To Our Valued Subscribers:

On behalf of myself and my American Recruiter’s team let us be the first to say Happy 243rd Birthday America!! Hard to believe what we as a Nation have done in just that short amount of time being a Country. Regardless of your political beliefs, I believe, that as Americans we should celebrate our contributions this Fourth of July to making the world a better place. As we celebrate our birthday, I ask you all to remember, in thoughts and prayers, those who are currently serving or have served in the Armed Forces which allow us the freedom to celebrate in a manner we choose. Especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. So, as you open the grill and eat one of the 150 Million Hot Dogs that will be eaten over the 4th of July holidays, enjoy our birthday party!! When you are finished with the party, take a moment and read the latest edition of American Recruiters Global Foodservice News. We haven’t been around as long as the country; however, it is an excellent source of keeping pace with the Foodservice Nation. I hope you all have a great and successful summer quarter and are safe with your firecrackers!!

Craig Wilson

President

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Arby’s is Making Carrots out of Meat. Yes Meat!

“I’m so excited. You’re the first person I’ve talked to about this,” says Arby’s chief marketing officer, Jim Taylor. “I’ve been working behind the scenes for three months.” In this moment, I cannot possibly anticipate what Taylor, who leads menu development at Arby’s, is going to tell me next. “People love meat already. What Americans have a harder time doing is enjoying vegetables,” he says. “So we said, ‘If they can make meat out of vegetables, why can’t we make vegetables out of meat?’ We’re going to introduce to the world a category we call megetables’—we’ve applied for trademark. Our first vegetable is going to be the marrot.” It’s a carrot made of meat. The move is a gleeful troll by the carnivorous fast food chain that recently announced it’s never going to sell fake meats like the Impossible Burger. Specifically, the marrot is a seasoned, marinated turkey breast, cut and rolled into the shape of a carrot. It’s cooked sous vide. Then it’s rolled in dehydrated carrot juice and oven-roasted. The marrot is finished with a brûlée of maple sugar and a sprig of parsley on top. Taylor points out that it’s high in protein and vitamin C—what Arby’s dubs a “meat snack.”

For now, the marrot is nothing more than a concept out of the Arby’s test kitchen. Depending on public response, the company may or may not bring it to market as a limited-time promotion. If it does, the promotion will be similar to how the Arby’s featured venison on the menu in 2016 (which sold out in just two hours given eager demand and extremely limited quantities). Right now, White Castle, Burger King and KFC have all begun adding plant-based “meats” to their menus in a fast food gold rush for the stomachs of woke, flexitarian consumers. Arby’s is specifically and actively not going this route. Its slogan is literally “we have the meats,” as the company has anchored into carnivores as part of its  business strategy. And those customers may very well have an appetite for a marrot. – Source: Fast Company.

Everything you Need to Know About the Booming Business of Fighting Food Waste

The label on a bottle of the cold-pressed juice Wtrmln Wtr doesn’t mention food waste. But the problem was the inspiration for the company, which launched six years ago. When the founders learned that hundreds of millions of pounds of watermelon stayed in fields to rot because the fruit was judged too unattractive for sale in supermarkets, they decided to create a product that could help avoid that waste. The juice is now available nationally, and the company is growing 30% year-over-year. It’s one example of an increasingly crowded space. ReFed, an organization that tracks the food waste industry, counts at least 70 businesses and nonprofits that now transform food that otherwise would have been wasted into new products. “We’ve seen steady growth in the number of organizations developing upcycled products and the types of ingredients being used,” says Chris Cochran, the organization’s executive director.

The majority of these companies launched within the last five years. In the U.S.—where Americans now waste 70% more food than they did in the 1970s—food waste is responsible for roughly the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 37 million cars. Globally, if food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest polluting country in the world. When food rots in landfills, it releases the potent greenhouse gas methane. But the largest source of emissions comes from growing the food; even if it’s composted, food waste also wastes the fertilizer, fuel, and other resources that went into producing it. Agriculture uses nearly half of U.S. farmland and two-thirds of its freshwater. Waste happens at every stage of the process, from farm fields—where food may be abandoned if a farmer has a surplus or the food has imperfections—to distribution centers, supermarkets, restaurants, food processing plants, and homes. Consumers throw out the majority of the food wasted in the U.S., or roughly $450 of food each year. At the same time, more than 40 million Americans struggle with hunger. The problem is smaller in most other countries (Australians waste more, per capita) but still significant. The startups making new food from wasted ingredients typically focus on waste from farms and food processing plants. Some of the startups are still early-stage and only sold online or in a few stores, but others, including Wtrmln Wtr, have gone mainstream.

Large food companies, like Tyson Foods, have also launched new products with ingredients that would have been discarded in the past—in Tyson’s case, it made a protein crisp called Yappah from chicken trim, vegetable puree, and spent grain from Molson Coors. The demand for former waste is affecting supply chains. Wtrmln Wtr cofounder and CEO Jody Levy says that one watermelon grower used to have four semi-truckloads of watermelons each season that he would write off as waste; now he sells it to be made into juice. “It has allowed the growers to think differently about how they treat the melons that previously weren’t able to be sold,” she says. In some cases, companies have found that it makes the most sense to create an ingredient to sell to other manufacturers rather than a new consumer product. Renewal Mill, a company that raised a $2.5 million seed round in early 2019, creates a nutritious flour out of a by-product of making tofu and soymilk. The company currently makes a chocolate chip cookie that serves as a proof of concept, but plans to focus primary on selling to other businesses. “We see a larger opportunity to move larger volumes of the byproducts and make a larger dent in the food waste problem by selling to large CPG companies,” says Caroline Cotto, the chief operating officer for the startup. Some of the food waste ingredients, like the tofu byproduct, come from manufacturing, but the biggest opportunity for growth comes from farms, where growers are incentivized to overproduce to ensure that they can meet orders. “You’re talking about really high-quality, fresh ingredients that currently lack a market,” says Cochran.

While repurposing food waste in new food is only one type of solution—others range from innovations in labeling expiration dates to an invisible, plant-based coating that can help produce last longer—it can be cost-effective, as the ingredients are sometimes available at a reduced price. A 2017 study suggested that consumers might also pay more for foods with “upcycled” ingredients. When the products market their ability to prevent food waste, that can also make consumers more aware of the problem and potentially help inspire them to cut waste at home, where the biggest proportion of food ends up in the trash. Americans waste nearly a pound of food per person per day. And though it can’t tackle the entire problem, upcycling food waste can make a difference; ReFed estimates that using donated products alone can divert more than 100,000 tons of food waste each year, and generate $285 million in economic value. The number of brands on the market is likely to continue to grow, says Nik Ingersoll, cofounder and CMO of Barnana, a snack company founded in 2012 that sells “upcycled” dehydrated banana snacks made from bruised, overripe, or otherwise imperfect bananas that are usually left to rot on banana plantations. Now a multimillion-dollar business, it sells products in both natural and mainstream supermarkets, and has rescued roughly 20 million tons of bananas to date. Ingersoll believes that consumers are still beginning to recognize the full extent of the food waste problem. “They think of food waste like, ‘Oh, I didn’t eat everything on my plate or in my fridge, and I threw it away,’” he says. “But through the growing distribution, retail and consumer level, there’s all sorts of waste.” As that’s better understood, he thinks that demand will grow. “As that awareness spreads, there’s going to be consumer pressure to buy those types of products. I think people are just more conscious in the way they consume things. And on the brand side, I think that it makes for a compelling story to tell when you’re preparing your ingredients in that way. So I would anticipate it continuing to grow a lot. I think we’re still very early on.” Here are 16 more companies that are using food waste as ingredients.

REGRAINED. When grain is made into beer, the brewing process takes out sugar—leaving behind protein, fiber, and micronutrients that Regrained makes into a flour it calls “SuperGrain+” and incorporates into snack bars. The company also sells the flour to other manufacturers and is working on another line of products that it plans to release later this year.

RENDER. Bay Area-based Render partners with chefs to create new products like Weyla, a beverage that blends whey from a Sonoma creamery with fruit, herbs, and botanicals, and Bryner, a savory drink mix made with upcycled pickle brine that can be used in making a Bloody Mary. In a collaboration with chefs from San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions, it recreated a snack that the chefs make for themselves in the restaurant kitchen to make use of leftover quinoa.

COFFEE CHERRY COMPANY. When a former Starbucks engineer learned about the challenge of coffee cherry waste—tiny fruits that hold coffee beans and usually end up rotting on coffee plantations—he created a new process that converts the fruits into flour and launched a startup (formerly known as CoffeeFlour) to produce it. The ingredient, which can be added to drinks, baked goods, and other products, also helps coffee farmers increase incomes.

THE REAL DILL. This Denver-based pickle company didn’t want to throw out the cucumber-infused water that it creates as part of the pickling process, so it started making it into a Bloody Mary mix. Now, it says, it’s better known for the mix than pickles, and the product helped it achieve a goal of zero waste.

PLANETARIANS. When sunflower seeds are processed for their oil, the end result is a hard, dry, wood-like “oilcake” that’s usually used as animal feed. But the ingredient has more protein than meat, and the founders of this start-up realized that it had potential as a food for humans. They found a way to process the oilcake with steam, heat, and pressure to puff it up and turn the ingredient into chips.

SALT & STRAW., Salt and Straw, a chain of West Coast ice-cream shops, made a “Second-Steeped Rum Spices and Apple Butter” flavor in 2017 ffrom spices rescued from a Portland distillery and apple butter made from bruised apples that otherwise would have been wasted. It’s one example of several restaurants that have incorporated food waste into a temporary menu item.

SIR KENSINGTON’S. The vegan mayo made by Sir Kensington’s replaces eggs with aquafaba, the liquid made from cooking chickpeas—something that it sources from a hummus manufacturer that otherwise would have been thrown out. The brand was acquired by Unilever in 2017.

BALDOR. Baldor, a major food processor that makes products like “baby” carrots (that is, regular carrots carved into tiny pieces), turns fruit and vegetable scraps into multiple products: Some fruit scraps go to juice companies, vegetable scraps go to chefs for use in stocks, a mix of vegetables are dried and crushed into a flour that can be used in place of wheat, and other scraps are used in meal kits that include vegie noodles.

KROMKROMMER. Based in the Netherlands, a startup called kromkrommer—a play on the Dutch words for crooked and cucumber — turns imperfect vegetablesinto soup. Each is packaged in containers with cute drawings of the misshapen ingredients inside. The company also recently started selling toy vegetable kits called Wonky Fruits and Vegetables as a way to start educating kids early about the value of ugly produce.

TOAST ALE. If the spent grain from brewing can be used to make bread—something that the Chicago-area Hewn Bakery does in one of its loaves—bread can also be used to make beer. Toast Ale, which launched first in London, makes a pale ale with surplus bread as an ingredient. The company estimates that around 44% of bread is wasted; it can save roughly one slice of bread per bottle. Other breweries, like the Pittsburgh-based craft brewery East End Brewing, have also made beer with bread.

FOPO. This European company rescues fruit and vegetables that are on the verge of being wasted, freeze-dries them, and turns them into a powder that contains most of the nutritionof the original fruit but can last as long as two years. The company initially planned to supply the powder to nonprofits to address hunger, but appears to currently be selling to consumers.

REAL GOOD STUFF CO. A Chicago-based cold-press juice company turns its extra juice pulp into fruit-and-vegetable filled popsicles. One combines apples, lemons, cucumbers, and spinach; another makes use of extra beets, ginger, and carrots. The company also uses leftover pulp to make dog treats.

RISE PRODUCTS. Using spent grain from breweries in Brooklyn and Queens, this start-up creates a barley “super flour” that has twice as much protein, 12 times as much fiber, and one-third of the carbs of regular flour. It sells the flour directly to consumers, along with a brownie mix and brownies. Its underlying technology can also be applied to other by-products, from fruit skins to coffee waste.

WHITE MOUSTACHE. Making yogurt results in large quantities of whey, a liquid that is often discarded. Brooklyn-based yogurt company White Moustache decided to start marketing it as a “probiotic tonic.” The company also uses surplus fruit along with whey in frozen yogurt probiotic pops.

TREASURE8. Based on Treasure Island, a small artificial island in the San Francisco Bay, this start-up designed technology that dehydrates fruits and vegetables to turn them into nutritious, shelf-stable chips that don’t require preservatives. The company sources produce that would otherwise be wasted from food processing plants.

RUBIES IN THE RUBBLE. This U.K.-based company makes condiments from surplus food, like a spicy tomato relish that uses tomatoes that are too ripe or flawed to be sold in the produce section, or a pear chutney made with imperfect pears. – Source: Fast Company.

The Sky is Falling for Fast Food, but not for Chick-fil-A.

Through the diligent efforts of those billboard cows with their poor penmanship and dubious spelling skills, Chick-fil-A has moved up the ranks from the seventh-largest restaurant chain in the United States to become the third. The chicken sandwich giant blew past Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subway on its ascent, with $10.46 billion in American store sales, according to Nation’s Restaurant News’ latest countdown. Up 17 percent for the year, Chick-fil-A stands behind only McDonald’s ($38.52 billion in American sales) and Starbucks ($20.49 billion). Average sales for a Chick-fil-A location brought in $4.6 million in 2018, up from $4.2 million in 2017 — more than three times that of major chicken competitor KFC. David Portalatin, food industry expert for Chicago-based market research NPD Group, said Chick-fil-A’s ascent is more noticeable because everyone else is treading water. “The industry as a whole is very flat,” he says. “It’s all about demographics, where our population is shifting, from a life-stage perspective. Where total restaurant traffic increased less than 1 percent, Chick-fil-A saw double-digit growth.” Aging boomers are eating out less often, and while millennials rely on restaurants more than any other group (240 restaurant meals per capita per year, compared with 185 in the general population), they are still eating out less than Generation X did at their age.

The company is not without challenges, from its faith-based decision to remain closed on Sundays (making things problematic for locations in airports and sports stadiums) to its management’s statements in opposition to same-sex marriage, which prompted boycotts and “kiss ins” organized by GLAAD. But there are reasons the American Customer Satisfaction Index has rated it the No. 1 company for the past four years. First, for each of the nearly 100 new franchises opened each year since 2003, the parking lot fills up with tents and there’s a sanctioned overnight “First 100 Campout” that rewards the first 100 customers through the door the next morning with Chick-fil-A for a year (technically, you get a card loaded with 52 No. 1 meals, which is a chicken sandwich, medium waffle fries and a medium beverage). And second, those waffle fries. The No. 1 ordered item on the short menu, these skin-on spuds are from Washington state, a medium order ringing in at 360 calories. Fried in canola oil, their distinctive shape have set it apart from other fast-food restaurants since the chain debuted in 1967. Portalatin says that industry experts agree that the biggest distinguishing feature for Chick-fil-A is the customer experience. “The level of customer satisfaction is highly differentiated from many of their fast-food peers.” Chick-fil-A’s customer service is legendary, prompting rafts of memes enumerating real and imagined over-the-top polite employee interactions. Global restaurant consultant Aaron Allen says some of this is about the speed of the drive-through and a culture of saying “please” and “thank you.” Some of the positive customer-service experience can be linked to an embrace of technology.

In 2016, the chain debuted what it called Mom’s Valet (which let parents order at the drive-through, then go inside where a Chick-fil-A employee would have a table ready). More recently, the company launched a successful app, and it is routine for employees to walk the drive-through line taking tablet orders to expedite. Allen says he thinks that some of the brand’s success is about how it has grown: “There are a couple of paths to growth. You can cherry-pick markets like Shake Shack. Or you can grow in concentric circles like Chick-fil-A. Then you’re gaining economies of scale in terms of market share saturation, and your supply chain can grow with you.” While he thinks the company has grown at a sustainable, measured pace, Allen sees substantial prospects in Chick-fil-A’s future. The company opened its first New York City restaurant in 2015 and has rapidly expanded there. Plus, international markets have been eager to acquire the brand. “Half of all meals are now eaten in restaurants, half of those as fast food, and half of those are just 10 companies. Chick-fil-A is now one of them,” Allen says. – Source: The Washington Post.

Yum! Brands Names new CFO

Effective Aug. 8. In his new role, Mr. Turner will assume global responsibility for finance, corporate strategy, supply chain and information technology. He joins Yum! Brands from PepsiCo, where he held several leadership positions. Most recently, he led PepsiCo’s retail and ecommerce businesses with Walmart in the United States and 25 other countries as senior vice-president and general manager of the global Walmart service team. Before that, he was senior vice-president of transformation and senior vice-president of strategy at Frito-Lay North America. “Chris’s deep experience in the consumer sector, strong financial acumen and track record of growth leadership make him perfect for the c.f.o. role at Yum! Brands,” said David Gibbs, president, chief operating officer and current c.f.o. at Yum! Brands. “He has extensive experience delivering on aggressive performance targets and helping industry leaders navigate complex operating environments, M.&A., disruptive innovation and category transformation, which will be invaluable to our company.” Yum! Brands, Inc., has more than 48,000 KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants in more than 145 countries and territories. – Source: FoodBusiness News.

Marc Buehler to head Rock Bottom, Gordon Biersch and other brands

CraftWorks Holdings has named industry veteran Marc Buehler to the new position of divisional president for its brewery and specialty restaurants, the company said. Buehler, who most recently served as CEO at Nashville-based Dick’s Last Resort, will oversee CraftWorks’ Rock Bottom Restaurants & Breweries, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, Chophouse, A1A, Big River, Ragtime and Seven Bridges concepts, according to Nashville-based CraftWorks. Buehler will report to Hazem Ouf, who became CraftWorks’ chairman and CEO when the company acquired the Logan’s Roadhouse casual-dining chain in November. Buehler has served in numerous executive positions with such restaurant companies as LoneStar Steakhouse, Kona Grill, O’Charley’s Restaurant and Bar, Fox & Hound/Champps and the Great Grill Group. Earlier, he held marketing roles at Romacorp/Tony Roma’s and Applebee’s International. “Marc’s impressive background of driving organizational change and leading restaurant brands through various growth stages makes him exactly the right leader to help scale and fulfill our mission to deliver a perfectly crafted experience for our guests each and every visit,” said Ouf in a statement. Buehler said: “I see a huge opportunity for the specialty and brewery brands to double down as a leader in their segments and quickly become best-in-class in the restaurant industry.” CraftWorks said it now has division presidents for all its brands. CraftWorks Holdings has more than 390 restaurants and breweries in 40 states and the District of Columbia. – Source: NRN.

KC Glaser will Start his New Position in July

The former marketing director at Buffalo Wild Wings has flown to a different coop — Famous Dave’s. KC Glaser will start his new position at the Minnetonka-based barbecue chain July 8. He’ll focus on delivering a consistent brand message for the chain, being responsible for the overall marketing strategy, planning and execution of marketing initiatives and public relations. “KC brings a depth of knowledge and experience in marketing and strategy which Famous Dave’s has been looking for six months,” said Jeff Crivello, chief executive of Famous Dave’s. The marketing position has seen steady rotation with two previous marketing directors staying less than one year. At B-Dubs, Glaser oversaw in-house guest experiences, digital content strategy, and take-out, delivery and ecommerce. Prior to that, he worked at Dairy Queen, focusing on expanding the Blizzard brand. According to his LinkedIn account, Glaser, 36, was offered a marketing position in Atlanta after Golden Valley-based Wild Wings was sold to Inspire Brands in 2018, the company that owns Arby’s. Glaser preferred to stay in the Twin Cities. On Twitter Glaser describes himself as a brand marketer, innovator, gamer, self-proclaimed funny guy and definite foodie. There’s a sample of his foodie leanings in a tweet he made about Jimmy Johns in May. “It took over an hour to get my order today from a store that is 1.5 miles away, That is NOT freaky fast,” he wrote.  Famous Dave’s has recently expanded and tweaked its menu to broaden its customer base, leaving some customers to question its focus. Crivello said Glaser will try to narrow that focus. “It will be his task to look at the new menu items tested in the last couple of years, decide what we want to keep, and make the most efficient menu mix.” – Source: Star Tribune, MN.

Air as a Food Safety Risk

Air filtration is an important but often overlooked or misunderstood part of food safety. It pays to hire an expert when designing or upgrading such a system, as it can get complicated and expensive. The most sensitive areas in a plant are between the oven and packaging where finished product is vulnerable. Baked products exiting the oven are sterile. Recontamination occurs when product is exposed to contaminated air or food contact surfaces. Dust in the air inevitably contains mold spores. If your products are molding too fast, consider air filtration as a solution. First, measure the amount of air being exhausted from the building. Regulations require that a certain amount of air be exhausted from gas-fired ovens to ensure that combustible gases do not accumulate. Also, during baking, all ovens generate significant amounts of moisture that can increase air humidity or cause condensation on cold surfaces like overheads and walls, resulting in dripping water or mold growth.

Often new equipment is added to a facility without consideration of the additional air exhaust or moisture it will bring. Knowing how much air is leaving the building, you can design an air makeup system to replace what is being exhausted and control humidity as needed. Maintaining positive pressure inside the building prevents unfiltered air from entering. Outside air must be filtered to remove the burden of dust, pollen and mold spores, which varies depending on the weather, climate and neighborhood activity such as construction or street sweeping. Air handling units pass outside air through a series of filters: a coarse screen with ¼-in. opening to exclude birds, leaves and large insects; a layer of non-woven fabric with a tackifying resin to capture and hold heavy dust; a low-grade paper filter to remove coarse dust; and finally, a fine, high-efficiency filter. The bird screen should be cleaned with a brush as needed. Visually inspect the low- and high-grade filters and replace when dirty. Don’t try to wash or vacuum them. Even better, install a vacuum gauge to measure the pressure drop across the filter and replace when it doubles. The filtration system should be capable of removing at least 90% of particles larger than 5 microns and 99% of particles larger than 10 microns. Don’t forget that compressors push air into the building as well and must also be filtered, both incoming and at the point of use, wherever compressed air directly contacts finished product. Use a filter capable of removing 98% of particles larger than 0.5 microns. As bakers address air filtration, there are several important factors to consider. Air exhaust rate, positive building pressure, outside air temperature and the desired temperature inside the facility, and the amount of moisture generated by the baking process will all impact the air filtration system. And when designing it, bakers cannot overlook filter replacement frequency and filtration of compressed air as that can also be a risk point for contamination. – Source: FoodBusiness News.

The Human Element of Food Safety

Recently, everything from Listeria to E. coli to Campylobacter has given American consumers good reason to worry about the safety of their food. The industry has responded and is making every effort to improve the safety of food by utilizing science-based testing and sampling practices, detection technologies, food safety training and education, and multiple interventions. However, other scientific fields could take food safety to a new level. Frank Yiannas, author and vice-president of food safety for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said he believes the “soft sciences” outlined in his newest book, “Food Safety = Behavior: 30 Proven Techniques to Enhance Employee Compliance,” hold the answer to changing the face of food safety for the better. Mr. Yiannas’ first book, “Food Safety Culture: Creating a Behavior-Based Food Safety Management System,” was published in 2009 and described food safety as a frame of mind that everyone in an organization buys into rather than a list of rules outlined in a training manual. The new book explores ways organizations may use psychology and social/behavioral sciences to their advantage as they work to improve employee compliance with food safety protocols.

Human behavior and food safety. Mr. Yiannas said he pondered the realization that no matter how much training food safety employees receive, sometimes they still don’t do the things an employer wants them to do. “I knew that there was something missing,” he said. The idea to connect food safety to the behavioral sciences occurred to him before he worked in the food safety field. “The real crystallization occurred years ago when I was leading occupational safety and health at the Disney Co.,” Mr. Yiannas said. “We could design the safest facilities, we could give people the safest work tools and personal protective equipment, we could train and educate them about safety, yet there were still some employees that would get hurt. They just weren’t following procedures.” Mr. Yiannas said the occupational safety and health field had already begun to explore the role that the human element, attitudes, decisions and choices play regarding occupational injury. It was combining its hard sciences, such as facility design, with the behavioral sciences. “I just thought those same principles would apply in food safety, and over the years I’ve experienced that they certainly have,” he said. Without much research in the behavioral sciences that directly relates to food safety, Mr. Yiannas began to review general behavioral science studies and find those that could have food safety applications. Connecting the dots. After publishing the first book as an introduction to why food safety professionals should consider the role of human behavior in advancing food safety, Mr. Yiannas continued his research in the fields of psychology, social science and behavioral science by reading as many studies as he could find. “I’ve literally read hundreds of them over the years,” he says. Mr. Yiannas found that many of the principles he discovered in his readings on behavioral sciences were proven accurate over and over again. “I decided to pare down the hundreds of articles and papers that I’ve read into what I perceive to be 30 of the most important or applicable concepts to food safety,” he said.

Each chapter of Mr. Yiannas’ book represents one of these 30 food safety concepts. While the scientific studies do not directly cover food safety, each chapter ends with a summary addressing the question: “What does this mean to food safety?” This is where Mr. Yiannas guides the reader in directing the technique covered toward how it might help a given individual or organization’s food safety program. Leading by example. Dealing with a workforce of 2.2 million associates worldwide at Wal-Mart, Mr. Yiannas said he understands the challenges and difficulties of implementing solid and successful food safety practices into a large organization. “If you think about trying to advance food safety in an organization of this size, you have to go beyond mere food science,” Mr. Yiannas said. “You have to try to understand why people do what they do and present information and design things in such a way that it’s easier for people to do.” In Chapter 2, “Getting Your Foot in the Door for Food Safety,” Mr. Yiannas refers to two different studies focused on the principle of commitment. They conclude that follow-through drastically increases when people actually make a commitment to carry out actions in response to a request. By requiring a written (or electronic) commitment stating adherence to a principle, employees are more likely to behave in the desired fashion. Usually when an employee attends an educational session, the request is that they acknowledge they’ve received the training. Generally, this is for a recordkeeping purpose. In some cases, this record of receiving training gives management or the overseeing person/department the ability to hold an employee who hasn’t followed the training responsible and proceed with a disciplinary action. However, the employees at Wal-Mart are asked to take another step after receiving educational training. “We’ve leveraged the principle of commitment in our training,” Mr. Yiannas said. “Rather than just asking somebody to sign or click a box saying that they took the training, at the end of our training we ask our associates to commit that they’re going to practice the principles they’ve learned in that training course.”

Culture connection. Historically, food safety has been centered on inspections as well as facility and equipment design and has been based on microbiology and epidemiology. But the food safety landscape of today and the future continues to move in the direction of people and their behavior. “If you were able to quantify how many times ‘food safety culture’ and ‘food safety behavior’ were used in the 1980s, it would be very small,” Mr. Yiannas said. In today’s food safety world, that sort of terminology has become much more common in the industry. To emphasize the change, Mr. Yiannas said he recently received an e-mail from an executive with a prominent food brand whose title is “Manager of Food Safety Culture.” “I think it’s this growing realization,” Mr. Yiannas said. “I’ve been in the profession a while, and at no point in my career has there been this greater realization that, despite the fact that we have HACCP plans, micro tests and we do inspections, we’ve got to get better at the human elements of food safety.” Mr. Yiannas said he used existing behavioral studies as the basis to write his newest book, but they weren’t specifically food safety focused because there aren’t any such studies out there. But, he said, that might start to change. “What I’ve seen and heard since I published the book is universities and institutions interested in trying to design studies,” he said. Until then, companies still try to leverage the principles of the book however they can, using it in creative ways that apply to their food safety programs. The organizations that do so have seen success. “We’ve heard from some of the world’s leading brands on how a chapter or more has resonated and how they’ve taken a tip or principle in the book and applied it to how they’re doing food safety in their company,” Mr. Yiannas said. “My recommendation would be to read each chapter, pause and brainstorm, and then challenge yourself on what it means to your company, your personal situation and how you might try to apply or leverage it in your organization or company.” Positive response. Mr. Yiannas said he has received a great amount of positive feedback on “Food Safety = Behavior: 30 Proven Techniques to Enhance Employee Compliance.”

Several readers have told him that they enjoyed this book more than the first. The book continues to interest major players in the food world that make food safety a top priority. Since its publishing, large and recognizable companies have purchased it and given it to their plant managers. In addition, regulatory agencies from around the world have expressed an interest. “Some of the feedback I’ve gotten is that they’re just real practical tips on how to enhance food safety from a behavioral science standpoint,” Mr. Yiannas said. “I’ve also gotten feedback that the tips are so practical that they’ve leveraged them, not only in their food safety programs, but those same principles in their occupational safety and health programs.” Sara Mortimore, vice-president of product safety and quality and regulatory affairs at Land O’ Lakes, Inc., said that all levels and functions within the Land O’ Lakes organization bear the responsibility of food safety. Mr. Yiannas’ book has proved to be indispensable to her and her company. “‘Food Safety = Behavior’ contains a wealth of useful and practical insights for those in the food business,” Ms. Mortimore said. “It is thought provoking, and as I read, I was frequently sidetracked by the many ideas that kept coming into my mind and how to develop and implement them in my company. It’s that sort of book – hard to put down and an information source that I’d now not want to be without.” Regulatory agencies seem to believe in Mr. Yiannas’ approach to food safety as well. They believe food safety professionals must take a closer look at the behavioral sciences regarding individuals and their actions in the food world. “Individual behaviors and attitudes play an important yet often overlooked role in ensuring food safety,” said Chris Waldrop, senior public health educator, office of analytics and outreach, CFSAN/U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “The examples (in Mr. Yiannas’ book) offer new ways of thinking about how best to engage people in building a culture of food safety.” – Source: FoodBusiness News.

Why Red Robin is Under Siege

At a January 2018 investor conference, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. said it planned to combat rising minimum wage costs by eliminating the roles of busboys and expeditors at restaurants. The job cuts would save millions and require servers to wipe clean tables. It was a stark contrast to the brand’s unbridled service ethos, where employees had been taught to go above and beyond to please diners. Industry watchers shook their heads at the cost-cutting maneuver. “It was just atrocious,” said John Gordon, an analyst at Pacific Management Consulting Group. “We knew that was going to screw up the customer flow and throughput. And, sure enough, it did.” The cuts and other missteps along the way did not improve shareholder value for the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based casual-dining brand. On Friday morning, Red Robin’s stock was trading at about $31 a share, down from $55 in early January 2018. Impacts from the on-demand economy, along with unsteady leadership and depleting traffic at mall locations, have led to unrest at the casual-dining chain.

Company leaders are being challenged by activist investor Vintage Capital Management LLC, which in early June called for an auction and said it would buy Red Robin at $40 a share. The private-equity firm also called for a special shareholder meeting to remove five board members and replace them with ones who would favor of a sale. In the latest salvo this week, Red Robin’s management denied Vintage’s meeting request, citing a bylaw technicality. “They are definitely in turmoil,” said David Hopkins, president of The Fifteen Group Inc., a Toronto-based hospitality consultancy firm. Vintage, which has said it owns 11.5% of Red Robin’s shares, could not be reached for comment. Red Robin, in a statement sent to Nation’s Restaurant News, said the company has expressed “openness” to work “constructively together” with Vintage. That includes discussions “on our ongoing search to identify a world-class CEO.” Board chair Pattye Moore took over as interim CEO when president and chief executive Denny Marie Post announced her sudden retirement in April. Post had been CEO since late 2016.  The decision came after discussions with the board of directors. Red Robin and Vintage faceoff Though Red Robin denied Vintage’s meeting request, the company said it would still consider a special shareholder meeting once the firm “fixes the two deficiencies in its request.” In the meantime, Red Robin said it is “focused on executing our strategic plan to drive growth and shareholder value, and we remain open to all opportunities that would advance these objectives.” Analyst Mark Kalinowski said it common for corporate leaders to push back when being challenged by activist shareholders. “When an activist gets involved, it’s typically because they want to do things to some degree that is different than what a management wants to do,” said Kalinowski of Kalinowski Equity Research.

While it’s still early, the Vintage-Red Robin faceoff is reminiscent of the 2014 battle between Starboard Value L.P. and Darden Restaurants Inc., he said. Starboard was able to unseat all 12 Darden board members in an proxy battle. “It was a shocking outcome,” Kalinowski said. “It showed that activists, at times, can certainly have a very meaningful voice.” ‘Weak for a period of time’. Consultants Gordon and Hopkins said Vintage’s concerns are not surprising given that Red Robin has been trying to reverse declining customer traffic and sales for years. Except for fiscal year 2017, same-store sales at Red Robin have been down every year since 2015. “Red Robin had been weak for a period of time,” Gordon said. Still, Hopkins said Vintage must see some sign of hope, since the activist investor is looking to buy the chain well above the current share price. “They clearly have a different plan or see a great opportunity that is being missed,” Hopkins said.

A tale of two CEOs. In 2018, same-store sales at Red Robin declined 2.6%, compared to an increase of 0.6% in fiscal 2017.  In 2016 and 2015, comparable restaurant sales decreased 3.3% and 2.1%, respectively for those fiscal years. During that time, the company was led by two CEOs: Post and Steve Carley. Post took over for Carley after he retired. Carley had led a brand revamp that included the development of a barbell menu strategy focused on value and premium burgers. The menu featured a few lower-priced Tavern Burgers and more than 20 gourmet burgers made with premium ingredients and select bottomless sides and drinks. Post, a 2018 NRN Golden Chain winneer, was known for what she called “best in class” employee retention. During her tenure, the company produced a 94% retention rate, strong for the restaurant industry, and managerial turnover of 26%. But her reign was also marked by controversial labor cuts. In late 2017, the company eliminated expeditor jobs to save $8 million a year. At the ICR conference in 2018, Guy Constant, then the company’s chief financial officer, told investors that Red Robin would continue cutting roles with the elimination of bussers. Those cuts would result in similar savings, he told investors. “We need to do that in order to address the labor increases that we’re seeing that we need to address in order to make sure that we can drive margin improvement in our business,” Constant said. Several months later in November, then-CEO Post said servers were being “trained on the basics of greeting, one-stop ordering and three-level bussing.” At a Red Robin restaurant in Orange, Calif., this week, multitasking servers hustled about the mall-based location taking orders with cell phone-size hand-held devices, clearing out tables and handing out bottomless sides like steak fries to guests. Tables vacated by exiting diners were left with dishes and glasses for long periods of time before a server or host could clear the table. One busser was spotted during the peak dinner hour. When asked how the consolidation of key kitchen and dining room tasks have impacted dine-in consumers over the past year, Red Robin deflected — only reiterating its current strategies. The company, for example, said it is investing in more tools for servers to care for more guests in a timely manner such as equipping them with hand-held ordering devices. The rollout is scheduled for completion in August.  “We are focused on enhancing the customer experience, significantly improving cash flow and increasing profitability, and we are confident our initiatives will steadily improve our financial and operational performance,” the company told NRN in a statement. Donatos pizza test. The brand is also experimenting with pizza. Recently, some Red Robin locations began selling eight types of Donatos Pizza for delivery and dine-in, according to the company’s website. Representatives for Red Robin and Columbus, Ohio-based Donatos declined to comment on the partnership. Gordon called the pizza test a “fast leap” to quickly add variety to the chain’s burger-centric menu. Tapping an existing pizza player also saved Red Robin at least a year and half in product development. “This is a faster market solution,” he said. In late May, during her first earnings call as interim CEO, Moore said swift action was a priority. For the first quarter ended April 21, Red Robin reported a 3.3% decline in same-stores sales. On May 31, the 570-unit company closed 10 underperforming restaurants. Seven were in enclosed mall locations. Eroding guest counts, problematic for the entire industry, have also plagued Red Robin. In the first quarter, traffic dropped 5.5%. That followed a 4.4% decline in the fourth quarter.   “As our financial results demonstrate, there is still much work to be done on the turnaround, and we are moving with urgency,” Moore said. – Source: NRN.

Inside Chick-fil-A’s rise to 3rd-largest restaurant brand

Chick-fil-A has become the country’s third-largest restaurant chain, rising four spots in the Nation’s Restaurant News Top 200 sales rankings, up from No. 7 a year earlier. The chicken chain grew its domestic systemwide sales 16.7% in its latest fiscal year to reach nearly $10.5 billion, putting it behind only McDonald’s and Starbucks. It was the fifth year of double-digit sales growth for Chick-fil-A, fueled by powerhouse unit-level sales — despite only doing business only six days a week. Here’s a look at how the nearly 60-year-old brand has stayed relevant and found its place among the country’s most dominant chains. – Source: NRN.

Chick-fil-A is America’s No. 1 Fast-Food Restaurant Again

For the fourth year, Chick-fil-A has been named the nation’s top fast food restaurant. The site of toddler birthday parties, kid play dates and easy meals-to-go, beat out every burger chain, according to the American Customer Service Index. The ACSI surveyed 23,000 consumers and scored restaurants using a 100-point scale. Chick-fil-A scored the highest with an 86, one point lower than in 2018. Panera Bread was second with an 81. Papa John’s, Arby’s, Chipotle and Pizza Hut, all tied for fourth with an 80. The lowest-ranked restaurant on the list was McDonald’s with a score of 69. Customers ranked the fast-food eatery’s accuracy, food quality, menu variety, cleanliness, staff behavior and website satisfaction above the 17 other restaurants listed and the two other categories, which included “all others” and “limited-service restaurants.” People seem to really dig the waffle fries. – Source: USA Today.

Reservations for Taco Bell’s Hotel Sell out in 2 Minutes

If you’re a Taco Bell super fan looking to stay at the Mexican fast food chain’s limited-time hotel, you’re already too late. All available rooms were snatched up just two minutes into taking reservations. And with that, the Yum Brands unit proved once again how much its customers love Taco Bell. The chain started taking reservations at 1 p.m. ET Thursday for the roughly 70 rooms at its Palm Springs hotel. Less than a minute after bookings went live, the website was already overwhelmed by the demand. Some users attempting to book a room received a message saying the website was experiencing “higher than normal traffic” and to “keep your crossed fingers on that refresh button.” Big surprise on the Taco Bell hotel crashing their website. “Taco Bell fans are truly one of a kind and today was one of the best expressions of that fandom yet,” Taco Bell’s Chief Global Brand Officer Marisa Thalberg said in a statement. Rooms started at $169 per night, with no minimum required stay.

The Bell, which is taking over the V Palm Springs Hotel, will open its doors August 8 and close August 12. Taco Bell anticipated high demand for its hotel. The chain’s U.S. president, Julie Felss Masino, said that only one employee from a company-owned store will win a coveted room as part of a customer service contest. “We’re really trying to make it a fan experience,” Masino said in an interview last week. Guests can look forward to tasting Taco Bell’s take on V Palm Springs’ restaurant menu, created by Rene Pisciotti, the same product developer who invented Nacho Fries. Among the potential menu options: a grilled chicken Caesar salad that includes croutons crafted out of Mexican rice and chicken marinated in the Nacho Fries’ spices. Traditional Taco Bell favorites will also be available. The Bell will also feature a gift shop with exclusive Taco Bell-themed apparel and an on-site salon with Taco Bell-inspired nail art and hair styling services. To round out the experience, hotel guests can expect performances from up-and-coming musicians, feature-length movie showings, and a lounge inspired by Mountain Dew Baja Blast. Taco Bell has a history of connecting with its customers through off-beat experiences. Fans can get married in a Taco Bell-themed ceremony for $600 at its Las Vegas Cantina flagship location. As of May, Taco Bell has registered over 165 couples. The brand has also teamed up with fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 to sell clothes featuring its logo and imagery. Mike Kelly, co-founder and CEO of State of Mind Partners, said a branded hotel wouldn’t be right for every fast food chain. But it fits for Taco Bell, he said. “I think there are certain brands that sort of have this fanbase, and they also have these crazy branded products,” Kelly said. – Source: CNBC.

Once Again, Texas Roadhouse Has the Most Satisfied Customers

Last year, full-service brands enjoyed a solid leap in the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s restaurant report, jumping 3.8 percent and retaking the top spot from quick service. It illustrated a critical inflection point. While most full-serves can’t compete with counter-service chains on speed, convenience, and price, losing on customer service was an unacceptable development. It stirred a disconcerting thought as well: If customers can’t expect a better experience from full-serves, why would they spend the time or pay the price? It made for a pretty leaky value proposition. In a rather quick window, however, full-serves have transformed to meeting a changing consumer. This means healthier menu offerings and digital technologies that complement the experience. In the latest edition of ACSI’s widely cited study, which polls 23,468 customers, a few positive trends emerged. A year ago, full-service brands improved across nearly every aspect of the customer experience. This time, the industry maintained the ground it won, keeping most key elements stable. Food order accuracy came in at a stellar 89 (it was 86 for quick service). Speed of service reported 83, which shows room for improvement but was still a solid figure considering quick-serves clocked 82. But the most promising figure regarded service. Staff being helpful and courteous posted 87. Two years ago, it was 84. It’s something that needs to continue gaining to keep satisfaction rolling given the more convenient—and vast—options available. Food quality did drop a bit to 85, suggesting whitespace for brands to innovate their menus to best competitors. Measured for the first time this year, mobile apps rated well on reliability (86) and quality (84). Unlike other industries, apps are not considered to be among the best parts of the customer experience, ACSI said. Apps do, however, outperform websites, with satisfaction for the latter sliding to 82. One really interesting note involved off-premises, projected to account for 37 percent of restaurant industry sales in 2018. ACSI found that diners who order food for delivery from full-service chains are far more satisfied (83) than those who dine in (79). That’s one that would have been tough to predict a few years back. It seems likely catering and delivery spaces are only going to heat up competition in the coming year.

The figures also reflect what Darden CEO Gene Lee said on the company’s recent conference call to discuss fourth-quarter results. He suggested that a strong dine-in experience creates demand for an off-premises visit. In that case, a guest who heads to Olive Garden for catering—someone who’s fond of eating in the restaurant—will be satisfied because they’ve received a similar experience. It’s why the brand has put money behind delivering a value and service proposition for off-premises similar to its four-wall efforts. Everything is connected. It’s worth noting, however, Olive Garden isn’t courting delivery. The chain is sticking to catering and to-go as its channels. That’s where some brands might go astray—trying to promote off-premises business without considering the customer experience. Diving into delivery, for instance, without the partners or back-end systems to ensure smooth performance. In that case, customers who order delivery from a brand would end up being dissatisfied and unlikely to try it again. Whether or not they’d return for the dine-in experience is harder to say, but it’s a risk brands don’t want to take. This is especially true of the first-time customer introduced to a sit-down chain via off-premises.

DQ Gets Into the Subscription Game

DQ is introducing the fast-food chain’s first subscription box, featuring a different summer-themed activity each month. The concept, developed with agency Barkley, launches with June’s Camp In — in which the box transforms into a nonflammable, family-room-safe campfire illuminated by a flame video via smartphone. The box also includes a shadow-puppet storybook, flashlight and playing cards. July’s “Water Park” box includes a built-in sprinkler and water-themed soundtrack families can play from their phones. In August, subscribers can “Road Trip” with a box that features a cardboard smartphone camcorder case to encourage families to record their memories. Each box comes with a $10 DQ gift card. – Source: Media Post Communications.

Chipotle Employees Can Now Earn an Extra Month of Pay

As chief restaurant officer Scott Boatwright recently shared with QSR, Chipotle understands the value of retention all too well. Just last year alone, the company promoted 13,689 people at all levels. Its rate of internal promotion was 79 percent. Chipotle employed more than 73,000 people in 2018, including roughly 67,900 at the hourly level. But even so, Chipotle, like restaurant peers across every sector, continues to grapple with turnover rates. Tack on a significant increase at the staff level due to its relocation from Denver to Newport Beach, California, and Columbus, Ohio, and keeping quality workers has never been more critical for the fast casual. Chipotle offered a relocation package or severance to those affected by the move, including a lump sum, prorated bonus, and accelerated equity vesting. Here’s a glance at the turnover picture for Chipotle: 2018:

Restaurant hourly (crew, kitchen manager service manager): 144.9 percent

Restaurant salary (apprentice, general manager, restaurateur): 49.1 percent

Restaurant field managers (field leaders, team directors, executive team directors): 26.3 percent

Staff employees (support center workers and field support employees: 49.9 percent

2017

Restaurant hourly: 158 percent

Restaurant salary: 37.1 percent

Restaurant field managers: 18.7 percent

Staff employees: 23.9 percent

Boatwright said one of the keys for Chipotle is to nurture an employee-value proposition that makes it a destination of choice. Given the tight labor market and choices available, Chipotle can’t simply let its brand equity get employees through the door—although it doesn’t hurt. As you can see by the figures above, the crew level is one of the most challenged for Chipotle. That’s pretty much the case for all quick-serves, but it’s still one the chain has designs to improve. It announced Tuesday a new perk: A crew bonus program that gives hourly employees the opportunity to earn up to an extra month’s pay each year. While the extra pay is a nice attractant, naturally, Chipotle hopes the platform can work from two sides.

To qualify for the quarterly bonus program, restaurant teams must meet certain criteria, such as predetermined sales, as well as cashflow and throughput goals. Chipotle plans to offer the perk quarterly. It can result in a bonus worth one week’s pay, calculated as an individual’s average weekly pay per quarter. The restaurant on track to receive the first bonus of this kind will be notified following the close of Chipotle’s second quarter in July, the company said. So the worker will have incentive to perform. And, ideally, Chipotle will get the benefit of more motivated and better-run locations. “At Chipotle, we’re not only looking to compete for the industry’s best, we’re looking to keep the industry’s best,” Marissa Andrada, chief people officer, said in a statement. “Chipotle is about Cultivating a Better World, building a real community that works together to win together, and this bonus program provides a strategic investment in the people who make up the brand.” The new quarterly bonus program joins Chipotle’s existing annual crew bonus that’s available for employees based on tenure and a minimum of one year with the brand. Let’s take a look at some other ways Chipotle is working on retention. Per TDn2K, nearly 20 percent of restaurant companies believe they are continuously understaffed for general managers.

In regards to turnover, the company also noted that half or more of the positions available for counter-service brands, including fast casual, will be occupied by a new, untenured manager within the next 12 months. It added that, at any given time, about one in ever three quick-serves are not fully staffed. Simply, GMs are the lifeblood of this turnover and retention equation. Among its goals for 2020, Chipotle said it hopes to realize less than 25 percent turnover at the position and implement a success profile. The chain also wants to establish a competency-based interview guide, which will be used to aid field leaders, which oversee GMs, to identify and hire candidates. The company said there’s a 50 percent turnover rate when GMs are not on-boarded properly. Chipotle created what it calls “Success Profiles and Cultivate University 2.0.” The GM Success Profile identifies key competencies that, if demonstrated, would most likely lead to success within the position, Chipotle said. These link to the knowledge, skills, and abilities employees develop as part of the Cultivate U 2.0 leadership and management training program. Cultivate U 2.0 aims to shift current mindsets from a “tribal knowledge,” mentality to an aligned approach within restaurants. Field leaders go through a series of workshops intended to build leadership skills and increase engagement. According to Chipotle, here’s what GMs learn:

Create a culture of accountability

Lead effectively

Develop situational leadership skills

Understand the important of food safety

Provide coaching and feedback

Cumulatively, shoulder-to-shoulder training, in-restaurant meetings and training, and vide training provide employees with the equivalent of 15 days of training each year at Chipotle. Kitchen managers and apprentices receive six weeks of training. Service managers get four. The perks. One of the things Boatwright tapped as an important directive for Chipotle was providing employees with a clear development path. This way they could see, from day one, why working in the restaurant industry doesn’t need to simply be “a first job.” At Chipotle, it goes as follows: Crew—kitchen manager—service manager—apprentice—general manager—restaurateur—certified training manager—field leader—team director—executive team director. Broken down by demographics, 37,550 of Chipotle’s 68,468 hourly employees were women in 2018. At the salary level, 1,967 of 4,301 were. In corporate, 318 of 874 employees.

This year, Chipotle had unconscious bias training planned for all field leaders, and expected to roll it out to the rest of its employees in future years. It will be incorporated into Chipotle’s new employee orientation as well. Chipotle hopes to create at least three Employee Resource Groups throughout the organization in 2019 that will spark discussions and allow for employees to play an active role in shaping its culture and company practices. Healthcare. Chipotle offers health insurance to employees, both part-time and full-time workers. Looking to bring that forward, the chain is introducing an all-inclusive application process this year so employees can receive support and a full concierge service enabled by technology. Employees are eligible for coverage on the first of the month following 30 days of hire. Plans cover preventative care, office visits, urgent care, behavioral health care, and substance abuse care. By 2020, Chipotle expects to expand benefit coverage for both kitchen managers and service managers, giving them access to the same benefits as GMs and field leaders. It also wants to make its employee assistance program available to all employees so they have access to quality mental health care by 2020 Educational assistance.

Chipotle’s Tuition Assistance Plan provides up to $5,250 per year. Last year, more than 2,600 employees ranging from crewmembers to support center staff received over $10.5 million in tuition assistance. In addition, Chipotle provides access to a personal education coach, tuition discounts, college credits for on-the-job training, and access to exclusive degrees in business management and hospitality. It also offers family members of employees immediate assistant to complete English as a second language and general education classes. By 2020, Chipotle said it would expand tuition assistance for all employees to cover the cost of their dependents for General Education Development and English as a second language classes. Parental Leave. In 2018, Chipotle made some changes. Previously, it offered an industry-standard three paid parental days to new parents. That’s upped to 12 parental days for all salaried employees at the management level and above. The chain also offers short-term disability insurance for mothers that cover 60 percent of an employee’s pay (up to $2,500 a week). When used in conjunction with the 12 parental days, mothers can receive up to six weeks of effectively fully paid maternity leave. Kitchen managers and service managers are eligible for five paid parental days and mothers can still use short-term disability insurance that covers up to $2,500 a week. Chipotle partnered with The Mom Project, Inc. to help new moms adjust back to full-time corporate life. Retirement. This past January, Chipotle eliminated the requirement that crewmembers had to work 1,000 hours in a plan year before they could start contributing to their 401(k). Now, every employee is eligible to contribute to his or her retirement savings after 30 days of employment. Chipotle’s 401(k) includes a company match of 100 percent on the first 3 percent of the compensation an employee contributes and 50 percent on the next 2 percent. The match is available once the employee hits 1,000 hours in a plan year. Other benefits. Chipotle has an employee stock purchase program for workers who have clocked at least 12 months. They can contribute a percentage of their base pay through payroll deductions. At the end of each month, those contributions are used to purchase whole and fractional shares of Chipotle stock at a discounted price.

Performance-based pay. Chipotle holds semi-annual performance reviews. Crew, kitchen managers, and service managers are eligible to receive a merit increase after each review based on their performance and overall contribution to the restaurant. More perks. Chipotle employees get a free meal during their shift, as well as a 50 percent discount when off. There are paid breaks ranging from 15–60 minutes depending on the length of their shift. Salaried employees can take eight weeks of paid sabbatical in addition to their regular vacation after 10 years with the company. They’re also open to flexible spending accounts and a health savings account. Salaried employees get annual performance reviews, with merit increases, quarterly bonuses at the apprentice, GM, and restaurateur levels and annual bonuses for restaurant support center staff and field employees. These employees also get $100 per month to spend in restaurants, life and disability insurance, up to $7,500 for adoption assistance, and even $10 contributed per month to pet insurance. – Source: QSR.

Qdoba Creates Culinary Hub at New Headquarters

Though Jack in the Box sold Qdoba Mexican Eats last year to a private equity firm, the fast-casual Mexican brand kept offices on the same San Diego campus of its old parent company. Now, the physical split with Jack in the Box Inc. is complete. Qdoba, now owned by New York-based Apollo Global Management LLC, relocated its headquarters last week to a building once occupied by San Diego Union-Tribune. Known as the Ampersand office complex, the new space has been remodeled to meet the needs and culture of Qdoba, the company said. Anointed as “Qdoba Flavor Central,” the new office features 14 feet of floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a fitness studio and on-site café called The Q. The central corridor of the office is called the “Queso Hallway,” because the ceiling and part of the wall is painted orange to look like oozing melted cheese. “We have an energetic, engaged team that needed a work space to facilitate our rapid growth,” said Keith Guilbault, Qdoba CEO, in a statement. Click on slideshow to get a closer look at the 744-unit brand’s new headquarters. – Source: NRN.