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To App or Not to App?

3/13/2023

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Restaurant App Picture
​One of the questions I am asked as a restauranteur and marketer is “Should we have our own App for our company?” Well considering I have 460 apps on my iPhone, one might think my natural answer would be “Yes!” Having your own app has tremendous upside, from improving the customer experience, to increasing customer engagement to building brand loyalty. With that said, an app will only be successful if you have the internal team or right partner to manage and evolve the app. 
 
Improving the Customer Experience:
The most frequent use of an app is to allow customers to order online. However, if this is your only desire for an app, there are plenty of other options that may be better suited for your operation. Many POS systems, such as Toast, Revel and Square, offer online ordering modules and there are also several dedicated food-ordering services available, such as ChowNow and Beyond Menu. Yes, there are costs associated by using these apps/platforms, but they may outweigh the cost of developing and maintaining your own app.
 
It should go without saying that in this digital age, for QSR, Fast-Casual, Juice/Smoothie and Coffee concepts, to name a few, it is almost expected to have an app or other online ordering platform to order ahead. By doing so there are a myriad of benefits to both customers and the restaurant. For customers, it reduces wait times – your order will be prepared while you’re on your way and you skip the line when you get to the restaurant - and it improves order accuracy as customers are in control of what/how they order. For the restaurant, this should improve efficiency and increase sales. With that said these are only benefits if the restaurant is staffed, and the employees are well trained. From a personal experience, as I travel a lot, I tend to use a well-known coffee company app and I am continually frustrated by the length of time it takes for my mobile orders to be prepared. It’s a constant mental struggle on how early to order – if I order too early, and if the restaurant is their game getting product out quickly, my coffee will be cold when I get there - however, if I don’t order early enough and the restaurant is not on their game, I may be waiting for my order, thus defeating the purpose of ordering ahead. 
 
Increasing Customer Engagement:
A robust app can increase customer engagement by helping you stay in touch with your customers and consequently building a better relationship with them. An app can easily assist in - communicating the opening of new locations, announcing current specials or seasonal promotions, sharing company news, holding contests, running polls, or even soliciting customer feedback. 
 
Some must haves that will build engagement are the forementioned mobile payments and online ordering, the integration of Table Reservations (if it makes sense for your operation), the integration with your social media, the ability for online food tracking, and location-based services such as geofencing and beacons.
 
Mobile apps also allow for greater chances of upselling a customer. As marketers we can easily analyze our menu and customer ordering habits and make relevant recommendations to customers when they order certain menu items. I.e., if a customer orders a burger you can naturally upsell them to ordering fries with that burger. 
 
Additionally, with geofencing you can invite customers, who have the app and are near your location, a special offer thus increasing the likelihood of them visiting that location. 
 
Building Brand Loyalty
On average the adoption rate of a traditional loyalty program is about 12%, but when an app combines mobile payments, online ordering and a loyalty program, adoption rates can be as high as 35%. And with greater adoption, you have greater frequency.
 
Mobile apps also give you the ability to target more value-seeking customers by allowing app exclusive promotions and in essence creating “digital value” to those who have and use the app. A recent survey showed that nearly 50% of Gen Z and millennial consumers are using digital couponing to combat inflation. A digital platform allows for more flexibility in targeting promotions to generate customized options for consumers. Having this ability will drive traffic without offering margin-busting blanket discounts. 
 
There are also cost benefits for having an app. Imagine converting customers from ordering on delivery platforms to your own platform/app? By doing so you can improve margins and pass some of those savings onto your loyal customers with targeted promotions. 
 
You can also use your app to personalize deals for customers. For instance, if a customer hasn’t ordered for a while, you can analyze their ordering history and remind them of their favorite dishes by using mouthwatering photos and possibly offering a discount on that item.
 
Building brand loyalty does take time for restaurant apps. Restaurants should go beyond offering a promo code for the customers first order and extend the offer to several subsequent orders to gain traction and loyalty. This may seem like a lot of discounting, but in the big picture it is not. Loyalty brings frequency and will help your business grow in the long-term. 
 
Finally, as you try to grow and leverage your app, you can use your loyalty program to reward loyal customers for their referrals. It’s a great way to acquire new customers.
 
So, are you ready to get Phygital? Matrix Restaurant Consulting is here to help bridge the digital and physical experiences that will work best for growing and evolving your business.

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Third-Party Delivery

1/23/2023

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It may seem like a lifetime ago, but pre-pandemic, I vividly recall being involved in executive meetings and struggling with how much emphasis (if any) we should put on off-premises dining – specifically delivery. Then the pandemic hit and our lives as restauranteurs changed dramatically, delivery became a necessity, and it was often the only option in generating revenue. And as we continue to look at the delivery sector, the statistics on growth and market share are staggering. (I chose not to list these statistics as I think we have all have seen them in some form or another.) But as we came out of strict lock-down and we look at our businesses today, it brings us back to the age-old pre-pandemic question – does delivery make sense for our business? And at what cost – from potentially damaging your brand, to cutting into already slim margins, to the negative environmental impact?
 
Some of the many arguments – both pre and post pandemic - for NOT focusing on delivery….
  • The Experience: Often part of the aura of the concept is the experience dining in/at the restaurant. At Logan’s Roadhouse, the atmosphere was an integral part of the experience with lively, upbeat music, buckets of peanuts on the tables and empty peanut shells on the ground. At Swenson’s Drive-Ins it is about the “dinner and a show” that the curb servers put on every shift, sprinting from one car to another taking orders and delivering your food on window trays. So why focus on an aspect of business that automatically eliminates these integral parts of the brand and the experience? These are experiences can’t easily replicate with delivery. Ultimately, does delivery detract your attention from your core business? I often admired Joe Lee, the former Chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants and whom I had the pleasure of working with. Joe would constantly advocate to “get back to the basics” of what you were known for. Additionally, I admired the late Kent Taylor, founder and CEO of Texas Roadhouse, a direct competitor of Logan’s Roadhouse, for his laser focus on what they stand for - “Legendary Food, Legendary Service.” When you look at the continued success of these mega-brands, it speaks volumes to brand focus.
  • Food Quality: The fundamental question being – how do your food and beverage offerings travel? As a chef, it was one of my biggest concerns with the many concepts I was involved with. Much of the food we served didn’t travel well. I.e., French Fries. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a problem solver, and as a team I felt we could figure out ways to package items or ways to evolve the delivery menu for the best delivery experience. But this often resulted in new menu items and a whole new set of training aides and materials on how to package the food correctly. Not a difficult obstacle to overcome, but often a challenge in execution, especially with reduced staff levels. I know we’ve all spent endless hours training and retraining staff on our current procedures, but adding these new variables often becomes even more challenging.
  • Cost: There are costs associated with delivery with the most obvious being the high third-party delivery fees. Navigating these fees can be challenging – do you pass these onto the customer? Does the restaurant take the hit? (A challenge in these times of high costs and ultrathin margins) Or do you split the fee with the customer? Other costs include – packaging and as the business grows, it requires a dedicated team to handle this area of business – a challenge today with the current labor pool and the high cost of labor.
  • Core Business: Will this business negatively impact the in-restaurant business? We all know that we can staff and handle in-restaurant business as there is a fixed capacity - the number of seats or in the case of Swenson’s, the number of parking spaces. However, if your delivery business has an unexpected increase, it can negatively impact the customers in/at your operation. Yes, I know we can temporarily turn off the delivery service, but should we? In my opinion, turning off your delivery service is analogous to telling a customer that arrives 10-minutes before you close that the kitchen is closed. It just doesn’t feel right.
  • Environment: With the pandemic, we saw a huge increase in home-delivery of all sorts, but this has had a huge impact on the environment, from the massive amounts of packaging going into our landfills to the emissions created by the tractor-trailers and local delivery trucks needed for home-delivery. As an environmentalist, it is always top of mind for me. How can I reduce the negative impact of my business on the environment? And in many cases, this was a fundamental part of the brand.
So how do we handle all these obstacles and challenges? And should your business focus on delivery or for that matter take-out?
  • Ghost Kitchens: During the pandemic we saw the rise of ghost kitchens. Many of these kitchens were, and are successful, because the menus and operations are designed to handle this unique type of business. But this may not be right for all operations. One could argue, as Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t make,” but on the other hand, I have seen too many operators lose focus of their core business and jump on a trend because they feel they “need to.” Yes, it is important to try and test new ideas, but in my opinion, you should have the means and infrastructure to do so or be willing to weather the challenges ahead. I applaud Chili’s for both “taking a shot” and realizing what is core to their business. Chili’s opened a delivery-focused test store, but after 2-months in operation they decided to close it so they could focus on core offerings and its “Kitchen of the Future 3.” Chili’s certainly has the means and infrastructure to test this, but most operations do not. Ultimately for some, ghost kitchens make sense, but for others this will become a distraction and negatively impact their core business. 
  • Take-Out vs Delivery: Many concepts have decided it is more important focusing on Take-Out vs Delivery. For QSR concepts, relying heavily on drive-thru windows, it certainly makes sense to focus on ways to improve the drive-thru customer experience and to maximize profits. We can look at the many innovations Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell have made to improve the speed and experience at their drive-thru windows. But what about for full-service restaurants? What makes sense for them – take-out only? Or a combination of take-out and delivery? As mentioned earlier, Texas Roadhouse often bucks trends in the industry and in a bold move they are putting an emphasis on it’s off-premises business, which comprises of about 20% of their business. To start and to better understand how to improve their off-premise business, they are rolling out the Yumpingo customer experience software system-wide after a yearlong test. The platform will trigger a survey after each online order – via the app or web – so customers can provide real-time feedback about their experience and food quality beyond restaurants’ four walls. Every to-go guest will receive a survey. (To date about 7% respond, which is in line with other concepts that use such a service.) The feedback is then accessible in about a 30-minutes after it’s submitted. With that said, Texas Roadhouse is relatively conservative with new technologies, for instance it relies on old-fashioned mystery shoppers for much of its in-store feedback. So, in an effort to keep their focus on “Legendary Food, Legendary Service,” these efforts are for their take-out business and not delivery as the chain does NOT deliver.
  • Third-Party Delivery Companies: Recently, I have been focusing on delivery as I visit restaurants and much of what I see, would speak to how third-party delivery can negatively impact a brands image. Some recent examples – I saw a delivery driver barrel through a restaurants parking lot, double park in front of the handicap parking spaces, and run into the restaurant for an order. Not an experience I want associated with my brand. Additionally, that same restaurant had an unsightly, make-shift pick-up area for delivery services. I looked around the restaurant and thought about the man-hours that went into designing a beautiful restaurant – from furnishings to layout – and now they have a metro-shelf in the lobby with hand-written signs “Uber”, “Door Dash”, etc. Is that the visual you want your guests to see when they walk into the restaurant? And at another major restaurant, clearly there is a love-hate relationship with delivery drivers as they had posted these signs for delivery drivers “DO NOT PARK HERE” and “DO NOT USE THIS ENTRANCE.” (I think a new cottage industry has developed on managing delivery drivers.) All joking aside, if you decide delivery is right for your business model, it is important to treat it as such. Dedicate the same time and energy to this part of the business as you did creating your brick-and-mortar business.
  • Choosing the right partner: For many companies it makes sense to partner with a larger third-party delivery company, but for others it does not. We are seeing the growth in more specialized and local delivery companies such as Black and Mobile, ChowBus or ChopEats. These companies are servicing both under-serviced communities as some delivery companies have been accused of not delivering to low-income areas and smaller businesses that are often overshadowed by larger chains. For many ethnically owned/operated businesses there are language barriers on how to best leverage technology. Ultimately choosing the right partner takes time and resources as the answer is not always one of the larger third-party delivery companies.
The bottom line – take-out has been around for decades and will continue to be a part of almost all businesses, delivery – as we know it today – it seems is here to stay. It’s a daunting question, but an important one for every operator – should we invest time and money into a robust take-out and/or delivery program? Or more specifically, post pandemic, is it still something our brand should focus on? Or is it time to cut bait and focus on other areas of the business that deliver, pardon the pun, better customer and employee experiences? One of my favorite brands is The Savannah Bananas, a quirky independent baseball team known for its team dances and unique “Banana Ball” take on the game. The team is in the enviable position of having nearly 500,000 people on their ticket waitlist. Recently their team owner, Jesse Cole, turned down a $1 million offer to purchase a large amount of group tickets for every single game on the 2023 tour, twice the normal price of $25 per ticket. This order alone could have produced half a million dollars in extra profit. Jesse immediately rejected the order. Cole noted “Since Day 1, we’ve prided ourselves in creating an experience that is fans first. We’ve eliminated all ticket fees, service fees, convenience fees and even paid the taxes for our fans for every single order.” Keeping with the baseball theme – from one of my favorite movies – Field of Dreams – “If you build it, he will come.” (It has often been misquoted as “they” will come). But later in the movie Terrance Mann (played by James Earl Jones) said “They will come. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”

#restaurants #restauranttrends2023 #delivery #restaurantdelivery "takeout
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Which plant-based burger is best for your restaurant….

8/25/2022

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Having run several restaurant companies that focus on healthy eating and with the current plant-based meat fad (yes, I think in general it is a fad, and I’ll explain later), I am often asked about my thoughts on plant-based meats and more specifically, what type of plant-based burger is best for their operation.
 
The begin, I ask two questions that are fundamental in finding the right solution. “Who are you targeting?” and “Are you replacing a current menu item?” 
 
Who are you targeting?
There are two main groups to target by offering a plant-based burger on your menu – True Vegetarians/Vegans and Flexitarians. If your operation is just introducing a plant-based burger option, the answer to this question will determine if you should offer a plant-based meat burger or if you should offer a vegetable burger option.
 
Depending on the survey or poll, Vegetarians/Vegans represent 2-6% of the population. However, according to 2021 research commissioned by Sprouts Farmers Market and conducted by One Poll, nearly one in every two Americans consumes more plant-based meals than meat (i.e. a Flexitarian), with the flexitarian lifestyle proving more popular with Gen Z. Clearly, the bigger market opportunity is to offer a plant-based meat burger and appeal to the flexitarian.
 
Who has the best-in-class Plant-based Burger?
Nation’s Restaurant News is currently conducting a readers poll on “Which Plant-Based restaurant will be the first to go national?” And although this doesn’t answer the best-in-class question, respondents are very passionate about their choice. From a broader list, PLNT Burger and Nomoo are vying as the reader polls “most likely to go national first.” Additionally, BuzzFeed did a recent taste of - “All The Veggie Burgers From National Chains That We Could Get Our Hands On To Find Out Which Ones Are Worth It.” The PLNT Cheeseburger was rated 8 out of 10, the second highest score after the Impossible Whopper which was rated 9 out of 10.
 
What makes a great Plant-Based Meat Burger?
Interestingly, both PLNT Burger and Nomoo use Beyond Meat. And it appears from earlier articles that Nomoo switched from Impossible Foods. Please note, I am not endorsing one brand over the other, simply stating what I have found. With that said, there are some common themes with plant-based meat burgers.
The Burger Patty: Most restaurants are altering the plant-based meat to differentiate their burger. By way of blending the plant-based meat with vegetables, herbs, spices or other secret ingredients. Furthermore, most are making the patties thin. Think 5/1 or 6/1 patties versus a 2/1 or 3/1 patties.
The Burger Build: In almost all cases, restaurants are creating signature burgers, even with the common cheeseburger. For PLNT, the PLNT Cheeseburger has a Beyond Meat Patty, Caramelized Onion, Pickles, NewFields American Cheese, Green Leaf Lettuce, Roma, Tomato, PLNT Sauce, Potato Buen. For Nomoo, The NOMOO has a Brioche bun, nomon × Beyond Patty, nomoo sauce, American Cheeze, Pickles, Onion, Tomato, and Lettuce. Clearly a signature sauce and signature bun are must haves and having other unique ingredients such as caramelized onions, fried onion straws, smoked tempeh bacon or a different cheese like jack cheese will differentiate your burger.
 
Are you replacing a current vegetable-based burger?
If you are replacing a current vegetable-based burger, it is important to know who is buying this burger. Is it a flexitarian or a true vegetarian/vegan. If the latter, you will certainly alienate them and potentially lose this group as customers if you switch to a plant-based meat burger. 
 
Numerous studies have shown that the demand for fake meats is almost entirely driven by meat eaters despite fake meat long being associated with vegetarians. And plant-based meat producers know this fact and realize the vegetarian and vegan aversion to eating animals means they're pretty weirded out by the hyper-realistic fake stuff too. Additionally in 2021 Food & Wine asked several longtime vegetarians what they thought about the plant-based meat boom. The common theme, these vegetarians agreed that more meatless options were only a good thing, but the idea of eating something that's formulated to taste more like meat was also off-putting. It's one thing if you swap your beef burger order for an Impossible/Beyond patty now and again; quite another if you long ago abandoned burgers altogether. Afterall, many vegetarians on the planet have been eating three meals a day without new advances in meat technology for years and they have already learned to live without meat.
 
Why I believe plant-based meat is a fad…
I do believe the demand for meat alternatives will continue, but the industry will not survive unless it continues researching a better product – focusing the needs on affordability and taste. Additionally, consumers are becoming more and more leery of the ingredients and the Orwellian technology used to produce some of these faux meats. I had the opportunity to try several faux meat products from chicken to beef to eggs to shrimp to poke-style tuna while attending the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago this year. Sadly, these products were disappointing in flavor and texture. And whether by chance or by luck, I had just sampled some amazing blue-fin tuna at one booth and then sampled the poke-style tuna at the next booth. The difference was night and day. I am truly supportive of finding necessary alternatives to meat for environmental and ethical reasons, and I realize you have to start somewhere, but we are not there yet.
 
If your company needs assistance in developing plant-based menu items for vegans, vegetarians or flexitarians let us know! We have an incredible network of talented chefs who specialize in each of these areas. Let’s Talk!

#plantbasedburgers #fauxmeat #burgers #vegetarian #vegan #foodtrends2022 #restaurants #restauranttrends
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Opportunities and Challenges in Today's Beverage World

4/1/2022

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We are excited that Tony Tahmosh, CSW has joined Matrix Restaurant Consulting. I recently asked Tony to outline the opportunities and challenges operators will face in 2022 as they look at their beverage programs, specifically the future of wine sales and how to react to consumer shifts in wine consumption. Here's what Tony said....

State of the Beverage Industry
Consumer Beverage Spend in the U.S. increased by almost 2% in 2021, and is currently valued at $146 billion.  Although wine consumption continues to decrease, the U.S. Beverage Industry is projected to continue to grow at an average rate of 1.7% through the end of 2026.
Here are some challenges and opportunities in today’s beverage world.

Some of the challenges operators are facing today....
  • The importance of wine as a viable sales channel will likely continue to decline in the restaurant industry due to overpricing on the menu and consumers placing a higher value on other alcoholic beverages. And because of the ‘dine at home’ trend, a result of the COVID pandemic, consumers have become more educated regarding the retail prices of wines. Restaurants may find that wine is not in demand at these higher prices and thus questioning the cost to maintain deep stocks of wine. 
  • With movements like mindful drinking and “sober curious” gaining popularity, research indicates that alcohol consumption has declined in the U.S., with younger generations drinking less as they show greater interest in holistic wellness and health. This trend is expected to continue at least through the end of the decade.
  • The challenge of recruiting younger, health-conscious, multicultural consumers into the wine category, combined with the aging of the older core wine consumer, remains. These consumer groups have different values and spending patterns. The wine industry has done little to alter their marketing message to attract or retain either consumer cohort. 

Opportunities for Operators to Increase overall Beverage Sales
  • “Better-for-you” beverages, featuring clean labels, natural ingredients, less sugar, fewer calories, and caffeine alternatives are on the rise. Products with these qualities have been in high demand, as the pandemic only heightened people’s focus on wellness, immunity and stress reduction. The next wave of “better-for-you” drinks spotlight ingredients that have perceived health benefits such as superfoods, probiotics, prebiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, botanicals, and protein. This trend is impacting every beverage category, particularly tea and kombucha, energy and sports drinks, and bottled water.
  • CBD is another ingredient to watch. Although the FDA has not approved the use of CBD in foods and beverages sold in interstate commerce, some marketers are bringing products to market. Molson Coors recently introduced Verywell, a line of sparkling waters with hemp-derived CBD and adaptogens, through a subsidiary. The drink is currently only available in Colorado.
  • Many wineries are prospering by focusing on premiumization. Their customers have been trading up for years, paying more for better quality. 75% of the wine sold in the U.S. costs less than $10 a bottle retail, and those wines are suffering from shrinking sales, sometimes by more than 10 percent a year. Younger consumers are interested in luxury products, at least ones they can afford. While COVID continued to accelerate premiumization, and while total volumes of wine sold are dropping, wines in the premium segment increased the volume sold at higher prices in 2021, and this trend is expected to continue for several years.
  • Celebrity beverage endorsements are nothing new. Think George Clooney and Nespresso, Jennifer Aniston and Smart Water, or countless sporting stars endorsing energy drinks. But expect to see more and more vineyards and champagne houses partnering with big names to capitalize on their glamorous images and extend their respective brand portfolios. After John Legend or Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz is the latest celebrity to venture into the wine business with her “clean” wines. The range comprises of an organic and vegan French rosé and Spanish white with no added sugar, with Diaz tapping into both the wellness trend and that of the growing thirst for ‘pink wine’.
The hospitality industry continues to evolve and shift at a rapid rate and Matrix Restaurant Consulting is here to help you navigate through the ever changing beverage world.

#Beverages #BeverageTrends2022 #wine #RestaurantTrends #Restaurants2022 #CBDFoodProducts #CBD
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The Future of Food Service: 2021 - Part 1:

7/28/2021

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​As we come out of the pandemic, consumers are returning to some sort of normalcy. But with COVID variants exploding, costs rising, product shortages and a shrinking labor pool, the Food Service industry will be forever changed. We can no longer run our businesses as we have in the past, as we continue to see uncertain times, and the resulting changes in consumer behavior. So who will succeed in the future? It will be the food service operator that evolves with speed and innovation and it will be the food service operator that really understands the impact of these times on consumer behaviors, not just following the current fad or trend.
 
In my January 6, 2020 blog, I made some predictions for 2020 and I feel many of these predictions will hold true for the future. As I look across the industry, we will see a continued trend towards healthy and sustainable eating, and diet-friendly menu options; we will continue to see an innovation in technology – from digital marketing and loyalty programs, to strengthening the e-commerce proposition, to cyber-security to contactless technology; we will see necessary changes in the delivery model; we will see Social Justice - beyond the buzzwords; and we will continue to see new food trends and renewed interest in classic stables - Italian, Mexican and Chinese, with a focus on regional specialties. In this blog, I am going to focus on the continued trend towards healthy and sustainable eating, and diet-friendly menu options.
  • Today we are seeing the growing effects of global warming on the planet, and this continues to raise concerns as to the impact of our business on the environment. Gen Z and millennial consumers are driving change as they reinforce the importance of corporate social responsibility, sustainability and the environment. For the food-service operator this means:
    • Menus need to feature responsibly sourced and certified ingredients. By sourcing the products and ingredients, we expand our ability to foster change and reduce our impact on the planet. Consumers are also keenly focused on what they are putting in their bodies and they searching out products made with non-GMO ingredients.
    • Food Service establishments need to focus on minimizing their environmental impact by reducing water usage; investing in energy-efficient equipment; buying local and reducing deliveries; using eco-friendly disposables; minimizing food waste; designing restaurants with insulated windows and furniture that is made from renewable materials; and by choosing eco-friendly cleaning products.
  • The flexitarian is here to stay, leading to the need for more plant-based menu options. Over 40% of global consumers call themselves flexitarians or part-time vegetarians.1 And with protein prices spiking, this is an opportune time to evolve your menu into a more plant-based menu. Menus need accommodate not only flexitarians with vegan or vegetarian options, but they also need to have other diet-friendly options such as keto to be more relevant with today’s consumers.
  • With the outbreak of COVID-19, we are realizing more than ever the importance of health and nutrition on our bodies and there is a new focus on the impact of inflammation on our bodies and the benefits of immunity-boosting ingredients. Menu items that focus on antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, will play an important role for food service operators.
  • With new COVID variants spreading rapidly, resulting in a renewed look at mask mandates and with the growth in more active lifestyles, outdoor dining options will continue to be important to the success of food-service establishments.
 
In this post-pandemic era, there is pent up demand to dine out, but consumers are still cautious, and we will not see pre-pandemic sales and traffic for a long time. As a result, food-service operations need to continue to evolve and change in order to be successful.
 
#2021FoodTrends #2021RestaurantTrends #RestaurantTrends #Restaurants #FoodService

1 Cherryh Cansler, ‘Bold and light: Post-pandemic menu trends revealed’, Fast Casual, May 10, 2021, https://www.fastcasual.com/blogs/bold-and-light-post-pandemic-menu-trends-revealed/
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Society

3/30/2020

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The economic and human toll COVID-19 has caused is devastating. As a society, we have resolve and will rebound from this devastating situation. As we look into the future, how will this impact how we live? Will our spending habits change? Will our social engagement improve? Will we cook more at home or dine out more? Some of my initial thoughts . . .
- We will see a baby boom in 9-10 months. After all, you can only play Monopoly so many times, you can only post so many times on Instagram and Facebook and you can only clean your cabinets so many times, so what is left to do. . . .
- People will be spend less on non-essentials and thrift store shopping will increase. So many of my friends and colleagues have mentioned that they are using this time to clean and purge. Many have also commented on finding clothes and other items with their price tags sill on them. Two things will come out this - we will spend less, thinking about all the unused, new items we have and people will find value in going to the thrift store finding these "new" items with the price tag still on them.
- People will be uber vigilant on health and sanitation. The days of getting a "B" or less on your health department inspection and staying in business will be gone. And the restaurants that understand that contactless is not a fad, but the future will succeed. It could be as simple as a contactless bathroom - from entering to leaving, you touch nothing. 
- Restaurants will have to adapt their model as people will continue to cook at home and dine out less. Is the Grocerant the wave of the future? 

How do you see this shaping our future?

#2020Trends #2020RestaurantTrends #COVID19Restaurants #Restaurants #Trends 
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Predictions for 2020

1/6/2020

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As we enter a new decade, industry experts and chefs have predicted so many trends for 2020. Here are a few trends that I predict for 2020.
Health & Fitness - 2020 will be a year we focus on food as an integral part of our lifestyle. There will be an emphasis on not only healthy food, but food that nourishes the mind and soul.
Our Impact on the Environment - our planet is in distress, and I foresee restauranteurs and chefs taking notice. As an industry we will continue to look for alternatives to plastics and polystyrenes and to sourcing food locally from producers who understand their impact on the environment and society. However in 2020 - we will see bigger changes - an industry that reduces waste significantly, an industry that reduces its consumption of energy and water, and an industry that looks at every product they are using and the impact these products have on the environment.
Vegetables and more Vegetables - menus will be more plant-based, with a greater use of vegetables and a focus on the connection between our food and the impact on our body, mind and soul.
More Conversation at the Table - restaurants will offer more communal tables and offer family-style offerings - thus encouraging interaction and conversation at the table.
"Dry 2020" - the "dry" trend will carry beyond January. Restauranteurs and bartenders will focus on more "dry" spirits - creating amazing "cocktails" that can be enjoyed all day. (And hopefully create a better name than "Mocktails!")
What trends to you predict for restaurants in 2020?
#2020FoodTrends #2020RestaurantTrends #PlantBasedFoods #Vegetables #sustainability #DryJanuary #Communal #HealthAndFitness
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What Gen Z restaurant consumers want

5/22/2017

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Gen Z is on the cusp of being our industry's major consumer with about 80 million members. According to a recent NRA Show panel, this generation will demand the non-negotiables:
     - Good value and quality from restaurants, like the food found in fast casual.
     - They also want inviting service and a welcoming ambience that makes them feel valued.
     - They demand cleanliness and the highest standards of food safety.

Understanding Gen Z and how to approach their needs, will be critical for restaurants to succeed in the coming decades. Are you prepared for Gen Z? If not, let Matrix Restaurant Consulting assist you in preparing for the next generation.

For more on Gen Z, check out this article in Nation's Restaurant News.
​What Gen Z Restaurant Consumers Want
Gen Z Diagram
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US wins gold at Bocuse d’Or for first time

1/26/2017

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Congratulations to Mathew Peters and Harrison Turone of Per Se for their victory!

The United States has won the Bocuse d’Or cooking competition for the first time. The prestigious biennial competition in Lyon, France, pits teams of two chefs against each other in a five-and-half-hour cooking competition. This year, Mathew Peters, executive sous chef at Per Se in New York City, and his commis, or assistant, Harrison Turone, who also works for Per Se, took top honors. This is the second time in the 30-year-old competition that Team USA has even mounted the podium in the contest. In 2015, the last time the Bocuse d’Or took place, Team USA, represented by Phillip Tessier and Skylar Stover of Per Se’s Yountville, Calif., sister restaurant The French Laundry, took the silver. Before then, the highest the U.S. had placed was sixth.

I competed twice in the US Preliminary Competition, but never made it to France. It is one of the most intense cooking competitions that anyone can compete it.
2017 Bocuse D'Or Winners on Stage
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​People Report: Recruiting will remain difficult into 2016 Q4

11/7/2016

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People report recently announced their Fourth quarter Workforce Index, and our industry will continue to face challenges in finding quality job candidates and will continue to tax restaurant operators into the last quarter of the year. It will be an especially difficult time as operators also face the pressures of decreased guest counts. It is a vicious downward cycle that will continue to result in restaurant closures.

So how can operators succeed in such a challenging environment?
  • Slow your growth: Now, more than ever, is the time to slow growth. And at a minimum, growth needs to be manageable, ensuring you can properly staff and manage your new operations.
  • Get back to the basics: This is a concept that Joe Lee, the former Darden executive, constantly preached. Far too often we are looking for the proverbial silver bullet - that gimmick or initiative that will suddenly bring in customers. But it doesn't need to be that complicated - focus on well executed products and invest in your management and hourly staffs. Look at your business as a marathon and not a sprint.
Matrix Restaurant Consulting can help you get back to the basics and to become that employer of choice.

For more information, here is the link to the People Report Article: 2016 Q4 Workforce Index


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