I first heard of Broken Windows Theory in the book Freakonomics. A synopsis of the theory is that there are social norms and expectations of how things are supposed to be. When expectations aren’t met then society reacts poorly by lashing out. The example that is commonly cited is an empty building in a city, if …
June 2015
Free mobile app to reduce wait times
I caught this article on Fast Casual about another consumer mobile app aimed at speeding up guest turn around times. Split is an app designed to allow consumers to pre-order takeout, pay bills and split checks from their smartphones. They boast that it’s free. I’m guessing it’s free for consumers, but restaurants have to pay to …
Multi-unit Franchising is Growing in Popularity
Great article in the June 2015 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, Why Mulit-Unit Franchise Ownership is now the Norm. These are the points that I found most interesting: Multi-unit franchisees—those who can buy the territory for several units and build them over a relatively short period of time. Over the past decade, there has been a …
St. Louis and Kansas City face citywide minimum wage mandates
Got the article below emailed to me from the Missouri Restaurant Association regarding minimum wage mandates being proposed for the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City. Like many cities/states across the country the push for $15/hour minimum wage is gaining momentum in MO as well. The bills being proposed in MO seem to be …
Let’s take a look at your temp logs and line checks
Depending on where you operate, the first thing that the local health inspector will ask for when they show up randomly is something to the tune of “let’s take a look at your temp logs and line checks for the past month”. Depending on how organized your operations are this can be an easy …
Restaurant Slammed Out Of Nowhere
There’s a great article in The Onion talking about a scary situation where Martha’s Cafe in Fayetteville, AR all of a sudden got super busy on a random Tuesday. Apparently 30 people showed up all at once and the mayhem ensued. It was a situation where nobody, even the manager, expected this to happen in the slightest …
Same-store sales bump up restaurant index
Restaurant performance continues positive growth. An article on Food Business News highlights the recent Restaurant Performance Index and Current Situation Index stats from April. Here are a few of the stats that stuck out to me: 71% of restaurant operators reported a same-store sales gain between April 2014 and April 2015 The 71% of restaurant operators …