Stop Paying More in Taxes! This One Credit Provides Substantial Savings.

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About $1 billion in tax credits are claimed each year under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program. Sadly, many restaurants and lodging businesses are unaware of the program or simply don’t take advantage of it.

WOTC was founded in 1996 by the Small Business Protection Job Act to reduce the federal tax liability of employers who hire from “targeted groups” that commonly face significant obstacles to employment. Examples of target groups include qualified veterans, ex-felons, designed community residents (DCR) and qualified long-term unemployment recipients, a recent addition. In turn, this measure for greater workplace diversity and inclusion incentivizes businesses through compensation for making these hires. (SOURCE)

WOTC offsets the costs of hiring a new worker. This should be welcome news for the hospitality industry, where the turnover rate approaches 75 percent and businesses spend $1,200 per employee on training.

Here are five common reasons why businesses miss out on WOTC funds.

  1. Failure to screen applicants

While there is no limit to the number of new hires employers can claim for WOTC tax credits, businesses often fail to screen new employees to see whether they meet the certification criteria. The remedy is to screen new employees when onboarding new hires to determine WOTC eligibility. Doing so can save you thousands of dollars in taxes each year.

  1. Short submission window

The federal government requires that WOTC applications be processed within 28 days from the applicant’s hire date. Thus, it’s important to identify candidates immediately upon being hired to take the swift action needed. An integrated workforce management solution can make it simple and fast to capture all necessary WOTC information and promptly submit the documentation to qualify for the tax credits.

However, there is one temporary exception to this rule. The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act) allows eligible employers to retroactively claim the WOTC for all targeted group employees for anyone who began work after December 31, 2014 and before January 1, 2021. (SOURCE)

  1. Unsure who qualifies

Over 20 percent of the workforce qualifies for WOTC, and you wouldn’t know if you were hiring eligible applicants because many of the questions to determine eligibility wouldn’t come up in an interview. For instance, three-quarters of the program’s beneficiaries are food stamp recipients. It’s important to have a system in place for new hires to access and complete WOTC qualification.

  1. Tax liability confusion

It’s a misperception that you must use your WOTC credits immediately or that you need a tax liability to benefit. Once an eligible applicant is certified, the credit can be applied to estimated quarterly tax payments. You can carry the credit forward up to 20 years, and keep the credits on your books as an asset in a possible sale.

  1. Unaware of potential savings

WOTC tax credits can substantially reduce the total amount of money you owe to the IRS. You can claim between $2,400 to $9,600 for each qualifying new hire depending on which target group the employee falls under. The only catch is that your new team member must work a minimum of 120 hours within the first year in their hired role to qualify. After 120 worked hours, you can claim a credit equal to 25 percent of the new hire’s first year of qualified wages. After 400 hours, a tax credit equal to 40 percent of their first year of wages can be claimed.

CARES Act employee retention credit

In response to the pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. Eligible employers (experienced a full or partial suspension during the calendar year) and/or experienced a significant reduction of gross receipts due to sheltering-in-place, stay-at-home or similar public health measures, certain employment taxes may be deferred if the employer continues to pay the employee for services unable to be rendered during the period. If you haven’t claimed WOTC for an employee during the same period, you can claim the credit.

 

When looking for a payroll provider, make sure they have the ability to screen new hires during onboarding to determine WOTC eligibility and flag candidates, and that they can assist you in completing and submitting applications within the required timeframe to secure your tax credits. (SOURCE)

From Classroom to Computer – the Rise of E-learning in a Pandemic World

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by Graham Cohen

2020 sure has presented us with some challenges.  The Coronavirus has affected our lives in so many different ways.  Businesses have been forced to close their doors, and many are finding it hard to return.  No industry has been more hard-hit than the hospitality industry.  We have been forced to change the way we do business, specifically in how we train our staff.  Training staff on new procedures, products or policy is becoming more challenging as we work with reduced staff and practice social distancing guidelines.  Many companies are turning to distance learning or e-learning as a way to keep the staffed trained and up-to-date with the latest information.

Research has shown that on average, students retain 25-30% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom.  And the training material is always available through mobile devices.  Now more than ever, I am being contacted to convert instructor-lead classroom training into engaging online e-learning courses.  There are many good training partners with great online training to offer such as; the Food Handler and Alcohol Awareness classes on FRLA’s website, and others.

In the past, e-learning was cost prohibitive and mostly used by large corporations due to the high cost of development, housing and tracking.  However, learning management systems (LMS’s) are becoming more cost-effective and affordable for small business owners. Systems such as Cornerstone and Schoox offer LMS solutions for every budget.

There are many advantages of e-learning including; cost effectiveness, flexibility, better participation and individual retention and having constant training throughout your organization.

E-learning is available in many different forms: from a simple PDF document to an elaborate and dynamic HTML5 SCORM program and everything in between.  If you are looking at getting into the world of e-learning, there are a number of criteria you’ll want to meet.

First, the role of the instructor is key as the instructor is necessary in providing feedback to students. Second, you will need a well-organized LMS that should be easily navigable to both students and instructors.  And finally, your content must be formatted in a way that is easily accessible to students.

As we find ourselves operating in a fast-paced, technology-oriented world, we must adopt new technology and new ways to integrate it in support of education. E-learning is leading the way and redefining how we learn on the job.

For more information, or if you have any questions regarding e-learning, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].

Graham Cohen has built several of FRLA’s online training programs including the food handler and the human trafficking programs.

FRLA Members Recognized in Best of Tallahassee 2020

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Recently, several FRLA members were recognized in Tallahassee Magazine’s “Best of Tallahassee” list based on reader’s polls. Congratulations to the winners and honorable mentions!

FRLA members have been recognized as below:

  • Appetizer: Madison Social, Honorable Mention
  • Asian: Masa, Winner
  • Asian: Azu Lucy Ho’s Restaurant, Honorable Mention
  • Bakery: Tasty Pastry Bakery, Winner
  • Bar: Madison Social, Honorable Mention
  • Barbecue: Willie Jewell’s Old School Bar-B-Q, Winner
  • Brunch: Table 23, Honorable Mention
  • Cajun: Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille, Honorable Mention
  • Casual Dining: Island Wing Company, Honorable Mention
  • Celebration/Special Occasion: Savour, Honorable Mention
  • Fine Dining: Savour, Honorable Mention
  • Hamburger: Vertigo Burger & Fries, Honorable Mention
  • Happy Hour: The Blue Halo, Winner
  • Happy Hour: Andrew’s Capital Grill & Bar, Honorable Mention
  • Italian: Bella Bella, Winner
  • Smoothie: Tropical Smoothie Café, Winner
  • Martini/Cocktail: The Blue Halo, Winner
  • Outdoor Dining: Table 23, Winner
  • Outdoor Dining: Island Wing Company, Honorable Mention
  • Seafood: Wharf Causal Seafood, Winner
  • Southern Cuisine/Food: Table 23, Winner
  • Sports Bar: Island Wing Company, Winner
  • Steakhouse: Outback Steakhouse, Honorable Mention
  • Sushi: Masa, Honorable Mention
  • Wings: Island Wing Company, Winner
  • Wings: Hobbit American Grill, Honorable Mention
  • Banquet Facility: University Center Club, Winner
  • Insurance Agency: Demont Insurance Agency, Honorable Mention
  • Places to Take the Kids: Tallahassee Museum, Winner
  • Places to Take the Kids: Hangar 38, Honorable Mention

Find the whole list here.

Food Safety Management in a Foodservice Business during the New Era of COVID19

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By Hal King, Ph.D.

 

If you search the Internet via Google using the search terms “food poisoning”, “foodborne illness”, “diarrhea”, “vomiting”,  along with any restaurant brand name in the United States (just use the word “AND” between the words),  you will see that foodborne illnesses and  disease outbreaks in the foodservice industry are common – many (including myself) consider foodborne disease outbreaks in the United States to be epidemic.  Now during this new COVID19 Pandemic Era where we all may feel like we are in a ship fighting to stay afloat in this huge storm,  it’s even more important to ensure consumers are protected from all public health threats including foodborne diseases – which can be the final thing that “sinks the ship”.

According to the recently published data by The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), restaurants continue to be the leading cause of foodborne disease outbreaks in the United States, causing 64% or more of outbreaks each year from 1998–to 2017 (CDC 2019).  How can you know if your restaurant business is at risk of causing (or has already caused) a foodborne illness in your customers?  Well, one way you can tell is to look at what your key stakeholders (your customers and regulatory experts) outside of your restaurant business are saying about you (just three of the many other pre-assessment questions that should be asked):

 

  1. Has your business had two or more customer complaints about the same product during the same week (many being posted on social media) that might include illness (e.g.,  “made me sick” or “tasted spoiled/old”), allergy (e.g., “didn’t know your product had sesame seeds in it”) or injury (e.g., “bit into the sandwich and found a piece of metal” )?
  2. Do your health department inspection reports continue to cite critical violations (called Foodborne Illness Risk Factors) which by the very definition directly indicate a risk – and likely sporadic foodborne illnesses are already occurring?
  3. Do your employees know when they should not work in the restaurant if they are sick, and are you confident that you are properly screening and excluding sick employees,  and not allowing them to return to work until they are no longer sick (i.e., not scheduled to work before they are non-infectious)?

If you answered yes to any of these questions (and remember this is not a comprehensive list of the recommended full operational risk assessment questions), you are at risk of causing sporadic foodborne illnesses in your customers and also foodborne disease outbreaks.

The good news is that you can begin to establish the proper controls to prevent all of the risk of foodborne illnesses in your restaurant (many of which you are now using to prevent the respiratory virus COVID19 from infecting employees and customers) that include wellness checks, personal hygiene requirements, environmental mitigation SOP’s, and engineering controls (see: King, 2020).   The most important means to actively manage food safety risk (and COVID19 transmission) in a restaurant or any foodservice establishment for that matter is to achieve Active Managerial Control (AMC) of all of these risks by developing and executing a Food Safety Management System  (FSMS) deployed by managers at each shift (King, 2016, and King,  2020).   A FSMS includes:

  1. A hazard analysis of your menu processes and operations using what the FDA calls Process HACCP. The use of Process HACCP in retail foodservice establishments is based on HACCP principles (to enable HACCP applications in non-food manufacturing environments like restaurants), where identified biological (e.g. Salmonella or norovirus), chemical (e.g., a pesticide or allergen), and physical (e.g., a bone in a chicken nugget or piece of metal in a soup) hazards are placed under controls with daily management by a certified manager (the FDA calls these a Certified Food Protection Manager- CFPM)  to eliminate these hazards in food preparation processes that include receiving, storing, preparing, cooking, cooling, reheating, hot holding, and servings foods (FDA 2017),
  2. Identification of where and how the hazard will be controlled during operations (or before the ingredients or products are received by the restaurant from its suppliers), and what to do when the control is not in compliance (what corrective action is needed),
  3. A tool to monitor these controls for the managers during each shift -I recommend digital HACCP mobile technology rather than trying to do this with a paper check list.

It is critical that both managers and food handlers are trained in food safety requirements via an ASNI certified program (which has a foundation from the FDA Food Code, and especially ensure a CFPM is at each shift) so they understand how foodborne illnesses are caused and how to control them.  For example, it is critically important that a manager knows when to exclude food handlers from work when they have certain signs and symptoms of illness (and knows how to properly screen employees for them), and food handlers also know when not to come to work with the same.   Continuous training and evaluation of all staff to ensure each can demonstrate knowledge of all the food safety hazards associated with the menu being prepared and served is also important (as the menu may change due to Limited Time Offers (LTO’s) or change in supplier ingredients, etc.).   It is helpful to ensure managers are also prepared to execute emergency procedures during food safety emergencies.

An example of the processes and actions a manager would perform using a FSMS can be observed using the free mobile app EmergiProtect (see EmergiProtect.com- sponsored by our friends at GOJO inc.).  This mobile app isn’t a complete FSMS necessary to apply Process HACCP to your restaurant for all the hazards in your business.  However the Emergency Operating Procedures (EOP’s) for the restaurant manager (that include how to screen and exclude employees properly for symptoms of COVID19 and foodborne illnesses including how to use a sick log, see: https://www.emergiprotect.com/sicklog)  is a good demonstration of what is needed in a FSMS to ensure controls are established and monitored (in this example, controlling for working sick employees).  The app also provides other EOP’s useful to restaurant operators due to unexpected events common to a foodservice business including how to ensure food safety during power outages and boil water alerts (and remain open), and how to prepare for and mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

In this new Era of Pandemic COVID19, the restaurant owner (and the corporate enterprise helping franchised restaurant owners) must ensure the public health not just for foodborne illnesses but also for respiratory diseases in order to remain and thrive in business.  Especially now that we are also entering both the norovirus (a stomach flu) and the Flu seasons (another respiratory disease), and we are in the hurricane season where food safety emergencies are likely, ensuring each restaurant is executing a FSMS to prevent these risk is paramount.

 

Author information: Hal King, Ph.D. is the CEO and managing partner of Active Food Safety (www.activefoodsafety.com ), an advisory services and mobile products company whose partners have developed the new Enterprise Mastery of food safety risk for the food industry.   Hal can be reached at [email protected].

 

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019) Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks, United States, 2017, Annual Report. Atlanta, Georgia: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC.

Food and Drug Administration (2017)  Annex 4.  Management of food safety practices- achieving active managerial control of foodborne illness risk factors. FDA Food Code.

King, H. (2016) Implementing active managerial control principles in a retail food business. Food Safety Magazine, FEB/MAR, http://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/magazine-archive1/februarymarch-2016/implementing-active-managerial-control-principles-in-a-retail-food-business/

 

King, H. (2020) Food Safety Management Systems: Achieving active managerial control of foodborne illness risk factors in a retail foodservice business (Springer). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3030447340/ref=pe_41006280_491026320_pe_re_csr_ea_lm?pldnSite=1

 

King, H. (2020) Breaking the chain of infectious disease transmission in a retail foodservice business.  Food Safety Magazine, AUG/SEP, https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/magazine-archive1/augustseptember-2020/breaking-the-chain-of-infectious-disease-transmission-in-a-retail-foodservice-business/

 

 

Help guests feel safe: tips for cleaning POS equipment

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Restaurateurs, guests may be able to safely eat away from home after months of staying in, but they’ll need to feel safe to make it a regular practice. While your restaurants operate according to state and local COVID-19 guidelines, everyone plays a role in maintaining public safety – including you, your employees and your guests. While social distancing is one task assigned to us all, regularly cleaning and disinfecting point-of-sale (POS) equipment and using handheld POS devices are some of the most effective, and prominent, contributions you can make.

Create a safe environment for guests and employees.

It’s not enough for your restaurant to be clean- disinfect in front of your guests throughout the day so they can relax with friends and family, knowing they’ve made the right decision to enjoy a meal at your establishment. Similarly, leave pump bottles or contactless dispensers of hand sanitizer at every stationary POS station. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend using hand sanitizer containing 60-95% alcohol for effective germ-killing power after touching surfaces and between handwashing trips.

Use handheld POS devices to elevate safety measures.

Uphold COVID-19 safety standards with handheld POS devices. They allow you to eliminate queues while maintaining safe distances between parties of guests and employees. Handheld POS devices also allow you to complete transactions tableside or in socially-distant locations.

Guests are overwhelmingly using credit and debit cards in lieu of cash to improve hygiene and reduce contact. The National Restaurant Association recommends the use of contactless payments during the pandemic.

Clean and disinfect POS equipment with care.

Power down and unplug POS devices prior to cleaning or disinfecting. If you’re only cleaning the touchpads or touchscreens, you may be able to keep your device on; read your user’s manual for confirmation. Next, wash your hands or clean them thoroughly with hand sanitizer, waiting for them to dry completely before touching the equipment.

Never use soap or other cleaners on POS equipment. However, do use a microfiber cloth or soft towel with water. Make the cloth slightly damp and carefully clean all surfaces, taking care not to shake or drop the device which could trigger your tampering sensors.

While cleaning removes visible marks, disinfecting kills germs. Put a small amount of alcohol-based cleaner (min. 60% alcohol) onto a microfiber cloth or soft towel or use alcohol-based wipes. Never apply liquids directly to your equipment. Never squeeze a cloth or wipe on or over your POS devices- it could cause liquid damage. Some cleaners have the power to destroy plastic and rubber components; avoid accidental contact- never use ketone-based solvents, bleach, thinner or trichloroethylene. Reference your user’s manual for a list of approved cleaners for your POS devices.

Clean and disinfect your equipment throughout the day- POS equipment – stationary or handheld – are among the most prominent high-touch surfaces in your restaurant. Aim for visible cleanliness to put guests at ease, as well as thoroughly-disinfected surfaces to stop the virus’ spread.

Payments Without Pesky Limits

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Minimalism, a movement to rid life of excess in favor of what’s important, is growing in popularity. It’s only natural the trend would extend to business. And it turns out there’s freedom in simplicity. Now, all you need to run your business is:

  1. Your phone
  2. Heartland Mobile Pay
  3. Your next destination

Don’t be fooled; this lightweight card reader is a heavy hitter when it comes to features. Whether your customers tap, dip or swipe, Mobile Pay does it all — and gets you access to your money within 24 hours. The only limitation is the bounds of your entrepreneurial spirit.

The ideal customer experience, anywhere

Ruggedly designed to work in any environment, Mobile Pay is ready to collect payments wherever business takes you. Process transactions at lightning speed or generate invoices for later payment. Customers get the efficient experience they expect, and you get the security of EMV electronic chip card technology authenticating each card as genuine.

Never miss a sale

Go boldly back to business after downloading the Mobile Pay app and connecting the Heartland card reader to your phone or tablet. With Mobile Pay’s reliability, worrying about technical glitches and lost sales are a thing of the past. Rest even easier knowing Mobile Pay encrypts card data as soon as it enters the card reader, and card data is never stored on your mobile device.

Customer trends revealed

Data helps you run a better business. Mobile Pay provides a companion merchant web portal, accessible 24/365 from any internet-enabled device. Simply view real-time sales, transaction details and inventory. Export reports to share with partners when you need to re-stock or reevaluate.

Get all the functionality of a traditional payment terminal with the counterspace of a phone. Mobile Pay is the flexible solution for your evolving business.

Driving Profitability in The Third-Party Delivery Space

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Beverages present an untapped, incremental revenue opportunity for restaurants leveraging third-party delivery.

According to the marketing team at The Coca-Cola Company, 70% to 80% of on-premises restaurant transactions include a beverage in the order, compared to only a small fraction of third-party delivery orders. “When it comes to beverages and delivery, restaurants are facing a largely untapped opportunity – which they can unlock by successfully competing with the home refrigerator,” says Melissa Fahs, vice president, foodservice digital commerce, Coca-Cola North America. 

Third-party delivery offers many benefits to restaurants, including incremental sales, access to new diners and new markets, and the creation of new consumer occasions and need states – but it also brings increased costs in the form of commission fees. Beverages are a critical profit engine for restaurants that can help offset these fees. 

Last year The Coca-Cola Company set out to uncover strategies that could drive beverage sales in the delivery space. Working with 10 national restaurant brands and about 50 regional players (representing hundreds of locations), the company conducted a series of experiments over about eight months to increase the frequency with which beverages are included in delivery orders, and to raise check averages through effective upselling. Working with its internal data analytics team, the company made sure each experiment was carried out at no fewer than 25 test locations and that each test also included control sites. 

“This is an industry-wide challenge,” says Kristin Bitter, the company’s vice president, industry affairs. “Everybody wins if we can increase beverage orders in the delivery space.” With results gathered and analyzed, the company developed strategies to help restaurants optimize the third-party delivery occasion, captured in an easy-to-remember “ABCDE” format. 

Here are the ABCs … 

Assortment: This means featuring the right assortment of beverages for your location’s clientele. Highlight unique beverages that you won’t typically find in the fridge at home. Feature them prominently, with images and descriptions.

Bundle: Pair each entree with a beverage to make it simple for customers to order the combination with one click rather than having to click through to the drinks section and order a la carte. Put bundles first in your online menu lineup.

Capture the upsell: Activate suggestive selling within delivery platforms. All third-party delivery platforms have different ways of playing up special orders. Work with them to add beverage recommendations to the order flow or serve up a beverage reminder at checkout. “It’s the classic ‘would you like fries with that?’ approach,” says Fahs, “or the impulse buys at the grocery checkout. Timing and placement are everything.” 

Data: Partner with the third-party delivery provider to mine ordering data for insights, such as which items are most popular or how products perform in different dayparts. Use what you learn to tailor online menus to grow transaction size while delighting the guest.  

Execute marketing: Again, a good relationship with the third-party delivery provider is key for effective marketing. Once menus are optimized, consider promotions to drive consumer awareness and engagement. “Remember, this is an occasion anchored in consumer convenience, so keep it simple,” says Billy Koehler, digital director.   

Koehler adds that the biggest challenge restaurant companies will face in implementing these strategies is figuring out what real estate each delivery platform has to offer and the technical challenges of meeting different platform architectures.

This article brought to you by The Coca-Cola Company.

Five Ways A Multi-Purpose Terminal Can Grow Your Business

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Having the right tools to run your business isn’t just a convenience; it makes a difference. For example, owning a swiss army knife enables you to do lots of things faster and better than a dull butter knife.

Now apply that principle to the way you do business today. Do you manually track inventory with pen and paper? Can you accept digital wallet payments with your current terminal? Are you calculating sales tax on another piece of equipment? Are you handing out written receipts?

The latest terminal technology rolls multiple functions into one device so you can more quickly get everything done. Here are five ways it can help you grow your business.

Frees valuable space on your counter

Connected by Wi-Fi, Terminal+ cuts the cord to become your center of commerce on both sides of the counter. Great for businesses with limited countertop space, it’s an all-in-one terminal, barcode scanner and receipt printer that fits in the palm of your hand so you can freely move about your store to checkout customers and work on back-office activities.

Unbinds you from inventory management

Say goodbye to the days of manual tracking inventory with pen and paper. With Terminal+, you can throw away inventory binders and automatically track how much stock you have in real time without lifting a finger. The built-in barcode scanner speeds up the checkout and eliminates tracking errors, so you never run out of favorites.

Creates better checkout experiences

Customers expect a safe, seamless in-store checkout experience. So give it to them with Terminal+. Accpet contactless payments like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, or swipe and dip card payments. It’s a welcome surprise when you can meet customers to check them out and provide a receipt on the spot instead of sending them to the counter to pay for purchases.

Makes sales less taxing

Keeping track of changing state and local sales tax is a thing of the past. Terminal+ intuitively calculates sales tax on transactions, so you stay compliant and get a leg up on filing.

Protects your brand and profits

Minimizing payment acceptance costs and fraud puts more money in your pocket. Terminal+ transactions are protected by Heartland Secure™, the highest level of credit and debit card security available, to guard your business and your customers’ card information. With that kind of protection, you can sleep better.

Terminal+ is a terminal, receipt printer, barcode scanner and back-office manager rolled into one handheld device. Connected by Wi-Fi, it allows you to cut the cord and get everything done faster. It gives you the freedom to run your business while you roam your business. And that leaves more time to focus on growing your business.

 

Florida Restaurant Owners Ask: Can I Take a Customer’s Temperature?

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By Roger Slade

The world has changed dramatically in the last ninety days. Just last year the question of whether a restaurant would even ask a customer to take the customer’s temperature would have been unthinkable. Now, it is actually happening: all over the country.

Taking your customer’s temperature before dining may provide solace to restaurant owners and their customers. However, the practice is not without risk. Since the practice is entirely new, as is the Pandemic in general, there is not a lot of legal guidance on this issue. However, there are some general rules which may help prevent problems in the future. Here is a random sampling of things to consider:

 

  1. If you Decide to Test, Get Consent. The question of whether to take a customer’s temperature is a business decision. Will testing make your customers feel more at ease or will it make them nervous? What about the public relations implications? These are important questions. Nonetheless, if you decide to take the temperatures of your customers, the first thing you should require is the customer’s written consent on a form prepared by a skilled lawyer. This may prevent your customers from later claiming that you have accessed their protected health information without permission or violated their privacy rights.
  2. Test Everyone or Test No One. Restaurants, like employers, are subject to claims of discrimination. The question of whether one particular ethnic group, race or gender is more susceptible to Coronavirus has been hotly debated. However, for restaurant owners there should be no debate – if you are going to test, you should test every customer that comes in the door who consents not just the ones you think may be more susceptible to the virus.
  3. Avoid the Appearance of Medical Testing. There may be an impulse on behalf of restaurant owners to expand the scope of testing to include such things as a pulse oximeter test. This test measures oxygen saturation and pulse rate. Even if customers consent to such a test, restaurant owners are likely not trained to properly administer the test or to interpret the data that the test generates. It is better to leave this type of test to a trained physician.
  4. Retesting. The temperature of normal healthy individuals can vary throughout the course of the day. Therefore, restaurant owners should make clear that, for anyone who consents to a test and the test reveals a high temperature, a retest will be available. In other words, customers should be given a second chance.

 

Someday (hopefully soon) taking a restaurant customer’s temperature will be completely unnecessary. However, for restaurants which decide to pursue this path while the Pandemic is ongoing, they should proceed with caution.

Roger Slade is a shareholder with Haber Law.

Opportunities for Summer Wine Sales

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By Bill Edwards

As we enter the summer season, restaurants and hotels are facing unique challenges related to operating in the COVID-19 new normal environment. However, even with capacity limitations and other safety restrictions in place, on-premise businesses can still implement creative wine sales and operational strategies to drive business and improve the consumer experience.

For restaurants in particular, take-out and delivery services continue to be popular, even in markets that allow in-person dining. Preparing family-style or multi-person meal kits, bundled with a bottle of wine, is a great way to attract customers who are either looking for convenience, or still not quite comfortable dining in. When marketing these kits, take a look at your pricing strategy. A bottle of wine to-go or alternative single serve packages like cans from your restaurant becomes a retail proposition. Consumers are willing to pay a premium over retail for that convenience, but not the full mark-up they see on the wine list.

For those restaurants that are able, expanding outdoor dining is a great strategy. Warmer summer temperatures, combined with the perceived and actual safety benefits, make this a very attractive option for consumers. Canned wines, small package sizes, and buckets with canned or bottled wines on ice lend themselves well to al fresco dining. Do-it-yourself spritzes, like a carafe of Aperol with a bottle of Prosecco, soda and orange slices, is another creative way to upsell while capturing the feeling of summer. These options are festive, convenient, single-serve safe, and help simplify the logistics of serving wine and reduce touch points by a staff member.

In our new normal environment, the number one criteria that impacts a consumer’s decision to dine out is now food sanitation, even more important than food flavor. Whatever beverage strategy you implement, remember to overtly market and merchandise your cleaning and safety protocols.

Bill Edwards is the Senior Vice President, National Accounts – On-Premise, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits.