saladplate - 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers - Page 7

4 min

Why catering can drive growth from holiday feasts to everyday celebrations

🍽 Toast's 2024 survey showed 48% of restaurant decision-makers plan to prioritize catering in the next 12 months. In Q4 2023, catering orders increased before Thanksgiving and peaked in the first three weeks of December. Weekday orders were higher, especially Tuesdays (+25%) and Wednesdays (+26%), while weekend orders declined, with Saturdays 36% and Sundays 53% below the weekly average. Bakery items comprised 32% of Q4 2023 catering orders. The catering industry is projected to grow at a 6.2% compound annual growth rate, reaching $124 billion by 2032. Toast conducted their survey from May 17 to June 2, 2024, with a +/- 4% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval.

2 min

Stickers stick the landing in restaurant marketing

👤 Dutch Bros Inc. has a Facebook page with over 60,000 followers for sticker drops. 📅 Since 1999, stickers have been a key part of Dutch Bros' marketing, with designs becoming collectors' items. 📍 Dutch Bros, headquartered in Grants Pass, Ore., operates 950 locations across 18 states as of September 30. 📊 Customers collect stickers from Dutch Bros shops on the first Wednesday of each month and through the Dutch Rewards program on their app.

4 min

Tech Tracker: Can technology fix mobile pickup chaos at coffee and salad chains?

📈 Pickpad, a tech startup, is preparing for its initial full-scale pilot test in Chicago, offering POS-integrated solutions for foodservice pickup accuracy and customer notification with a "phygital" display. Integrated with Square, it aims to streamline restaurant operations. Meanwhile, Starfish, a software-as-a-service company launched in October, provides supply chain traceability without blockchain technology, already partnered with IBM Food Trust. Yelp recently launched AI-powered review insights for restaurant operators and predicts voice AI will grow from a $10 billion to a $49 billion industry by 2029, with 71% of operators considering AI implementation.

1 min

Why Governance and Policy are Important, Even for Small Businesses

🌎 Amid worsening climate and biodiversity crises, with growing customer concern and stricter global environmental legislation, businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of codifying sustainability in governance and policies, encompassing both environmental and social impacts.

2 min

Let’s Bust These 8 Sustainability Myths For Good!

🌱 Responsible sourcing in hospitality requires focusing on the ethical and minimal impact sources, starting at the supply chain's beginning. Third-party certifications like Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, MSC blue tick, and organic certification help manage reputational and financial risks, especially with high-risk ingredients such as avocados, chillies, citrus, cocoa, coffee, nuts, palm oil, seafood, or soy. Certifications, while imperfect due to costs and admin barriers for small farmers, are still crucial for maintaining transparency, ensuring fair treatment of workers, avoiding greenwashing, and meeting customer demands for transparency.

1 min

How to Make Your Wine List More Sustainable

🍷 Sustainable wine practices prioritize fair labor and social responsibility, with a focus on community well-being. Ania favors honest, passionate, often family-run vineyards over large corporations. Flat Earth Pizzas echoes this sentiment, valuing integrity, environmental respect, and minimal intervention, alongside supporting women winemakers. Candover Brook is highlighted for its community involvement, employing up to 60 people seasonally, aiming for increased local engagement. Smaller brands are associated with higher quality due to fewer stabilizers and additives compared to large-scale producers.

1 min

VITIS Is A First-Of-Its-Kind Wine Bar In Singapore That celebrates Asian Winemaking

Author: Priyanka C. Agarwal Priyanka is a writer, editor and storyteller. Her words have appeared on the print and online pages of The South China Morning Post, SilverKris, Her World,…

E-Magazine Issue #8

3 min

Higher prices aren’t the only reason QSRs are losing traffic

💸 Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) have been losing traffic for over a year due to high menu prices, with inflation in the limited-service sector outpacing the general Consumer Price Index. The 2024 QSR Reputation Ranking by Chatmeter shows customer service issues on the rise: mistakes in orders (+7%), negative staff attitudes (+22%), and manager behavior (+15%). Slow service complaints increased by 8.5%, particularly from digital customers, with "online" mentioned in 24.5% of reviews and "mobile" in 52%. Despite a 19% increase in customer service complaints, pricing issues are still significant, with "overpriced" mentions up by 43% year-over-year. Chick-fil-A leads in overall reputation, followed by Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, and Arby’s, while KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Jimmy John’s, and Subway rank lowest out of 25. Chatmeter analyzed Google Reviews of 100 locations per restaurant using AI sentiment analysis.

2 min

Restaurant concepts are driving shopping malls’ comeback

🍝 Mall visits, including indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls, are on the rise, with Q1 2024 visits to open-air centers surpassing 2019 levels for the first time post-pandemic. Data from Yelp shows a 7% growth in restaurant concepts in malls from 2019 to 2024, with bubble tea store numbers shooting up by 113%. Top mall food brands by consumer interest include Cheesecake Factory, Din Tai Fung, and BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse. Other growing food categories are waffles (up 77%), vegan food (54%), and Filipino food (36%).

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