Foodservice operators may be feasting on opportunities as the pandemic retreats, but economic challenges persist. One of the toughest to swallow is the labor shortage.
September was ripe with a robust harvest of hiring for restaurant jobs, signaling a light at the end of the tunnel. But while job seekers filled more than 60,000 positions then, October stood in stark contrast. Just 6,000 were filled in October—less than a tenth of the hires for September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.1
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Topics:
Technology,
Trends,
Quick Service Restaurant,
Sales & Profitability,
Operations,
Fast-Casual Restaurant,
Off-Premises,
Digital/Online Ordering
Never underestimate the power of pizza to drive sales. Even at the height of the pandemic, while other categories struggled, pizza prevailed. Digital pizza sales surged with the growth of takeout and delivery.
Forty-five percent of consumers surveyed enrolled in a pizza loyalty program and 88% of consumers were eating more or the same amount of pizza as the prior year, according to the 2021 Pizza! SNAP Keynote Report from the market research firm Datassential.1 Operator optimism ran high, with 95% surveyed confident of increased sales in the coming year.1
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Topics:
Menu,
Menu Strategy,
Sales & Profitability,
Operations,
Drive-Thru,
Fast-Casual Restaurant
When it comes to digital innovation, Shake Shack has poured it on thick—so much so that even as in-store traffic returns, digital remains a powerful revenue engine, driving 43% of sales (app, website and delivery) in the first quarter of 2022.1 While the fast-casual supernova has become renowned for its forward-thinking, tech-driven off-channel integrations, it was actually teetering on the brink of a precipitous nosedive before it took the seismic shift that jump-started sales during the pandemic.
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Topics:
Technology,
Trends,
Delivery,
Convenience,
Foodservice Industry,
COVID-19,
Coronavirus,
Curbside Pickup,
Fast-Casual Restaurant,
Digital/Online Ordering,
Third-Party Delivery (3PD)
Off-premise channels have surged since the pandemic, conditioning consumers to expect ease and convenience in their foodservice options. But as foot traffic returns and younger consumers begin to raise families, restaurants are revisiting the overall experience they offer to this critical demographic cohort.
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Topics:
Restaurant,
Customer Experience,
Sales & Profitability,
Operations,
Restaurants,
COVID-19,
Coronavirus,
Fast-Casual Restaurant,
Digital/Online Ordering
Consumers have built up quite the appetite for indoor dining during the pandemic, according to the crowd-sourced review platform and table reservation service Yelp.
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Topics:
Technology,
Trends,
Online Reviews,
Sales & Profitability,
Operations,
Drive-Thru,
Fast-Casual Restaurant,
Off-Premises,
Ghost Kitchens
