Biden Administration Wants to Raise the Threshold for Overtime Pay
The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing to make salaried employees making less than $55,068 eligible for overtime pay, up from $38,568. Any salaried restaurant employee earning less than $55,068 a year would be entitled to overtime pay under a regulatory change proposed Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Currently, employers do not have to pay time and a half to salaried workers when they work more than 40 hours per week if their base pay exceeds $35,568 annually. The change would raise the overtime cut-off by 55%, or from $684 per week to $1,059. In addition, the proposed rule calls for resetting the exemption threshold every three years to keep pace with changes in compensation levels. “Restaurant operators are once again feeling the weight of uncertainty because of a Department of Labor change that will increase their operating costs,” Sean Kennedy, EVP of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, said in a statement. “The average small business restaurant runs on a 3-5% margin, but DOL found that the changes proposed in this rule will increase costs for affected restaurants by 2.5% percent. Adding this kind of cost to the already high price of food and years of increasing labor costs will leave many of these operators in the untenable position of raising prices, cutting costs, or closing their doors.” If adopted as currently written, the new regulations would entitle 3.6 million more salaried employees to overtime, according to DOL. It is not known how many of those 3.6 million work in the restaurant business. Typically, managers and executive chefs are the only restaurant-level employees to work on salary rather than being paid an hourly wage.
Mastering the Art of Problem Solving in Restaurants
Solving your own restaurant problems can often be worth the timely investment. There’s something about the restaurant world that churns out top-tier problem solvers. It’s like we’re wired for it—equipped to handle curveballs at the drop of a hat, from the host who miraculously conjures up a table for the group that “thought” they had a reservation, all the way up to the CEO of a large restaurant group easing investor concerns. In every role, we tackle more problems before lunch than most people do all day. We can spend so much of our time rapidly resolving a variety of smaller problems that we risk losing sight of our ability to address larger problems. Throughout my career, I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in various industries—everything from restaurants to dry cleaning to technology. Below, I recount some of the challenges and lessons I’ve learned throughout more than a decade of restaurant ownership, like 1) how to elevate your business to be a local staple; 2) how to rake in revenue doing what once seemed impossible; and 3), the one I’m most proud of—how to definitively improve your service, even if your team is a mix of aces and amateurs. Back in 2011, we opened our first Middle Spoon Desserterie & Bar to great success; we frequently had more patrons than seats. A wonderful problem, sure, but our only option for expansion within the building was an old boiler room with no windows. Not exactly the makings of a hotspot (unless you’re the boiler I suppose). On top of that, guests would need to walk through our kitchen to access this area. As a team, we kept discussing possibilities until we came up with a plan. We turned the boiler room into a secret, password-protected speakeasy called Noble. The passphrase would change every week and be sent out via our mailing list.
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Why Small Plates Continue to Soar in Foodservice
Rising food costs are ushering in the next iteration of shared small plates. Small plates empower chefs with the freedom to explore their creativity in the kitchen, while also offering customers a low-risk opportunity to venture into new flavors and ingredients. Karl Gorline, chef de cuisine at The Woodall in Atlanta, says restaurants can utilize these dynamics to navigate through rising food costs. “The cost of goods sold is the elephant in the room for everyone in the industry,” he says. “As an operator and as a chef, you have to responsibly utilize ingredients at this heightened cost point, and that’s something you can really lean on with small plates.” Gorline leverages small plates to present guests with plant-forward dishes that mimic costly proteins using seasonal and abundant produce, including transforming fresh watermelon into a texture that emulates seafood. It’s something he believes customers would be less willing to try in a larger, more expensive format. “Bluefin tuna is $26 a pound right now,” Gorline says. “If I was going to serve a center-of-the-plate, grilled tuna steak, we’re looking at $60 from an operational standpoint to be able to execute and not lose money on the dish. When I take this watermelon that’s in season, cut it into little squares, and then lightly dehydrate it, it imitates the texture of tuna. That’s an exciting, fun, and luxurious small plate that the guest gets to experience.” Small plates make up over half of The Woodall’s menu, reflecting its identity as “an upscale gathering place” offering “sophisticated southern luxury.” Charred okra is among the top three best-selling items. The dish is marinated in harissa, chargrilled, topped with whipped feta, and served with flatbread.
Five PR Tips Your Restaurant Should Follow
The ultimate result? An increase in sales. It’s important to have a restaurant public relations (PR) strategy in place. PR for restaurants won’t just help give your brand name a more positive ring. It will also boost your restaurant’s presence. Identify what makes your brand stand out from the rest. You may then leverage this unique selling proposition (USP) when conceptualizing PR events. So, basically, you’re harping on your USP—which your customers love—to make your event a success. Your customers won’t just participate. They may even promote these special events for free via word of mouth. But how can you identify your USP in the first place? Here are some ways: Ask your marketing and sales team. Your restaurant marketing and sales teams will always know what selling points your customers respond to best. The other technique is to ask your loyal customers what makes them patronize your restaurant. Conduct surveys, focus group discussions, interviews, and online polls for this. Once you have your USP, it’s easy to come up with restaurant events that revolve around it. You’ll want to launch these PR events frequently to ensure your visibility. You can leverage the expertise of a consumer PR agency to help you with this. Partnering with experts can help you get incredible publicity for these events. Local media decide what stories get published. So essentially, these news outlets can make or break your reputation. To start building your relationship with the local media, have a good story to tell in the first place. The PR events we talked about a while ago can be newsworthy events. So, once you have a date for your event, make sure you send out invites to the local media so they can cover it.
How to Avoid the Top Seven Restaurant Inventory Management Mistakes
Below are the top seven inventory management mistakes restaurants are making, and how to correct them. Inefficient restaurant inventory management practices, improper storage, gaps in inventory logs, theft, and waste can cause even the most successful kitchens to struggle or fail. Fortunately, all of these can be prevented by knowing the top mistakes and implementing best practices to avoid them. Mistake #1: Inconsistent Counts. To ensure inventory information is useful and accurate, schedule routine counts. Always count on the same day of the week, same time, and either before or after service. Maintaining a consistent cadence helps identify inventory anomalies much quicker whereas sporadic counts make it difficult to notice when something unusual happens. Be sure to also count prepped items to improve theoretical variance. Prepped items are technically product sitting on the shelves; not counting those items means the theoretical variance will increase since there is no record of where those raw ingredients went. Use the counts to create accurate par levels. Using par levels based on real usage and not just a “guess” creates more accurate orders. Mistake #2: Inaccurate Forecasting. Inventory is expensive. Having too much inventory on hand ties up cash, encourages theft, results in spoilage, and leads to overuse. Try to keep an average of only seven days of inventory value on hand. Forecasting tools enable managers to purchase food, beverage, and supplies at the right level.
Cajun Cuisine Continues to Grow and Evolve
Paul Prudhomme’s legacy lives on in the growing and evolving. There is a clear element of predictability to each new menu cycle. Chefs can be counted on to compete for dining dollars by larding their dishes with premium ingredients like, say, lobster; and/or items that are globally inspired with touches like kimchi or curry; and/or comfort foods, as with the seemingly endless wave of fried chicken fare. And for the past several decades without fail, each successive menu cycle has also featured Cajun-inflected items, a recurring theme that both nods to the enduring appeal of a uniquely American cuisine and pays homage to the region and the chefs who popularized it. The larger-than-life character who played a leading role in introducing the foods of his native Louisiana into the American mainstream was the late chef, Paul Prudhomme. Outsized in both girth and influence—at one point he reportedly tipped the scales at more than 500 pounds–he wore his love for Cajun cookery on his size-XXXL sleeve. Prudhomme was the first American to helm the kitchen at New Orleans’ vaunted Commander’s Palace, which he left to open his seminal K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in 1979. With his subsequent TV appearances and cookbooks, he elevated the image of the entire culinary profession and became the first celebrity chef. The Cajun trend hit the meat-and-potatoes mainstream like a bolt from the bayou. Though unfamiliar to most consumers, the fact that the assertively-flavored dishes and ingredients were home grown and hailed from the storied Big Easy helped to disarm the fear factor and encourage trial.
‘Wellness’ Fees, ‘Kitchen Staff Appreciation’ Charges
May be hiding on your restaurant bill. Customers are increasingly fed up, and it’s just getting worse. You better check your restaurant bill more closely — otherwise, you might be unknowingly paying for a “wellness fee” or “kitchen appreciation fee” along with a tip. Restaurants across the U.S. are implementing bizarre add-ons, which can shockingly tack an extra 20% onto a check. And that’s before any gratuity. These practices are so rampant in Los Angeles that people are even making spreadsheets to warn diners. While there, NYC tech worker Anna Nikkinen was blindsided to see a 5% wellness charge — coming in at just over $15 — plopped onto her already pricey meal at trendy Mother Wolf. The surcharge is “added to all checks in support of health benefits for our staff, but it is not a fee for service,” according to the restaurant’s menu. “That’s some ridiculous fee … I’m not really sure why customers are paying for that,” Upper West Sider Nikkinen told The Post of her recent sticker shock — which was the same cost as her dessert, a ritzy olive oil plum cake. It seems this new superweapon is blasting wallets nationwide in a post-COVID world where consumers are getting hit with so many add-ons President Biden has even stepped in to declare war on so-called “junk fees.” “It’s just kind of crazy because it’s not like the food and drinks are cheaper — and we’re still paying for employees’ benefits,” Nikkinen ranted.
Who Should Eat the Cost of Pricier Delivery Menus?
Persuading restaurants to rethink higher delivery prices proves challenging for DoorDash. Food-delivery services say some restaurants are scaring off customers by charging significantly higher prices for food they deliver. But persuading restaurants to rethink their pricing is proving to be a tall order. In recent years, many restaurants and chains have steadily raised prices on food they sell via delivery apps such as DoorDash DASH -0.08%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Uber Eats, which charge between 15% to 30% of an order in commissions. The restaurants’ stance: The only way they can make delivery profitable is to pass on app fees and the rising costs of food and labor to consumers. Lately, the apps have pushed back, deploying their own tools to make price increases painful for restaurants. Who prevails will affect how much food delivery costs customers. In the past year, DoorDash has experimented with threatening to make restaurants that significantly mark up prices less visible in its app and deactivated some, according to emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. In March, the company also began testing a label in some cities that shows consumers when a restaurant’s delivery menu is priced at par with its store. Shortly after, it shared results from an internal study with restaurants that suggested that markups hurt sales.
Did You Know?
Red Bank restaurants in churn. Catch 19, at 19 Broad Street, will close December 31, to be replaced by a new restaurant, partner John A. DiLeo Jr. told redbankgreen recently. “I can tell you that the new restaurant will be just as nice and as beautiful as Centrada,” DiLeo said, referring to the swanky night spot he opened 17 months ago after an expensive overhaul of its three-story home, at 8-10 West Front Street. Why change? For one thing, “seafood is, unfortunately, one of the most boring restaurants there is,” said DiLeo. “No matter what concept we add, you’re going to have plenty of fish,” but the menu doesn’t need to be organized around it, he said.
Employee Tip
Industry’s job gains in August outpaced Q2 average. The restaurant industry gained 14,900 jobs in August, putting it short of pre-pandemic levels by about 32,400 positions. The jobs report released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics finds a steady job market, with 187,000 positions added in August, versus 157,000 in July. The unemployment rate, however, rose from 3.5% to 3.8%, which marks the highest level since February 2022. That said, the unemployment rate remains low by historical standards.