What Are The Current Biggest Industry Challenges?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but the single biggest challenge that restaurant operators have is still labor, closely followed by food cost. Some operators are saying that they are able to get labor, but the quality of the labor is not the same as they could get a few years ago.
To complicate matters a bit more, the demand on the labor that is available has gotten more complicated, due to the many omnichannels of service that the operators are having to handle. Fortunately, the collective expertise we have, as food service consultants, along with our allied partners, can provide many solutions that help clients deal with these challenges and enable them to simplify the “operating parameters” that concepts have to deal with to deliver the customer experience. These include, among many others:
· Processes and Procedures to deliver the products
· Place (layout) design
· Platforms – both equipment and technology
· People (labor) deployment
· Product and promotional offerings
The best way we follow to deal with “Process and Procedures” is to follow the KISS principle - keep it simple stupid. The foodservice industry is “simply complex”, simple since almost anyone can produce food, but complex on how it has to be delivered. Make sure that the steps the team members have to follow are more on the simple side.
As we guide our customers on the design of the ”Place”, keeping in the center of the design the employees ergonomics capabilities (both physical and cognitive) and understanding in detail what we are asking them to do, will create a great set up to facilitate the employees ability to execute.
We saw a lot of progress during the recent NAFEM show, and more is expected in the forthcoming NRA show, on the “Platforms” area. One aspect of this is automation and robotics, but at the moment I would be with the camp that the application of machinery of this type is still in the early stage. However, if you expand the definition of automation to any initiative that will reduce the operator’s reliance on bodies, then there is plenty to pull from, including “value added products”, mainstream technology available, and other possible solutions.
The area of “People” deployment is likely the most challenging one, due to the shortage and quality that I previously mentioned. One way that we advise our customers is to break down the tasks into pieces and perhaps instead of following the typical approach that the employee has to be fluent at all aspects of the position before they are left to it, perhaps there are certain pieces that they could do with minimal training, so that they can provide guest-service production capacity at peak volume. One other recommendation is “all hands on deck”, with no prep, during the peak periods. This will enable the operations to reduce the total deployment during the peak business hours.
During the pandemic, we read about how many concepts simplified the “Products and Promotions” they offered. This was one way they were better able to handle the shortage of labor. As I would have predicted, menu offerings are beginning to grow, but this growth does not have to be a problem, as long as the design does not complicate the operation.
As part of the foodservice family, we stand in a great position to help foodservice deal with the current labor challenges that the concepts face and help them thrive as they deal with these and any new ones that show up over the course of the next several years.
By the way, as we help operators minimize the labor needed to execute the brand, the need to increase prices to protect the margins get lessened. Based on the many articles that are coming out in our industry, this is a major issue that is driving guests to opt out for other modes to get their bellies filled, instead of going to restaurants. One of these beneficiaries is groceries, who also benefited greatly during the pandemic. Perhaps we are coming full circle again.
