To Our Valued Subscribers:

Hooray it’s May! I hope you all had a great Easter and/ or Passover holiday. With April in the rearview mirror, the next BIG Event is the NRA Show for sure. (May 18-21). As I mentioned earlier, this is the ideal time to meet with candidates for face to face interviews and to really get a sense of who you are going to add to your team; or, if you have not set appointments with me or my American Recruiter colleagues to discuss how we can assist you and your team in meeting your goals, now is the time to call or e-mail us to set up an appointment. Our times are rapidly filling so don’t miss out on the opportunity to see how we can grow your business. Another big event in May are graduations. A whole new crew of employees entering the workforce. You like us are all of a sudden inundated with resumes from the new graduates. In a recent report on Fox Business, GoBanking Rates.com, surveyed more than One Thousand various individuals of various ages to see if people lie on their resumes. The results were somewhat eye opening. Of the responders the worst offenders (those that fudge the truth) are Millennials with twice the number reporting that they are “not always honest on the resume”. Here are the top 5 items fabricated most often:

·     Work Experience (38%)

·     Dates of Employment (31%)

·     Job Titles (16%)

·     References (15%)

·     College Education (11%)

So as you go thru the influx of resumes, be on the lookout for these falsehoods. Although you can eliminate any problems by using me or my team (Great plug for sure). You won’t get lied to when you read the latest edition of the American Recruiters Global Foodservice News. My team and I look forward to seeing you and your team here in Chicago… NO LIE!!

Craig Wilson

President

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Chipotle Digital Sales Double in First Quarter

The launch of Lifestyle Bowls at Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. in the recent quarter “resonated with consumers in a big way,” said Brian R. Niccol, chief executive officer. The menu options are geared toward popular diets such as Whole30, paleo, keto, vegan and vegetarian and contain ingredients already used in the burrito chain’s restaurants. “One of our key criteria, in order to bring in a new form or an all-new ingredient, is it can’t have an impact on throughout,” Mr. Niccol said during the company’s April 24 earnings call. “Consumers got to love it, it’s got to work financially, but it also has to work for our operating process. And so as a result, it’s going to take a little bit longer time to bring things to market that are either a change in process or require new equipment or a new form, versus it’s much easier to do things like a new ingredient or introduce people to a new way or a new Lifestyle Bowl, like we did in the first quarter. But the plan is to do both.”

For the first quarter ended March 31, Chipotle Mexican Grill had net income of $88,132,000, equal to $3.18 per share on the common stock, up 48% from $59,446,000, or $2.13 per share, in the prior-year period. Excluding the impact of restaurant asset impairment, corporate restructuring and certain other costs in the current quarter, adjusted net income increased 61% to $95,489,000, equal to adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.40. Revenue totaled $1,308,217,000, up 14% from $1,148,397,000. Comparable restaurant sales increased 9.9%. Digital sales grew 101% and accounted for nearly 16% of sales for the quarter. “We are pleased to be averaging more than 1 million digital transactions per week,” Mr. Niccol said. “Delivery remains a key driver of our digital growth, given enhanced capabilities on our app and web site as well as our expanded reach.” For the full year, management expects to generate mid- to high-single-digit comparable sales restaurant growth and add 140 to 155 new restaurants. “The first quarter’s strong results were driven by the same strategic focus areas that we’ve talked about for several quarters now: being culturally relevant and increasing brand engagement and visibility, digitizing and modernizing the restaurant experience, great hospitality and throughput and of course, enhancing our powerful economic model, all while building a great culture of accountability and creativity,” Mr. Niccol said. Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill have gained as much as 63% so far this year; however, the company’s stock eased more than 6% on April 25, after the company revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it had received a subpoena on April 18 requesting information related to foodborne illness incidents at Chipotle restaurants in California, Massachusetts, Virginia and Ohio in 2017 and 2018. The most recent incident occurred this past August, when an outbreak of Clostridium perfringens sickened 647 people who ate at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Powell, Ohio. Source: Food Business News.

Electrolux Acquires UNIC, a French Manufacturer of Professional Espresso Machines

Electrolux business area Professional Products announced it has acquired UNIC S.A.S., a French manufacturer of professional espresso machines. The acquisition complements the Electrolux offering of products for beverage service and further develops its position as a leader in complete solutions for the hospitality industry. UNIC is a manufacturer of espresso machines, including fully automatic as well as traditional models, with 100 years of technology, quality, and manufacturing experience. The acquired company had combined net sales of approximately EUR 20 million in 2018 and 130 employees. Its headquarters and main manufacturing facility are located in southern France, near Nice. The company has operated a branch office in Seattle, Washington, USA, since 2007. The acquisition is part of Electrolux Professional Products’ strategy to grow as the only supplier with a complete offering of food service, beverage, and laundry solutions under one brand. Together with previous acquisitions (Grindmaster-Cecilware in North America 2017 and SPM Drink Systems in Italy 2018), UNIC complements the Electrolux portfolio of products for hot, cold and frozen beverages. Grindmaster-Cecilware has been distributing a portion of the UNIC product range in North and Latin America under the Grindmaster brand since 2018. “UNIC’s line of innovative espresso products, especially in the fully automatic space, is an important strategic addition to our product offering, and their expertise enables us to further develop Electrolux technology platform for the fast-growing coffee market. We welcome the team to the Electrolux Professional family”, said Alberto Zanata, Head of Electrolux Professional Products. – Electrolux Professional Products.

Naturipe Farms Announces New Director of Marketing Innovation and Sustainability

Naturipe Farms has announced the appointment of Janis McIntosh as Director of Marketing Innovation & Sustainability. In her new role, McIntosh will be responsible for overseeing Naturipe’s ongoing and future sustainability initiatives, including their Cultivate with Care™ program, which she helped develop.  A 14-year Naturipe veteran, McIntosh’s expertise in the design and development of innovative and sustainable packaging made her a clear fit to take on this new role. “Janis’ passion for the environment has always shone through in her work, and after two decades in the fresh berry business, she understands the opportunities to bring innovative solutions that address the needs of our growers, retailers and our consumers,” said Dwight Ferguson, CEO and President of Naturipe Farms.

Under McIntosh’s guidance, Naturipe has received numerous industry awards including the Produce Innovation award from Produce Business and the Joe Nucci Award for Product Innovation at the New York Produce Show and Conference in 2017, and she has led collaborations with top retailers to reduce the use of plastics in food packaging. However, her proudest professional accomplishment was to spearhead an innovative trend in top-seal packaging for blueberries, which is now growing in popularity among retailers.  “To be sustainable you must be dynamic. You have to be willing to try new things and ask the tough questions”, says McIntosh. “The more curious and tenacious we are as an industry, the more likely we are to enact true, lasting change that benefits us all.” McIntosh has remained curious – studying the latest sustainability trends and receiving certificates in Packaging Management and Packaging Science from Clemson University as well as Completion of Food Packaging Basics from Michigan State University. In her new role, her initial projects will involve working with a key customer on a waste-reduction study and developing a more robust Cultivate with Care™ sustainability program leveraging the company’s current systems to gather and disseminate information for a digital platform. “In the months and years to come, we at Naturipe will redouble our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint,” said McIntosh. “I look forward to playing a key role in this continuing evolution.” – Source: Naturipe.

Coke Brand Ventures into Coffee, Energy Drinks

While double-digit growth continued for Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in the fiscal year’s first quarter, further Coke brand innovation came in new beverage categories: coffee and energy drinks. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola plans to launch Coke brand coffee in more than 25 markets this year, and a new Coke brand energy drink has begun appearing on retail shelves in Europe. Coca-Cola in the quarter ended March 29 posted net income of $1,678 million, equal to 39c per share on the common stock, up 23 % from $1,368 million, or 32c per share, in the first quarter of the previous year. Net revenues grew 5% to $8,020 million from $7,626 million in the previous year’s first quarter. Coca-Cola’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange closed at $48.21 per share on April 23, the day first-quarter results were reported, which compared with a close of $47.40 per share on April 22.

Coca-Cola tested coffee under the Coke brand in several Asian markets last year, said James Robert B. Quincey, chief executive officer, in an April 23 earnings call. “Coke Coffee was designed to reach consumers during specific occasions and channels like the mid-afternoon energy slump at work,” he said. “We’ve learned from these pilots, and we now plan to launch in more than 25 markets around the world by year end.” Developing markets may be more receptive to coffee under the Coke brand. In developed countries, three-quarters of what people drink is already a commercial beverage, meaning they have a certain view on what drinks line up with specific occasions, Mr. Quincey said. In countries with emerging economies, only one-quarter of what people drink is a commercial beverage. In those economies, Coca-Cola may have a better chance of connecting brands and benefits to certain occasions. “So there’s opportunities to expand categories and to leverage the blurring of the edges (of beverage categories),” he said. Coca-Cola in the first quarter completed its acquisition of London-based Costa Ltd., which includes a coffee vending business and a coffee roastery, from Whitbread P.L.C. Coca-Cola has plans for a new Costa ready-to-drink coffee product. “It’s likely that will be concentrated in the markets where Costa already is, and we’ll be coming out with that later in the second quarter,” Mr. Quincey said.

Like Coke Coffee, Coca-Cola Energy also could blur beverage categories. The new drink became available in Europe in April. “This takes one of the original brand edges of Coke, its energy boost, to a new level and a new taste,” Mr. Quincey said. “This product is designed to the white spaces where the energy category isn’t well-developed.” It’s too early to measure the product’s success, he said. “It’s only really just been launched,” Mr. Quincey said. “The first sales are only just being made. It seems to have resonated well in the first couple of weeks.” In carbonated soft drinks, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar rang up double-digit growth for the sixth straight quarter. “Constant innovation is crucial for sustained growth,” Mr. Quincey said. “Brand Coke, which includes our flagship product and its many variants, has momentum because it has been continually updated to maintain its relevance. Over the past three years, innovation has helped accelerate global retail value growth each year, including up to 6% growth in 2018. “This growth is in large part because of the success of Coke Zero Sugar, which didn’t happen, of course, overnight. We refined and expanded Zero Sugar over time, and we see more growth ahead. Coke Zero Sugar succeeds because it builds on the brand edge of original Coke, on its taste, its upliftment, on the energy boost that the product provides, all these in a product that doesn’t have calories or sugar.” Unit case volume for sparkling soft drinks grew 1% in the quarter. Water, enhanced waters and sports drinks had 6% growth. Unit case volume for juice, dairy and plant-based beverages was even, as was the case for tea and coffee. Within North America, operating income of $586 million was up 16% from $503 million in the previous year’s first quarter. Net revenues grew 1%, to $2,683 million from $2,652 million, and organic net revenues were up 1%. Unit case volume declined 1%, largely due to the impact of pricing and packaging initiatives as well as the timing of Easter (April 21, or after the end of the first quarter). In the United States, Orange Vanilla Coke and Orange Vanilla Coke Zero Sugar helped to drive 6% retail value growth for the Coca-Cola brand. Coca-Cola companywide in the 2019 fiscal year continues to expect about 4% growth in organic revenues and an e.p.s. range of a 1% decrease to a 1% increase. – Source: Food Business News.

Experiential Marketing 101: Here’s How Restaurants Do It

In the modern world, customers are looking for unique and outstanding experiences, and are willing to pay top dollar for it. This applies to the restaurant business, too, where the scope for experiential marketing is tremendous. Seventy-seven of marketers use experiential marketing as a vital part of a brand’s advertising strategies. To make the most of experiential marketing, restaurants can leverage the sensory advantage with taste, sight, and smell, and then create unique experiences. With a dash of creativity, restaurants can engage customers and turn them into loyal patrons. Creating an effective experiential marketing campaign, however, will require plenty of primary research and strategizing. Here are a few tips in this regard.

Prioritize Customer Feedback and Experience. Customers are essentially at the heart of all experiential marketing initiatives. The ultimate goal of any restaurant should be to personalize experiences in order to attract customers, appeal to their senses, and leave them wanting more. Listening to their feedback and formulating strategies accordingly will help get the job done.  Restaurateurs need to gain a thorough understanding of how customers interact with their offerings, and how the brand resonates with them at the emotional level. Only after this has been worked out, is it possible to formulate and experiential strategy that patrons will relate to.  Most modern eateries get their feedback on digital platforms such as Yelp, social media sites, and through online forms on their website. Such platforms make it easy to gather information on how customers are experiencing the brand, and how it’s shaping their perception. This data is treasure for restaurants serious about basing their experiential marketing initiatives on customer behavior.

Work on Enhancing Your Brand Experience. To make a tangible difference to customers, a restaurant’s offerings need to become an indispensable part of their lives. Restaurateurs need to refine their brand’s core values by having concrete answers to questions about what they stand for, how they enrich customers’ lives, and why customers should choose them over their competitors.  Nine in 10 marketers agree that brand experiences deliver more compelling engagement. Restaurants should clearly define their brand, and align their experiences with their message to their customers. This, in turn, can inspire loyalty and be reinforced by allowing them to understand the products/services with multiple senses. Eighty-five percent of consumers are likely to purchase after participating in events and experiences, and over 90 percent have more positive feelings about brands after attending events. Food sampling events can work wonders for restaurants as they allow customers to try products/services before buying them, which can result in successful marketing activations. A few great ways to get there include inviting customers for glamorous outdoor dinners, wine pairing classes, or trials of experimental cuisines. Restaurant owners can also organize a masterclass or demo so attendees can learn about new food products and/or cooking techniques from well-known influencers or celebrity chefs. Restaurants can augment their brand experience for customers by taking them on a behind-the-scenes tour of their establishment to their kitchen, processing areas, or produce gardens. The idea is to give them something valuable (other than food). Arm customers with knowledge and positive emotional experiences, and they’re sure to keep coming back.

Create Interactive and Engaging Experiences. Does your restaurant fulfill a customer need that your competitors cannot? Does it address customers’ pain points (these could be related to products, service, and pricing)? Is it engaging customers in interactive ways to convey your brand’s message adequately? Does your brand stir up specific emotions in your customers? If yes, it is possible to create experiences that fill a void, like providing a quick meal, making customers feel like royalty, serving plant-based food, catering to particular diet plans, and so on. Pop-up dinners are popular in the food industry as a means of offering diners something unique in terms of the location, interactions, menu, and themes. These are carefully crafted for customers who crave not just a good meal, but an exciting dining experience. Consider coming up with a pop-up restaurant at a concert, a music carnival, a holiday festival, or even a fashion show. Customers can also be offered the best food items on the menu along with a thematic twist like McDonald’s, Austria did with their tongue-in-cheek April Fool’s prank that they called “McDrive Surprise.” They replaced their regular staff with unusual characters such as a wrestler, an opera performer, an astronaut, a zombie girl, and so on. The element of surprise (clubbed with a dose of humor) can be instrumental in creating positive and memorable brand experiences, making customers feel special and campaign go viral in no time.

Give Customers Something Shareworthy. Since experiential marketing focuses on promoting a brand’s message and reputation rather than just selling products, restaurants need to leverage commonly-used tools to do so and reach a wider audience base. Social media plays a huge role here. A bakery, for instance, can have 10 people over for a masterclass on cake frosting, and all of them may post their exciting and positive experience on their social accounts. They might also tell everyone they know about the bakery and its products. Social sharing can take this to the next level. In short, these ten attendees/participants have the potential to become brand advocates, who will probably do a lot of selling for the bakery. Also, this kind of content will likely outlast any experiential marketing campaign. It is, therefore, highly recommended to take the shareability factor into consideration when formulating an experiential marketing campaign. Consider how the content posted on social media will convey a brand’s messages and shape untapped audiences’ perception of the restaurant.

Consider a Complementary Partnership. Working on enhancing a restaurant’s presence online will probably necessitate a partnership with an SEO expert. Similarly, experiential marketing will require restaurateurs to partner with complementary businesses whose brand ethos and message coincide (to some degree at least) with their own. This can be extremely helpful for restaurants that cater to niche customers or provide specialized products and services. Consider partnering with another businesses or events to be able to share costs arising from running the campaign, renting a space, hiring people, and so on. Doing so will also facilitate access a new customer segment that may have been ignored or gone untapped before. No wonder, 62 percent of senior marketers plan on investing more in live events in the future both, in budget and number of events! In conclusion: Harnessing experiential marketing is a great way for restaurants to differentiate themselves from competition while connecting with customers on a deeper level. Because experiential marketing is largely human-driven and interactive, things may not always unfold as planned. With careful planning and execution, however, earning customer loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, social mentions, and an improved bottom line become easy. Creating positive and memorable experiences for customers does take effort, but can go a long way in helping restaurants achieve the big results that matter. – Source: fsrmagazine.

New McDonald’s Products are Just Imports from Europe

In early June, the fast-food giant is adding four “Worldwide Favorites” to the menu, according to internal documents shared with Business Insider. The new menu items are the Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger from Spain, the Stroopwafel McFlurry from the Netherlands, the tomato-mozzarella chicken sandwich from Canada, and the cheesy bacon fries from Australia. In an email to Business Insider, a McDonald’s representative said “Geen commentaar,” which translates to “no comment.” McDonald’s tested the Grand McExtreme and the Stroopwafel McFlurry at 50 locationsin South Florida in 2018. The locations also served Malaysia’s BBQ McShaker Fries and the McSpicy Chicken from Hong Kong, which do not appear to be making the national rollout this time around.

The Grand McExtreme, as tested in Florida, is a fresh-beef Quarter Pounder topped with McBacon sauce, bacon, Gouda cheese, and slivered onions. The Stroopwafel McFlurry is a vanilla-soft-serve-based McFlurry with added caramel waffle cookies, called stroopwafels, and caramel sauce. The tomato-mozzarella chicken sandwich, which is served in Canada, tops a chicken breast with onions, lettuce, tomato, mozzarella, and a tomato-and-herb sauce. And the cheesy bacon fries will likely be the same as the limited-time offering that McDonald’s rolled out earlier this year. The fast-food giant has long served the fries in other countries around the world. The Worldwide Favorites will hit McDonald’s menus around the same time that the chain’s “Signature Crafted” line disappears in early June. Last week, McDonald’s confirmed that the chain is cutting the line of more upscale burgers after two years. According to internal documents shared with Business Insider, McDonald’s is cutting the Signature Crafted line in part because the chain is looking to “reduce the number of products in restaurants.” “With our new Quarter Pounder Deluxe and Quarter Pounder Bacon, we’ve introduced even more ways to enjoy the classic burger toppings they know and love, now on the fresh beef Quarter Pound patty,” McDonald’s said in a statement last week. “Based on their feedback, we’ll move away from the Signature Crafted Recipes line on our national menu.” – Source: Business Insider.

Association Releases 2019 State of the Restaurant Industry Report

Find out what significant forces are impacting and shaping the restaurant industry, including the general U.S. economy, workforce demographics, emerging technologies, and food and menu trends. The report analyzes the industry by service segment, customer preferences, and much more to identify the positive impacts and potential challenges coming in both tableservice and limited-service restaurants. It collects and analyzes data from a variety of nationwide surveys of restaurant owners, operators, chefs, and consumers.

Top line findings: Restaurant industry sales are forecast to reach $863 billion in 2019. Approximately half of restaurant operators surveyed say their business is stronger than it was two years ago. The industry employs 15.3 million workers and continues to be the country’s second largest private-sector employer. By 2029, the industry will have added 1.6 million new restaurant jobs. When asked about the economy, restaurant operators are generally optimistic about business conditions. Roughly three in four operators gave ratings of ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ when asked to assess business conditions in the overall U.S. restaurant industry. But they’re also acutely aware of competitive pressures, rising labor costs, a tighter labor market, and a complex regulatory landscape that compounds pressure on business performance and revenue. Off-premises and delivery options are a ‘must have’. Growing demand among consumers will make off-premises options important drivers across the industry in 2019. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults—including 50 percent of millennials—say they’re more likely to have restaurant food delivered than they were two years ago. On the heels of millennials come the Gen Z’s, digital natives, for whom delivery will be an expectation. Other key takeaways surrounding off-premise and delivery include: More than six in 10 family-dining, casual-dining and fast-casual operators say their off-premises sales, which include takeout and delivery, are higher than they were two years ago. Nearly four in 10 operators plan to invest more capital in expanding their off-premises business in 2019.

Technology will continue to boost business. Restaurant operators agree the use of technology in a restaurant gives them a competitive edge; it appeals to consumer demand for convenience in the front of the house, and helps streamline operations in the back of the house. Many are planning to ramp up their tech investments in 2019. The report details the types of technologies being adopted. Top challenge is clear. Recruiting and retaining employees are the top challenges for many operators. Competition for employees is intense; 35 percent of restaurant operators indicate that they currently have job openings that are proving hard to fill. Overall, finding employees for back-of-the-house positions is the toughest. For general back-of-the-house jobs, family and casual dining sectors are having an even harder time than quickservice, fast-casual and fine dining, but the quickservice and fast-casual sectors have the hardest time finding managers. The prolonged economic expansion has led to a tighter labor market for businesses in many industries, but the restaurant industry faces a few unique challenges. Long-term projections call for a shrinking teen labor force in the years ahead, a concern considering how dependent the restaurant industry is on this age group. Older employees are becoming an increasingly important labor source: The number of adults age 55 or older working in the restaurant industry jumped 70 percent between 2007 and 2018 – an increase of 400,000 people.

Careers in restaurants gaining steam. According to Association analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, restaurants have added jobs with annual incomes between $45,000 and $74,999 at a rate more than three times stronger than the overall economy. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of restaurant jobs in this income range jumped 71 percent. In comparison, the total number of jobs in the economy with incomes in this range rose just 21 percent. More than any other industry in the economy, the existence of multiple restaurants in nearly every community gives employees additional opportunities for upward mobility and career growth. In a related initiative, the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation will debut a new training and certification program in May that will shine the light on the restaurant industry’s excellent long-term career opportunities. The 2019 State of the Industry report comprises nearly 70 pages of compelling original and aggregated research to provide the definitive snapshot of the restaurant industry, and its challenges and opportunities in the near future. Source: The National Restaurant Association.

Antonio Swad Swings Back into the Restaurant Business

Antonio Swad thought he had a brilliant idea when he opened his new restaurant Porch Swing. He was going to present soft drinks in a fun, interactive way. Guests would be offered a cup of crushed ice and a 16-ounce can of their favorite soda to pour over. Swad figured it would be a hit. Just a little over a month since opening, guests don’t seem to agree.  “And as it turns out, people really don’t like it,” Swad says. This is just one of the challenges Swad has faced since debuting the concept in Dallas a month ago. Swad, who founded quick-service chains Wingstop and Pizza Patrón, finally felt he was at the right place to dive into the full-service space after selling the latter brand two years ago. Every day, though, has presented new lessons for Swad as a first time full-service operator. “I sort of look at it like getting the restaurant open was analogous to getting to the starting line of the race,” Swad says. “It’s in no way just getting a restaurant built and getting it opened. It’s accomplishing ultimately what you need to accomplish with a license to learn, and I’m trying to do that every day.”

Swad is using customer and server feedback, he says, to help transform processes along the way. One example: Initially, he didn’t realize how big of a role reviews and social play for sit-down venues. “I’ll be honest, I was completely shocked,” he says He admits he was annoyed to see customers reviewing their dining experience before they had even left the restaurant. But Swad’s mindset has changed to embrace the reviews and use them to remedy issues and incentivize employees. “I’ve gone full circle on it,” he says. “At first it really bothered me … We had a very rough opening and we’ve used reviews particularly when it was about the service to learn about what we were falling short on.” New servers were hired and the reviews have reflected the improvements. In the past, Swad says, companies used mystery shoppers to see how they were doing. Now, the brand has various customer experiences at their fingertips, and they don’t have to pay for them. Servers with exceptional reviews are presented with gifts, which has increased table touches and overall customer service in the restaurant, he says. When it comes to food quality, Swad sees the reviews as a real-time solution as well. If diners are saying the potatoes are lumpy in their reviews and Swad and his team are monitoring comments, they have the ability to go to the kitchen and identify the disconnect. The concept is working so far. It’s nailing down and tweaking minor issues that have Swad busy. He is hands-on with the daily operations, talking with servers and cooks to see what’s working and what needs to be changed. And just like Swad learned with his soda experiment, some customers just aren’t going to like every idea. “Do I want to just try to prove a point to them and lose sales over it?,” he says. “Or do I want to just take a big swallow and say, ‘OK, well, I’m going to get this change in the works so we can give people and meet their expectations just a little better.”

Small menu, no problem. Swad calls the food at Porch Swing, “polished comfort food.” The restaurant was designed to be a place where Swad would like to dine himself. He wanted a space that had a nice, crisp, new environment, where the food was inviting and the menu understandable. “Polished comfort food … refers to not only just the food, but also the environment,” Swad says. “We put a lot of equity into the interior. In many ways it was the same type of worry you would put into fine dining. But it’s not fine dining. We wanted people to walk in and have that ‘Wow, this is nice’ moment. I thought if we could combine that moment with food that they were sort of already familiar with and executing these old favorites to a little bit higher level. I thought we’d have a shot.”

Porch Swing’s menu only consists of eight entrees: two beef items, two poultry items, two fish items, and two pork items. The symmetry was pure accident, Swad says. And although the menu might seem simple to some, there’s a lot that goes into those eight offerings. The Porch Swing kitchen prepares 55 recipes from scratch to create those options. From gravy and tartar sauce to condiments, everything is made in house. “You’d be surprised you can cover quite a bit of people’s desires when you really sit down and you balance out the menu,” Swad says. “I think our guests are noticing the difference. I mean, it’s extremely high quality food, but it’s familiar food and we try to execute it at the highest level possible.” Small details—like frying the chicken fried steak in beef fat instead of vegetable oil—pay off with bold flavor throughout the menu. And although these details are not outlined specifically, Swad says customers are vocal about how they can taste a difference. The kitchen is split in half to cater to two different preparations techniques: slow cooking and frying. On the slow cooking side, cooks prepare dishes like St. Louis-style ribs and roasted pork loin. Nothing is cooked above 225 degrees on that side, Swad says. “The offset to that is it takes a long time when you’re cooking something at such a low temperature,” he says. “But there are tremendous benefits to that when it comes to flavor.” Swad doesn’t see any major menu developments and wants to keep it small, but he isn’t oblivious to making changes when necessary. Brisket served with Porch Swing’s Red Rover gravy is being tested on Sundays to see if the classic Texan dish has a chance at going full time. Swad, however, is confident another option—a roasted half chicken—will become menu item No. 9. At a quick glance, the menu might seem heavily focused on fried food even though there are other non-fried options. Swad sees the roasted chicken as another “healthier” choice. “It has a broad customer base, people want to get chicken, but will say, ‘we’re just not looking for fried chicken,’” Swad says. When considering new items to be added to the menu, Swad is also thinking about the burden another entree might put on his employees. If he can serve a new item in an efficient and timely manner during a Saturday night rush at the 280-seat restaurant then it passes the test.

A slice of pie. When it comes to dessert at Porch Swing, Swad wanted something that was familiar and classically Southern. So, he went with pie. “Everybody understands a slice of pie,” he says. “I don’t know anybody that says, ‘Oh, I really don’t like pie.’” Six or seven different pies are on the menu or can be picked up at the Porch Swing Pie Company’s store inside of the restaurant. The pie flavors range from classic apple to cookie topped pecan pie. Customers can order pie while dining at Porch Swing or pop in to the Pie Company, which has its own entrance. Porch Swing’s kitchen has an entire section dedicated to the bakery and a dedicated team of bakers who make the pies from scratch each day. “We took pies over the top,” Swad says. “It’s really working out. It’s turning out to be between 12­–14 percent of our total revenue. Our rate on pies is phenomenal.” Swad wants to keep the pie menu small to ensure consistent quality. Even though pies are working well, he doesn’t see the list of flavors exceeding seven. However, guests will see different flavors appear on the menu as the company develops and tests them. Much to Swad’s surprise, people are ordering whole pies just as much as slices. He sees a lot of potential for growth within the store element. “People are taking your brand and they’re taking it home … when they eat the pie it better be damn good. Fortunately ours is,” he says.

Outdoor Dining. Porches play an important role in the culture of the South, Swad says. Hence the name. Swad emphasized that notion by offering an elevated outdoor seating experience. Out of the restaurant’s 280 seats, 120 of them are out on the patio. The covered space can be used most of the year with heating units for the colder days and large fans for warmer ones. “I just loved to see people come in and ask, ‘Can we sit outside?’” Swad says. “I’m so happy to say, ‘Yes, you can.’ And I’ve got about 280 seats and if they’re the first 120 to fill up, so be it.” Swad is developing another sub-brand of Porch Swing, Porch Swing Live, to expand the live music aspect. A stage is set up year-round and musicians just need to bring their instruments and plug in for a show. When entertainment isn’t scheduled, guests can take center stage if they want. The stage has a few guitars if someone wants to get up and perform. The stage’s marquee is also interactive so any guest can add their name to it by programming it on an iPad. “What happens next? They take a picture and post it somewhere,” Swad says. “And that’s a brand impression right there. People are having a ton of fun with it. Heck yeah go up on the stage. That’s what it’s for. If nobody’s performing on there it might as well be you.” The restaurant wouldn’t be complete without porch swings hanging out front. Swad has an expression, “It’s hard to be mad sitting on a porch swing,” that he thinks that perfectly embodies what he’s trying to accomplish. “I just love when I look out the window and I see people usually on their way out,” Swad says. “They’re full, they’re satisfied, and they decided to sit for a moment and swing. Nothing makes me happier than to see that. That means they got the whole experience.” Swinging into the future. “I didn’t get into this to build and operate just one restaurant,” Swad says. “I have a lot of confidence that the concept is the right mix.” Southern food no longer is contained to the South.

Across the country, consumers want to try classic staples and Swad thinks Porch Swing is a good vehicle for the cuisine. At the moment, he is focusing on working out the kinks at the first restaurant before building another one in Texas. Swad plans on testing a third location in a different market. “I think the stores have the capability of doing extremely good ratios of sales to investment,” Swad says.  “I’m selling food that pretty much everybody eats either regularly or occasionally. There’s a lot of areas in this country that have a demographic that’s a good fit for the food.” Swad admits that he is still at the beginning of the race. Porch Swing is far from perfection, but Swad says they’re close. “It’s a work in progress,” he says. “It’s sort of like getting married or having kids. They say you’re quite ready. And I sort of feel that way about this.” – Source: fsrmagazine.

The Fear and Promise of Mobile Technology

 Mobile technology first took over our lives. Now, it’s becoming one of the most disruptive business opportunities to hit the hospitality space in recent memory. In the case of restaurants, it’s shifted everything from point of sale to inventory management to training, customer loyalty, audits, and much more. It’s a window into the day-to-day running of a restaurant multi-unit operators couldn’t have dreamed of before. It’s also streamlining operations and helping managers connect and direct employees with real-time results. Oracle released a study Tuesday aimed at measuring the impact of widespread adoption of mobile technologies in the restaurant space. They surveyed 279 leaders within the F&B industry about their brand’s use of mobile technology, their relationship to mobile innovation, and their readiness to continue to embrace the outlet while facing a constant threat of disruption. “The rise of mobile ordering and on-demand food delivery services are completely changing the restaurant and guest experience,” said Simon de Montfort Walker, senior vice president and general manager for Oracle Food and Beverage, in a statement. “In order to remain relevant to a rapidly evolving audience, restaurants must act quickly to modernize their mobile strategy and offerings. Today, the experience a customer has ordering online or from a kiosk can be just as essential as if they were ordering in the store.” Here’s an overview of what they found:

84 percent of respondents saw business improvements when they launched a branded mobile app.

93 percent believe their mobile investment promotes loyalty and drives repeat business.

89 percent believe their mobile strategy will drive sales growth.

84 percent believe it reduces their labor costs.

96 percent believe mobile will save time and money on back-end functions.

35 percent are confident in their ability to prepare for a mobile tomorrow while meeting the demands of their customers today. ORACLE. Obviously, the cliff drop on the final question jumps out. Restaurants are driven by anxiety over the future. A fear of failure, so to speak. Yet, clearly, they understand and recognize the value of mobile technology. But asking a restaurateur to worry about next week when they’re trying to survive the next hour is tough. This is more likely a concern of independents and smaller operators who don’t have corporate staff dedicated to digital initiatives. The independent restaurateur has a plate full of problems without tossing future mobile planning into the mix. True to the notion, 45 percent of Oracle’s respondents identified as full-service operators. Fast casual and quick service represented 24 percent and 23 percent of responses, respectively. (Theme park, stadium, and other providers rounded out the responses with 8percent, while 71 percent of respondents were director level or higher, with 45 percent answering from companies that generate more than $500 million in annual revenue). Why it matters. Increasing customer expectations are putting added stress on operators. Mobile abilities, meanwhile, offer immediate guest benefits such as seamless payments, easy ordering and delivery, faster service, and visibility to the process every step of the way. Restaurants can reach new customers, access new options for off-premises, and offer low-pressure opportunities for upselling. Oracle’s data found that restaurants feel weighed down by the threat of disruption from more consumer-centric competitors and were concerned they weren’t investing enough to keep pace. The company asked respondents to rate their strategy against 22 factors of mobile maturity, measuring their impact across both their current ability to deliver outstanding guest experiences and their preparedness for the future. What it showed: 35 percent were confident in both their ability to prepare for a mobile tomorrow while meeting the demands of their customers today. That’s 65 percent of restaurants that aren’t sure what’s coming next.

13 percent said their team is ready for tomorrow, but still struggle with their current ability to deliver outstanding guest experiences

25 percent represented “mobile laggards,” or reported the least mobile maturity, expressing doubt in both their ability to delivery today and their plan for the future.

27 percent said they are “plateaued.” They’re confident in their current approach but aren’t ready for tomorrow necessarily.

Disrupt and divide

Restaurants, understandably, expressed concern over competitors’ digital efforts. It’s difficult to keep up when there’s no finish line in sight.

62 percent of respondents said they had doubts over their ability to keep up, with 18 percent in strong agreement that they were not investing quickly enough to keep pace with the speed of mobile technology change.

59 percent agreed that their company faces the threat of disruption from more mobile-enabled competitors.

These fears surfaced despite some strong scores on organization readiness questions, Oracle said, which indicates that restaurant owners are optimistic that investment in mobile will increase sales and save them time and money. They see the benefits and feel intense pressure to invest in the right mobile technology to remain on the front foot. Reasons to invest. Oracle asked, on a scale of 1 to 6 (6 being the most agreement), why restaurants are bullish on investing in mobile. Cost reduction: Expanding mobile capabilities for managing inventory in restaurants will save the company time and money. Average score: 5.05. Repeat business: Guest-facing mobile applications promote loyalty to the brand and drive repeat business. Average score: 4.95. Brand loyalty: Restaurants expect their future investment in additional mobile capabilities will improve guest experience and increase customer loyalty. Average score: 4.93. On the note of using mobile inventory management and using guest-facing mobile applications to promote brand loyalty and drive repeat business, Oracle said this shift could signal a change in approach. Instead of targeting granular improvements in speed of service or ticket averages individually, executives are taking a more holistic view. These large-scale improvements have the potential to make larger shifts in the bottom line than the point-of-service efficiency models seen before. One example: 96 percent agreed that expanded mobile inventory management would drive time and money savings, and 40 percent strongly agreed with the sentiment. Restaurants have the chance to apply mobile innovation to basic problems of supply and demand. That’s the big picture. How can brands become inventory efficient, attract new customers, serve them more efficiently, and keep them coming back? Mobile solutions, if they’re not already, will likely be a cornerstone of F&B operations for brands of all sizes, in all markets. It can help operators satisfy guests as well as improve back-office management. Integrated mobile inventory management is a key indicator of mobile maturity, Oracle said. Integrating guest service and inventory management on the same device allows restaurants to streamline processes, integrate front- and back-of-the-house functions, and boost the return on investment of their mobile utilization. As always, let customer experience guide the strategy. The fear that restaurants are being outpaced by competitors can be alleviated by allowing guests, through loyalty and dine-in business, to direct mobile initiatives. Use mobile and technology to enhance customer service, not replace an essential human element. In the case of delivery, investment in mobile should be there to support delivery experience, not the other way around. Cautiously embrace partnerships with mobile-first startups, Oracle said. The aggregator relationships can provide exposure to new customers, but there remains potential risk in shrinking profit margins and shifting customer allegiances. Hold on to that brand value at all costs. – Source: fsrmagazine.

Coffee Chain Plans Long-Term Rollout

The coffee chain formerly known as Dunkin’ Donuts surprised consumers last September when it dropped ‘Donuts’ from its name, becoming simply Dunkin’. After introducing the change with a tongue-in-cheek campaign—proclaiming it was on a “first-name basis” with consumers—the brand rolled out new packaging this past January to reflect its shortened name. To understand what it takes for a behemoth like Dunkin’, which has over 12,800 locations worldwide, to undergo a makeover of its visual identity, restaurants, packaging, name and more, Adweek got an exclusive look inside the process. Source: Adweek magazine.

Panera Eyes New Tap-And- Go Set Up for Coffee Sales

Panera Bread is planning to test new technology that will enable morning customers to zip into a store, pour themselves a coffee and register the purchase by tapping their smartphones on a poster before exiting. The capability will be in addition to a beefed-up version of Panera’s Rapid Pick-Up app feature, which enables patrons to place a breakfast order remotely and have it waiting for them when they enter the store. The order-and-pay-in-advance system has been tweaked to include a reorder function, so habitual morning orders can be placed with a single touch of the phone screen. Both initiatives are part of a new push for breakfast business by the bakery-cafe chain, which faces competition from Starbucks and Dunkin’, both of which have embraced technology to speed service for morning customers. Both of those brands allow customers to order and pay in advance, and both accept contactless payment through patrons’ phones. Like those two brands, Panera is also tweaking its a.m. menu.

The strategy, according to the chain, is to spare customers from having to weigh quality against convenience when choosing where to get breakfast or a coffee to start their day. The additions include three new breakfast wraps: egg, cheese and maple-flavored bacon; egg, chipotle-flavored chicken and avocado; and Mediterranean Egg White. Each will be offered before 10:30 a.m. and carry a suggested retail price of $5.29. They range in calories from 270, for the egg-white wrap, to 470, for the version that includes maple bacon. The chain stresses that all are “clean,” or consistent with the brand’s pledge to forgo artificial additives and flavorings. In addition, Panera has switched to a cold brew for iced coffee, and said it is upgrading its coffee across the board. The chain is owned by JAB Holding Co., which is also the parent of coffee specialists Peet’s, Stumptown, Intelligentsia, Caribou and Keurig. Ten new bakery items were also added to the menu, including additional varieties of croissants, cinnamon rolls and scones. “Our focus on breakfast isn’t just about a single item or category—it’s about looking at the market and bridging a gap for guests. People are compromising between convenience and quality in the morning, and we know that’s a problem Panera can help solve,” Blaine Hurst, Panera’s CEO, said in a statement. Earlier this year, the chain expanded its delivery service to include small breakfast orders. Previously, customers needed to hit a certain dollar threshold to have food brought to them before lunch. Hurst noted that the strategy parallels the plan Panera successfully used to boost its lunch business. The new frictionless pay option, called Panera Tap, is scheduled to be tested starting in May in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area. – Source: Restaurant Business online.

Domino’s CEO: We Need 25,000 Stores by 2025 to Accomplish our Objectives

Domino’s Pizza seeks to expand its global footprint to 25,000 stores in order to achieve its top objectives and build its market share, CEO Ritch Allison told CNBC Wednesday. That’s nearly 10,000 more locations in addition to its existing pizza joints in more than 85 markets. The franchise is the second largest pizzeria chain in the world. “It’s all part of our strategy to fortress the markets that we operate in, which brings a lot of benefits,” Allison explained to “Mad Money’s” Jim Cramer. ”[It] gets us closer to the customer so our service improves, lowers the cost of that delivery as we’re driving fewer miles, and also frankly improves the wages for our drivers because they’re getting more delivery runs per hour.” As more brands like McDonald’s, Starbucks and Chipotle and partner with third-party delivery services to grow their customer bases, Domino’s is determined not to outsource to platforms such as Uber Eats and DoorDash. The company has been investing in its digital services and doesn’t want to give away the margins or data it has gathered from more than 20 million active members in its loyalty program. The loyalty program and better technology has helped the pizzamaker increase its app downloads, boost its operations, and gain more repeat customers, Allison said. “In addition to all of that, it’s given us some really interesting intelligence about where else our consumers go to buy their pizza,” he said. “They go other places, and now we know a lot more about that than we did just a few months ago.” The stock jumped after it reported better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter. While it did not beat same-store-sales growth expectations, the 3.9% that Domino’s reported was not as bad as investors feared. In order to build out its pizza empire, Allison said Domino’s must provide consistent service to customers and offer the cheapest delivery. The goal is to reduce a 9-minute drive to just 5 or 6 minutes, which he said would mean a pie is delivered less than 25 minutes after ordering. “The more runs that we get per hour — it just improves the economics of each of those delivery orders because in some of the high-wage labor markets today it’s really difficult to take $20 worth of food 9 minutes away form your location and make money on that order,” Allison said. “We have to bring these territories down tighter to accomplish our objectives and to protect ourselves against this new emerging set of competitors.” Source: CNBC.com.

McDonald’s is Partnering with AARP to Hire Older Employees

The fast food chain said that it is partnering with AARP, a nonprofit interest group for aging Americans, to help attract workers who are aged fifty or above. That demographic makes up just 11% of the workforce at corporate-owned stores, according to the company. McDonald’s hopes that the new recruitment tactic will attract workers for breakfast and lunch shifts, in particular. Now, McDonald’s tends to attract younger workers who either can’t work mornings because of school, or prefer not to start early in the day. Hiring older workers is also a way to attract talent as US unemployment, now at 3.8%, hovers near all-time lows. McDonald’s has posted positions to its AARP site. The AARP Foundation is helping match candidates with open jobs at McDonald’s through its Senior Community Service Employment Program, which helps low-income, unemployed people aged 55 and older find work, and through its Back to Work 50+, which also helps older job seekers. The process is being piloted in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and North Carolina, with a national rollout planned for this summer. McDonald’s would like to fill 250,000 jobs. For the company, the program is also a way to boost diversity, said Melissa Kersey, McDonald’s US Chief People Officer. “Having a diverse and inclusive workforce is critical to success of business,” she told CNN Business. “We believe age is also an important part of that.” With the labor market so tight, fast food chains have been getting creative in their attempts to attract workers. Earlier this month, Taco Bell announced that it would host nearly 600 “hiring parties” with free food, swag and Instagram-friendly photo props to help fill thousands of open jobs. The parties are planned for this week. Companies may also be particularly interested in hiring older workers. Susan Weinstock, vice president of financial resiliency programming at AARP, told CNN Business that about 1,000 companies including McDonald’s have signed AARP’s employer pledge program, which requires signatories to publicly state that they “recognize the value of experienced workers” and “recruit across diverse age groups.” Major employers like Google, CVS, Macy’s and others have signed the pledge. “Over the last couple of years we’ve seen an acceleration of companies signing,” Weinstock said. “I think the word is getting out about the quality of older worker,” she added. “There’s also a labor shortage, and so this is an opportunity for employers.” McDonald’s plans to encourage members of other demographics to apply using different recruitment tactics moving forward, Kersey said. Source: USA TODAY.

Robotics in the Food Industry: Where’s the Opportunity?

Whether or not robotics will play into the future of the food industry is no longer a question. The technology is being implemented out in the field in the form mechanical produce pickers on farms and autonomous vehicles delivering food out on the streets. It’s also being used behind the scenes in the food industry, flipping burgers and frying chicken in restaurants, and picking and fulfilling e-commerce orders in supermarket warehouses. On the consumer-facing end, it’s delivering orders in restaurants, making coffee in coffee shops and baking bread in supermarket bakeries. Now that the technology is here and being put to use, the question of if and when surrounding robots has now become why and how, and inventors and start-ups of all sizes are addressing challenges head-on in order to capture opportunities to provide solutions in an economically pressured, ever-evolving world of food.

In order to succeed, especially in a slow-to-adopt industry, robots must add value, whether it’s in the supply chain or to the consumer, industry experts agreed at articulate, a food robotics summit held in San Francisco last week. Randall Wilkinson, CEO of Walla Walla, Wash.-based Wilkinson Baking Company, which created the BreadBot, a fully autonomous bread making machine found in supermarkets, pointed out that in his business, when you take a look at the costs involved in producing and distributing bread, it can be a costly endeavor. “When you have this entire supply chain, the question is, what is my contribution to that supply chain? What am I making more efficient in that chain?” he said at ArticulATE. “Many of the contributions being made are in labor reduction, which is significant, but in our case, the actual offset that we’re looking at is all the plant and equipment costs of the factory…all of the labor costs of the factory, the fleet, fuel and distribution costs — when you have a value proposition that addresses as many slices of that value chain as you can, I think it strengthens the case for the role of automation.” Not only should the adopter believe that the technology is relevant, it must also be helpful for employees that have to work with it and customers need to love it as well, said John Ha, CEO of Bear Robotics, which created Penny, a robot that can act as a server in the front-of-house in restaurants and hospitality scenarios. “The overall restaurant industry is very conservative and their decision making is slow,” Ha said. “We saw in the early days when POS first appeared, adoption was slow, but suddenly, people realized that it truly helped the operations, and the adoption went up very quickly.” Linda Pouliot, CEO of Dishcraft agreed, saying her company’s approach is to ask where can it can provide the most value in the back-of-house in commercial kitchens, and create products from there. “In hospitality, it’s a close knit group of people who know each other so once you delight a few, our goal is that people will love it so much that they’ll tell everyone that they must adopt this,” she said.

At Creator, a burger restaurant in San Francisco that uses robots to build the perfect burger, the value is seen by the consumers since it’s able to make $6 burgers that keep up with taste and quality expectations at the same time. “At the end of the day, our goal is not to be the world’s most automated restaurant, our goal is not to have as few people as possible — the goal is to have the best experience possible, and sometimes that means automating things,” said Alex Vardakostas, CEO of Creator. Vardakostas added that he highly values freeing up humans for roles that are more social or creative, which is part of the reason why order-taking was not automated at Creator. Miso Robotics is also trying to free the kitchen from repetitive tasks and figure out ways to automate many aspects of the kitchen. It started with Flippy, its hamburger flipper, which Caliburger started using in its locations last year, and most recently just signed a deal with Compass Group to implement its upgraded robots to operate fryers alongside human employees at Chick ‘n Tots at Dodger Stadium. “There is no world in 15 years that no part of our food chain isn’t automated,” said David Zito, CEO of Miso Robotics. “The key is getting utilization ratios right — today restaurant operators are squeezed on all sides.” An important point that Zito mentioned to illustrate the opportunity of robotics in the food industry is that turnover in restaurants is at an all time high with people who would normally be working in those positions either flipping burgers, frying food or washing dishes opting to become Uber or Lyft drivers instead. Still, in order to meet demand for food in the next 10 years, 6 million more people — or 12 million more hands — will be needed, which represents a $10 trillion opportunity. Not only can robotics help automate repetitive and dangerous tasks (i.e. frying), they can help make jobs at these restaurants more interesting for humans, and potentially even give those who work with robots in these environments a unique skill set for their resumes, he said. While robots have yet to proliferate the way we engage with our food, there’s no denying that the future is now. – Source: Restaurant SmartBrief.

Restaurants Turn to Parties and Perks to Recruit, Retain Employees

As the number of restaurants in the US continues to climb and unemployment levels decline, operators are turning to several tactics to attract and retain employees. The restaurant and foodservice industry will provide 16.3 million jobs by 2027, an increase of 1.6 million positions from the estimated 14.7 million industry jobs in 2017, The National Restaurant Association predicted in its 2017 State of the Industry report. With so many positions available, job-seekers have a wealth of options and competition for staffers can be stiff. “As a result of sustained economic growth and lower unemployment, restaurateurs are having to confront a shallower labor pool, and must find more ways to hire and retain the best candidates in the workforce,” said Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president of research. To attract employees, restaurants are making efforts to stand out from the pack with unique recruiting strategies.

Taco Bell tested hiring parties with free food where prospective employees could interview for jobs on the spot. San Francisco franchise operator Golden Gate Bell, which operates 80 Taco Bell locations started using software that sends text messages to potential hires with links to the company’s career page, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. “The traditional way of trying to hire folks just isn’t working,” Tom Douglas, vice president for operations for Golden Gate Bell, told the publication. “We’re just trying to make ourselves a little bit different and stand out from the competitors.” McDonald’s recently announced its partnership with writing platform Textio, aimed at improving its hiring process. The restaurant chain will use the platform to write more inclusive job posts and recruitment emails. “Textio’s innovative augmented writing platform will give us the insights to know, in real time, whether the language we are using is attracting the most qualified and diverse candidates we can,” McDonald’s Sr. Director of Global Talent Attraction Joshua Secrest said in a statement. In addition to recruiting, retention is a key part of the restaurant workforce equation. The rate of turnover in the restaurant industry reached 72.1% in 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. To keep top talent on the payroll, eateries are expanding programs aimed at employee development, especially tuition assistance. More than a quarter (27%) of bar and restaurant employees are enrolled in school, compared to just 11% of the total US workforce, according to the US Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey data. Programs that help employees pay for school can encourage them to keep their restaurant job while enrolled.

Many major restaurant brands including McDonald’s, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle and Taco Bell offer some form of tuition assistance. In February, Papa John’s began a partnership with Purdue University Global to offer free tuition for corporate employees and subsidize school fees for employees of its franchisees. Taco Bell launched its Start With Us, Stay With Us plataform in 2017 in an effort to get employees to remain with the company. The program includes its Live Más Scholarship and the Guild Education program. “In Taco Bell’s partnership pilot with Guild Education, those who enrolled in a course, program or degree through Guild had a 98% retention rate over six months, a 34% increase over employees not enrolled,” a Taco Bell representative told Naton’s Restaurant News. “In addition to boosting retention, we hope these programs attract new talent to support our hiring goals.” Source: Restaurant SmartBrief.

Thank you for reading our Global Foodservice and Equipment Newsletter! If you have an article you feel might be a fit for an upcoming issue, email Katie Wilson at kwilson@ariteam.com.