Quandt’s Foodservice Distributors

A few weeks ago, Richie from Rich’s stopped by to give us some samples of their gluten free pizza crusts.  Now, for the unenlightened, you may be thinking- Hey! Where’s the flour?!  But the truth of this product is in a story Richie told us.

Though kids don’t carry the family wallet, they still exert plenty of financial influence in the dining arena. From burger joints and pizzerias to sandwich shops and fast-casual chains, restaurants across the country have clamored for their slice of the kids’ menu pie with targeted offerings and a kid-centric vibe.
Today, the kids’ menu remains a compelling—if not necessary—restaurant program. With attractive dining options and an equally pleasing kid-friendly environment, many operations are wooing families and their influential youngsters through the doors—and reaping profits for their efforts.

February Brings Lots Of Reasons To Celebrate!
Start planning your promotions now for the holidays in February that will have your customers looking for a place to celebrate!

Super Bowl Sunday – Sunday, February 1: If your establishment has a bar and a big screen TV or several screens, consider hosting a Super Bowl Party. Offer a buffet and beer at a discount to bring in the patrons! Serve wings, subs, pizza, and other traditional football fare and you’ve got a ready-made tailgate party!

Valentine’s Day – Saturday, February 14: Create the ambiance for a romantic dinner for two. Include a fine wine selection and delectable desserts. Consider a special Valentine’s Day menu for that day and include two or three choices of appetizers, salads, entrees, specialty coffees and desserts. Perhaps give a long-stemmed red rose to all female patrons to make the event extra special. End the evening with two mints when presenting the check. This kind of attention to detail earns repeat business!

The most important decision we wever make in the restaurant business is who we choose to let in the doors to take care of our customers.  Every time we hire a new employee, we put a lot on the line.

Just one bad decision costs a lot in terms of time and money, but a bad hiring decision will also cost in terms of lost productivity, efficiency, poor customer service and teamwork too.  The on thing a bad hire is guaranteed to give you is more aggravation.

How would you feel if you were robbed of $1000?  And not just once, but 12 or 15 times a year? Did you know that every time a frontline, hourly employee quits or is fired, that the cost to recruit, interview, hire and train a new person will be at least 150 times that person’s hourly wage?

Losing a minimum wage employee in Texas costs at least $1200 while in California it subracts a whopping $1375 from the bottom line — and, as the minimum wage and training costs increase, these numbers are just going to keep going up.

Have you ever figured out how much your store loses each time someone is fired or quits?  Here’s a ballpark example where we assume only eight new hires in a year at only a $7.00 an hour wage.

Calculation: $7.00 Hourly Wage x 150 Minimum Cost to Rehire & Train = $1,050 Lost Each Time Someone Quits or is Fired.

$1,050 x 8 Hourly Hires Lost Last Year = $8,400 Lost Last Year

Let’s look at it another way… IF we assume a 5% net profit, you have to sell $168,000 worth of hot dogs, fries, and drinks just to cover your yearly cost of turnover.  And, if your average ticket is $8.00, it means you have to do 1,500 transactions per month to cover these costs.

In today’s world it is going to be a lot easier to reduce turnover than to increase customer counts.

So don’t focus on trunover focus on retention.  Turnover is number based.  Retention is activity based.