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Golden Corral has so Much to Celebrate in 2023!

As the new year begins, we have so much to celebrate. I want to start by wishing you a happy and healthy New Year! For Golden Corral and our many independent franchisees across the country, 2022 was a year full of progress. We were busy focusing on our teams and guests, growing our businesses, reconnecting with each other, innovating better ways to serve you, and engaging with our communities. We celebrate all that and more, with today being NATIONAL BUFFET DAY and tomorrow marking our brand’s 50th ANNIVERSARY! Thanks to the millions of loyal guests who have supported our restaurants, our faithful franchisees, committed team members and leaders, and valued vendors, we are still fulfilling our original mission of “making pleasurable dining affordable.”

We are kicking off the year with a 50th Celebration Sweepstakes. All guests who upload a receipt to our Rewards app today, January 2,  through February 19, will be entered to win. One (1) Grand Prize winner will win Free Golden Corral for a Year, Fifty (50) Second Prize Winners will receive a $50 Golden Corral Gift Card, and Fifty (50) Third Prize Winners will receive a $25 Golden Corral Gift Card. For more details about the sweepstakes or to learn more about our rewards program and app, see the information below. And watch for additional news and updates as we continue to celebrate throughout 2023!

Please join us in celebrating National Buffet Day and our 50th Anniversary. On behalf of our franchisees and restaurant teams across the country, I wish you the very best in 2023, and thank you for your continued loyal support of our restaurants across the country!  — Source: Lance Trenary, President & CEO.

 

Netgen Casual will open smallest Ground-up Design Ever

Walk-On’s Ensures Post-COVID Growth with New Prototypes One of the few benefits Walk-On’s gathered from COVID is understanding its business model from a different perspective says president and COO Scott Taylor.

When restaurants shut down, sales immediately dropped 93 percent, with to-go and delivery being the only source of income. As dining rooms were able to open again, a handful operated at 50 percent capacity. Despite that, stores were still setting opening-week sales records. The thought crossed everyone’s mind—maybe the concept doesn’t need 280 seats and that much stress on the kitchen. Perhaps throughput could be faster and, in response, table turns.

“The other part is just looking at the increased costs of everything right now from steel to lumber to utilities for an open business,” Taylor says. “Everything’s gone up, like commodities on your food. So we needed to take some dollars out of this cost of our building.”

From these discussions came the 7,000-square-foot, 200-seat Bulldog prototype, slimmer than Generation One’s 8,200-square-foot design. Development actually began before COVID arrived, but everything Walk-On’s discovered about obtaining similar volumes with fewer seats accelerated the process. The first one debuted in Lakeland, Florida, in 2021. Several more have opened since.

However, Walk-On’s found an opportunity to go even smaller by asking more questions—what’s important to keep in the design, and what are things you’d like to have, but maybe don’t get credit for with the customer? Taylor says it was about thinking outside the box and creating something that was “sufficient, looks good, represents the brand in a clean and classy way, and takes 20–30 percent out of costs.”

So Walk-On’s introduced the Wildcat, a 6,000-square-foot design that removes about 400 square feet out of the kitchen and 600 square feet from the front of the house, in comparison to the Bulldog. That includes fewer seats and a reduction in table sizes. The footprint of the bar is smaller as well. Instead of it being at the center of the restaurant, it shifts to the right side and the seating moves from about 40 to 25. Walk-On’s believes that in this smaller space, it can execute the same experience and menu and more than $5 million in AUV.

The restaurant, which will be based in Central, Louisiana, is in the final design stage. Construction should start in February, and the store should debut sometime between September and December. Originally, the unit was going to be a corporate location, but DMBC—Walk-On’s largest franchisee with 16 open across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee—volunteered to take on the task.

“We were going to build it, operate it, and think on all the burden of building a first-time prototype because there’s always going to be something,” Taylor says. “You think you’ve got everything covered, but you’re going to find something and so we were going to do that. But we have a tremendous relationship with DMBC.”

Walk-On’s has four basic ground-up prototypes. Generation One accounts for most of the footprint—Taylor estimates it to be around 60 percent. There’s also another big version called IDA, but there are only three of those in the system. The other two, of course, are the Bulldog and Wildcat. There are also some spinoffs. For instance, there’s a Pony prototype, which is just the Bulldog without a banquet room.

These smaller designs take into account that Walk-On’s now does 15-16 percent off-premises, with some stores surpassing 20 percent. Taylor says those numbers should elevate in the new year after the chain rolls out a massive technology suite update, including a new online ordering platform, loyalty program, website design, and POS system. And within these prototypes, Walk-On’s will be more mindful of to-go and delivery, like a separate entrance so the off-premises guest doesn’t disturb the dine-in consumer checking in with the host.

Franchisees are still building Generation One stores, and Walk-On’s agrees with those decisions because sometimes a bigger box is necessary in certain markets, Taylor says. Looking at the overall picture, the concept wants to give franchisees a suite of options for wherever they may want to grow. Sometimes, that may mean entering a smaller market that can hold a Walk-On’s, but not necessarily at $5 million AUV. The chain recently opened in Clemson, South Carolina, after converting from a 5,500-square-foot historic theater. The location can seat up to 130 and features a patio. Taylor says a 5,000-square-foot Walk-On’s is possible too after refining the menu and streamlining prep areas in the back of the house. It would be a better fit for a market with fewer than 70,000 people.

“There are options because we will always have Gen Ones out there, we’re going to have some Bulldogs,” Taylor says. “It’s just giving the franchisees and our different ways to look at different markets and develop, but also cast a much wider net so we can go into some of these much smaller markets that we think are great markets for us, but probably don’t justify the investment of a big freestanding building.”

Walk-On’s has 70-plus restaurants across 14 states. That’s after opening more than 40 locations between 2020 and 2022. Taylor attributes growth success to servicing franchisees as soon as the pandemic began. Operators then saw how quickly stores were able to claw back sales, and confidence soared. The chain also used COVID to take advantage of real estate opportunities; stores were converted from TGI Fridays, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Tilted Kilt, Twin Peaks, Houlihan’s, and more. Even with the new Wildcat prototype, Taylor says Walk-On’s will continue to seek second-generation spots—anything that allows for franchisees to experience better unit-level economics.

The company will finish 2022 with 16 store openings, and that’s after a tough year from supply chain and sourcing equipment. But Walk-On’s learned from those trials and is now ordering far in advance.

In 2023, the plan is to debut 20 restaurants. Beyond that, the goal is to set a pace of 20-25 new locations per year. At the same time, Taylor and his fellow leaders constantly preach for everyone not to get caught up in the headlines and triumphs. Taking on the hard-working spirit of a walk-on athlete is what got the restaurant here, and no one wants to lose that fire. He wants team members to be proud of their wins, but also recognize that innovation never ends.

“We just need to focus on being better,” Taylor says. “Either get better, get worse. Nobody stays the same. We just want to get better every day. And so that’s set for us. But innovation—that’s what’s happening here.”  — Source: FSR.

 

Renowned sports restaurant and bar, Hooters, enjoyed a successful launch in Liverpool last month . . . .

World’s Biggest Hooters Opens in Liverpool The long-anticipated opening took place on Monday, November 21st and the venue has been packed ever since. Already proving to be a popular place to watch live sports, the launch of the Water Street venue coincided perfectly with the start of the World Cup. Customers haven’t missed a minute of the action, thanks to wall-to-wall TVs and big screens, including state-of-the-art NFL-style quad screens. Officially recognized as the world’s biggest Hooters, the restaurant and bar seat 300 guests across two levels of stylish open space. As well as being loved by sports fans, Hooters is also going down a treat with groups of friends and families.

Director, Rachael Moss says:

“We are completely blown away by the response we have had since opening. We know that Liverpool is one of the most welcoming cities in the world and that has been proven by the reception we have had. The city has given us a very warm Scouse welcome and we are delighted to be here. Hooters is a family-friendly concept where everyone is very warmly welcomed. For some unknown reason that has been misunderstood. It’s been fantastic for us to have so many different groups and demographics join us for food, drink, and a good time. We are showing that Hooters is certainly for everyone.”

The amazing menu is, of course, playing its part in the venue fast becoming a must-visit destination. Their delicious American-inspired cuisine includes the restaurant’s specialty chicken wings, as well as Hooters classics such as the Mile-High Burger and Twisted Texas Melt.

Drinks are plentiful too, with a range of international beers available on draught. Cocktail lovers can enjoy classic and signature cocktails. Then there are the incredible Hooters Girls themselves. The seventy-five-strong team recently completed on-site training from their American counterparts and they’ve quickly become a huge asset to the company. Always happy to serenade celebrants with the Hooters ‘Happy Birthday’ song, the girls are warm and welcoming, truly bringing to life the brand’s mission statement, ‘Hooters Makes You Happy’.

Rachael adds:

“The girls are doing a fantastic job entertaining our guests. Delivering outstanding hospitality is a priority for us and they have smashed it from that point of view. It does not do any harm that they’re all beautiful ‘girl-next-door’ types, inside and out, either!’ We are all very proud of the diverse group of ladies that are very proud to wear the iconic orange shorts and we welcome them to be forever part of the sorority of Hooters Girls worldwide. – Source: FSR.

 

Mellow Mushroom Unveils Build Your Own Vegan Pizza Option

With the new year and customers’ renewed focus on health, Mellow Mushroom is introducing a “Build Your Own Vegan Pizza” option to the Build Your Own Pizza section of its menu. The launch comes in support of Veganuary, which encourages people to follow a vegan diet for the month of January.

A plant-based diet can improve your health and support environmental sustainability. Mellow Mushroom is supporting the nonprofit Veganuary by providing many options for vegan guests. These include making it easy by offering delicious vegan pies, vegan ingredients, a dedicated online vegan menu category, and, beginning in January 2023, a new dining room vegan menu.

With 19 ingredients in the new “build your own vegan pizza” section, diners can create a custom vegan pizza to fit their preferred tastes and dietary needs. They can select ingredients that include tempeh and Follow Your Heart® dairy-free cheese.

“Mellow Mushroom is delighted to launch our “Build Your Own Vegan Pizza” option just in time for Veganuary,” says Anne Mejia, VP of Brand Development, Mellow Mushroom. “At Mellow Mushroom, we take pride in the inclusive nature of our menu offerings, and our ability to serve delicious pies, salads, and munchies that accommodate dietary needs and preferences while maintaining great quality.”

Other vegan menu options include:

Vegan Veg Out and Vegan Cheese Pizzas

Vegan Greek and Enlightened Spinach Salads Vegan Pretzels made with Mellow Appalachian spring water dough and served with a choice of Mellow Red Sauce or classic yellow mustard Vegan Avocado Hoagie Vegan Tempeh Hoagie “We all have the power to make the world a little kinder, greener, and healthier this new year. It’s great to see restaurants like Mellow Mushroom embracing this opportunity and providing planet-friendly vegan options that showcase how delicious, varied, and satisfying vegan food can be,” says Wendy Matthews, Veganuary US Director. – Source: FSR.

 

The chain shifts away from Asian heritage with more curated bowls . . .

Genghis Grill Revamps Menu as it Gears up for Expansion Genghis Grill is moving away from its Asian-influenced all-customizable menu to offer more curated offerings with more global influences as the chain gears up for expansion.

Among the new chef-developed bowls is the Lonestar, with Cajun sausage, chicken, onions, charred corn, red & green bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes, barbecue sauce, and cilantro over white rice; the All-American, which is basically a burger in a bowl, made with ground beef, onions, tomatoes, dill pickle relish, cheddar cheese, potato hash, secret sauce, and a topping of toasted sesame seeds and breadcrumbs; and the When in Rome bowl with chicken, crushed red pepper, spinach, yellow onions, roasted red peppers, and pesto sauce over riced cauliflower. “It had been all about Asian stir-fry,” said Becca McIntyre, the Irving, Texas-based chain’s vice president of culinary, who developed the menu with chef consultant Robert Kabakoff. “This new menu showcases what you can do with our ingredients.”

The menu was introduced to the chain’s 50 locations on Nov. 17 “to great success,” according to CEO Gregg Majewski.

He said that previously curated bowls amounted to less than 7% of total sales, but the new ones accounted for more than 20% of sales.

“And that was just by rolling it out with no advertising yet behind it,” he said.

He added that the chain’s food cost had dropped by nearly 4.5 percentage points.

Controlling costs was part of the mission behind the revamp, but so was eliminating veto votes from guests who might not feel like eating Asian-influenced food, or who didn’t want the hassle of designing their own meals.

“Our process before, when you had 100 different options, could be tedious to people, [especially] first-time guests,”  Majewski said. “This allows them an easy choice.”

McIntyre added that the curated bowls also meant guests were going to get something that actually tasted good.

“If you’re not experienced at bowl building, it can be a lot of fun, but if you’re not sure how to combine all the different ingredients, it can be a daunting task,” she said.

Of course, guests can still create their own bowls from scratch, but Majewski said the growing number of guests who are ordering takeout or delivery can’t customize them the way a dine-in customer can.

“Everybody puts a different amount of X or Y in,” he said, which you can’t do with as much precision when ordering digitally. The curated bowls “allowed us to really go all in on the online ordering experience and the carryout and to-go segments.”

The new menu also expands on Genghis Grill’s fried rice options. The 24-year-old chain’s Supreme Fried Rice, with chicken, shrimp, and steak, has been a top seller. Now it’s joined by kimchi fried rice, jambalaya, and Farmhouse fried rice. That last addition has chicken, bacon, and jalapeño peppers tossed in Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning, plus carrots, red bell peppers, yellow and green onions, and barbecue ranch sauce.

The curated bowls start at $9.49, and the fried rice starts at $8.49, but the chain also added a line of $7.99 Value Bowls, all served over steamed white rice with toppings such as chicken, ginger, garlic, and pineapple, or smoked pulled pork with corn, beans, jalapeños, cilantro, and crushed red pepper.

“We wanted a price point that provided people a ton of food and a meal that they can afford in today’s environment,” Majewski said. “By setting up Value Bowls at $7.99, we provide over a pound of food at that price point, and that allows our customers to come in quickly and get in and out for lunch at under $10.”

New appetizers include hummus, a bacon ranch quesadilla, and a teriyaki chicken quesadilla.

The menu revamp comes as the chain, part of Mongolian Concepts, which is also the parent company of BD’s Mongolian Grill and FlatTop Grill, begins expanding for the first time since 2018.

“This year we are proud to announce that we have opened up our first new location [in Peoria, Ill.], and we have 24 new deals signed,” Majewski said.

That includes restaurants slated to open in Columbus, Ohio; Houston; and Jackson, Miss., in the first quarter of 2023. – Source: NRN.

 

The coffee chain is launching a variety of initiatives aimed at reducing waste, including eliminating plastic cutlery in its Canadian restaurants . . .

Tim Horton’s is Leaving Plastic Cutlery in 2022

Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada are entering the new year with sustainable cutlery.

The coffee chain is introducing wooden and fiber cutlery in early 2023. The wooden cutlery and fiber spoon are both compostable and will eliminate the use of 90 million single-use plastics a year, according to a statement.

The brand will also replace the plastic lids on its Loaded Bowls with fiber versions and plans to introduce a new breakfast and lunch wrapper early next year. The wrapper design uses 75% less material than the prior wrap box, which the chain estimates will save more than 1,400 tons of material a year.

In addition, Tim Hortons is currently testing a fiber lid for hot beverages, which is plastic-free and recyclable. The test is live in Vancouver and will run for about 12 weeks.

The brand will also eliminate single-use bags and begin offering reusable bags for purchase starting in January.

Tim Hortons’ reuse efforts don’t stop there. The Toronto-based chain is teaming up with Return—It, a reusable container company, on a reusable cup pilot program. The project gives customers the option of paying a deposit for a reusable, returnable cup. The pilot launched in May at 10 restaurants and has grown to include nine public bins for turning cups in and a total of more than 60 cup return points across the city, according to a statement. Additionally, two more Tim Hortons restaurants have since begun to trial the pilot.

“Through our sustainability platform Tims for Good, we’re always looking for ways, big and small, to make thoughtful choices on material and design in order to reduce and eliminate packaging and contribute to more sustainable innovation,” said Paul Yang, senior director of procurement, sustainability and packaging at Tim Hortons. – Source: Restaurant Business.

 

Chicken, eggs, dairy, and feed are expected to come down, but beef prices are expected to jump . . . .

Some Supply Chain Relief expected in 2023 Inflation clouded everything this year, for consumers and operators alike. On the operator side, some commodity prices were at their highest levels in decades, forcing average menu price increases up by over 8% just to maintain margins.

Commodities are always volatile, but this year was a vortex. “Inflation this year has been as steep as I’ve ever seen it in my career,” said David Maloni, principal at Datum FS. That career spans over 25 years in the foodservice supply chain space, including distribution sales and forecasting. About a year ago, Maloni bought a coffee and pastry concept in Sarasota, Florida, and became an operator as well. Coincidentally, coffee and eggs were two of the most expensive markets this year, and breakfast inflation overall has ticked up above 30%.

In other words, he’s craving cost-of-goods relief just like everyone else. And for the most part, his forecasts look promising. Sort of. “Generally, we should see things like chicken, eggs, and maybe dairy come down a bit. There will be opportunities for lower price levels throughout most of 2023 for many commodity-based products,” Maloni said. “The expectation is to see some softening for the industry.”

Much of that softness is expected to come from robust corn, soybean, and wheat (feed) production. Maloni said soybean production is expected to be 20% higher in 2023 – weather permitting – and when those crops come in August and September, “we should have much better supplies and prices.” That said, it won’t all be rosy. Cattle futures prices are expected to rise by double digits in 2023 due to drought and a smaller herd. Maloni said beef is his “biggest concern” over the next couple of years because suppliers are going to be limited. That flips the script on what has happened in 2022 when beef prices have been one of the exceptions (up single digits) to otherwise historically high inflation.

In other words, supply chain pressures will remain for some and perhaps dissipate for others. Of course, the industry’s big-picture narrative always differs by segment, and this is no different. What is different now, however, is the need for the industry to better prepare for challenging environments like this one. Maloni said that has started to happen, but plenty of opportunity remains.

“The industry is becoming better at combating things like volatile weather. Technology and farming have come a long way in the last 20 years. With GPS technology, harvesting can be done much, much faster, there are different seed varieties – practices have just gotten better all around and yields typically get better each year,” Maloni said. “That has combatted some volatility. The industry is learning and adjusting.”

That’s not to say there won’t be pressures and this year underscores as much. But if this year taught us anything, it’s that mitigation of such food cost pressures is more critical than ever, particularly as such cost pressures come from more sources, like construction and labor. We can’t just depend on technological advances on the farming side, either. Maloni’s biggest recommendation at the operator level is to be flexible with the menu, including pricing.

“Menu shifts should be a mitigation tactic for high inflation, but the challenge is a lot of restaurants don’t have digital menu boards. We have digital menu boards and can change pricing in 5 minutes, but a lot of independents don’t, so menu featuring, engineering and pricing needs to be a part of the plan,” he said.

There are also plenty of buying groups out there that independent operators should be a part of, he said. These groups might not be able to help with the main items, but they can perhaps generate some rebates with ancillary items like straws or ketchup.

That said, even with dozens of mitigation plans in place, Maloni said the cure for high prices is always high prices and that became clear this year with menu costs. But consumers have a threshold before they stop coming altogether and that’s where perspective comes into play.

“I believe high prices make us better and make us look at things differently and dig and grind for better margins. We did this with labor. It got more expensive this year so one of the things we did was look at our data and realize there was no reason for us to be open from 4 to 5 p.m. We didn’t do any business in that hour, and it wasn’t worth it,” Maloni said. “Would we have considered closing during that hour if labor wasn’t so high? Probably not. This environment has made it necessary for us to find ways to operate more efficiently. We are getting better at what we do.” – Source: NRN.

 

5 Tips for Using Influencers in Your B2B Marketing

When you think of influencers, you probably think of Instagram models, TikTok corn videos, and emotionally driven and consumer-focused content. The world of B2B influencers is very different, and it can be complex to navigate when thinking about the problems your clients are trying to solve and the solutions they’re trying to sell.

Ultimately, the key to unlocking and creating an impactful influencer program is to take a B2Human approach.  Business decision-makers are people and want to be treated as such, especially when we’re meeting them where they live — on social media. Business leaders are also consumers, and consumers are business leaders. Reconciling this duality opens up the opportunity to humanize your brand and reinforce an authentic connection with your audiences.

With 2023 on the horizon, we see a maturity in the B2B  influencer space, one that will continue to evolve and grow.  Here are a few trends we expect to see:

Exploring micro-influencers

Here’s the kicker: you don’t need to work with influencers whose social followings surpass the size of your own. The ideal influencer for a B2B business isn’t necessarily someone with a huge following – it’s someone with the right following. When you work with influencers with smaller, more niche audiences, their followers are easier to reach, more engaged, and more trusting too.

It’s like a professional services technology company partnered with a financial influencer from a boutique accounting firm to draft sponsored content.

Today, people value authenticity and connection unconditionally. And the way to establish trust with new audiences is by working with micro-influencers who inherently embody these traits already. This approach is tested and will humanize and personalize your brand.

In thinking about the channels, we see micro-influencers penetrating in 2023 – we find taking a cross-channel approach is best. The most successful influencer relationships will amplify content across a constellation of channels, whether that’s filming a podcast on one platform, uploading the full video production on YouTube, then later sharing clips of it on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Another upside? It’s cost-effective. The more followers an influencer has, the more expensive it is to work with them. When working with micro-influencers, you can disperse your budget across several rather than investing in one macro-influencer.

Always-on influencer programs

Working with micro rather than macro-influencers will also allow you to stretch your budget throughout the year, creating a consistent program more generally referred to as always-on.

An always-on program not only allows you to build trust with influencers internally but externally as well. When your audience recognizes that an influencer is recurring and loyal, this creates an even stronger sense of brand trust. In addition, always-on programs help enhance brand or product awareness by reaching your audience at every stage throughout the year — from consideration to purchase.

It may seem like a big undertaking — but trust us, consistency is key.

Prioritizing diversity

When exploring influencer programs, think about all the elements – including but not limited to sexual orientation, ethnicity, skin color, gender, body type, socioeconomic status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, and more. This might seem like more of a concern when working with B2C influencers, but employees and customers are ever-more conscious of companies’ commitments and attitudes. Representation does tell a more powerful story in large part due to relatability.

When influencer brand campaigns are authentically intentional, followers feel more connected to the brand and are more likely to try out an influencer’s recommendation. So marketers, don’t be afraid to step outside the box when it comes to influencer research, diversify outside of your brand norms and explore influencers that connect to your industry in various ways. It could introduce your brand to an entirely new audience.  For example, one blockchain company partnered with a healthcare influencer to tell the story about how the technology could impact hospitals and transform the medical industry through better security, privacy, and accessibility.

Investing in technology & processes

Many companies in the B2B space are starting to recognize the value of investing in solutions at every stage of an influencer campaign.  After all, quality tools and clearly defined processes are the foundation of a successful campaign.

When creating an influencer program, using the right tool to build a library of potential influencers is critical.  Finding influencers is easy, but finding the right influencers requires diligence and precision. You should review more than individual profiles – trends, audiences, and your competitors are all important points of analysis. You want a search tool that can account for each vector. Traackr, Klear, and Influencer are great examples of tools that take a wide range of data points into consideration.

Once your campaign is underway, real-time analytics and accurate reporting become a requirement. Adjusting messaging, targeting parameters, and deactivating non-performing content on the fly will make the best use of your budget. You spent a significant amount of time, money, and brain power to launch the campaign, so you should continuously monitor its health. As reporting tools become more widely accessible, expect to see influencers offering comprehensive performance reports (and charging accordingly).

If you don’t want to invest in tools and processes yourself, you can always lean on a marketing partner with the knowledge and technology required to maintain a performant influencer program.

Ultimately, influencers are here to stay. As you plan your B2B marketing and communications initiatives for the year, adding an influencer strategy can drive awareness and increase brand lift in the market. – Source: PR Daily.

 

Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) introduced a companion bill to the previous Senate legislation . . . .

The House of Representatives introduces its own version of The Restaurant Revitalization Fund Tax Credit The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a companion bill to the Restaurant Revitalization Tax Credit legislation the Senate announced last week. Like its companion bill, the House’s version — introduced by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)  — would create a tax credit in 2023 to offset payroll liabilities owed by restaurants that applied and were eligible, but did not receive, the original Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

“Restaurants and their employees were hit harder than any other industry during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Congressman Blumenauer said in a statement. “The federal government has provided some help to these institutions through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, legislation based on my RESTAURANTS Act. But the program has fallen short, with only one-third of all applicants receiving funding. The Restaurant Revitalization Tax Credit will help fill these gaps and ensure all local restaurants get the support needed to keep their doors open, pay their staff, and protect the industry’s trillion-dollar supply chain.”

Here’s how it would work:

The tax credit would be able to offset payroll tax liabilities for eligible restaurants at up to $25,000 per quarter in 2023 Eligible restaurants include restaurants open before March 14, 2020, that applied for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund in 2021, did not receive any grants, and experienced a loss of revenue of at least 50% in 2020 or 2021, compared with 2019 or a loss of at least 30% in both 2020 and 2021 as compared with 2019 The credit would be fully refundable for companies with 10 or fewer employees, and partially refundable for companies with between 11-20 employees.

The only discernible difference between the two bills introduced to Congress is that the specifications on eligibility based on the number of employees are slightly different, with the Senate legislation stating that the cap on refundability is reduced by $2,500 for each additional employee over 10.

Both bills have been endorsed by the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the National Restaurant Association.

“For the small business operators who hoped the Restaurant Revitalization Fund would help them stay afloat until the chaos of the pandemic settled, this tax credit will create another path to resilience while they deal with the uncertain economic climate,” Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association said in a statement.

The bills will likely be heard and voted on when Congress is back in session in Jan. 2023. – Source: NRN.

 

Beverly Stallings-Johnson has been with Wendy’s as its chief diversity officer since early 2021 . . . .

Wendy’s Chief Diversity Officer Reflects on Inclusion Initiatives It’s been nearly two years since Beverly Stallings-Johnson took on the role of chief diversity officer at Wendy’s, and so far, staff and franchisees have shown positive reception to her work.

Based on a company-wide survey, more than 94 percent of Wendy’s employees agree that Wendy’s values diversity, Stallings-Johnson said. In the same survey, employees most often used the word “inclusive” to describe company culture.

“We know we’re doing something right,” Stallings-Johnson said. “We know what we have to do as an organization to be inclusive and to drive that type of culture, where people want to be engaged and want to be a part of Wendy’s today, as well as Wendy’s in the future.”

Wendy’s brought on Stallings-Johnson to lead its diversity and inclusivity initiatives in March 2021. She previously served as the chief diversity officer for the city of Columbus, Ohio, and worked in a similar role at Xerox for 25 years.

When Stallings-Johnson was first settling into her new post, she wanted to take a broad look at Wendy’s before tackling issues in equity, inclusivity, and diversity.

“We wanted to evaluate, understand and look at our diversity at all levels of the organization,” Stallings-Johnson said about her goals when she was starting out. “We aligned with a multi-year strategy focused on the education, the training, recruitment, hiring, talent, development, and, most importantly, retention.”

The company established goals to increase the number of women and people with diverse backgrounds in leadership, management, and franchise ownership roles, promote more women from entry-level positions and increase diversity in Wendy’s board of directors. “Since then, everything has been about executing on those goals,” Stallings-Johnson said.

Of Wendy’s 14,500 companywide employees in 2021, nearly all identified as white, Black, Hispanic, or Latinx, according to the 2021 company corporate responsibility report. About 57 percent identified as women, a decrease of 1 percent over 2020. Of Wendy’s approximately 150 employees in company leadership roles, more than three-quarters identified as white. Black and Asian employees made up 6 percent each, a 1 percent increase in both categories, and Hispanic or Latinx employees made up 8 percent—a 2 percent increase over 2020.

The majority of Wendy’s restaurant crew and management positions are held by women, but two-thirds of the company leadership roles are held by men. That’s still a 4 percent decrease over 2020.

Wendy’s has implemented several employee resource groups, or ERGs, for different communities, such as women, Black employees, young professionals, LGBTQ+ employees, and caregivers, to name a few.

“We’re unique in the sense that we recognize that we want to make sure that our people are seen and heard,” Stallings-Johnson said.

A lot of companies don’t focus on caregivers—whether it be for children, parents, spouses or others—when thinking about the different communities within its staff, Stallings-Johnson said. “We heard from our people, and they’re saying this is what matters,” she said. “Diversity also includes our people that have care issues, and that’s one of the things that we focused on.”

Stallings-Johnson wanted to ensure Wendy’s employees felt like their voices are heard, and to her, actions speak a lot louder than words. The company issues two or three surveys a year to hear from employees about their concerns.

“We actually take that feedback and we try to adapt and recognize where we need to go with this, specifically from an inclusive perspective,” Stallings-Johnson said.

To create more franchise opportunities for women and people of color, Wendy’s created competitive liquidity and net worth requirements, because “access to money and understanding net worth is a big deal in terms of barrier to entry to any franchise,” she said.

“Had we not done that, imagine the folks that would never have had the opportunity to try to own, or at least to come together to be a part of this franchise community,” Stallings-Johnson said. – Source: Franchise Times.

 

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