A Restaurant Brand Creator on How to Keep People Coming Back

October 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Sue Chan is the founder and chief executive officer of Care of Chan, a two-year-old brand management agency that has worked with a hit list of restaurants including Alta, Cosme, Una Pizza Napoletana, and Wildair to create that all-important but so-hard-to-capture great restaurant experience. Chan was previously the brand director at Momofuku for seven years.

At her own company, Chan focuses in on everything that makes a memorable restaurant experience the type of place that customers want to keep returning to again and again. While there’s no set formula for creating that unforgettable experience, once it’s in place it can drive sales and longterm customer loyalty like no quick-hitting press coverage can. “It doesn’t matter if you’re on Bon Appetit’s top ten, you could close in a year or two,” Chan explained. “That is a real thing that happens a lot. It’s more about just caring about the actual customers who come in every single day, and focusing on that community and building that community.”

See full interview here.

 

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Winter Restaurant Promotions That Can Help Drive Business

October 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Goulash, beef stew in cast iron pan, top view, close up

“With Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day all taking place during the winter, restaurants have several holidays they can leverage to increase business. Valentine’s Day in particular, and the weekends surrounding it, are an especially popular time for couples to dine out. According to the National Restaurant Association, Feb. 14 is the second busiest day of the year for restaurants. To capitalize on the popularity, restaurants should accommodate diners by offering a special experience. Whether it’s by changing décor or providing a unique menu, going the extra mile will help your restaurant draw in more customers.”

“Cold weather results in reduced business since diners are more hesitant to leave the comfort of their homes. However, there are certain steps restaurants can take to limit the negative effects of winter.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Cooking, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Operations, Shopbuzz Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Restaurants at New York’s Hudson Yards Have a Big Plan to Feed Office Workers

October 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Image result for hudson yards

“More details are emerging about the dining roster at the $25 billion Hudson Yards project, and as a food editor who also happens to be a native New Yorker, I can say that it’s time to get very excited. By mid-March the megaproject’s 25 restaurants and food concepts, from José Andrés’s Mercado Little Spain food hall to the fish temple Estiatorio Milos, should be open.

Hudson Yards anticipates more than 40,000 employees arriving to work daily—a new epicenter of Manhattan supporting companies from Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management to Tapestry, VaynerMedia, and Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs.

The question of feeding all those workers, as well as the thousands of residents and tourists who will be flowing through the 1-million-square-foot space, has obsessed Kevin Stuessi, vice president at Related Companies LP, the real estate company developing the project. He’s determined that most of the restaurants will have continuous service, starting at about 11:30 a.m., with late-night menus planned.

Following an exclusive hard hat tour in early September, Stuessi and Related Urban CEO Kenneth Himmel shared some of the most exciting details of the project’s signature concepts.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Events, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Openings Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi: 5 powerful career habits that drove her success

October 10, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi steps down today after a 24-year career with the company. Born in India, the 62-year-old was one of a handful of people of color to run an S&P 500 company. During her 12-year tenure as chief executive, Nooyi transformed PepsiCo into one of the most successful food and beverage companies worldwide. Her push for healthier snack and beverage choices, along with an eye for product packaging, led to an 80 percent sales growth in the 12 years she was CEO.

As a child in India, Nooyi and her sister were asked to play an unusual game. Each night at dinner, their mother asked her daughters to imagine what they’d do if they were the prime minister, the president or some other world leader. By the end of the dinner, the girls presented a speech and their mother decided which speech won her vote.

Though her mother instilled many traditional values in her daughters, she also encouraged them to be whoever they wanted to be. “She gave us that confidence,” Nooyi said (…).”

View full article here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Global Market Buzz, Meet The Owner(s) Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Face-To-Face Meetings Help Improve Sales Rates

October 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The Sales Profession Saved My Life -- and Made My Company Millions

“(…) Prospects who refuse to make a final decision even after being held accountable to their previous declarations are politely telling you “no.” And keep in mind, “no” is a perfectly acceptable answer because “no” will not kill you in sales — “I don’t know” will destroy you with false hopes of commissions that will most likely never materialize.

This selling method can be applied to any number of excuses you are likely to hear at the end of your sales presentation. By addressing “I want to think about it” or “I don’t want to change suppliers” or “I need three bids” proactively, you will be in a very strong position to get a final decision about you and your company.

Never be caught flat-footed when it comes to objections and stall tactics. Proactively anticipate and prepare for whatever excuses may come up.

The key is to combine basic psychology and sales fundamentals to proactively eliminate the inevitable excuses prospects will raise to postpone making a decision. By removing the excuses ahead of time, the prospect will be more likely to make that final decision in your presence, which will dramatically increase the probability of a successful outcome.”

View more here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Operations, Opportunities Tagged With: , , , , ,

How To Address Lack Of Employee Engagement

September 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Image result for RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE WINNING CULTURE

“Your culture can propel your profits, sales, employee retention over the goal post or have it fall short. The cost of not making it over the goal line is something any small to mid-size business cannot afford.”

“In the U.S., according to the US Census Bureau, 97.7 percent of all U.S. businesses have fewer than 20 employees. Many of these employees wear multiple hats to keep costs down and profits up.”

“The most recent survey suggested approximately a third of employees are actively engaged leaving two thirds not engaged or actively disengaged. The cost of disengaged employees is estimated to be 34 percent of their salary due to lost productivity, missed shifts, disruption to others, tardiness, etc., Gallup found. Recently I attended a meeting where the CEO asked for some input from his advisers regarding what to do with negative, complaining people. He made the remark several times this was a small thing, but the behaviors of the negative people were hurting his efforts to more the organization forward. He had inherited longtime tenured employees where their beliefs were “We will be here after you leave.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Operations Tagged With: , , , ,

The Smart Espresso Profiler (SEP) Adds Flow and Pressure Profiling to Virtually Any Machine

September 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Smart Espresso Profiler (SEP)

“Until recently, it has required thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of specialized equipment to accurately measure and act upon several of the more important factors in espresso brewing — factors such as the duration and force of pre-infusion, the pressure profile for the rest of the shot, and the cutting-edge tweak du jour: the flow rate.

These barriers to entry might be disintegrating, however, now that espresso accessory-maker Naked Portafilter has developed and launched a new tool for home and professional baristas that appears to be breaking the field wide open.

See more here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Opportunities Tagged With: , , , , ,

How Hudson Yards Chose Its 25 Restaurants

September 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“On March 14, 2019, Hudson Yards will fully open its eastern portion. Twenty-five restaurants will fire up the stoves. More than 100 stores will fling open their doors. Marquee companies like BlackRock, Wells Fargo, and HBO will occupy office space. An entirely new neighborhood will spring into existence in what seems like an instant.

In reality, though, it’s taken mega-developer Related Companies over a decade to get to this moment. In that time, Hudson Yards — the stagnant rail yard area between 30th and 34th streets and 10th and 12th avenues — has turned into a modern adult playground of luxury retailers and restaurants, park space, and public events that have come to fruition through the vision of Related Urban CEO Kenneth Himmel.”

“Everything is designed to pull people in and up: the escalators, the open floor plan, Neiman Marcus starting on level five, the Keller and Estiatorio Milos flagships on five and six. Restaurants on higher floors are common in other countries, especially in Asia, but the format has not quite caught on in the United States — yet, if Himmel has his way.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz, Openings, Shopbuzz Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

This is how Google motivates its employees

September 18, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Google is consistently rated as being a top employer, and the culture it created helps to attract and retain top talent. The company optimizes its talent by designing and motivating strong teams—an ability that is essential to be successful, says Robert Bruce Shaw, author of Extreme Teams: Why Pixar, Netflix, Airbnb, and Other Cutting-Edge Companies Succeed Where Most Fail.

For example, Google is known for tough and thorough screening, says Shaw. “Everybody who is hired is highly qualified,” he says. “Fitting the culture is not a factor because candidates are screened for it. With high-caliber talent, culture fit can be taken for granted. If you have that, you can use their techniques. If you don’t, you have to be more deliberate.”

View more here.

Filed Under: Enterprise Insight, Operations Tagged With: , , , , ,

How Restaurants Can Cut the Costs Of Handling Cash

September 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Image result for restaurant operations cash handling

“One of the last things a quick-service restaurant manager wants to do at the end of a long shift is count down registers and fill out reports. They’ve been on their feet all day, helping customers, prepping food and putting out fires (only the figurative type, hopefully).”

“(…) Counting, reconciling and depositing money manually causes unnecessary inefficiency and risk in the business. Managers and staff remain on the clock at the end of the day, making the simple act of counting and reconciling cash costly in itself. Other risks include:

  • Potential for errors
  • Opportunity for theft
  • Untracked deposits
  • Time away from customer-facing activities like cleaning, service or food prep/safety.”

“According to a 2018 study of cash by IHL Group, 41.1 percent of quick-service transactions are in cash. While debit and credit might prevail in other areas of retail, the Federal Reserve reports that cash is still the payment of choice for transactions under $25—certainly within the sweet spot for average quick-serve tickets. Shake Shack learned this lesson recently as its customers demanded the ability to pay cash at a previously cashless location.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Local Market Buzz, Operations Tagged With: , , , ,
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