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How to Increase Breakfast Sales: 20 Ideas for Building Sales with Breakfast

Aug 26, 2022

Breakfast isn’t for every restaurant brand, but where it’s appropriate the morning meal can be a significant source of sales. In fact, it’s a bright spot according to The NPD Group—breakfast was up 4% during the year ended May 2015, larger due to QSR, while other dayparts were essentially flat—leading many operators to focus on those “Breakfastarians” who make the morning meal part of their lives. And that includes not just in the morning hours, but also noon and night.

Indeed, the latest round in the Breakfast War has McDonald’s betting on all-day breakfast, encroaching not only on QSR players like Dunkin’ Donuts, but also on family-segment brands such as Denny’s. Meanwhile, other companies, such as Golden Corral, are also playing around with the breakfast-anytime model.

But there are other ways to distinguish an operation around breakfast, as proven by the rising profile of Milktooth, which was recently named to Bon Apetit magazine’s Top 10 New Restaurants of 2015. Based in Indianapolis, Milktooth serves brunch and brunch alone, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week, plus breakfast pastries at the counter from 7-9 a.m. In addition to a superlative coffee program and brunchy cocktails (including pitchers of Bloody Marys), the restaurant specializes in morning comfort fare with a twist: housemade bialy with wild Alaskan char lox; Dutch Baby baked pancakes; and steak and eggs with broccolini, as well as oysters, Nashville-style hot wings and grilled cheese sandwiches. So, how else can you increase breakfast sales at your restaurant?

There are many ways to enhance your breakfast service.

If you want to boost breakfast sales in your restaurant, it’s time to get creative with your food products and flex your marketing muscles. To help you get an early jump on your competition, here are 20 surefire methods to increase the number of customers coming to you for breakfast.

  1. Become famous for a breakfast signature, such as the Foot Loops pancakes or Elvis Sighting French toast menued at the Original Dinerant in the Courtyard Marriott Portland City Center, where breakfast traffic growth is a constant
  2. Upgrade the industry standard breakfast sandwich with artisanal bread, an unusual condiment such as aioli or oven-dried tomatoes, an ingredient like portabello mushrooms or farmstead cheese, or by substituting potato pancakes or crisp waffles for the bread
  3. Ethnic or globally influenced breakfasts such as Japanese-style bento boxes, burritos and huevos rancheros, and French croque madame are gaining exposure. Be an early adopter of this international food trend to grow breakfast sales
  4. Experiment with frittatas, an easy-to-make Italian-style open-face omelet, which also provides excellent ingredient cross-utilization
  5. Offer a featured omelet of the day—and while you’re at it, offer the same ingredients in a scramble
  6. Smoothies and juice drinks impart a healthy glow, and can serve as either meal replacement or add-ons; you can even blend them with coffee. What customer wouldn’t want to start their morning like that?
  7. Putting a healthy twist on breakfast fare can be as easy as offering whole-grain bread, toast and baked goods, including batter products like buckwheat pancakes; giving customers the option of egg white or egg substitute based egg dishes; and making fruit available as a substitute for hash browns or home fries; the more your flexible your breakfast services, the more customers will become regulars at your restaurant
  8. Speaking of healthy, take advantage of the growing popularity of Greek yogurt by menuing it for breakfast as a layered parfait with honey, granola, and fresh fruit, or as an addition to breakfast cereal
  9. If you already offer a Benedict, add food variations such as smoked salmon, crab or cod cakes, corned beef hash and more; some places even have their own dedicated “bennie” menu section
  10. Offer a basket of specialty breads, breakfast pastries or muffins makes for a profitable à la carte option at weekend breakfast or brunch, especially when served with artisanal butter and/or preserves
  11. Add protein to the industry standard Continental breakfast buffet or plate with the Euro-style option of hard boiled eggs, smoked fish, and/or sliced meats and cheeses
  1. Leverage the avocado toast trend, as well as other toasts and open-face sandwiches that do double-duty for lunch and snacks
  2. Given the chance, eye openers such as Bloody Marys, mimosas, and Micheladas (a lighter beer-and-tomato-juice cocktail) can be profitable additions to the typical morning menu of coffee, hot drinks, spirits, and tea at your restaurant, to say nothing of signatures like a bacon and egg martini (garnished with bacon and a hardboiled quail egg) or maple-bourbon milk punch
  3. Take advantage of the healthy profile of oatmeal and other grains with hot and cold grain-based cereal options; you can even experiment with such “super” grains as quinoa served oatmeal-style with milk, cinnamon and raisins, and other toppings—in fact, new-wave porridges have become a thing on trendy menus
  1. Remember that sometimes breakfast is “just coffee”: CityBrü, the 24-hour coffee bar in the lobby of CityFlatsHotel in Holland, MI, serves as a guest touchpoint as well as a place to get a quick breakfast; those customers who do intermittent fasting will find this service perfectly suited to them!
  2. At brunch as well as all-day breakfast operations, a salad can be a welcome food option, especially if it touts a breakfast theme or ingredients (such as a frisee lardon salad)
  3. Expand a selection of breakfast meats to include prosciutto or country ham, turkey bacon/sausage, or a specialty sausage such as chorizo, cotechino or kielbasa
  4. Waffles, pancakes and other batter cakes are delicious comfort food, especially in unusual variations such as green tea or red waffle; the appropriately named Waffles Café, in Chicago, even offers a “flight” of such specialties; this is a great way to increase buzz around your restaurant, inspiring customers to tell their friends and family – grass-roots marketing for the win!
  5. Offer a customizable element at your restaurant—it doesn’t even have to be anything as elaborate as an omelet-to-order station—such as a cereal bar, build-a-biscuit-sandwich program, or Bloody Mary garnish station; Most restaurants in the industry offer such a basic breakfast that the smallest customization in food products will really help your restaurant stand out to customers; it may even make you locally famous!
  6. Tap into the popularity of regional breakfast specialties like shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy, migas or Frito pie; spice up your morning service and watch your breakfast sales soar.

 

Ready to add breakfast or up you’re morning menu game? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants. It’s time to get up early like the bird and get the worm (or customer, in our case).

French toast photo credit: Ginny CC by SA 2.0

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Get Ready for Higher Minimum Wages

Apr 21, 2016

Make no mistake; higher statewide minimum wages are happening, first in California and New York, and surely in other states as well. Many larger cities, including Los Angeles and Seattle, have already enacted laws that would phase in $15 per hour rates over the coming years. These laws are complex and often onerous, even for those operators who agree with the “living wage” ideology, and if this November’s elections swing towards Democrat, the movement will grow.

 

Restaurant margins are already tight, as all operators know. But many consumers favor minimum wage increases, and companies that have resisted such increases in the past have paid the price in patron disapproval. It’s a thorny issue all around, in which both sides have valid points.

 

Short of raising prices and cutting staff, operators need to get a menu development and labor optimization plan together. Even with higher wages, restaurants are having difficulty finding and retaining staff, for demographic and competitive reasons. We also can see that food costs are going nowhere but up.

 

Here are 10 steps operators should be taking now. We’ll go into many of these in detail in future blog posts.

 

  1. Assess your menu mix to determine your true labor needs; if there are items on the menu that require a disproportionate amount of labor, change the recipe or nix it altogether
  2. Boost cross-utilization by eliminating orphan ingredient SKUs and sub-recipes used in just one or two items
  3. Study historical data to make sure you’re not overproducing—or underproducing—prep for any given day
  4. By the same token, forecast labor needs by studying past customer counts; if most of your dinner business doesn’t start until seven, don’t have every server coming in at 5 p.m.
  5. Create signature dishes that will set your operation apart from the competition; when local patrons are in the mood for popular items like a burger or lobster mac-and-cheese, they should think of your restaurant
  6. Build average checks with the so-called left side of the menu, including soups, salads, starters and small plates, snacks and sides, as well as desserts
  7. Consider additional profit centers such as self-service catering or happy hour. These revenue boosters represent the efficient use of labor, inventory and prep space
  8. Train front-of-house staff in the fine art of suggestive selling to boost checks—and their tips
  9. Be scrupulous about eliminating waste, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because waste is a huge drain on food costs
  10. Decrease the ratio of bell-ringer items like proteins on plated items, in favor of more produce, grains and other lower-cost ingredients

 

At Synergy Restaurant Consultants, we’ve got solutions for the challenges associated with labor inefficiency. Get in touch if you have any questions for us or if you would like to discuss the many ways Synergy can help support your goals.

 

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10 Trends That Will Impact Menus in 2016

Jan 26, 2016
  1. Authentic vs. Inventive

There’s a dichotomy playing out on menus as the road ahead splits in two very different directions: authenticity and simplicity, as defined by market-driven concepts like Sweetgreen and the new-old Jams, where the signature dish is a simple roast chicken; and playful cross-cultural mashups where the kitchen’s creativity is the focus, like the “proudly inauthentic” Talde, in Brroklyn and the soul food/vegan crossover Souley Vegan, in Oakland, CA (Seitan po’ boy, anyone?).

 

In many ways, it’s a generational thing. Many older, more established chefs are eschewing bells and whistles in search of simpler, more honest cooking—a kind of minimalism that even 11 Madison Park’s Daniel Humm is seeking. Simplicity also works with the sweeping farm-to-table/locavore food movement that has changed the way Americans eat—the focus is on honoring the ingredients and editing food down to its most pure flavor.

 

Younger chefs, on the other hand, are flexing their creative muscle and creating an entirely new, one-of-a-kind experience for customers and recognition for themselves and their cooking. For Millennials in the kitchen, it’s a passion project of an entirely different kind.

 

 

  1. The Quest for Clean Eating

The concept of eating clean has been gaining traction for several years now, an outgrowth of demand for fresh ingredients and interest in where food comes from. Now it promises to completely change the way many restaurants put menus together.

 

For chains that are dependent upon prepared products that contain ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, growth hormones, and any of the above, the impact has already been significant. Ultimately, it means that many industry players will have to make the switch from processed ingredients to fresh.

 

“Free from” is the new mantra. Free from artificial ingredients and colors, from GMOs, from antibiotics, from gluten and other trigger foods, from unnecessary processing. The trend goes hand-in-glove with the industry’s move to greater transparency and traceability in the food chain, as consumer desire for clean cuisine grows.

 

 

  1. Texture: The Final Frontier

For the past decade or so, flavor has been the big food-trend story, in all its iterations. Bold, spicy, balanced. Chefs and diners discovered the role of sweet/savory contrast, acidity, umami.

 

Now it’s texture’s turn, time to explore the role that a sophisticated interplay of soft, creamy, crunchy, crispy, firm, and tender play in the craveability of food. Many of these lessons come from Asia, where balance in all things has always been key. Think of classic Vietnamese pho, with its slippery noodles, rich broth, chewy beef and tender meatballs, and then the vivid contrast of crisp beansprouts, crunchy fried shallots, toothsome fresh herbs. These ingredients aren’t just about layered flavors or even contrasting temperatures; they’re about the kinds of different, intriguing textures that always have you wanting another bite.

 

 

  1. Vegetarian + Vegan + 2016 = Veggie-Forward

Forget about outdated notions of consumers who avoid meat (vegetarians) and animal products (vegan). While these groups definitely exist, and comprise about 5% of the populations, according to the Vegetarian Resource Group, evenly split between vegetarian and vegans.

 

That’s not even the point, and it hardly even matters that more Americans than ever before are vegetarian-leaning or inclined to eat less meat. What matters is that restaurant menus are becoming more “veg-centric.” This encompasses interest in plant-based proteins like quinoa and beans, as well as a fake meat revolution that may very well lead to the development of more alt-proteins.

 

The real kicker, though, is that chefs and guests alike are in love with vegetables and fruits, for reasons of health, seasonality, local sourcing and sustainability, and just plain flavor and signature appeal. And this trend is extending into every menu category, at nearly every price point, from breakfast items and sandwiches to full-on “vegetable-focused” tasting menus.

 

  1. The Chefication of Fast Casual

There should be a bumper sticker for high-end chefs: “Honk if You’re Opening a Fast Casual Restaurant.” From Jose Garces with Fast Fish to Daniel Humm of Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park and Made Nice, highly lauded white-tablecloth chefs are rushing to open more accessibly priced concepts that will put their food in more mouths—and no doubt help them reap Danny Meyer/Shake Shack size fortunes.

 

Here are a few of the latest entries:

 

The owners may be high-profile, but the food and concepts follow well-trod pathways of fresh, healthy, customizable fast casual.

 

  1. Annals of Competition: The Grocerant

Retailers have long had designs on the lucrative foodservice market, with service details, prepared-foods counters, food bars, custom catering, and even in-house restaurants. But now they’re after those dollars in earnest, with a hybrid food-away-from-home strategy the industry has named the grocerant. And once again, it’s Millennials fueling demand.

 

Upscale grocery stores appear to be breaking the code. Plum Market, in Old Town Chicago, has a wine bar. Whole Foods in Chicago, Glastonbury, CT, and Fairfax, VA, are home to ramen bars.  Eataly has its famous Nutella Bar, for made-to-order crepes, waffles and more. And then there are the meal kit purveyors like Blue Apron and Purple Carrot.  Make no mistake that these will be coming soon to a supermarket near you.

 

  1. Wine Gets Approachable

We can thank the Millennials for the steam-gathering trend toward easy-to-drink wines and less intimidating lists and service. Not only are fast casual and even fast food brands like Taco Bell offering wine, but the wines that are being made now—some by young winemakers—are more fun, intended to be drunk young, and often contained in boxes, kegs and other trendy forms of packaging. Plus today’s drinkers also have a taste for “bubbles” (sparkling wines) for general drinking, not just celebration.

 

They also have a taste for obscure wines with interesting back stories and bragging rights (“look what I “discovered”), which has changed the way beverage directors and somms are buying and selling wine. But this may also lead to some clinkers becoming popular according to some experts, including the estimable Lettie Teague.

 

  1. Cocktails Trends Follow the Kitchen

Seasonal, foraged ingredients, ingredient-driven, artisanal and housemade. This isn’t the kitchen, though; it’s the bar. The craft cocktail movement continues on exciting and profitable pathways, encompassing a number of developments that mirror what’s going on in the back-of-the-house.

 

  • Seasonal selections
  • Foraged cocktail ingredients
  • Local, small-batch spirits
  • Housemade syrups and mixers
  • Artisanal bitters
  • High-end garnishes (such as Luxardo cherries)

 

These trends are already givens in high-end cocktail bars, and will increasingly be seen in multi-unit establishments any day now.

 

  1. Sustainable Seafood

Concern about the health of our oceans and its resources has been on the mind of chefs and restaurant operators for a number of years, but now the issue is moving on to guests’ radars. It’s a complex problem, to be sure, with more attendant controversy than just about any other food, but it’s an important one: unlike chicken or beef, wild fish and shellfish are not endlessly renewable. And according to Seafood Watch, 90% of the world’s wild fisheries have already been affected.

 

More restaurants are calling out sustainability issues on their menus, and moving to educate both staff and guests about why it matters. Many chefs are working to introduce underutilized “trash fish” to customers. (Unfortunately, many once-unfamiliar species such as octopus have become so popular—mentioned as a hot trend by 37% of respondents on the NRA’s What’s Hot list for 2015—that pressure is mounting on them.)

 

Menuing strategies addressing seafood sustainability are not just at higher price points. Sharky’s Woodfired Mexican Grill promotes MSC-certified Alaska salmon and other sustainable, wild-caught species, including a rotating fish of the day, such as Alaska pollock, explained by informative point-of-sale “fish boards.”

 

 

  1. Pretty as a Picture

The eyes have always had it when it comes to food and appetite, but new visual media platforms have made this more true than ever, completely turning the tables on how consumers and operators alike get information about food. Instagram, in particular, has increased the importance of plating and presentation, in the process ensuring that food and menu trends move with lightning speed across the country. Be aware that anything you serve may end up on social media, and that means the challenge of making your food look good is offset by the opportunity for free publicity. Use it.

 

 

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The Control of Heat

Dec 22, 2015

Remember when chipotle chiles were the next big thing, then Sriracha? Now hot and spicy flavors and ingredients are a permanent part of the American pantry and have become entrenched in every segment of foodservice. They’re not just a trend, they’re a fact of life.

 

According to Technomic, in fact, more than half of all respondents in the firm’s most recent Flavor Consumer Trend Report said that they preferred “very spicy foods and sauces.” And that was two years ago, when the trend was still gathering steam. Flavor supplier Kalsec revealed in its January 2015 research that, among other thingfs, 70% of consumers choose hot/spicy options when dining out.

 

Pundits may hold Millennials responsible for the emphasis on tongue-tingling food, but there’s more to it than just adding ghost peppers to a burger sauce and calling it a day. Global cuisine has shown us that the manipulation of hot and spicy ingredients is just one aspect of creating flavor. Anyone who has visited Thailand, for instance, knows that sophisticated cuisine for its balanced, controlled use of not only heat but also salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami flavors.

 

It takes skill and restraint to make spicy food that goes beyond the burn—it’s not just about singeing the tongue, it’s about flavor intensity with nuance. Balance is what makes spicy food taste more delicious and leave a memorable impression, not just pain.

 

Here’s how to do it:

• Look to the global pantry for balance; some of the most successful contemporary recipes mix culinary cultures, using products such as Korean gochujang or North African harissa to create a signature flavor experience

• Different chiles and chile-based products add different characteristics of fruitiness and flavor; experiment to find the ones that accomplish the desired effect

• “Layering” different sources of heat, such as chiles and hot sauces, adds to complexity, since these ingredients not only possess different flavors but also release sensation at different times

• Add vinegar or citrus for acidity and brightness, and also to intensify other flavors, including spiciness; wine can also add acidity

• Fermented products such as kimchi and even pickle juice can add both heat and that zing of acidity

• A bit of sweetness—not just sugar but also products like fruit or fruit juice, caramelized onions, a sweet spirit such as Madeira—will add dimension and help bring flavor into balance. Even serving spicy food with a sweetish wine, such as Riesling, will help round out the flavors

• Flavor-rounding smokiness can be provided with an ingredient such as Aleppo pepper, chiles en adobo, pimentón, toasted spices or even bacon

• Salt is important for balance in all food, and doubly so in spicy recipes. Note that some spicy ingredients can be quite salty on their own, such as certain brand of harissa and gochujang

• Adding an umami component can go a long way towards balancing heat. Miso, fish sauce, soy sauce, tomato, Maggi seasoning…. all pack a umami wallop

• There’s a reason products like yogurt, cream, coconut milk and tahini appear so often in spicy cuisine; they mellow flavors (the fat actually prevents the capsaicin molecules in chiles from binding to the VR1 pain receptors on the tongue). These ingredients also add a richer texture, mouthfeel and “cling.”

 

For help with menus and recipes, spicy or not, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.

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Food: The New Paradigm

Dec 22, 2015

You know the old saying, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” Well, it’s not your father’s restaurant industry either. Arguably, it’s not even his food.

 

Think about it: Not so long ago, a guest might go into a restaurant, order a steak, a baked potato and a generic glass of red wine, and call it a day. The only choices might be how you wanted your steak cooked and whether you wanted sour cream and bacon bits with the potato.

 

Nowadays, a restaurant might offer the option of Wagyu or grass-fed beef—perhaps from a specific farm—cooked over oak or hickory, accompanied by a variety of different seasonal or locally sourced side dishes, and accessorized with a wine-by-the-glass list offering a dozen or more selections identified by vintage, varietal and producer.

 

Most of these developments have been fairly recent. The 21st century seasonal food movement began four decades ago at Chez Panisse, and the locavore movement is said to have originated in 2005. The Cruvinet came to California in 1979, but it took another decade or so for wine dispensing and preservation systems to become widely popular outside of wine-producing areas. Most Wagyu beef raised in the U.S. (a.k.a. American Kobe) was exported back to Japan until the early aughts and—like the majority of luxury food products—was only available to high-end chefs and the occasional specialty butcher shop.

 

The implications of these changes for both consumer and operator are huge. Now of course, customers not only know what heritage meats and organic farm-raised produce and keg wines are, they’re also clamoring for them.
This amounts to a whole new paradigm for the restaurant industry. Its hallmarks are:

 

Story Telling

You’ve heard it before but the maxim bears repeating: Today’s consumers want to know where their food comes from. At its simplest, that means calling out the provenance of ingredients such as proteins and produce on the menu, website and other forms of customer conversation. Synergy client LYFE Kitchen is a case in point; the website makes it totally clear what the company’s mission is in terms of sourcing and menuing, as well as commitment to the community and to responsible business practices.

 

Today’s consumers also want to engage with brands via social media, particularly in the visual universe of Instagram and Facebook, and savvy operators make it easier for their guests to become their ambassadors through these platforms.

 

Keeping it “Clean”

“Free from” is the new mantra. Free from artificial ingredients and colors, from GMOs, from antibiotics, from gluten and other trigger foods, from unnecessary processing. The trend goes hand-in-glove with the industry’s more to greater transparency and traceability in the food chain, as consumer desire for cleaner eating grows.

 

For chains that are dependent upon prepared products that contain high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, growth hormones, and any of the above, the impact has already been significant. Ultimately, it means that many industry players will have to make the switch from processed ingredients to fresh—which will effectively change the way they do business.

 

Sustainability

While the exact definition of sustainability may be highly mutable, there’s no doubt that more guests are looking for it. According to the Hartman Group, in fact, 42% of respondents in a new “Diners’ Changing Behavior” report say they are receptive to meals that are sustainable and healthy. Many of these are members of the all-important Millennial cohort.

 

Issues range from sourcing (buying local allows family farms to continue thriving, and addresses the high carbon costs of imports and other foods from far away) to recycling and composting. One of the latest planks in the sustainability platform is the move to cut down on food waste, a movement that has gained surprising traction in the “garbage-to-plate” trend.

 

Emphasis on Craft

Artisanal, hand-shaken, small batch, made in house…. These signifiers of the “craft” movement in food and beverages have become very important in beverage marketing. It may have started with craft beer and craft cocktails, but the trend has rapidly expanded to include concepts like farmstead cheeses, nose-to-tail butchering, bread baked on premise, housemade pickles (witness Good Times Burgers’s new program), and even dishes and furniture made by local potters and woodworkers. It can also be as simple as menu descriptions verifying how carefully food is made, such as “made to order” and “smoked for hours over natural hardwood.”

 

The notion of craft means being honest and relevant, standing for quality, tradition and flavor. It also links back to freshness, transparency, sustainability, and the importance of connecting guest to experience through storytelling.

 

Welcome to the new paradigm.

 

Craft beer photo credit: CK Golf Solutions license CC by SA 2.0

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Five Great Ways to Stay Relevant

Dec 22, 2015

By Randy Lopez Marketing and Branding Strategy

 

Stay relevant. It’s a common phrase in the news, in articles like “How to Stay Relevant in the Rapidly Changing World of Work,” “How to Stay Relevant in an Age of Disruption,” “Millennials and Staying Relevant” and even “How to make sure your menus are relevant.” Today it’s a struggle to make sure you and your restaurant brand are relevant for today’s guests and trends, while always keeping an eye out for the future. The industry’s landscape is riddled with the corpses of once-famous brands that just couldn’t remain relevant for today’s tastes and consumer expectations.

 

This year, make it your New Year’s Resolution to stay relevant. Personally, I’ve always tried to understand trends and be able to see what’s coming down the road. As brand builders and marketers, people of my ilk tend to look forward, since forecasting is something we keep in our toolkit. Even so, most marketers might just look at their own industry’s marketing trends, strategies and tactics and in doing so, remain relevant… but only in their own world. Truly successful and innovative businesspeople stay relevant in all fields.

 

Take, for example, Richard Branson from Virgin, the perpetually “relevant” guy. He hangs out with celebs and influencers, is always doing something interesting, and is consistently attached to important and timely causes and global initiatives. Though his #1 job is to support the Virgin brand, he is always at the forefront of any given trend or issue, and pushes his organization to continuously stretch boundaries and to “do good.” Though we all wish we could be like Branson, chances are we’ll never have as many trips around the world or into space as this guy.

 

We can, however, push ourselves to “Stay Relevant.” As restaurateurs—whether owner, president, marketing manager, chef, COO, trainer… or whatever—we owe it to ourselves to stay on top of trends and to best understand the world of our current guests as well as understanding the motivators that will change our industry in the future.

 

Some simple resolutions to stay relevant this year might include the following:

 

1. Try new foods. Though we work in the restaurant industry, I still come across owner-operators and brand builders who don’t try ethnic foods, new flavor profiles or anything besides the menu items served in their own locations. Get out into your neighborhoods to sample new food experiences flavored by different cultures, or developed by hybrids of new tastes and takes on classics.

 

2. Think like a designer. Build a vocabulary of art styles, favorite fonts, colors, and interior designs. Collect cool ads and menus. Look at table tents and collateral and keep a record of things that resonate. Colors and design elements are as important to staying relevant as food is, and you need to have a basic understanding of this if the look of your brand is current rather than 20 years behind the times.

 

3. Use sites like Thrillist, The Cool Hunter, and Eater to see what’s going on in culture, design, food, business, and lifestyle and to have an understanding of what’s new and what can possibly have an application for your business in the future.

 

4. Get a Moleskine or other small journal. Though we’re all using our laptops and smartphones to communicate and document, there’s something about keeping a journal to jot down notes, ideas, brainstorms, and random thoughts that makes the process more engaging and creative. If it helps, think of your journal as a collection of “many napkins” (for those of us who made some of our best notes on a two-ply piece of paper found on a restaurant table).

5. Listen to podcasts or take an online class. Learn about something new in a completely different industry or area of responsibility. Think of a long drive as an opportunity to listen to TED Talks to be inspired and educated in minutes.

 

Life is moving faster than we ever thought possible. Embrace the notion that the “who” we are today is going to be different from the person we will be in the future. Change is good. Continue to learn, challenge yourself, and take ideas and values from other industries, people and cultures to grow yourself and your business. Heed the warning: Stay Relevant.

 

Closed photo credit: Bryan Mills license CC by 2.0

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The Tipping Point:  5 Things to Consider in the Debate over Restaurant Tipping

Nov 24, 2015

 

By Mandy DeLucia, Synergy Project Coordinator

 

Labor costs are rising and savvy restaurateurs are reevaluating their labor models.  Ever since hospitality guru Danny Meyer surprised the industry with an announcement about moving to eliminate tipping in his restaurants, the industry has been discussing the merits and pitfalls of a tip-free system. We have outlined five important factors to consider as you formulate your own opinion on the debate.

 

1.) Fine dining is better suited to the “service-included” model.

Restaurants with higher prices could have an easier transition away from tipping because customers may not be as sensitive to an added 18% gratuity charge or a 20% increase in prices. As the fast-casual sector continues to thrive, customers are growing used to an experience where they participate in some way in the service model in exchange for a high-quality meal with no tip expectation. Value-focused customers have moved away from casual dining, where mandatory tipping makes the bill more expensive. But in a fine-dining setting, a shift in price from a $30 steak entrée to a $36 one is unlikely to have a negative impact on traffic—provided the guest experience remains positive.

 

 

2.) Moving to a salary model will require a shift in employee evaluation and training procedures.

The tip system minimizes the need to evaluate servers and give them raises. Of course, operators always evaluate servers to ensure they’re doing a good job, but the tip, and not an annual raise, provides that incentive. Similarly, servers are driven to deliver drink refills or offer friendly and hospitable service by the direct reward of a good tip. In a tipless system, management will have to consider giving workers annual raises and pay close attention to overtime, given that they’d be responsible for paying even more in wages if their staff works more than 40 hours per week. As restaurants move to higher wages, the cost of benefits will be higher too. And if tip policies go away, restaurants will also have to reinforce training that encourages servers to deliver good service at all times, regardless of the tip reward.

 

3.) Just because it works in Europe doesn’t mean it’s right for the U.S.

Some will argue that restaurants in Europe don’t rely on tips and yet the system works. However, in the U.S., our system is different and it is not an easy comparison. In order to fully understand the complexity of that assessment, one would need to compare factors such as payroll policies, labor costs, rents, taxes, costs of goods, hours of operations, holidays, employee benefits vs. publicly provided benefits in European nations, even cultural habits and dining times.

 

 

4) Changing technology is impacting the way people tip.

With the shift of liability for fraud forcing restaurants toward using integrated POS systems with EMV chip capabilities, restaurants are finding that the new system is impacting payment processes. EMV handheld readers must sync with POS systems, but transactions can no longer be processed away from the customer. With chip-and-PIN cards, tipping will have to be processed before, not after, the customer pays the bil, which will mean that the server will be nearby while the tip is being decided. With the rise of tablet-based payment systems for smaller or independent operators, guests paying by card are being offered tip options of 10%, 15% or 20% at the time of purchase or must opt-out of tipping completely to finalize a purchase. This can add a layer of discomfort to the transaction as it happens under the gaze of the beneficiary of that tip.

 

 

4) Tipping as a portion of compensation supports small businesses and facilitates start-ups for independent operators.

Of course, management in the restaurant business would like to pay their staff more, and would like to compensate back-of-house employees as well as servers, whether through improved benefits, recurring bonuses, profit-sharing, stock options or real wages. However, small increases on a daily basis hit hard and fast when multiplied out over a number of employees with a number of shifts per week over the course of a year. Small operators can offset labor costs to customers through tipping, which subsidizes an extra $5.12 to tipped workers (the gap between the minimum required rate for tipped workers vs. minimum wage). Tipping also allows servers the opportunity to exceed an hourly rate, rewarding good service but also helping busy restaurants recruit hospitality talent through the prospect of higher earnings.

 

5) Eliminating tipping could result in better food.

In restaurant cultures where tips aren’t part of the business model, line cooks normally make considerably more than waiters. The U.S. has a system that prohibits servers from sharing tips with cooks, dishwashers, and other staff who do not interact with customers. By adding a service charge to every check, operators could help close the divide in restaurants between the tipped and the non-tipped—a change that could benefit staff and customers alike. The checks may get a little bigger, but if a happier, better-compensated staff is making the food a little tastier and bringing the wine a little faster, everyone wins.

 

Remember, too, that a no-tipping model can also lead to better service. As this article in Restaurant Business points out, since Joe’s Crab Shack switched to a set wage, they have had fewer problems with service on big parties, which are a frequent source of business for the 18-unit chain. That’s because servers often balk about having to split the tip with someone who helps them; now a big party is assigned the number of servers it needs.

Tips photo credit: Aaron Stidwell CC by 2.0

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Global Flavors: Peruvian

Nov 24, 2015

Part of a series of explorations into emerging global cuisine concepts for mainstream menus.

 

One of the world’s original fusion cuisines, the modern-day food of Peru includes influences from the indigenous population including the Inca, and cuisines brought in with immigrants from Europe (Spain, Italy and Germany), Asia (China and Japan) and West Africa. Woven throughout Peruvian cuisine are it many aji, or chiles—more than 300 varieties according to some sources—which along with quinoa, beans, corn, potatoes and tomatoes are the country’s most famous traditional native foods. Add in such tropical South American fruits as papaya, guanabana, cherimoya and dragon fruit and you have the makings of some truly fascinating and flavorful specialties.

 

The following typical Peruvian dishes that are making the translation:

 

Pollo a la Brasa – This marinated, roasted or rotisseried chicken is one of the most consumed foods in Peru, and the centerpiece of the menu at the growing chain Nando’s Peri-Peri. Pollo a la Brasa is typically served with fried potatoes, salad and various sauces (Peruvian mayonnaise, ketchup, olive sauce, chimichurri or peri-peri, and aji). The marinade itself is like a microcosm pf Peru’s multiculti culinary influences, incorporating not only citrus juice and garlic but also soy sauce, legacy of the Japanese and Chinese immigrants who first found work in the region building the railroads and farming in the late 1800s.

 

Ceviches – Common to all of the coastal regions of Central and South America, in Peru this citrus-marinated raw fish specialty approaches high art, garnished not only with onions and chiles but also ingredients such as coconut, purple yams and toasted corn.

 

Tiradito – Analogous to Japan’s sashimi, this specialty of raw sliced fish is dressed just before serving with citrus juice and other ingredients, such as onions, chiles, cilantro and other flavorings.

 

Causa – It stands to reason that the birthplace of the potato would have many potato specialties. The most well-known is the causa, a versatile dish of seasoned mashed potatoes layered like a cake with various fillings, from hard-boiled eggs to vegetables to tuna salad to shrimp and other ingredients.

 

Rocoto Relleno – Like the more well-known chiles Relleno, the round red or yellow rocoto chile is often served stuffed with a savory ground beef mixture.

 

Anticuchos – The Spanish brought beef and pork, as well as chicken, to Peru, and the Peruvians repaid the favor with anticuchos (grilled marinated beef on skewers). Although the dish traditionally features beef heart, any cut of meat can be used for this popular street food. The flavorful marinade typically includes vinegar, and spices such as cumin, garlic and aji peppers; the cooked skewer is often served with a boiled potato or a piece of bread.

 

Aji de Gallina – Starring Peru’s famous fruity, medium-hot aji Amarillo, this colorful, spicy chicken stew also includes sauteed onions and garlic ground walnuts, Parmesan cheese, milk, and olives, and is served with hardboiled eggs and boiled potatoes.

 

Lomo Saltado – Similar to a stir-fry, this easy-to-like specialty is made with flank steak or tenderloin, potatoes, onion and garlic, and a sauce that incorporates tomato, vinegar and soy.

 

Butifarra – The name of a Spanish sausage as well as the popular Peruvian sandwich that contains it, along with garlic- and chile-marinated roast pork, lettuce, mayonnaise and a tangy-sweet onion relish know as salsa criolla (Creole sauce), served on a French-style roll.

 

Pisco Sour – Who could forget this iconic and exotic cocktail, made with Pisco (a high-proof, grape-based white spirit), simple syrup, fresh lemon juice and egg white.

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Loyalty in the Digital Age

Nov 24, 2015

It’s one thing to attract new customers, but smart operators know it’s even more important to keep them. In addition to providing the basics of food, service, and ambiance—and doing it again the next day, and the day after—building loyalty through formal and informal recognition programs is key.

 

According to the 2015 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census, U.S. consumers are more invested in loyalty programs than ever, holding a total of 3.3 billion memberships spread among the retail, financial services, travel and various other economic sectors, or about 29 per household. The real statistic of interest, however, is the fact that users are only active in a dozen of them.

 

Most restaurants have some form of a loyalty program, from punch cards or membership cards, to iPad scan systems to vouchers. Restaurant loyalty program memberships rose 107% to 55 million in 2015, although that’s down from 171% growth in 2013.

 

Digital makes the difference, especially the mobile kind. The technology has allowed restaurants to build loyalty programs through different tiers, from traditional loyalty cards, to mobile apps and location-based services. This omni-channel approach allows brands to increase the amount of information they can collect about their guests, which in turn allows them to provide repeat customers with a more personalized experience.

 

Even the availability of digital serves to build loyalty among fans, even if there isn’t a rewards component.

 

Always at the forefront of just about any trend you’d want to examine, from game-changing new menu items to marketing, Taco Bell has been extremely aggressive about mobile, all of it designed around the current-generation premise that “ease is the new loyalty.” Last year, the Live Mas app began allowing users to customize, order and pay from their phones—an industry first—and has reportedly been downloaded almost 4 million times. In the process, the chain discovered that customers who use it tend to order about 20% more than those who order in person.  A gamified loyalty component  is planned for later this year, via an app update. There’s even a Taco Bell emoji. Now a new website, ta.co (“ta-dot-co”), expands that capability to desktop computers and tables; a publishing channel called The Feed features curated content about the brand. It’s all Taco Bell, all the time for the chain’s many loyal followers.

 

Not surprisingly, many quick-service and fast-casual chains are using apps to build followings, usually through ordering and payment capabilities. The new wrinkle, however, is integrating rewards and other bonuses. Panera’s app taps into the success of its longstanding rewards program. The My Starbucks program, which has more than 10 million members, is now linked to a mobile application that allows the user to pay in stores with their smartphone or a pre-loaded card. LYFE Kitchen’s new app tracks purchases and confers rewards.

 

But while digital marketing may have forever changed the mechanics of tracking guest behavior and managing loyalty programs (especially in multi-unit operations that target younger, wired-in diners), it’s crucial to remember that nothing will ever replace the personal, human touch.

 

This is especially true for independent and upscale restaurants, and even more so for established places where the competition of newer openings represent a particular draw for customers.

 

Case in point: The Angus Barn, in Raleigh, NC, which has been a paragon of hospitality—not to mention top-quality steaks—since it was opened in 1960 by Thad Eure Jr. and Charles Winston. Now under the direction of Thad’s daughter Van, the restaurant has kept up with the times and added event space, music in the lounge, a Chef’s Table and more contemporary menu items, but the core appreciation of customers has never changed. Regulars in the Wild Turkey Lounge have their names engraved on plaques above the bar, kids can come into the kitchen to help build their own ice cream desserts, and servers have business cards so that guests can ask for them by name. As Van puts it, “We’re in the business of making memories.” No wonder so many guests are also second-generation.

 

 

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Sexual Harassment

Oct 28, 2015

By Brian McDonough, Human Resources and Compliance, Synergy Restaurant Consultants

 

Most employees don’t complain until they are harmed, but once they believe that they have been harassed, they look around for others who have had similar experiences.

 

Susan, a current employee, doesn’t mind when the male servers flirt with her—after all, she is young, attractive and single. But then the manager decides to jump into the fun and now Susan is getting concerned. He’s a married man, why would he do this? Did she give him some sign that she was interested? “Perhaps he isn’t what I thought he was; maybe this has happened to others.”

 

Susan starts asking around and hears a lot of . . . “now that you mention it, that manager has been awfully friendly with me also.” This is not uncommon, unfortunately. Susan, as with others, doesn’t want to lose her job so she feels safer lodging a complaint as part of a group—it’s much harder for the employer to fire all of them is the thought.

 

In 2011, there were 11,300 claims of Sexual Harassment filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for that year alone, with a payout of over $52 million. This is a problem—not just because of the number of claims but also the dollar amounts that continue to be paid out for these complaints to basically go away.

 

Traditionally, the issues are a lack of training and/or a lack of documentation. If the harassment occurred as an “independent act” by an employee/manager, that’s one thing (and usually not costly) but when the employer “knew or should have known” about the harassment, the employer is liable. A majority of payouts for these complaints are predicated on a lack of systems in the establishment to address these problems.

 

Simple systems can be put in place to help solve these problems. Let’s explore a few:

 

  1. A thorough employee handbook: The Employee Handbook for all employees (including managers) should include guidelines about acceptable behavior.
  2. Complete and documented orientation: Some of the elements of orientation, including the Employment Application signed and the I-9 completed, should include information about Rules & Regulations within your restaurant(s). They should also include information services (such as places to file a complaint) and specifics on uniforms, parking for the location, and particulars on the normal process for communication. Remember that for some employees, this is a first job, and this type of information will be completely new to them.
  3. Employee files that include documentation for unacceptable performance/behavior: These files need to be maintained and locked up; remember they contain Social Security numbers (on the I-9), which must be protected.
  4. A published phone number for employees with concerns to report any issues: An 800-number or a website form can suffice. This is very important to the defense of a Sexual Harassment complaint. If you have an avenue for employees to complain and an individual did not complain, as the employer you have much less liability.

     5.  A department, group or person fully trained on how to handle complaints:  

No extensive training needed here, especially if you have a backup for addressing these issues. A law firm can do it for you, but this is expensive.

 

Solving sexual harassment problems before they happen isn’t difficult or expensive. Synergy can assist with revising policies and creating the documentation and training necessary to ensure that a problem like this doesn’t happen in your restaurant organization.

 

Check photo credit: Pete CC by 2.0