We’d like to thank Blair Chancey, Editor of QSR Magazine, and her team for coordinating this year’s conference. We enjoyed making new connections with people in the industry and hearing from accomplished, inspirational speakers. What are your concluding thoughts on Dine America 2010?
Archive for September, 2010
Highlights from Dine America’s Legislating Foodservice Panel
Today, restaurants are subject to various forms of foodservice legislation on a daily basis. This has a tremendous impact on businesses—for this reason, it’s of vital importance to understand and acknowledge these legislative issues as an industry.
Ken Cutshaw, EVP, chief legal officer, secretary, and chief compliance officer of the Cajun Operating Company for Churches Chicken moderated the Legislating Foodservice session and introduced the following three panelists:
Charles Hoff: general counsel, Georgia Restaurant Association
Keisha Carter: Carter Political Group & RaZors Consulting
Mike Vaquer: lobbyist, Georgia Restaurant Association; Founder; The Vaquer Firm
Cutshaw opened the session by discussing some vital issues that are currently being addressed not only by the federal government, but by the state government as well. He pointed out that many restaurant owners feel that they have very little impact on legislation and public policy; however, when we come together as restaurant associations or within group conferences, we can make significant changes. Case in point: we’ve seen recent success on the credit card interchange swipe fees.
Interchange Swipe Fees
Charles Hoff commented on this topic by pointing out that the interchange fee has been “the bane of restaurateurs’ existence for three years”. Between 2001 and 2008, costs catapulted from 16 billion to 48 billion—in terms of overall costs, it’s been #3 behind food and labor. Thankfully, the NRA and other organizations joined forces and lobbied against this legislation, which provided some welcome relief. Now, improved legislation stipulates that debit card charges must be “reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing.” Additionally, merchants will have set costs for credit card usage, allowing them to set a $10 minimum purchase amount.
Hoff pointed out that while we’re not quite where we’d like to be with the legislation, it’s a great start.
Card Check Legislation
Cutshaw shifted the conversation to card check legislation, and Keisha Carter explained that this was one of the unions’ biggest pushes in 2008. The legislation would allow employees to go into businesses (mainly retail establishments) with a card, fill it out, check a box, and employers would suddenly find themselves subject to the unionization process. In the next few weeks, we could see a majority shift in Congress, which would delay and possibly deter this proposed legislation. That said, card check legislation isn’t going away, and businesses should educate themselves on how they could be affected by this bill. As it stands, it’s likely that we won’t see this legislation addressed in 2010, or even in 2011.
Menu Labeling with Nutritional Values
Cutshaw introduced the much-discussed topic of menu labeling, and Charles Hoff responded by raising an interesting point: many restaurant chains actually support this legislation. However, issues arise when an uneven patchwork of nutritional policies are put in place. These challenges would be preempted if we could adhere to one uniform regulation, which would allow us some protection from lawsuits and ambiguity. Although the federal government will eventually preempt state regulations, many jurisdictions are taking steps to initiate policies for their own protection.
Mike Vaquer commented on this topic as well, and warned restaurateurs not to rest on their laurels and assume that the issues are being resolved with the federal government’s intervention. He cautioned us to be wary of overzealous food inspectors and regulatory “creeps” who attempt to implement ridiculous stipulations, such as disclosing the origin of species of fish for items on a menu, or indicating the temperature of cooked meat, e.g. medium, well-done, rare, etc. Vaquer encouraged the audience stay vigilant, and to inform and question governmental regulatory figures about imposed regulations that seem questionable.
Keisha Carter urged us to stay involved from a regulatory perspective, and pointed out that currently, the FDA is in a “comment period”, where restaurateurs and other interested parties can go online to fda.gov and communicate their questions and concerns regarding legislation. This sort of proactive involvement applies to our communications with federal legislators and congresspeople as well.
Healthcare Reform
Keisha Carter also contributed valuable advice on the topic of Healthcare Reform, and mentioned the upcoming statewide elections—which serve as a huge opportunity to take advantage of relationships with our insurance commissioners. Carter pointed out that when it comes to regulatory healthcare issues, the restaurant industry is an area that is often ignored. For this reason, it’s important to stay in touch with legislators and stay informed of regulations that may or may not apply to your state.
First Lady Michelle Obama / The Childhood Obesity Pledge
Cutshaw segued from the subject of Healthcare into Michelle Obama’s pledge to make childhood obesity her personal cause. Keisha Carter took on this topic, and explained that the First Lady’s plan to lower the rate of childhood obesity by 5% by the year 2030 is a considerable goal. The logic behind the movement is that healthy children will grow up to be healthy adults, and make healthier food choices.
Keisha mentioned that certain aspects and repercussions of this pledge are reminiscent of the menu labeling issue. For example, the government is essentially asking the industry to self-regulate by stopping the use of certain marketing tools, such as kid-friendly characters to entice children to eat at a particular restaurant. One study revealed that children would be more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables if a fast-food restaurant such as McDonald’s told them to do so. Therefore, many jump to the assumption that the QSR/fast-food industry is responsible for kids’ food choices. Carter mentioned two plan recommendations under discussion:
1) food and beverage industry and the media and entertainment industry jointly adopt meaningful, uniform nutrition standards for marketing food and beverages to children, and establish a uniform standard for what constitutes marketing to children
and…
2) restaurant industry should provide technology to help consumers distinguish between advertising for healthy and unhealthy food and limit their children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertisements
These recommendations are going as far as suggesting that parents will have the ability to set parental guidelines on their televisions and block certain restaurant advertisements. Television food rating systems will come into play, causing parents and children to make healthier choices. Another possible future development is additional taxes on foods considered unhealthy.
Carter made an excellent point: if school systems would stop removing physical education and sports from school programs, children would be far less likely to be at home watching television and eating junk food. As businesses, we need to encourage kids to go out and play by supporting local softball teams, etc.
One of the major takeaways of this session was how crucial it is to maintain constant contact with our legislators. Restaurateurs have the ability to open their doors to fundraising events and thus establish deeper relationships with our legislators. If we join forces by leveraging the power of our associations and organizations, our voices will be heard.
One Foot on a Block of Ice and the Other in a Fire: A Review of Economics with Gene Stanaland
Yesterday we had an enjoyable morning eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts and exploring economics with the second Keynote speaker at Dine America 2010, Gene Stanaland. After warming up with some jokes about the Alabama-Auburn rivalry, he launched into a thorough explanation of Washington’s connection to our economy. He compared the president’s relationship with the economy to a bull rider’s relationship with the bull; while the president may influence some economic policy, ultimately, the economy is another beast. After stressing that politics always come first in Washington, Stanaland explained the source of the housing decline as well as its impact on the recession, and offered details regarding baseline budgeting and sub-prime loans.
Although it’s never pleasant to discuss a recession, Stanaland approached the topic with humor, never dwelling too long on the dismal facts without some comedic relief. (Before listing some averages of unemployment rates, for example, he explained: “Now these are averages; if you have one foot on a block of ice and the other in a fire, on average, you’re comfortable.”) In addition to injecting humor into his presentation, Stanaland left us with some good news—the overall forecast for 2011 is positive, with the economy rising from the depths of this recession by the start of next year. Unemployment will be slow to follow suit, but we should expect improvement from 2010’s 9% unemployment rate by 2013.
To those of you who attended Stanaland’s Keynote presentation, what did you learn and enjoy?
Cheryl Bachelder, President of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Presents at Dine America
Cheryl Bachelder’s presentation was one of the Dine America events that I was eagerly anticipating—I’m sure many conference attendees felt the same. After all, Popeyes is the 2nd largest chicken QSR in the country, and has made great strides since 2008. I was very interested in hearing Bachelder’s formula for success.
Bachelder opened by stating that 2009 was a game-changing year for Popeyes. In a matter of months, the brand achieved the following goals:
- increased guest traffic
- beat competitors
- built and enhanced brand
- provided a significantly better customer experience
- married passion to fact based decision-making process
- moved owner operators to put more money in the bank
- opened new successful restaurants
Popeyes’ success was based on a combination of focus, collaboration, and fact-based decision-making, rendering 2009 a foundational year in their long-term plan. Their menu consists of Cajun Creole packed flavors from regions of America—which differentiates them as a QSR brand that offers only the highest quality, best tasting food.
Popeyes is headquartered in Atlanta, and now has over 1900 restaurants with 26 international locations, including Asia, Canada, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Bachelder stated that Popeyes is feeling very confident as they look towards the future, and by all accounts, they have good reason to be optimistic, as their results distinguish them from the rest of the industry. Through the 2nd quarter of this year, Popeyes outpaced the overall results of the QSR category in sales, and they outpaced the cQSR for the ninth consecutive quarter. Their domestic same store sales in 2009 were positive as compared to overall QSR same store sales figures, which were negative. These positive figures and percentages have continued into 2010. Additionally, Popeyes’ guest traffic has been extremely strong, and resulted in a dramatic increase in their market share.
So—what’s the reason for this considerable momentum? The answer to this is related to Popeyes finding themselves at a major crossroads in November of 2008—a time period that coincided with the realization that the brand was failing miserably in several areas. Bachelder referred to this time frame as “The Brutal Reality”, and pinpointed the major issues as negative sales and traffic, poor service, margin pressure, and no metrics or measurement system to track success.
Popeyes was forced to take a hard, cold look at the facts, and compelled to make a major decision: should they view the recession as a sign of danger, or as one of opportunity? Clearly, the brand chose the latter and embarked on a plan titled “Road Map For Results”. Rather than shying away from the risks and fears of the economic downturn, they accelerated their plan, believed in it, and never looked back.
Bacheleder went on to describe the four major pillars of their plan:
1) Build a distinct, real brand: a brand must resonate with its customers. Popeyes’ tagline: “Food so good, you can’t wait to eat.” The food is intended to summon a Cajun, culinary, authentic, superior experience. Popeyes immersed themselves in understanding their guests through traveling around the country and interviewing customers. “Grow market share” became the mantra; they placed emphasis on streamlining design and adjusted their fractured messaging. Last, they pinpointed “Annie” as the Popeyes brand ambassador, and featured her in commercials and marketing collateral.
2) Run great restaurants: “Service so good, you want to come back.” The brand established a GEM, or Guest Experience Monitor, and guests would use their phones to call in and take a survey while their experience was fresh in their minds. Service with speed: Popeyes tracked drive-thru times, and began running quarterly business reviews with restaurant owners.
3) Strengthen unit economics: profits so good that franchisees love the business as much as the food. Constantly be building a strong business case to build more restaurants, both domestically and internationally. Measure, track, and collect information—no more guessing
4) Ramp up unit growth: Popeyes embraced an international, strategic plan.
95 units opened globally; locations include Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the Cayman Islands. Countries have embraced the colorful culture, flavorful food and authenticity of the brand.
According to Bacheleder, the foundational tenet behind the four pillars of Popeyes’ plan is to align people and resources across the company. The brand developed a new culture of partnership focused on honest dialogue and mutual trust, increased the frequency and quality of their daily communications, and has taken steps to accurately measure franchisee satisfaction. Without a doubt, Popeyes is reaping the rewards of their efforts; recently, QSR magazine named them as “One of Ten Great Franchise Deals”, and their name recognition has increased along with their overall momentum.
As far as 2010 is concerned, Bacheleder shared the good with the bad. The bad: the economy is proving to be slow to rebound, and unemployment rates continue to be high. The good: we’re seeing vitality in various segments, and franchisees are ready to grow. Throughout all of this, Popeyes will continue to move forward, innovate, grow market share, develop strong unit economics and growth, and hire capable operators.
It was virtually impossible not to be inspired by the story of Popeyes and their journey to success. Their story is a testament to the fact that brands and organizations can overcome any challenge by establishing a solid brand, practicing stellar customer service, and viewing obstacles as opportunities.
For those of you who attended Bachelder’s presentation, I’d like to hear hear your thoughts. Were you equally inspired by the Popeyes story?
Cheryl Bachelder, President of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Shares Insight on Women Leadership and Social Media
We’re thankful to Cheryl for taking time with us after her informative presentation to share a few more insights. Our next post will feature highlights from her presentation.
Quiznos Franchise Owner Idris Talib’s Experience at Dine America
What did you enjoy most at Dine America?
The Digital Panacea: Our Takeaway from the Price Is Right Session at Dine America
Yesterday I attended “The Price is Right” breakout session at Dine America. I expected the conversation to focus on discounting and the impact it is having on the industry, umbrella pricing strategies, pricing anchors and other relevant and tangible issues operators are facing today. Instead of discussing these topics, the session evolved into a conversation about the benefits of digital menu boards.
Digital menu boards were presented as the solution for everything from enabling regional or market specific pricing and product mix to product testing through limited tests, to solving for the complexity of caloric disclosure legislation implementation. Rather than throwing a digital menu board at any and every business problem or challenge, we recommend that a business start with the question: “What business issue are we looking to solve?”
Implementing and installing digital menu boards can be expensive for the average franchisee, and it may not be the most cost-effective means of accomplishing your goal. All of the scenarios I mentioned above can be effectively managed through fairly basic location and item attribute profiling, the core of our own Intelligent Profiling solutions. We conduct Intelligent Profiling today for a number of our existing clients and it can be done quickly, cost effectively and with a high degree of agility and adaptability to the changing business environment.
A digital menu board solution might be the right answer for you, but before you make any investment, make sure you’re solving the right problem.
Highlights from The Silver Tsunami Dine America Session
According to the panelists in The Silver Tsunami session, by the year 2012, 1 out of every 3 employees will be over the age of 50. Consequently, when it comes to hiring, it’s important for franchisees to be aware of this sizeable demographic.
This session was moderated by Blair Chancey, editor of QSR Magazine, and featured the following panelists:
Brent Alvord: president, Lenny’s sub shop
Mike Amos: franchise consultant for Perkins and Marie Callendar
Barry Flink: executive vice president & partner; Flex HR
Interestingly, the panel and moderator represented all four of today’s generations: X, Y, baby boomer, and senior citizen. In the opening discussion, Barry Flink noted that today’s work force is somewhat “schizophrenic”, with its representation of multiple generations. The new reality is that baby boomers now make up a much larger percentage of the work force. This is due to a number of factors, such as boomers being unable to collect social security as early as they once could, and improvements in medicine, causing them to be healthier and more active.
Blair Chancey, the panel moderator, posed the question, “What challenges does a workforce consisting of four generations pose?” In reply, Mike Amos stated that today, it’s not uncommon for a 20-year-old to supervise a 79-year-old employee. Business owners must also work around differences in understanding regarding technology and communications.
When the panel conversation steered towards exactly why baby boomers are such valuable employees, the following points were addressed:
- the group tends to be comfortable in positions of authority
- 300 people an hour are retiring—of those 300, 83% will continue to work in some capacity
- baby boomers/ retirees seek mental stimulation and seek challenges
- they often have accumulated savings, and can afford to become franchisees and/or obtain financing
- they like to have influence, and leave a lasting legacy to their children/grandchildren
- they wish to be a positive influence on the X&Y generations
Blair also posed the question, “How do you keep the new generations motivated?” Barry Flink replied by pointing out the importance of listening, and finding out exactly what motivates people. We have the tendency to stereotype and assume that we understand people’s motivations, whether it’s money, promotions, etc. and this isn’t always the case.
In response to the question, “How do you find potential baby boomer employees?” the panel named churches, newspapers, and your place of business (patrons) as potential sources for recruiting.
One interesting and recurring point from the panel was the difference in motivation from generation to generation. This isn’t to say that the X and Y generations are unmotivated; however, the panelists were of the opinion that the baby boomer and senior citizen generations are especially motivated, and they tend to take extra pride in what they do. They’re often driven by recognition and rewards, and they feel an extra sense of responsibility to their customers and employers.
In summary, the three final takeaways of the session were:
1) baby boomers and senior citizens are motivated by more than just money
2) individualized, focused training in the workplace is key (there are many different levels of ability and technological understanding)
3) establishing goals, recognition, and reward is crucial
If you also attended the Silver Tsunami session, I’d like to hear your reactions to the session. What stood out for you?
Tamy Duplantis from CrunchTime! Shares her Thoughts on Dine America
We got some great feedback from Tamy Duplantis – a Dine America attendee – about her experience at Dine America 2010 so far. How are you enjoying the show?
Joe Tortorice of Jason’s Deli: Practicing Servant Leadership
One of the first sessions of Dine America featured Joe Tortorice, the CEO and founder of Jason’s Deli. From the start of his presentation, his passion for his business and even more importantly, his employees, was palpable.
Jason’s Deli is known for having extremely low turnover and high employee loyalty—for this reason, I was eager to hear Joe’s insights on the keys to success in the fast-casual business.
Tortorice opened by pointing out that many companies have the tendency to kill the employee spirit and energy that made them successful to begin with by installing overbearing processes. The overriding goal of a business should be to help the company grow up, yet still stay young at heart. A crucial component to achieving this goal is to concentrate fully on company culture. While company culture can be challenging to build, once it’s established, it has remarkable powers of survival and is the nourishment of a living organization.
According to Tortorice, company culture is a collection of values that create an ambience within a business—the stronger the culture, the greater the volunteerism. Some prime examples of organizations and teams with winning cultures are the Yankees, with 27 world championships, and the Marine Corps, with their Semper Fi (always faithful) credo. A company’s culture and DNA inspires passion in employees, and moves them to do a great job.
Tortorice mentioned that business theorists say that the life of a corporation should be 2-3 centuries; however, in reality the average lifespan of a company is 20-40 years. Why do so many companies die young? Per Tortorice, they forget that an organization is a community of human beings. The key word is managers, i.e. the command in control. We need more leadership vision to facilitate alignment, motivation, and change. Today, people are incredibly fearful. Employees are exposed to so much fear and negativity, that by the time they get to work, they’re like deer in headlights.
Tortorice introduced the term, “servant leadership”—a concept that he is clearly passionate about. In his opinion, this is the key to success in business. Servant leadership consists of empowerment through high-trust company cultures. It implies that you must love those that you lead before you can become an effective leader.
He went on to outline the 8 character values of a servant leader:
- patience
- kindness
- humility
- respect
- selflessness
- forgiveness
- honesty
- commitment
Tortorice stated that 99% of all leadership failures are failures of character values. At Jason’s Deli, their culture is a combination of core values and servant leadership. The first responsibility of leadership is to reinforce and model these core values. Employees seek 3 key things: 1) set leadership (authority is influence, but it can breed fear), 2) vision (without vision, people lose hope), and 3) removal of obstacles. Further, leadership should incorporate direction, trust, and hope.
I think it’s fair to say that Tortorice succeeded in inspiring everyone in the audience. His dedication to his employees, along with his servant leadership methodology has clearly been instrumental in the success of Jason’s Deli. It was refreshing to hear a speaker present and place such emphasis on the importance of employee respect, support, and equality. When one of the audience members asked if there should be a limit to employee commitment, Tortorice simply replied, “No.” He then went on to describe the friendships he’s forged with his employees and coworkers, and said that these types of relationships simply don’t require such limitations.
I’m interested in hearing from those of you who attended this session. What are your thoughts on the messages that were presented?
Joe Tortorice from Jason’s Deli at Dine America
Before his talk at Dine America 2010, CEO of Jason’s Deli, Joe Tortorice, gives us a glimpse into his presentation about creating a culture more focused on people than expansion. Look out for our follow-up post about the rest of his points.
Sneak Peek at Keynote Speech from Gene Stanaland, Economist and Speaker at Dine America 2010
Gene Stanaland has been aptly named the “Will Rogers of Economics”, and is as personable on the phone as he is in front of a conference hall full of people. His friendliness comes as no surprise—after all, a man who balances one of the nations most intense college rivalries, University of Alabama vs. Auburn University, must be personable. (More about his allegiance later in the post.) With humor and wit, Stanaland analyzes and explains economics to audiences from industries ranging from food service to healthcare.
In our phone call, Stanaland gave me a glimpse into the points he’ll be covering in his keynote presentation at Dine America 2010. He’ll be detailing what brands of all sizes can expect from the economy and Washington in the year to come. Beginning with the Washington factor, he’ll expound on the influence our government has on the economy, and we’ll learn about Washington’s connection to both consumer and businesses’ spending psychologies.
In our conversation, Stanaland made an excellent point regarding the role of psychology in economics today. According to him, a large component of the economic downturn is psychological—if we could improve or alter public perception and alleviate much of the fear surrounding the recession, it would have a major impact on our ability to recover.
I was excited to hear that he’ll answer a question we’ve all asked: “How did we get into this mess?” In response, Stanaland will delve into the housing decline, and then go into further detail about causes and effects.
He’ll conclude with an economic forecast for the remainder of this year and 2011, a prediction based on quarter-by-quarter analyses of how the economy has progressed since the housing decline. A hint at his conclusions: while we’ll improve in other areas, unemployment will still be a challenge, with rates hovering around 9% in 2011.
Now, back to that Alabama-Auburn rivalry: after attaining both his MBA and Ph.D. at Alabama, Stanaland served Auburn’s Department of Economics for 20 years. So, when football season starts, he heads to his undergraduate alma mater, Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama to seek out neutral ground.
I’d like to extend thanks to Gene Stanaland for allowing me to take a sneak peek into the topic(s) of his keynote presentation—after speaking with him, I’m certainly looking forward to hearing more.
Synq Solutions at Dine America: An Introduction
This year, we’re proud to be a sponsor of the Dine America conference in Atlanta, featuring the topic “Successful Strategies for the New Decade.” In this video, I discuss our role with the event in more detail:
Good Eats in Atlanta
We are excited to welcome you to Atlanta for Dine America 2010. There is a packed schedule, but if you have some down time and want to grab a drink or some great food, here are our favorite picks.
Buckhead is home to some of Atlanta’s finest restaurants. Craft, world-renowned Chef Tom Collichio’s restaurant, is located directly across the street from the Buckhead Westin on Peachtree Street. You may be familiar with Craft in NYC – we can assure you, Atlanta’s Craft is equally exquisite. Bluepointe, which is in walking distance as well, features modern American cuisine with a hint of Asian flavor. If you want to jump in a cab, Chops Lobster Bar and Steakhouse is about a mile or so from the hotel, right next to the new St. Regis on West Paces. Grab a cocktail and check out the scene at the St. Regis, then head to Chops to enjoy outstanding steak and seafood.
Are you an Atlanta native or someone who frequents our city? We’d love to hear about some of your favorite spots. Looking forward to seeing you at Dine America 2010!
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