Danny Klein’s Post

Your speaker highlight of the day is Erin Levzow, chief commercial and marketing officer of Museum of Ice Cream. Erin is somebody I just recently started following on here and, if you're somebody who already does, you know she drops nothing but wisdom every day. She'll be talking social media and how the game continues to change (many topics to cover), alongside Julie Wade, CFE, Dawn Nielsen, Tom Carr, Amishi Sindhwani, James Walker, CFE, Nico Nieto, with 🍔🍟🍕🎙 David "Rev" Ciancio moderating. An absolutely stacked lineup. Hope you'll join us down this final month and half of registration: https://lnkd.in/ewGgmPT3 More info (agenda/speaker list, etc.) can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gmZXWPMd And as always, hit me up with any questions if you have them!

Kura Sushi was surging along, as it has for some time, before it suddenly wasn't in mid-April. So what happened? The brand expected California's FAST Act (quick-serve wages up to $20, prices hiked in response) to strengthen its value proposition relative to the field. Instead, there was a general perception that restaurants as a category became more expensive, “introducing industry-wide pressures regardless of a given restaurant’s relative value,” its CEO said. Kura is one of the opening brands to post earnings this summer season. We'll see how the narrative forms as others do. But I have a feeling this overall notion, not just in California (but more so in California), is going to be widespread. The restaurant world has to re-clarify its value prop to customers across the country, whether that's through price or experience.

So in the last article, we got into what restaurant employees want from employers today. Now, let's break down how they want to be engaged. Well more than half (64.3 percent) of respondents in 7shifts’ survey rated “more recognition from management” as something that would increase engagement at work. Also, the preferred length of training was between one and two weeks, with 46.6 percent picking that option. Something I also felt was worth highlighting was this idea that restaurants are a stepping-stone sector. While it's often true (why education benefits tend to be such a powerful lure) there are also plenty of people who want to make a career out of it, if you show them the way. One in four workers in the report aged 24–35 said they see themselves as “lifers.” A third had been at their current restaurant for more than three years. Another third were between one and three years. Many employees leave restaurants for other restaurants. And it often comes down to the manager they work for, and whether or not the career ladder is transparent, as well as pay, benefits, etc.

I'm not sure a restaurant promotion has ever spoken to me more.

Today's speaker highlight is Alessandro Biggi (his fast casual's name has since changed to "Avo.") Alessandro is one of the first people who responded when I put out a speaker roll call way back. That's one of the cool things about in-person events I wasn't exposed to before we dove in last year. It opens the platform to insights and perspectives from people across the industry, which is exactly what's going on here as we load up the content with 150 or so speakers. This panel is particular is going to be wild. "Secrets of the Tech Stack" is a rather open concept. Maybe the secret is there is no tech stack? Or perhaps that's a ridiculous thing to say. Either way, from unified solutions to outsourcing to creating platforms in-house, this panel will veer a lot of different directions with knowledge from a lot of smart people. Alessandro will be joined by: Wade Allen, Davide Macchi, Meredith Sandland, and Adam Klaers, with the professor Joseph Szala, GSD, DCMJ moderating. We're headed down the home stretch of registration here. So if you'd like to join us, you can do so directly here: https://lnkd.in/ewGgmPT3 More info (agenda/speaker list, etc.) can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gmZXWPMd

One of FSR's lead reports is back: FSR's Top 50 Indies in America. We all know what a challenge it's been to operate in this sector through recent years (not that it's ever been easy). This industry would simply not exist if not for the local eateries that comprise and define communities around this country. They are the backbone of why dining out exists.

Episode No. 2 of our new Women in Restaurant Leadership podcast is now live. We flipped the mic around to have Julie Zucker of Branded Hospitality Ventures share her wisdom with Satyne Doner, everything from motherhood to personal accountability. This series is just getting started.

I took a dive into some new data from 7shifts on what employees these days are looking for from restaurants. One thing I want to pull out: The influence of coworkers and team dynamics were just as important as “financial incentives” in why somebody picked a certain restaurant. Gen Z in particular indicated they were highly motivated by people—both their team and their guests: 60.9 percent of Gen Z restaurant workers ranked their coworkers among the top motivators of daily work. And 37 percent scored positive guest feedback atop the list. This is something I've heard over the years, especially at Portillo's where "having a best friend at work" constantly surfaces in surveys of why employees like working there. What I think often goes understated in this industry is restaurants tend to recruit from their own fanbases. These are people who eat at the brand, know the concept, want to work with other like-minded people. Can you stoke that reality? I think you're going to have to hit a deeper nerve than just pay if you're going to keep that applicant flow going.

A question I'm faced with today: Do I send my daughter to kindergarten in the fall with a Chick-fil-A backpack?

COVER STORY ALERT: Getting the post-holiday week started with a deep dive into the rise of CAVA, from my colleague Sam Danley. We've talked at length over the months about what led to CAVA's surge, from its full-service start to its innovative tech roots to recent growth patterns, and where it's headed. But can the Mediterranean fast casual pioneer something we haven't seen before? "We’re setting the precedent with our public stakeholders that we’re building something not for the next 10 weeks or the next 10 months, but for the next 10 years," CEO Brett Schulman says.