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Patrice & Associates Update on COVID and the Hospitality Industry Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases, told Robin Roberts of ABC News in Mid-November “the calvary is coming here. Vaccines are going to have a major positive impact.” Dr Fauci, a trusted top adviser, sees the vaccine  having a significant affect on curbing the pandemic.   This combined with thoughtful mask wearing means that we see an abatement of this pandemic within 4-6 months.  Hopefully at that point, life will return to “normal.” There is no question the hospitality industry has been hit the hardest in the last…

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How Restaurants are Preparing for the New Normal In talking with our clients there seems to be a common thread in everyone's thoughts.  They want to transition back to normality.  This transition would be a gradual reopening of restaurants whereas festivals and ball parks may take longer. The pandemic has encouraged many restaurants who had not considered take-out to start offering it. Online ordering systems and third-party delivery apps have made this an increasingly realistic prospect. Restaurants should have a dedicated "staging area" for carry-out as many guests want to preserve the dining experience.  A separate entrance would be optimal. …

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The Hospitality Industry is embracing what may be a permanent “new norm”.  Extra sanitizing, gloves and masks are making for a safer experience as many guests prefer to dine-in.  Carry out has been a interim solution but to me, even a great steak doesn’t taste the same in Styrofoam. Many restaurants are re-staffing and looking to Hospitality Recruiters for help locate top talent.  Not all furloughed workers want to return to their job.  This paid time off, with unemployment, gave them the ability to explore their options. Restaurant Recruiters play a big part in re-staffing their hospitality clients. Many are…

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Article shared courtesy of NRN.com Joanna Fantozzi | Oct 02, 2020   The Online Accessibility Act — legislation that was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday by Reps. Ted Budd, (R-N.C.) and Lou Correa, (D-Calif.) — would officially extend the Americans with Disabilities Act to consumer-facing digital accessibility. Under the extension of the ADA, businesses would have to make their websites and apps accessible to the visually impaired. Currently, the law only applies to “public accommodations,” which only extends to physical locations. “Retailers want to serve all customers, and that includes those who are blind or visually…

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Article shared courtesy of NRN.com Image shared from article courtesy of Getty Images Entertainment Restaurant sales improved again in August. But even though August’s same-store sales growth is the best result for the industry since February, it revealed a slowdown in the pace of restaurant recovery. This latest Black Box Intelligence™ data suggests that in upcoming months, and likely into 2021, the recovery will continue to look more like a sluggish climb instead of the rebound to pre-coronavirus sales levels we’d all like to see. Although the economy is recovering, millions of people remain unemployed, extended government relief packages are still…

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Article shared courtesy of NRN.com New CEO Darin Harris discussed how the company quickly pivoted during the coronavirus pandemic to come out on top at a rough time for the industry Joanna Fantozzi | Aug 06, 2020 Jack in the Box reported a 6.6% increase in same-store sales to round out a strong third quarter ended July 5, 2020, despite the company’s “substantial decline in traffic.” New CEO Darin Harris — who just came on board in June, replacing Leonard Comma, who announced his exit in December — attributed the company’s positive results, even with COVID-19-related traffic struggles, to average check growth of…

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Fast-casual restaurant brand credits digital sales as it opens more ghost kitchens Ron Ruggless | Jul 29, 2020 Wingstop Inc., with its reliance on digital delivery and carry-out sales, excelled amid coronavirus pandemic restrictions with a 31.9% increase in domestic same-store sales in the second quarter, the company said Wednesday. The Dallas-based fast-casual brand, in releasing earnings for the second quarter ended June 27, said the sales gains, which were on top of a 12.8% same-store sales increase in the same quarter last year, pushed average unit volumes to near $1.4 million amid favorable wing commodity prices. “The topline momentum in our…

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A study of Bank of America credit card spending since March emphasizes the widened gap between recovery for large restaurant chains and small businesses Joanna Fantozzi | Jul 10, 2020 National restaurant chains have largely recovered from the detrimental effects of plummeting consumer spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study of credit card spending from March to July 4 from Bank of America. The research compares the expenditures trajectory between large restaurant chains and the rest of the restaurant industry (which includes small chains and independent restaurants). At the beginning of March just before pandemic-related lockdowns had started to be implemented, consumer…

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This article is shared courtesy of NRN.com and can be found at the following link: https://www.nrn.com/marketing/restaurants-rise-how-marketing-changing-post-covid-19-world Written by Joanna Fantozzi - June 8' 2020 As consumer confidence and priorities change, so should restaurant strategies. What might have worked as an on-brand marketing message before the pandemic hit could be tone-deaf or miss the mark in what has become a changed industry. On day four of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality’s Restaurants Rise digital summit, Chris Hollander, chief marketing officer of Panera Bread, and Gje Greene-Wallace, director of marketing for 20-unit, Texas-based seafood chain Fish City Grill and sister concept…

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This article is shared from nrn.com and was written Mark Hamstra | May 29, 2020 https://www.nrn.com/restaurants-ready/al-fresco-dining-becomes-solution-full-service-restaurants In states and cities where the lifting of dine-in restrictions is still potentially weeks away, outdoor dining has increasingly become a bridge solution for full-service restaurants. Perhaps spurred by growing evidence that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 does not spread as easily outdoors in fresh air, some states — including Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and others — have either limited full-service restaurants to al fresco dining only or specifically encouraged restaurants to serve guests outdoors in their reopening plans. Related: CDC…

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