Business
Builders
March 2008
www.syscoicare.com
  brussell sprouts in a salad

St. Patrick's Day:
Looking after your Regulars

Should you “comp” them or give them “a little extra?” Comping is a better way to look after regulars; “Comping,” or treating your best customers to an occasional free drink, is an effective marketing strategy that works much better than over-pouring. Not only that, but it is a more cost-effective strategy, too.

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Make Mother's Day Payday!

Mother’s Day is the single biggest day of the year for restaurants with 38% of American’s eating out. Families gather each year on the second Sunday in May to honor Mom–who won’t be doing the cooking that day. So how do you gain your fair share of diners on this special day? Send a direct mail campaign to households with families in your area with a call to action that brings them through your doors.

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Train to Retain:
Keep your Best Employees with Effective Training Programs

Recently, both the National Restaurant Association and QSR Magazine have reported that the number one challenge facing restaurateurs in 2008 is employment issues – specifically retention. Employee turnover costs money…and lots of it. Losing an hourly employee costs between $500 and $2,300 each and losing a manager costs even more.

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ATM's Bring More Customers with More Cash 

An ATM Cash Machine in your restaurant brings more than cash to the table. More customers with more cash means higher sales and maximum profits. Your customers love to use their Visa Check/Debit cards-but you don’t love the fees!

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Fighting Back Against Food Cost Inflation

Food-cost inflation has been increasing at a 3.5 percent rate in the past year, and recent trending has spiked to upwards of 6 percent. Greater international demand for food products as well as environmental factors like flooding and droughts have driven this inflation surge.

> View More

St. Patrick's Day: Looking after your Regulars

Should you “comp” them or give them “a little extra?” Comping is a better way to look after regulars; “Comping,” or treating your best customers to an occasional free drink, is an effective marketing strategy that works much better than over-pouring. Not only that, but it is a more cost-effective strategy, too.

BEVINCO’s reports show that allowing over-pours for your regulars results in drinks that are at 25% bigger than usual – on every drink, every time. In contrast, if you treat your regulars to a free drink now and again, it would cost less than ¼ of that amount - not only because you would give away far, far less than 1 in every 4 drinks but also because you could limit it to your regulars. More importantly, if you stop overpouring and give away the occasional free drink instead, your regulars will feel that they are being treated better.

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Make Mother's Day Payday!

Mother’s Day is the single biggest day of the year for restaurants with 38% of American’s eating out. Families gather each year on the second Sunday in May to honor Mom–who won’t be doing the cooking that day. So how do you gain your fair share of diners on this special day? Send a direct mail campaign to households with families in your area with a call to action that brings them through your doors.

Direct Mail Target Marketing is ideal because it is a targeted and measurable means of marketing. Direct Mail Target Marketing allows you to identify your ideal demographic and then send targeted mailings to them. This typically offers you a better return on investment (ROI) because your message is being put directly into the hands of your ideal customer.

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Train to Retain:
Keep your Best Employees with Effective Training Programs

Recently, both the National Restaurant Association and QSR Magazine have reported that the number one challenge facing restaurateurs in 2008 is employment issues – specifically retention. Employee turnover costs money…and lots of it. Losing an hourly employee costs between $500 and $2,300 each and losing a manager costs even more.

How do you retain great people? Research shows employees who receive ongoing training feel valued and are more likely to stay with an organization. Treat training as an ongoing process, not an event. Every successful restaurant manager knows that the training process doesn’t end after the employee learns the initial functions of the job. At great restaurants training is a philosophy, not a department. A well trained staff not only helps you acquire and maintain more guests, it also helps you acquire and maintain better employees.

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ATM's Bring More Customers with More Cash

An ATM Cash Machine in your restaurant brings more than cash to the table. More customers with more cash means higher sales and maximum profits. Your customers love to use their Visa Check/Debit cards-but you don’t love the fees!

Restaurants with an average ticket under $25 have seen their monthly card acceptance fees double or even triple over the last few years! So how can you take cards and still turn a profit? A FIRSTCARD ATM Cash Machine is your solution!

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Fighting Back Against Food Cost Inflation

Food-cost inflation has been increasing at a 3.5 percent rate in the past year, and recent trending has spiked to upwards of 6 percent. Greater international demand for food products as well as environmental factors like flooding and droughts have driven this inflation surge.

Meanwhile, spiking ethanol-related demand for corn has hurt the cost of animal feed, which in turn leads to even higher commodity product costs. If that’s not enough, rising fuel prices add to the cost of moving and storing those commodity food products. It’s a situation that affects all areas of the food chain in both retail and foodservice distribution. Your customers are feeling the same pinch at the grocery store. The bottom line: We are mired in a period of sustained, rising food cost inflation. How can SYSCO help?

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