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Industry Update
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The
Massachusetts Department of Public Health has recently finalized most of its
new food allergy awareness requirements.
Here's an update:1) By October 1, 2010 all
food establishments must have an approved poster detailing: major food
allergens, health risks of food allergies, procedures to follow when a customer
states they have a food allergy, and emergency procedures in the event of an
allergic reaction. These must be posted in the employee work area. Minimum poster size is 8.5 x 11".
2)
By October 1, 2010 all menus and menu boards must display the following
consumer advisory in a prominent place in a type size at least as big as the
smallest menu item listed:
"Before placing your
order, please inform your server if a person in your party has a food
allergy."
Establishments
with menu boards may post the notice at each point of order rather than on the
menu board provided:
· There is a notice
at each point of order,
· The notice can be
read from at least five feet away, and · The notice is unobstructed and faces the customer.
3)
By February 1, 2011 each employee currently certified in food safety must take
an on-line seminar on food allergies, download a certificate of completion, and
post this certificate adjacent to their food safety certificate. The addresses of the websites that will
offer this program will be made available sometime in the fall. When we have these websites we will
inform you and post them on the "Industry Updates" page of our website: |
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Greetings!
As you probably know, this is only our second issue of our
e-newsletter, and so we are still finding our way with it. It is summer and newspapers and
broadcast media often have a "summer reading list", we will review some of our
picks for summer reading, highlight a few promotional opportunities, update you
on Massachusetts Food Allergy requirements, and provide a comment on the state
of the industry. So here goes,
have fun, and stay in touch . . .
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Summer Reading Pics
Recently I have read three books that I want to "pass" on to
you - the first serious and worth studying; the second serious, but easily read
and enjoyable; and the third that falls into the "read it and laugh" category.
First: We are all products of our past - all the
experiences of previous employment, education, and our families have molded us
into the people we are and have created and reinforced patterns of
behavior. Some of those patterns
are good and helpful, others hinder us from achieving the levels of
satisfaction and success that we would like to have in our workplaces (and
lives).
 Often it is patterns that we have learned or inherited in our
families that cause us the most difficulties at work as we unconsciously
interpret comments and actions by coworkers in the context of the family we
were raised in. Unfortunately the
behaviors we learned in our families frequently hinder our success in the
workplace, according to Sylvia Lafair, author of Don't Bring It to Work,
Breaking the Family Patterns the Limit Success (Jossey-Bass 2009). Ms. Lafair, an expert in leadership,
communication, and conflict resolution, states that changing inappropriate,
potentially self-destructive reactions and responses requires that we first
learn to recognize our response patterns and understand where they come
from. Only then can we, and the
others we work with, develop new patterns that improve workplace performance,
that leads to improved, enhanced creativity, and increased productivity and
success.
Be prepared to spend some time doing the assignments in the
book and perhaps a bit of pain and discomfort as you recognize and come to
grips with your past. I think that
the effort and angst will be worthwhile as you gain insights into your own
behaviors as well as those of many co-workers.
Ms. Lafair warns readers that implementing the changes
suggested in the book will take time and may cause some disruptions in the
workplace before they bring improvements. However, she offers more than enough examples of long-term positive
results that more than offset the short-term problems and make the results
worth the effort.
"The only people that accept change are toll collectors."
Morris
Cohen, Former Mayor of Newton, MA
 Second: The
Alchemist (Harper One) by Paulo Coelho is an engaging story of a young shepherd
who has many dreams - he dreams of growing his flock and being more prosperous,
he dreams of love and marriage, he dreams of travel and treasure. Like all of us, the shepherd is confused
as to which of his dreams is "the dream" that he should follow and how to
follow this dream. He starts off
in one direction with one plan, only to find that there are obstacles and
setbacks to achieving his dream. Should he give up, should he settle, should he persevere?
In simple, yet elegant, language Coelho takes us on a quest
from Spain to Morocco, across the Sahara to the pyramids of Egypt as the
shepherd follows his dream. Along
the way the young man learns lessons in the importance of being true to
ourselves, of how setbacks can teach us new skills and help us find hidden
strengths, and how holding onto and following a dream adds value and richness
to our lives and the world. Given
the economic difficulties of the past few years, these are valuable reminders: articulated,
not preached: refreshed, not revealed.
My wife bought a copy of The Alchemist for us. After reading it I bought copies for
each of my sons as Father's Day presents from me to them.
 Third: My wife was sitting next to me reading a book
as we flew off for vacation. Periodically she would erupt in loud laughter. This is an experience that she and I have repeated numerous
times as we have worked our way through Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series
starting with One for the Money (St. Martin's Paperbacks). Plum is an unlikely, somewhat inept,
bail bonds enforcement officer in Trenton, NJ whose pursuit of those who have
failed to appear (FTA) for court appearances often (usually) takes an
unexpected and dangerous turn. Despite her ineptitude, Plum finds her fugitive and solves the crime
often with the help of Joe Morelli, her on again/off again lover who is a
Trenton detective, and/or Ranger, a former Green Beret turned security
consultant, otherwise the series would not have reached Lean Mean Thirteen.
Plum works for her relatively low-life cousin who owns the
bail bond agency and has as a side kick an oversized African American woman
whose former occupation was reportedly the world's oldest, a fact described
more succinctly and graphically in the novels. Plum's family situation contributes to the hilarity of the
novels: the highlight of her grandmother's social life is attending viewings at
funeral homes, which often leads to situations that stress Plum's rather proper
and uptight mother. Stephanie's
mother is further stressed by the fact that in nearly every novel Stephanie
ends up getting shot at, having her car blown up or experiences some similar
situation that doesn't usually happen to "nice" girls.
Ms. Evanovich paints an amusing and entertaining picture of
the life of a bounty hunter. Good,
but not exactly clean, fun summer reading that will make you stay up late
reading and laughing.
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July Promotional Opportunities
 July
offers a number of promotional opportunities, it is after all:
· National Blueberry Month
· National
Grilling Month
· National Horseradish
Month
· National Hot Dog Month
· National Ice Cream
Month, with the third Sunday of the month being National Ice
Cream Day.
And we have some very special days:
· July 11th
Anniversary of Babe Ruth's debut in the majors at Fenway Park where he
pitched
seven innings against the Cleveland Indians. Boston won 4-3.
· July 17th is
the 55th Anniversary of the opening of Disneyland, America's first
'modern' theme park.
· July 24th is
National Drive Through Day in honor of Jack-in-the-Box offering drive
through
service in 1951!
· August 1st
Respect for Parents Day
If
you need recipes or promotional ideas, drop us an email or give us a
call. We
can help you promote your business using these or other ideas we have
for every
month of the year that are appropriate for print or electronic media.
We also offer customer service training
and suggestive selling programs that can boost your staffs' sales and
tips!
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An Update on Menu Pricing
 Back in July 2009 we posted on our website information that
indicated that the efforts of national and regional to compensate for consumers
reducing their frequency of dining out by cutting prices had backfired and that
many chains we seeing reduced year-to-year customer counts and sales. Since then economic reporters have
documented the fact that customers plan to cut their frequency of dining out
still more. And the latest
reports, out the end of June, indicate that while many national and regional
chains are trying to eliminate the deep discounts and special pricing, that
customer are resisting these efforts and either choosing less expensive items
on the menu or patronizing those operations that still have "deals".
In the year ended April 2010, wholesale food prices
increased by 5.7% while inflation was 2.2% and menu prices increased by only
0.9%. Profitability is being
squeezed by reduced customer counts, reduced customer spending and increasing
costs.
At Wheelwright Consultants we believe, as we always have,
that the key to your long term success is to maintain the quality of your
experience: keep your operation clean and neat, provide a quality product at a
fair price, provide great service, and have an effective marketing program. Now is the time to focus on the little
details, things that can be addressed with minimal cost, but which have a huge
impact with the staff and customers. Keep your staff and guests happy and you will keep your customers coming
back!
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Thank you for reading our
newsletter. We hope you found it interesting and informative. Our next
newsletter will have more news and
information. Look for it in your inbox in August.
Sincerely,
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Eric Nusbaum, CHA, Ph.D.
Wheelwright Consultants |
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