Category: Foodservice

Discover the dynamic world of food and beverage services, where industry trends, consumer preferences, and innovative practices come together to shape the dining experience. This category covers all aspects of the food service industry, from quick-service restaurants and fine dining establishments to catering, hospitality, and food delivery services. Stay informed on the latest developments in menu innovation, service models, technology adoption, and customer engagement strategies that are driving the evolution of food and beverage services.

Who’s News in Catering for May 11, 2024

Hott Off the Presses

As part of its on-going commitment to economic inclusivity, Oak View Group (OVG), the global leader in live experience venue development, management, premium hospitality services, and 360-degree solutions, today announced the addition of Crowns & Hops, the prominent Inglewood-based, Black-owned brewing company, to its companywide supplier diversity program. The partnership is designed to assist Crowns & Hops in showcasing its beverages at select OVG properties. As the official food and beverage provider of the LA County Fair, OVG Hospitality will host students from Cal-Poly Pomona in a Chef Cook-Off to create innovative dishes paired with Crowns & Hops’ signature brew, 8 Trill Pils, at the Fair on Sunday, May 12 at 11 a.m. OVG Hospitality’s Chef Juan Hurtado and General Manager Bill Cheek, both of Acrisure Arena, and Crowns & Hops’ CEO & Co-Founder Beny Ashburn will serve as judges. The winner will earn an internship opportunity with OVG Hospitality’s Executive Chef David Harvie at Acrisure Arena’s kitchen in Greater Palm Springs, CA, and a custom chef coat, apron, and hat. The OVG Supplier Diversity Program aims to foster economic inclusivity by making OVG’s supply chain more diverse by encouraging the participation of vendors historically overlooked while ensuring a positive impact is made in the communities where OVG operates. The program champions community empowerment by providing opportunities for underrepresented business to thrive and contribute to local economies.

ExCeL London, together with its long-standing catering partner Levy UK + Ireland, have announced a new partnership with food environmental data experts, Foodsteps, to help reduce the embodied carbon emissions in the millions of dishes its in-house team of chefs create and serve every year. Levy, the sports and entertainment arm of Compass Group UK & Ireland, has been ExCeL’s catering partner since the Royal Docks venue first opened in 2000, and has been putting food and drink at the heart of its 400 events and four million annual visitors ever since. Foodsteps is the leading food sustainability data experts, who aid food businesses to measure, report, reduce and communicate their food footprint. Foodsteps will provide the kitchen and operational teams at ExCeL with detailed, UK-specific data on the lifecycle footprint of its produce, allowing the team to design lower carbon recipes. In addition, the partnership also includes a new customer-facing labelling system – using Foodsteps’ A (very low) to E (very high) rating – which will help visitors and event organisers make more climate conscious food choices. The move is one of several steps introduced at ExCeL, with its partner Levy, on its roadmap to becoming Net Zero, including having at least 50% of its menus serving plant-based options, sourcing 100% recyclable or reusable packaging and reducing kitchen food waste to under 1%.

Feast Your Eyes (Feast) is thrilled to announce their new exclusive catering partnership with Radnor Hunt, one of Chester County’s most cherished country institutions. This agreement took effect May 1, 2024. As the exclusive caterer, Feast will work to revamp and elevate Radnor Hunt’s private events program, marketing it as a premier venue destination for all special occasions. This partnership marks an exciting extension of Feast Your Eyes’ footprint throughout the Main Line, an opportunity that will leverage Feast’s diverse culinary background with a taste of Philly food trends.

Accolades

The International Caterers Association Educational Foundation (ICAEF) has recently announced the recipients of its inaugural grants, awarding $10,000 each to Kids Feeding Kids and Gather and Grow. These programs stand out for their exceptional efforts in promoting food awareness within their respective communities. This initiative reflects ICAEF’s ongoing commitment to bolster education, charity, and community engagement within the hospitality industry. “The grant provides vital support to programs like these, enabling them to enhance curriculum development, fund educational events, facilitate instructor training, and produce educational materials,” explains Lon Lane, Immediate Past Chairman of the ICAEF. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Kids Feeding Kids is an offshoot of Pete’s Garden, a food recovery program established by Tamara Weber. In 2021, Weber launched Kids Feeding Kids with initial funding from Patrick Mahomes. The program’s mission is to educate students about food access and sustainability while empowering them to make a positive impact in their community. Through Kids Feeding Kids, students prepare and distribute up to 1,000 free, take-home family dinners, fostering both learning and community service. Gather and Grow, located in Phoenix, Arizona, is spearheaded by President Greg Brownell. Through a strategic partnership with the ASU School of Sustainability and Roosevelt School District, this innovative program empowers students to become agripreneurs while providing families with valuable skills in garden planning. Under Brownell’s leadership, Gather and Grow offers a unique platform for both education and community development, promoting sustainability and self-sufficiency.

Products on the Market

Vital Farms’ (Nasdaq: VITL) 2022 expansion of its egg washing and packing facility, Egg Central Station (ECS) in Springfield, MO, has been awarded LEED® Gold Certification for New Construction and Major Renovations. LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) internationally recognized green building rating system and a symbol of excellence in environmental stewardship. This prestigious acknowledgment underscores Vital Farms’ commitment to raising the standards in the food industry and progress made towards the company’s impact goal of reducing operational greenhouse gas intensity by 25% by 2027. Egg Central Station is at the heart of Vital Farms’ supply chain and operations. Pasture-raised eggs from the company’s network of over 300 family farms are transported to the facility to be washed, sized, graded, and packed before their journey to retailers and foodservice operators across the country. After ECS’ initial opening in 2017, Vital Farms expanded the facility’s footprint in 2022, nearly doubling its original size to support over $300 million in additional revenue and the future growth of the company. ECS currently processes up to 6 million eggs a day and recently achieved an important milestone to meet zero-waste-to-landfill production standards. The overall project was intentionally designed with the company’s crewmembers, community, and the planet in mind. Inside the facility there are features such as daylighting and climate control to improve the crewmember experience, food safety practices that go above and beyond current regulatory requirements, and advanced water filtration systems. On the facility’s grounds, solar panels generate renewable energy while providing parking shade, bioretention elements clean and cool rainwater, and natural landscaping thrives with vegetation native to the Ozarks. Additional construction elements including the use of low-VOC emitting materials and finishes made from high recycled content helped the expansion earn LEED® Gold Certification.

ASM Global Hospitality Division SAVOR has announced the company has added two key players in the food and beverage industry to its experienced team. Hospitality leader Jason Dowd has been appointed as SAVOR’s new senior vice president of culinary and innovation, and industry veteran Craig Condra has been named as regional vice president, food and beverage. Dowd brings more than 25 years of culinary-innovation experience to SAVOR — with a background in restaurant operations, research and development, and menu creation — and is also a certified sommelier. Throughout his career he worked with several well-known brands, from the Ritz Carlton and InterContinental Hotel Group to Olive Garden, Smashburger and Moe’s Southwest Grill. Most recently as vice president of culinary innovation with FAT Brands, he was responsible for the menu strategy, evolution and renovation of 16 restaurant brands in the snack, QSR, and fast-casual and casual-dining categories. As SAVOR’s senior vice president of culinary and innovation, Dowd will manage the execution of the overall strategic product-innovation plan for SAVOR in North America as well as oversee innovation, research, business development and KPI processes. He will also be charged with driving the product development efforts of regional and executive chefs, establishing objectives, and developing principles to guide product innovation among all team members. Condra brings more than 21 years of experience to SAVOR, including stints with Sodexo Live!, Levy Restaurants, Legends and Aramark. His expertise is wide-ranging from culinary and premium services to finance, data and operations at a variety of venues, including stadiums, arenas and convention centers. Throughout his career he also gained invaluable experience working in operations and premium services at major events, such as the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, U.S. Open and more. As SAVOR’S regional vice president of food and beverage for convention centers, Condra will oversee food and beverage operations for 12 convention centers throughout the ASM Global/SAVOR portfolio. He will be responsible for the overall direction, coordination and evaluation of the facilities as well as supervising employees, from hiring and training to planning, directing and problem-solving.

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Tim Hortons offers fall menu with early digital rollout

Tim Hortons, the division of Restaurant Brands International Inc., will begin rolling out its fall menu Wednesday, offering early access to digital users, the company said this week.

Toronto-based Tim Hortons said new seasonal items include a new Caramel Apple Latte, which will be available Wednesday.

A new chai latte blend, which is combination of black tea, spices, honey, and vanilla flavor, and a new Maple Waffle Sandwich with egg will be available starting Sept. 18, a spokesperson said.

Those are in addition to returning autumn items, which include Pumpkin Spice Iced Cappuccino, which will be available beginning Wednesday.

Other returning items include Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew with Cold Foam, a Pumpkin Spice Donut, Pumpkin Spice Muffin, and Maple Cinnamon Sugar Cold Brew.

Tim Hortons, founded in 1964, has more than 5,700 systemwide restaurants. Parent Restaurant Brands International also owns the Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Firehouse Subs brands.

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]

Follow him on X/Twitter: @RonRuggless

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Good Earth Coffeehouse Opens Ninth Chapters/Indigo Location

HALIFAX — Good Earth Coffeehouse has opened its ninth Chapters/Indigo location at Bayers Lake Power Centre in Halifax.

“We’re excited to join the Good Earth family,” says Maggie Chidiac and Aimee Stewart, owners and operators. “It’s important to us that a company delivers an exceptional experience to its customers, while also taking the time to build positive relationships in the communities.”

The company offers a selection of Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees, roasted exclusively to their specifications.

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Are third-party orders more profitable than direct ordering?

Third-party marketplaces’ inefficiencies have led to higher prices for both restaurants and customers. However, first-party orders still rely on the same inefficient delivery network without the extra charges to cover it.

The last few years have seen a love-hate relationship between restaurants and third-party delivery marketplaces. On the one hand, third-party marketplaces bring incremental orders, introduce diners to new restaurants, and make it incredibly easy for restaurants to be online and deliver. On the other hand, marketplace orders are expensive for both restaurant and consumer, rife with guest experience challenges, and hard for restaurant operations to deal with.

Yes, marketplaces drive orders…

DoorDash had 37 million monthly active users worldwide at the end of 2023, most of them in the United States. Some 18 million of them were DashPass members in 2023. UberEats had over 80 million worldwide, with 15 million of them UberOne members. Although it is unclear how many program members will remain after the free one-year subscriptions through the Chase and Capital One credit cards ends, that is a huge number of restaurant consumers with high purchase intent concentrated in one place.

…but marketplaces also charge big fees

The marketplaces take a hefty fee, particularly for independent restaurants that don’t have the volume to negotiate. Marketplace fees range from 15-30%, depending on the features offered by the third-party platform to the restaurant and on the strength of the restaurant’s brand. Fees are the obvious costs restaurants incur to receive a third-party order. These fees are somewhat understandable — the marketplace is bringing consumers to the restaurant (marketing costs), transacting with the customer (credit card processing and technology maintenance costs), and delivering the food (fulfillment costs).

Restaurants have largely increased prices to stay profitable

Understandable commissions are not the same as palatable commissions. As marketplace orders have grown — reaching 30 or 40 percent of sales for some concepts — restaurants have come to see third-party orders (and therefore third-party fees) as part of the business, not incremental to it. Over the last two years, most restaurants have stopped thinking of orders from the marketplaces as “incremental.” Instead, they now consider marketplace sales a regular and important part of their overall business income. As a result, many restaurant brands have increased marketplace prices over and above the general inflationary environment.

Emboldened, perhaps, by large chains increasing their prices on third-party marketplaces, everyone increased their prices. This approach may not seem like a good idea for a lesser-known independent restaurant being discovered for the first time on a marketplace. If customers have no in-store context for a restaurant’s price, they would seem expensive — but when everyone is doing it, even unknown restaurants with no in-store reference, they don’t seem relatively expensive. Instead, delivery as a whole appears more expensive than ever before.

Price hikes were initially small, but as third-party guests demonstrated minor price sensitivity, restaurants increased prices further. Now, most restaurants price the marketplaces high enough to pay for the platform fees. A study by Gordon Haskett Research Advisors found that the average price premium versus dine-in for 30 major national brands is 19%, and that premium has nearly doubled since 2020.

Consumers like free delivery

Following the trend in eCommerce, where free shipping has become the standard, restaurant consumers have also demonstrated a preference for free delivery. The main benefit of DashPass and UberOne is free delivery. The marketplaces are full of free or reduced-price delivery offers from the restaurants themselves. Even if the underlying prices are higher and the additional service fees essentially offset free delivery claims, consumers respond to the free delivery claims.

This leaves first-party direct ordering in a conundrum: If direct online ordering prices are the same as in-restaurant prices, and if consumers prefer free delivery, how will a restaurant effectively compete with third-parties, who can give away free delivery and pay for the costs through service fees, advertising revenue and higher product prices? If restaurants try to offer free delivery, how do they then pay for the cost of delivering first-party orders?

Is third-party revenue actually more profitable than first-party?

On-marketplace price hikes have brought us to an unusual state of affairs: Third-party marketplace revenue may actually be more profitable than direct ordering.

The issue is that outsourced logistics are costly. There are a lot of entities involved who all must get paid — the marketplace, the driver, the restaurant, the technology, and the credit card processing – and the disjointed nature of it all means there is a lot of expensive inefficiency in the system. In the third-party marketplace model, the guest and the restaurant cover these costs through various fees and commissions. When the restaurant increases prices on the marketplace to offset its portion of the fees, the guest covers these costs exclusively.

With direct (or first-party) ordering, unless the restaurant uses its own delivery fleet, it must still pay someone to deliver the order. This someone is outsourced logistics. It includes products like DoorDash Drive, Uber Direct, Olo Dispatch, Toast Delivery Services, Relay, Nash, First Delivery, or some local delivery company.

What is a restaurant to do? The most tempting answer is to increase menu prices or delivery fees for direct ordering. If consumers value delivery, let them pay the full costs of it, no matter which channel they place the order on. But as inflation has worn on, and consumers have increasingly voted against price increases with reduced visits, increasing direct-ordering prices is risky. Certainly having different prices online versus in-store is risky. Worse, with the marketplaces’ ability to offer free delivery, higher direct-ordering prices could actually push consumers from the restaurant’s own website to a marketplace.

Decreasing the costs of delivery to make first party more profitable

Delivery costs may eventually come down in time through autonomous vehicles, drones, and similar innovations. However, for most restaurants, those solutions are unavailable (physically, practically, or lawfully) and are still in development and trial. One option to decrease delivery costs is through taking delivery in-house, thus eliminating the middleman who gets paid in the third-party logistics scenario and improving the delivery’s efficiency (and therefore cost).

This approach sounds complex, and for this reason, most restaurants avoid doing it. But the pizza and Chinese segments have been delivering their own products for years. It is not as difficult as it sounds, particularly with new software solutions in place to manage drivers efficiently.

What the third-party marketplaces have taught the restaurant industry is that the gig-working model for delivery is just a superior economic model. Delivery drivers prefer the flexibility of driving when they want, need or are able to. The “gig ATM” is appealing, and to date only the marketplaces have figured out how to give drivers what they want. But if drivers want to work this way, shouldn’t restaurants be able to offer this model as well?

First-party ordering is the best guest experience

If restaurants can figure out efficient and effective first-party delivery, they can unleash the power of first-party ordering. After years of investing in online ordering and loyalty systems, the volume of direct, first-party ordering remains lower than restaurants would like. First-party ordering comes with more control over chargebacks and winback, more data for remarketing, and less “pay for play” sponsored listing results. First-party ordering is better for the restaurant, and figuring out how to make it profitable without increasing prices will create the winners in the delivery world.

For those restaurants who intuitively know that an in-house delivery fleet will create a better guest experience, but who are concerned about forecasting sales, scheduling drivers, dealing with callouts and no-shows, handling unexpectedly low or high volumes — it can feel like they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They want in-house delivery, but they don’t want to deal with the headaches of employee drivers. What if a third way is possible? What if restaurants can offer a dedicated, on-demand delivery fleet that enables drivers to work how and when they want — gig-style — and also lets restaurants press the “easy button” to get their goods delivered?

Dedicated, on-demand delivery is possible. It’s in-house. And it’s also automatic. Sound too good to be true? Restaurants with high delivery volumes can offer a high-quality delivery guest experience, at a reasonable cost, by pressing the “easy button” of dedicated, on-demand delivery.

Value and convenience — what every customer wants

Delivery has come a long way since the pandemic made it necessary for every restaurant. Today, customers have more choices on how they wish to order from restaurants. As frictionless digital interactions become table stakes, execution and value become the differentiators. Restaurant executives who invest in the right technology to make delivery seamless and optimize the value of each order will undoubtedly be best situated to win in the years ahead.

The love-hate relationship between restaurants and marketplaces will no doubt continue, but the economics of delivery must improve for all parties. As more technology comes to market that makes delivery more efficient and valuable, it will have every chance of benefiting everyone.

AUTHOR BIO

Meredith Sandland and Carl Orsbourn are co-authors of “Delivering the Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to the Future of Food” and “Delivering the Digital Restaurant: The Path to Digital Maturity.” After each spent 20-plus years in corporate strategy and retail food, Meredith and Carl concluded that food in America was changing. They left their corporate jobs in search of innovation that would transform the restaurant industry. Ghost kitchens, virtual brands, digital marketing, the gig economy and lean operations are at the heart of the future they envision. Meredith is the CEO of Empower Delivery, software that enables high-delivery-volume restaurants to take back control of their guest experience. Carl is the co-founder of Juicer and an advisor to restaurant groups and technology solutions. Subscribe to their newsletter and podcast at deliveringthedigitalrestaurant.com.

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Industry News for May 18, 2024

General Mills Foodservice announces that Rebecca Thomas, a chef at Dixie Grill in Live Oak, Florida is the $20,000 Grand-Prize Winner in The Biskies™ Recipe Contest. Thomas’ recipe for Strawberry Cream Biscuit Bites, one of four finalists nationwide, earned the Grand Prize following a public vote on the General Mills Foodservice website. The Biskies Recipe Contest offered chefs, owners and employees of commercial restaurants the chance to win up to $20,000 for their unique biscuit creation using any baked or unbaked Pillsbury biscuit product and two or more additional ingredients. In addition to the Grand-Prize Winner, the contest awarded three Runner-Up Winners with $5,000. Thomas’ winning entry included strawberry cream cheese-filled, deep-fried Pillsbury biscuits topped with more cream cheese and fresh strawberries and dusted with powdered sugar.

Bevles, a leading innovator in commercial kitchen equipment, proudly announces the launch of its latest breakthrough products: the Bevles MiniTouch 10 Half Sheet Pan, and 6 Half Sheet Pan Combi Ovens. These cutting-edge commercial cooking appliances set a new standard for simplicity, compact design and superior performance by empowering chefs, and foodservice professionals to elevate their culinary creations with unmatched precision and efficiency at the touch of a button. Designed with the modern kitchen in mind, the Bevles MiniTouch Combi Ovens combine advanced technology with intuitive functionality to streamline cooking processes and maximize productivity. Despite their compact footprint, these versatile combi ovens deliver exceptional cooking results across a wide range of applications, from baking and roasting to steaming and sous vide.

Jones Dairy Farm, a leader in all natural raw and fully-cooked breakfast sausage for the foodservice industry, has officially branched out of the breakfast category with the introduction of All Natural Chicken Meatballs. Fully cooked and Certified Gluten-Free, the meatballs are free of the USDA Big 9 Allergens including soy, wheat and dairy. They’re also free of fillers, binders and breadcrumbs, making them a wholesome part of a delicious meal or hearty appetizer for customers with dietary restrictions. Like Jones All Natural Sausage, the meatballs are produced in small batches with high quality ingredients including fresh, never frozen chicken and hand-blended spices. Jones Chicken Meatballs, available in a 10-pound foodservice case and meet Child Nutrition (CN) labeling requirements, contain 14 grams of protein and only 160 calories per six-meatball serving. Whether prepared with or without a sauce, these meatballs adapt effortlessly to customer taste preferences offering operators convenience and remarkable versatility.

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Sonic Drive-In to give away vacations in marketing effort

Sonic Drive-In is giving away vacation packages valued at around $15,000 each to wrap up the summer.

The Fun is on the Menu Sweepstakes invites guests to visit livefreeshopsonic.com/fun99 between now and Sept. 23 to enter a chance to win one of five vacation packages curated by Tripadvisor:

The Most Fun Weekend on the Water tour is an all-expenses-paid trip for four people to Sarasota, Fla. The group will spend three nights in a “luxury villa” on Siesta Key Beach, take a glass-bottom kayak LED light tour, a guided electric bike tour, a parasailing flight, a dolphin cruse and a two-hour beach picnic.

The Most Fun in the City That Never Sleeps treats four people to three nights in New York City at a five-star hotel, where they will take a New York City mafia and local food tour, a private helicopter tour, and get tickets to a Broadway show of their choice.

The Most Fun Icy Outdoor Adventure package, centered around Anchorage, Alaska, includes three nights at a four-star hotel with scenic views, a self-guided bike tour, a day-long dog sledding trip, a gray whale watch trip, and an opportunity to hike the Matanuska Glacier.

The Most Fun R&R Retreat takes four guests to a five-star resort and spa in Sedona, Ariz., with daily wellness and exercise classes and a starlight ride through Verde Valley in the Verde Canyon.

The Most Fun at the Most Magical Amusement Park is a trip to Orlando, Fla., with two-day access to a theme park in that city, an air boat ride, a barbecue lunch, and entry into a wildlife park.

Sonic will announce three winners after the application process closes.

The sweepstakes is part of Sonic’s broader marketing initiative, Live Free Eat Sonic, which promotes the chain of more than 3,500 quick-service restaurants as a place to have great experiences.

It has included ads featuring a fictional Department of Research and Deliciousment that evokes a Wonkalike fantasy world. The launch of new menu items such as its revamped crinkle-cut fries, called Groovy Fries, and a $1.99 value menu, dubbed the Fun.99 and similar to the rash of discounted offerings that are being promoted in the quick-service segment, also have been promoted as off-the-wall offerings.

Sonic also promoted live experiences as sponsor of the X Games Ventura in June.

Sonic Drive-in is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Inspire Brands.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]

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Biff’s Bistro Re-Opens in a New Space

Photo Credit: Hector Vasquez

TORONTO — Oliver & Bonacini (O&B) has announced the re-opening of Biff’s Bistro, a French restaurant located at the corner of Yonge and Front in Toronto’s downtown core.

Occupying part of the former O&B Café Grill Yonge & Front space in Berczy Square opposite Meridian Hall, the transformation is part of GWL Realty Advisors’ strategy to modernize Berczy Square and re-imagine the property as a premiere dining destination.

Biff’s menu, developed by O&B district executive chef John Horne (La Plume, Maison Selby, Auberge du Pommier) with chef de cuisine Trenton Pajuluoma, spotlights French staples, balancing delicate seafood with heartier braised entrees and shareables.

“When Peter Oliver and Michael Bonacini first opened Biff’s 24 years ago, they had a clear vision for a bustling French bistro combining 1930s Paris with fresh London cool,” says Horne. “We’ve carefully preserved those charming details to evoke old memories while adding modern updates to bring Biff’s into its next era.”

Menu standouts include Soupe à L’oignon ($18) with three types of cheeses and baguette; phyllo-wrapped Truffle Baked Brie ($24) with tomato fondue, pickled onion and crostini; Canard ($46) with scallion spätzle, rapini and cherry jus; and Trout Amandine ($39) with almonds, herbs, lemon and spinach. Cote de Boeuf ($99) is the star of the steak frites program that spotlights several premium cuts, served alongside green beans, hand-cut frites and Béarnaise or red-wine jus. The dessert menu offers classic Crème Brûlee ($13) with strawberries and a sable cookie.

Signature cocktails such as the Mon Chéri ($16) with Tío Pepeextra dry fino, lime juice, Monin mojito syrup and ginger beer are served alongside new-age classics such as the White Negroni ($16) with affino, Lillet blanc, Tanqueray gin and angostura orange bitters. A summer rosé menu encourages guests to drink pink during the warmer months. The concise wine list offers house red and white by the glass and half-litre, complemented by a diverse selection of Old and New World bottles, as well as a focus on French producers.

The interior, designed by Solid Design Creative, blends original Biff’s pieces with new materials and sophisticated accents. Upon arrival, a floor-to-ceiling wine display showcases Biff’s Red bottles from over the years, a collaboration with long-time partners Cave Spring. Dark leather-tufted banquettes, deep maroon tones and a zinc bar top centrepiece add romance and refinement. Preserved artwork, retro posters and vintage French ads adorn the walls, while florals, greenery and touches of pink add a newfound femininity to the space.

Biff’s Bistro will be open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, with lunch coming this September.

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Industry News for June 8, 2024

Tripleseat, the leading sales and event management platform for restaurants, hotels, and unique venues, is excited to announce the acquisition of Merri, a cutting-edge 3D floor plan and event design application for restaurants, hotels, unique venues, and event planners. This strategic acquisition aims to enhance Tripleseat’s robust suite of tools, providing all venues with an all-in-one solution for seamless event planning and management. As the hospitality industry continues to grow and evolve, the need for efficient, technology-driven solutions has never been greater. By integrating Merri’s innovative 3D floor plan design capabilities with Tripleseat’s comprehensive event management platform, venue owners and event planners can now access a powerful toolset that simplifies the planning process and enhances guest experiences. Tripleseat currently serves over 16,000 restaurants and hotels globally and has managed 34 million events to date. By incorporating Merri’s technology, Tripleseat aims to further solidify its position as the leading event management solution provider in the hospitality industry, ensuring even more efficient and effective event planning processes for its extensive user base.

Everline Resort & Spa, a spacious year-round mountain resort in North Lake Tahoe, announces Matt Hale as Executive Chef. Hale returns to the property after working in multiple culinary positions at the resort nearly 20 years ago. In his position, Hale will oversee the resort’s food operations, from managing the curation of menus at the on-site restaurants to managing banquet operations for meetings and events. With more than 25 years of experience working in the hospitality and culinary industry, Hale realized his love for food while growing up on a small farm in Sierraville, California. Throughout his childhood, his parents taught him how to grow vegetables and fruit trees, as well as how to can for the winter. He would also regularly visit his mom while she was working in restaurants and would always find ways to help, from assisting the chef to bussing tables. Hale followed his passion and attended South Lake Tahoe Community College where he received his degree in culinary arts. Following his graduation in 2003, Hale worked at multiple South Lake Tahoe restaurants including Mendocino, a popular fine dining Italian restaurant. In 2006, he moved to the Truckee area and began working as the Sous Chef at Six Peaks Grille at Everline, then named Resort at Squaw Creek. He quickly progressed his career at the resort with multiple promotions to Banquet Chef and then to Executive Sous Chef. Following his time at Everline, Hale moved to Skamania Lodge, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, where he worked as Executive Chef for more than six years. He then moved back to the Lake Tahoe area where he held the role of Executive Chef at the Tahoe Donner Association.

Zafferano America, the manufacturer of award-winning cordless lighting, handmade tableware, and colored glassware, is pleased to announce the hiring of Gabriella Vivaldi as Director of Marketing, effective immediately. Vivaldi, a bilingual dual citizen of the United States and Italy, has led marketing and communications efforts for established Italian furniture brands and material manufacturers for nearly two decades. In her new role, Vivaldi will oversee and implement North American marketing strategies for both the brand and its New York City Showroom (121 Varick Street). Vivaldi will also manage strategic partnerships and organize events both on- and off-site while working directly with Zafferano SRL, of Quinto di Treviso, Italy, to ensure strategic alignment across the international family of Zafferano companies.

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California Supreme Court says that delivery drivers are contractors

Under a unanimous California Supreme Court decision, drivers that work for companies like Uber and DoorDash are officially considered contractors, not company employees.

On Thursday, The California Supreme Court upheld an earlier appeals court decision that affirmed the legality of Proposition 22 — a bill that delivery apps spent $200 million lobbying for — that passed in Nov. 2020, and changed the legal classification of delivery drivers back from company employees to independent contractors.

“We have no need in this case to decide the applicability of our reasoning in the County of Los Angeles to Proposition 22,” the Supreme Court justices wrote in a unanimous decision. “We reserve these issues until we are presented with an actual challenge to an act of the Legislature providing workers’ compensation to app-based drivers.”

Proposition 22 was a direct response to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling and the subsequent 2019 California Assembly Bill 5, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, and made it harder for companies like Uber and DoorDash to argue that their delivery drivers were independent gig workers. AB5 had stated that drivers would qualify as employees if the company controls how they perform their job or if that job is part of a company’s regular business.

At the time, delivery companies got together to file a lawsuit against the state of California, declaring that the AB 5 was unconstitutional. Delivery companies and other proponents of Prop. 22 argue that classifying drivers as contractors is beneficial to these workers because it allows them the flexibility of setting their own hours and schedule within an “on-demand” work structure.

Critics of this reclassification have argued, however, that legally making drivers contractors rather than employees lets delivery companies off the hook when it comes to paying out benefits of full-time employees, including paid sick days, health insurance benefits, and the ability to unionize.

Since Proposition 22 was approved by California voters in 2020, the legality of the case has bounced around in lower courts. This state Supreme Court decision is likely to be the final say on the matter after more than four years of legal deliberation. The decision was lauded by delivery companies:

“This decision is a huge victory for California Dashers and voters – Prop 22 is here to stay,” Liz Jarvis-Shean, vice president of communications and policy, said in a statement. “Today, we celebrate with the hundreds of thousands of Dashers in California who will maintain access to crucial benefits and protections, and to the unique flexibility that draws them to this kind of work. We are pleased that this law is affirmed and this unnecessary legal process is behind us.”

Union advocates, however, did not see this decision as a legal victory.

“Prop 22 has allowed gig companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash to deprive us of a living wage, access to workers compensation, paid sick leave and meaningful health care coverage,” Service Employees International Union California executive director Tia Orr said in a statement obtained by Politico. “Today’s ruling only strengthens our demand for the right to join together in a union so that we can begin improving the gig economy for workers and our customers.”

Contact Joanna at [email protected]

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Chick-fil-A’s elevated drive-thru unit opens with big expectations

The Jodeco Road exit in McDonough, Ga., looks like any other growing thoroughfare off a major interstate, peppered with gas stations, a Starbucks, a Costco, a high school, new homes, and more. It now also features a massive and unique Chick-fil-A restaurant visible from blocks away, complete with extensive wayfinding features at the entrance that could rival a small theme park, and four clearly marked lanes flowing under and beside a raised kitchen.

This is Chick-fil-A’s first elevated drive-thru restaurant, located about a half hour south of metro Atlanta off Interstate 75, and it will open Thursday. The prototype features four drive-thru lanes – two designated for traditional drive-thru customers and two for mobile-order-ahead customers, including delivery drivers. It also features an elevated kitchen that transports food to team members below via a “meal transport system.”

The restaurant was intentionally designed to meet high demand; the kitchen is twice as big as a standard Chick-fil-A kitchen and the food transport system allows a meal to be delivered to a team member every six seconds. As such, the restaurant – one of two test prototypes for the company – is expected to deliver at least twice the amount of volume as a traditional restaurant, according to executive director of design Jonathan Reed.

“We believe it can do 2.5-to-3x the volume of a normal Chick-fil-A. That’s the expectation,” he said during an interview at the restaurant this week. “This is a great area; the demand is here. We built this restaurant with a lot of horsepower. Match that design with a local owner/operator, we think magic’s going to happen.”

For those keeping score at home, 2.5-to-3 times the volume of a normal Chick-fil-A is a lot of volume. The company’s average unit volumes last year reached a record $9.3 million – an 8.1% increase over the previous record, $8.67 million, reached in 2022.

Beyond volumes

In addition to producing higher volumes, the restaurant was also designed to create a better employee and customer experiences. The elevated kitchen and fulfilment areas below them are window-heavy, for instance, so there is no shortage of natural light in these workspaces. There is also a sizable lounge area for workers.

“We want to keep [employees] excited, engaged. We know team member engagement is a predictor of customer satisfaction. You can do the math. You can see it,” Reed said. “So, we’re intentional with our design and had team member input with the design.”

It’s the customer experience, however, that remains the North Star for the company. Reed said the drive-thru channel coupled with digital channels make up a majority of Chick-fil-A’s sales. Mobile-thru (mobile order ahead) is also growing, with about 400 restaurants now online and about 600 expected to have the feature by the end of this year.

“We are relentlessly chasing our customer experience. We want customers to feel like they’ve had the best experience, exceed meeting their needs, and this is just what we do on a daily basis. We look at what their needs are, especially in this sales channel and this purchase occasion of speed and convenience, but never losing sight of the hospitality that is core to Chick-fil-A,” he said. “When they show up, we want them to feel that same hospitality whether they ordered from the app or face-to-face.”

Despite the drive-thru-only model, every meal is delivered to customers by a team member versus handed to guests out of a window, for instance. The parking lot is designed for employees only, with the exception of customers who may need to use the restroom located in the corner of the lot. The location is situated just off a major interstate, after all. There are also dedicated pull-aside lanes if a customer needs to follow up with an employee about their order.

Inside the giant kitchen is that “transport system,” in which kitchen employees place the order on a tray and send it down to the frontline employees on the first floor via a conveyor. The equipment “came off the shelf,” but with tweaks made to fit the operating model of Chick-fil-A, Reed said.

There is no hard timeline on how long Chick-fil-A will test this prototype before making follow up decisions, including additional such prototypes. Reed said the company will look at traditional key performance indicators such as speed of service, overall satisfaction, accuracy, taste, etc. There will also be team member surveys.

“We are a business of seconds and inches,” Reed said. “We believe if we can meet customer demand, if we get the right feedback from team members, the equipment is doing the things it’s supposed to do, the food transport system is doing the thing it’s supposed to do – if all those things line up, the financial metrics at the end, this will be a good return.”

In the meantime, Reed is looking forward to gaining some new learnings from the prototype; for example, could some of these features translate elsewhere in the system? Could this restaurant open more opportunities for collaboration between functions like operations and marketing? Will this meet or exceed customers’ changing demands?

“People’s time is a commodity. The fact that they show up with their money, give us their time, give us their hard-earned resources, we never want to take that for granted,” Reed said.

Local owner/operator

The elevated drive-thru concept is locally owned and operated by Brett Lewis, who has served as an owner-operator in the system since 2019 in Dalton, Ga. With this new restaurant, however, he returns to his hometown – the restaurant is 4 miles from where he grew up. Lewis expects to employ approximately 150 full- and part-time employees at the new location.

Lewis’ entire career has been with Chick-fil-A. He started working at a local restaurant after high school while also serving part-time at headquarters, and he is a graduate of the Chick-fil-A Leadership Development Program. Notably, Lewis’ mom, Melanie Farmer, worked at Chick-fil-A headquarters for more than 30 years.

“Local ownership, remarkable experiences, meaningful brand,” Reed said. “When those three things intersect, we win in the marketplace.”

Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]

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