Millennials, those between the ages of 18 and 34, have surpassed the baby boomers to become the nation’s largest living generation. Their food and beverage preferences will drive the restaurant industry for decades to come. One of their preferences is coffee and tea. Millennials also have a strong affinity for customized offerings. Thus, restaurateurs who can offer custom-made coffee and tea specialty beverages will be successful in attracting and keeping their business.

Key Takeaways:

• Thus there is an opportunity to sell them coffee and tea brewed in ways that they perceive as individualized and “made-for-me.”
• In regard to coffee and tea, that involves sharing the backstory with them about where the beans or leaves come from, how they were processed and how they fit the company’s values.
• “But once you engage with them and win their loyalty, they are very loyal to you.”

“One of the most fertile opportunities for reaching millennials with coffee and tea relates to their open-mindedness and curiosity about global cuisines.”

http://nrn.com/sd-coffee-fsvoice/luring-millennials-coffee-and-tea

Taking into consideration the cost of the food you eat is crucial to understanding how much money you spend on it. For businesses however, this is even more important and vital, as it can determine the amount of revenue they are bringing in, given that they are restaurants. In doing so, often times measuring actual food costs as opposed to theoretical food costs can grant a better understanding of the process it takes to cook and serve the food, and may ultimately save many restaurant-owners a great deal of money when implementing it.

Key Takeaways:

• the most useful reports a back office can generate is the Actual vs. Theoretical food cost report.
• The Theoretical food cost report is calculated by taking the prices paid for each ingredient x Amount of each ingredient in each recipe x Menu Mix (how many of each recipe was sold). The Actual is calculated by taking the beginning of week inventory values + Additional inventory purchases – End of week inventory values = your actual food cost
• The next goal is to use available reporting tools to find and eliminate the source(s) of the excess cost. The restaurant software helps by bringing the entire enterprise more operational discipline and efficiency while seriously impacting your bottom line food and labor cost savings by 2-5% or more.

“Restaurant management software has many benefits, but one of the most useful reports your back office solution can generate is the Actual vs. Theoretical food cost report.”

http://nrn.com/back-office-solutions/hidden-food-costs-are-killing-your-profits

If you’ve got a license you’ve probably been to a drive-thru, and if you’re a Millennial you’ve probably been going to them since you were a kid! That’s a lot of time for those fast food franchises to hone their craft, and this restaurant owner has taken the time to study what makes the drive-thru so functional and what keeps us coming back.

Key Takeaways:

• Nearly a third of Millennials ages 18 to 24 choose through the drive-thru at restaurants because “they don’t feel like dealing with people”.
• 83 percent of consumers have purchased a meal or snack at a restaurant drive-thru in the past year.
• A popular restaurant Frisch’s has new breakfast burritos to give busy families a fresh way to eat on the go.

“Frisch’s said drive-thru transactions in its Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio restaurants have increased for the past five years, and now account for 30 percent of company revenue.”

http://nrn.com/quick-service/frisch-s-survey-reveals-drive-thru-trends