Here’s a culinary profession that’s new to us: Food Sherpa. We’re ready for this brand of travel, even from our desk chairs.
The New York Times highlights this profession, which has been around for awhile, but never with the menu of offerings we’re currently seeing.
Jamba Juice has resisted any loyalty program or partner for several years. They now have announced they will be using Spendgo.
In this heat, this is brilliant timing for Uber, who’s offering a one-day promotion that will let you request an ice-cream truck to come to you.
Details are here.
Steve Ells sits down with Denver Westword to talk about Chipotle’s 2-decade run and what it took to get there.
There are thirteen “characteristics” required of Chipotle employees, who now number more than 40,000. One is “infectious enthusiasm.” Another is “happy” — you must be happy. Half-time happy doesn’t cut it.
It’s those attributes — along with fast food focused on slow-food philosophies, resulting in burritos that make loyal fans very, very happy — that have elevated Chipotle Mexican Grill to worldwide dominance and earned its founder,Steve Ells, the title of Most Inspiring CEO in America last year from Esquire.
Read the full story here.
The 80-20 rule says that says that 80 percent of an enterprise’s business comes from 20 percent of its guests or clients. Recently, loyalty program startup company FiveStars studied thousands of small businesses and found the 80-20 rule to be quite accurate. Across the board, 20 percent of an enterprise’s guests or clients drive over 72 percent of its business, with many businesses actually receiving more than 80 percent of sales from those “vital few” guests.
So how should this inform your business strategy? These three steps will help you capitalize on the 80-20 rule.
1) Value the Vital Few. Keep track of who your regular guests are through a loyalty program or guest management system and deliver excellent service, extra rewards, or special perks just for them.
2) Make More of Your Guests Part of the Vital Few. Turn your occasional guests into regulars. Studies show loyalty rewards can significantly increase visit frequency, as guests are likely to visit an enterprise more frequently as they get closer to a reward. “In some verticals like restaurants,” said FiveStars CEO and Co-Founder Victor Ho, “loyalty programs can drive customers to increase their visits by 25 percent per month.”
3) Turn New Guests Into the Vital Few. A great first impression can turn a new guest into a regular one. Make sure you know who your new guests are– either through a loyalty program or guest management system– and go the extra mile to welcome them.
Lastly, be sure to spend 80 percent of your time on the 20 percent driving your business. Focus on maintaining and acquiring new regulars and your enterprise will continue to grow.
CNN Small Business reports that U.S. franchises are enjoying newfound interest and success abroad, as the hard-hit U.S. economy has made domestic expansion harder. U.S. franchises are growing decidedly faster abroad than they are in the United States, where growth was flat at best between 2010 and 2012.
At the franchise expo in New York City this year, one fifth of attendees were from foreign countries, including Kuwait, Peru, Bangladesh, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
The increased interest and opportunity for growth has allowed U.S. franchises to demand more favorable terms from franchisees, as well, such as requiring them to open multiple units.
For the full story, click here.
The Washington City Paper profiled several D.C.-area chefs who are rapidly expanding the number of restaurants to their names, often opening new enterprises every two years or less. Those profiled include Mike Isabella and Spike Mendelsohn.
The chefs interviewed say the pressures to build an “empire” are coming from multiple sources, from the new definition of a successful chef perpetuated by the Food Network (which now includes blogs, book deals, shows, and merchandise), to the hype generated from new concepts, to the shortage of cooks and the need to create a place for talented staff to move up and not on.
For more on this trend, read the full article here.
Panera Bread announced this week that it will table its most recent venture in the pay-what-you-can model– a Turkey Chili in a Bread Bowl meal offered at all of its 48 St. Louis-area locations. Guests at those locations were asked to pay what they could afford for the meal, which has a suggested retail price of $5.89, including tax.
Panera introduced the meal as a way to help the needy in the area, with those who can afford to pay above the retail price subsidizing the cost for those who could afford less. While the program initially raised awareness for food insecurity and brought in revenues above the suggested retail price due, which Panera founder and chairman Ron Shaich credits to in-store marketing and educational campaigns, the program’s effectiveness began to dwindle, with payments dropping off and awareness dropping.
Shaich said Panera plans to bring back the program next winter in a reworked format in select markets as a seasonal program. The nonprofit Panera Cares cafes, which operate on a completely pay-what-you-can-model and offer job training programs, will continue to operate as-is.
For the full story, click here.
In this free webinar, experts from Marsh & McLennan Agency and PeopleMatter will offer insights on how the Affordable Care Act affects foodservice, hospitality, and retail businesses and how to remain profitable while staying compliant. They will particularly address what the Affordable Care Act requires, rules affecting enterprises with multiple locations, and tools to help owners manage benefits and labor costs.
The webinar is free and will take place July 18, 2013 at 1pm EDT. For more information and to register, click here.
Yelp announced that it has launched a direct-from-site online transaction service, called Yelp Platform, that will allow Yelpers to order food directly from an enterprise’s Yelp page. The service is available for restaurants already offering food delivery and pickup through online ordering platforms delivery.com and Eat24. Yelp plans to expand the service to offer ordering from additional restaurants in the future, and eventually expand the transactions to other product categories such as salons and dentists, allowing users to book appointments online.
The transaction platform is the latest move by Yelp to streamline user interactions with its listed enterprises. In 2010, Yelp integrated with OpenTable to allow users to make reservations through Yelp. Earlier this year, Yelp integrated health inspection scores onto the listing pages for its San Francisco enterprises.
For the full story, click here.
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