RESTAURANT RESOLUTIONS GUIDE9 Ways to Grow Your Business in 2014

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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• 2013 in Review • Menu Development • Service Intelligence

• Sales & Marketing • Experts Look Ahead • 2014 Resolution Checklist

• Introduction

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IntroductionThe start of a new year is a great time to get a fresh perspective on your business, especially for restaurant owners and operators. As you wrap up the busy holiday season, take some time to reflect and prepare to make the coming year a big one for your restaurant. !In this guide we offer 9 actionable suggestions for the areas of your business with the most growth potential: menu development, service intelligence, and marketing. We called on the restaurant owners, operators, consultants and vendors in our network to share detailed feedback about what will drive the industry in 2014. This document contains advice based on real-world restaurant success with direct applications for your business. Stick to even a few of these resolutions and we’re confident you’ll save time, retain more customers and increase revenue as a result.

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2013 In ReviewFirst, let’s take a look at the challenges restaurants faced in 2013. We asked owners, operators,

consultants, vendors and journalists covering the hospitality industry to tell us:

What were the biggest challenges restaurants faced this past year?

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Restaurants have had a year with consumer demands coming from all over the place, from trendy quinoa to "more bacon, please." - Heather Blount

Value/budget-conscious consumers made the decision not to eat out in 2013, creating an even more competitive landscape and driving trends in fresh food options at convenience stores and retail outlets. Legislative grappling in D.C. also created uncertainty which affected how consumers and operators spent their money not knowing what regulations will be in place a year from now. - Alicia Kelso

For full service restaurants I continue to see talent shortages. There’s not enough top level staff to go around in a competitive market. - Ryan Costigan

Healthy vs. Indulgent

Dining In vs. Out

Supply vs. Demand

I witnessed iPads in action and the amazing impact on decreasing dine time. The time saved could add a whole new table... this is a real, tangible, quantifiable initiative that can be evaluated for ROI. - Ray Camillo

Humans vs. Machines

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Menu DevelopmentYou place a menu in the hands of every guest that dines with you, every time they visit. With a little extra attention, this cornerstone of the dining experience can help you turn first-time customers into loyal guests and ensure you're extracting maximum value from every dish.

!• Consider and address your menu’s impact on the way your business

runs — according to the experts at Foodable’s Rock My Restaurant (video), successful restaurants’ menus are relevant to their guests’ preferences, serving as the base for the overall dining experience.

• You put a lot of effort into your menu and we won’t judge if you can’t make changes objectively. How do you know which trends you should be participating in? A consulting service like the Ladder Theory(sm) approach from VSAG can do it for you, offering valuable insights from an expert and impartial third party.

5 Quick-Serve Food Trends for 2014 • Tea Time: beyond sweetened & unsweetened • Add Spice: spicy sauces are “hot” • Dessert: more people are ordering it • Yogurt: on grocery lists and now menus • Chicken: not just economical, get creative

!- Menu Trend Bingo, Do you have these top 5 trends covered?,

Fast Casual

#1: Perform an Impartial Menu Audit Take a close look at the popularity and retention rates for individual dishes, and even what diners are saying on social media. This can reveal a lot about where your menu is winning, and where it’s not.

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#2: Seek Out Unique Ways to Reduce Food Costs You’ve worked hard to develop your signature dishes and specials alike, so make sure they’re working just as hard for you by generating as much profit as possible. Food costs promise to remain top of mind in the coming year, so here are some strategies for coming out on top in 2014.

• It’s not all about the food -- The performance of your kitchen staff is equally as important. The National Restaurant Association describes four simple ways to reduce food cost by improving line procedures, without touching your menu.

• It’s a good time to experiment with menu options that rely on staples, as food costs are expected to drop (or at least increase at a slower rate) when compared to last year. Projected winners in 2014 include bread and cheese.

• Consider and accommodate health-conscious diners, but don’t go overboard - it’s smart to include healthy dishes on your menu to draw health-conscious diners in, but create those dishes wisely. Once they're seated and enjoying their experience, diners are likely to order the more decadent items on the menu. FSR reports, “nearly half of all consumers want healthier menu items, but only about a quarter of them actively consider nutrition when dining out.” Be sure to trim the fat from the cost of these dishes as well as the calorie count so you're losing as little as possible on these items if they don't move quickly.

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• freshness of ingredients • open vs. closed kitchen • speed of service • plate presentation • to-go or carry out packaging - consider sourcing

sustainable and quality packaging • price point • is your unique brand represented in your menu

Menu Considerations at a Glance:

- Rock My Restaurant, Foodable (video)

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!• Copy the experts. Starchef.com offers a comprehensive list of tips from chefs at leading restaurants across the country who have

reduced food costs without compromising the quality of their ingredients or the complexity of their dishes. One key tip? Make an organized plan for inventory management and use it to track food costs on a daily basis. Restaurant management software like Aloha makes this process manageable, so you can identify issues and make adjustments before costs get out of hand.

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• create a process to see all comment card reviews in one place • use a service like Hootsuite to quickly browse online reviews from multiple sources • use a service like Swipely to pinpoint exactly which dishes bring customers back • meet with your team to plan how you will include quick serve trends in your ’14 menu

Set Yourself up for Menu Development Success:

#3: Find and Push Your “Hidden Gem” Dishes Some of the dishes on your menu are clear stars, bringing in more profit per plate either because they are inexpensive to make or because you can charge a premium for them. But a closer look might reveal a few “sleepers” -- dishes that are highly valuable in ways you never considered.

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• Axe dishes that aren't working for you -- if something is overly complicated to prepare, has a low profit margin, and isn't getting your customers excited, it doesn't belong on your menu. "Back-of-the-house” software like MenuMax can help you easily identify low performers. Once you've identified them, you may be able to do some rehab - try scaling back the portion or simplifying the recipe to reduce the cost, or update the name and description of the dish to generate more excitement. If a dish continues to underperform but you really love it or it has a handful of loyal fans, you can always run it as a special.

We Asked: What’s the most important thing restaurants can do to optimize their menu?

Give the customer what they want. Learn who they are. Talk to them. Execute to a superior level. Know your market.

“ ”

- Michael Birchenall, Foodservice Monthly

• Push the winners! Once you’ve identified the items on your menu that bring customers back, train your staff to recommend them to first-time visitors.

• Know how your menu items affect customer behavior -- match dishes to overall sales, new vs. repeat customers, and other key metrics.

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• Don’t discount the simple dishes -- Just because you’re going for a high-concept dining experience doesn’t mean your food has to be overly complicated. For example, Jonathan Waxman’s JW Roast Chicken at Barbuto in New York City was recently rated a favorite among members of a very tough audience -- other chefs! -- in Restaurant Business’ 2013 Clean Plate Awards.

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Service IntelligenceService is what separates good concepts from great (profitable) restaurants. It also takes up 5 or more hours per week of restaurateurs’ time and 30% of their operating budgets. 2013 saw its fair share of service-related challenges, particularly as healthcare reform refocused many small business owners on the costs surrounding their employees. Now, perhaps more than ever, service is a great place to start if you’re looking to optimize costs and grow revenue for your business.

!• Table-side POS and new payment options - Applebee’s made big waves in 2013 by adding tablets to their customers’ dining

experience, and committing to roll out tech-assisted ordering to all 2,000 of their locations by the end of 2014. Even if you aren’t using tablets in your establishment (yet), this evolution in ordering is changing diners’ expectations. Ease of use, self-directed ordering, and giving diners more control over the pace of service are things you should be aware of as you plan your service training and management in 2014.

Adopting technologies into your restaurant is extremely important, and will become even more of an expectation as tech culture continues to evolve.”

“#4: Incorporate Table-side, Mobile or Reporting Technology Many changes in service have been driven by technology in recent years. The landscape continues to change quickly and so must owners and operators in order to find the right solutions for their business. !Here are 3 top tech trends from 2013 that are here to stay:

- Tablets in Restaurants: Are They Worth the Investment, foodabletv.com

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80% of consumers think it’s important to see a menu before they dine at a restaurant

84% of consumers are likely to look at more than one restaurant before choosing where to dine

70% of consumers think it is important to be able to read the menu of a restaurant on a mobile device

!- Restaurants Most Searched Industry by Consumers on

Mobile Devices, Fresh Insights

• More and more diners are using mobile devices to book, record and report on dining experiences in real time. This trend presents an excellent opportunity to engage with your customers beyond the dining room. Do some research to determine which pieces of mobile technology are most appropriate for reaching your clientele. Fast Casual has some great tips on integrating mobile into your business plan for 2014.

• Upgrade your POS - “It's time to replace your processor if you're not getting unbelievable data along with the service of having those cards swiped,” says Brandon Hull NextRestaurant marketing. “For the same amount of money you spend with the ‘old world’ providers, you can get so much more insight, and make better marketing decisions with new providers.” Bottom line: If you’re not tapping into the data flowing through your business you’re missing out on vital information that can help you grow.

How Diners Use Mobile Search:

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When asked in which areas they would most like to see restaurants adding technology options, customers rated loyalty programs and ordering at the top of the list followed by reservations, entertainment, and payments.“

”- Customers Want to Incorporate Smartphone Technology with Dining

Experiences, www.Loyalty360.org

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• Make it memorable - You know diners are sharing their experiences online, so give them something worth talking about. It could be anything from your selection of wines to your plating and presentation to your signature table-side caesar. Identify what makes your service special and be sure your staff is delivering it consistently.

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Your Top 40 Hiring Questions answered in 40 words or less

Q: What’s a quick way to weed through a flood of applications? A: Behavioral-based assessments. !Q: What steps should the hiring process involve? A: Good hiring requires at least two interviews, phone reference checks, and background checks. !Q: What’s a common hiring mistake that operators make? A: Rushing through the hiring process.

…read the full article on QSR.com

#5: Set Yourself Apart with Service As customers continue to demand a more streamlined dining experience, restaurant owners and operators who set themselves apart with memorable, attentive service will reap the rewards of happy diners.

• Make it repeatable - hiring the right people is the first step to ensuring your service is memorable for all the right reasons. A lot of time is spent in the hiring process, and you want to make sure you’re seeing maximum results from these efforts. Including your top performing staff in the process can be a good tactic to ensure your choices are a fit with the team. Tools like PeopleMatter offer applicant tracking, at-a-glance evaluation and powerful filtering capabilities to streamline the hiring process.

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• Get rid of the paper - 41% of employers still rely on printed materials for the bulk of their training, which limits their ability to engage staff with training materials on an ongoing basis. Convert your materials to digital formats and you’re likely to see more active participation in the training process from new hires and veteran servers alike.

• Make your team part of your brand, online and off - It doesn’t take much effort to make your team part of your online presence: share photos that feature staff, task trusted employees with regular posting of specials and promotions, and publicly acknowledge the contributions your team makes to your business. Keep your brand story in mind during the hiring process to make sure potential team members are a fit.!

• Ongoing Education is key - More diners than ever are looking to connect with the culinary experience, knowing where their food and drink comes from and how it’s prepared. Educate your servers to cater to this “need to know” and watch as customers come back again and again.

#6: Digitize Your Staff Training and Include Social Media

• Make it measurable - Once you’ve hired the right people, make sure you’re using the right criteria to evaluate your staff. Just because “diners love” a server doesn’ t mean there isn’t room to grow that server’s profitability. Look at turn time, upselling, and how often they sell the most profitable menu items. Arming yourself with the right tools to understand how service is affecting your bottom line is another important step. Andrew Voirol of The Social Diner suggests Asana for improving productivity.

- download the complete infographic on training an hourly workforce from PeopleMatter

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Sales & MarketingWhen you’re busy managing staff, maintaining inventory and serving customers, measuring your marketing efforts can easily fall to the bottom of the list. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Taking a little bit of time to measure the return on your marketing investment will let you focus more on what works and less on what doesn’t, saving you time and money in the long run.

Guests will naturally return to restaurants where they feel a connection. “

”- Tony Marciante, Chef Tony's Seafood Restaurant

restaurantownerlessons.com

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• 56% of restaurants saw a flat guest count between 2011 and 2012.

Public Relations can help with that, even if you’re not a huge corporation or celebrity chef. Here are just a few of the firms that specialize in restaurant PR: bigInk, j public relations, Bullfrog & Baum, VM Public Relations, baltz & company, or KnowPR. If hiring a company like this is outside your budget, subscribe to some of their blogs for free advice that you can implement yourself.

Publicity services aren't just for giant chain restaurants with multimillion-dollar marketing budgets. Local businesses can get a huge bang for their buck by securing coverage in newspaper dining sections, building a community of vocal fans on Facebook and Twitter, and even marketing to fellow businesses.

#7: Use Public Relations and Social Media to Bring in New Customers

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• Social Media- Channels like Facebook and Twitter, review sites like Yelp, and reservation services like OpenTable are a must. It’s where your customers are spending their time online and where you’re most likely to reach them with your marketing messages. Consider setting yourself apart with a presence on sites where your competitors may not be -- for example, Instagram is a great place to post photos of your food. (Or, get really creative like Grays on Main in Franklin, TN did with their series of online cocktail tutorials.)

• Be smart about ads - print, radio, and TV advertising and direct mail are restaurant marketing classics. Get the biggest bang for your buck with a special hook, like a holiday discount or seasonal cocktail menu.

• Loyal customers spend a whopping 60+% more than new ones. If you’re running

a loyalty program, you’re already halfway there. If you’re not, it’s quick and easy to launch one that turns customers’ credit or debit cards into loyalty cards - no paper punchcards or keychain plastic necessary!

#8: Step Up Your Email and Loyalty Programs to Keep Diners Coming BackYou put money and effort into getting customers through your doors -- it's worth a little more to keep them coming back. Your efforts will be rewarded with higher profits and word-of-mouth advertising that just can't be bought.

According to the National Restaurant Association’s What’s Hot 2014 Culinary Forecast, respondents expect loyalty marketing / social media marketing to be among the 5 hottest technology trends for restaurants in 2014.

Loyalty Trending

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!• Email Marketing software like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Campaign Monitor make it easy to send professional, effective

emails to your loyal customers to draw them in more frequently.

• Don’t forget the ultimate word-of-mouth advertising vehicle - gift cards. If your customers think highly enough of you to buy their friends and family an experience at your business, make sure that experience is seamless by using a top-notch vendor like SwipeIt or Valutec.

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• Which of your marketing campaigns are actually bringing customers in? Restaurant Week, your local magazine ad, Facebook posts? It’s easy to find out with the right solutions - knowing how successful a campaign was will help you make smarter marketing decisions going forward.

You got into the restaurant business to serve excellent food and provide an enjoyable dining experience for your customers, not to become a marketing guru. Luckily, there are plenty of services out there -- many of them free -- to help you promote your business and make sure your customers are getting the message.

#9: Find the Right Tool(s) to Plan and Measure Your Marketing Campaigns

Swipely offers a robust suite of tools to monitor your marketing campaign success. Access this information from wherever you are and never be out of touch with your business. Learn more at swipely.com.

Monitor Success

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• One of the easiest ways to see how engaged your audience is with your promotions is to post them on social media. For instance, if you post a new special to your Facebook page, the site’s analytics reports will show you who was interested, when, and how many people laid eyes on your announcement.

62% Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social networks

19% Yelp, Urbanspoon and other review sites

17% Grubhub, Seamless and other online ordering platforms

5% OpenTable and other online reservation services

“Which online services will be most important to promoting your brand in 2014?” OpenTable

Grubhub

Yelp Twitter

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• It’s critical to plan your campaigns appropriately - use local media to keep tabs on what’s important to your audience. “A value/budget-conscious consumer often made the decision not to eat out in 2013… plus, legislative grappling in D.C. created uncertainty which both affected how consumers spend their money and how operators spend their money not knowing what regulations will be in place a year from now,” explains Alicia Kelso of QSRweb.com. Restaurateurs in Washington, D.C. found creative ways to cater to these consumers during a tense time.

- National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot 2014 Culinary Forecast”

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TakeawaysGrowing your business doesn’t have to be intimidating. Knowing where to start is the biggest step, and from there, it’s just a matter of using what you already know to make the right decisions. Choose solutions that work for you to keep tabs on the things that matter -- your customers, your menu, and your staff. Then, use those solutions to inform your decisions. When you’re doing more of what brings in customers and revenue and less of what doesn’t, growth is inevitable.

If you take just one insight from this guide into 2014, make it this: gut instincts and hard data are not enemies! You know how to run your business, and all the tools you use to do so are there to back you up. Resolve to use them to their fullest potential, and reach yours, in 2014.

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We asked owners, operators, consultants, vendors and journalists covering the hospitality industry to tell us:

What are the biggest opportunities for restaurant owners to use technology to grow business in 2014?

Experts Look Ahead

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Have a mobile plan, one that is consistent with your website/social media presence, and that leverages one-to-one marketing strategies and loyalty programs. Customers want personalized marketing now, not mass marketing. Brands that tap into this trend will yield more repeat business. - Alicia Kelso, QSRWeb.com

Capitalize on lower tablet prices and incorporate devices like iPads or Galaxy Pads (or more industry specific devices like E la Carte) into operations to increase sales and manage costs. - Kyle Rees, Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington

Take advantage of the tools that integrate with the point-of-sale systems…payroll, reservations, your credit card analysis, time clock, security, the Cloud. - Michael Birchenall, Foodservice Monthly

Data. It's time to replace your processor if you're not getting unbelievable data along with the service of having those cards swiped...you can get so much more insight, and make better marketing decisions with new providers. - Brandon Hull, Next Restaurants

Understand social media, and the value of a good website, along with the ROI of a review site like Yelp. But measuring the use of those tools to make informed decisions will be the key. - Andrew Voirol, The Social Diner

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!1. Perform an Impartial Menu Audit — be sure to look at popularity and retention

2. Seek Out Unique Ways to Reduce Food Costs — kitchen staff productivity is a great place to start

3. Find and Push Your “Hidden Gem” Dishes — get rid of overly complicated dishes that don’t sell

4. Incorporate Table-side, Mobile or Reporting Technology — even if you’re not integrating technology, understand how it impacts diners’ expectations for service

5. Set Yourself Apart with a Unique Service Element — make the experience memorable for your guests

6. Digitize Your Staff Training — to increase engagement and efficacy of training materials

7. Use Public Relations and Social Media to Bring in New Customers — can’t afford a PR firm? Steal their best ideas right from their blogs and implement yourself

8. Step Up Your Email and Loyalty Programs to Keep Diners Coming Back — choose the right software to make running loyalty as easy and fast as possible

9. Find the Right Tool(s) to Plan and Measure Your Marketing Campaigns — but first be sure you’ve identified which metrics are most important to your bottom line

Learn more about how Swipely can help you grow your business at www.swipely.com/tour.

2014 Resolutions Checklist