From forgoing their own salary to giving raises, small business owners are finding ways to hire and retain their staff . . . .

How Small Restaurant Owners are Navigating the Labor Shortage

Every few weeks, it seems, a new photo goes viral on social media showing a sign in a restaurant window declaring: “This restaurant is closed because no one wants to work.” Restaurant owners have, for months now, been quoted in articles and TV news hits decrying the ongoing labor shortage, blaming the enhanced unemployment benefits enacted during the pandemic for disincentivizing returning to work. But those benefits have expired in some states already — and some jobs data suggests ending them didn’t exactly lead to a wave of rehires. The best way to attract long-term workers (back to) the restaurant industry, according to many who advocate for low-wage workers, is to pay people more. Through supply and demand, the thinking goes, higher wages will increase demand, and the restaurant industry can get back up and running again. That money has to come from somewhere. The CEO of Chipotle was paid $38 million in 2020; the CEO of Yum! Brands, which owns KFC and Taco Bell, took in $14.6 million; and the CEO of McDonald’s, $10.8 million. These companies could certainly afford to pay their line-level employees higher wages to entice them back to work. But the restaurant industry is hardly monolithic, and these outrageous examples belie the complexity of an industry that is not only made up of mostly small businesses but also relies on a broader supply chain that is facing its own pandemic-related calamities. Yes, executive compensation in this country is out of control, and workers are paid too little. But not every restaurant can raise wages as easily as Chipotle or KFC could. For restaurateurs and owners working on a much smaller scale, hiring and retaining staff in the labor shortage has demanded flexibility. I spoke with owners of independent, non-chain restaurants to get a better sense of how they are meeting their staffing needs. Every restaurant is a unique ecosystem, but among the restaurateurs I talked to, a few key strategies emerged: paying themselves less (or last) in order to pay their employees more; creating greater employee participation in the restaurant’s operation, and being proactive about adapting to a permanently changing world.

Small restaurant owners are sacrificing their own pay

Eric Sze, Eater 2021 New Guard member of 886 restaurants in Manhattan, says that he considers himself a “very lucky owner” and hasn’t had too much trouble bringing staff back. Currently, 886 offers back-of-house employees an hourly wage between $18 to $20, and front of house usually sees a minimum of $25. Sze and his co-owner, Andy Chuang, usually end up working around 18 hours a day, paying themselves $60,000 per year, but frequently will forgo a salary some weeks to make ends meet. Ed Szymanski and Patricia Howard, who own the new Manhattan restaurant Dame together and, like Sze, are members of the 2021 Eater New Guard, have “had it relatively good,’’ Szymanski says. “We’re a lucky outlier with a tiny total staff of nine, including ourselves, and they’re all friends.” Since their staff is so small and each member interacts with guests, they are able to include everyone in the tip pool, with a base wage of $15, plus tips, which usually brings the hourly rate up to about $40. They have yet to pay themselves. Some restaurant owners keep labor costs in check by paying themselves a percentage of revenue, like Matt Glassman, owner of Greyhound Bar & Grill in Los Angeles, or profit, as does Sandy Levine, owner of the Oakland and Chartreuse in Detroit. Levine estimates that servers and bartenders in his establishments could easily be making more than he does in any given week.

Owners are finding more ways to get employee buy-in

Ji Hye Kim, chef and owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who was able to bring back all but two staff members, implemented a weekly all-staff huddle where management and staff could talk transparently about the business and what safety measures the restaurant would be following. This meant that they could work with the staff on the timeline and strategy for reopening. “We opened slowly, in phases; it was not a unilateral decision,” says Kim. The restaurant did not allow guests inside, eliminated public restrooms, and, when its patio opened, Kim was the only one working it for the first two weeks, citing staff fears of violence in reaction to enforced mask-wearing. Nelson German, the owner of Sobre Mesa and Alamar in Oakland, said that his reputation has allowed him to keep most of his staff, although he’s still missing some: “It revolves around culture — they’re down for you if you’re down for them.” He said he’s always offered competitive wages and gave raises to those who’ve stayed through the pandemic’s shutdowns and reopenings.

Owners are looking ahead and looking beyond the current moment

Many small-scale restaurateurs seem to be reimagining staffing on a more philosophical level, thinking about more than simply how much to pay. Take hosting: usually considered to be one of the most entry-level positions in the front of house, Germany is treating it as a priority. “The host is a high-skilled position, you need to know how to de-escalate as well as strategize an entire dining room’s seating.” He pays well for the role (several dollars per hour above industry average), but still finds it difficult to keep staffed, and his wife often fills in. “Guests are mean and a lot of people don’t want to deal with that.” Restaurants are also looking beyond what the law mandates they pay staff and instead toward equitable systems that not only treat people more fairly but also allow for greater flexibility when scheduling shifts. Kim has implemented a One Fair Wage policy, meaning that tipped workers and non-tipped workers receive the same hourly base pay. This also allows them to share tips across front and back of house and lets staff fluidly transition between front and back of house as needed, allowing for greater scheduling flexibility. Most of the owners I spoke with predicted that the current labor shortage and other staffing challenges will persist for the foreseeable future. Still, there’s reason to be optimistic — at least for restaurateurs like German who are actively adopting and experimenting with ways to attract and retain staff. “The industry is changing and we need to take care of our people. We can’t run without them,” he says. “The people who never treated people well are the ones who are in trouble right now.” — Source: John DeBary (Eater)

With four drive-thru lanes, this new prototype promises to solve the bottleneck problem . . . .

Forget the Double Drive-Thru. Meet the new Taco Bell Defy

Taco Bell unveiled its newest store design promising to be the speediest unit yet. Dubbed the Taco Bell Defy — because it will “defy norms and define the future” — the new design set to break ground in Brooklyn Park, Minn., later this month will be a 3,000-square-foot, two-story restaurant with four drive-thru lanes. Three of those lanes will be dedicated to mobile or delivery order pickups, the company said. Developed in partnership with 35-year franchise operator Border Foods, the new Defy location was designed by Minneapolis-based Vertical Works Inc. It will be the franchisee’s 230th Taco Bell and 82nd new restaurant build, though it’s not scheduled to open until summer 2022. Though the Defy design will be among the smallest in terms of footprint, the restaurant is expected to serve more customers, reimagining a frictionless drive-thru experience, the company said. Digital check-in screens will allow mobile order customers to scan their order via a QR code, then pull forward where their food will be delivered by a contactless proprietary lift system. Two-way audio and video will allow customers to stay in touch with team members in real-time. The Irvine, Calif.-based chain has long been diversifying its flexible formats, but the company is prioritizing digital elements as it reaches the goal of 10,000 units this decade. The new Defy design comes on the heels of Taco Bell’s Go Mobile format introduced last year, a smaller unit with double drive-throughs — with one dedicated to mobile orders — and curbside pickup with help from a concierge team of “Bellhops.” To date, the chain has 13 Go Mobile locations built and another 85 in the pipeline, with the Defy as the latest in that format category. Before that came the more socially oriented Taco Bell Cantina Locations, with open kitchens and often serving alcohol. “In 2015, we created the Taco Bell Cantina concept with an open kitchen environment in urban markets. In 2020, we introduced the Go Mobile concept much earlier than anticipated with the help of quick collaboration with franchisees just like Border Foods,” said Mike Grams, Taco Bell’s president, and global chief operating officer, in a statement. “Partnering with our franchisees to test new concepts is a huge unlock of learning for us. What we learn from the test of this new Defy concept may help shape future Taco Bell restaurants.” Aaron Engler, president of Border Foods, added in a statement that the new design will improve a major aspect of using the drive-thru: speed. “We’re partnering with Taco Bell and the best and brightest in technology and design to create what will very likely be the future of quick-service restaurants,” Engler said. Source: NRN.

IHOP wants you to pair your French toast with a mimosa, and your “IHOb” burger with a beer

“Bubbles, Wine & Brews”

The company announced a “Bubbles, Wine & Brews” menu, featuring curated and locally sourced beer and wine options, as well as Bud Light, Blue Moon, and Corona, and mimosas and wines from Barefoot–Bubbly Brut, Bubbly Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The pilot is now available at three restaurants in San Diego and New Mexico and will expand to additional markets, including New York, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Ohio, in the coming months. It will soon be available to all franchisees across the 1,700-unit system if they so choose. President Jay Johns admits securing a liquor license–which can cost anywhere from $300 to $14,000 depending on location–may pose a barrier for entry, but adds that several franchisees are eager to introduce alcohol offerings nonetheless. “As we continue to roll out to more locations, we hope the optimizations and key learnings [from the test] will continually offer franchisees the tools needed to successfully launch in their markets,” he said. In fact, this menu was created using feedback and learnings from several IHOP franchisees who have been offering one-off alcohol programs for the past few years. The timing now, however, seems a bit more essential as the chain continues its long recovery from a debilitating 2020 incited by the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered dining rooms across the country. The chain’s Q2 2021 earnings remained negative, though the -3.4% was a material improvement of nearly 18 percentage points from the first quarter. Alcohol could push IHOP’s recovery from a crawl to a sprint, as it yields margins of about 75% for beer and 60% to 70% for wine. That’s compared to the general profit margin of a restaurant that only sells food, which is about 3% to 6% on average. For additional optimism, Applebee’s, IHOP’s sister chain at Dine Brands, could provide a target benchmark, historically generating about 15% of its sales from alcohol. And as it turns out, more people are drinking now, so the new menu could provide a traffic boost for measure. Researchers from Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland found that 60% of Americans are drinking more compared to pre-pandemic times. IHOP facilitated a survey itself last month to gauge interest from its loyal customers. Results showed that 66% of its recent guests and 58% of its younger guests (21 to 34) want to have an alcoholic beverage with their IHOP meal. Further, nearly 50% of drinkers ages 21 to 70 said they would be more likely to visit an IHOP if alcoholic beverages were served. “Through research, we’ve learned that consumers are excited for these new menu options,” Johns said. “We maintain a steadfast commitment to meet the ever-changing needs of our guests. As we explore ways to enhance the dining experience for our guests, we felt adding alcoholic beverage options to our menu is a right next step to propel that forward.”  Notably, these options should also complement the brand’s lunch and dinner dayparts, both of which have been a priority area throughout the past couple of years and will continue to be so. IHOP launched its “ IHOb” campaign in 2018 to promote a new burger line, for example, and its IHOPPY Hour in 2020–its first-ever lunch and dinner-focused value menu. “We see this launch as part of our continued prioritization of the p.m. daypart, with hopes of attracting new guests during different times of the day. While we are offering morning drinks, like mimosas and sparkling wine, we are also offering afternoon and evening-focused beverages to accompany IHOP favorites for meals beyond breakfast,” Johns said. “Adult beverages offer a terrific innovation and evolution to enjoy IHOP for every occasion.” Source: NRN.

The chain’s CEO said the fast-casual is beginning to note the impact of employees who cannot work because they are sick or have come in contact with the virus as cases surge around the country . . . .

Chipotle is Feeling a Labor Squeeze from Workers Exposed to COVID-19

Just a few weeks ago, COVID was largely in the rear-view mirror for Chipotle Mexican Grill. Now, the pandemic is again hitting the chain’s workforce, its CEO said, as the highly transmissible delta variant continues its surge around the country. “Now it is definitely back in front,” Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol said Wednesday during a live-streamed conversation with the Washington Post. The chain continues to see a steady stream of job applicants as it looks to hire thousands of new workers this year, Niccol said. But it is seeing “exclusions from people having contact with COVID or they themselves having COVID,” he said of his workforce. Those illnesses come amid a tight labor market in which Chipotle and other chains are trying to keep both digital and on-premise businesses operating and growing. “My preference would be everybody gets vaccinated and we move on,” Niccol said. Currently, all Chipotle workers must wear masks. All customers are encouraged to wear face coverings, but the chain is not mandating it unless it is required by state or local governments, he said. “We’re not looking for employees to police peoples’ behaviors on this front,” Niccol said. “Our preference is you wear a mask.” The Newport Beach, Calif.-based burrito chain has not yet made vaccines mandatory for its workers, but such a mandate is on the way, Niccol said. “What we are waiting on is for the final approval for the vaccine,” he told the Post. “Once the vaccine gets approved, it gives us a lot more latitude,” Niccol said he has not yet spoken with anyone from the New York City government about how to implement the vaccine requirement for dine-in customers, which takes effect on Sept. 13. Other cities are mulling similar vaccine requirements.   – Source: Restaurant Business.

The requirement will be phased into place starting Aug. 20. Children under the vaccination age of 12 are exempted . . . .

San Francisco Mandates Vaccines for all Dine-In Restaurant Guests and Employees

Restaurant customers in San Francisco will need to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 if they intend to dine onsite after Aug. 19, and all restaurant employees will need to show proof starting Oct. 13, Mayor London Breed announced. Children under age 12 are exempted from the mandate. Nor will vaccination proof be required of customers ordering takeout or dining outside, the mayor said. The move makes San Francisco the second major U.S. city to announce that it will require proof of vaccination as a requirement for entry to local restaurants and bars. New York City’s vaccine mandate takes effect on Sept. 13. Philadelphia is taking a different path. Mayor Jim Kenney announced yesterday that restaurants can choose either to require all guests and employees to provide proof of inoculation or mandate that they wear face masks. Los Angeles’ host county is conducting a feasibility study to determine if it, too, will require that all restaurant and bar customers be vaccinated. A report, along with plans for the adoption of the mandate, is due in about two weeks. Mayor Breed attributed San Francisco’s decision not just to rising coronavirus infection rates, a result of the delta variant spreading more easily than earlier varieties, but also to the high vaccination rate that the city enjoys. “Seventy-eight percent of people in San Francisco have been fully vaccinated—that’s still more than any other place in the country,” the mayor said. She apologized for being slightly fuzzy-headed after celebrating her birthday Wednesday at an establishment that had voluntarily adopted a vaccine requirement. Almost two-thirds (63%) of the city’s restaurants favor a requirement that guests be vaccinated, according to the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. “We thank the city of San Francisco and the Department of Public Health for taking this critical step,” the association said in a statement. “We realize requiring proof of vaccination will put a high level of stress on our employees, but believe that this move will help ensure more people will choose to receive vaccinations, which is critical to stop the spread of Covid 19.” Mayor Breed said the requirement will remain in effect until the spike in new infections brought by the delta variant is flattened. – Source: Restaurant Business.

Pokeworks, the Irvine, Calif.-based poke brand promoted Heeley from chief marketing officer to chief executive officer . . . .

Pokeworks Promotes Steve Heeley to CEO

Irvine, Calif.-based fast-casual poke brand, Pokeworks, announced the promotion of chief marketing officer Steve Heeley to CEO. He will be replacing the brand’s co-founder and former CEO, Mike Wu, who will be stepping into the role of chief of culinary. “This announcement is a strategic part of our company’s evolution,” Wu said in a statement. “There are exciting times ahead, and I know Steve is looking forward to working with everyone at Pokeworks to help write the next pivotal chapters in our story.” Heeley joined the team in March 2021 when Pokeworks went on an executive hiring spree adding Michael Walters as chief operating officer and Larry Sidoti as chief development officer. Prior to joining Pokeworks, Heeley was CEO of Veggie Grill, where he spearheaded digital and menu development of the fast-casual, plant-based brand. He has also previously held executive leadership roles at Earl of Sandwich, Au Bon Pain, The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf, and Beja Fresh. As CMO of Pokeworks, Heeley led the team’s revenue strategy, brand and digital strategy, product development, and customer relationship management. In his new role as CEO, Heeley will be focusing on menu innovation, franchise development, and expansion, as well as overseeing the rollout of the brand’s new restaurant design. “It has been exciting and humbling to be part of the tremendous growth of this brand,” Heeley said in a statement. “Pokeworks’ founders, management team, and franchise partners have done an incredible job of growing Pokeworks into a hugely successful national brand in a short period of time. I am excited to build on this foundation and help guide Pokeworks into the future with our shared vision to become the most trusted, leading, premium fast-casual poke brand in the world. Poke is no longer a trend; it has matured into a broadly accepted growth category in fast-casual.” Pokeworks plans to double new store commitments in 2021 and 2022 in an aggressive new store expansion strategy. – Source: NRN.

Burger brand tested 8 units in Canada, plans 50 this year in U.S. and United Kingdom as well . . . .

Wendy’s to Expand REEF Delivery Kitchens with 700-Unit Deal

The Wendy’s Co. and REEF Technology have agreed to a deal that calls for 700 delivery kitchens over the next five years in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the companies said. Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s said it expects the agreement with Miami-based REEF to produce about 50 delivery kitchens this year and the remainder through 2025. The commitment builds on the test of eight REEF delivery kitchens in Toronto late last year with Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada. The deal also will make REEF the first Wendy’s franchisee in the United Kingdom. The agreement led Todd Penegor, Wendy’s CEO and president, to say the company was increasing its 2025 global target to 8,500 to 9,000 restaurants, or a 500- to 1,000-unit increase from previous goals. The company currently has more than 6,800 restaurants worldwide. “This commitment builds on the successful test that we completed in Canada and will allow us to further develop urban markets where we are currently underpenetrated,” Penegor said in a Wednesday second-quarter earnings call. “We are still very early in our nontraditional development journey,” Penegor said, “but we are encouraged by the results that we’ve seen with REEF, and we’ll continue learning alongside them throughout this partnership as we grow our brand.” Abigail Pringle, Wendy’s president for international and chief development officer, noted in a statement that “the demand for convenient delivery solutions means we must look for opportunities beyond our traditional restaurant formats, especially in dense urban areas.” Penegor said Wendy’s expects the delivery kitchens to produce sales in the range of $500,000 to $1 million per unit. The royalty rate will be higher, he said, with about 6% in the United States and 5.5% in the United Kingdom. For the second quarter ended July 4, Wendy’s net income rose to $65.7 million, or 29 cents a share, from $24.9 million, or 11 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenues rose to $493.3 million from $402.3 million in last year’s quarter. Same-store sales were up 16.1% in the United States, up 31.4% internationally, and up 17.4% systemwide. In the second quarter, Wendy’s breakfast, which was introduced in March 2020, continued to gain traction, Penegor said. “Breakfast continued to be a profitable sales layer for us in the second quarter, and our average weekly sales dollars delivered vs. our breakfast plan,” he said. “We could not be more excited about the upside that is still in front of us.” Breakfast sales accelerated in the quarter, the company said, growing 10% over the first quarter. “We continue to see very strong customer repeat and high customer satisfaction after people try our breakfast,” Penegor noted. The company increased its breakfast advertising investment by $10 million, to $25 million, in 2021 to drive trial, he said. “We remain confident in our plan to grow our breakfast sales by 30% in 2021 and reach our goal of 10% of sales coming from breakfast by the end of 2022,” Penegor said. The additional $10 million in advertising, he said, is timed to be part of the consumers’ return to routines after the pandemic, such as schools reopening and offices calling workers back. Breakfast and the company’s digital tools have also helped increase visits to Wendy’s units, he said. “If you look back over the last 12 months, we’re up about 20% from 5.5 visits to 6.5 visits,” he said. “We’re very proud of that. Breakfast is driving some of that, digital is certainly helping that. If you look at all the QSR burger frequency over that same period, they saw declines of 5% to 10%.” In the second quarter, Wendy’s did see a rebound in the lunch and late-night dayparts, which were impacted by COVID, Penegor noted. In the period, Wendy’s relaunched its popular Summer Strawberry Salad and introduced its higher-end “Made to Crave” Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger, which boosted average checks. “We also executed against our high-low strategy by continuing the $5 Biggie Bag promotion, which drove traffic into our restaurants throughout the second quarter,” he said. “We will continue to strike a balance between our core menu items and new product offerings with exciting and ownable new products.” Wendy’s will continue that approach to grow customer transactions, Penegor said. “We need to have that balance on the high and the low to continue to bring those customers back, as mobility continues to increase more around a routine basis. Mobility has come back, but folks don’t have that routine down yet, thinking about getting lunch at work or breakfast on the way to work, dinner on the way home from the office,” he said. “Those things are still all opportunities out in front of us to bring more customers into our restaurants.” Wendy’s, founded in 1969, has more than 6,800 restaurants worldwide. – Source: NRN.

A tightening of key supplies like paper bags and straws is adding to pressure faced by fast-food chains . . . .

Fast Food Chains like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Popeyes are Taking Extra Precautions to Avoid Shortages Amid Supply Chain Disruptions and Increased Sales

McDonald’s told franchisees to limit orders of bags and straws after high usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported. The chain says that customers are unlikely to notice anything amiss in restaurants. “Despite temporary pressures in the industry, the impact to restaurants is minimal. Based on what we know today, we are confident customers should not see disruption to supply of bags or straws. We will continue to watch closely,” McDonald’s told Insider. Fast food restaurants’ supply chains are under immense pressure right now, and bags and straws are just the latest issues. Drive-thrus became the primary way. restaurants served customers for much of the pandemic, necessitating more paper bags than usual. McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Starbucks, and other major chains all relied on drive-thrus over the last year, and invested heavily in them, which paid off as sales at McDonald’s were above 2020 and 2019 so far this year. Unsurprisingly, sales of unbleached bag and sack paper, which are used to make to to-go bags, were up 12% in 2020 over the previous year, according to the American Forest and Paper Association. Other fast-food supply chains have faced bumps, too. In April, more than a dozen baristas told Insider that Starbucks stores were experiencing shortages of cups, flavored syrups, and baked goods. In June, Insider reported on an internal memo that Starbucks was putting 25 items on temporary hold because of supply chain issues. Popeyes took precautions to avoid shortages ahead of the chicken nugget launch this summer. The chain spent six months stockpiling frozen chickens to meet demand curb supply issues, a spokesperson told Insider. The entire restaurant industry is facing supply chain issues, causing shortages and impacting customers. In July, Taco Bell told customers that it doesn’t have several ingredients, and posts on social media called out shortages of staple ingredients including chicken, beef, and several different types of taco shells. The chain told Insider shortages were due to “national transportation delays,” that are impacting the entire industry. Meanwhile, Chipotle customers say that they’ve visited locations that were out of vegetables, guacamole, steak, rice, and even tortillas. Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Popeyes all told Insider that they aren’t experiencing straw or bag shortages right now. – Source: The Wall Street Journal.

Some companies’ lists of principles are short enough to be easily remembered, while others have more than a dozen entries. Maybe some editing is in order
. . . .

Quick! Do you Know your Company’s Values?

At some point during their evolution, companies go through the values exercise. The founder may decide to write them down. Or the company’s values could be the subject of a whiteboard exercise by the leadership team at an off-site. Or employees may be surveyed for their input. There is no “right” way to do the values exercise because every company’s culture is unique. Ideally, the list of values should capture and codify that culture. But the leaders who drive this important exercise have to make some key decisions upfront. They need to define the rules of the road so that there is clarity throughout the organization about those behaviors that are encouraged and those that are discouraged. In going through this process, leaders must make choices. Will they use big-idea words, such as excellence and integrity? Or will they use more concrete and specific language? How will employees be reminded of the values? I believe another question is too often glossed over: how long should the list be? Some organizations seem to embrace the simple rule that most people can’t remember more than three or four things from day to day. At Colgate-Palmolive, for example, the values are “caring,” “global teamwork,” and “continuous improvement.” Because of my work as the senior advisor to the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia University, I have had many discussions about corporate culture with Mark, who was the CEO of Colgate-Palmolive for 25 years. “It’s true that most companies’ lists of values are too long and that employees can’t remember them. They’ve got to be really simple and basic,” he told me in an interview  “Almost everything can be related to [Colgate’s] three values, so it’s simple and it’s inescapable.” And, in the conversations I’ve had with current Colgate executives, they often reference those three values without any apparent effort to remember them. But other accomplished CEOs don’t believe that brevity is paramount. Jeff Lawson, head of cloud communications company Twilio and one of the most thoughtful CEOs I’ve met on the topic of culture, notes that there is another approach. His company has ten values. “The question was always whether you’d rather have fewer of these things, because the fewer words you use, the more impactful they each are,” said Lawson. “Or do you want to have a longer list, because you can decide which principle is most relevant at a particular moment in time?” I have looked at hundreds of lists of company values over the years, and though I’m not going to suggest that there is an ideal number of values, I do believe—and perhaps this comes from the 15 years I spent working as an editor at both the New York Times and Newsweek—that many of them could be shortened. I propose using a simple filter to separate the ideas that are table-stakes behaviors, which should be expected of any employee, from the X factors that will really drive success and distinguish the company’s culture from all others. Amazon provides a handy case study. One of the superpowers of Jeff Bezos, who over the course of 27 years built the company from a bookseller to a retail juggernaut, is his ability to simplify complexity in everything from customer experiences to supply chains.

In his 2016 annual letter to shareholders, Bezos distilled the core ideas that give Amazon its edge. He referenced his foundational idea of Day One thinking to remind employees to always approach their work with fresh eyes. He also wrote, in response to a question from an Amazon employee at an all-hands meeting (“What does Day Two look like?”), that there were four essential elements that would help the company avoid stasis and decline: true customer obsession, skepticism of proxies (meaning always prioritize results over process), adoption of external trends, and high-velocity decision-making. I propose using a simple filter to separate the ideas that are table-stakes behaviors, which should be expected of any employee, from the X factors that will really drive success. And so, it seems like a disconnect to then see that Amazon’s leadership principles have grown to a list of 16 ideas. Yes, many of the values on that list are specific and establish clear norms of expected behavior. In one of my interviews with Lawson, he told me that his time spent earlier in his career working at Amazon was hugely influential in shaping his thinking about how to build an effective culture at Twilio. And he can still remember the Amazon values. “Amazon is not for everyone—it has faced plenty of criticism over the years about its hard-driving culture—but there is no arguing that it has managed to make its leadership principles, including ‘invent and simplify,’ ‘bias for action,’ and ‘disagree and commit,’ part of everyday conversation in meetings,” Lawson said. Others on the list that help define Amazon’s secret sauce are “customer obsession” and “think big.” Lawson added: “We all walked around knowing and saying and using them every day. They weren’t just words on the wall. They weren’t just rules about what you could and couldn’t do. They were trying to answer questions: How can we all be smarter? How do we get our jobs done together in a way that allows us to all to understand what the other is saying? And how do we make good decisions?” That said, many other entries on the list make my fingers start twitching to reach for a red pen because they are the price of entry for any executive or employee. Doesn’t everybody, if they hope to stay in their job, have to “deliver results”? That can be said for many of the other values, too, such as “learn and be curious,” “be right, a lot,” “dive deep,” “insist on the highest standards,” and “hire and develop the best.” Other entries on the list that feel a bit generic include “strive to be earth’s best employer,” “success and scale bring broad responsibility,” “ownership,” “frugality,” and “earn trust.” I share the Amazon example as a kind of mirror to hold up to your company’s values. Are there ideas on your list that are table stakes and perhaps aren’t adding as much as others? Perhaps you don’t think the list needs to be recalled as easily as Colgate-Palmolive’s. But think of it this way: what if you could ask every employee, “How many of our company’s values can you name?” Whatever that collective score might be, the next question is, “What can the leaders of the company do to raise it?” That might include taking out the red pen. – Source: Strategies + business.

Available as a premium side, guests can now enjoy Cracker Barrel’s creamy mac n’ cheese topped with crispy bacon bites, parsley, green onions, and parmesan cheese . . . .

Cracker Barrel Unveils New Bacon-Themed Products and Limited-Time Beverages

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store announced today that its menu innovation will continue this fall with new additions and limited-time seasonal beverages. Bacon is a breakfast, lunch, and dinner staple and will serve as the centerpiece of two new dishes – Bacon Mac n’ Cheese and Bacon n’ Egg Hashbrown Casserole – while for a limited time, guests also can enjoy the sweet and tangy flavor of Cracker Barrel’s Huckleberry Tea or get into the fall spirit with a hand-crafted Pumpkin Pie Latte. “Care is at the heart of all we do to make the guest experience unique at Cracker Barrel, and part of that is continuing to innovate and offer new menu additions like the flavorful Bacon Mac n’ Cheese,” says Cracker Barrel Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Tate. “This fall, we look forward to our guests returning to our stores to enjoy these brand-new items as well as fan favorites that are all crafted with care – our secret ingredient.” Cracker Barrel’s new menu additions and limited-time offerings, available in stores and online, include:

Bacon Mac n’ Cheese: There’s a new way to enjoy a classic favorite. Available as a premium side, guests can now enjoy Cracker Barrel’s creamy mac n’ cheese topped with crispy bacon bites, parsley, green onions, and parmesan cheese.

Bacon n’ Egg Hashbrown Casserole: For guests looking for a hearty start to their day, the Bacon n’ Egg Hashbrown Casserole begins with Cracker Barrel’s signature Hashbrown Casserole, griddled and layered with Colby cheese, scrambled eggs, and hickory-smoked bacon, all topped with fried onions, diced tomatoes, and green onions. Served with buttermilk biscuits.

Huckleberry Tea: In need of a refreshing beverage? Cool down with a special blend of freshly brewed iced tea and the sweet and tangy flavor of wild berries. Available until Nov. 29.

Pumpkin Pie Latte: A returning favorite, the Pumpkin Pie Latte contains crafted coffee with sweet, seasonal pumpkin pie flavors, topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice. Enjoy iced or hot. Available until Nov. 29.

Source: fsr magazine.

Earl Enterprises New Owner of BRIO Italian Grill

BRIO Italian Grille Reopens at Quakerbridge Mall in New Jersey

BRIO Italian Grille has reopened in Lawrence Township at Quakerbridge Mall. The restaurant’s new owner, Earl Enterprises, is excited to reopen the beloved restaurant, saving jobs, and recommitting to serving their community in the process. The restaurant is open Monday – Sunday from 11:00 AM – 10:00 P.M. serving both in-restaurant dining, outdoor dining, TO GO, and curbside pickup. BRIO Italian Grille’s menu features fresh, made-from-scratch recipes and Tuscan-inspired chefs. The combination of great food, great atmosphere, and top-notch service has made Brio a family experience for all ages to enjoy. The restaurant has also resumed the beloved Happy Hour regularly attended by local residents, Daily Meal Deals, and catering. BRIO is also excited to be debuting a new Sunday Brunch with specialties like the Tuscan Sausage Scrambler, Garden Veggie Scrambler, and Bistecca All Romano. Brunch cocktails are also joining the Sunday lineup including White Peach Sangria, Sangria Rosa, Peach Bellini, and Caffe Italiano. – Source: fsr magazine.

McDonald’s will require all of its U.S. office employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, joining the growing list of employers requiring that at least some workers get the shots . . . .

McDonald’s will Require all of its U.S. Office Employees to get the COVID-19 Vaccine

The Chicago-based fast-food chain is also delaying its official office reopening from Sept. 7 to Oct. 11 to give employees more time to get fully vaccinated, according to an internal note to employees. In the note, McDonald’s Chief People Officer Heidi Capozzi said the increase in COVID-19 infections caused by new variants “has made many of us uneasy.” The McDonald’s global headquarters in Chicago’s West Loop in 2019. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune). “Since the Town Hall, we’ve heard from many of you that you would feel more comfortable returning to the office if you had more certainty your colleagues were vaccinated,” Capozzi said in the note. “We are also being asked by state and local governments to require vaccinations for corporate employees because getting more of the population vaccinated reduces our own chances of being infected and contributes to community protection.” Companies had been hesitant to require employees to get vaccines earlier in the pandemic, but that’s started to change as COVID-19 variants have spread and case numbers have grown. Amtrak also announced plans on Wednesday to require all employees and contractors to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Last week, Chicago-based United Airlines said it would require all U.S.-based employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine companies including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Tyson Foods. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce issued a statement encouraging employers to mandate vaccines. “Businesses are in a unique position to help change the direction of the pandemic, and we encourage businesses of all sizes and industries to require vaccinations so we can protect ourselves, those around us, and continue on our path to economic recovery,” said Jack Lavin, president, and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. McDonald’s decision to mandate the vaccine was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The requirement will apply to suppliers and contractors visiting McDonald’s Chicago headquarters or other U.S. offices, but McDonald’s will not mandate vaccines for employees at restaurants it owns, or franchised restaurants, according to the note to employees. Employees who are already fully vaccinated are encouraged to still return to the office on Sept. 7. Masks are currently required in offices for all employees, regardless of vaccination status, except while workers are eating, drinking, or alone in an enclosed room. The company hopes requiring vaccinations will let it go back to making masks optional in the future, according to the note. Capozzi said the company will provide more information on requesting an exemption for a medical or religious reason in the coming weeks. – Source: The Chicago Tribune.

Sanitation

Two Sides to Salmonella Kentucky

Travelers beware: Some Salmonella Kentucky pathogens are not the type of souvenir you want to bring home from your trip. Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) are trying to discover why Salmonella Kentucky bugs acquired in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa are more likely to cause disease and be antibiotic-resistant than those acquired domestically. A study conducted in the laboratory of Devendra Shah, an associate professor and the Caroline Engle Distinguished Professor in Research on Infectious Diseases at WSU, looked specifically at Salmonella Kentucky and found that more than 60% of Washingtonians with a confirmed Salmonella Kentucky infection while abroad from 2004 to 2014 were resistant to fluoroquinolones, a group of antibiotics used to treat Salmonella infection. The researchers also collected Salmonella Kentucky isolates from chickens raised in the United States, but none showed resistance to fluoroquinolones. The bacteria thrive in the gastrointestinal tracts of food animals such as chickens and cattle and are known to cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever in humans. “Quite frankly, I think we’ve just gotten lucky this drug-resistant type hasn’t popped up in the US yet,” said Rachel Soltys, a graduate student and first author of a paper on the research in the Journal of Frontiers and Sustainable Food Systems. Soltys and Shah analyzed 15 fluoroquinolone-resistant clinical samples of Salmonella Kentucky collected by the Washington State Department of Health. They traced 11 of those cases directly to international travel to the Middle East and countries such as Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Egypt, and India. Another 140 Salmonella Kentucky samples were collected from chickens in the northwestern United States and the laboratory of Jean Guard, an agriculture research scientist at the US National Poultry Research Center at the US Department of Agriculture. Those samples were compared with more than 400 publicly available genome sequences of Salmonella Kentucky from various parts of the world. “When we compared our Salmonella Kentucky sequences to the international isolates, it corroborated with what we had learned from the Washington State Department of Health epidemiology data and confirmed that the patients had picked up the infection when they were traveling,” Soltys said. Salmonella Kentucky is one of the most common Salmonella types found in domestic poultry, according to Shah, although the pathogen causes less than 100 cases of illness per year in the United States. However, reported cases would likely increase with case-patients experiencing symptoms severe enough to warrant medical intervention if fluoroquinolone-resistant Salmonella Kentucky were to become endemic in the United States.  “One, you’re likely not going to recover with antibiotics,” Shah said. “Two, you’re going to disturb your normal bacteria in your body, and it can make your infection worse.”  — Source: Food Business News.

Food Pathogen Detection Startup Wins IFT FIRST Pitch Competition

SnapDNA was named the winner of the Food Disruption Challenge Pitch Competition at the Institute of Food Technologists’ FIRST virtual conference on July 21. The innovation challenge saw founders behind emerging and investment-ready companies pitch their endeavors to a panel of industry experts. Participating companies received pitch preparation and mentoring support from IFT leading up to the event, which culminated in SnapDNA taking home a $25,000 cash prize. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company is developing a self-contained, on-site analysis tool that is designed to replace all food pathogen lab tests. The tool aims to reduce the number and severity of outbreaks while lowering production costs for food manufacturers. Traditional diagnostic tools for tracing contamination are outdated, said Tom Jacobs, vice president of sales and marketing at SnapDNA. They are unable to distinguish between a single errant cell and a raging contamination, and analysis often takes up to a week in an off-site, specialized lab. SnapDNA’s rapid detection system delivers automated on-site analysis in 20 minutes, saving companies millions of dollars in operational costs and limiting exposure to recalls. “The longer it takes to identify the source of contamination, the greater the exposure,” Mr. Jacobs said. “When tracing contamination to its source, recalls cost processors an average of $10 million in direct costs alone. When indirect costs such as lost sales and reputational damage are factored in, a single recall can cost over $100 million.” The company already is working with PepsiCo, Inc. to increase the speed of listeria detection for the company’s production facilities. It also was selected as the next-generation food testing platform by the USDA, which helped develop some of SnapDNA’s early processes under a cooperative research and development agreement. Two factors help the company stand out from other startups in the food pathogen detection space, Mr. Jacobs said. “The critical one is that they haven’t been able to address all of the food industry’s needs,” he said. “The critical requirements in food testing are first and foremost the sample sizes. In the competitive landscape of the rapid test environment, no one else is able to use large food industry samples.” Another factor is SnapDNA’s ability to detect live cells. “If you’re not able to differentiate between live cells and dead cells, that leads to unpredictable false-positive results,” Mr. Jacobs said. “Our system is able to detect only live cells. That’s part of our patented process.” SnapDNA will use the $25,000 prize to help fund its managed rollout across production facilities for several target companies. Other finalists in the innovation challenge included Rocky Mount, NC-based Ripe Revival, and Berkeley, Calif.-based Trophic. Ripe Revival extracts nutrients from fruits and vegetables to create functional ingredients and finished products. Trophic is developing sustainable protein sourced from seaweed.  – Source: Food Business News.

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