Greetings!
It seems like the foodservice industry is reinventing itself at a furious clip. Segments are blurring as chefs open casual establishments and entrepreneurs mainstream ethnic menus. Established players are making sweeping changes to design, menu and marketing message, on the order of Bob Evans’ new Express concept or Wendy’s sophisticated new building design.
In fact, throughout the industry, rebranding, brand extensions, turnaround strategies and brand refreshes are the order of the day. We’ll be writing more about these in future newsletters, including news about many of our own brand repositioning projects.
In the meantime, we invite you to enjoy this month’s articles, including strategies for making health-conscious diners more comfortable, techniques for bringing out the best in your staff, and lots of ideas for making kids’ menus more appealing.
To your success,
Dean Small and Danny Bendas
Start Kidding Yourself
Taco Bell’s recent announcement that it would stop serving kids’ meals spoke volumes about attitude toward children’s meals, in many restaurants, especially at a time when the industry is catching considerable flak from consumer groups.
Of course, not every restaurant is appropriate for kids—Taco Bell itself is the favorite of a core group of young adults who are barely out of childhood themselves—but for many operators, it pays to please the younger generation, and their parents. In fact, for lots of parents and kids, dining out means time together as a family.
And yet look at any 10 kids’ menus, and nine of them will likely offer fried chicken tenders and fries, with maybe an optional side of applesauce or fresh fruit.
Applying some creativity to your children’s menu can help build family loyalty; here are some ideas:
1. Alphabet Soup, loaded with lots of diced vegetables, with or without turkey or chicken meatballs and a bowl of grated cheese on the side—or make it Tomato Alphabet with cream of tomato soup
2. Chop! Chop! Salad, a kids’ version of chopped salad with fun veggies (corn on the cob cross-cuts, Baby Bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, etc.), torn lettuce, cubed chicken or turkey, crumbled turkey bacon, Swiss cheese (older kids can choose blue), chickpeas and hardboiled egg wedges or “roses”, served in an oversized bowl so they can mix it up to their heart’s content
3. Homemade fruit leather or fruit roll-ups
4. Healthy Finger Foods: deviled eggs; smoked turkey and pickle cornets; stuffed mushrooms
5. Skewered Fruit with Honey-Yogurt Dip; use a plastic straw for a safe alternative to an actual skewer
6. Yogurt Parfait with Berries and Granola, layered in an attractive tall clear glass and served with an extra-long spoon
7. Sweet Potato Fries or “Tots” with ketchup
8. Crudites with Dipping Sauces, incorporating easy-to-handle vegetables like baby carrots, celery sticks, grape tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and iceberg lettuce chunks with several different dips
9. Fruit Glazed Baked Chicken or Turkey Tenders, served with crispy potato wedges
10. Turkey Swedish Meatballs with Curly Noodles, made with low-fat sour cream
11. DIY Fish Tacos, pairing baked salmon or cod with tortillas and a caddy of garnishes including mild salsa, low-fat sour cream, shredded lettuce and cheese, etc.
12. Grilled Cheese, Tomato and Turkey Bacon Sandwich on whole wheat bread, or omit the turkey
13. Carrot-raisin Salad or Confetti Coleslaw (shredded cabbage with julienne carrots, red cabbage, sweet peppers, etc., mixed in)
14. Rice and Noodle Bowls, made with vegetables and chicken or tofu; experiment with different broths, like miso or sesame, or menu them as a mix-and-match option so kids can customize
15. Thanksgiving on a Bun sandwich with gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce; a whole wheat bun is a nice better-for-them option
16. Banana Split Boat, made with soft serve or frozen yogurt, banana, citrus slices, berries, raisins, and/or grapes; top with granola, Graham crumbs or nuts for a crunchy finish
17. Loaded Pizza topped with kid-friendly veggies, reduced-fat cheese, and barbecued chicken or sliced turkey meatballs
18. Peanut-butter crackers or sandwiches made with sliced banana or fresh strawberries instead of sugary jelly
19. Roll-ups of all kinds, including wrap sandwiches, lettuce rolls, and sushi-type rolls
20. Fruit-laden smoothies and low-fat shakes
21. Ravioli and Tomato Sauce, or substitute tortellini or another fun stuffed pasta shape
22. Mac-and-Cheese Casserole with vegetables like peas, broccoli, spinach and/or tomatoes “snuck in”
23. Stuffed Baked Potato, or make them mini using a pair or trio of new potatoes with different fillings
24. Date and Nut Sandwiches with Cream Cheese, cut into triangles
25. Banana S’Mores (‘nuff said)
And remember that even simple presentation tricks like cutting sandwiches, pancakes and grilled chicken into fun shapes helps make kids’ menu items more appealing, fun and memorable.
5 Strategies for Building Staff Performance
By J. Clyde Gilfillan, Synergy Operations Specialist
Top-flight management performance is the price of entry in today’s very competitive restaurant market—it’s simply a mandate at this point. Are you engendering peak performance with staff or are you inhibiting it? Are you positioning yourself and your staff to work at elite levels or just maintaining an adequate level of efficiency, production, and execution?
Today, all leadership must not only be incredibly consistent, capable, and competent, it must also be exceptional, creating that one-in-a-hundred team that outperforms and out-produces the competition.
Let’s look at five methodologies you can use to keep your business and your team working at peak efficiency and optimum performance levels, at all times.
1. Communicate Effectively
• Your team needs lots of positive feedback; give it to them.
• Similarly, never underestimate the power of praise and recognition for team members—in front of others.
• Never ignore or sugarcoat underperformance issues. Address them quickly, instructively, and with compassion.
• Conducting sincere one-on-ones with staff members, and considering them vital for growth is a hallmark of effective leadership.
• It is important that you listen to your people and not just hear them. We “hear” sounds, but we “listen” (and comprehend) people.
2. Train Effectively
• You must develop your staff. It is that simple. Each and every day work with them to be better at their core competency.
• Teach teamwork and not individualism; each member is “special,” but the team is most important.
• Be a mentor and set up a mentoring system in your business at all levels.
3. Create a Positive Work Environment
• Set your people up for success and not failure—allow them to flourish without your ego getting in the way; let them have the “glory,” so to speak.
• Give your people the proper tools to get the job done; it’s amazing how many leaders too often assume that people know what to do or have the tools to do their job.
• Give your employees a sense of self-worth, and that they are contributing to the big picture. Everyone needs to know they are important and valued, especially when they feel a sense of being part of something big.
• Creating a fun, safe, hassle-free, and clean environment to work in has been a hallmark of many top-flight companies; in fact, many have made this their rallying cry for years.
• Always ask the question: Would you want your child to work here? You know what the answer should be. Is this the reality in your work environment?
• Be the employer of choice in your community, the go-to place where everyone wants to work—and will tell their friends and family this.
4. Strive For and Achieve Consistency
• You must be firm but fair with all employees; deep down, people are looking for firm, fair, and consistent treatment. The key here is fairness, not favoritism; consistency, not ever-changing leadership behavior or action.
• Be clear about levels of standards, levels of expectations, and levels of performance for all team members. Clarity is Job One for leaders.
• Decisions should be consistent across all departments and all employees.
• All managers should be on the same page, have the same objectives, and work toward common goals.
• All managers must have the same vision of what they want the business to be and where it is to go; this must come from the leader.
• “The rules” apply to everyone, including yourself, and you must demonstrate this.
5. Opportunity and Growth
• If you and your organization are not growing, then you are losing ground to your competition—this means growth of spirit, growth of sales and profits, and growth of team members.
• You should always focus on self-improvement first.
• You should create a sense of upward mobility in your business
• You should always look to promote within first
Using these methodologies will help you and your business move forward diligently and with purpose. The cornerstones, however, are commitment and discipline to stay with these principles, incorporate them into your strategic and tactical plans, and “live” them everyday in order to make them habits within your organization.
What’s Healthy Now
By Joan Lang
Recent research from the NPD Group revealed what many of us already know implicitly: People like to indulge themselves when they eat in a restaurant. In fact, only 24% of U.S. consumers say they eat healthy when they dine out, compared to more than half of foodservice visitors who say they are healthy eaters at home.
After years of handwringing about obesity and legislation to require menu labelling, it’s still the consumer who’s driving the bus, and they don’t necessarily want to stop at the salad-and-club-soda station. And yet as an industry, we can’t ignore the USDA and Michelle Obama and the watchdog groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)—and we certainly can’t ignore that 24%.
The one word answer to the conundrum? Options. You can’t force customers to put down the french fries, but you can give them the choice of a side salad instead, without charging extra for it or making the thing a special request.
• Use “variety” and “customization” as a starting point – It’s a given that customers want lots of different choices and the ability to customize their own dining experience: That much has always been clear. A restaurant in my neighborhood that specializes in over-the-top sandwiches like pulled pork and Grilled Triple Cheese & Bacon also offers the option of ordering any “sandwich” served on salad greens, instead of bread. How smart is that?
• Cooperate with special requests – People are going to ask for sauce on the side, or double broccoli instead of broccoli and mashed. No staff eye-rolling, please. Let the servers be empowered to fulfill such requests, no big deal. And if you just can’t do it, maybe the manager could politely explain why, and offer up some kind of recompense.
• Offer lots of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables – Many experts surmise that “fresh” equates to healthy in today’s marketplace; uber-successful concepts like Panera and Chipotle have demonstrated this. And nothing says fresh like the fruits and vegetables of the season. Use them throughout the menu. It’s very on-trend in this farmers’ market age, and it’s also a lot better for food costs than filling up the plate with protein.
• Make sure healthy food tastes good – This may seem like a big duh, but healthy does not mean flavorless or boring. Even food that meets some of the strictest dietary requirements, like low-sodium, can be enlivened with herbs, citrus, chilis and other bold ingredients. And don’t forget the role that appearance, texture, color, aroma and even temperature play in satiation. Think of a Vietnamese spring roll or a piece of hot, freshly grilled salmon on a bed of cool fruit salsa—nothing unappealing there.
• Pay attention to whole grains – Americans are starting to appreciate the flavor, texture and healthfulness of whole grains, from 12-grain sandwich bread to farro salads. In fact, grains are beginning to have a culinary moment, so be sure to build them into your selection of bread, sandwiches, side dishes and more.
• Consider smaller portions – Let’s face it: A lot of people eat more than they need to, or should. Even if your concept is known for big portions, you can offer half-portions of popular items for less money, facilitate sharing of items like appetizers and desserts, or even play around with reducing the size of the actual plate. Some customers will thank you for it.
• Answer demand for gluten-free and other food restrictions – If you haven’t gotten the requests, you’ve been living under a rock. For many customers, avoiding certain foods is what keeps them healthy, and the availability of selections that don’t include wheat, shellfish, dairy and other common triggers makes good business sense
• Add some vegetarian or even vegan selections – These aren’t just for hippies and Buddhists anymore. Lots of people eschew meat to save calories, money, boredom or because they like the sound of that grilled vegetable lasagna description. On a well-written menu, even the meat eaters should have to look twice to find the items that don’t have it.
• Focus on the kids menu – If the kids can eat healthy, their parents will be happy. And while kids can be even more demanding than adults, it certainly can’t hurt to put items like cut vegetables and dips, grilled or broiled chicken, fresh fruit, and low-fat dairy products on the children’s menu, especially if you have these ingredients on-hand anyway. They may not get ordered very frequently, but their very existence speak volumes about your commitment.
• Look at all the menu categories – There should be at least one better-for-you option in every single menu section, including soups, appetizers, salads, side dishes and desserts. Oftentimes, these can do double-duty as the vegetarian or vegan selection, so why not make the effort?
• Take a look at a good healthy menu – In the spirit of Steal this Idea, study the menus of successful healthy concepts and figure out what they’re doing right—and what strategies you can “borrow.” For starters, check out what’s on offer at LYFE Kitchen, Seasons 52, Hip CityVeg , Zoe’s Kitchen, and Dirt Candy.
Need help adding “healthy” to the selections on your menu? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants
Tip of the Month
If you haven’t read this article in QSR yet but want a powerful source of potential new brand ambassadors, read “How to Tap into the Mom Network.” Quick-serves aren’t the only segment that can benefit from the authoritative voice of “mommy bloggers” who support and promote your family-friendly restaurant brand.