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March 2015 Newsletter

Mar 30, 2015

 

Greetings!

Working in restaurants has often been seen as a stepping-stone first job, but let no one take away the fact that the restaurant and bar industry leads employment growth and new job creation in this country. And the industry may take heat for minimum wage status and large number of part-timers, but it has also started the careers of many of its most successful chefs and entrepreneurs.

In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, nine out of every 10 managers started at entry level, and eight in every ten owners worked their way up from the lowest rungs. And that makes this industry a tremendous source of opportunity.

Fedele Bauccio, the CEO of Bon Appetit Management Co., started out as a dishwasher. Clarence Otis Jr., former chief of Darden, waited tables. Top toque Grant Achatz, of Chicago’s Alinea, flipped eggs in his parents’ diner. There’s nothing you can’t do with the social skills, work ethic, and love of food that come along with restaurant work.


Consumer-Facing Technology: A Powerful Competitive Tool

By Jeffrey Manno, Operations & Finance

In the heyday of full-service dining—before the existence of the internet, smartphones and omnipresent phone apps—technology was merely an option for restaurants to use to improve their service. But in the modern era of 2015 and beyond, a comprehensive understanding of restaurant technology is a prerequisite for entering the highly competitive arena of restaurant operations. With a variety of consumer benefits, technology is not only something that consumers want, but it is something they have come to expect and even demand, regardless of their age. That means that operators must be aware of the various technologies available for restaurants, and they must also understand how they benefit the guest, so they can successfully incorporate them into their service model.

 

In late 2014, USA Today cited a National Restaurant Association study indicating “more than one-third of all consumers are more likely to use technology-related options in restaurants now than they did just two years ago.” Going one step further, “Almost one-third of consumers with smartphones say they would use a smartphone app to pay their check instead of using cash, a debit card or credit card,” according to the national survey of 1,007 consumers.

 

Oftentimes, the ill-informed restaurateur may think, “Yeah, but technology is just for kids and college students. My customers don’t use technology to interact with the restaurant.” To which I say, “Are you ready to bet the house?” While it is well-known that younger consumers are likely to accept, and even sometimes request, technology options as part of their dining experience, they are no longer the only diners who want them.

 

The truth of the matter is that consumer-facing technologies are no longer just for Millennials: The National Restaurant Association also reported that “more than half (56%) of consumers age 45-64 have recently used technology options in restaurants.” Specifically, says the NRA, four out of 10 have ordered food or looked up menus on a computer in the past month; about one-third have looked up restaurant locations on a smartphone; and more than one in 10 has ordered takeout/delivery, looked up nutrition information, or made a reservation via  smartphone or tablet apps.

 

In addition, the association reports, among Baby Boomers (which make up nearly 20% of the U.S. population), “about six out of 10 say they would order online using a computer or look up directions to a restaurant on a smartphone; and about four out of 10 say they would place an order…using smartphone or tablet apps.”

 

This is great news for the restaurant industry, because an increased use of technology may help lower overhead costs and increase sales, by allowing restaurants to more effectively market and cater to their clientele. A growing number of restaurants, from popular regional brands such as Stacked in San Diego and L.A., to nationwide chains like Chili’s, have installed tableside tablets. With these tablets, customers are in control of ordering, paying bills, and even playing games (for a fee, of course).

 

The result? Bloomberg Business recently reported that “tablets give the dining experience a novel and modern flair…and they reliably increase the size of the average check.” In fact, it was reported that tablets help boost appetizer sales by as much as 20%, and dessert sales by as much as 30%. Going further, tips are up approximately 15% more than average, which leads to happier staff. Most importantly, guests really like it since they can often leave the restaurant an average of five minutes faster, paying their bill tableside as soon as they’re ready. This may not seem like a lot of time, but for guests on a short lunch break, or in a rush to attend an event, this can make a significant difference.

 

So what does this all mean? If current behavior is any indication of future trends, then it’s apparent that restaurant clientele of all ages, from Millennials to Baby Boomers, have come to thoroughly enjoy technology as a valuable part of their dining experience. Successful restaurateurs will leverage loyalty programs, websites and smart phone apps to better appeal to and attract their desired clientele. Then, once guests are onsite, restaurants will leverage technology to complement the service staff and enhance the guest experience, by allowing guests the freedom to order food and drinks, pay for tabs, and even play games whenever their hearts desire. Finally, guests are not the only ones who benefit. Waitstaff enjoy increased tips and also have more time for interacting directly with guests, rather than racing to drop off checks and take orders.

 

Bottom line, the restaurant wins with increased average checks, happier staff, and happier guests.


Diners for the Next Generation

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

The diner is a beloved American icon—so it stands to reason that this humble “concept” would be getting an upgrade.
We’ve seen “upscale” diners before, but this time it’s different, as a new generation of chefs transform old streamliners into contemporary destinations, and sophisticated restaurateurs put a fresh spin on the egalitarian neighborhood classic. That means elevated versions of favorites like patty melts and milkshakes; cheffy signatures based on thoughtful local/artisanal sourcing; and amenities like craft cocktails and distinctive microbrews merged with the casual atmosphere and all-day schedules the diner is already known for.

Many operators are drawn to the idea of diners because of their approachable formula of reasonably priced comfort foods that everyone loves, and because they harken back to the simpler times that everyone seems to crave right now.

According to Datassential, the trend can be clocked to post-recession consumer desire for a value-oriented casual dining experience, and chefs’ interest in providing it with a level of quality and creativity that would help mainstream their brands. The trend brought some heavy hitters into the field, including Gordon Ramsey with the now-defunct Fat Cow in Los Angeles, and Stephanie Izard with the groundbreaking Little Goat in Chicago. But now it’s really picking up steam, taking the best of the diner/coffee-shop/luncheonette tradition and kicking it up a couple of notches. Daily specials and all-day breakfast never had it so good.

Bradley’s Fine Diner, in Houston and now Menlo Park, CA, is the brainchild of award-winning chef Bradley Ogden, who honed his craft in fine-dining bastions like The American Restaurant (one of the nation’s first “new American restaurants,” in Kansas City), San Francisco’s Campton Place, and the influential Lark Creek group of farm-to-table restaurants. Working with his son Bryan as executive chef, “BFD” brings fresh, simple, seasonal food to the man on the street: Oak Grilled Chuck Burger with caramelized onions; Iceberg Wedge salad with Sweet 100 tomatoes and housemade blue cheese dressing; daily Blue Plate Specials; signature cocktails and happy hour bar bites like the Sloppy Joe Biscuit Slider and Spring Garlic Dip with flatbread. Many of the specialties were honed over years of successive and deliberate downscaling, at such approachable concepts as Lark Creek Grill and Yankee Pier, finding ways to make quality and freshness affordable and accessible enough for everyday enjoyment

• The entry of Chicago’s much-lauded Paul Kahan (Blackbird, Avec, The Publican, and Nico Osteria) with Dove’s Luncheonette is big news for the new-wave diner landscape; after all, he’s already conquered the chef-driven fine dining, wine bar, gastropub and contemporary Italian segments. An homage to the ‘60s lunch counters of Kahan’s early food memories, with its all-day menu and local blues soundtrack, Dove’s captures the spirit of an earlier time. Specialties like brisket tacos and pork pozole riff on the West Side’s neighborhood Mexican roots, extending a tradition that’s been successfully mined with Kahan’s Big Star taqueria next door

• Also in Chicago is Eleven Lincoln Park, which hails itself as an “Old School Diner, Delicatessen.” Owner Brad Rubin opened the more straightforward Eleven City Diner in the South Loop in 2008, but when the location for the late, lamented Belden Deli in Lincoln Park became available, he did the logical thing and created a mashup. It’s not so farfetched: both the diner and the deli are friendly, low-key places with a penchant for counter seating, overstuffed sandwiches, and breakfast served all day. Like Ed Debevic’s back in the 1980s, the two restaurants border on parody, but it’s out of love and respect for the tradition of the neighborhood family restaurant

• When Food Network chef Amanda Freitag reopened the legendary Empire Diner in New York City as a “locavore diner” in 2014, she faced down decades of devotion from neighbors, club kids, celebrities and others who made the old chrome and stainless steel dining car their late-night hangout. Though she and her partners have had to scale back on plans to keep the place open 24/7, the menu succeeds in bringing a chef’s twist to urban diner standards with specialties like Bruléed Grapefruit Toast, Charred Octopus “Greek Salad,” Buffalo Skate Wings, a lamb burger with whipped goat cheese and chili jam, and such over-the-top desserts as Brooklyn Blackout Cake and cheesecake with fig compote

Rosebud American Kitchen & Bar, in Somerville, MA, touts “honest food and drink” in the form of regional American comfort food. Restoring and repurposing an Historic Register (1941) family-owned Greek diner car, co-owners Joe Cassinelli and John Delpha turned the Davis Square landmark into a hip urban barbecue joint showcasing a Smoke n’ Fire cooking platform. Menu specialties range from St. Louis ribs and a griddled cheese burger to BBQ “It’s Not a Ramen” Pork Noodle Soup and an Asian BBQ Hog Head sandwich with gochujang BBQ, kimchi, and ginger-scallion relish. The restaurant is also famous for its Grandma-type pies and ambitious cocktail and craft beer programs. There’s live music and a robust schedule of events, many involving tap takeovers and other artisanally spirited themes

• When Chad Conley and Greg Mitchell, alumni of Manhattan restaurants like Jean-Georges and Gramercy Tavern, moved to Biddeford, ME, and bought the 15-stool Palace Diner they did little to mar the historic setting (a classic circa-1927 Pollard dining car that’s the oldest in the state). But they did recast the menu with seasonal specialties, local ingredients, and a menu of refined interpretations of classic breakfast, brunch and lunch foods (like the fictional restaurant in Richard Russo’s novel Empire Falls, which also takes place in a small Maine river town, the Palace is only open for dinner on the weekends). That means traditional fare like corned beef hash, made with brined local grass-fed beef, homemade banana bread griddled in brown butter, and house-cured pickles, plus a small selection of wine by the glass

• Ron Eyester, the talent at the stove behind The Family Dog, Rosebud and Timone’s in Atlanta (and is the Angry Chef from Season 12 of Top Chef, in Boston) is in the process of opening Diner in the city’s Atlantic Station. This tribute to a “classic greasy spoon” will also feature farm-to-table sourcing and a selection of classic Southern cocktails like the Sazerac, Mint Julep and Brandy Crusta. There’ll be a salmon club but the fish will be house-cured, and a selection of “yard bird” specialties included croquettes and traditional smothered chicken


Wine’s New Paradigm

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

wine

There’s a lot of talk about how Millennials have driven change in the restaurant industry, and not surprisingly, wine is one of those areas of change.

According to London-based International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR), the U.S. is the largest market in the world for wine, in both total volume and measured by per-capita consumption, and is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

But while Gen Y is commonly associated with the boom in craft beer, and Americans in general are more likely to drink beer than wine, there’s also plenty of data that indicates Millennials being big wine drinkers as well—in fact, they are the fastest-growing group of wine drinkers. They’re just doing it a little differently than their parents and, especially, their grandparents.

Some of the consumption trends seem self-evident, given what we already know about this generation:

• Millennials prefer less expensive wines, especially those under $15 retail, but generally in the under $40-a-bottle sweet spot

• They don’t necessarily want to drink wine in a restaurant, preferring more casual settings including bars and parties

• Millennials are having a love affair with Italian wine, particularly Prosecco and other sparklers

• They view wine as a sophisticated beverage, but they want none of the pretension previously associated with it

• They are also very open to experimentation and trying new kinds of wine

On the other hand, this could all be bunkum—and no operator ever wants to turn a blind eye on any customer, no matter their demographic.

There’s definitely a lot that’s new about today’s wine scene. The world wine market is significantly different than it was even a few decades ago, with more countries producing wine—in part we have global climate change to “thank”—and more affordable choices available. Boxed wines and wine on tap are better than ever, and their sales are growing as old prejudices fall.

The taste for huge, high-alcohol wines and oak bombs such as old-style California chardonnays is diminishing in favor of more refreshing, food-friendly wines. New technologies are making it easier to serve wine-by-the-glass and preserve the rest of the bottle. New wine blends, particularly reds, are becoming more widely available and are both delicious and affordable.

Service is important, but more approachable. Though fewer restaurants may have actual sommeliers, server training is getting more serious, so that servers can answer questions, suggest pairings, and provide guidance.

Finally, there’s a strong sense that wine should be fun, and wine lists should be both intriguing and unintimidating, and there are plenty of new restaurants that support that notion.

The Lawrence, in Atlanta, makes wine exploration and pairing easy with an extensive selection of affordable wines available by the bottle, half-bottle, glass and carafe

• The French Hen, in Tulsa, keeps wine-loving patrons engaged with a robust schedule of wine dinners

• A new generation of wine bars is creating a place for enthusiasts to sample wines as well as elevated versions of snacks (think oysters, charcuterie, artisanal cheese) as well as more ambitious wine-friendly food

• Having already changed the quick-service landscape with food and ambience, fast-casual restaurants are also focusing on more sophisticated companion wine programs (as well as beer and in some cases even spirits)

• Louie’s Wine Dive, with locations in seven Midwestern cities, puts its money where its mouth is, priding itself on being a group of “restaurants with amazing wine lists”—including a policy of opening any bottle for a customer who buys two glasses

Now, that’s fun.


Tip of the Month

Own a deli? Planning a deli? Just love delis? You must see Deli Man.

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February 2015 Newsletter

Feb 27, 2015

 

Greetings!

This month the weather in many parts of the country, including the Midwest and the Northeast, has been tough on restaurant sales. Chicago and Boston, in particular, have had record-breaking “snow events,” with school closings and mass-transit headaches adding to the usual travail of winter weather.

Don’t let that put a damper on the fact that the National Restaurant Association is forecasting the strongest rate of growth in three years for 2015—good news indeed for the beleaguered restaurant industry and its up-and-down economic recovery. If anything, the bad-weather blip illustrates the essential challenge of a service industry like hospitality.

More than ever, survival and success depends on taking business away from the other guys on the block, at a time when the competition itself is increasing to include not only direct competitors but also vibrant new sectors like chef-driven fast-casual restaurants and restaurant-quality retail foodservice. (And you can be sure we’ll be writing about both of these in future newsletters.)

So it’s important to get it right the first time, not just the food quality, service and décor, but also the overall experience you’re delivering to guests. You can read about in the story “What Do Consumers Want? Everything.”

To your success,


What Do Customers Want? Everything.

By The Synergy Team

A lot of ink has been given lately to consumer psychographics and what customers want when they spend their money. For the restaurant industry, it all comes back to the growing notion that American society has shifted toward an Experience Economy—and that in order to be successful, businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers, and that memory itself becomes the product. Food, service and ambience aren’t enough anymore; in fact, they’ve become a given, without which a restaurateur doesn’t have a prayer of keeping the doors open.

As author Joseph Pine points out in a recent TED talk about “What Customers Want,” goods and services have already been commoditized, and the next step is customizing services to a particular individual or group of individuals, in order to create an experience. And that means extreme sensitivity to who your customers are and what they might want at any given time.

Back in the June Synergy newsletter, our marketing and branding expert Karen Brennan wrote about “Winning in the Experience Economy,” with some great examples of restaurant brands that had succeeded in creating experiences for customers, not just a place to grab a meal. Not surprisingly, the list included places like Starbucks and Chipotle, with their robust component of customer engagement, concept evolution, and proven customer loyalty.

According to the NPD Group, the coming year will underscore just how crucial it is to understand changing customer dynamics. The Millennial generation is emerging as a dominant force in the restaurant industry, with all that implies for high-energy environments, and food and service concepts that encourage sharing and socializing. At the same time, don’t count the long-ascendant Baby Boomers out, with their desire for comfort, personal attention and a warm welcome.

Sandelman Associates, in fact, in a recent Tracks newsletter, reminds us that “Millennials are less than half the story” when it comes to traffic at both QSR and fast casual venues; “matures” aged 35-64, with their own set of demands, are also frequent visitors.

And in the meantime, the counterbalancing drivers of futuristic high-tech (such as mobile marketing and online ordering systems) and high-touch authenticity—including the demand for ethnic foods, local sourcing and sustainable business practices—will only accelerate. And both age groups—younger diners and matures—are demanding technology and ideology from their favorite restaurants.

As part of its January 2015 issue of “FoodBytes,” Datassential singled out “Big Changes” as the top trend to watch this year. It’s telling that while many annual lists of trend projections focus on the next big sauce or the latest wave of comfort foods, Datassential earmarked disruption of the norm, in particular the kind of progressive segment blurring that is forcing older, established players to react more forcefully to precocious new concepts.

Even the way that consumers are using restaurants is evolving, as the mix between dine-in and takeout, and breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks changes, according to Technomic’s MarketBriefing. A deeper dive into need-states revealed how different needs and emotions correlate with specific dayparts. For instance, convenience is associated with weekday breakfast and weeknight dinner, while the weekend is time for relaxing, celebrating, and getting together with family and friends.

With so many options for convenience dining, just to cite one need-state—from the ability to order restaurant food on a smartphone to the availability of restaurant-quality food at a supermarket—consumers have multiple ways to meet their every need. And this, of course, blurs the segments all the more.

All of this has implications for the way operators design, develop, staff, promote and run their businesses. The marketplace is changing, and so are consumers. Operators will have to ride along.


Groupon and Living Social: A Death Sentence for Restaurants?

By Emily Callaghan, Communications & Marketing

 

We’ve all seen them: $20 vouchers that will score the buyer $50 to spend. Or a bargain-priced $35 for a four-course meal costing nonsubscribers double that amount. While the guest might get a bargain, are the Groupons and LivingSocials of the world a death sentence for restaurants?

Let’s consider which restaurants participate in such promotions. Since restaurants receive a poor return on every deal after paying service fees—typically earning around 25% on every dollar—a busy, successful establishment isn’t likely to offer these deals. Those that do choose to ride the deal train are dearly hoping one or both of two things: a) a final bill higher than the voucher’s redemption value (due perhaps to liquor sales or other add-ons), or other party members paying full price; and/or b) repeat business. But if there aren’t enough butts in seats—a typical reason to use a deal site to drive guest traffic—it may continue to stay that way. Here’s why:

1. There are Bigger Issues

“Unless the restaurant is in a poor location or is new and hasn’t been able to get the word out, an empty restaurant equals problems,” notes Dean Small, founder of Synergy Restaurant Consultants. “Some critical component, be it the food, service, atmosphere, pricing—or all four—is not quite right.” By driving guests to the restaurant without solving an internal issue, the guest experience will likely suffer, and those diners will doubtfully return and potentially voice their negative meal on sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor.

What’s more, with many deal sites’ group-buying approach, requiring a minimum number of purchases for the deal to be “on,” restaurants must anticipate an unnatural increase in volume: a slew of guests that their kitchen and waitstaff may not be prepared to accommodate.

2. It Cheapens the Brand

Just as many retailers and successful brands vow to never discount their product, fearing it will alter consumer perception, restaurants must be wary of the psychological effect. Though discounting negatively impacts some brands and industries more than others, the value attached to a meal experience can drastically decrease when a guest pays 50% of the asking price—or less. Suddenly, that $70 tasting menu only feels worth what the guest paid: $35

3. Full price is for Fools

“Think of brands like Bed, Bath & Beyond,” says Warren Ellish, Synergy strategic partner and founder of Ellish Marketing Group. “They’re constantly sending out coupons, so if you’re the unlucky shopper that shows up without one, you feel like a fool.” If the restaurant is discounted on a regular basis, people may not be willing to pay full price, fearing that they’re being overcharged.

In the end, each restaurant operation is unique, with deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial making more sense for some than others. The bottom line? A shortage of diners is likely due to issues that operators are too entrenched in to notice; issues that a discount promotion won’t solve.

If you need to get getting more guests in your doors, Synergy Restaurant Consultants can help.


Bowling for Dollars

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

 

Bowls as a menu platform have been coming and going for a while now, as QSRs in particular experimented with all-in-one vehicles for portable meals. This time around, however, the idea of building an entire meal—protein, produce, carbohydrates and flavor systems—into something other than a sandwich is really taking hold.

Bowls are a great solution to multiple menuing and operational challenges. In addition to being portable, they’re customizable—just look at what the industry has done with salad bars and toss-to-order salad concepts like Salata and Tossed. They’re infinitely versatile, adaptable to anything from Asian noodle dishes to DIY fro-yo sundaes… and then the guest can do it again with different ingredients tomorrow. Not coincidentally, the bowl strategy also allows for the appearance of infinite variety with a finite list of SKUs. Just look at the number of different kinds of options Freshii is able to menu with its ingredients.

From the guest’s perspective, bowls have the healthy halo of being appropriate for ingredients like fresh vegetables and whole grains, and they’re fun and tasty, allowing for a little bit of every flavor, texture and even temperature in every bite.

And now, with the ascendancy of new fast-casual concepts deigned to allow guests to custom-tailor their own meal experience, bowls are suddenly everywhere.

Backyard Bowls promises “Better Life Through Better Food” in the distinctive form of acai bowls, build-your-own meal platforms based on the trendy Brazilian berry (pronounced ah-sah-EE) which is widely reputed to be an anti-aging superfood. Bowls start with a smoothie-like acai puree, variously topped with granola, yogurt, fresh fruit or vegetables, and honey, to which guests can add a la carte enhancements such as bee pollen, flax seeds and spirulina. There are also breakfast bowls based on oatmeal, quinoa and muesli, as well as “real food” smoothies. With three units in the Santa Barbara area and born of the surfer culture there, the concept is tailor-made for today’s generation of diners who may eschew dairy, meat and gluten—standard ingredients include nut milks and protein-rich hemp, but no animal products save for organic yogurt and honey/pollen (for which agave can be substituted).

• Made-to-order sushi and a trio of bowl platforms are the customizable elements of Tokyo Joe’s, with 30 locations in Arizona and Colorado. Guests can choose such Soup Noodle and Signature bowls as Classic Ramen and Green Curry Shrimp, or they can order an entirely bespoke bowl from four categories of ingredients: protein, veggies, carb (or double veggies), and sauce; the latter includes such options as teriyaki, peanut and oyako (light broth). Appetizers, salads, and the distinctive Joe’s Tea Bar round out the ordering options.

• Bowl of Heaven, which recently inked a 30-unit development deal, also does the acai, smoothie, and juice bar approach, offering dessert-like combinations of ingredients like fruit, granola, honey, peanut butter and chocolate almond milk. Beneath it all is the signature MAQ 7 juice, described as a “synergistic blend of nature’s most exotic and powerful antioxidant rich super fruits and berries”—seven of them altogether. In addition to 12 brick-and-mortar locations, most in Southern California, there’s also a food truck.

• In Toledo, OH, Balance Grille offers a mix-and-match menu of pan-Asian items promising attributes like Decadence, Fit Fare and Spicy, with selections that further break out into snacks like nachos and edamame, slider-like buns, and eight different bowls. These include the Thai Guy (“Our spin on a classic Thai peanut sauce is served with Carrots, Peapods, Fresno Peppers, and Fresh Sprouts”), Wiseman (“Customer favorite! A simple szechuan sauce served with Broccoli, Carrots, Corn, Fresh Sprouts, and Kale”) and Nuts 4 Pao (“A spicy kung-pao sauce served simply with Scallions, Roasted Peanuts, and Fresno Chili Peppers”), as well as the customer’s choice Build-a-Bowl.

• Strictly speaking, Asian Box may feature, well, boxes—but the concept is all about the custom build that you get with a bowl. In fact, this is the prototype for the DIY meal, in which guests choose a noodle, salad or rice base; a protein; and such toppings and sauces as steamed vegetables, chopped peanuts, and tamarind vinaigrette that are delivered all boxed up for convenient travel and enough shelf-life to get to home or office without compromising the quality.

• Yamas Mediterranean Grill in the D.C. area is a full-menu Mediterranean restaurant specializing in mezze and sandwiches, but it also has a custom rice bowl option as part of a multi-format Build Your Own offering that also includes pitas, wraps and salads. The build starts with a basmati and orzo blend that can be topped with items like gyros, chicken or pork souvlaki, or falafel, plus vegetables, cheese, hummus, yogurt, and other flavor boosters.

• Full-service restaurants are also embracing the bowl. HG Sply Co. in Dallas serves a paleo-style menu of specialties like steak, chicken, fish and fresh, nutritious vegetables and protein-laced salads, but its most unusual feature are the bowls. There are menued combinations such as The Free-Range (chicken, sweet potatoes hash and broccoli & bacon) and the Build Your Own Bowl section, which allows customers to put together an all-in-one feast of two vegetable base items (such as toasted quinoa pilaf and black beans) a meat (Mexican pulled pork, seared ahi tuna) and a topping (guacamole, walnut-arugula pesto). This, with or without the addition of two eggs, makes a meal designed to fuel the day.

Of course, any operation with a somewhat flexible kitchen package and labor pool can offer a bowl platform, and indeed El Pollo Loco has done LTO Pollo Bowls, the B. Good burger chain offers four Kale & Quinoa Bowls, Panera has its new Asian-accented Broth Bowls, and while Yum Brand’s new Banh Shop entry is mostly about the Vietnamese sandwiches, it also features a trip of Wok’d Bowls on its menu.

As with so many new restaurant ideas, it will be up to those operators who execute well and attract a loyal following to ensure their own success in the long term.

Need help executing your new restaurant idea? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.


Tip of the Month

For more information on “The Why? Behind the Dine,” download the free report prepared by Technomic and Acosta Sales & Marketing by registering with Acosta here. Included is information on meal choices; share of spend for food at-home and away-from-home; and more on The Intricate Path to the Plate. And to read about the seven things diners look for when choosing a restaurant, read this article from the National Restaurant Association.

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January 2015 Newsletter

Jan 27, 2015

 

Greetings!

Happy 2015! The new year brings more opportunities, and more challenges (for instance, this news that while customers are dining out more frequently, their spend per occasion is falling).

But let’s focus on the opportunities. With the coming of age of the Millennial generation, the restaurant industry has the opportunity to serve a guest who is well-educated and adventurous about food, but looking for a fun, casual and social experience—and that’s just the kind of restaurant we’re seeing more of these days.

We also have delicious ingredients and flavors that are both higher in quality and more readily available, thanks to wider distribution of everything from imported cheeses to locally raised produce.

So cheers to us all and good luck in the coming year. And in the meantime, read our predictions for what will be happening in food and beverages in 2015, and do not fail to read our associate Brad Miller’s analysis of the eight things we tell ourselves about our operations that may not be true.


Food Trends 2015

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

Every year the National Restaurant Association releases its annual “What’s Hot” culinary forecast, prepared in conjunction with the American Culinary Federation. For 2015, many of the same trends we’ve been seeing for the past several years continue to occupy the thoughts of the country’s chefs and operators, including local and sustainable sourcing, and healthy menu options. Along with customization, these are the game changers, the overarching themes that have impacted the industry in a variety of sweeping ways. Within these new “givens,” however, there’s still lots to talk about:

Clean and Simple Food

Sure, there’s sous vide and nitrogen-spiked ice cream, but many chefs and operators are turning the twin mega-trends of local sourcing and consumer demand for healthier option into menus that emphasize clean ingredients and simple preparation techniques. According to a recent SmartBrief poll, in fact, 79% of respondents revealed that they were focusing on pared-down menus or ingredients lists to offer “clean and simple food,” a development that also makes operational sense. It also means more housemade ingredients and fewer processed foods.

All-Inclusive Menus

Customers have so many dietary requests nowadays, between food allergies, health concerns, lifestyle issues, religious restrictions, and plain-old taste preferences. For many operators, the key to maximizing sales and keeping guests happy is to provide as many options as possible, including gluten-free items, vegan/vegetarian choices, alt-products like soy and nut milk, and selections that satisfy both waist-watchers and comfort-food seekers. Case in point: Denver-based Modmarket Farm Fresh Eateries, where the typical menu is filled with tempting offerings that run the gamut from a Chipotle Steak Sandwich to a gluten-free Wintergreen Salad to a vegan Sesame Tofu Plate.

Food with a Story

Farm-to-table, Fair Trade, artisanal, hand-crafted. From coffee and lettuce to burgers and desserts, customers—especially Millennials—respond to ingredients, house specialties and even entire menu concepts that have a backstory and a sense of place. Calling out the where and when of food speaks to its authenticity and quality, promising better value and an enhanced experience. Though “organic” and “imported” still have their value, here are the stories that really count now:

• Fresh
• Seasonal
• Specific farms or producers
• Housemade
• Local
• Natural
• Sustainable

Superior Sandwiches

The sandwich segment continues to evolve in a signature direction, as evidenced by operations as diverse as Yum Brands’ Banh Shop, with its mainstream versions of Vietnamese sandwiches and other “Saigon street food,” to the Pastrami Project smoked-meat specialties of Blue Cow Kitchen & Bar in Los Angeles (from the team behind Mendocino Farms Sandwiches & Marketplace). It all adds up to higher quality fillings—many of them sustainably sourced—artisan breads, housemade condiments, and a general approach whose cheffy innovations rival the care and planning that go into traditional entrees.

Bar Creep

As fine dining has become more accessible and upscale chefs move into more casual dining models, the lines between bar and restaurant are blurring. Many restaurants have expanded their bar business with profitable specialty cocktail programs, and added food at a more affordable price point courtesy of sophisticated bar bites and small plates. There is even a whole new category of gastropub-influenced eatery serving “brew food” to support the growing thirst for craft beer. For example there is Alden & Harlow, in Cambridge, MA. Is it a bar serving ambitious food, or a restaurant with a robust bar scene? The guests who pack the place every night certainly don’t care, as they wash down their Chicken Fried Rabbit and Grilled Cauliflower small plates with $12 cocktails.

Meat on the Side

The idea that anyone would eat a 16-ounce portion of meat has always been unique to the Western World—unlike cultures like Vietnam, Mexico and Italy where protein is to used almost as a garnish to flavor rice, beans, pasta, vegetables and other plant-based ingredients. But now, driven by chef creativity and consumer interest, menus are shifting the focus onto produce. It’s not a matter of being vegetarian, but rather an acknowledgement that all the wonderful farm-raised fruits and vegetables that are now available can be utilized in more ways than just an obligatory broccoli side dish. In addition to being more seasonal and creatively inspiring, a diet that’s heavy on the fruits and vegetables is more environmentally sustainable and perhaps even healthier. And the fact that produce tends to be lower in cost than protein is great news in a time of rapidly rising food costs.

Sustaining Social Consciousness

From sustainable design to respectful sourcing to community involvement, it’s hip—and good for your brand—to be socially conscious in the restaurant industry. Consumers want it, and so do many idealistic operators. In fact, according to Yankelovich, nearly two-thirds of today’s consumers think they can “make a difference” by doing business with more socially responsible companies, in numerous ways that range from supporting employee quality of life to serving hormone-free meat and encouraging recycling and other green practices. And while sustainability may be a somewhat amorphous state, companies like LYFE Kitchen and Sweetgreen have built their empires on it.

In the Raw

From oysters on the half-shell to steak tartare, some of today’s hottest menu items are no-cooking-required. America’s resurgent oyster industry is feeding a wave of new oyster bars with dozens of different varieties of this trendy bivalve, each displaying its own unique flavor and texture—often referred to by the wine-borrowing term merrier, or characteristics of its place. And where there are oysters there is also drink, which is also part of the reason so many generalist restaurants are adding oysters to the menu mix. In addition, there are lots of other raw specialties around, including tartare and crudo, cross-cultural sushi, ceviche, and the Peruvian raw-fish delicacy known as tiradito.

Artisanal Everything

From European-style bread to farmstead cheese to small-batch pickles to handcrafted cocktails, it’s “artisanal” and “handmade” quality that sells menu items in today’s superheated competitive marketplace—and supports premium pricing. It seems that there isn’t a single category of food or beverage that hasn’t been upgraded and either brought in-house or sourced from artisanal purveyors. From of the latest foods to fall under the spell is toast—how else do you explain the success of The Mill, in San Francisco, which has a Toast menu and sells literally hundreds of orders a day? Like the new wave of ultra-premium artisanal coffee, $4 to $6 buys a relatively affordable indulgence, whatever the economy.

Let’s Do Breakfast (and Brunch)

And so it is with the morning meal, which resurged to popularity in the dark days of the Great Recession, and still allows guests the pleasure of a meal out, without emptying out the wallet. And true to form, that means a better class of eggs, bacon and pancakes, showing an innovative, high-quality approach to the daypart. For operators, breakfast and brunch represent a robust source of business that’s less expensive to produce than dinner, and represent an opportunity to leverage existing facilities, staff and inventory. Small wonder that, according to NPD, sales of breakfast grew for the fourth consecutive year.


Beverage Trends 2015

By Joan Lang, Editorial Director

 

It’s a great time to be selling beverages. That’s because, in addition to be being one of the most profitable categories in foodservice, wine, beer and cocktails also represent one of the most interesting. And today’s hip, highly educated customer base is thirsty to try them all.

Many of the same trends that are driving food are also impacting beverages, including local sourcing, seasonal menuing, flavor-layering, and artisanal/small-batch/handmade ingredients. These and other trends are expected to help push alcohol sales higher in the coming year, including in the fast-casual sector, where fountain soda beverages once ruled.

As in everything in restaurants, savvy beverage programs are all about setting yourself apart.

The Craft Beer Explosion

Which came first, beer-friendly food or great new beers to pair it with? The brewpub and beer-menu trend is developing in lockstep with the explosion in high-quality, highly marketable craft beers.

• Beer styles from around the world, from Belgian saisons to San Francisco-style steam beers

• Flavorful new lower-alcohol “session beers” are offering up a high-quality but more approachable alternative to buzzy extreme brews

• The return of the can, as new technology spurs a lower-cost, retro-chic trend to canned beer

• As with food (think sauerkraut and pickles), refreshing sour beer styles are becoming more popular

Wine for the Times

After the wine-bar craze of the early aughts it might be tempting to think there’s not much happening in the category right now, but think again. The Millennial generation is helping wine sales grow right along with beer and spirits; in fact, nearly one-quarter of high-frequency wine drinkers are in that demographic. And that’s really changing the wine market, making it less pretentious and much more fun. Hello screw-tops!

Prosecco, cava and other bubblies are offering an affordable but festive alternative to Champagne

Wine lists and wine service in general are under the sway of a new generation of sommeliers determined to make wine less intimidating

• The growing availability of New World wines and bottlings from less familiar varietals and regions is providing less expensive and more interesting options—Romanian wine, anyone?

Sustainable, biodynamic and organic wines are also becoming more widely available

• Easy-drinking, affordable wines on tap—cooler than box wines but just as budget-friendly

Spirited Trends

The craft cocktail movement has become ubiquitous in just a few short years, as chains as diverse as Blaze Pizza, Applebee’s, Earl’s Kitchen + Bar, and even Denny’s implement upscale cocktail programs.

• House Infusions and Flavored Spirits: Because it’s all about the flavor, always

• Small Batch and Artisanal Specialties: Craft distilleries have sprung up all over the country and the world, producing everything from rum to gin to rye…. And they’re finding their way into bars of all kinds

• Classics Come Back—Again: What’s old is always new again in the world of mixology, as bartenders continue their search for inspiration. Martinis and Manhattans are being joined by pre-Prohibition specialties like the Aviation, post-Prohibition drinks with a backstory (think Hemingway Daiquiri), and New Wave classics; there’s even a little resurgence in sweet, colorful disco-era drinks

• The Bitter and the Sour of It: Seeking the same sort of balance that chefs strive for in food, bartenders are amassing an array of artisanal and housemade bitters, along with sour elements like vinegar (as in shrubs) and citrus

Punches and Other Large Formats: In today’s sharing culture, it makes sense that oversize shareable cocktails and “punch for the table” would garner news. Some are inspired by Colonial-era quaffs like Philadelphia Fish House Punch

How Low Can You Go

Not everyone wants the alcoholic wallop of a double Martini. Cocktails and spirits that are lower in alcohol allow for a second round and can be more pleasant to drink, especially with food.

• Sherry and Sherry-based cocktails: Particularly where Spanish-style tapas reign, sherry and other fortified wine styles encourage multiple orders

• Drinks based on wine or beer: Beyond the Michelada and Sangria (neither of which lack for popularity, by the way), there’s a realm of traditional and bartender-driven wine and beer cocktails

• Vermouth and Amari: These complex and generally low-alcohol specialties, from once-obscure vermouths to bitter Campari and Fernet, are grabbing attention, alone and crafted into cocktails

• Hard Cider: The original all-American libation is experiencing a renaissance on par with craft beer’s, thanks to its low ABV and food-friendly personality

Bottled, Barrel-aged and Cocktails on Tap: Yes, they’re trendy, but premade cocktails are obviously the bomb when it comes to ease of service


Operational Mistakes—and the Lies We Tell Ourselves About Them

By Brad “Paco” Miller, Operations Associate

Brad Miller brings more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality sector to Synergy. He holds keen expertise in operations, finance, bar and mixology programs, menu revitalization, and FOH efficiencies in both full-service and fast-casual concepts.

 

Many operators like to believe that past successes (or failures) make them immune to mistakes. Mistakes are natural, but recovering and learning from them is crucial. Through many years of listening to restaurateurs, these are the operational “fibs” I hear most often:

1. “Higher sales will take care of my problems.”

You don’t understand your costs: If your food cost is 35% with low sales, it will most likely be 35% with higher sales. Higher sales volume will bring you more cash flow, but unless you create a plan to lower your prime cost (cost of goods, labor and paper), your profits will never grow as fast as you’d like. Remember: If you want to increase your profit margin from 5% to 10%, it can be easier to lower costs by 5% than to double sales (and achieve the same result!).

2. “This drop in customer counts is temporary…this always happens this time of year.”

You’re not reacting to the market: Restaurants can be very cyclical in nature, but unless you have a strong marketing plan with specific tactics, you will always feel that seasonal drop. January may be the best time to introduce a new LTO or hit the social media marketing hard. This also might be a good time to get a couple steps ahead of your competition by offering items that are in front of the latest trends.

3. “I’ll just settle this employment lawsuit and be done with it.”

You don’t have an updated HR plan: You must ask yourself, “Why were we sued in the first place?”, then update your policy handbooks and train your staff. Do your managers have the training they need to avoid problems in the future? Does your restaurant have the right tools (operations manuals, HR handbooks, training manuals) to prevent future actions? If not, history will probably repeat itself.

4. “Raising menu prices will offset our higher supplier costs.”

You don’t have updated recipe and plate costs, and restaurant operations that don’t are “working in the dark.” Knowing your overall food cost is one thing, but accurate plate and recipe costing is integral to any success strategy. Maybe you only have to adjust some portion sizes or change an ingredient to keep your plate cost in line.

5. “Yelp is not that big of a deal.”

You don’t react to negative feedback: Yelp is a really big deal, and you may not like it but it’s here to stay. Don’t let one squeaky wheel affect the rating that you’ve been working on for five years. There are some creative ways to get ahead of bad reviews and win back those upset guests. And never, ever try to cheat the system. Those crafty Yelp programmers have written algorithms to prevent you and your friends from artificially boosting your rating!

6. “I think our operation is efficient.”

It may be time to update procedures (or create standard operating procedures): Standard operating procedures are about consistency and efficiency. Does your kitchen utilize prep charts, pull charts, inventories and line charts? Do your servers follow a sequence of service…every time? Do your managers follow opening and closing procedures? If not, it’s time to update and start saving some labor hours.

7. “Our food is good.”

You have fallen behind the trends: If your food is “good,” you’re in trouble. Your food should be “amazing”—and your service “remarkable.” If you can’t safely say that you serve, hands-down, the best product in town, you’re not competing in this very aggressive landscape. It is time to change. Take a close look at your flavors and plate presentations. Challenge your staff to come up with the next big idea for your menu. Engage your guests for feedback and include them in the process.

8. “I know exactly who my customers are.”

You are not collecting the right information about your guests: It’s not only feedback that keeps us informed about what we are doing right and wrong, it’s collecting data about who your guests are. Data is valuable information. Are you collecting emails, Facebook likes, Twitter information, Pinterest followers? Do you know what your regulars order? Are you utilizing the data from your POS system to track item sales and trends?


Tip of the Month

Want to read more about trends? Check out these prognostications from:

Smart Brief (Parts I and II)
Nation’s Restaurant News (and here)
Fast Casual
Grub Hub
Restaurant Hospitality (and here)
Forbes
Huffington Post (and here)
Sterling Rice Group
Flavor and the Menu
The NPD Group
CSP.net
Datassential Menu Trends

And for another look at where the industry is heading, read about these top restaurant openings courtesy of Food Republic

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December 2014 Newsletter

Dec 16, 2014

Greetings!

For those of us in the restaurant industry, the economy is still showing a “best-of-times/worst-of-times” personality, and that’s been hard on consumers, many of whom are still feeling pretty cautious about their finances. But according to the National Restaurant Association, 2015, should see an improvement in the dining-out public’s mindset.

Fortunately, that hasn’t tamped down enthusiasm among operators, who are opening up the kinds of exciting new concepts that we try to feature every month in our newsletter.

In this issue, Synergy project coordinator Mandy DeLucia takes us on a tour of the Anaheim Packing District, one of a clutch of new urban gathering places that are opening in cities around the country, offering up a worldly mix of food and food-related retail offerings as part of a lively multi-use mix. (We covered some of these earlier in the year, too, in the article “Market Dynamics.”)

We’ve also got the latest on the Korean food boom, and a look at how some savvy operators are using social media to up their branding games.

Happy holidays, and here’s to continued success,
Dean Small and Danny Bendas

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Redefining the “Food Court”: Anaheim Packing District

By Mandy DeLucia, Synergy Project Coordinator

Anaheim Packing District

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With contemporary diners informed by the growing swell of food-related media—the scores of blogs, websites, magazines and television stations dedicated to foodie culture—standard food courts are being supplanted by destination-dining food halls.

Inspired by the eclectic charm of veteran urban food centers like Chelsea Market in New York City and The Original Farmer’s market in Los Angeles, savvy developers are re-defining the food court and incubating new concepts to produce a rich dining experience beyond the city center. By reducing their footprint and sharing a roof and common space—in some cases including back-of-house facilities like prep space and storage—new foodservice operations can reduce their start-up costs and share in the success of neighboring eateries by gaining visibility. The “veto vote” is moot when there are options to suit multiple palates, price points and dietary needs, especially when the space is anchored by an appealing central dining area.

 

The Anaheim Packing House draws its name from the site, a former citrus packing plant within easy distance of Disneyland. Developed by Shaheen Sadeghi, a visionary with two other hip retail and dining complexes under his belt, the Packing House delivers a playful and engaging environment and a carefully curated group of eateries. The central staircase doubles as a performance space and seating area which is filled with natural light from the skylights in the vaulted ceiling. Strands of natural-fiber ropes descending from architectural beams are studded with air plants and anchored in pots of ivy, creating a living Jacob’s ladder.

 

Communal seating upstairs includes tables painted to be functional backgammon and checker boards, inviting guests to linger. With a nod to the building’s origins, a vintage tractor sits amid the tables, and stair risers are papered with a photo detail of orange trees. A display case at the base of the stairs filled with faux oranges includes the painted phrase “Your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” The central staircase is ringed by a viewing gallery which encourages people-watching, with fixed trays for holding drinks and snacks at regular intervals around the railing paired with stylish stools.

 

Each concept at the Packing House has a well-developed and distinct brand identity, and the brands were thoughtfully located throughout the space, with consideration given to which concepts worked well next to each other. All dayparts are served, with Cafecito Organico delivering caffeine while the adjacent juice bar, Lemon Drop, serves up fresh-pressed juices and smoothies.

 

Diners create their own food adventure amid the variety, perhaps by starting with a drink at the Hammer Bar, situated on an elevated platform on the upper level, then moving to another spot for a first course. Diverse menu offerings encourage “team eating”; each member of the group orders from a separate concept, then the group meets at a communal table for sharing and sampling.

Hammer Workshop & Bar

While some concepts, like The Chippy, have no seating of their own, Kettle Bar, located in a cozy corner of the lower floor, features table service and full bar framed by gleaming copper. The menu features Southern specialties, from cioppino to gumbo, prepared in steam kettles in an exhibition kitchen which is glassed-in and adjacent to the communal space, giving passersby an excellent view of the show.

 

Clever design features highlight the cooking process at the various concepts, and it might just be the sight of the beautiful piles of freshly sliced ribeye at The Kroft that inspire the ever-present queue for meaty sandwiches and luxurious poutines.

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Food halls like the Packing House elevate the experience of communal dining by creating an environment that entertains as it nourishes. As diners become more sophisticated and as amateur food photography in social media becomes a badge of insider knowledge for guests, we can expect to see this trend continue.

 

Look to Synergy Restaurant Consultants for help with your exciting new foodservice concept.


 


The Korean Connection

By Joan Lang

 

Photo credit: Flickr User Rex Roof license CC by 2.0
Photo credit: Flickr User Rex Roof license CC by 2.0

With its fiery flavors and pungent condiments, Korean food might have seemed like a stretch for mainstream innovation as recently as a decade ago, but that was before Roy Choi of Los Angeles’ game-changing Kogi Korean BBQ-to-Go made the “Korean taco” a household word, and before the Spicy Kimchi Burger made it onto the pages of Better Homes & Gardens.

In fact, kimchi (healthy fermented or pickled spicy vegetables, usually cabbage, radish or cucumber) has become a trendy artisanal staple, to be made in-house in restaurants just like pickles and ketchup—it’s even being used in cocktails. And gochujang may be poised to become the next sriracha. Indispensable in Korean food, this savory and pungent fermented is made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt; it’s delicious in otherwise non-Korean recipes for wings, barbecued ribs and other meats, rice and noodle dishes, and as a table condiment with a bit of kick.

Other Korean foods that have skipped the tracks into mainstream familiarity include barbecued meats like bulgogi, spicy Korean-style fried chicken (which gets its crispiness from a special batter), and the iconic bibimbop rice dish.

It’s true that traditional Koreatown barbecue joints and other “ethnic” Korean restaurants can be an intimidating place for non-Koreans, even still: brusque, noisy, full of unfamiliar sights and smells.

But like other second- and third-generation immigrants, Korean-American entrepreneurs are merging the bold flavors and healthy yet distinctive profile of Korean cooking with Western amenities, such as English-language menus, friendly service, comfortable décor, and Western-style beverage programs.

Some very high-profile chefs have helped to lead the charge, including not only Choi—who parlayed his food truck fame into a number of restaurants and a TV show—but also David Chang, Bill Kim and Edward Lee. Make no mistake: they are cooking for American diners, adventurous ones, to be sure, but mainstream nonetheless.

A lot of it looks like what used to be called fusion cuisine, with Korean specialties like bulgogi merged with familiar ingredients like pork belly. The emphasis is on making this ancient and exciting cuisine more approachable for modern Western diners.

• At bopNgrill, in Chicago, you can have it both ways: a rice-based Bop Plate topped with the likes of chicken katsu, bulgogi or tofu & kimchi, or a Signature Burger, mostly with such Western toppings as cheddar cheese, onion rings, bacon or truffled mushroom duxelle. In any case, the Kimchi Fries (topped with caramelized kimchi, cheese sauce, bacon, scallions, sesame seeds) have become famous

• CJ Foods, a California distributor of Korean food ingredients, has opened a fast-casual restaurant called Bibigo (meaning “to mix”), with three locations in the LA area specializing in mix-and-match bibimbap, the traditional Korean rice bowl topped with meat or tofu, vegetables and sauce, and traditionally mixed with lots of red-chile pepper paste

New York Kimchi may have a fairly traditional menu except for the burgers and cheesesteak sandwiches (japchae noodles, barbecued meats, warming stews and hotpots, tartare-like yook hwe) but the emphasis on convenient delivery and office-party catering is distinctly midtown Manhattan

• Likewise, Rice Bar in Washington, DC, is also about the metro need for a quick lunch that can be ordered online and picked up in 10-15 minutes. The menu includes noodle soups and rice dishes, as well as a Chipotle-like “build-your-own” bibimbap and soup platforms that allow guests to specify the rice or noodle of their choosing, and as many a la carte vegetable and protein toppings as they want, from walnuts and corn to egg and hot & spicy chicken

Chi’Lantro, a truck that plies the streets of Houston and Austin, touts “Korean + Mexican fusion”: tacos (filled with bulgogi, soy vinaigrette Korean salad, cilantro, onion, and salsa; quesadillas (caramelized kimchi, bulgogi, cilantro, onion, Chi’Lantro salsa, “magic sauce” and sesame seeds); Seoul Burrito (caramelized Bulgogi, soy vinaigrette Korean salad, fried egg, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, onion, Chi’Lantro salsa, lime-buttered rice, and sesame seeds), plus a rice bowl, a Korean burger, and kimchi fries

• San Francisco’s Namu is appropriately SF hip, calling out the farm-raised local ingredients, small-batch sakes, and New Korean American cuisine of the three chef-brothers who own it. They have their own farm to supply Asian herbs and vegetables, a truck, and a brick-and-mortar restaurant that features three categories Cold (pickles, oysters, tartare); Plates (dumplings, chicken wings) and Comfort (stone pot of rice and vegetables, the omelet-like okonomiyaki). And it all started with a hot dog truck in Golden Gate Park

Burnt Rice Kitchen, in San Jose, has a menu that runs from the authentic (mandoo potsticker dumplings and duk bak ki fish cakes) to the flagrantly cross-cultural (Kimchi Po’ Boy and Gangnam Style Phylly sandwich), plus Happy Hour and football night. The drink list is a special triumph of multiculti fusion (sake mixed with Red Bull; pitchers of white peach soju; Ommegang craft beer)

Danji, in New York City, casts itself as a Korean-style tapas restaurant, with both Traditional and Modern categories of shareables, such as haemul soondoobu jji-gae (spicy seafood soft tofu stew); bulgogi beef sliders (spicy pickled cucumber & scallion salsa); spicy ‘K.F.C.’ Korean fried chicken wings (honey, garlic, four chilies); and kimchi bacon chorizo ‘paella’ with fried Jidori hen egg

•Among the “coastal cuisine” specialties served at The Pearl, in Nantucket, the menu has featured such things as Korean Braised Chicken Steamed bun with fuji apple kimchi and pickled cucumber; ‘KFQ’ Korean Fried Quail with scallion, sesame, radish and kimchee pancakes; and a Ssam Plate of Sizzling Pork Belly cooked on a hot rock and accompanied by “dynamite bbq” and traditional condiments.


Social Media: Share and Share Alike

By Joan Lang

 

In just a few short years, social media has gone from being the newest thing in marketing to a must-have strategic component of the branding discipline. And between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and user-sourced sites like yelp, there are a lot of moving parts to manage and integrate. Knowing what to do with them all takes considerable vision.

It’s crucial to remember that social media is brilliant at brand storytelling—in part because, unlike advertising and other traditional media, it’s a two-way street with customers. And getting guests engaged in helping you tell your brand story can take many creative forms, generating guest loyalty and a sense of “belonging” to the story that’s being shared.

• Mad Greens, the “eat better” fast casual chain based in Denver, does several interesting things with social media. For instance, it posts a Yelp link for each of its unit locations. In addition to offering easy-to-find details about the venue and giving commenters the sense that their opinions are valued, the move helps contribute to the kind of transparency that many experts are advocating as these new media head toward maturity.

Even more compelling, however, is the way Mad Greens brand curates social media content, such as Instagram and Twitter pictures, and streams it on menu boards in the restaurants. Crediting customers for their photos and including them in the very operation of the brand goes to the heart of what social media can do.

• Wendy’s is another company that has been very adept at leveraging social media. With its robust program of LTOs and special promotions (like the much-ballyhooed Pretzel Burger), the chain has plenty of news to spread the word on. In the case of the recent Bacon Portabella Melt comeback, Wendy’s hit upon the idea of using its fans’ own tweets to entice them to come in and try one. The company invited followers to share their small accomplishments via #EarnedIt then recorded the content by a voiceover artist and sent it back to the tweeter: Talk about the social media mantra of immediate, personalized, interactive, and fun.

• Nashville’s trendy Rolf and Daughters recently got a shout-out from the Food Network for its beautiful Instagram feed, which is accessed directly from the bottom of its equally enticing website. Daily posts in both color and black-and-white take viewers not only onto the plates but also behind the scenes into a world of chefs, ingredients, wine and cocktails, and cooking—just the kind of artistic voyeurism that the platform is so effective at. If you’re wondering how to chronicle the “life” of a chef-driven restaurant with strong ties to both the local community and the culinary universe at large, RAD shows you how.

• Luxury hotel chain Four Seasons has used the picture-power of Instagram a little differently, to promote ice cream specialties for virtual ice cream socials on National Ice Cream Day. Chefs at 19 different properties created ice cream treats unique to their locale for the weeklong July event, then encouraged guests to take pictures and post them during “Insta-Meets” held at each hotel. Although Four Seasons has done Ice Cream Day specials before, this year’s social component allowed the brand to get more attention from guests (and potential guests), as well as the press.

But you don’t have to be a big player with deep pockets—or even a good eye for a photograph—to leverage the power of social media. A small brewpub on a busy pedestrian corner in my hometown posted one- and two-word highlights from positive yelp reviews, tickertape-style, all around its street-facing plate glass windows, which could be seen from across the street. And that’s the essence of sharing.


Tip of the Month

Got Gluten Free?

This little cheat sheet from a group that includes FastCasual.com and QSR Web includes a surprising amount of information about demand and the size of the market, common substitutions, and quick tips for starting your own GF program. You might also want to take a look at these menus provided via Gluten Free Guide HQ.

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November 2014 Newsletter

Nov 18, 2014

Greetings!

As 2014 rolls to a close we are reflecting on what an interesting time it’s been. Even before the passage of many minimum wage initiatives earlier this month, the foodservice industry has proved itself not only a resilient source of jobs but also a promising career pathway for hundreds of thousands of American.

Meanwhile, new concepts including robust fast-casual brands are changing the way guests think about convenient, affordable, quality-oriented dining, while a spate of high-profile revamps and new concepts among established players reveal just how much energy there is in our industry.

One of the most notable aspects of many of these new and refreshed concepts is the idea of the open kitchen, where the people who cook the food can interact with the guests who order, proving the freshness and cooked-to-order customization of food today. And so it’s interesting to note that recent research that this trend also incents the kitchen staff to make better food when diners can see them.

And we’ve also got a couple of articles for you here, about mobile technology, new-wave street food, and the importance of brand identity.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas

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Mobility Issues

By Joan Lang

Photo credit: Flickr user Vernon Chan License CC by 2.0
Photo credit: Flickr user Vernon Chan License CC by 2.0

 

We live in an upwardly mobile society—technologically speaking at least. The numbers are pretty astonishing:

• There are more than 327 million cell phones in use in the United States, outstripped only by China and India
• 90% of the American population owns a cell phone and 58% own a smart phone; that’s growing fast, as devices become more affordable and 3G and 4G networks advance
• 45 million Americans use their phone as their primary device for internet access
• Mobile devices account for 55% of internet usage in the U.S.; apps made up 47% of internet traffic and 8% of traffic came from mobile browsers

Not surprisingly, this has had—and will continue to have—a huge impact on the restaurant industry. According to a recent article in USA Today, more than one-third of respondents in a National Restaurant Association survey said they would be more likely to use restaurant tech than they would have been just two years ago—for online ordering, for redeeming loyalty rewards, checking wait times, and even for paying checks.

And while the trend may be driven by Millennials, make no mistake: All demographic groups are in on it.

It goes without saying that if you haven’t done it yet, your website should be optimized for mobile, preferably through responsive design which adapts to multiple devices, so that guests can view the menu and other details, link to driving directions on a map, and click-to-call the phone number no matter where they are. Social media integration is another common feature.

More brands are going the route of dedicated mobile apps, which can feature anything from the simplest info (store hours, contact, etc.) to sophisticated geolocation functions (finding the nearest location of a chain, for instance), interactive nutrition, games and more.

Convenience-oriented diners, particularly Millennials, are starting to look for online/mobile ordering, and brands as diverse as Subway, BJ’s, and Olive Garden have implemented the service—to say nothing of to all the restaurants that outsource to companies like GrubHub and Seamless.

Despite concerns about fraud and privacy, one of the latest wrinkles in the game is mobile payment—led by Starbucks with its own dedicated mobile wallet, which links to the company’s rewards program. Like the declining balance in a college meal plan, the much-emulated app allows a customer to prepay into an account for future use, saving credit card information to facilitate the easy reload of funds.

Mobile payment will be the wave of the future for many brands, and mobile-payment solutions like Square, PayPal Here and the new Apple Pay are already making this service more accessible to businesses.

Some of the most recent restaurant industry mobile moves accomplish other things as well:

• In a move to combat long wait times, Outback Steakhouse has introduced Click Thru Seating, which allows guests to put their names on a wait list using a mobile device, and then use it to check their progress in real time

• Taco Bell’s new mobile app—and its now-infamous pre-launch social media blackout—includes not only ordering and prepayment, but also access to exclusive app-only offers and gifting

• Pizza Hut’s Xbox 360 online delivery app has succeeded in moving more than $1 million dollars’ worth of pies

• Upmarket restaurant operator Mook Group uses its iBeacon app to identify and award personalized, discretionary perks to regulars, VIPs and others while these guests are right in the restaurant

But while such sophisticated mobile-tech advances might seem to be the provenance of big chains and other multi-unit operations with deep pockets, my neighborhood Thai place has a wicked little online ordering function that incorporates nuts-and-bolts like hours, the menu, favorites and previous orders, coupon input, and the ability to pay with a credit card. Do I use it whenever I get takeout—even when I really have a taste for pizza? You betcha.

For more information, check out the infographic Technology on the Menu.


 


Street Food 2.0

By Joan Lang

 

Belly Shack Menu
Belly Shack Menu

Americans have had a long and satisfying relationship with street food, from pretzels and lemon ice to hot dogs—in fact, the famous Chicago Hot Dog, arguably the country’s original fast food, was invented by an enterprising street-cart vendor who boosted up the value of a wiener by topping it with the equivalent of a salad to create a more balanced meal in a bun.

And so it is with the iconic market snacks and street food fare of other countries, from the elote (corn on the cob) of Mexico to the steamed palm hearts and kanom buang crepes of Chiang Mai, Thailand. These traditional specialties have fueled the working classes for ages: fast, delicious and affordable. And they serve as great inspiration for a new generation of hip food concepts here.

Some international street food specialties—like Belgian frites and Middle Eastern falafel—have already made their way to our shores. Others are arriving fast and furious, in the form of restaurants owned by second-generation entrepreneurs and widely traveled American chefs.

Many of these “Street Food 2.0” concepts fit into the fast-casual model—not surprising since they emphasize convenience and affordability. Mexican street foods, with their corn-based carriers such as tortillas and sopes, were among the first to undergo a mainstream QSRtranslation, but South of the Border street foods still have plenty of room to grow.

In addition to quality-oriented fast-casual taco shops like Chronic Tacos and White Duck Taco Shop, accomplished chefs like Alex Stupak are experimenting with upscale versions of street food favorites, at New York City’s new Empellon al Pastor. Meanwhile, Richard Sandoval has turned the corn-based street snacks known as antojitos into specialty fare at many of his restaurants, including Tamayo, Maya and La Biblioteca de Tequila.

But the street food trend is happening to other ethnic niches. Shachi Mehra, formerly the chef of London’s upscale Tamarind restaurant, has opened Adya, located in the much-anticipated Anaheim Packing District multi-use urban gathering place in California. Adya (which means the origin of the five senses) offers the “fresh Indian flavors” of traditional chaat snacks, as well as tandoor-cooked kebabs, pavs (a kind of filled sandwich roll, described as Bombay-style spicy sloppy Joes), griddled-wrap kathi rolls, curries, and cooked-to-order breads, upgraded with ingredients like Laura Chenel goat cheese, seasonal organic fruits and vegetables, and a creative wine and craft beer list. There are also daily specials, many of which are vegetarian, like the rest of the menu. Thalis (combination lunches) and other attractively presented food items are served on lightweight metal plates, as they would be in India, and the bright, contemporary space includes a glass-enclosed kitchen surrounded by counter seating.

In fact, a field trip to the Anaheim Packing District project represents a tour through some of the most exciting interpretations of international street food in the country. It’s home to 20 different restaurants and food merchants, including Pop Bar (handcrafted gelato, sorbetto and yogurt on a stick); The Kroft (poutine and market-inspired sandwiches); The Iron Press (beer and waffles); Crepe Coop (made-to-order crepes); Black Sheep Grilled Cheese Bar; and Sawleaf Café (Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and pho), as well as Wheat & Sons artisanal butcher shop, Buy ‘n Bulk spices and nuts, a juice bar, coffee roaster and more.

Verts Kebap, a red-hot new fast casual in Austin, celebrates the Berlin-style Middle Eastern doner kebap (or kebab), a gyro-like Turkish lamb specialty that’s cooked on a giant vertical rotisserie and then served wrapped in flatbread with vegetables like tomatoes, onion and cucumber. Launched by two former UT Austin business school grads, Verts Kebap plays off the street food’s healthy, fresh perception, with a nod to contemporary customization demands with a mix-and-match variety of formats (wrap, salad, traditional bread), proteins, veggies and sauces. There are nine locations in Texas, with more on the way.

Belly Shack, in Chicago, is chef Bill Kim’s ode to Korean street food, with an assist from his Puerto Rican wife, Yvonne. That means red curry pork Meatball Sandwiches, Korean BBQ Beef with steamed buns, the Belly Dog (a hot dog topped with egg noodles, pickled green papaya and togarashi fries), and Quinoa Ssam Sandwich (a vegetarian and gluten-free lettuce wrap filled with black beans and Asian pear-fennel kimchi). There’s wine and beer for the neighborhood crowd, as well as Vietnamese iced-coffee and Korean sodas.

Rincon Argentina, in Boulder, CO, is all about the empanada,

Rincon Argentino, in Boulder, CO, is all about the empanada, that Latin American “hand pie” that is the ultimate expression of versatility and portability. At At Rincon, that means nine different traditional empanadas and five different open-faced variations, available by the piece, dozen and half-dozen (cooked or frozen for take-home). There are also Milanesa sandwiches, gluten-free tartas (small, corn-based pies), and mini-empanadas, plus salsas like chimichurri sauce and sides.

The most interesting thing about all of these next-generation street food concepts is that the experience has been transformed from a hardcore ethnic adventure into a distinctive niche that appeals to Millennials and other food-loving mainstream diners.


It’s all in the Brand

By Randy Lopez, Marketing and Branding Strategy

Like everyone, I like to go to Disneyland. As my kids grew up, my wife and I get away now and then to walk around, get on a few rides (when the park isn’t too packed), and spend a relaxing time. There are some great restaurants and nothing beats a delicious meal at Blue Bayou, inside the Pirates of the Caribbean. Truth be known, we’re annual pass holders—not rich, but that initial purchase of a pass makes you feel like you made another down payment on a car.

One of my first jobs in high school was working at Disneyland. As a “cast member,” I sold burgers and ice cream at the now-defunct Carnation Gardens. Holding five ice cream cones in my left hand while making change in my right gave me a huge start in multitasking which would serve me well when I learned to bartend at Friday’s. I didn’t realize it then but walking through an almost empty Main Street at 6 in the morning or after the park was closed taught me about branding and creating an experience for the guest. That’s because without guests, lights would still be on, ambient music would still be playing, and you could see the detail that went into creating the “happiest place on earth”—without the crowds and distractions.

As a brand builder and consultant, my time at Disneyland and other influential brands, including like Buca di Beppo, Red Robin, and Wolfgang Puck, served me well. More than 30 years later, I still look back on those times and places when considering the elements of branding. In branding, it all comes down to one goal, and Disneyland is as good as any to illustrate that goal: Create a memorable and distinctive perception of your concept or product in the mind of the guest.

How does a single-unit restaurant or chain create the kind of emotional response and brand presence with the power of a huge theme park? Here are a few ideas to consider, gleaned from my time working with Disneyland and other amazing brands:

1. Set the stage. Disneyland was created by storytellers. Walt Disney enlisted studio designers, artists and builders to create his theme park. As a filmmaker, he realized that you need to immerse the guest in the experience; that every detail needed to reinforce the story he was trying to tell. The next time you’re at a Disney theme park, notice the trash bins in every attraction. Shield-sided Fantasyland trash cans support the decor and “brand” of that area, and would never be seen next to a plant-life-painted trash bin placed in Adventureland. For your own brand, does the color and imagery of your logo, menus, and decor tell your story?

2. Fill the senses. Walk into your restaurant. What do you see? Smell? Hear? Touch? When you visit a Disney property you’ll hear a Barbershop quartet on Main Street. Walk further toward the castle and you’ll smell fudge being made at the candy store (notice the small vents below the front windows designed to produce this experience). Does your music mix turn off potential guests with inappropriate choices or volume? Do your guests smell great food being prepared or worst of all, nothing?

3. Tell your story. Lack of a cohesive vision, years of employees and management putting their own “spin on things,” vendors creating menus and signage design as “value-added” services… these can create a disjointed and confusing brand story. The only thing that matters is what your guests think of you, so take a look at your concept and ask yourself if you’re giving them the right tools and messages to describe you to their friends and better yet, create their own memory of your brand experience.

In the long run, you may or may not get to be as big as Disneyland but every strong brand started with one location that told the story well, delivered an exciting and innovative product, and became a brand leader. From logo to menu to the last bite, make sure your brand is echoed in each moment and tells a story.

Your story.

Let me know your thoughts and contact me if you have any questions regarding your brand or creating one.


Tip of the Month

The National Restaurant Association has assembled a wealth of information in its Health Care HQ knowledge center, including news, state-by-state guidelines, and online tools such as employee notification to help operators adjust to the new rulings.

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October 2014 Newsletter

Oct 21, 2014

Greetings!

There’s an old Chinese proverb: May you live in interesting times.
Well, that’s for sure: Ebola, terrorism, the stock market, rising food prices, the weird weather. To say nothing of ongoing uncertainty about the long-term prospects for the economy. Is the consumer mindset improving, or are people still cautious about spending?

This is no time to be taking your eye off the ball. No time to slack off on menu innovation, server training, or keeping your décor fresh and inviting. In addition, it’s certainly no time to be turning your back on what your guests want—as this San Francisco food truck owner has clearly done.

Everything’s got to be on point in this marketplace. We at Synergy Restaurant Consultants can help you with that.

To your success,

P.S. For a look at what one Denny’s is doing to keep it new and fresh, check out this You Tube.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas

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Fast Casual: More From the “Next Chipotle” Front

By Joan Lang

Google “next Chipotle” and you’ll see all sorts of evidence that the public’s awareness of the fast casual dynamic has reached critical mass.

Indeed, oversaturation in the fast food marketplace and demand for fresher, healthier, more authentic food is behind a growing defection from traditional fast food in favor of the Chipotle/Panera/Five Guys model.

We’ve written about (and been involved with) many of the contenders before, including LYFE Kitchen and other “fast fine” brands. But the precepts of experience-oriented premium quick-service—better-quality fresh ingredients, menus designed for guest customization, Millennial-friendly ambiance that encourages hanging out, and an open-arms attitude toward technology and social media—continue to change the American expectation for quick and affordable dining out.

Here are some companies to be aware of, some of which have been around since before the term “fast casual” was even coined.

Farmer Boys puts a name to the all-prevailing trend to the locally and ethically sourced menu, as practiced by this 79-unit Southern Cali-based breakfast-and-burger chain. With more than 75 items, the selection is more diverse than that of the typical burger emporium—in addition to burgers, there are numerous breakfast plates, sandwiches, omelets and takeout worthy Go Bowls, as well as salads and wraps, sandwiches, and fried fish and chicken plates. Real ice cream shakes serve triple-duty as beverage, snack and dessert. Founded in 1981, the chain began franchising in 1998. Interestingly, Farmer Boys’ “mascot” is a scarecrow, predating Chipotle’s controversial but undeniably heart-tugging animated version.

Zoe’s Kitchen is pulling ahead of the fast casual fresh-Med pack with a newly sharpened “Live Mediterranean” positioning that touts made-from-scratch food that draws from the founders’ Greek heritage. Zoe’s success owes much to the accessible appeal of its menu, which emphasizes foods that are healthy first, Mediterranean-style second, such as pita sandwiches, kebabs and salads, plus sandwiches and fresh sides; convenient pre-packed takeout food, Dinner for 4 meals, and catering hold a special place of pride in the Zoe’s business formula. The Plano, TX-based Zoe’s, which first debuted in 1995, has about 130 company-owned restaurants spread across 15 Southern and mid-Atlantic states.

Backyard Bowls promises “Better Life Through Better Food” in the distinctive form of acai bowls, build-your-own meal platforms based on the trendy Brazilian berry (pronounced ah-sah-EE) which is widely reputed to be an anti-aging superfood. Bowls start with a smoothie-like acai puree, variously topped with granola, yogurt, fresh fruit or vegetables, and honey, to which guests can add a la carte enhancements such as bee pollen, flax seeds and spirulina. There are also breakfast bowls based on oatmeal, quinoa and muesli, as well as “real food” smoothies. With three units in the Santa Barbara area and born of the surfer culture there, the concept is tailor-made for today’s generation of diners who may eschew dairy, meat and gluten—standard ingredients include nut milks and protein-rich hemp, but no animal products save for organic yogurt and honey/pollen (for which agave can be substituted).

 

Acai Bowl from Backyard Bowls | Photo credit: Flickr user Robert License CC by 2.0
Acai Bowl from Backyard Bowls | Photo credit: Flickr user Robert License CC by 2.0

Named to the Nation’s Restaurant News 2014 Hot Concepts list, Chicago-based Protein Bar anticipated Americans’ interest in high-protein diets with a menu of protein-packed Bar-rito wrap sandwiches, salads, healthy blended drinks and raw juices, and convenient bowls including breakfast, chili/soup, and lunch combinations—much like the diet that helped founder Matt Matros lose 50 pounds. The selection is designed to welcome vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free and food-allergy lifestyles, with an emphasis on food that is quick and healthy, promising nothing less than helping its fans change the way they eat on the go. The fact that there is a location at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s new Shop & Dine development is proof of the concept’s appeal.

Better-taco concept Rusty Taco got validation of a different sort when it was bought into by wunderkind wings giant Buffalo Wild Wings, which has had its own land-office success by concentrating on one menu item done to the nth degree. Amid a plethora of growth-driven fast-casual taquerias now emerging, nine-unit Rusty Taco stands out for the relative authenticity of its menu (i.e., tacos filled with items like picadillo and brisket) and the availability of what the Dallas-based concept proudly describes as margaritas “made with cheap tequila and fresh lime juice.” With Pizza Rev already in its investment stable (and growing quickly as a result), BWW is clearly betting on fast casual to give it more headroom to expand.

Synergy Restaurant Consultants has deep expertise in the area of fast casual concept development and operations.


 


Waste Not, Want Not

By Joan Lang

 

Photo credit: Flickr user petrr License CC by 2.0
Photo credit: Flickr user petrr License CC by 2.0

The numbers are absolutely mindboggling. According to a study conducted at the University of Arizona, restaurants in the United States throw out something like 135 million tons of food a day, or as much as 10 cents on every dollar of edible goods purchased, in part because of the growing trend toward fresh, on-demand menu concepts. The really shocking part: That study—representing some of the most recent comprehensive research available—was conducted in 2005. What can 10 years of fresh menuing have done to those statistics?

Not only can most operators ill afford that kind of waste, but an increasingly savvy customer base is becoming more aware of the problem. After all, according to the Food Marketing Institute, households are responsible for most of the country’s food waste, at 44%, followed by restaurants (33%) and grocery stores (11%).

Despite garnering some heat in the press for making waste a low priority, the restaurant industry is taking the lead in addressing the problem. Darden concepts has been working on the problem for more than a decade, with such programs as Darden Harvest (food donations), organic recycling, and more. Forward-thinking fast casual concepts like Snappy Salads are building sustainability and green practices such as landfill diversion into their business plans.

Five Michelin-starred chefs from France staged a Dustbin Banquet for 5,000 to call attention to the issue.

Here are some things you can do to reduce food waste in your operation, remembering that it’s not only good for food costs but also for the environment:

• Carefully rethink portion sizes. In the larger scheme of things, it may not necessarily be a good thing that guests know you as the place where you can’t possibly finish an entrée.
o Monitor the amount of food that comes back to the kitchen on plates, even if it’s packed into doggie bags (which may sit in the back of a guest’s refrigerator before ultimately being thrown away). Consider resizing accordingly
o Other options include offering half- and smaller portions, including selections for both younger and older diners. (Table 24, in Orinda, CA, even has two sizes of children’s menus, because “littles” not only eat differently but are also bound to eat less than “middles”)

• Get rid of garnishes that are unlikely to be used or eaten, like the tired leaf of kale and orange slice that decorate so many plates. Have servers ask guests if they want fresh lemon or tartar sauce.

• Get a better handle on forecasting and purchasing procedures in order to reduce the amount of unnecessary food coming in the back door—maybe you don’t need that standing weekly order for asparagus

• In a related vein, organize food storage to encourage rotation and easy access, as well as tighter inventory. Too often, food can get lost and overlooked in a poorly organized walk-in.

• Make full cross-utilization of food a goal—and a creative challenge. Just to use one common example, leftover bread can be repurposed in many interesting and profitable ways, beyond crumbs and croutons.
o Thick slices of day-old brioche can be used to create bostock, a sweet breakfast pastry from France—or adapted as a savory snack or starter

o In Italy, the first of the season’s olive oil is made into a fettunta, or “greased slice.” At Nico, in Chicago, the concept has been turned into an entire profit-building menu signature
o Cut leftover sliced bread into slim slices, brush with oil and seasonings and bake, to serve as a garnish or finger food

• Commit to landfill diversion through source reduction, composting, recycling of spent oil (which also addresses energy costs) and other efforts.

o There are commercial composting machines that can “digest” waste into valuable black gold in just 24 hours, without the smell and mess normally associated with compost

• Wherever possible, practice nose-to-tail cookery, a newly trendy form of whole animal usage that actually stems from traditional farm-based peasant cooking. The idea of using everything can also be applied to fish (“fin-to-tail) and even vegetables (“root to stalk”).

• Look into food donation programs such as local food banks or City Harvest, which helps build a sense of community.
It’s no accident that many of these initiatives are two-fers, in that they’re also good for your brand’s image—all the more reason to consider implementing as many as possible.


10 Great Little Ideas

Success in the restaurant business is built on a lot of different parts—the big things, of course, with menu, décor and service, but also a lot of little things, like sales builders, brand differentiators, cost tweaks, and more.

Hey, what’s the little idea? Consider something like one of these:

1. Red Robin’s 20-year-old Bottomless Fries concept—which has since expanded to include endless servings of healthier side dishes such as cole slaw, sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli and side salad—does a number of useful things. It reduces waste because the truth is that most people don’t actually eat all of this plate-covering item. It provides a customer touch point each time the server returns to the table with a “refill.” And at a time when chain restaurants may seem interchangeable to many guests, it allows the burger concept to be “that place where you can eat all the fries you want.” Not bad for such a low-food-cost item.

2. There’s nothing new about promos and discounts, but that doesn’t mean yours need to be boring.

• Base a special menu on an epic culinary R&D trip, as Bluestem Brasserie in San Francisco does with its Thursday night American Road Trip menu.

• Mile End Deli in Brooklyn nods to the age-old Jewish tradition of Sunday night Chinese food with its specially priced family-style “Sunday Chinese” menu.

• Make like an old-fashioned department store and stage a January White Sale promotion, marking down all “white goods” by a certain percentage: chicken, veal, pastas, potato side dishes, white wine, gin and vodka drinks. Rather than being a simple discount, it’s fun and creative and could turn guests on to new menu offerings they wouldn’t normally try.

3. At Cotogna and Quince, Michael Tusk’s side-by-side restaurants in San Francisco, spring means it’s time for the annual Sidewalk Smallwares Sale, where gently used plates, glasses, silverware and other tableware are set out on sidewalk tables so neighbors, customers—and not a few startup restaurateurs—can buy such upscale brands as Heath and Rosenthal for $2-30. The annual event helps clean house and finance necessary replacements, but it also reminds attendees that the restaurants are there; in fact, many pop into Cotogna to sample the new brunch afterwards.

4. Calorie labelling may be a headache for many operators, but for trendsetting Modmarket, key nutritionals are printed right on the receipt, where customers can see what their meal cost them in more ways than one. The strategy helps the Denver-based chain—which, at 12 units, isn’t even required to provide this information—make no bones about its healthy fresh menu positioning.

5. It’s been done before but bears repeating: Slow nights like Monday are a great time to offer half-price deals on wine, by the glass or the bottle. Even if it means selling vino at cost (and it probably doesn’t), the move brings out customers and gets them spending on dinner or small plates as well.

6. Speaking of wine, subscription wine clubs not only reward affluent and sophisticated guests for their patronage, but they also build loyalty and repeat business—especially if you offer discounts on wine purchased in the restaurant—and may even help increase buying leverage, rounding out case orders to meet a minimum buy. They also allow the beverage team to taste and test new wines on some of your most educated palates, who will be most anxious to provide feedback.

7. Oysters have that reputation, and with both demand and supply growing, why not make them the centerpiece of a romantic Date Night special, offering $1 oysters with the purchase of bubbly by the glass or bottle to couples, who may very well end up staying for dinner or coming back another time. Of course you do it on a slower night, like Sunday or Wednesday.

8. Make friends with parents and help groom the next generation of restaurantgoers by giving a discount to well-behaved kids. Other guests will thank you, too, especially if you promote the reward on the menu and your website, so the little darlings cooperate from the moment they sit down. Come to think of it, there are hotels and restaurants that also offer classes in manners for kids.

9. The popular breakfast for Sunday Supper at Brenda’s French Soul Food in San Francisco came about by accident because people were still lined up for breakfast when the place closed at 3 p.m. on Sundays. So now the breakfast/brunch menu stays in force all day, with the addition of more substantial items like Hangtown Fry (a traditional San Francisco oyster-and-bacon egg scramble), Shrimp & Grits, and sandwiches and burgers after 5 p.m. The strategy not only pleases late-rising locals, it also adds several turns during what used to be the Sunday afternoon to early evening dead zone.

10. Half-portions of pasta are fairly common in Italian restaurants, but how about smaller-size portions of other foods, including more traditional protein-based entrees? It doesn’t necessarily mean lower average checks: Anything on the menu that can easily be served in a smaller portion, from salads to fish to chops (a half-rack of lamb, for instance, or a 5-oz. serving of grilled salmon) could be a welcome temptation not only for the value-conscious, but also for dieters, older children, seniors, or even people who want to create their own “small plates” or sample additional items.

Turn to Synergy Restaurant Consultants for more business-building ideas.


Tip of the Month

Looking for more information about reducing food waste? Here are some resources:

We Hate to Waste
End Food Waste Now
USDA Food Recovery and Donation portal
Food Waste Reduction Alliance
Sustainable America
Green Restaurant Association

 

 

 

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September 2014 Newsletter

Sep 30, 2014

Greetings!

The news that July restaurant sales declined and operators are feeling less-than-optimistic about the future is giving everyone a bit of pause about the “recovery.” Rising food prices and concern about new minimum wage requirements are also giving the restaurant industry a case of the jitters. Expect more coverage on these key issues in the months to come.
The bottom line? Now is the time to double down and strengthen your business. As our associate Clyde Gilfillan argues in his excellent article on strategic planning, getting the entire organization moving in the same direction is more important than ever.

Operators also need to focus on the core basics of food, service and customer engagement, using whatever tactics it takes to get patrons in the door and to build guest loyalty once they’re there. One way you can do this is by avoiding these 12 common customer turnoffs.

Let us know if Synergy Restaurant Consultants can help you in any way.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas


Time: The CEO’s Best Friend

By J. Clyde Gilfillan, Synergy Restaurant Consultants

Time—hard to hold, hard to manage, relentless, ever pressing forward, and the one item that we can never replace. To the CEO, time is not just a valuable commodity; it’s an essential element to that ever-elusive goal of “success.” Time seems to be the most attractive, most exotic leadership skill to manage, yet we often don’t treat it as such.

We have time management books, monthly/weekly/daily planners, project management software. Speakers, authors, experts, whole companies devoted to this single aspect of leadership resourcefulness, all out to teach us how to keep time from essentially slipping away. Why? What’s happening to us? What’s preventing us from “staying focused”? The basic reason lies in the lack of strategic planning skills at all levels of management—at least, effective and efficient strategic and tactical planning.

Oftentimes, middle and/or lower-level managers are given priorities and asked to get results now. They are not given measurable/actionable/specific goals or objectives with both well-thought-out and agreed-upon strategies and, perhaps most importantly, tactics. Whatever is most important now is what is most important now it seems. The issue is that priorities shift and focus changes. Unfortunately, it is at this level of management that action, results, and accountability are at a premium. In other words, this is where the stuff gets done.

So how do we manage time? How do we stay focused and put “first things first” with our team? How do we get the job done throughout the organization? The answer lies in effective planning and the working of that plan: understanding the planning process, setting of common S.M.A.R.T. objectives, successful communication of the plan throughout the organization and/or department, and reaping the rewards of mentoring/coaching the progression.
The foundations of world-class planning are laid in:

STRATEGY

• Vision – The optimal result to be achieved over time; it provides the guidance and inspiration to focus on reaching the end goal; the proverbial “North Star” for everyone to understand their work and its contribution to the end game. Vision must be first and foremost, well-thought-out and clearly communicated.

S.M.A.R.T. Objectives – Objectives are narrow, precise, concrete, and measurable. Goals are different; they are broader, more general, abstract. Leaders work with objectives while keeping end goals in mind. If the techniques of S.M.A.R.T objectives are used (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based), they work very effectively. Why make people guess? Be very clear.

Distinct Pathways – Leadership must provide the pathways to seeing the vision and its resulting rewards while shaping the course used to achieve the objectives. Pathways can include tools and techniques such as Gantt project management and time management planners as well as coaching the progress. Pathways direct where the objective lies.

Asking and answering the important questions relating to these strategic foundations is highly important to anchoring the process. The corresponding questions that must be asked and answered to effect the process and put the plan into perspective:

Vision – WHY are we doing this? You must answer this question first. Without a satisfactory and agreed-upon answer, then the plan and process is moot.

Goals/Objectives – WHAT are we trying to achieve? Defined again by the dichotomy between goals and objectives, the end game must be in view and attainable. Be general with goals, but very specific with objectives.

Pathways – WHERE are we going? Illumination of the course, the passageway to the objectives, is a vital step in getting everyone moving in the same direction.

TACTICS

Activities and Tasks: The steps necessary to move the strategy forward, often mistakenly referred to as “To-Do’s.” Outlining the tasks and activities to be taken before movement is the main ingredient in the tactical recipe. Devised in order of importance and implemented in order of dependence, tasks guide us in the minutia of the overall plan.

Resources: Personnel needed, tools provided, education necessary. Gather the resources, lay out the needs, and indicate the requirements of the tasks ahead in order to match resources to the skill sets essential to meeting targeted objectives.

Logistics: This is where we delineate the deadlines and time schedules devoted to the objectives. With the tasks defined and the resources outlined, adherence to agreed-upon time mandates becomes the linchpin in our planning process. This is the final key to achieving results and keeping time on your side instead of discouragingly watching it continue on its inexorable march.

Coming full circle, world-class results are directly tied to a CEO’s ability to relate time, process, and achievement of objectives to the vision of the organization, the department, or the field unit. Using effective planning will move the needle of your organization. It takes time, patience, and coaching/mentoring, but the alternative is time wasted. Moreover, time is the one commodity we cannot replace. Planning the work and working the plan – that is a CEO’s best friend.


 


Avoid These Guest Turnoffs

By Joan Lang

It’s official: Americans are in the midst of a full-blown food fetish. This is great news for restaurants, but it’s also true that with increasing sophistication comes an increasingly demanding diner.

If it seems like more people are complaining nowadays, they probably are. In the past, bad restaurant news came in two forms: bad print reviews, and bad word-of-mouth. The hand-in-hand rise of foodie culture and the online community have changed everything. Today’s diners—whether they are bloggers, professional food writers, or just people who like to go out to eat—have many different forums for expressing their likes and dislikes, and that represents both an opportunity and a challenge.

We’ve covered Yelp and other citizen review sites in this newsletter in the past, but no matter what you think of this growing trend to consumer empowerment, you should be reading your reviews to find out what your guests legitimately don’t like about your restaurants.

There are also some common points of dissatisfaction that are emerging about the restaurant universe in general—just take a look at this recent no-holds-barred rant from Eater San Francisco, where the reader comments are as enlightening as the writers’ list of grievances about what they think restaurants are doing wrong.

We’ve compiled a cheat sheet of some of the complaints that keep rising to the surface, from sources of all kinds. Pay attention, since many of these issues also address problems that can affect sales.

1. Obvious upselling and overselling. Guests know when they are being played for bigger checks. There are ways to build sales without putting pressure on customers or making them feel like they’re cheapskates if they say no

2. Bad service. This is a big one, time and time again, from seemingly little things like not facing a beer bottle label to the guest to major snafus such as mixing up an order. This article on “35 Things Restaurant Servers Do Wrong” should be required reading for anyone who is responsible for server training

3. On a related note, servers who don’t know the menu. Front-of-the-house staff should be familiar with every item that’s on the menu, including specials, so they can answer guests’ questions and steer them to the best possible experience. Savvy restaurateurs with ambitious beverage selections even put their servers through bartender training so they can assist guests with their wine, beer and cocktail choices

4. Taking guest favorites off the menu without thinking it through very, very carefully—and maybe making other arrangements, like offering a discontinued item as a special or letting regulars know they can still order it off-menu. After all, according to National Restaurant Association research, “favorite menu items” are a prime reason many people go out to eat at a particular restaurant

5. Using industry lingo. Discussing the “wine program” with anyone but a colleague or telling a guest that you can’t sit two people at a “four top” or that the pasta has been “86’d” is just bad manners

6. Wobbly tables and uncomfortable chairs. Enough said

7. Not making your current menu available online. Looking at the menu is one important way potential guests make their dining-out decisions. If at all possible, put the menu on your website and make sure it’s current, to avoid disappointment. If your menu changes so often that it doesn’t make sense to put it on your website, it can at least be on Facebook. And always include prices

8. Bad disability etiquette. In many locations, accessibility is the law, but there’s more to making all guests feel welcome than properly spaced tables. Accommodations like Braille menus, printed rather than verbal specials sheets, and server training also make good business sense

9. Not being prepared for a service you offer. It’s great to offer delivery, online ordering and other guest conveniences, but your infrastructure needs to be able to handle them. That means technology, staffing, staff training, operational adjustments and much, much more

10. Refusing to consider special requests. Within reason, service and kitchen staff should be willing to accommodate not only vegans, vegetarians, and customers with gluten and other food allergies, but also requests to leave out the green pepper. Yes, customers may have become hyperfussy, but we should never lose sight of the fact that these are our guests

11. Noise. There’s a difference between a lively atmosphere and a restaurant where guests can’t hear each other—and there’s a sentiment that unwanted noise is getting worse. With more casual concepts come harder surfaces—wood floors instead of carpet, bare tabletops instead of cloths—plus music, bar noise and other distractions. Use soundproofing, design and other techniques to avoid or fix the problem

12. Lack of cleanliness. Whether it’s the silverware, the tables or the bathroom, guests notice when things aren’t clean. Things may start out spic-and-span, but during the course of a busy shift the situation can degrade quickly. Make sure your dishwashing capabilities are up to snuff—including keeping your dishwasher happy —and your front-of-house staff has enough hands to bus and reset tables correctly. As for the bathrooms, they should be inspected regularly and attended to promptly. And while you’re at it, check the floors in all public areas for spills, dropped paper and linens, and other detritus

If you need help addressing any of the problems introduced in this article, contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.


Protein Power

Whether your guests are following the Paleo diet or just minding their nutritional P’s and Q’s, protein has become a real selling point on menus. According to data from NPD, “high-protein” is now equated with healthy. This stands to reason after decades of carb-phobia, first at the hands of Dr. Atkins, and most recently because of the gluten-free trend. The science of sports nutrition may also lie behind the demand for protein. Then, too, there’s the increasing availability of heirloom and ethically raised meats to consider.

Arby’s new Meat Mountain sandwich says it all. First conceived as a promotional stunt to herald the erstwhile roast beef chain’s new “We Have the Meats” positioning, the eight-meat (and two-cheese) fantasy sandwich got so many customer requests that the item will be actually served.

According to Packaged Facts, 62% of consumers are looking to eat more protein, a trend that promises opportunity for manufacturers and foodservice operators alike—the so-called protein craze has even hit supermarket bagged salads. And fortunately for vegetarians, the word is out that there are plenty of non-meat sources of protein, including not only eggs and cheese but also hearty and nutritious grains, seeds, nuts, beans and legumes.

Not surprisingly, high-protein foods are showing up on more restaurant menus, despite the high food costs associated with most meats, and people seem willing to pay for them. Fatburger has introduced its Double Down “protein-style” bunless burger. Taco Bell is overhauling its Cantina platform with bowls and burritos that tout 20 grams of protein in a 500-calorie-and-under package.

Roaring Bowl, in Seattle, brings the traditional protein-laden Japanese specialty shabu-shabu into the 21st century. Hitting all the contemporary high notes, Roaring Bowl offers an interactive dining experience (check) that allows guests to customize their meals (check) with a DIY menu (check) of bowls, plates and salad (check) that can be topped with such high-quality, eco-conscious ingredients (check) as Kurobuta pork belly and Painted Hills beef, plus lots and lots of fresh vegetables (ditto). Craft beers, soju and sake (check) round out the bill of sale.

Meanwhile, next-wave steakhouses like Union Common, in Nashville, are pushing the bounds of meat-centric menus with a selection that includes a variety of different signature steaks—Duck Fat Roasted Filet with black garlic butter; steak frites; an aged ribeye with citrus gremolata—as well as a full raw bar and chilled seafood. The list of appetizers is unusually complete, offering such small plates as Roasted Bone Marrow, Lobster Nuggets and several different cheeses. The pricing structure supports the notion that while food costs on aged beef and other premium meats may be well above the 30-35% target range, profit margins on a $17 appetizer or $65 steak are apt to be very good indeed.

Another theme is the roast house, specializing in the kind of “large format” roasted and rotisseried meats whose popularity may have started as a backlash to the small plates trend. In Chicago, there’s Tony Mantuano’s new River Roast, with a live-fire menu featuring roast beef (priced per 8-oz. serving), wood-smoked whole chicken, and a $42 whole fish of the day—all carved at tableside and meant for sharing. “Table Snacks,” oysters, charcuterie, and lots and lots of side dishes (including Yorkshire pudding) round out the family-style meatfest feeling.

And then there’s the new crop of restaurants whose very names hold promise of meaty pleasures. Beast & Ale, for instance, in Philadelphia, is the Feliz Mexican restaurant group’s foray into the gastropub market. The self-styled “updated greasy spoon” menu is inspired by Philadelphia’s old-school beef and ale tradition, including the namesake double-patty Beast Burger as well as Steak “Poupard” (the flatiron cut, served with caramelized onion and potato hash and a fried egg), Buttermilk Fried Chicken, and even a Fried Bologna Sandwich. Décor is by the way of both natural and gold-emblazoned taxidermy, to further drive home the beast metaphor.

Could a more gender-neutral revival of the Beefsteak Club be far behind?


Tip of the Month

For more information about what annoys restaurant guests, drill down into the “gripe-o-meter” from Consumer Reports.

 

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August 2014 Newsletter

Aug 26, 2014

Greetings!

With all the industry talk lately about QSRs and fast casual restaurants and how they are performing respectively in the current economic climate, we couldn’t help but notice this article in Nation’s Restaurant News concerning how guests feel about these two categories.

Long story short: Consumers want quick-service restaurants to behave more like the fast casuals, offering more amenities and services like delivery, upgraded environments and better food quality. And that will continue to put more pressure on traditional QSRs, especially established brands like McDonald’s, which is already suffering weakened sales.

After all, when you’ve got Which Wich offering drive-thrus and Panera joining Chipotle in removing artificial ingredients, it’s going to take a lot for fast feeders to keep up with the twin advances in convenience and quality being rolled out by fast casual players.

You can expect to see more news on these issues in this space over the coming months. In the meantime please enjoy our articles on building employee loyalty, why the small plates trend continues to grow, and how to use spice mixtures to elevate your menu.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas


Creating Loyalty—the Employee Kind

By Joan Lang

 

Turnover is accepted as a given in fast-paced minimum-wage industries like foodservice—but it doesn’t have to be.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), turnover rose slightly in 2013, from 61.0% in 2012 to 62.6% last year. This compares to 42.2% in the private sector overall. And while this represents a significant improvement of pre-Great Recession turnover of greater than 80%, too many good employees leaving their jobs still hurts.

Experts estimate that it costs upwards of twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement. Turnover can leave shifts uncovered and compromise food quality and guest service—and therefore an establishment’s reputation. And excessive “churn” can also damage morale among remaining employees.

Just as it’s important to create loyalty among guests, then, you want your staff to be loyal to you as an employer.
Here’s how to do it:

1. Hire the best people for the job.

Finding and hiring the best employees is probably the single most important thing you can do to keep people in their jobs for the long run. Interview and vet candidates carefully, not just to ensure they have the right skills but also that they fit well with the company culture, managers and co-workers.

o If necessary, seek a consultant or employee placement firm for key hires.

2. Invest in training.

The second important piece in the puzzle is giving employees the skills they need to do their job. Whether it’s shadowing an experienced server, studying manuals or using online training modules, or pulling shifts in the kitchen, training procedures will pay off in job success and employee satisfaction.

o Make job procedures and company policies available to all employees when they’re hired, and keep them up-to-date.

o Use pre-shift meetings, special training sessions (such as a wine tasting hosted by a distributor-partner) and other resources to build skills and keep them current.

3. Pay attention to the basics.

Provide a fair wage and benefits (and remember that “benefits” can also mean perks like free uniforms or laundering, employee meals, educational assistance, discounts on food and paper goods, staff gatherings, car-pooling, and flexible scheduling). Show respect and fair-mindedness to everyone who works for you—you don’t have to get involved in their personal lives but you should be well aware that they have them.

o Train managers to improve communication skills and devise a practical plan for resolving conflicts among your staff to keep them happy and productive.

o Incent top performers to recruit their friends.

4. Make company expectations clear.

Communicate your goals, standards and expectations at every opportunity, both through documentation such as mission statements and through day-to-day interactions. Share your thinking behind decisions, especially when you introduce anything new, and involve them in as many strategic initiatives as possible. If your goal is to increase sales of desserts, for example, tell both your service and kitchen staff why it’s important and engage their ideas for making it happen. Provide context for everything that affects them.

5. Offer guidance—and recognition.

Let employees know how they’re doing, both informally and with formal tools such as reviews and recognition. Honest mistakes should be viewed as learning opportunities, for the employee and the entire crew, not an occasion for criticism. And give praise publicly for a job well-done, whether it’s providing great service to a customer or forecasting demand more accurately. As author Todd Patkin puts it, “catch them doing something right.”

o Recognition is one of the most important factors in ongoing job satisfaction; in fact, according to a recent GloboForce Workforce Mood Tracker, 73% of respondents credit recognition for having a positive impact on their happiness at work.

o Consider events like sales contests or cost-improvement initiatives that allow staff to excel at their jobs—and be rewarded for it in measurable ways, such as a gift certificate or prize (this is a great way to use rewards points from a purchasing program).

6. Give employees “ownership” of their jobs.

Empowering staff to do their jobs goes beyond training into everyday decision-making. Demonstrate trust and provide flexibility. Create guidelines—for instance, what kinds of substitutions can be made by servers and kitchen without seeking management approval? When can a complementary dessert be offered?—but allow for impromptu problem-solving.

o Wherever possible, do what’s necessary to make jobs easier, whether that’s streamlining cooking procedures, making sure there’s plenty of glassware, or using tablets for ordering, which will increase accuracy and give servers more time at their tables.

o Encourage employees to create their own team solutions for getting the job done.

7. Listen to their ideas.

Create an environment that encourages two-way communication. Your employees are “on the ground” every day, and are in the ideal position to share guest feedback and provide you with all kinds of ideas for doing things better. For instance, an employee may notice that doing basic maintenance on a particular machine once a week, as opposed to once a month, keeps it running more smoothly. Or servers may field lots of guest requests for items you don’t have on the menu or services you don’t offer. Get them to share that information.

o If necessary, have regular “off-the-record” discussions with employees.

o Consider conducting a periodic survey (anonymous if necessary) to ascertain how your staff feels about you, your business, and their jobs.

8. Provide for growth.

Being able to stay on a learning curve will keep your best employees happier and more productive. Cross-training not only helps fill shifts, but it gives employees an opportunity to “switch it up” and learn new skills. One company we know pays for English lessons for its non-English-speaking employees, but you could also find sources for such life-skills help as establishing a savings or investment plan.

o Try sending key employees to industry events such as a local restaurant show, wine tasting or management skills training seminar, or dine-around-town events.

o Savvy employers also factor in opportunities for staff members when making the decision to add a new service, such as catering, or open a new restaurant.

9. Be aware that the customer isn’t always right.

Employees have rights, too, and you shouldn’t hesitate to adopt policies that recognize that. A recent post in Craigslist revealed some thought-provoking evidence that guest behavior can influence service. Customers can be distracted, overly demanding, rude or even abusive, and you should let employees know, tacitly or directly, that you support your staff as well as your guests. You may have to walk an uncomfortable line—such as requesting that guests not use cell phones, or keep their children from playing in the aisles—but satisfied employees make for satisfied customers, and that builds loyalty all around.

10. Conduct exit interviews.

When longtime staff decide to leave, ask them why. Use the opportunity to find out what you could be doing differently.


 


What’s the Big Deal about Small Plates?

By Joan Lang

 

There ought to be a bumper sticker: “Honk if you’re Opening a Small Plates Restaurant.” The now-famous Eator.com parody menu (and the legions of comments it inspired) almost takes the small-plates trend to task for being predictable and derivative, but there’s no doubt that the concept is transforming the face of dining out in this country.

The words “small plates for sharing” may make some jaded restaurantgoers groan, but by and large today’s food-obsessed consumers love them. And why not? Small plates represent a chance to taste lots of different things and put together a totally bespoke dining experience, answering the call for variety and customization that are the marching orders for the industry today. It’s a formula that’s tailor-made to satisfy that all-important millennial guest, as chains like Olive Garden are beginning to discover.

That the trend shows no sign of abating, however, is also a function of how chefs and restaurateurs feel about small plates.
For one thing, small plates can lead to big checks. All those $6, $8 and $10 plates give diners a “why-not” price point that encourages them to order one or two more, especially when there’s a group of friends who are there to socialize and sample. The tempting diversity of foods on a small plates menu can lead to a kind of ordering euphoria, and if ever there were going to be a time for a creative chef to sell customers on something unusual like octopus or cauliflower, it’s with a low risk price and portion size.

Small wonder, then, that small plates appear on many of today’s most successful business plans. Between the spiced almonds and the deviled eggs ordered while the menu is first being considered to the final, multiple desserts, the average check at a small plates establishment can easily run 20-40% higher than at a comparable three-course restaurant. Small plates can also significantly reduce food costs and waste, while simplifying inventory.

For one thing, smaller portions means it’s easier to utilize trim, especially on high-ticket protein items like beef and seafood, as anyone who has put tuna poke on the menu can attest. And as far as bell-ringer specialty ingredients like bottarga or imported cheese, you don’t need much to make an impact on a 2- or 3-ounce menu item. Mise en place needs to be tight, because many small plates tend to be thoughtfully composed and high in quality, but then again it ought to be tight in a well-run kitchen. And for every elaborate plate of compressed suckling pig with microgreens and roasted cipollini onions that needs to be assembled to order, there are the warm spiced olives that are essentially ready to serve.

In many small plates restaurants, the orders aren’t coursed by the servers or timed by the kitchen; they come out when they’re ready. That means several things, including bye-bye expensive expeditor, for one. Food is delivered more quickly, so tables can theoretically turn more quickly.

And where there is food, there is also drink, in the form of high-margin cocktails, wine and beer—in fact, many of the first “small plates” establishments were sophisticated wine bars, where small tastes of things like olives, cheese, and other little tapas-like nibbles were offered in the service of by-the-glass sales. The fact that bar seating also saved a lot of the square footage required for traditional tables was just sweetening in the pot, so you could say the wine bar trend was the precursor to the efficiently spaced sea of high tops and petite tables that make small plates establishments both more convivial and more profitable on a sales-per-square-foot basis.

One of the latest wrinkles in the small plates genre is the “large format” specialty: the whole fish, the Amish chicken for two, the super-premium Porterhouse for the whole table to share. These premium items support premium pricing, and make for the kind of memorable signature dish all operators are looking for. And the fact that they are almost always served a la carte means there is opportunity for selling side dishes, either as more small plates or as a family-style portion.

Finally, small plates are fun for the staff, affording a rollicking, super-creative menumaking style where there really isn’t much to lose in trying something new. There’s tremendous versatility in utilization. Seasonality and daily specials fit right in. The servers love it because they can make more money.

What’s not to love?


Light Up Your Menu with Spice Blends and Condiments

By Joan lang

Bold flavors are the “it” ingredients for creating lively signature recipes, and almost nothing is easier to use than global spice mixtures and condiments—witness the runaway popularity of flavor builders like Cajun spice, jerk seasoning and sriracha.

Here are some ideas for seasonings that are starting to trend now, many of them virtual shorthand for the cuisine they stem from. The best part is you don’t need your own proprietary blend to take advantage of the flavor boost and marketing backstory. Many of these products are available already prepared, or you can easily make your own.

Ajvar

– A savory Serbian paste made with bright red-roasted peppers, garlic and sometimes eggplant, ajvar brings a smoky, relishy flavor to grilled meats, stews, as a spread for crostini and more. A similar product is Portuguese massa de pimentão, which is also useful in a marinade

Chermoula (or charmoula)

– Traditionally used in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria to season fish, this aromatic blend of olive oil, coriander, cumin, citrus, paprika, garlic, cilantro and chile is easy to make in-house, and can also be used to dress vegetables and roast chicken

Dukkah

– An Egyptian mixture of sesame seeds, roasted chickpeas, hazelnuts, coriander, cumin, and salt and pepper, dukkah can be used to create a flavorful crust on meats and other proteins, as a dust on vegetables, or even served simply in a bowl as a memorable addition to the bread service

Garam Masala

– You knew that there’s no such thing as curry powder in India, right? Instead cooks there and here use a bespoke blend of ground spices that might range from cardamom and turmeric to cumin and black pepper. Find one that works for you to bring Indian flavors to recipes—then try it on popcorn as a bar snack

Harissa

– Used throughout North Africa, this fiery yet versatile condiment is made with lots of dried chilies, pounded together with cumin and coriander seed, garlic, olive oil and salt. Traditional uses include as a dip for grilled meat, as a condiment for couscous, and to add a kick to soups and stews, but harissa has become very popular with heat seeking chefs and customers in all kinds of restaurants

Old Bay

– This traditional Maryland Eastern Shore spice blend, often used in seafood boils and crab cakes, is experiencing a bit of an artisanal rebirth, bringing its balanced flavors of mustard, paprika, cloves and celery salt to all kinds of food and drink, including Bloody Marys and even beer

Ras el hanout

– A versatile Moroccan spice blend that can contain as many as 30 different ingredients (the name means “top of the shop,” as in spice shop), including ground cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. It make a killer spice rub for grilled and roasted meats

Togarashi

– With interest in Japanese ingredients at an all-time high thanks to the popularity of menu items like sushi and ramen, this Japanese table condiment is picking up steam. The standard chile-based mixture can also include orange peel, seaweed, ginger, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds, adding texture as well as flavor to foods

Vadouvan

– This curry-like Indian seasoning blend shows its French colonial influences with shallot, onion, fenugreek, cumin, and curry leaf in addition to such masala ingredients as turmeric, coriander, and mustard seed. Use to make French-style curried chicken salad, as a marinade for shrimp or fish, or wherever you would use regular curry powder

Za’atar

– Also known as zahtar, this tangy, herbal Middle Eastern spice blend is predominately ground sumac, roasted sesame seeds, and green herbs such as oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram. It is used to flavor meats and vegetables, or mixed with olive oil and used as a marinade or a spread for flatbread. Za’atar can also bring a lively texture to dishes like yogurt dips or scrambled eggs


Tip of the Month

More on Spices

A bit of an oversimplification perhaps, but this fun chart from Business Insider suggests how you can recreate the flavors of 36 world cuisines using only three spices/seasonings per cuisine, as in onion, lard and paprika for Hungarian food, or parsley, garlic and mint for Persian.

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July 2014 Newsletter

Jul 22, 2014

 

Greetings!

A quick glance at our Facebook page will give you just a hint of the exciting projects we’ve been working on here at Synergy: contemporary deli discoveries, artisanal bakeries, rebranding initiatives, beverage upgrades, a quick trip to New York City for the opening of the newest LYFE Kitchen. It’s been a great year-and this is only July!

In this month’s newsletter we delve a little more deeply into these subjects and more. There’s an article on how traditional delis are being rebooted for the Millennial age, with on-trend attributes like local sourcing, craft beer menus and quality-oriented ingredients.

We weigh in on the often-thorny subject of sustainable seafood, and offer a few resources to help you stay abreast of the complexities. And we also revisit the fast-evolving gluten-free menu trend, and what the FDA’s recent definition means to you-frankly, we can’t even believe that some people are still questioning whether offering gluten-free items represents an imperative that’s here to stay. It is, trust us.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas


Thoroughly Modern Delis

By Joan Lang

 

One by one, the old icons are falling, thanks to the premium casual trend. It’s been applied to hamburgers, to cocktails, to Mexican QSR: Take a familiar concept, one with a degree of built-in familiarity and consumer acceptance, and differentiate it—around the ingredients, the menu, the presentation, the service model. Make it unique and craveable, make it stand out from the competition with a quality proposition.

Hamburgers became better burgers, with righteous grass-fed beef and artisanal buns. Cocktails became craft cocktails, with mutton-chopped mixologists and drink-specific ice. And Mexican QSR became, well, Chipotle.

It’s not surprising that the appetite for housemade smoked and cured meats, gourmet pickles and better bread—not to mention the ongoing obsession with handcrafted sandwiches—would lead to a reinterpretation of the classic sandwich emporium: the deli.

And sometimes it’s being done by entrepreneurial restaurateurs who may be too young to have experienced the flavors and conviviality of a classic Jewish deli in a really authentic way, like the original Pastrami King or Wolfie’s Rascal House. But they still want what she’s having in the way of a mind-blowing deli sandwich.

This time around, though, all the elements have been elevated into the eco/artisan/sustainable stratosphere, along with the necessary postmodern trappings like cocktails, craft beer, hip service and stylish surroundings.
During a recent Discovery Trip to New York City, we experienced not only the classic Katz’s Deli but also some of the new-wave deli concepts that are changing the paradigm, such as Mile End. And we came away with some key learnings about how the modern-day deli works.

Aroma and freshness cues are huge: Smelling the smoked meat has a powerful impact from the moment the guest walks through the door. Watching the meats being carved (as at Katz’s) is crucial to communicating the product’s quality. But getting younger, Gen X diners into a deli environment requires an expanded menu, while at the same time keeping a focus on the authentic classics, which helps guests take the concept seriously.

Inspired by the smoked-meat tradition of the Mile End neighborhood in Montreal, New York City’s Mile End Deli is an elder statesman in the new-wave deli trend. Now with two locations and an immensely successful catering business, Mile End is an homage to the Jewish delicatessen via a big helping of the peculiarly Canadian style of kosher-style deli meat, made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. It differs from the more familiar pastrami in the use of flavorings like coriander and the fact that it uses significantly less sugar. Seating is famously tight, consisting mainly of stools at window counters (helping to ignite another mini-trend among the competition). Starting small, Mile End has become a specialty food phenomenon, producing a wide variety of cured and smoked meats and fish, pickled goods, and freshly baked bagels, breads, rolls, and pastries. The crave-worthy menu also features one of Canada’s other national foods: poutine.

Another entry in the deli parade is Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen, in San Francisco. The menu has all the usual Yiddish soul food suspects (matzo brei, noodle kugel, chopped liver), but the pastrami is smoked in house and brined for seven days, the hand-rolled bagels are from locally prized Beauty’s, and the chocolate babka uses an owner’s grandmother’s recipe—and the whole thing started with a pop-up. Décor is as expected, with baked goods on display, soft-focus portraits of family elders on the walls, and old-fashioned signage, but there’s also a Smoked Trumpet Mushroom Reuben sandwich with sauerkraut, Swiss and Russian dressing on rye. With three locations, including one in the Contemporary Jewish Museum and another in Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, Wise Sons looks like a game changer

Touting artisan-made deli fare (“We cure, pickle & smoke quality meats & fishes according to the highest standards & oldest traditions”), three-location Kenny & Zuke’s in Portland, OR, uses locally raised beef, sells a shareable platter of house- made pickles, and bakes all is own rugelach, hamantaschen and macaroons. The bright, yellow-and-white striped menu is old-school though, featuring noodle kugel, pastrami on rye, cheese blintzes, and lots of pancake-style eggs. There’s also cheerful takeout (which helps to offset the long lines for a table), catering and mail-order.

Moody’s Delicatessen & Provisions, in Waltham, MA, plays a bit fast and loose with the traditional deli menu, but it errs on the side of artisanal with a selection of carefully sourced New England cheeses and charcuterie; Cuban, pulled pork and banh mi sandwiches; and housemade truffle chips—in addition to the more predictable bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and Katz (pastrami with pickle mustard) and bologna sandwiches.

Then there’s the growing number of places that take a totally freewheeling approach to deli standards like smoked/cured meats and pickles. Case in point is Plan Check Kitchen + Bar, with a trio of locations in L.A. and a frequently changing menu that runs the gamut from the Pastrami Nosh sandwich (“double smoked pastrami, melty Swiss cheese, kimchi mustard, pickles and a sunny fried egg”) to fries cooked in schmaltz (chicken fat). Cheffy touches like ketchup leather on the burger and housemade duck ham leave no doubt as to the creativity of the kitchen, although blackboard menus and reasonable prices adhere to the spirit of the neighborhood deli.

And then there’s the Reuben, the crossover sandwich star that sums up the longing for authenticity and flavor that defines the new deli trend—it’s showing up absolutely everywhere there are great sandwiches. Make no mistake that Delta Bistro, in Greenwood, MS, is a Southern restaurant, but its Comeback Reuben (which uses traditional Mississippi-style “comeback sauce” instead of Russian dressing) has a foot neatly planted in both cultures.


 


Sustainable Seafood: Do Your Homework

By Joan Lang

Of all the sourcing and purchasing challenges that foodservice operators face, sustainable seafood may be the most complex—especially now that more restaurants are calling out wild or sustainable fish and shellfish as they would organic produce or natural chicken.

But seafood isn’t like tomatoes and chicken, with their relatively low price and almost infinite availability.
With fish and shellfish, the challenge lies in both the supply and the definition of sustainability. Many wild fisheries are being depleted faster than Mother Nature can restore them. A 2012 United Nations report found that almost 30% of the world’s wild fisheries are “overexploited,” and more than 57% are “at or very close” to the limit; this includes such popular species as Atlantic cod, Chilean sea bass and Bluefin tuna.

Once heralded as the answer to the growing world demand for seafood, aquaculture has also proven to be problematic, because of escapement, pollution, environmental damage and questions about the feed used in fish farming. For instance, it takes nearly three pounds of wild-caught feed, in the form of fishmeal and fish oil from such species as anchovies and mackerel, to produce one pound of marketable farmed salmon—one of the most popular aquacultured species. And many of the “native” species Americans consume are actually imported from other countries.

Climate change adds yet another level of complexity, and even politicization, but certainly global warming will further impact fisheries.

At the same time, many restaurant operators want to add more seafood to the menu, both for health reasons and to offer their guests more variety.

Various organizations have attempted to provide guidelines for consumers, retailers, customers, and chefs, including SeafoodWatch and Seafood Choices Alliance. But such a complex issue is not easy to simplify, and even the watchers have come in for controversy. The Marine Stewardship Council, for one, has been widely criticized for certifying fisheries that are not actually sustainable in order to answer demand for sustainable choices from retailers such as Whole Foods and WalMart.

Chefs and restaurateurs, for their part, have been very proactive to very positive effect, as shown by the Give Swordfish a Break campaign, way back in 1998. High-profile chefs like Rick Moonen and Barton Seaver have led the way as activists and educators. The Chefs Collaborative has published “Seafood Solutions: A Chef’s Guide to Sourcing Sustainable Seafood,” while programs like Hook-to- Cook routinely raise awareness.

At a time when many consumers still clamor for familiar salmon, swordfish and cod, restaurants can lead the foray into such underutilized species as whiting, mackerel, sardines and bluefish. They can purchase and use bycatch (non-target species which would be otherwise be thrown away), like the Louisiana flounder often caught in shrimpers’ nets. They can proudly menu “trash fish,” like skate and rockfish. And they can help promote traceability and educate guests about responsibly sourced seafood.

All of this takes commitment, and more than a little homework. Menu flexibility and good relationships with purveyors are also important. But there is ample evidence that an increasingly sophistihttp://www.gmri.org/community/display.asp?a=5&b=25&c=192cated customer base demands not only good food, but food they can feel good about.


The Gluten-Free Mandate

By Karen N. Knoblaugh, MS, RD, Food Allergy Consultants

On August 13, 2013, the FDA finally caught up with Europe by providing a definition for “gluten-free,” which introduced a much-needed guide for food producers. It also provoked a sigh of relief for millions of consumers who require gluten-free foods.

This new guideline requires that any food identified as being gluten-free must contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten. Food manufacturers have until August 2014 to comply with these new mandates, or else they can be considered to be misbranding if they continue to use terms related to gluten-free (“free of gluten,” “no gluten,” or “gluten free”).

Currently there are no FDA regulations for foodservice establishments with regard to providing gluten-free foods; requirements are only applied to labeled foods. It has been up to the customer to ask the questions and make their own determination if the restaurant, café or bakery has the capability and qualified staff to provide them with a safe meal. With this new regulation comes an increased expectation for those in the foodservice business to also be compliant with these FDA guidelines.

Note that currently, this is not a requirement but simply an expectation; however, the foodservice provider should be able to detail all procedures and precautions in place related to the preparation and service of gluten-free foods. Additionally, any inspections after August 2014 will most likely review your gluten-free protocols if the claim is being made. How they will actually test for or determine if a food is at or below the 20 ppm is still a big question, so most likely they will look for the absence of all gluten-containing ingredients in the preparation of those foods.

So what does this mean for you? The first thing is that if you are using or intend to use the gluten-free moniker, you must be much more vigilant in your preparation of those foods. Hopefully, you have already been doing this, but it may require a bit more attention on your part moving forward.

It may also mean that you have to go back to your supply chain and make sure that any ingredients being used to make the gluten-free items really are gluten-free. Documentation on such ingredients should be maintained and updated as needed. You may also have to modify your prep or service protocols (separate cutting boards, utensils, fryers, and cooking surfaces, as well as communication plans, etc.) and increase training for your entire staff to ensure proper care is given to your gluten-free customers.

Offering gluten-free menu items has become an important piece of the foodservice industry. Being able to provide safe gluten-free items has become a customer expectation more than ever before. If this is something that your establishment is considering but you would like assistance with implementation, Synergy Restaurant Consultants has qualified consultants that are ready to help.


Tip of the Month

Looking for more information on sustainable seafood? Check out SeafoodWatch, NOAA’s FishWatch, SeaWeb, and the Sustainable Seafood portal for National Geographic.

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June 2014 Newsletter

Jun 24, 2014

Greetings!

Winter may have been tough on businesses (not to mention agriculture) in many parts of the country—persistent heat and drought in the West, snow and cold weather as far south as Atlanta—but things are looking up for many sectors of the restaurant industry as foodservice spending returns to pre-Recession levels. It’s not just the top of the market, either; the rising fortunes of companies like Denny’s and Cracker Barrel are pointing to improved economic health in the middle class as well.

Our industry has always been adaptable and resilient, adjusting menus and price points to respond to rising food and labor costs and fluctuating consumer demand. Case in point is the growing fast-casual sector, where big chains and upscale chefs and operators alike are developing concepts that answer the call for quality and convenience at a value price point; see our story this month for some of the latest evidence of this game-changing “polished casual” trend.

We’ve also got a call to action from our associate Karen Brennan on the importance of paying attention to the “experience economy,” where the whole package offered by any given concept is crucial, beginning with the food.
Finally, with the arrival of hot weather, it’s time to make yourself a refreshing Gin & Tonic and read about seasonal summer cocktails.

To your success, Dean Small and Danny Bendas

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“Polished Casual”: The New Revolution in Fast Casual

By Joan Lang

Karen Brennan’s excellent article on the “experience economy” hits the nail on the head about the new breed of fast casual restaurants—she calls them polished casual—and it’s the truth behind why so many established companies and entrepreneurial chefs are weighing in with their own versions of the quick-service upgrade. Elevating not only the food but also the entire guest experience package in a brand spinoff seems to be the right formula for success in this marketplace.

Grilled steak laab bowl Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen | Photo Credit Flickr User T. Tseng CC by 2.0 License
Grilled steak laab bowl Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen | Photo Credit Flickr User T. Tseng CC by 2.0 License

Chipotle may have invented the model, and now Chipotle is digging even further with the ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen concept and the new Pizzeria Locale, which collectively give customers fast-casual versions of all three of the “first generation” ethnic concepts (Mexican, Asian and Italian).

But Chipotle’s not the only long-timer playing in the bigger, better quick-service sandbox. Taco Bell is working on a spinoff called U.S. Taco Co. and Urban Taproom which represents a logical extension of its hugely successful premium Cantina Bell platform in challenging Chipotle and appealing to more sophisticated consumers. Though the company is keeping details close to the vest, observers are predicting two models, one of which will capture imbibers with an extensive collection of beers and a buzzy beer milkshake.

Meanwhile, Taco Bell sibling KFC is sidling into Chik-fil-A territory with Super Chix, which a pared-down menu specializing in sandwiches, boneless tenders with mix-and-match sauces, fries and newly-trendy frozen custard. Tellingly, the new concept eschews its KFC connection in all its branding. With irons in multiple fires, the chicken giant has also opened KFC Eleven, with its amped-up menu that includes such of-the-moment offerings as salad, rice bowls and flatbreads.

As if that weren’t enough evidence that YUM Brands is in experimental mode, the company has recently launched Banh Shop, an Asian sandwich shop in Dallas that will sell variations on the iconic Vietnamese banh mi.

And Pizza Hut is dabbling with upscale notions such as display kitchens, customized pie builds, interactive ordering , and better-quality products, such as the new Firebaked Style Flatbread Pizzas, while Sbarro does upscale with its new Pizza Cucinova platform.

Legal Sea Food is working in the opposite direction, scaling down to conquer with Legal Crossing, the first in a line of standalone casual eateries designed to cater to individual markets where a full-scale LSF would be inappropriate. Next up, Legal Oysteria, with an Italian coastal vibe, which will join the stable that include Legal C Bar and its abbreviated but classic “seafare” menu. While these are not fast-casual concepts per se, they certainly follow the trend of creating a brand that’s more accessible to a wider variety of consumers, focusing on value as well as quality and an overall experience.

Fox Restaurant Concepts , a multi-concept, mostly full-service restaurant company with notable strength in Arizona, has recently opened Flower Child in Phoenix, which promises retro-chic “healthy food for a healthy world” in the form of salads, vegetable and grain plates, and whole-grain wraps. Vegans and vegetarians can order many of these items as-is, while omnivores have the option of adding grass-fed beef, natural chicken or sustainable salmon.

Fast-casual and casualized fine dining also hold great appeal for white-tablecloth chefs with their eyes on bringing their food to more people—and the huge paychecks attendant with chainable concepts. Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich are just the latest in a long line of name brand chef/restaurateurs (Bobby Flay, Danny Meyer, et al) experimenting with better burgers, with the new B&B Burger & Beer, in Las Vegas. Brad Ogden, who made his James Beard-winning bones with restaurants like Campton Place and Lark Creek, has opened Funky Chicken in Houston, with his son Bryan (way to get the family in the business, Dad). And Cathal Armstrong, of the highly rated Restaurant Eve in Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, VA, now has Eamonn’s, a “Dublin chipper” dispensing fish and chips and other fanciful fried foods, including fried Snickers bars.

Need help with your fast-casual idea or concept? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.


 


Flavors of the Season: Summer Cocktails

By Joan Lang

 

With the dogs days of July and August arriving in many parts of the country, now is the time to switch out wintertime warmers and whisky-based drinks, to incorporate lighter spirits, more refreshing mixers, and fresh fruit and vegetable elements. In fact, if you’re not changing your cocktail list to follow the seasons, summer is the time to start—especially if you have outdoor dining space.

Even if your staff does not include a bar manager or mixologist who’s adept at creating signature cocktails, there are many popular classic and new-era imbibes to experiment with.

Gin & Tonic

Spain’s obsession with this beloved summer cooler has caught on stateside, turning your Dad’s old highball into a specialty drink made with a growing variety of different kinds of gin, artisanal or housemade tonic, and interesting garnishes and muddles ranging from strawberries to star anise. The selection of G&T’s at Michael Chiarello’s Spanish restaurant Coqueta, in San Francisco, or the D.C.’s Nora hint at all that is possible.

Bucks

This refreshing category of drinks uses ginger ale or ginger beer to bring a kick to citrus and spirits, such as vodka (called a Moscow Mule) and rum (including the famous Dark ‘n’ Stormy). Like the Gin & Tonic, this category is catching on thanks to wider availability of artisanal carbonated ginger beverages.

Classics

The Daiquiri and the Collins – Here are two traditional warm-weather cocktails that are making a comeback. Simply upgrading the spirits-and-sour-mix formula with freshly-squeezed lemon or lime juice, simple syrup, and small-batch or specialty rum (in the case of the Daiquiri) and gin, vodka or rum (the Collins) is enough to set these standards on a new track. But the beauty of both these drinks are their endless versatility to incorporate fresh fruit or juice (such as blackberries in a Daiquiri or honey and peach puree in a Collins) and other ingredients, such as sparkling wine or rhubarb bitters.

Mojitos

Lots of muddled mint and lime plus rum, sugar and a splash of soda create this iconic Cuban cocktail, which can be switched up with the likes of fresh cucumber, berries, mango and more. On a trip to the Florida Keys this winter, I fell in love with the dirty mojito, made with dark rum and Demerara sugar.

New-Wave Highballs

At its simplest, a highball is nothing more than a spirit plus a mixer such as ginger ale or soda water, served over lots of ice in a tall glass. But upgrade the mixer to something like Italian grapefruit soda or housemade tea soda, and/or add another liquor and some bitters, and you’ve got something sophisticated and worthy of premium status.
By the Pitcher – We all know how great a pitcher of Sangria can be on a hot day, but there are many cocktails that also can be marketed in this larger format, including the White Negroni (gin, white vermouth and Cocchi Americano), rum punches, Pimms Cup, and more.

Don’t forget to summarize your wine and beer selection too, with lighter-drinking rose, white wines such as Pinot Gris and Gruner Veltliner, hard cider, and refreshing suds such as summer ales and wheat beers. In fact, craft brewers are making it easier all the time with their own seasonal beer selections.

For more cocktail inspiration, check out this collection of more than 250 recipes from The Food Network.


Winning in the Experience Economy

By Karen A. Brennan, Marketing & Branding Strategy

Synergy just celebrated its 25th anniversary, and it’s clear that the industry has changed remarkably since the company began. The ‘60s and ‘70s had ushered in the modern “fern bar” with chains line TGI Fridays in 1965, Red Lobster in 1968 and Chili’s in 1975. Other seeds of the modern restaurant business—like Subway in 1965, Starbucks in 1971 and Chuck E. Cheese in 1977—also had their impact. These concepts are still around today, influencing how guests view their dining experiences. In a way, it shows us that there is nothing really new under the sun:

• Chipotle used the Subway model of food assembly with fresher, better ethnic flavor profiles (and a little tequila on the side).

• Chuck E. Cheese paved the way for the “eatertainment” trend of the ‘90s, like Rainforest Café in 1994, Dave & Busters (which went public 1995) and ESPN Zone in 1998.

• And what casual restaurant doesn’t aspire to create the “third place” connection and loyalty that Starbucks has been able to engender over the years?

Chipotle’s focus on upgraded food and customized ordering has created a new-concept revolution
Chipotle’s focus on upgraded food and customized ordering has created a new-concept revolution

Clearly, the opportunity lies in variations on the themes. The Chipotle model is being replicated all over, from Chipotle’s own ShopHouse Asian fast casual to Columbus-based Piada Italian and Sbarro’s new Pizza Cucinova, a build-your-own pizza concept.

And while “eatertainment” seemed like a major trend of the ‘90s, it fell a little short, as some operators lost focus on the food and are no longer in business. As Wolfgang Puck’s entry into Las Vegas with Spago showed, it’s about the food, not the entertainment. Puck changed the face of eatertainment by showing that regardless of the entertainment value in the venue, it’s ultimately about the food. In the “new normal” marketplace, entertainment is ‘necessary’ but not ‘sufficient’ to a great dining experience.

Ultimately, restaurants can’t make it without a great overall food experience with the emphasis back on food. Think of it as formula for success in the new “Experience Economy”:

E = MC2

Experience (E) = Meal (M) x Circumstances (C)

• (M) = THE MEAL
– Food
– Beverage

• (C) = THE CIRCUMSTANCES
– Service Model
– Physical Plant
– The Fit

And the squared part? As any Einstein can tell you, in the restaurant business that means consistently, every single shift—it’s the exclamation point of the formula.

From top right: Slaw Dogs’ Reuben Dog; M’s  Black Orchid cocktail; pour-over soup adds a service flourish; the Korean taco
From top right: Slaw Dogs’ Reuben Dog; M’s Black Orchid cocktail; pour-over soup adds a service flourish; the Korean taco

The food must provide flavor experiences and presentations with flair for customers who have become increasingly more sophisticated; the beverage offerings must include surprise and showmanship; the service model is fundamental to how guests enjoy the overall experience including service style and service touches; the physical plant must be engaging rather than merely entertaining; and the experience must fit the venue and the lifestyle of the target guest. In other words, everything counts.

Baby Boomers and Millennials, because of their sheer numbers, are driving restaurant trends, and while baby boomers drove the development of casual dining, Millennials don’t remember a time before Starbucks and the Food Channel. Restaurants are integrated into their lifestyles—they can get quality food with minimal effort at a restaurant, and as a bonus, they can spend that mealtime with friends or family. As we at Synergy travel around the country, we see best-in-class examples of food, beverage, service and physical plant touches every day.

FOOD— With the increasing food savvy of today’s consumers, more and more companies are embracing a culinary culture with more interesting taste experiences and increased food sophistication, including ethnic cuisines and interesting flavor concepts (like burnt sugar waffle cones, food fusions such as Mexican/ Korean, and interesting, quirky builds like Slaw Dogs’ Reuben Dog). Likewise, presentation flourishes such as interesting serviceware and pour-over Tortilla Soup provide just the flair to motivate guests to tweet and Instagram pictures of their food to “share” with their friends (a win-win in today’s social media age.)

Brickhouse Tavern sets itself apart with service | 800 Degrees offers totally customized pizzas, made fresh to order
Brickhouse Tavern sets itself apart with service | 800 Degrees offers totally customized pizzas, made fresh to order

BEVERAGES —Surprise and showmanship in glassware, garnishes and ices (like the Black Orchid Martini at Cameron Mitchell’s M and one-of-a-kind beer flights and wine options) add to the fun of the overall experience. Smoking, muddling, flaming and pouring all create an experience, not just a beverage.

SERVICE— Approaching each patron’s meal as a Guest Journey creates an emotional connection to the brand (and emotional connection is the secret to great branding). A polished-casual vibe allows guests to feel richer than they are, and the fast casual model allows guests to be creative and participate in creating their own food, as they do with the customizable menus at concepts like Subway, Chipotle, Piada, 800 Degrees and Pizza Cucinova. Staff interaction—for example, the way the service staff at Brickhouse Tavern present their business cards when introducing themselves to guests—can seal the deal by making the experience personal, not just a business transaction.

THE PHYSICAL PLANT— Ambience and décor also allow brands to engage customers in their story, and great brands are about story telling. The keys to success are “Is the story authentic, is the story compelling and does the story connect & resonate with guests?”

LYFE Kitchen menu boards echo the concept’s focus on clean, healthy food
LYFE Kitchen menu boards echo the concept’s focus on clean, healthy food

Technology such as Specialty Café’s iPad ordering; lighting such as that at Cameron Mitchell’s M, which changes during the course of the meal; the digital imagery of LYFE Kitchen’s image boards; the freshness cues of the exposed kitchens at California Pizza Kitchen and Tender Greens; and unique seating options like soft seating, outside seating, communal seating (for example, at Brickhouse Tavern, Urban Plates, Panera, Starbucks and LYFE Kitchen)… all of these special touches create an inexplicable something that guests are drawn to on an emotional level. That’s the secret of a great brand and the secret of winning in the new experience economy.

But it bears repeating that the best restaurants focus on the FOOD: Great food is the starting point, with the overall experience being the packaging around that great food. Success = Meal x Circumstance.

 

Caption The lighting at Cameron Mitchell’s M changes during the course of the meal

The lighting at Cameron Mitchell’s M changes during the course of the meal

Mendocino Farms, a “sandwich market” with locations in the Los Angeles area, puts all the elements together
Mendocino Farms, a “sandwich market” with locations in the Los Angeles area, puts all the elements together

The Top Ten Secrets to Winning in the Experience Economy

#10 Customers are becoming more and more sophisticated
#9 Great food isn’t enough anymore; it is just the price of entry today
#8 Great food demands great presentations—how it’s served is almost as important as what is served
#7 Experience is about the meal and the circumstances
#6 The experience must connect to what guests care about
#5 The experience has to engage customers: What’s the story?
#4 The experience must be authentic or customers will turn off
#3 Today everything counts—from the seating to the sizzle
#2 If restaurants aren’t continuously getting better…they’re falling behind
#1 To win in the “experience economy” and stand the test of time, restaurants must have a passion for great food


Tip of the Month

One of the easiest ways to make your restaurant more sustainable—and to pass that eco-correct message on to your guests—is composting. The National Restaurant Associations shares 10 tips for starting or improving your composting efforts. Click here to learn more.