Did you know…
There is an ongoing debate about whether vaccines cause autism. The medical community, — including the CDC, NIH and WHO — have all asserted there is no scientific evidence of a link between autism and vaccines. Meanwhile, a 12-year-old Mexican boy decided to troll anti-vaxxers in the most poignant and adorable way. His melodramatic reveal of no evidence of a connection notwithstanding, the debate continues to rage on.
Today's Special
Hack #053: Lock up your inventory
If you have any experience in our industry you know what theft looks like. By securing as much of your inventory as is realistic you accomplish many things in a single stroke. Best of all, they all translate into bottom line profit.
Say cheese! (Sponsored by Upserve)
Why it's important to you: You should know how Instagram's new algorithm will affect your restaurant's marketing plan
If a user’s favorite restaurant posts a photo of a new menu special while they’re asleep, it will be waiting for them to view when they wake up, instead of hidden in a sea of posts from that morning. It’s looking like this steak is going to be cooked to each user’s unique idea of perfection.
LEGEND OF LEAGUES
Why it’s important to you: eSports and live event streaming isn’t the ‘future,’ it’s the ‘right now’.
There have been several big traditional and eSports streaming announcements last week. On Monday, NBC announced creation of their live streaming platform, Playmaker Media. NBC’s move is clear evidence that more rights holders are turning to web streaming to deliver live sporting events. The irony is just as these moves are heating up, an early adopter of streaming live content is moving to in-line broadcasting — eSports. Both TNT and the PAC12 Network will air live eSports event. TNT is committed to regular Friday night broadcasts of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the PAC12 is scheduling inter-collegiate matches that will air on its namesake network.
There are two takeaways here for restaurant operators. First, streaming gives you flexibility to show more content that guests are seeking. This can be traditional sports and eSports. Second, eSports is a real thing. Your guests are playing them (57% of households have a game console) and they are even watching them — 13.3MM Americans having viewed Twitch.tv, an online eSports outlet, in the last month alone!
I’M ALWAYS HUNGRY 15 MINUTES AFTER I FINISH
Why it’s important to you: You want to be mindful of not offending your guests
Let’s face it, Anne Coulter loves this stuff. On Chris Matthews’ show, she referred to folks at a Trump rally as being significantly diverse. She went on to describe one group of people as Mandarins. To clarify, they were likely Chinese that spoke the Mandarin dialect. Her counterpart, Joy Reid, called her out on it and Coulter responded by telling her, “You won’t police my language.”
It shouldn’t matter what your politics are; you don’t want to follow Ann Coulter down this path. We deal with diversity all the time between the people you employ, your vendors and your guests. Diplomacy is an inherent responsibility of your job. It’s a shame she made such a petty mistake because she certainly had some fair points on current immigration policy. She comes on to the segment at 3:30 and makes her point in about two minutes. You’ll have to watch the video at the bottom of the linked page and decided for yourself.
THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
Why it’s important to you: This happens in restaurants and bars regularly
What would you do if you saw someone slip an unknown substance into a stranger’s drink? For three women in Santa Monica the choice was easy. On Friday night at Fig, in the Fairmont Hotel, these women saw that exact thing happen. While a women at a neighboring table was in the bathroom, her companion spilled something out of a small black vial into her drink. After a short “what should we do” debate, one of them followed the other women into the bathroom to warn her.
Undoubtedly, they did the right thing and saved this unsuspecting woman from a terrible fate. The police were called and arrived to arrest the guy responsible. They also had video surveillance cameras in the restaurant that caught the whole thing. Another disturbing revelation was included in Sonia Ulrich’s Facebook post account of the incident. She claims at least 10 different people in the restaurant shared a personal story, or that of a friend, with the exact same crime.
We have discussed guest security before and it’s a complicated issue. While we can’t be held responsible for a guest’s independent behavior, in this case the restaurant contributed to protecting this woman by providing the video record. Hats off to the women for intervening and to Fig for managing it professionally to a positive outcome.