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Seattle Restaurants Face New Challenges on Hiring and Scheduling

Oct 12, 2016

A so-called secure scheduling law will take effect July 1, 2017 for Seattle retail, fast food, and full service restaurant businesses. At this time, Seattle and San Francisco are the two cities in the nation to adopt this predictable pay type of law.

 

What are the key factors?

  • The law is meant to provide better estimates of hours an employee is expected to work
  • Employers are mandated to post employee’s work schedules 2 weeks in advance before a shift – if hours are added or subtracted, employers must pay a certain amount to employee to compensate (there are exceptions)
  • Employees have the right to request a schedule that allows them to balance their other commitments and they have a right to decline any hours that were not posted on the original schedule
  • Employers are required to keep three years of records to show compliance of the law

 

More here: http://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards/ordinances/secure-scheduling

 

Who does this apply to?

  • Retail and fast food businesses with 500+ employees worldwide;
  • Full service restaurants with 500+ employees and 40+ full-service restaurant locations worldwide.

More here: http://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards/ordinances/secure-scheduling

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Back Bar Excellence

Oct 11, 2016

Your “Beverage Business Card”

“Make it work for you”

By George Barton, Sr. Beverage Consultant.

How many times have you heard that your “beverage business card” can be demonstrated in how you develop and showcase your back bar. The location of your bar inside your restaurant will generally dictate that every guest will walk by or up to your bar area at some point during their stop by and visibly view your back bar. Guests will gain a favorable or negative perception based upon how you line up and market all spirits, including liquor, wine and beer. The view may only be for a brief few seconds, yet sets a clear signal how you demonstrate products which are used to build beverage sales. This will also support and encourage trial of new spirits and innovations which supports the building of incremental beverage sales.

 

Stay away from placing clutter (plate ware, personal belongs, paper work) on the back bar. Reserve ALL the space you have to excite your guest base and showcase your beverage selections with pride. We read from left to right so why not place the most expensive, highest moving spirits first, generally Vodka, then Tequila, then Rum and so on, beginning on the left side moving right. If you have multiple rows for presentation, block or line up bottles so the second row/tier bottles are in clear view and the labels are easy to read. Keep less expensive or cheaper products off the back bar including flavored liqueurs which are utilized as secondary ingredients to provide taste and flavor. Many back bar display bottles are never poured from, yet remain in tact on the shelf to market. Most bars have speed rails for the most frequently poured liquors.

 

back bar

 

Find and provide a small real estate area to showcase bottles of wine you market and pour. If your list is extensive, select those you wish to move during a given shift or week. What is more important, insure whites and reds used for pouring, not marketing, are stored at the correct temperature. The best Happy Hours in casual dining offer and market a few wines that will fit their target guest, while providing a more extensive wine list for all to review. Props like large format magnums can also be used to signal your desire to sell and market wine to your target guest.

 

The best method on showcasing your beer is through your tap system. Beer optimization, or what to include for your guest selection takes a bit of work and preparation. You want to insure you are appealing to and reaching the requests for 95% for your guests to consider and order. Based upon the # of taps you provide, you will need to determine how many mass domestics, crafts, imports, seasonals and ciders to offer based upon some few factors. Having all local crafts on your taps may look cool, yet will hinder sales from those guests who desire a Bud Light or Sam Adams Octoberfest in the fall. Too many local or crafts may also cost you in the long run if your inventory is not turned over frequently. Your best method of marketing bottle selection is to use your beverage menu wisely, calling out brands with a small description of the beer profile.

 

In the end, keep it simple and clean, yet a display that is vibrant and markets your liquor, wine and beer so that the back bar works for you, creating a vibrant appeal is the way in which to go.

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Music: Turn it UP or turn it DOWN!

Oct 04, 2016

By George Barton, Sr. Beverage Consultant.

 

Music plays a fundamental role in the ambiance of your restaurant and bar environment.  It sets mood, tone and assists in the connections that your honored guest look for when they visit your brand. Music is vitally important and along with light levels and temperature, it sets that perfect vibe and impression. Let’s dig in a bit on how music can affect your restaurant atmosphere.

 

You could produce your own music, use CDs or hire an outside production company to provide music based upon your predetermined direction and approval. Music to our ears is a most critical piece of the overall customer experience. We certainly know that food and service quality can make or break your visit. Music, with the correct style and volume can assist in setting tone, relaxing or even pumping up your guests, depending upon your intent and message your sending.

 

Live music creates a lively atmosphere

 

Let’s explore these (5) music periods from opening to closing times at your restaurant and while not everyone looks at this amount of complexity, let me clarify. In addition, teach your management teams how to set the music styles and volume that have been agreed upon that supports your restaurant and bar culture.

 

  1. Lunch: Most customers have 50-65 minutes for lunch on average, including travel time. Select music that will satisfy that crowd, from contemporary to county, maybe a bit of pop or reggae.  The key here is to insure your guests enjoy their lunch experience without competing to be heard over loud music. Music should be in the background, yet loud enough to hear. Why have the music over power and send your guests running back to the office pumped to the max, irritated or on edge.
  2. Happy Hour: Generally a (3) hour period where guests are looking to unwind a bit after work and engage with friends in a fun and lively environment. Pump up the tunes a bit to keep the tempo so everyone can enjoy friends and colleagues. Monitor unintended consequences where the music could be so loud in your bar during happy hour that guests in your dining area may suffer which could affect their intent to return.
  3. Dinner: Guests may desire to dine in a more relaxed atmosphere where they can experience dinner with family and friends so crank it back down with happy hour ending. Guests in all parts of the restaurant will want the music to be in the background so they can enjoy their meal and have conversations. There are  trendy restaurants in both the casual and the casual plus segment who “crank it up” for their guest. This is part of their strategy, not for everyone, yet connects with their intended crowd. This louder trend tends to fit a younger, or millennial crowd at dinner as well.
  4. Late Night: Treat it like Happy Hour, maybe even a notch above. Most bars have late night features and themes that connects with louder tunes, playing well to millennials. Maybe the time to play some music a bit on the edge, based upon the crowd and demographic you are looking to entertain. Styles here could be from pop to alternative to new age and even a bit of dance or “club music”
  5. BRUNCH: Generally reserved for Sunday. This day can be a real winner or a bump along the road. Serving brunch only once every 7 days is challenging so why would you want to irritate guests with off the wall music. Classical, blues and jazz seem to the relaxing sounds that will enhance the guest experience. Again, allow guests the opportunity to engage in conversations and not fight over the music levels.

 

Music styles and volumes will never appease every guest yet you need to take the appropriate action to create music that will fit your target guest. Don’t allow every team member to turn volume up and down and select their favorite tune.  Managers should be the agreed contact to adjust styles and sound levels, otherwise you will end up trying to make everyone happy and lose the battle.  From my point of view, a well produced and agreed upon music platform from a professional music developer will provide your team the opportunity to focus on serving awesome food quality in a warm and friendly atmosphere with a tremendous focus on service.

 

So turn it up or turn it down depends upon a few key factors that defines your business and brand architecture.

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Is Your Restaurant Grandma’s House?

Oct 04, 2016

By Randy Lopez, Branding and Marketing Consultant

I remember going to my grandparents house when I was in high school. It’s one of my favorite memories. It was my second home: warm and comfortable. There was always something good on the stove and pictures of my aunts and uncles from their own younger days filled the walls. My grandfather’s collection of books included old Time-Life books that I spent hours going through and the old stereo was filled with albums left behind from their kids that grew up and moved out.

 

It was definitely not a hip place though it worked for me because this was my family and I understood the history and had a vested interest in learning about each piece of dated decor and memory.

 

I’m bringing this up because as a marketing and brand guy, I’m seeing so many once-powerful chains closing up or greatly reducing their units. And it’s not just the full service brands but fast-casual giants that have lost their market share and relevance. Like the home of my grandparents, they are comfortable and appeal to certain folks but can hardly be called exciting and innovate. Times have changed and they haven’t. True, they might have some new furniture or decor but it’s just a quick fix and the basic DNA of the concept is basically unchanged. Loaded potato skins, deep fried onions, vegetable mix side dishes, and spinach dips still make up a dated majority of the menu. And let’s face it, it’s not that they don’t want to update, but because of their size, it’s difficult and expensive to remodel a chain that needs not just decor updates but a completely updated vision.

 

Whether I am working with a large chain, small group of restaurants or creating a new brand, my concern is always to look at the current reality of the industry and discuss new trends and directions to keep “grandma’s house looking interesting for the next generation.” Unfortunately, too many consultants and internal teams look at simple programs and promotions to drive short term sales and discounts that create small spikes but don’t help build the brand and long-term guest frequency.

 

And if that isn’t enough, we might be going into another recession especially with the uncertainty surrounding our current presidential race. But that can be another blog in itself. Heck, that could be a novel…

Like Grandma’s house, a fresh coat of paint or some new furniture just makes make the house (or concept) look and feel just like an “old place with some new stuff.” And as a brand builder, a new logo or menu layout only goes so far unless you add new brand touch-points like updated menu items and messaging that speaks to your current targeted guests.

 

To help get you started, here a few tips to consider when keeping your brand alive, healthy and able to change and grow with the times. If you keep these in mind, your brand has a better chance of growing in small increments rather than waiting for a large change to survive.

Know your guests – Keep track of who is visiting your restaurant. Whether it’s through surveys, email questionnaires, formal research or even informal table visits; find out why your guests visit you and not the competition. Or why they visit you only once a month, twice a week or only every year.
Use this information to look at trends and drastic changes. Especially if you have a mature brand, look at the age group and see if you are capturing your core guests as well as seeing younger folks that can grow with you in the future.

Know your competition – Just because the restaurant down the street sells pizza and you are the leading Mexican Food restaurant, you might be one of the choices for an after-work happy hour or family dinner. Look at the other successful concepts and learn from the types of experiences that the locals are enjoying.

Look at the trends – Nope, this doesn’t mean you have to add kale or have your servers wear mustaches skinny jeans and plaid shirts (even the men). Trends can keep you relevant and aware of flavors and menu ideas that might be popular in the future or help you decide everything from design elements or branded collateral and offers. Today’s younger guests are raised on cooking shows and understand more about cooking and flavor profiles than older audiences. Sometimes it’s as simple as updating specific menu items and ingredients or even just communicating existing cooking styles and preparation.

Experience the world – Force yourself to look at new concepts, listen to new music, experience the arts. Insights and new ways of thinking should find their way into your brand. My grandparents started to get set in their ways like we all do and stopped updated their place. Does your concept look the same way?

 

Revisit your branding and messaging – Like buying new clothes from time to time, everyone needs to update. Does your logo look dated (and not in a cool, “ironic” way)? Notice your menus, and every piece of advertising you do. Ask yourself if they’re connected. Does the style and brand “feel” tie in with all of your messages? If not, it might be time to do a brand style update (more on that in a later blog).

 

It might too simplistic to say that many brands could have survived if they updated their look and feel. But I strongly believe that if they reflected current trends, tastes and focused on a strong vision they would have a better chance. Like my grandparents house, they might have reached more members than their immediate family.

 

At Synergy, we have a formal process to uncover strategies and tactics to refresh your brand and create excitement with new messaging, flavors and ways to enhance the guest experience, drive traffic and build sales. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss how we can help your brand stay relevant and successful for today and the future.

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Impact of Obama care and Higher Minimum Wage Requirements on Employment

Sep 24, 2016

ObamaCare (PPACA) and the higher minimum wages have had a substantial impact on both our industry (Food Service) and that of many ‘labor-heavy’ organizations across the US.

The Press is trying to tell us differently:

FACT: While we have seen a drop in full-time labor in favor of part-time labor under the Affordable Care Act, as of August 2015 we had also seen 58 consecutive months of net job growth since October of 2010 – According to the Department of Labor

As an effect of the new employer mandate some larger firms who have to provide insurance for employees come 2015/2016 [have been] cutting back employee hours to part-time to avoid paying for their health coverage. Other employers have moved workers from part-time to full-time to embrace the law. Impact of ObamaCare on Jobs

 

What about the employee?
Statistics show that the actual cost for the employee for full coverage is ‘substantially less’ when the employer in fact does not offer insurance. Under an employer plan the employee may end up paying two to three times as much for the premium than they would have if the employer was not required to offer PPACA Qualified Plans.

In addition, there is less “Job Lock” when the employer does not offer health care coverage allowing employees to make better decisions on the best employers for each of them without having to hang-on just because of benefits.

The CBO estimates that the ACA will reduce the total number of hours worked, on net, by about 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent during the period from 2017 to 2024. The reduction in the CBO’s projections of hours worked represents a decline in the number of full-time equivalent workers (total hours based on all part-time and full-time employees, not actual job loss from full-time workers losing their jobs or not being able to find work) of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024. – Obamacare Facts 2016

 

As Restaurant Consultants, we tend to agree with this statement as our experiences in the field, with small to medium size employers demonstrates, there is a focus by employers on remaining below the 50 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) requirement.

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Are you Ready for Gen Z?

Sep 20, 2016

Millennials. By now, you know they’re the most populist demographic in the United States. And as a foodservice operator, you know you want to figure out how to get them to become a loyal consumer at your restaurant. Maybe you feel you’ve got a grip on this segment, but are you ready for the next generation?

Generation Z is defined as the group that was born before the Millennials – roughly those currently aged 5 to 20 years old. You may be thinking how could there be much of a difference between the two groups and you may be surprised to hear that there are many distinctions (and they actually view themselves different from Millennials).

 

Here are a few important points to keep in mind regarding the attributes of Gen Z:

– The older ones are just entering college

– They are more cautious with spending their money

– They expect a large variety when it comes to menu offerings

They are reliant on technology

They are seeking fresh and healthy options

Healthy seems to always be “in.” Synergy has been creating healthy menu offerings for decades. We have innovative ideas to lower food cost and have new items that are plant-based to attract new customers and drive frequency. Please contact us to learn more.

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How Kitchen Optimization Can Help Your Restaurant Thrive

Sep 10, 2016

When it comes to running your restaurant, optimizing your kitchen is critical to your success. Synergy Restaurant Consultants has the experience and tools that can help your restaurant increase BOH productivity, raise the standards of hospitality, and improve your overall concept. How do they do it? They provide three levels of Kitchen Optimization services that are proven to reduce costs and increase sales. Here’s a peek at what you can expect during the KitchenOptimization™ process.

1. Menu Strategy Review

First things first. Synergy Restaurant Consultants always begin with a review of the current strategy of your menu. In this way, they can understand your objectives in relation to the food and beverages you serve. From there, the assessment continues to evaluate other aspects including production, productivity, cooking methods and beverage strategy.

 

2. Standards Review

Is your menu effectively executed and are your budgets and operating costs in line? A review of these items will help Synergy Restaurant Consultants get to the root of the problem.

 

3. KitchenOptimization™ Assessment

Next, an assessment of all kitchen operations from the time your restaurant opens to the time the doors close will take place. Synergy looks at what impacts labor efficiencies, productivity, food quality, procurement, safety and more. In this way, discovering ways to make improvements that will benefit your restaurant will be found.

 

Restaurant kitchen

4. Food Review

No optimization could be complete without a sampling of the menu offerings. Synergy Restaurant Consultants will give unbiased opinions and recommendations on the flavor, quality, presentation, and value, as well as comment about serving methods and temperatures.

 

5. Supply Chain Management

During this assessment, Synergy Restaurant Consultants has one main goal and that is to find the areas of opportunity that will either create financial gain without cutting the quality or that will bring about a better value by upgrading quality.

 

6. Actionable KitchenOptimization™ Strategies

After all is said and done, Synergy Restaurant Consultants will create a detailed report and help your restaurant to take the actions necessary to make positive changes happen, including those that can gain a more immediate positive impact.

 

By working through these 6 steps with your restaurant, Synergy Restaurant Consultants can focus on the solutions that will turn your problems into opportunities and help generate more revenue. This whole process will help you to realize your restaurant dreams and make the success of those dreams a reality. Make a positive change for your restaurant’s future today!

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Using Social Media to Optimize Your Restaurant Profitability

Sep 07, 2016

Thanks to technology, we have a lot more avenues to pursue when it comes to marketing restaurants and connecting with the guests we serve. While conducting extensive research on your restaurant through traditional means, Synergy Restaurant Consultants also uses social media marketing and branding to help bring about a positive rating among consumers.

Name recognition and branding are all part of this though some other key things must take place first before you can tweet your way to success. Beyond Twitter, restaurants that utilize Facebook and Instagram are seeing incredible results by making a tangible connection with the very people they are trying to reach.

Exploring new territory in this regard is crucial to success. Millennials are driving the market when it comes to both flavors and marketing. For example, we’re seeing a surge in offerings that straddle the lines of cuisine. In our global world, tacos are just fine but Korean tacos are much more interesting to consumers. A burger is always welcome but with feisty toppings like wasabi flakes and salmon roe, it becomes something altogether new and divine.

restaurant social media marketing
How are you utilizing social media?

 

 

By perfecting your menu and making sure you’re not wasting money on items that don’t sell, you can reach that achievable market and stand out from the other restaurants in your area. By the same token, offering too many choices can make it too confusing for your clientele. Focus is the key here.

 

Once you’ve aligned your operating systems, menu, undergone simplified training and have systems for testing in place, you can start pushing out on social media to drive more consumer interest in your brand. Getting followers, likes and all that goes with social media gives you all the tools you need to make a connection. Existing customers are most reachable, and when you post on your restaurant’s social media page, you can entice them with incentives to make more frequent purchases as well as spend more with each purchase.

 

Email marketing is also bigger than ever now. Most consumers know they can sign up for coupons and exclusive deals by joining a free mailing list. These marketing tools have proven effective for bringing customers back again and again. It’s also a great way to introduce a new menu offering or a special seasonal item.

 

Providing content for your social media adds more perceived value to what you serve up to your customers so keep that in mind with every post you make. Get help with your social media campaigns and let Synergy Restaurant Consultants show you how to turn social media into your best tool.

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IronStone PizzaWorks Coming Soon to Vestavia Hills

Aug 31, 2016

Gourmet, customizable pizza is coming to Vestavia Hills area of Alabama. Our client, IronStone PizzaWorks is ready to turn hungry stomachs happy with the freshest selections of ingredients available so you can create your own pizza or salad masterpiece.

 

Dine-in and enjoy your meal with friends and family at their newly renovated 3,600 square-foot space (with indoor and outdoor seating available). You’ll feel at home with the modern, yet warm design.

If you don’t feel like self-designing your own pizza or salad, try any one of these pizzas off their menu: Sausage and Ricotta, Mighty Meat, Garden Lover, Buffalo Chicken and Chicken Bianca. And yes, craft beer and wines are available! See their full menu here http://ironstonepizza.com/

 

IronStone PizzaWorks is slated to open early September and is located at 632 Montgomery Highway in the Vestavia Hills City Center.

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America’s First Pizza ATM

Aug 17, 2016

 

Sometimes, dire situations call for quick remedies. For example, when it’s 1 AM and your sweet tooth needs relief, you can make a stop at the Sprinkles cupcake ATM. Craving a burrito but all restaurants seem to be closed? This burrito vending machine is popping up across the United States to satiate your late-night hankering.

 

So what’s next? A pizza vending machine? Actually, yes! The first ever pizza ATM in the United States has debuted at Ohio’s Xavier University. It serves hungry students 12-inch pies 24 hours a day. Using a touch-screen, customers select their toppings—the ATM’s built-in convection oven does its magic and in three minutes.

 

More here: Some Lucky College Students Just Got America’s First Pizza ATM. And while we’re on the topic of instant gratification, here’s some more unique vending machines (live crab, eggs, burgers, rice and more!).