Restaurant Owners Can Now Apply for Hurricane Sandy Relief

Relief is now available for residents of New York, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia which were declared Virginia states of emergency in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Funding is available to state and eligible local governments on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and emergency protective measures according to FEMA.

To register for disaster relief visit: http://www .disasterassistance.gov, or call 1-800-FEMA (3362) (TTY: 1-800-462-7585).

In addition, there is also assistance available in the form of low-cost loans to help cover uninsured property losses from the Small Business Association. Applications can be completed online through their Electronic Loan Application: www.sba.gov/content/applying-disaster-loan or by applying in person. To find a Disaster Recovery Centre near you to apply in person call, 1-800-659-2955 (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or e-mail disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Hurricane Sandy produced winds of 80 miles per hour and intense flooding in many parts of New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia. There has been a huge impact on the restaurants and small businesses in the affected areas. Some restaurants in the less affected parts were able to get up and running the next day. For others, the water has caused damage that will take weeks if not more to recover from.

 

Infographic: How Temperature Impacts Frozen Yogurt Sales

Vivonet wanted to know how weather impacted Frozen Yogurt sales. The result was intended to help yogurt shops be more successful by turning transactions into insights and opportunities for staffing, inventory, promotion and sales. By extension, this information could apply to other restaurants, like cafes, and further investigation could be made to see how weather impacts their business.

Analysts looked at the total sales for our U.S. customers that sell Frozen Yogurt from June 1 to August 31, 2012 and compared the data to the average temperature for each day.

The results from our study found that weather impacts Frozen Yogurt sales in June and appears to have more influence over sales at the beginning of the week, than the weekend.

Click here to view the Infographic

Total Sales

$69,867,008 of Frozen Yogurt sales were made by Vivonet clients in the U.S. between June 1 and August 31, 2012. The graph below compares sales by day for Boston (green line) with the maximum temperature for that day (blue line).

  

Click here to see the full size graph.

Top Cities

The Top 3 U.S. cities for Frozen Yogurt sales over the summer were:

1. Boston $4,682,006
2. Oklahoma City   $4,176,134
3. Cincinnati $4,086,469

Top Months

By investigating Boston further, the top month for Frozen Yogurt was August.

1. August $1,825,213.56
2. July $1,728,672.62
3. June $1,128,120.76

June appears to be more effected by weather with more variability than July and August. Daily sales in June ranged between $2,000 and $7,200 with temperatures varying from 53 to 97°F.

• June 4 vs. June 9 / 26 degrees hotter, $3,545 in increased sales.
  • Monday, June 4 - 53°F - average sales per store $2,141
  • Saturday, June 9 - 79°F – average sales per store $5,686

• June 18 vs. June 20 / 33 degrees hotter, $1,787 in increased sales.
  • Monday, June 18 - 64°F – average sales per store $5,326
  • Wednesday, June 20 - 97°F – average sales per store $7,113

• June 26 vs. July 1 / 18 degrees hotter, $1,784 in increased sales.
  • Tuesday, June 26 - 73°F – average sales per store $4,836      
  • Sunday, July 1 - 91°F – average sales per store $6,620

Top Days

The most lucrative day for Frozen Yogurt sales in Boston was Sunday, August 19.

1. Sunday August 19 $71,928
2. Sunday, July 15 $71,068 
3. Friday, August 3 $70,796
4. Saturday, August 4 $70,677
5. Sunday, August 26 $70,459 

Sunday’s were the best day of the week with the highest sales and Mondays the lowest. Sundays had an average 30% increase in sales over Mondays. In summery the average sales over the summer for each day of the week are as follows:

1. Sunday average daily sales $6,878.93 (80°F Average daily temperature)
2. Saturday average daily sales $6,330.53 (78°F Average daily temperature)
3. Friday average daily sales $6,166.20 (82°F Average daily temperature)
4. Thursday average daily sales $5,814.83 (82°F Average daily temperature)
5. Wednesday average daily sales $5,484.85 (80°F Average daily temperature)
6. Tuesday average daily sales $5,325.64 (80°F Average daily temperature)
7. Monday average daily sales $5,279.05 (78°F Average daily temperature)

Weekday vs. Weekend

Over the summer, the average weather on the weekend vs. the weekday differed by only 0.59°F and yet sales are better on the weekend over the weekday by approximately 20% ($1,088) on average, per day.

Weekend:Average Daily Sales $6451.24 and the average temperature was 79.82°F

Weekday: Average Daily Sales $5,363.18 and the average temperature was 79.23°F

 

In Summary

• June is critical, its sets the tone for the rest of the summer. If you can win customers here, you set the business up for returns in July and August. And June appears to be more affected by temperature change than the other months. The reason appears to be that coming out of the coolness of spring, the first sign of hot weather and people are more likely to get Frozen Yogurt.

• In June, owner/operators should be monitoring the weather forecast and for the days the weather is above average, they should plan to sell more, staff accordingly and carry appropriate inventory to match increased demand.

• If weather impacts June, what about the rest of the year, particularly September. One assumption is that above average temperature in September will likely drive more sales similar to June.

Insights that Ignite Growth - Case Study with American Grilled Cheese Kitchen

Overview

American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is a prime example of the enduring American spirit that’s lifting the country from the worst recession in generations. Two friends, laid off from their jobs in San Francisco’s tech industry, took a leap and opened a restaurant. With limited industry experience between them and a still fragile economic climate, it was certainly a risk. But this case study will show how Vivonet’s Halo POS system became an invaluable partner as the restaurant first opened, and continued to help as it skyrocketed to success.

Quote Excerpts 

“Halo is a wonderful product, with everything we need,” 

“It’s a full-serve POS system with every feature the others offered, but at a better price.” 

“It provides a real insight into the business; which sandwiches are selling, how much bacon we need, things like that,”

“It helped to plan expansion, forecast numbers and set goals,” 

 

To download the full version of this case study in PDF, please CLICK HERE. 

What Every Restaurant Owner Should Know Before Installing a POS system

The biggest mistake restaurant owners make when implementing a POS system is not allocating enough time to build the menu, train the staff and plan the launch. Chivann Kong, an implementation expert at Vivonet has seen too many owners struggle with their POS system because they try to do it all themselves. Chivann recommends that owners “identify one to three other staff members who can learn the system, help with the set-up, educate staff or answer questions when you’re not there.”

Chivann knows what it’s like to be a restaurant owner; he’s worked with thousands of them since starting with Vivonet in January 2008. This month Chivann delivered his 1,000^th POS implementation. He’s part of the professional services team, a group of specialists with restaurant and technology experience, who work with every new client at Vivonet.

Chivann’s focus is predominantly quick and full service enterprise accounts like Cherry Berry, Juice it Up, Yum Yum Donuts, and Opa. He understands the life of Franchise owner, the many demands placed on them, the limited time and the pressure to run a restaurant. According to him, there are four key areas every restaurant owner should know in order to successfully install a POS system.

Optimize the Menu

Every time Chivann builds a menu within a POS system, you learn something new.  Once when working with a 50 location sandwich chain, he noticed that each owner spelled menu items differently. This confusion, made it not only more time consuming to build each menu but he recognized the difficulty head office had in trying to make analyze the sales results.  Chivanns streamlined the menu and created one standard naming convention.

Once live, head office saw an immediate benefit, as information was streamlined and “a breeze” to view. The standardization also greatly improved data accuracy and franchise performance. Head office could now easily identify the top and bottom performing franchises and uncover what’s working or not working, then share findings with franchise owners to help improve their business. In the first quarter of this year, this company has increased revenue 10%.

Plan the Switch

Converting from one POS system to another should be scheduled and planned out to minimize disruption. For many franchise owners, the decision of a POS system is done by head office. Change can be difficult and it’s important that head office works with their franchisees for a smooth transition.  The best conversion Chivann has been a part of was with large donut chain, the head office identified one person to work with each franchise owner and Chivann. The result had stores switching over to Vivonet’s Halo POS in 1 hour. 

Budget the Time

Initially, owners should budget about 4 hours to set-up and adequately learn the POS system and enterprise reporting.  An additional hour should be allocated for each additional location that requires set-up. If you own 3 locations, franchise owners should then budget about 7 hours to get all the stores up and running.

Once you’ve been trained, additional set-ups will take no time at all. In one example Chivann worked with the owner of a multi location yogurt franchise. When that individual was adding another store, the time to work with Chivann was a 5 minute phone call.  The owner knew the system, the menu was already built and he knew how to set-up the POS terminal himself.

Don’t do it all yourself 

As an owner, you should identify one to three others to participate as part of a POS team to learn the system. In creating a team, your knowledge base increases. Having more people know the system helps with training new staff or addressing questions when the owner owns multiple locations or is not available to answer at that moment. 

Reduce Operation Expenses and Save Your Restaurant Thousands

Watch our recorded webinar, Vivonet and When to Manage invite you to see the latest web-based POS system that integrates with new thinking around inventory management and labor scheduling.  

Inventory management and labor scheduling are now part of Vivonet’s Halo POS system, through a seamless integration with “When to Manage” (WTM) web-based software as a service.  These systems will help restaurant and food service managers save time and reduce expenses across the organization.

Inventory Management

For most restaurants, inventory costs are the largest expense and they’re the most difficult to track and control. Managers then conduct less frequent counts and have less accurate data. With Vivonet and When to Manage, clients can track food costs, minimize theft and reduce waste using our “First In First Out” (FIFO) inventory management system.  Our system utilizes all of the information relevant to managing a restaurants inventory such as vendors, items, costs, and recipes to know how your products are being used, what you have on hand, what’s being delivered, and what you need to order.

Learn more about Inventory Management

Labor Scheduling

Restaurant managers and owners can spend anywhere from 5 to 6 hours a week using excel to create labor schedules and manage conflicts. Our system makes labor management easy with a few clicks of the mouse to auto-fill a schedule and send via text, eMail or Mobile. Owner/operators will get the insight of overtime alerts, and the power of labor and sales forecast data into a single display window to control labor costs with forecasting.

Learn more about labor Scheduling

“WhenToManage was a breath of fresh air. We moved from 1980s technology to the 21st century in just a few weeks. Just by eliminating the practice of manipulating inventory levels, WhenToManage helped us improve our bottom line and energized the Executive team to do more and spread the application to all the departments — that’s when the collaboration really happened.” 

Lone Star Steakhouse’s

To watch our recorded webinar on these two new great features of Halo POS, click here.

Frozen Yogurt Industry Heats Up

Although the frozen yogurt franchise industry suffered a decline in the late 1990’s, it is making a comeback with a new generation of flavors, toppings, and store settings. Nationally, CNBC reported in March that the frozen yogurt business was booming. Servings of frozen yogurt sold increased by 11 percent to 128 million last year and frozen yogurt revenue grew by 5.9 percent in the past five years. The industry is expected to grow 2.4 percent a year from 2012 to 2016.

Nowadays, customers aren’t just coming in for the frozen yogurt, but also for these franchises’ “chill” store settings. Trending away from the outdated ice-cream parlor environment, modern froyo stores include high-end furniture, Wi-Fi, flat-screen televisions, and live musical performances.

Demand from the Frozen Yogurt Stores industry will likely remain stable over the next five years, as increasingly health-conscious consumers and new markets drive growth, see “Restaurant Trends That Drive Results.”  Nation’s Restaurant News food editor Bret Thorn says, “Yogurt will likely be a longer-lasting trend, and I see no reason why the frozen variety should fade out.”

In an informal 2012 survey on yogurt consumption, commissioned by 16 Handles:

• Nearly 79 percent of snackers shared that they prefer frozen yogurt to ice cream
• More than 45 percent eat frozen yogurt at least one once a month
• Nearly 95 percent consider frozen yogurt to be a better-for-you dessert and snack alternative to ice cream; more than half also cited frozen yogurt as their top choice for dessert over candy, cake and cookies

Vivonet is re-defining POS for the Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream industry by combining cloud based technology with mobile and social. We have worked closely with successful clients like CherryBerry, Orange Leaf, Tutti Frutti and Yogen Früz. Learn how we can help your business by contacting Sven Winter at swinter@vivonet.com 

Restaurant Industry Reports Positive Sales Outlook

A recent report from the National Restaurant Association indicates that Restaurant operators are optimistic about sales growth and the economy. The National Restaurant Association report is based on a tracking survey called the Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) which is fielded monthly among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators including sales, traffic, labor, and capital expenditures.

Restaurant operators reported positive same-store sales for the 11th consecutive month in April. For the fifth consecutive month, a majority of restaurant operators expect their sales to be higher in the months ahead. Fifty-two percent of restaurant operators expect to have higher sales in six months (compared to the same period in the previous year). With the positive outlook for sales, Fifty-two percent of restaurant operators plan to make a capital expenditure for equipment. For the seventh consecutive month, restaurant operators reported positive expectations for staffing growth.

The National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 970,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets. More detailed data and analysis can be found on Restaurant TrendMapper, the Association's subscription-based service that provides detailed analysis of restaurant industry trends.

Vivonet is re-defining POS for the restaurant industry by combining cloud based technology with mobile and social. Learn how we can help your business by contacting Sven Winter at swinter@vivonet.com

Restaurant Trends That Drive Results

Fast Casual reported on the top trends from The 93rd annual National Restaurant Association Show and the 5th annual International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event. In it they showcased emerging trends driving the restaurant and foodservice industry.

The five biggest trends include:

1.       Healthful Alternatives

2.       Premium and Artisan Products: Fast Food Going Upscale

3.       Gluten-Free Products

4.       Food Trucks

5.       Ethnic Cuisines and Flavors

Some of these trends are making their way into Fast-Casual and Chain’s as reported in the Time article “Big Chain Restaurant Trends: Hot Menu Items, Hot Marketing Strategies”.  Premium and artisan is one in particular being adopted as seen in McDonald’s with the introduction of the Angus burger and Taco Bell national launch of “gourmet inspired” Cantina Bell items.

One trend not mentioned within the NRA listed was technology trends. The Wall Street Journal reports that dessert orders rise 30% when shown on digital menu boards. USA Today reports, the inclusion of free Wi-Fi to all customers at Panera Bread increased sales by 15%.

Finally, we cannot talk restaurant trends without mentioning mobile.  Smartphones have become an indispensable tool that influences not only if consumers will make a purchase but also where. Recent data on smartphone usage from Google shows that 44% of Americans now own a smartphone, 94% look for local information on their smartphone and 71% use their smartphones at restaurants.

Vivonet is re-defining restaurant POS by combining cloud based technology with the Internet, mobile and social media. Learn how we can help your café or restaurant by contacting Sven Winter at swinter@vivonet.com

4 Key’s to Choosing a Merchant Service Provider

Finding the best Merchant Service Provider (MSP) can be overwhelming and costly if you're not aware of the potentially numerous charges levied on cafés and restaurants by card associations and merchant service providers. Merchant services enable cafés or restaurants to process credit card payments and deposit funds into their bank account.

The process to get a MSP can be a long and involved as there are thousands of options. The following are four key areas to consider when selecting an MSP.

1.       Processing Rates

The processing rate is the percentage charged to the café or restaurant based upon the customers purchase. The rate can range anywhere from 1 to 5 percent or higher as re-sellers may also charge a fee on top of the processing charge. The actual rate can differ for each customer depending on their bank , the type of credit card and how the transaction is conducted. For example it’s possible for merchants to pay higher rate on a transaction if the customer has a Visa Signature Preferred card rather than a Traditional Rewards card. (Click to view Visa Interchange Rate )

2.       Transaction Fees

In addition to the processing rate, a transaction fee may also be included. The transaction fee would be charged on each and every purchase. The amount ranges anywhere from $0.25 to $0.50 per transaction. Some providers even require a minimum monthly transaction fee. This fee can be very costly for merchants like cafés who have a low average check size but a high volume of transactions.

3.       Pin Pad Cost

There is a cost to using a pin pad whether it’s renting, leasing or buying. If you decide to purchase, ask for details on the warranty period.

4.       Batch Times

Batch times represent when bank deposits will be made into a merchants account.  Times vary anywhere from two days to as long as two weeks. This information is critical to cash flow, especially if a restaurant is located on the West Coast and the merchant provider is on the East Coast where batch times may end at 12am (EST) and 9pm (PST). 

There is no official ranking of an MSP so it’s a good idea to ask around and search online for reviews. The most important question to answer is how fees are structured. Vivonet works with a multitude of MSP’s and if you don’t have one, we can recommend one to fit your needs.

Vivonet is re-defining restaurant POS by combining cloud based technology with the Internet, mobile and social media. Learn how we can help your café or restaurant by contacting Sven Winter at swinter@vivonet.com .

Saying Goodbye to your Cash Register? We can make it easy!

Throwing out your good ol’ cash register and upgrading to a sleek Point of Sale (POS) system may seem intimidating at first – however when you do find the right system it can act as a healthy heart pumping blood to your business. When it comes to what ‘matters’ the most in a POS system, Matt Landin an implementation consultant at Vivonet with 20 years in the restaurant industry says it depends if you’re an employee (i.e. restaurant owners vs. restaurant managers) and the type of restaurant (i.e. quick service vs. full service restaurant).  

Matt stated for many restaurant managers who moved from cash registers to POS terminals liked the ease of use for servers and ability to put the right order through quickly because of the clarity of the buttons on the terminals and how the system helps reduce mistakes with forced modifiers that are clearly identified on the kitchen tickets.

Restaurant and operational owners who were not always present on the restaurant floor were “wowed” by speed of pulling different reports from the POS system like sales reports, employee labor cost reports and the user friendly aspects of exporting data directly to accounting software like QuickBooks.

Matt also stated that one concern shared by both restaurant managers and owners in using a cash register is ‘theft control’.  On a recent report, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) estimated that employee theft is responsible for 75 percent of all inventory shortages and that they steal what amounts to 4 percent of sales in restaurants. If your restaurant sells $500,000 a year, that is $20,000 in lost revenue that could more than pay for with a POS system. With our system, there are multiple ways to reduce theft such as controlling user privileges for voids or discounts to ensure they are approved by a manager, tracking sales to ensure each dollar is accounted for and monitoring discounts to ensure privileges are being used appropriately.

Vivonet has the industry experts and POS system to make it easy to get rid of the cash register. Learn how we can help your business by contacting Sven Winter at swinter@vivonet.com.