UPDATE (November 9): With most votes counted, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington State have all approved the ballot measures outlined below.  Generally by wide margins from the mid 50’s to 60%.  In South Dakota, by a wide margin of 71% to 29% (with 99% of precincts reporting) voters rejected a measure to *lower* the minimum wage for people under age 18. President-Elect Trump has expressed support for an […]

We’ve all been there.  Sitting with friends or family, and nobody is talking to one another.  In fact, nobody is even *looking* at one another.  Instead, they’re all staring at their phones. A decade after the introduction of the smartphone, a bit of a “smartphone backlash” has come about.  Or at least fatigue with being constantly connected.  Increasingly, people are concerned about being present in the moment. Somewhere along the […]

Was Gordon Gekko the person who killed lunch?  In the 1987 movie “Wall Street” Gekko uttered “Lunch is for Wimps”.  At the time the lunch hour was still common, and most people still went out every day to eat with friends or colleagues.  Since then lunch has made a precipitous decline. Today, lunch is used just as often for errands, FaceBook or working.  A survey by staffing agency OfficeTeam found […]

In last week’s blog post we examined the history of online retailing and how restaurants and delivery have become the new focus for online business.  In this week’s post, we’ll examine the impact of the smartphone, big data, and why restaurant delivery is now an area of interest for online sellers. My Phone is My Life, My App My Menu The introduction of the mobile smartphone has radically changed the […]

This week we start a two-part series on the change that is coming to the Restaurant Industry.  In Part 1, we’ll look at the history of online retailing, and the new focus on restaurants by online businesses. Online Sellers Turn Retail Upside-Down Amazon.com opened for business in 1995.  Just two decades ago.  Starting off with the sale of books, it has expanded into practically every major shopping category.  Along the […]

In previous posts we’ve looked at how technology can improve service by speeding ordering and payment processing, giving wait staff more time to focus on diners.  But technology also improves hospitality in less obvious ways. For instance, our Presto System™ provides new entertainment options like games.  In our increasingly interconnected, “always on” society, diners are looking for a broader experience than just ordering and waiting for their food to be […]

Retention has always been a challenge for restaurant operators, becoming more difficult every year since 2010.  In 2015 annual employee turnover in the Restaurants-and-Accommodations Sector increased to 72.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Not only does this represent an increase from 66.7% in 2014, it’s also 57% higher than the Total U.S. Private Sector annual turnover of 45.9%.  Yearly increases in turnover are on pace to reach the […]

Recently there has been increasing chatter concerning a “Restaurant Recession”. This follows a number of negative indicators, including: A 1.5% – 2% decline in same-store restaurant comparables across all categories in Q2 2016 (Stifel Financial). Sales declines in 3 of the last 6 months through July, as reported by U.S. News Magazine. Declining sales at fast-casual restaurants for the first time since 2004, according to NPD. Creative Explanations Explanations for […]

The restaurant business has become more challenging in recent years, especially for casual-dining. In the second quarter of this year, many chains saw flat or falling sales. Competition appears to be increasing, with many new fast-casual chains, grocery store restaurants and a larger number of independent restaurants in many markets. Stagnant incomes for many Americans makes eating out a luxury for many. Online shopping is reducing foot traffic at malls […]

The Presto System contains a number of features that make surveys more flexible and interactive. Leveraging these tools you can delve deeper, in different directions, than historic approaches often permitted. Let’s look at three of these capabilities. First, is our ability to ask contextual questions. This means that a subsequent question can be asked, depending on what answer was given to a prior question. For example, if a survey respondent […]

In an earlier blog post, we looked at EMV. A related topic of interest for restaurant operators is Encryption. Restaurants are one of the most common targets of payment data theft, and EMV and Encryption work together to mitigate this risk. EMV refers to the “Europay Mastercard Visa” standard. EMV contains security measures contained within the payment card itself. It is the card, and specifically the chip itself, that contains […]

One of the great advantages of using the Presto Smart Dining System for surveys is the ability to associate questions with Contextual Data. The system already knows key variables, such as order amount, tip amount, table number, menu selections, location, payment method, time of day, day of week, server, and other key pieces of information. Many operators, harking back to the lessons learned in a marketing or statistics class, or […]