By Beth Panitz
Foodservice Equipment Reports

What a ride 2021 has been. The year started with the country in the midst of a COVID surge, with widespread office and school closures, and many jurisdictions mandating dining restrictions. By spring and early summer, as vaccination levels soared and COVID cases plummeted, foodservice industry sales quickly accelerated. Driven by a pent-up desire to dine out and stimulus funds, diners returned in droves. “We saw a bigger surge than expected … a surge unlike anything in the past,” says David Henkes, senior principal at industry analytics firm Technomic.

Ann Golladay, associate director of food industry analytics firm Datassential, was pleasantly surprised at the industry’s quick growth. “We expected more of a slow ramp-up and that consumers would be reluctant to return to eating out, regardless of vaccination status,” Golladay says. “What we learned this summer is that consumers were quite eager to get back out.”

Sales softened in the third quarter in response to the delta variant. Some operators fear that the recovery may be moving in reverse and worry about the advent of future COVID variants and winter’s natural impact on outdoor dining.

After suffering a steep decline in 2020—a 23.8% drop in sales, according to the National Restaurant Association—the industry is expected to post an overall upswing in 2021. The association projects that the industry will close out the year with $789 billion in sales, up almost 20% from 2020, but still below 2019’s $864.3 billion in sales. That’s before factoring in menu price inflation, at its highest rate since 2008.

“The foodservice industry has rebounded remarkably from the depths of the pandemic,” says David Portalatin, an industry analyst with market research firm The NPD Group, “however, we are still well short of a pre-pandemic level of restaurant usage.” Industry traffic is 4% below pre-pandemic levels, according to NPD. “We’ve shifted about 11 billion eating occasions annually to at home,” Portalatin says.

According to the National Restaurant Association’s September survey, 44% of operators think it will be more than a year before business conditions return to normal and 19% believe they never will.

2022 Outlook

The industry’s overall upward trend is expected to continue in 2022. “Things are going to continue to improve, but gradually,” says NPD’s Portalatin, who projects that 2022 traffic will be 2% below 2019’s traffic.

Technomic forecasts that 2022 industry sales will slightly exceed pre-pandemic levels, dollar for dollar, but once inflation is factored in, it expects sales to be at 92.3%. The recovery also is uneven. “Certain segments are going to be slow to come back,” Henkes says. “Hotels are still going to be well below pre-pandemic levels … business feeders are barely starting to move again,” he notes. When on-premise sales halted in the spring of 2020, the industry leaned on off-premise models. Quick-service restaurants, especially those with drive-thrus and online digital ordering systems, were positioned well. Limited-service restaurants are projected to post 2022 sales at 113% of 2019 sales, while full-service restaurants are forecasted to be at 94.7%, Henkes says. “Casual dining—especially [at] chains—is clawing its way back.”

Sales in some segments were decimated in 2020, so even substantial growth leaves them in a hole. Technomic predicts that the travel and recreation segment will see a 42.1% jump in sales in 2022, following a 48.4% gain in 2021. That brings sales up to only 83.9% of 2019 levels. Once inflation is factored in, that’s merely 76.1% of 2019 sales. “We expect that business travel and conferences will never fully return to pre-pandemic levels,” says Datassential’s Golladay.

“[The year] 2022 will continue to be a year of transition for the restaurant industry,” says Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president of research and knowledge. “The industry is fortunate that it is an industry that consumers want to use in their daily lifestyles and that overall economic growth in 2022 will remain positive.” But challenges loom, and at a time when Americans are projected to have less disposable income as stimulus and relief funds dry up and inflation builds.

The industry faces several uphill challenges, Henkes points out. “Spring and summer have shown tremendous surges [in sales] that have given people more optimism than they’ve had in some time,” he says. But that optimism is tempered by three major concerns: labor shortages, supply chain problems, and soaring costs.

“Help wanted” signs cover the industry landscape, with 78% of operators reporting they lack enough employees to support existing customer demand, according to a National Restaurant Association September survey. In response, labor costs have risen steeply, with operators upping hourly rates, adding benefits, and offering hiring bonuses. Operators also struggle with supply chain challenges, making it difficult to procure everything from food to equipment. “Some operators are dipping their toes in the used equipment market for the first time,” Henkes notes. Meanwhile, wholesale food prices jumped 12.9% between September 2020 and September 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index. Expect foodservice operators to continue to innovate to drive sales and cut costs in 2022’s challenging environment.

Designed To-Go

Pre-pandemic, the foodservice industry was shifting toward a greater emphasis on off-premise dining, with to-go orders accounting for 61% of traffic, according to the National Restaurant Association. “In the depth of the pandemic, that approached 90%,” says the association’s Riehle. That’s since inched down to 80%, and will still scale back some, but “it is unlikely that it will drop back to where it was pre-pandemic.”

Given that trend, expect an emphasis on design and innovations that support off-premise dining. “We are seeing major shifts in how drive-thrus look with more digital and order-ahead lanes,” says Golladay. Taco Bell recently unveiled its Defy prototype, featuring four drive-thru lanes, including three dedicated to mobile orders, and a proprietary lift system that quickly delivers food from an elevated second-floor kitchen. Golladay also expects to see an investment in integrated POS systems that work seamlessly with third-party delivery systems.

Operators are tweaking their designs with takeout windows, to-go pickup shelving, and areas for curbside pickup fulfillment. Some restaurants, like fast-casual Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken, are adding heated food lockers to keep to-go orders piping hot. Certain full-service operators are diversifying their offerings with smaller-footprint concepts specializing in off-premise dining—a shift already in place pre-pandemic that has intensified. For example, IHOP opened its first flip’d concept in September, focusing on takeout breakfast items.

“Full-service restaurants are trying to walk a balancing act,” says Henkes. “The delivery and takeout part of their business is going to remain elevated. But as people start to return [to on-premise dining], restaurants really need to create and enhance the dine-in experience, whether it’s menu enhancement, hospitality, or ambiance. … They need to double down on that because that’s their unique selling proposition.” —David Henkes, Technomic

Delivery Kitchens

Delivery kitchens, including ghost kitchens, became a popular way to scare up sales in the pandemic’s darkest days. These kitchens enjoy low overhead because they can operate within an efficient, small footprint. A growing segment pre-pandemic, delivery kitchens are expected to show high-volume sales in 2022, fueled by the consumer’s appetite for off-premise dining and the operator’s hunger for profitability, predicts NPD’s Portalatin.

Wendy’s is teaming up with REEF to open 700 delivery kitchens by 2025. “The demand for convenient delivery solutions means we must look for opportunities beyond our traditional restaurant formats, especially in dense urban areas,” says Abigail Pringle, Wendy’s president, international, and chief development officer, in a press release.

Meanwhile, other operators are launching virtual brands operated out of traditional restaurant locations, or out of their delivery kitchens. “Anyone who has excess kitchen capacity now has the opportunity to leverage that capacity with a virtual brand in the marketplace,” Portalatin says.

Chick-fil-A recently launched its Little Blue Menu concept, which lets consumers mix and match selections from its traditional menu and from three new virtual brands: Flock & Farm, Garden Day and Outfox Wings. The first location opened in October in a renovated Chick-fil-A location in Nashville, Tenn.

In Tune with Technology

The pandemic forced many operators to step up their digital engagement by introducing or enhancing mobile apps, electronic ordering, and digital payment options. Datassential reports that 75% of consumers currently use mobile apps for food-related purposes. Expect to see more loyalty programs and dining/beverage subscriptions powered through mobile apps, Riehle says.

While contactless transactions were popularized to slow the spread of COVID, they’re now crucial in fighting the industry’s endemic labor shortage. Many operators encourage on-premise guests to use QR codes to access online ordering and payment systems—sparing limited staff from taking orders and running credit cards. Others have invested in tableside tablets that help guests place an order or pay their bill, turning tables quicker and reducing staffing needs. At other establishments, mobile POS tablets increase the efficiency of a limited waitstaff, allowing servers to electronically place orders tableside.

Likewise, some operators are turning to back-of-house automation to reduce their labor needs. White Castle and CaliBurger are testing a robotic kitchen assistant that flips burgers, and Buffalo Wild Wings is testing a robotic chicken wing fryer.

3 Other Trends to Watch

Coming in 2022, experts anticipate the following shifts:

Streamlined menus. Some operators have reduced their inventories and slimmed down their menus in response to supply chain issues. With some items short in supply or outrageously expensive, operators are procuring alternatives. For example, Wingstop added chicken thighs to its menu in response to escalating wing prices.

Big data. As the industry relies more on mobile apps, operators will gain an increased ability to track consumer preferences—data that can help shape operations. With tracking software more accessible and less expensive, “it’s no longer just the big chains that can do that,” Henkes says.

Sustainability. “Energy efficiency and waste reduction are increasingly important to consumers,” Golladay says. “Consumers are more likely to be loyal to and frequent brands that align with their values.” Restaurant Brands Int’l., parent company to Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons, pledged to cut greenhouse gases by 50% by 2030 through a variety of avenues, including renewable energy, supply chain choices, and energy-efficient equipment.

Operator Perspectives

“I see the industry continuing to expand order-ahead and third-party pickup capabilities. The Inspire Brands shared services approach allows us to leverage our expertise and resources across brands to adapt to these trends quickly. As a result, our current projects aim to optimize kitchen design and equipment to reduce pressure points and maximize food quality, speed and yields. Furthermore, we’ve also opened a 15,000-sq.-ft. Innovation Center and our first ghost kitchen, Inspire Alliance Kitchen, to develop, test, and validate our restaurant solutions.” — PETER CRYAN, Vice President of Equipment Innovation, Inspire Brands, Atlanta

“Robotics, ghost kitchens, and high-end hot meal vending [are part of our] new normal. As our [post-pandemic] business grows, this will allow us to offer different styles of service in locations that lack space for full kitchens. Staffing limitations have required us to look at how we produce the same amount of food with fewer hands. When it comes to remodeling existing kitchens, we will be choosing equipment with more capacity-per-batch to help staff keep up [with demand] and to reduce our overall energy use.” — DANIELLE GALLAWAY, Executive Chef, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

“As we are recouping from the past year-and-a-half, we are being more deliberate in our decisions about such things as menus, hours of operation, staffing patterns, and food and supply sourcing partnerships. Our struggles with recruiting and retaining employees at our mostly from-scratch food production operation have led us to reevaluate how we will operate going forward. Adding more and more amenities (such as robust menu options and service hours) to our dining program ‘because we could’ is probably a relic of the past that needs to be replaced with ‘because we should.’” — MARY MOLT, Associate Director, Housing and Dining Services, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan.

“At Chipotle, we are passionate about increasing access and convenience for our guests so they can enjoy real food when and where they want. I’m particularly excited about our Digital Kitchen format and believe there’s a large opportunity to capitalize on areas where we have a higher volume of sales through our digital business. Our Digital Kitchen prototype will allow us to enter urban areas that cannot support a full-size restaurant and will provide flexibility with future locations.” — TABASSUM ZALOTRAWALA, Chief Development Officer, Chipotle, Newport Beach, Calif.

“Pre-pandemic carryout orders comprised 5% of sales. This number has risen to 20% of sales in 2021. Over the past year, we’ve changed the layout at every restaurant to accommodate for the increase in takeout demand by separating in-store diners from takeout orders and third-party delivery vendors. These changes have made for smoother operations. As we continue to expand, new locations will feature similar layouts to account for increased takeout in addition to other enhancements to simplify operations.” — ANDY DIAMOND, President, Angry Crab Shack, Mesa, Ariz. 

“The last year-and-a-half has taught us to be creative, flexible, and resilient. Moving from dine-in to 100% takeout and delivery and back has caused Pokeworks to rethink restaurant design. One of the biggest challenges has been balancing the dine-in experience while introducing innovative ways to address the digital ordering environment. From equipment purchasing to our digital space, we have taken a deep dive to create aesthetically pleasant takeout areas within the restaurant that are easily accessible and do not disrupt our dine-in guests.” — STEVE HEELEY, CEO, Pokeworks, Irvine, Calif.

“In 2022, we anticipate receiving products to be our biggest challenge. We’re witnessing longer lead times with items simply sitting on ships while close to port. This issue is not exclusive to imported products. Even domestic companies are having trouble meeting demands with the ongoing labor shortages, in addition to not being able to receive inventory from overseas. In the meantime, we plan on continuing to offer solutions such as making existing streetside restaurants more guest-friendly for pickup, delivery, and dine-in while supply chain issues level out.” — AARON NOVESHEN, Founder & CEO, Starbird Chicken, San Francisco

“C3’s omnichannel approach to restaurant and ghost kitchen operations allows us to spread our brands across various platforms, including digital kitchens, a proprietary app, and digital [intellectual property] expansion via hotels and coworking spaces. In October, we debuted our first culinary center, a multi-concept culinary market, and digital kitchen hybrid. As consumers start to use dining experiences as social moments again, our operational focus has shifted accordingly.” — JOEY SIMONS, Senior Vice President of Operations, C3 (Creating Culinary Communities), Beverly Hills, Calif.

Source: Beth Panitz, Foodservice Equipment Reports

Find more great foodservice industry articles on Operators-Edge.com!

By Luke LaBree
CMO, Dennis Food Service

The most valuable weapon you have in the battle for eyes, ears and engagement online is content. This content is primarily comprised of your photos, videos and copy (text) – but even ornaments like hashtags and emoji can play a role. Your digital presence is a combination of the platforms you utilize and the content you share on them.

Content is as important to your digital presence and marketing efforts as the food you serve is to your dining room. It shows who you are, what you do and what you’re capable of – but most importantly – it can impact a visitor’s decision to return. Like a great meal, great content helps customers establish an affinity for your business and brand.

Your mission as a foodservice business is to increase traffic, to ensure guests enjoy their experience and to grow the number of repeat visits to your establishment. It’s the same for your digital presence. The challenge is that competition for the “attention” of potential customers is exponentially greater online than in the real world. You might be the only doughnut shop on the street, but Google and Yelp are showing your potential customers a dozen doughnut shops nearby that they could visit. How do you stand out – how do you compete?

This article explores (what is in my opinion) the best way to be found, to be followed and to grow your foodservice business using the internet. I won’t be going into specifics on how to establish properties like your website, Facebook page and Instagram account. This information is for foodservice owners and operators who already have digital properties and want to get better at using them to increase traffic.

My hope is to encourage and inspire you with valuable best practices and an approach to online marketing that opens the door to better SEO, customer engagement and real, meaningful growth.

This isn’t for marketing professionals, it’s for independent business owners…

• Creating content requires some of your time and energy, but it can also be very fun and rewarding.
• There’s no one path for content marketing success. Every business has its own unique journey.
• The type of content I’m referring to is not your logo or your menu, or your contact information. It’s the content that shows the experience you offer, the quality of your food, the personality of your staff and all the little aspects that make up your unique business.

1. A foundation of content works while you sleep
2. People Engagement Optimization
3. Foodservice is no place for content calendars
4. The unspoken expectations of content on social media platforms
5. Quality vs Context
6. There’s only so much time in the day
7. A summary of the Secret Social Sauce
8. The reason you can only compete with content specific to your business

1)

A foundation of content works while you sleep. Because content creation is exercise, while by comparison, paid marketing is diet pills.

The more we exercise the more lean muscle mass we build, and that muscle mass actively burns calories day and night. It takes time and hard work but within weeks you notice the difference in your fitness. Diet pills tweak your body chemistry and might help you drop a few pounds – but you don’t gain any lean muscle – so if you stop taking those pills the pounds will come right pack.

When you build out your website with meaningful content, unique and relevant to your business, Google crawls through it all and starts ranking your relevance for search results. Your content then drives people to your website when they search for something that google says you have. The more content you create – again, specific to your business – the greater likelihood of being returned as a search result. Your search ranking is never cemented in place, but it does have greater longevity when supported through content.

If you exercise your ability to create content you will see traffic gains that last.

If you try to take the easy road and skip to paid first… you’ll have to keep paying to get results. When you stop paying you’ll be back to where you started. There is a time and place for paid, in search engines and social media, but it comes along after your digital presence has been thoroughly established.

To reiterate my point of this article not being about your core business information. The results we’re looking for from your content are not to capture the person searching for “your restaurant name in Whereverville,” it’s to capture people searching for cheeseburgers, or steak, or seafood in Whereeverville.

The goal is to establish a foundation of this sweat-equity content in order to drive traffic from search results. Once that is in place, you can start selectively going after paid opportunities that bring specific targeted conversions. But, at the end of the day, there’s so much that can be done for free you should barely have enough time to pay for anything.

2)

Your content creation considerations aren’t just for SEO. There’s PEO as well.

People Engagement Optimization

Many of the same rules apply. The right context, the right formatting, timing and execution (all things you can learn as you go) except instead of trying to please bots crawling your site you’re trying to please people crawling the content of your digital presence. What will they see on your website and what feeling will it give them? What will people on Facebook engage with? What will earn you Twitter followers. How will you get those Instagram likes? Are the photos on Yelp effectively showcasing your business to those who find you?

On Facebook for example…

• I know that if I share content that tries to raise awareness of a product we sell – that content had better offer something other than “buy this for these reasons” – something fun, something informative, or something visually stimulating. If it doesn’t, it won’t perform well.
• I know that if I make a post 3 or 4 times in a row of the same type of content – not the same exact content – but similar messaging and format… I’ll likely lose followers. But if I strategically alternate certain types of content, I’ll gain followers.

It’s not trial and error, it’s trial and improvement. Over and over and over again.

The audience of the internet wants to be constantly wowed. Which is something that is increasingly harder to do. They want to be informed and entertained at the same time, and they’re insatiable. Luckily you have some pretty impressive content at your fingertips – literally. It’s impressive because it’s authentic, and it’s authentic because it’s your real business and people, you created it and you shared it. It’s simply a matter of finding out what your audiences like the most.

3)

Foodservice is no place for content calendars.

Yes, there’s a food day for everyday of the year… but is that really what you want to talk about? Does it represent your business? Don’t get me wrong, national food days are a great filler, I’ve used them. And by all means, if you sell hotdogs then celebrate national hotdog day.

Unless you run a business in which you can map out every minute of the day and then stick to that schedule. There’s no sense in trying to stick to a content calendar. Yes, absolutely plan campaigns, strategize elaborate content and schedule ads… but don’t lock yourself into the rigidity of a calendar. Be flexible and spontaneous.

I’m not suggesting you fly by the seat of your pants. Throwing out the calendar doesn’t mean you don’t need to have a sense of strategy. I firmly believe that the best results come when a piece of content or a post just feels right. More often than not the passion, enthusiasm and qualities of a post that occur in the heat of the moment are going to be better received than the one waiting its turn on the calendar.

4)

The unspoken expectations of content on social media platforms.

We, internet-browsing human beings, are fickle creatures. Even though many of us bounce in and out of multiple social media platforms – we get offended if the content on each of these individual platforms does not meet our expectations…

Offenses to these expectations include things like:

• Linking to a YouTube video instead of uploading the video directly to Facebook.
• Including 20 hashtags in a Facebook post.
• Not using any hashtags on Instagram (this one is more of a strategic oversight.)
• Re-posting all of you Facebook content verbatim to Twitter.

This is why I also generally discourage the use of cross-posting platforms and social media management tools like Hootsuite. They make it too easy and too tempting to remove individuality from your posts. Which then starts to erode the value for people to follow you on multiple platforms. Plus, when you are working directly within the platform, you are more aware of the subtle distinctions that make a difference in engagement and the overall quality of your content for that specific audience.

You’ll learn more about what your various audiences want to see from you as you start posting. Pay attention to how different pieces of content perform. Use insights and analytics to evaluate the content that costs you followers and the content that earns you followers. Are there similarities in the better performing posts that can be replicated and improved upon for future efforts?

For most businesses I don’t recommend outsourcing social media work. First, you are better off saving the expense of having someone post content for you and putting it towards boosted posts, or ads when you’re ready. More importantly though, an outsider cannot bring the same level of passion, personal interest and investment to your content as someone who’s invested in the business each day.

Yes, you can outsource your content. And yes, you can use Hootsuite… but only after you have a firm understanding of your content strategy, your approach to each platform has been established and you have an understanding of what each audience wants from you. Also, if you decide to outsource your website and social media management it’s extremely helpful essential to have a foundation of media to work with, as well as a plan for generating future content and approving copy. You might decide you don’t have the time to manage your digital presence, but your business still needs to look and sound like your business.

5)

Quality vs. Context

Let’s say it’s time to make the doughnuts… Sure, a creative marketing agency could make an epic piece of content with slow motion sprinkles being dropped onto a freshly glazed doughnut. But, a selfie video of a business owner turning on the lights at 4am and firing up the doughnut making machine (while talking to the camera) is going to outperform that slow motion sprinkle drop footage nearly every time.

That slo-mo sprinkle footage can outperform the selfie-video when it clearly shows context of place; the real interior of the business and its people. Professional content creators exist for a reason. We are drawn to the visually compelling media they create like moths to a flame. They’re in the business of capturing attention to grow sales, just like you. Except that most of the “glamour shot” content that permeates our feeds can be contributed to an agency, an influencer or a business working on a national or global scale. And it’s usually for projects that are accompanied by financial compensation, or specialized equipment or both. [For example…]

You can certainly take inspiration from the novelty and innovation of professional content, but you don’t need to compete with the quality and finish. There’s still something that attracts us to those unscripted moments, the raw real side of a business we see when the curtain gets pulled back. Your unique message will resonate with your audience more so than something that can’t be attributed to you, irregardless of the final product. That is not to say “anything goes.” You still need to make an attempt at being interesting. You just don’t need to be perfect.

Your content might not be great at first, but you will start getting better at it. Every post of original content you make is a step towards improvement. Never wait for perfection, it will slow you down and hold you back. Blaze forward.

Day 1 – You’re just trying not to sound like an idiot on camera.
Day 101 – You’re on YouTube learning how to use a green screen to make doughnuts fly.

Today’s devices offer so much creative capability it’s crazy to not at least try being your own content creator. I would highly recommend investing in the latest high-end smartphone before paying someone else to create your content.

In talking with operators it has been my experience time and time again that some rather predatory social media “marketers” are more than happy to take your money, and then post a “Monday’s were made for donuts!” meme. Or, worse yet, they post a stock photo of a doughnut. A doughnut that sadly only resembles your doughnut in spherical shape.

Yes, there’s a time and place to bring in professionals, if you do – bring them in for a very specific reason. For example, if you want professionally lit photographs of your food or team. If you need a news release created. If you’d like a radio script written and recorded. Or, if you’d like to have a television commercial created. These one-off content projects are perfect for the professionals that specialize in them. The day to day – it really can be done by you. However, with a little extra effort, you could even do all those professional examples on your own – on your phone.

6)

There’s only so much time in the day.

As long as you are contributing to your content pipeline you’ll be moving things forward, and that’s all any business owner who wants to increase traffic can do. The trouble is most foodservice operators don’t believe they can create their own content, and they can feel this way for any number of reasons…

• They think they’re too busy.
• They don’t think they have the right tools or skills.
• They don’t think their quality can compete.
• They don’t know where to start and what to say.

The average business owner can’t visualize content for their business because they’re in it. They know all the things and sharing those everyday details might not feel all that interesting to them – so why would anyone else be interested? But they are. That is the only thing your potential customers, website visitors and followers are interested in – the specific things you do every day – from the extremely unique to the subtle differences that set you apart.

That impressive, authentic content that’s at your finger tips… the way to access it isn’t technical, it’s not an app or a platform or a paid service… it’s a way of thinking. An approach to identifying the uniquely marketable attributes of your business. And, once you see them, really see them, you’ll realize there’s never nothing to talk about.

When I wrote the Secret Social Sauce, it was in an effort to unlock the ability for owners and managers to look at their business through a lens of content creation.

7)

A summary of the Secret Social Sauce.

Be visual
Always support your posts and website content with graphics, photos and video. You will get very little traction without an engaging visual. This is where that high-end smart phone pays off the most.

Be Honest
No stock doughnut pictures… Share the real everyday stuff, don’t try to embellish or disguise your business. Chances are you’re not an actor, photographer, copywriter or video editor – and that’s okay. Remember, you don’t need to be a professional in those regards, just be an expert at what you do.

Be Consistent
Across the board be as consistent as possible with your usernames and handles, profile pictures, color use and the tone and tenor of your content. Also be consistent with your posting frequency. Don’t tweet every day for two weeks and then take 2 months of. You do not need to post every day, but you do need to post.

Be Uniquely Your Business
It’s all about what you do every day. Don’t give away the secret family recipe… separate yourself from the pack by peeling back the layers of your unique onion – show personality and personal touches, your thought process, approach and people.

8)

The reason you can only compete with content specific to your business.

The total size of the internet is not easily calculated. However, it is estimated to contain nearly 6 billion individual webpages and is growing at a rate of 500,000 gigabytes a minute. That is around 8 million megabytes a second uploaded to the internet everyday. Your business is essentially a proverbial needle in a content haystack. If those numbers don’t underscore the importance of doubling down on your efforts consider this…

• 700 million tweets are made everyday.
• 4 million hours of content are uploaded to YouTube everyday.
• 70 million photos are uploaded to Instagram everyday.
• And 5 billion Facebook posts are made everyday.

For no other reason than the sheer volume of content contributed to the internet each day… You can only compete using content that directly reflects your unique business and culture.

That might seem a little daunting, but don’t worry, Google’s algorithms “want” to provide relevant search results. It knows where your business is, and it knows where the individuals doing the searching are. That alone narrows things down significantly. Search engine algorithms along with your unique content efforts help your business standout in the daily inundation of data to the internet.

In this unfathomably large world wide web of content there’s still only one you sharing your business, through your eyes and with your thoughts. Even when competing against similar companies and services your unique story and business attributes are your own. That’s the gold – hold onto it and leverage it.

The only thing you actually need to invest in content creation is your time… and the expense of whatever device can best execute your vision. After that the biggest hurdle to overcome is the limit of your own creativity.

Micro-investments of time everyday will pay off.

• Take 15 minutes every few days to walk around your business getting photos. Let them go to the cloud and review them later.
• Cut out 30 minutes of Netflix at night and watch a YouTube video to learn a new content marketing skill.
• Instead of thumbing through Facebook marketplace, scope out your competitors or hop on LinkedIn and see what professional marketers are talking about.

If there’s one thing that’s certain about content marketing on the internet it’s that nothing is certain. Nothing sits still. And neither can you … Content creation should be one of your top marketing priorities.

I’ll leave you with this… If you’ve never posted about a team member or employee, or it’s been awhile since you did, try it. I guarantee it will perform better than any of your recent posts. And remember, don’t forget a visual.

“It’s all over the board, just like everything else,” Shindelar says. “But that is one part of the grocery experience that is going to totally remake itself.”

Much depends on where a retailer is located and the impact of COVID-19 in a particular state or region of the country. While a few stores never closed down, others will likely never reopen, Shindelar (right) explains.

“Foodservice and grocery are really different operational activities,” she says. “Not every grocer makes a good foodservice person and not every foodservice person makes a good grocer.”

Foodservice is typically a low-margin, high-labor, difficult-to-make-profitable part of a retail operation unless that retailer does a huge volume of it. Some grocers aren’t going to reopen their foodservice because it was a losing proposition to begin with, while others will reopen to decide if it’s viable or not, Shindelar says.

Volume control is key

Look for grocers to control the amount of prepared food they can offer at any given time to adhere to social distancing standards for a least a couple of years, Shindelar says. That may mean operating at 50% capacity.

It’s tough, she says, because it was already hard work to make ends meet when operating at full capacity.

It remains to be seen what retailers who were building their business on bulk foodservice things like olive bars and charcuterie boards, which were all were really big pre-pandemic, will do now.

“Foodservice was a $700 billion industry in the U.S. for restaurants and service,” Shindelar says. “That disappeared in two to three weeks.”

Retailers are going to continue to be cautious, she says, unless there’s a level of flexibility or fluidity in the supply chain system to ensure that if another shutdown happens to foodservice again it can be moved into the grocery aisle.

Say good-bye to self-serve

Shindelar predicts most retailers with significant foodservice departments won’t reopen self-serves.

“Most people have an adversity right now,” Shindelar says. “They are uncomfortable with foods that other people have touched.”

On the flip side, people want “life as normal.” Pre-pandemic, the fastest growing sector in the food business was foodservice because shoppers want convenience. In 2019, the foodservice industry was nearly equal in size to food retailing according to the USDA, with $969.4 billion of $1.77 trillion worth of food supplied to foodservice facilities.

Look for more retailers to shift toward full-service foodservice operations because the back of the house already had high sanitary measures for taking care of food preparation, Shindelar says.

That will require retailers to restructure their stores, which many haven’t had time to do yet, says Casey Emmett (right), a sales strategy leader at JPG Resources.

In the future more customers will simply point to the food they want and someone else will bag it up, Emmett predicts.

More pop-ups, restaurant partnerships are on the horizon

Grocery stores will continue to look more like restaurants, and vice versa, with family-style takeaway prepared meals available alongside grocery staples.

Many retailers are rotating through their hot bar, deli counter and salad bar offerings more frequently, on a daily or weekly basis, in addition to incorporating pop-ups in the hopes of growing their reoccurring customer base, Shindelar says.

The most successful retailers are ones who are partnering with local restaurants who can prepare their grab-and-go offerings, Shindelar says.

That’s helped retailers like Native Sun Natural Foods Market in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, which serves foods prepared by local restaurants including Noura Cafe, known for its Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food, The House of Leaf and Bean, an organic restaurant and cafe, Prati Italia, a locally-owned Italian restaurant, Shakti Life Kitchen for raw foods, Community Loaves, known for its organic sourdough bread, among others.

Another is Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe in Jackson, Wyoming, Shindelar says, which partnered with local and regional restaurants like Utah-based Freshie’s Lobster Co.

Also look for heat-and-serve programs to convert, repacking into grab-and-go with their own branded products on shelves, Shindelar says.

Keep foodservice simple and convenient

Don’t be afraid to go back to the basics and keep things simple, Emmett says.

“I think the 2019 customers probably would have been bored by the relative plainness of options that we are going to have,” Emmett says.

That’s not true for 2020 customers who have spent months cooking during the pandemic and now crave the convenience of having someone else, even the back-of-the-house at a grocery store, consistently do meal prep.

The rise of market consolidation

Emmett points to Starbucks which is closing 400 U.S. stores in the next 18 months to focus more on mobile order and pick-up only locations. Look for others to pivot towards walk-up windows and curbside service.

“I think you’re going to be seeing a lot of that,” Emmett says.

There will also be a growing network of ghost kitchens. Known as dark or virtual kitchens, many in the foodservice industry will add shared-space ghost kitchens to create to-go meals in the hopes of lowering overhead costs.

Digital, local integration through apps

Look for more foodservice establishments to utilize apps like OpenTable to increase customer reservations for shopping times and takeout, Emmett says.

This will help operators plan ahead for their inventories, making it easier to restock shelves.

And to prevent supply chain problems down the road, more local partnerships are also a given.

Team huddles and personal hygiene discussions

Darrell Newell (left), director of retail food safety and quality assurance at Comprehensive Food Safety, says many store managers and directors are hosting daily huddles to discuss how COVID-19 has affected their store, guests and employees, and to communicate the ever-evolving game plan.

“Do a morning wraparound check to make sure you’re protecting your first line of protection,” Newell says.

Keep the talk to less than 30 minutes. Make sure the topic changes. “No one wants to hear about handwashing every Monday,” Newell says.

Talk about how COVID-19 spreads. Review basic safety food practices. Remind employees why they need to wear masks, the importance of social distancing and encourage good personal hygiene habits. Remind employees, bringing a cellphone or a cup of coffee into a food environment can spread diseases.

Operators should offer a clear understanding about the direction the retailer is going and everyone’s social responsibility for food safety, Newell says. “Help employees understand they are responsible for their day-to-day interactions because they are in front of the public,” Newell says.

Approximately 50% of the five to six departments Newell inspects, per retailer, are usually not properly equipped with the right items to properly wash their hands. That could mean soap or paper towels aren’t available or the sink is blocked, can’t be used or is physically broken.

Finding creative employee protections

Family-owned PSK Supermarkets, which operates 13 Foodtown, Freshtown and Pathmark stores in the New York metro area, hired an on-call doctor to help protect its staff, Newell says.

“Co-president Noah Katz took it upon himself and gave everyone in his company his personal cell number,” Newell says. “And said, “If you have any form of illness, I want you to call immediately, no questions asked. Stay home and we’ll have the doctor check in on you.”

PSK also created a YouTube video and a free Coronavirus Preparedness Action Plan.

“Their incidents of illness and absentee rate was less than 4% over this stretch of COVID-19,” Newell says, because employees felt safe coming to work.

“Every business is there to make money,” Newell says. “But their number one greatest resource is people. Without the people you have no service.”

Foodservice delivery services will continue to be built upon, expanded

Expect more retailers, especially independents, to create alternative foodservice delivery methods.

Many, like Dan’s Supreme Supermarket, a regional chain in New York, are looking to make the move to build their own delivery infrastructure in the next six to eight months to offer better customer service, Newell says.

“There’s going to be a lot more options,” he says. “Other than GrubHub, Instacart and Postmates.”

Source: Dawn Reiss for New Hope Network

1. Buying larger quantities to get volume discounts saves money. Not after one accounts for the extra waste, theft, spoilage, bigger portion sizes, and overall carelessness that results when more product is purchased than is needed. Smart operators purchase just what they need, even if the price/unit is a little higher. They know they make more money focusing on product utilization, not quantity discounts.

2. Paying higher hourly wages increases labor costs. A trend of increasing average hourly wages is usually a sign of better employee retention and lower turnover Reduced employee turnover results in less training, less hiring, better productivity, improved customer satisfaction, and lower overall labor costs.

3. It is better to have cash overages than shortages. Although neither is great news, cash overages are often an indication of one of an operator’s worst nightmares – unrecorded sales.

4. Keeping food costs low means larger profit margins. Many of the most profitable restaurants in the country have high food costs, some as high as 45% – 50%. The issue is not how high or low food costs are, but rather how many gross profit dollars your menu items are generating. That’s why menu items should be promoted based on their gross profit contribution (dollars) rather than having a low food cost (percentage).

5. Only the chef or the manager on duty should check in deliveries. The chef and the manager on duty are usually the two people in the operation with the least time to always do a complete, thorough job of checking in deliveries. Many companies use an hourly employee who is training to be a dedicated receiving clerk during certain hours of the day. An hourly employee generally has the uninterrupted time to devote the attention necessary to do a proper job checking in each and every delivery.

6. Profit & loss statements should be prepared and reviewed monthly. It is of limited value to compare a monthly P&L to a previous month. There may be a different number of total days or a different number of weekend days that will invalidate any meaningful sales comparison. Many restaurants do over 50% of their sales on two days of the week, Fridays and Saturdays. Many restaurant operators prepare their P&Ls on a 4-week, 28-day cycle so that each P&L reflects the same number of days and the same number (4) of each day of the week.

7. The most important part of pricing the menu is determining each item’s food cost. Costing out each item is very important, particularly to determine the gross profit contribution of each item. However, determining what customers will pay in your immediate market is the most important consideration. While not an exact science, shopping the local competition, plus an evaluation of your customers’ income levels and spending habits, should provide valuable information to use as a framework for pricing decisions. Also, ask your servers how much they would charge for a menu item. After all, servers are closer to your customers than anyone.

8. The best accountant in most restaurants is in the bookkeeper. It’s usually one of the bartenders. Their accounting skills are honed through years of experience keeping track of liquor usage and unrecorded drink sales with elaborate counting schemes using glasses, stir sticks, toothpicks, pennies, and even olives.

9. Using garbage cans in the kitchen is a good way to dispose of trim and waste. Garbage cans often become a “black hole” for excessive food waste, trim, and preparation mistakes – all of which is food that should have gone on the plate. Smart operators use clear plastic food boxes to deposit kitchen scraps and trim. Managers take a moment to inspect the contents of each box at the end of the shift.

10. Paying overtime is a sign of bad management or poor scheduling. Not necessarily. Overtime may also be a sign that a well-conceived, tight schedule was prepared and the restaurant was busier than expected. The absence of any overtime can be indicative of padded schedules and having more employees than needed. Occasionally paying overtime can also be an excellent incentive and reward for deserving employees, particularly kitchen personnel.

Source: Restaurant Owner

As Maine’s only non-profit trade group representing the hospitality industry, HospitalityMaine is a multifaceted organization. Their focus is securing a capable, reliable workforce for its 1,000-plus members, which strengthens the industry.

Dennis Paper & Food Service has partnered with HM for years. Our belief in their mission: to educate, advocate, engage and support Maine’s hotels, inns and restaurants dovetails with our own: to provide superior products, services and solutions to customers in the foodservice industry.

“We value our relationship with Dennis Paper & Food Service in so many ways. They are an outstanding supporter of our member events, educational seminars and industry initiatives,” said Steve Hewins, HospitalityMaine president and CEO. “We’re proud that Dennis is an employee-owned company and a former HM Allied Member of the Year.”

Membership with these key associations like HM gives Dennis power, connection, advocacy, support and education we wouldn’t have otherwise. We view HospitalityMaine as a protector of the foodservice industry. A strong backbone that keeps our customers sustainable and profitable.

“We share a deep commitment in the long-term, sustainable success of Maine’s vital hospitality industry,” said Hewins.

HospitalityMaine’s vision embraces the breadth and depth of the life-affirming richness of the Pine Tree State. We see partnerships like this crucial to our success in years to come.

Subscribers to our podcast know that we discuss a wide variety of topics designed to help you grow and improve your business. In this episode, rather than just hear advice on how you can harness the power of your team, market through social media or think like an innovator… you’re going to hear how an actual foodservice operation has been successfully putting these tactics to use to grow their business and broadcast their brand to the world!

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Links and product information mentioned in this episode include our website: www.DennisExpress.com. To learn more about Geaghan’s and to follow them on social media, visit their website [here].

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We look forward to your feedback, send an email to podcast@dennisexpress.com!

From the locally sourced products we proudly distribute, to the construction crews we’ve hired to expand our warehouse – twice now – in order to hold thousands of products, to the diesel we put in our trucks and the uniforms we put on our backs; your business with Dennis supports other Maine and New England companies. You’ll hear more about how the foodservice industry contributes to our economy in this episode!

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This week’s foodie fact is a two-part’er, we’re asking… how large and how old can lobsters get? We’ll have the answer for you at the end of the podcast.

Links and product information mentioned in this episode include the “What’s New” inventory additions page on our website: www.DennisExpress.com/whatsnew and the report from the IFDA [LINK].

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We look forward to your feedback, send an email to podcast@dennisexpress.com!

For this week’s foodie fact, revealing the source of our inspiration would give the answer away… Do you think you know what popular dessert first came about as a savory dish in an 18th century France. You’ll find the answer in this episode.

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Also in this episode, our new Dessert of the month page is mentioned. Featuring seasonally inspired items in limited quantities. To learn more about our Dessert of the Month page you can jump directly to it on our website here: www.dennisexpress.com/dessert-of-the-month

Links and product information mentioned in this episode include our website: www.DennisExpress.com. The C-Store report from King-Casey here. And the link to order a copy of Michael Mirarchi’s book “Sales Wisdom from a Toilet Paper Salesman.”

We look forward to your feedback – email us at podcast@dennisexpress.com!

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This week we’re going unscripted with a reminder about new products, our foodie fact for the week and new developments in “local” social media exposure from Facebook. Plus, a special guest with extensive small business, foodservice experience, joins the podcast to talk about tactics for driving sales during Thanksgiving and the holiday season.

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This week many of us will gather around a table with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Naturally or foodie fact for the week is inspired by one of America’s favorite foodie holidays… What 1950’s convenient-food-innovation was directly inspired by Thanksgiving? The Answer at the end of the podcast.

Links and product information mentioned in this episode include our website:  www.DennisExpress.com. Our Pie Case page with information on RTB pies and related products here: https://dennisfoodservice.com/products/pie.  And the download links for the new Facebook Local App:

iOS (Apple)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook-local/id1153443320?mt=8

Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.Socal&hl=en

We look forward to your feedback – email us at podcast@dennisexpress.com!

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Restaurant Business Online just published an article that discusses what restaurants can expect to see as influences in 2018. We’re going to discuss some of what they’ve shared, and we’ve provided a link to the full article below. We’re also taking a look at a couple items making headlines recently, wild Maine blueberries and everyone’s favorite caffeinated beverage – coffee! We’ve got those topics and a slew of recent inventory additions to share with you in this week’s podcast!

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This week saw the celebration of Halloween! So, for this week’s foodie fact we’re taking inspiration from candy… What was the first individually wrapped penny candy in America?  The Answer at the end of the podcast.

Links and product information mentioned in this episode include our website: www.DennisExpress.com. The article about wild Maine Blueberries: http://bit.ly/2h8pfmo And the article from Restaurant Business Online: http://bit.ly/2hCyuIC

We look forward to your feedback – email us at podcast@dennisexpress.com!

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