GUESTS: Save Guests & Staff Headaches by Offer Check Splitting [Hack #113]
Eating out at restaurants is a social occasion and more and more patrons are going cashless. This is a recipe for headaches when the bill comes, and guests want to split the check. Do these three things to make the experience better for guests and far less disruptive for your staff.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Where Cash is King
Most Europeans still cling to physical cash while nations in Asia have embraced cashless payments the most. That's the conclusion of the 2018 World Cash Report that lists different studies analyzing peoples’ habit to pay by cash or card (or even mobile). Japan is one of the exception to the rule of Asian countries loving cashless payments. The government recently revealed its “Cashless Vision” which is looking to increase cashless payments to 40 percent by 2025.
Three Giant Carriers
Last week the Federal Communications Commission officially announced its approval of the proposed merger of T-Mobile US and Sprint under certain conditions. As the following chart shows, the merger will create three giant wireless carriers, each with more than 70 million postpaid mobile subscribers, a fact that many think will harm competition and drive up consumer prices.
ESPN+ Grows
ESPN+ added another million subscribers since August, bringing the streaming service to about 3.5 million paid members. The boost comes after ESPN+ picked up some rights, including Big 12 football, AAC games, US Open Cup, and Bundesliga. ESPN+ also began showing UFC events this year, too. Learn more about OTT sports streaming content here.
SEEING THE FUTURE
Why it matters to you: We can learn from our international peers.
The Global Restaurant Leadership Conference is an annual opportunity for the world’s most influential restaurant operators (read biggest) to get together and plot the future of our industry. This year there were a bevy of observations/reveals that are totally worth your attention if you want to have a sense for where the industry is heading. Two in particular are operational and pretty interesting. Starting with YUM Brands, KFC is testing out a five-lane drive through. The concept features dedicated lanes for mobile/online ordering, which sure sounds reasonable. Maybe a bit less reasonable sounding is a five-minute delivery time being touted by Jack Cowin of Hungry Jacks’ in Australia (that’s what Burger King is called down under) at an operation in Japan. And that was their average performance over multiple revenue periods that would revolutionize delivery if it can be replicated reliably at scale.
The conference was also a place to discuss our culture. At Five Guys Headquarters there is a door clearly marked as the Test Kitchen, but when opened it reveals a brick wall. They profess to live their retro roots, and this is their way of reminding themselves the last new item they added was a milkshake and that wasn’t recently.
Perhaps one of the most thought-provoking topics was that of Russia’s DoDo Pizza provided full transparency into their business financials. They are by far the largest chain in Russia -- outselling Domino’s and Papa John’s combined -- and they feel like it helps everyone who has a stake in their business to have an insight into their results. No matter your takeaways, we are in a global business and we have more in common with our international brethren than other industries in North America, so why not learn from them if we can!
[Source: Restaurant Business Online]
SOMEBODY BRING ME SOME WATER [Song]
Why it matters to you: Climate change consequences are all local.
With all major affects there are unintended outcomes and climate change has delivered some doozies. Such is the case with the fires we are seeing rage, literally, all over the world. These fires destroy everything in their path and do so very quickly. The images we saw from the fire in Paradise, CA last year leave an indelible impression on people and it’s all they know when they hear fire and California in the same sentence. Unfortunately, one of California’s biggest tourism draws is smack dab in the middle of the most affect regions in the state. The most recent is playing out in Northern California as the Kincaide is was brought under control. After 2017’s mega-disasters, Atlas and Tubbs fires folks were already being told that Napa and Sonoma were dangerous tinder boxes.
How can a resort and vacation destination, like Napa and Sonoma, recover when their most popular season becomes too terrifying to consider visiting? Sure, these properties may have been spared the destruction of direct fire, but with the news showing footage of epic sized fires it’s still devastating to the environment and to local business.
Additionally, 85% of the US wine production comes from Napa and Sonoma, which means these disruption have far reaching consequences. Locally, they are trying to put on a brave face, but they are already seeing the declines in traffic associated with the direct disruption from the fire. Who knows what this will mean to the long-term health and stability of the wine market. Further proof that climate change may be a global problem, but its consequences will always be felt locally first and foremost.
[Source: Fortune]
