September 2011 Archives

Dampened by softer sales and traffic levels and continued uncertainty among restaurant operators, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) declined for the second consecutive month in August. 

The RPI – a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry – stood at 99.4 in August, down 0.3 percent from July.  In addition, August marked the second consecutive month that the RPI stood below 100, the level above which signifies expansion in the index of key industry indicators.

“The August decline in the Restaurant Performance Index resulted from softening of both current situation and expectations indicators, as well as Hurricane Irene,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the Association.  “Although restaurant operators reported net positive same-store sales results in August, their six-month outlook for both sales growth and the economy continued to deteriorate.”

Watch our latest industry update video, where the National Restaurant Association's SVP of the Research & Knowledge Group Hudson Riehle summarizes the August Restaurant Performance Index and additional economic indicators.

For previous industry update videos, visit our Research & Insights section.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) opened a deli in Bakersfield, Calif., 26 years ago. Would he do it again? No, he says in a recent column in Capitol Hill's Roll Call newspaper -- today's regulatory environment just makes it too risky.

"I cringe at the thought that today's entrepreneurs even have to consider the costs of complying with duplicative, onerous and burdensome regulations before making that leap of faith to start a new business, purchase equipment and hire employees," he writes. Read McCarthy's full article.

National Food Safety Education Month is wrapping up, but restaurateurs are committed to safe food handling practices and training throughout the year.

"Food safety is the most important issue above and beyond anything else we do," says National Restaurant Association board member Ivan Matsunaga. "To get someone sick is a nail in the coffin."

In Chicago, where Matsunaga operates Connie's Pizza restaurants at Navy Pier and McCormick Place, city health codes require restaurants to have certified food safety managers on premise. Connie's supervisors and select kitchen and front-of-house employees receive ServSafe food safety training, and Ecolab representatives regularly visit to enhance in-house training.

Restaurants are doing their part to conserve water during what may be the worst drought in Texas' history.

Because water regulation is so localized and splintered in Texas, the state is a patchwork of mandates, limitations and recommendations on use. But for restaurants, that really hasn't mattered, says Wendy Saari, vice president of marketing for the Texas Restaurant Association.

"Most restaurants have moved to offering water only upon request, and are really being cognizant of the water issue," she says. "How often they're running their dishwashers, how often they wash off their side walks, how often they water the grass - the things you used to take for granted are being reconsidered because of the situation."

The Coalition for a Democratic Workforce is challenging a new National Labor Relations Board mandate. Starting Nov. 14, NLRB will require nearly all businesses to post 11" x 17" posters advising employees of their rights to form unions under the National Labor Relations Act.

Two lawsuits have been filed to block the rule since NLRB issued the mandate in August. The Coalition for a Democratic Workforce recently joined the first lawsuit, and the National Restaurant Association is a member of the coalition. A bill also is pending in Congress to repeal the mandate. It's not known whether the lawsuits will delay the Nov. 14 effective date.

In comments to the NLRB, the NRA and thousands of other business groups urged the agency withdraw the rule. The groups say the rule forces businesses to hang posters with a pro-union bias and NLRB lacks the authority to impose the mandate. The NLRB went ahead with the mandate despite the business community's opposition.

The Labor Department announced Sept. 22 that it would delay the implementation date of a new rule that could dramatically increase wages for H-2B employees. The agency, which faces legal challenges from employers who use the H-2B visa program, moved the date back at least 60 days.

National Food Safety Education Month (NFSEM) is in its final week of free training activities. Week five includes information for servers, busers and dishwashers to correctly handle utensils and equipment.

The National Restaurant Association's 2011 NFSEM campaign focused attention on "Lessons Learned from the Health Inspection," teaching foodservice employees about common tasks that health inspectors cover.

The training activity sheet for week five - available for free download - emphasizes the importance of washing hands between handling dirty and clean dishes, storing cleaned and sanitized items upside down, and handling ice buckets and scoops the right way.

The National Restaurant Association focused its latest "America Works Here" ad on the restaurant industry's efforts on food safety, to coincide with National Food Safety Education Month in September.

The Association's "Food for Thought" ads have run each month this year in Capitol Hill newsletters and websites to help convey to U.S. lawmakers and national policymakers the enormous impact the restaurant industry has on careers, communities and the economy.

Read more about the America Works Here campaign at www.restaurant.org/americaworkshere.

See our previous ads from 2011, including ads about the industry's economic impact; opportunity and diversity; skills-building; careers and ownership; youth development; and nutrition.

The National Restaurant Association and Heartland Payments Systems team up for a webinar for NRA members on Thursday, Sept. 29, on the impact of new regulations that take effect Oct. 1 and for the first time cap debit-card "swipe fees" for merchants.

Calling all restaurant, foodservice and hospitality experts and trend-setters. It’s that time of year again to submit education session proposals for the National Restaurant Association’s NRA Show 2012 and International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event (IWSB).

Among the many top experts who will speak in 2012, NRA Show and IWSB attendees will have an opportunity to hear from leading restaurant executive David Novak, chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands on Monday, May 7, 2012.

“Education sessions are an important and exciting part of NRA Show and IWSB programming. Each year we strive to provide attendees with a wide range of topics and speakers to help improve their business both now and into the future,” said David Gilbert, Chief Operating Officer of the National Restaurant Association.

The National Restaurant Association is spreading the word about its efforts to promote healthy living. This week, Vice President of Industry Affairs and Food Policy Joan McGlockton shared the message with participants in the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference in Washington.

The conference, which is attended by thousands of participants from across the country, welcomed McGlockton's news about the Association's exciting new Kids LiveWell initiative to help parents identify healthful children’s menu options when dining out.

“The National Restaurant Association is taking a proactive role in helping the restaurant industry address the nation’s healthy living challenges and provide more options for consumers,” said McGlockton.

Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit focusing on kid nutrition, this week is celebrating the success of its annual Dine Out for No Kid Hungry campaign, an initiative aimed at ending childhood hunger by 2015.

According to Debbie Shore, co-founder of SOS, the weeklong event, which began Sept. 18 and runs through Sept. 24, this year attracted participation from thousands of restaurants across the country and is on track to raise $2.5 million.

"This year has been bigger and better than ever," she said. "We are at almost 6,000 restaurants this year, up from nearly 5,000 last year. I think helping this cause resonates in a huge way with restaurateurs because they feed families and understand that there are kids who don't have access to nourishing meals. By participating in Dine Out for No Kid Hungry, they are discovering they can do a couple of things: retain staff engagement and serve the community."

Restaurants participating in National Food Safety Education Month will be focusing on what to watch for when storing food this week.

This year's theme, Lessons Learned from the Health Inspection, highlights food safety practices that health inspectors commonly cover.

Week 4 of the National Restaurant Association's month-long campaign to raise awareness about the importance of food safety education and training addresses food storage and labeling.

The free, downoadable training activity sheet teaches foodservice employees to store food in containers made for food and keep those containers sealed or covered, label food containers with a use-by-date, and to not refill condiment bottles by combining near-empty ones.

The nation's largest operator of casual restaurants is keeping old restaurant furnishings out of the waste stream by donating the tables, chairs and fixtures to a national charity for resale.

Darden Restaurants, the parent of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouses, estimates that it's given more than $1.2 million worth of furnishings to ReStore, the retail component of Habitat for Humanity. ReStore sells new and used furniture to consumers and small businesses. The proceeds fund Habitat's construction and repair of homes for the needy.

Darden has donated furnishings from 150 Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn restaurants that were renovated as part of a corporate upgrade program. Another 150 units of those chains will be given a facelift as part of that initiative; Darden plans to passed along their furnishings to ReStore, too.

The National Restaurant Association Sept. 19 welcomed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to its Board of Directors meeting in Washington, where he thanked the Association for its commitment and efforts to continue to expand nutritional options on restaurant menus.

"The National Restaurant Association is proud to partner with Secretary Vilsack and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a number of initiatives to promote nutrition and healthy living," said Dawn Sweeney, President and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. “We will continue to play a proactive role in helping the industry address our nation’s healthy living challenges and provide more options for consumers, as we have done with our exciting new ‘Kids LiveWell’ initiative.”

In an effort to ramp up charitable support for U.S. military members, the National Restaurant Association and the Texas Restaurant Association have teamed up to launch "Freedom is Sweet!", a fundraising campaign that will benefit service men and women and their families.

The promotion will run Nov. 7-13 in conjunction with the Veteran's Day holiday, which will be observed Nov. 11. Geared toward aiding the rehabilitation and re-entry efforts of U.S. soldiers, the program, a new NRA community affairs initiative, will this year focus on veterans in Texas, but is expected to roll out nationally with help from partner state associations in 2012. Funds raised will help support housing, medical, athletic and occupational and physical training for veterans and their family members.

"The National Restaurant Association and the entire industry have supported military causes for decades," said David Gilbert, the NRA's chief operating officer. "Moving forward, we believe that Freedom Is Sweet! can become a long-term, focused program to support and positively impact the lives of the active military, veterans and their families. As more of our military-service men and women return home, our industry will also work to ensure that careers are available to them and their families, especially as we work through the National Restaurant Educational Foundation to offer scholarships to those in the military seeking professional training in the culinary arts or hospitality management."

Companies participating in the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative are calling on fellow industry professionals to join new working groups that are being formed to guide the future development of GS1 foodservice standards.

Launched in 2009, the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative is a voluntary effort that seeks to drive waste out of the foodservice supply chain, improve product information, and establish a foundation for improved traceability and food safety. The initiative is endorsed by the National Restaurant Association, International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, and the International Foodservice Distributors Association.

Initiative Work Groups and Task Groups act collaboratively across industry and include manufacturers, distributors, and restaurant and foodservice operators.

In his latest commentary, the National Restaurant Association's Chief Economist Bruce Grindy looks at the latest trends in household income.  In 2010, real median household income declined to its lowest level since 1996.  Even more critical for the restaurant industry, the number of households with incomes above $75,000 – prime restaurant customers – declined by nearly two million between 2007 and 2010.

The fallout from the Great Recession continues to be felt long after its “official” end, as the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week that household income declined for the third consecutive year in 2010.  Real median household income was $49,445 in 2010, down 6.4 percent from its recent cyclical high in 2007 and its lowest level since 1996. 

While the overall downward trend is a cause for concern, the sharp decline in the number of higher-income households poses additional challenges for the restaurant industry.

A new mandate that will require nearly all private-sector employers to post an 11” x 17” workplace notice telling employees about their right to unionize is sparking a firestorm of protest.

Although fast casual operators reported positive same-store sales for the 11th consecutive month in July, results were somewhat softer than in recent months. According to the National Restaurant Association Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, 46 percent of fast casual operators reported a same-store sales gain between July 2010 and July 2011. Forty percent reported a same-store sales decline.

In June, nearly two-thirds of fast casual operators (64 percent) reported a same-store sales gain, while just 25 percent reported a decline.

Despite the softer July results, fast casual operators remain optimistic that sales will grow in the months ahead. Forty-eight percent of fast casual operators expect to have higher sales in six months (compared to the same period in the previous year), while 17 percent expect their sales volume in six months to be lower than it was in the same period the previous year.

When Corner Bakery Cafe expanded its participation in a campaign to end childhood hunger, it got more than it bargained for.

It’s a great cause, and it adds value for business, says Jim Vinz, president and chief operating officer.

Corner Bakery Cafe is one of the original participants in Share Our Strength’s Dine Out for No Kid Hungry. The event, which began in 2008 as the Great American Dine Out, is set for Sept. 18 through Sept. 24.

The National Restaurant Association is calling on foodservice equipment manufacturers to apply for its 2012 Kitchen Innovations Awards. Selected by an independent panel of experts, the award recipients represent the most groundbreaking equipment on the market that will cut costs and improve productivity and food quality in restaurant operations.

They will be featured in the Kitchen Innovations Pavilion at the 2012 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show® (May 5-8 at Chicago’s McCormick Place).

“Product innovation is an important driver toward restaurant sales growth and cost management. By identifying back-of-the-house equipment that is truly cutting edge, we hope to help the nation’s nearly one million restaurants grow and succeed,” said David Gilbert, Chief Operating Officer of the National Restaurant Association.

Ben the dishwasher was washing equipment in a three-compartment sink. He scraped the items, scrubbed them with a detergent solution, rinsed them, and then dipped them quickly into the sanitizer solution. Then he placed each item upside down to dry. Did Ben do the right thing when it came to cleaning and sanitizing?

That is one of the questions included in the training activity of week three of this year's National Food Safety Education Month, which highlights tasks and procedures to keep in mind for a health inspection - and for day to day operations year-round. Week three of the campaign's free materials focuses on cleaning and sanitizing.

The training activity sheet details how to correctly clean and sanitize food contact surfaces, mix sanitizer solution, and store cloths used for wiping food spills. Then asks a series of questions to test your knowledge.

The National Restaurant Association has been fine-tuning its Conserve education initiative to make it the industry's green standard: a roadmap for every restaurant to incorporate sustainability, from the simplest to the most advanced practices. Now, says Conserve project manager Chris Moyer, the program is ready to move beyond the pilot phase.

We caught up with Moyer for a preview of the program in its launch form.

Q: Restaurant operators participating in the test say the program is still based on a checklist that allows them to proceed at their own pace down a green path. How have you modified it as a result of what you've learned during the pilot phase?

Moyer: One of the things we're building into the program is more social interaction. We're helping companies easily use their social media platform to let people know what they're doing to be greener.

The fall term began with new opportunities for Delaware and New Hampshire high school students.

Schools in those states recently began offering the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation's ProStart program. The two-year program prepares high school students for culinary and hospitality careers through classroom instruction and mentored, hands-on work experience.

Mike Somers, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, says the program will benefit his members.

"[We] recognize the importance of educating the next generation of our industry," he says. "We're looking forward to great results in the future."

Attendee registration is now open for the 2012 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show and International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event (IWSB).

A special “early bird” online-only discount – a 66 percent savings – is available for restaurant and hospitality industry professionals who register before November 18, 2011. Members of the National Restaurant Association receive complimentary registration for the NRA Show (May 5-8, 2012, at Chicago's McCormick Place) and a member-only rate for IWSB (May 6-7, 2012, At McCormick Place).

“Successful operators plan their business decisions well in advance of the year ahead.  Registering for NRA Show 2012 now provides access to a hotbed of discovery and interactivity that showcases new innovation, best-in-class products, services and solutions you need in your business, as well as cutting-edge ideas that promote growth opportunities,” said David Gilbert, Chief Operating Officer of the National Restaurant Association.

With unemployment in the United States stuck at 9.1 percent and millions of people still seeking work, restaurateurs across the country, including one who attended President Obama's job creation speech in Washington, D.C., say the biggest hiring obstacles they face are the uncertainty and lack of clarity surrounding current tax codes and numerous federal regulations.

"We've been around since the 1930s and this is the most challenging economic environment we've ever seen," said Lisa Ingram, chief operating officer of White Castle Management Co., parent of the 415-unit quick-service burger chain based in Columbus, Ohio. "We are always looking to spur job growth ..., but [ending the] uncertainty in Washington [would be] the best way to help us. We've been around for 90 years and want to be able to plan for the next 90, and in order to do that we have to have a better understanding of the regulatory environment and the tax codes."

Ingram was one of a handful of business operators invited by House Speaker John Boehner to attend the President's Sept. 8 speech on job creation. During the speech, President Obama implored Congress to pass a jobs bill that calls for some $447 billion in tax cuts and government spending.

National Restaurant Association President and CEO Dawn Sweeney made the following statement about the 10th anniversary of 9/11:

"Across the nation we are reflecting on the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 and remembering our personal stories – where we were, how we heard the news, and for those most deeply marked by the attacks, who we lost. And we are remembering the aftermath of the tragedy, how people came together to comfort one another and rebuild.

"The National Restaurant Association is proud to represent an industry that is typically among the first to respond in times of need.  Ten years ago, in the wake of 9/11, the restaurant and foodservice industry galvanized to organize Dine for America, a national fundraising day in support of the victims of the attacks of September 11.

Handling food is an important part of food safety education. The National Restaurant Association's National Food Safety Education Month is focusing on just that in its second week of free training activities.

The 10-minute in-store activity sheet, available for download at www.ServSafe.com/NFSEM, includes things that health inspectors watch for when it comes to employees handling food. It teaches employees to avoid touching their bodies and then touching food, and how to use gloves correctly. For example, to wash hands immediately after scratching or sneezing, and to throw away gloves after completing a task.

The training sheet then asks employees to correctly identify the correct way to handle food and use gloves in a series of images. The NFSEM materials also include a printable poster for kitchens and staff areas.

All NFSEM training materials are based on the National Restaurant Association's ServSafe program. This year's NFSEM is sponsored by SCA, a global hygiene company and makers of the Tork brand of away-from-home paper products.

Food trucks are one of the hottest trends in the restaurant industry right now, and consumers are showing increasing interest in mobile foodservice, new research by the National Restaurant Association confirms. 

The new research, a consumer survey conducted last month, found that nearly six out of ten (59 percent) American adults say they would be likely to visit a food truck if their favorite restaurant offered one, up from 47 percent just one year ago.

“Our research shows that in just one year, the number of consumers who say they would be likely to visit a food truck has increased significantly. We also found that food trucks have a more noticeable presence in communities in the West and Northeast than in other parts of the United States,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the National Restaurant Association.

Soaring grocery price inflation is helping the restaurant industry attract customers who continue to look for increased dining value, industry watchers say.

"The fact that grocery store price inflation is double that of menu prices helps the industry," said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C.

According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery store prices rose 0.6 percent in July, the sixth time in the last seven months that prices increased at least half a percentage point. Furthermore, those prices have jumped 5.4 percent during the last 12 months, more than double the total gain in menu prices during the same period.

As the nation’s capital heads into overdrive on the labor, tax, regulatory and other issues that matter to your restaurant business, mark your calendars now for the National Restaurant Association's biggest grassroots lobbying event: the Public Affairs Conference, April 17 to 18, 2012.

Chelsea Wright wasn't quite ready to compete on Wando High School's 2007-2008 ProStart team, so her teacher, Chef Julian Buckner, arranged a job-shadowing opportunity for her.

He sent her to Chef Robert Carter at the Peninsula Grill in Charleston, S.C., and Carter hired her on the spot. Carter had been the Wando ProStart team's mentor in 2006 and 2007.

Today, Wright is a sous chef at the Peninsula Grill, and she appears with Carter this week on Iron Chef America.

"ProStart has opened up so many doors for my students," says Buckner, a former Johnson & Wales instructor who has taken three teams to the National ProStart Invitational since he began teaching at Wando seven years ago.

Employees in 21 states and Washington, D.C., can now check their eligibility to work in the United States via "E-Verify Self Check," a service of the Department of Homeland Security.

In his latest commentary, the National Restaurant Association's Chief Economist Bruce Grindy analyzes the August job report.  While the recent anemic employment figures don’t necessarily mean the economy is headed for a double-dip recession, the odds are certainly increasing.

Each month in the economy – in good times and bad – hundreds of thousands of jobs are added and hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost.  The net difference is the closely-watched figure that gets reported by the U.S. Department of Labor each month, and is widely viewed as a key measure of the economy’s health. 

Earlier this year, the recovery was gathering momentum, with the economy adding more than 700,000 jobs during the first four months of the year.  Conditions then deteriorated quickly, as only 158,000 jobs were added in May, June and July.

As part of its National Food Safety Education Month (NFSEM) campaign, the National Restaurant Association offers free training materials to emphasize the importance of food safety education and training.

Available for free download are five weekly activities in English and Spanish that can be completed in-store in about 10 minutes. They can be incorporated into existing training programs, and easily completed as part of daily staff meetings.

Week 1 includes how to work with a health inspector, highlighting this year's NFSEM theme "Lessons Learned from the Health Inspection." Tips include checking credentials before letting anyone enter the back of an operation; not rushing to fix potential problems; and showing the inspector how you perform certain tasks.

The National Restaurant Association today launched a new podcast that spotlights the importance of food safety education and training. This two-part episode walks listeners through things to keep in mind when a health inspector visits, as part of this year's National Food Safety Education Month, and how the Association's ServSafe Food Safety training and certification programs help operators create a culture of food safety.

Host Blair Chancey, editorial director of Food News Media, speaks with William Weichelt, the National Restaurant Association’s director of ServSafe, about how a typical health inspection should be handled and the importance of ongoing food safety training for all employees.

Listen to the podcasts through iTunes.