BOOK: Gideon's Promise Provides a New Perspective on Criminal Justice Reform
If you have kept up with the news surrounding criminal justice nationally, you may have read about reforms that are becoming popular. These changes -- like eliminating cash bail and not pursuing criminal charges for people caught using drugs -- are positive steps in our system of justice. However, they will never replace having a good lawyer.
I bring this up because, many of you employ team members that, if charged with a crime, would never be able to afford to pay for effective representation. I don’t know about you, but I have lost a few quality staffers over the years because our system is broken and not because these folks deserved to be prosecuted. This is why I want to tell you about a book that is set to be released on May 5th by my dear friend Jonathan Rapping called, Gideon’s Promise: A Public Defender Movement to Transform Criminal Justice.
DID YOU KNOWS…
KFC Crocs
KFC continues its bizarre marketing ploys. But ya gotta hand it to them – it works. Their latest campaign includes the unholy union of fried chicken and CROCS. That’s right, there are KFCROCS. The CROCS feature fried chicken print and striped base and a pair of Jibbitz charms made to resemble and smell like fried chicken. Who doesn’t want their feet to smell like that, right? This is a real product slated for release in Spring 2020.
US Household Debt Tops $14 Million for the First Time
Total household debt in the United States, including mortgages, auto loans, credit card and student debt, climbed to $14.15 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2019, eclipsing the previous peak at the height of the great recession in Q3 2008 by $1.5 trillion in nominal terms. That’s according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Report on Household Debt and Credit, which also shows that the delinquency rate, in this case the percentage of the total household debt balance that is at least 30 days past due, is significantly lower than it was back then (4.7% vs. a peak of 11.9% at the end of 2009), indicating that today’s debt burden isn’t as worrisome.
Are You Ready for the Hard Seltzer Festival?
Move over Oktoberfest, there’s a new booze party in town. It’s called Seltzer Land and it’s a hard seltzer festival. The festival will tour nine US cities in 2020 and will unite all the major hard seltzer players together like some twisted Justice League spin-off. More info here.
WHATYA HIDING?
Why it matters to you: Should you expose your pricing online?
We regularly feature content from Eater.com, the food-based site that does surprisingly good editorial work and features all things food (and other stuff). A post on their homepage recently blared, “Dear Expensive Restaurants: Stop Posting Online Menus Without Prices” and I want to address their comments and maybe see how you all feel about this question. To start, it may be that fine dining joints are more likely to change their prices on a regular basis. It may also be that they assume you can afford the place before you go. Either of these reasons can be impeached (yup, I used that right), but that doesn’t resolve the question.
We happen to agree that ALL restaurants should make their prices clear on any online platform they are listed. Your guests deserve to make an informed decision about their visit to your restaurant and have a right to know what they will pay before they arrive -- especially if your prices are high. We are happy to flip the “if you can’t afford it” rationale to, why would you want to dupe a guest that may not be able to afford your restaurant? If your prices are high because you offer an extraordinary food experience, then you should have no reason to hide them. But not all restaurants are the same. So, if you have a different opinion, please share it in the comments below.
[Source: Eater]
RESTAURANTS ARE POP-IN
Why it matters to you: Break the mundane and explore if a pop-up restaurant is for you.
Do you find the concept as intriguing as we do? The idea that a restaurant could reinvent itself for a weekend has to be attractive to talented folks in our industry. The total lack of constraint that is experienced when not saddled with the expectations and character of your current restaurant must be electrifying. If you have ever yearned to do something different the pop-up restaurant is a wonderful salve to your mundane restaurant operational experience. This primer on the history and possibilities of pop-up dining is a terrific starting point on determining if this is for you.
According to Toast POS’s piece, the pop-up restaurant has its roots in the “Supper Club” where restaurants would also serve as exclusive social clubs. This eventually gave way to the “underground restaurant” which were closed-door restaurants, where famous chefs would cook food out of their home for the masses — or at least those who were in the know about the event.
All of this then leads to a terrific pros and cons discussion whether a pop-up is for you. They also go over terrific examples of pop-ups that deserve your attention if you decide to move forward with creating your own pop-up restaurant. The idea of breaking the mold of your restaurant by either hosting a pop-up experience or doing one off site is certainly thrilling, but in the end, it’s still operations. So, do your homework and maybe, just maybe, you can actually play at being the restaurant no one knows you want to be. ;-)
[Source: Toast POS]