Steve Starr

Building a Multi-Sensory Experience

by Steve Starr

1 Problem, 3 Solutions: How do I attract millennials to my restaurant?

Some restaurant concepts that captured Baby Boomers and GenXers are having trouble attracting Millennials and younger patrons.

While there are many ways to go about updating your concept to make it more relevant to younger patrons, here are three areas you should focus your attention on:

1. Brand Messaging

It’s critical to tighten your brand messaging to ensure it is both clear and consistent. Since Millennials are tech and media natives, it is easy for them to spot misaligned brand values. Define and communicate corporate values that are truly reflective of your practices. In addition to this, it’s important to be sure your messaging is different from your competition. There’s no point in chasing what others are already doing. Use your core values to differentiate your brand, and be sure to communicate them to your customers: be real and be unique. Authenticity is key to attracting younger consumers.

2. Dining Motivations

Millennials are driven by two main dining occasions: convenience and social. They seek places that cater to both quick meals and comfortable atmospheres that allow them to linger with friends. Therefore, if possible, it’s best to solve for both in your space. Sharable items, community tables, and easy take-out options create a distinct vibe in your space that will resonate with Millennials. Show them that you can provide exactly what they’re looking for in your restaurant.

3. Real Estate

Look at growing in urban and semi-urban locations. In the past, many concepts were found in strictly suburban areas. Many Millennials, however, work and live in the cities. The closer you are to their world, the more likely you will be included in their habits and lifestyles.

by Steve Starr

1 Problem, 3 Solutions: My Restaurant is Too Loud!

This is a common issue among restaurateurs, as acoustics are hard to gauge in a commercial space before you move in. There are numerous factors driving this problem. Trends are leaning toward open expo kitchens and high interaction with employees. Additionally, the rise of fast-casual restaurants brings locations with higher throughput at lower ticket averages. To deal with the traffic, owners are opting for harder, more durable materials. All of this creates noise.

Here are a few ways you could approach the issue. I have listed them in order of easiest and most cost-effective to more difficult and costly.

1. Incorporate furnishings that absorb noise, such as upholstered booths and banquettes, curtains and even sound-absorbing material glued to the underside of your tables. Some people believe these initiatives won’t work, which may be correct if they’re done individually. However, when done in conjunction with each other, it can have a significant impact. Acoustics are a complicated matter. Sound waves are continuously being deflected off the floor and furniture in your space. Therefore, it’s important to spread the sound-absorbing materials throughout the space at different heights and in different planes. This will help maximize the number of sound waves being absorbed.

2. Add sound absorbing materials to your walls and ceiling. There are many ways you could approach this. You can purchase sound boards in unique colors and create an eye-catching pattern. For a more branded option, you can use fabric-wrapped panels along the walls. Architectural acoustical products can be hung in strips from the ceiling to absorb noise. Finally, you could use wood paneling with small holes through the material and place sound cloth behind it. Once this is attached to the wall, you’ll get the look and durability of wood, while still absorbing some of the excess sound.

3. Purchase a commercially designed, sound-cancelling white noise machine. This is different than a general sound machine and can be set to mask the specific frequency of talking. The best ones sample the ambient noise in the restaurant and adjust the frequency of the white noise they emit to cancel out the sound. Instead of creating extra noise, they will actually cancel out the clamor. You can put these up in your ceiling and spread them out in the space. No one will notice the machines, but this will certainly help the noise level in your restaurant.

Featured in Restaurant Development + Design.

by Steve Starr

5 Ways to Run Your Restaurant in an Uncertain Political Time

In light of the recent presidential election, there has been a significant amount of uncertainty in the restaurant industry. With questions surrounding labor costs and market patterns many restaurateurs may wonder how to deal with this tumultuous period and continue to move forward? The answer lies in making sure your business and approach are both relevant and remarkable.

1. Focus on motivating employees

If you focus on empowering and motivating your current employees, it will enable you to get the most out of your labor. Inevitably this will translate to a better customer experience for your guests. If you don’t know how your revenue is going to be impacted, you should focus on making your current income as profitable as possible. Efficiency is key. The best sports teams are those that only focus on their own game, rather than on who they’re playing. If you create a strong culture and team, it won’t matter who or what you’re up against. You’ll be so good that you’ll beat anyone you play.

2. Make sound financial decisions

It’s all too easy to tighten your belt in expectation of a downturn or even uncertainty.   However, it’s more important to go back to basics and simply make sure you are making sound financial decisions. Make investments that reap returns regardless of the state of the economy. Avoid being risk oriented or too frivolous – either extreme can hurt your business. Instead, be disciplined with how you go about evaluating the risks and once you do, focus on the returns.

3. Pay attention to history

In a strong economy, people tend to dine out frequently. In a poor economy, people still eat out – but for different reasons. Restaurants become a low cost means of entertainment and escape. If people are still spending money – make sure your business is one of the places they want to visit. During the recession in the 1990s, restaurants that provided both food and entertainment flourished, including Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Café, and the Rainforest Café. During the last recession, fast casual concepts that delivered good quality meals at a low ticket price came out on top. These companies saw an opportunity and they took advantage of it. They then had access to great real estate that was previously unavailable – because they were the only ones developing. And they succeeded.

4. Don't believe the hype

If your crystal ball is working better than mine, then maybe you know exactly what the Trump administration is going to do and how it is going to affect the economy in general and the restaurant industry in particular.  If immigration is truly curtailed in the long run, then the already tight labor market will likely get tighter.  However, is that good or bad for the American economy?  I wish we all could believe the vocal pundits and know definitively which direction things will go.  In the meantime, I’m certainly not going to believe everything I hear and/or read about. As stated above, I’m going to focus on the basics and make sure all the council we give to our restaurant clients reinforces sound business practices and takes advantage of the facts we know rather than the hype we hear.

5. Have a solid plan for peaks and valleys.

This reiterates each of the four points above and simply takes into account what you should already be doing in the long run. Despite what the economy does, be prepared for both the peaks and valleys. By taking the steps now to keep everything in balance, you won't be as impacted by when they are not. The goal is to stay steady even during uncertain times.

There is always an opportunity for growth and success. The key is to look for it and do it better than anyone else. In essence – remain both relevant and remarkable. By focusing on these few key areas, you can make it through uncertain times with ease.

Featured in Fast Casual. Photo from Pexels.

by Steve Starr

When is the right time to redesign your restaurant?

Brenna Johnson, project manager

Whether it’s to enhance the dining experience or to make operations more efficient, there are many reasons why restaurant operators might consider revisiting a prototype design. But when is the right time to reassess the relevance of a current design, and how do you know what should drive the design changes?

Unfortunately, many businesses operate under the mindset of “don’t mess with success,” which can hinder growth and potential. Often times it’s this kind of thinking that keeps companies from really assessing the efficiency of their day-to-day operations, and subsequently the most appropriate design.

It’s important to examine everything from customer foot traffic patterns to kitchen layout to truly determine if your restaurant could use an upgrade that would increase both efficiency and productivity. Stephen Wall, director of construction at Zoës Kitchen, has seen multiple sides of the business of design assessment. Wall previously worked at Pizza Hut, where the luxury of a large corporation afforded them an entire team dedicated to testing new technology and processes in their test kitchen. He’s now on the flip side, working with a growing company that’s still figuring out how to do things, and do things right, for their business. It wasn’t until they recently conducted a time motion study at several of their locations that they realized missed opportunities as a result of the design structure, and that they needed to be honing down their processes in the kitchen. “Until someone shined a light on the issues, we just said, ‘Well, that’s how we’ve always done it.’ It became clear to us that we should be focusing on moving the product, not the person.”

Take time to examine the usefulness of each piece of equipment in your kitchen, and explore new options and innovations. There may be new technology that could allow you to combine two functions into one or save employee labor time. Ask yourself what you need to get the job done right, but also most economically. Solve for labor by building in greater efficiency and reduce the number of steps employees take in the kitchen or in the process of preparing a dish. Finding the right equipment will help you standardize operations, improve consistency, and increase overall customer satisfaction.

If looking at external or interior design changes, ask whether making intentional changes will strengthen the brand.

Gone are the days where you could slap a sign and a few awnings to the side of a building and call it a day. Technology and the ever growing “foodie culture” movement have made the average Joe a connoisseur of consumption in everything from tasty vittles to design, and consumers are expecting your brand message to be sophisticated and complex. Guests expect to see your brand delivered to them through everything they can taste, touch, see, hear, and smell.

Intentional changes in design can reinforce the brand message and also keep your customer engaged. People value authenticity, so it’s important to stay true to the brand message. However, giving it a fresh perspective can help regenerate interest in the brand, or garner new clientele. The trick is in finding a solution that attracts new patrons without the alienation of your current ones.

Consider how your brand could be positioned, the brand message made more concise, and how to serve this through upgrading interior finishes, redesigning the exterior and updating packaging redesign.

Design changes should bring intrinsic and perceived value to your customers. So stay focused on who your core group of consumers are or the type of customers you would like to be attracting.

In the quick-service space, there has been a recent shift to higher end interior and exterior design. Simply look at any new Chick-Fil-A or McDonald’s to see the focus on higher quality interiors and the creation of a distinct ambiance. The value for the guest is not just in the food anymore. It’s evident in everything from the minutia of the methodically organized condiment display to the implementation of soft seating over loose tables—there’s a focus on quality and perceived value that wasn’t there before.

It’s a new element of customer engagement that relies on more than just the product they’re selling. It's also now about building a captivating and relevant environment. An upgrade in interior design can improve the customer’s perception of the brand and increase a restaurant’s perceived value.

So how can you gain an edge on the competition by leveraging this perceived value in your design? Ultimately, don’t make changes for the sake of making changes. Support your design decisions with firm data and testing, and always ask yourself if you will get credit from the customer for the design decisions you make.

Featured in QSR magazine.

by Steve Starr