlier this year, ICE stated at an American Immigration Lawyers Association meeting that it deemed pre-populating Section 1 a violation of I-9 regulations. However, more recently, both ICE and USCIS stated that they have no official position regarding pre-population and advised employers to follow the regulations (which are silent on the issue). An official guidance or policy from either agency has yet to appear.[1]

 

We will keep you posted but at this point it doesn’t appear necessary to make changes to current systems that gather new hire information for completing the I-9.

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November 2013 Newsletter

Nov 19, 2013

Greetings!

We’ve been busier than ever at Synergy, a sure sign that the economy is continuing its slow-but-steady recovery.

We recently did a dine-around and discovery trip to Manhattan to sample specialty sandwiches and coffee shops, researching ideas for a new client based in Rome—we’ll be sure to share more information with you as this project unfolds. Things are also heating up in the Test Kitchen with lots of delicious new menu items in development, including herbed lemon chicken with couscous and other tempting entrees. And we are so proud to have been part of the great new menu revamp that our client Toppers Pizza just rolled out.

Speaking of revamps, you’ll definitely want to read this month’s article by our colleague Joan Lang on the industry’s rebrands, revamps and refreshes, many of which are targeted at repositioning older concepts for the new generation of health- and value-conscious Millennials. We’ve also got some information on the retro-chic menu trend of Italian-American specialties—meatballs, eggplant Parm, red sauce. And our readers in HR may be interested in the article on Arbitration Agreements, which are so much quicker and less expensive than litigation for solving employee grievances.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas

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Ahhhhh, That’s Refreshing

By Joan Lang

Photo Credit: License CC by 2.0 Copyright Flickr by Lauren Siegert
Photo Credit: License CC by 2.0 Copyright Flickr by Lauren Siegert

When it comes to foodservice brands, there’s been a lot of refreshment going on. In fact, we recently blogged about 7-Eleven’s new initiative, which covers everything from the logo to the store design and food offerings to the logo.

 

In fact, these days the idea of refreshing an older brand—or even rebranding altogether—covers a lot more than just a new logo and snappy trade dress. The competitive marketplace demands it.

 

Established brands may have name recognition and time-in-grade going for them, but they must also keep up with an explosion of newer concepts, changes in demographics and customer expectations, and other companies that are updating in various ways.

 

In 7-Eleven’s case, the c-store giant’s first major rebrand in 43 years is all about targeting health-conscious, on-the-go Millennials with hip, colorful servery graphics, and a more inviting foodservice display that touts healthier snacks and freshly made foods such as salads, rather than roller dogs and microwaved sandwiches.
And they’re not the only company that’s manipulating the concept to change their image:

 

– Staid and pricey Morton’s Steakhouse has introduced its more casual Morton’s Grille in the Houston marketplace, with a menu that features trendy (and less expensive) “Mix, Mingle & Share” selections like short rib tacos, deviled eggs and Veal & Mozz Meatballs, plus flatbreads, salads and non-steak “Food Envy” entrees including sliders, pot roast and Chicken Chop Diane

Silver Diner, a Maryland-based chainlet that has long presented an idealized version of the iconic diner, has also been pushing the envelope in the direction of the Millennial target market. Brand revisions include significant menu changes that center on more healthful dining habits, such as a “chef-driven fresh & local menu,” and more gluten-free, vegan and under-600-calorie options

– Wendy’s has debuted a sleek new store format that includes booths, a television set, free Wi-Fi, and even a faux fireplace, designed to encourage guests to linger and enjoy more of an experience along with their burgers—part a trend that the Orlando Sentinel dubbed “the lounge-ization of fast food”

– Other QSR participants in the movement include Del Taco (which capped a multi-phase rebranding effort with new menus and an ad campaign) and KFC (with a colonel- and fried-free new concept called “KFC Eleven’)

– In a bit of flip on that trend, Panera Bread—one of the original brands to blur the lines between fast food and a more upscale mode of quick service—has reversed its decades-long promise of eschewing drive-thrus with the addition of the convenience-oriented windows in select markets

– Family-oriented Mimi’s Café has moved to what it terms a French-inspired, chef-led positioning with a more sophisticated new menu (tournedos of beef, anyone?) that caps an ambitious turnaround effort since the chain was uncoupled from Bob Evans Farms

– Old Chicago has also used a menu overhaul to drive its brand updating efforts; the ‘70s-era chain partnered with Lettuce Entertain You to plot a made-from-scratch course that includes fresh-dough pizza, more salads, pastas and shareable appetizers, and a 36-tap craft-beer program. The “pizza and taproom” update necessitated revised kitchen layouts, as well as new back-of-house systems to help ensure faster service and more efficient turnaround

– Fondue and date-night brand The Melting Pot has been retooling its menu to encourage guests to stop in for casual dining occasions, not just birthdays and Valentine’s Day. The romance and the four-course Big Night Out cheese and chocolate fondue packages remain, but there are also individual entrees like Spinach & Artichoke Ravioli, Teriyaki-Marinated Sirloin, and various proteins with mix-and-match preps and sauces

Brand efforts like these continue to make news—and can only grow in importance, particularly among brands that came of age at the dawn of the theme chain back in the 1970s and 1980s. The recent success of Bennigan’s back-from-the-dead rebranding strategy demonstrates how savvy these ambitious efforts can be.

Need help with a brand refresh of any size and scope? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.



Red Sauce Renaissance

By Joan Lang

 

Photo credit: CC by Flickr user Stacy Spensley
Photo credit: License CC by 2.0 Copyright Flickr user Stacy Spensley

Well, the world has come full circle—and proof that the food-trend pendulum is always swinging, the red sauce Italian joint has come roaring back after several decades’ worth of displacement by Tuscan, Roman, Sicilian, Calabrian….

 

Not that these wonderful and authentic regional Italian cuisines aren’t still popular, but there is also renewed pride in the Italian-American culinary lexicon. We’ve seen it in the surging popularity of menu items like meatballs and pizza (including news-making versions like this Chicken Parm Pizza), and in a return to casual, welcoming Italian restaurants serving comforting and uncomplicated food.

 

This is the cooking adapted by immigrants to a new land, where familiar ingredients were challenging to find but hunger for the traditional ways endured. Now in its third generation and proud of it, red sauce is born again in contemporary ways, with a taste for innovation and the kind of careful sourcing and housemade artisanship that has helped to transform so many restaurants in this country.

 

Chef and cookbook author Lidia Bastianich has certainly captured the Zeitgeist with her road trips into the heart of Italian-American cooking, but there’s a lot more going on. Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone of New York City’s Major Food Group are setting the trend on fire with their restaurants. This is especially true of their newest, Carbone, which opened earlier this year on the site of the legendary Italian-American Rocco’s. Featuring upgrades of classic Italian-American specialties like veal parmesan and linguine with clam sauce, the restaurant has become one of the hottest new spots in town.

 

Sauce restaurant is another example of the trend, which chef-owner Frank Prisinzano describes as “heavily influenced by Italian history, tradition and my childhood spent in my grandmother’s kitchen.” Part restaurant and part butcher shop for his other neighborhood restaurants, Sauce proudly touts Italo-American comfort foods like tomato “gravy” with meatballs, steak pizzaiola, and handmade ricotta cavatelli.

 

The Red Hen, in Washington, DC, calls itself an “Italian-influenced American restaurant,” serving the likes of rigatoni with sausage, gnocchi, and cacio e pepe (a simple but newly popular pasta preparation made with nothing more than good cheese and a lot of black pepper), plus flights of fancy such as wood-roasted beets with pistachios and seared veal sweetbreads with pea shoots and soft polenta. The wine list is heavy on bottles from Italy, including unusual “orange wines,” which are made by very, very old fermentation methods.

Divieto, in Doral, FL, calls its food “Italian-American fusion,” with a menu than ranges from fried calamari with marinara sauce to salmon carpaccio, veal scallopini to grilled yellowfin tuna. It’s all served up in a tin-ceilinged room complete with booths, black-and-white tile floors, and an atmospheric back bar.

 

There’s also Little Nonna’s, a new red-sauce restaurant in Philadelphia. This popular, intimate little spot does indeed serve up “Nonna” cuisine. The bill of fare includes arancini (rice balls shaped like the namesake “little oranges”), spicy pork and broccoli rabe subs, eggplant Parm, and homemade cannoli, and the house-bottle cocktails include classics like the Negroni. Most noteworthy is the famous Sunday gravy, chock full of braciole, meatballs and hot sausage, served over pasta of the night with the meats on the side—recreating an experience that legions of Italians here in America grew up with, every Sunday after Mass.
Many of these dishes are ripe for migration on less thematic menus, tapping into a collective memory of simpler times that extends beyond Italian ancestry.


ADR Agreements Make Even More Sense Now

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that courts “cannot invalidate arbitration agreements which waive class actions . . . .” While there is a fair amount of detail to this rule, the basic principle is that the only weakness to arbitration agreements was that if an employee filed as a class member, and the court approved it, the arbitration agreement was not applicable. Now that has all changed.
Arbitration Agreements, also defined as Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Agreements, are designed (and approved by the courts) to mitigate challenges from employees. Under an Arbitration Agreement, the employees’ complaint is heard by a retired judge and is settled almost immediately, rather than going into litigation. Most all rules of court apply.

 

Benefits include a substantial reduction in time, as the time it takes to get in front of an Arbitrator is far less than is the situation with a normal court case. The decision is binding—for better or worse. All the facts are considered, and both parties go into this process understanding that what the Arbitrator says goes. The cost to defend the case is substantially less, because all the preparation and filings and legal wrangling are unnecessary. Finally, for operations that consider themselves compliant and who address their employees ‘concerns quickly and efficiently, this system is far more effective at solving issues, because you do have the opportunity to demonstrate what you have done in regards to a particular complaint.

 

There are certain regulations related to changing over to an ADR system. We recommend that you contact your labor law attorney to discuss. The benefits for you and for your employees could be substantial.


Tip of the Month

If you think offering healthy menu options is not an issue that affects your operation, think again. A new consumer survey by AlixPartners reveals that so many patrons are concerned about finding healthier choices that they are less likely to dine out in 2014—on top of decreases in restaurant traffic this year. For more details on this and other findings, take a look at this topline report from the firm’s new “2013 North America Restaurant & Foodservice Outlook: Fall Update.”

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Trend Alert: Flavor Drives Restaurant Traffic

Nov 16, 2013

 

Spicy foods are not a turnoff for American diners, in fact, they crave flavorful foods! New research states that 54% of consumers prefer hot or spicy flavors and sauces. Given that this statistic has increased by 8% since 2009, we are predicting this trend is hot (no pun intended)!

 

Synergy Restaurant Consultants founder Dean Small always says, “Flavor drives traffic,” and the latest research reports agree. Technomic found that 41% of consumers say that new or innovative flavors can influence them to try a new restaurant. Additionally 75% of these consumers are also highly likely to return to a restaurant that serves them a delicious menu item featuring innovative flavors.

 

Now is the time to play with the flavors offered on your menu. Get creative and use unique flavor combinations to surprise and delight diners. Based on our 25 years of experience, we know bold flavors will drive traffic to your door.

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Quick, Easy Menu Makeover: Low-Carb Sides

Nov 15, 2013

 

Photo credit: CC by Flickr user Ted Major
Photo credit: CC by Flickr user Ted Major

Did you know that November is Diabetes Awareness Month? Individuals suffering from diabetes not only have to consider the amount of sugar that goes into each meal they eat, but also how much carbohydrates there are. Being that there are nearly 25 million diabetics in the U.S., it makes it ever-more important that restaurants make sure they are offering diabetes-friendly menu items.

Read more here: http://www.sysco.com/health/Sysco-Shape-Newsletter.html

 

Does your restaurant only offer fries and chips as sides? An easy way to revamp your menu to cater to diabetics is by evaluating your side dishes.  Check out our list side ideas that are healthy and delicious for everyone.

 

Consider Offer these Carb-Friendly Sides:

– Steamed, non-starchy vegetables such as asparagus, carrots,broccoli, cauliflower, and eggplant with zesty vinaigrette dressing

– Garlic cauliflower mashed-potatoes

– Sauteed mushrooms and onions

– Baked zucchinni chips

– Balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts

– Avocado salad with tomatoes and onions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Are You Undercharging At Your Restaurant?

Nov 09, 2013

 

menu

With over 25 years of hospitality consulting experience, there are certain facts we have learned about the restaurant business. It’s commonly understood that food costs and pricing strategies can make or break a restaurant. However, you may find it surprising that many independent restaurants are actually undercharging for their products.

The following data can be helpful to use as a price comparison. Take a look at your menu prices and compare them to the averages found at national chains. How do you stack up?

 

Menu Category

National Chain

Average Price

                     Salads                      $7.76
                     Soup                      $3.84
                     Appetizers                      $8.11
            Sandwiches / Burgers                      $8.49
                    Entrees                      $15.28
                     Pizza                      $11.29
                     Sides                      $2.62
                     Kids Meal                      $4.51
                     Dessert                      $5.70
         Beverage (Nonalcoholic)                      $2.21

 

To calculate the data, we took a sample of menu items within each of the categories listed above and found the average price of an item within the category. The national chains used to determine the calculations included Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, Red Robin, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday, Smokey Bones, Texas Roadhouse, Outback, Lonestar, Hooters, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wild Wings Café, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns, and Panera.

 

Synergy Restaurant Consultants offers comprehensive restaurant financial services. Please visit www.synergyconsultants.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

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Rebranding: 7-Eleven’s New Look

Nov 05, 2013

The world’s largest convenience store chain is changing its approach.  Commonly associated with hot dogs, Big Gulps, and Slurpees, 7-Eleven is looking to promote its healthy side.  This rebrand is in an effort to gain the attention of a new target market focusing on millenials and females.

The 50,000 unit chain’s new identity includes a new logo, sleeker store design, and a more nutritious and wholesome product offering. 7-Eleven hopes these changes will rejuvenate the brand and change the perception that it only offers unhealthy junk food, therefore attracting health-conscious millenials.  For photos of the rebrand, check out Fast Company’s article here.

Are you looking to rebrand your restaurant or food operation?  Synergy’s team of expert marketing and branding experts can help.  Visit Synergy Restaurant Consultants for more information.

Sources

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020110/7-11-rebrands-to-target-health-conscious-millennials