Operations

Turbo-charging your growth when labor is scarce

Simplifying your operations and food procurement strategy is key

Every business, at its core, is run by people. If you aren’t meeting your labor needs, you could be struggling to find ways to grow your business and improve profits.

While post-pandemic labor shortages are being seen across industries, no sector has been affected as significantly as commercial foodservice. Partially due to concerns around safety and job stability, this trend has left many restaurants scrambling to match 2019 numbers.

While employee retention and hiring techniques are at the forefront of many restaurant owners’ plans, it is also critical to examine business model inefficiencies – it could be what saves your bottom line. Here are several ways to increase profits without hiring more staff.

CAPITALIZE ON COMMERCIAL FOODSERVICE TECHNOLOGY

The rise of online ordering sites and apps can work in your favor, while limiting the need for front-of-house staff. Your guests can place their order online from their phone, computer or a kiosk within your location. Then, all your staff needs to do is prepare the dish and alert the patron that their order is ready.

Data tracking technology is also a great addition to ensure your units are purchasing the right items to maximize both quality and profitability. Foodbuy Foodservice programs include some of the most advanced data tracking options on the commercial foodservice purchasing market. Ask your account manager for more information on these options.

REFINING PRODUCT OFFERINGS

A smaller staff can restrict your ability to serve multiple dishes with different preparation needs. Streamlining your menu can help you increase your throughput by decreasing the different types of ingredients and supplies you need to order, ultimately saving you money and simplifying your procurement process.

Easy-prep options can also allow you to save time on training. Suppliers like High Liner, Sara Lee and Impossible Foods all offer top-of-the-line items that require minimal preparation. Your staff can easily incorporate these options into impressive dishes that your guests will love.

IMPROVING FOOD PROCUREMENT PRACTICES

Are you wasting money on overlapping order plans? Identifying inefficiencies in your food procurement strategy could benefit your bottom line by leaps and bounds. Reach out to your Foodbuy Foodservice team for custom solutions to common back-of-house challenges. We can help you: • Develop high-performing menus with dishes that are cost-effectively made • Identify high-quality products that will better fit your offerings and budget • Increase your buying power and reduce costs by reducing SKU proliferation • Create customized managed order guides (MOGs) for your organization • Educate your staff on practices that will reduce your overall food waste

Credit card surcharges: What you need to know

Restaurants and other businesses are now allowed to pass on fees of up to 2.4% to consumers.

As of October 6, 2022, restaurants and other businesses now have the option of adding a surcharge to credit card transactions (except in Quebec due to its consumer protection laws).

Previous card agreements forbade merchants from passing on fees to consumers. But that’s changed since Visa, MasterCard and other card providers settled a long-running lawsuit on the issue in Canada — agreeing to rebate merchants $188 million for what are known as interchange fees that merchants were charged in the past decade.

The new surcharge option comes with both pros and cons. Businesses could recoup some of their costs associated with the cards to help with some financial pains. On the other hand, getting consumers to accept paying a surcharge that they have never had to pay in Canada before may be a challenge. They may opt to go to another store that isn’t charging the fee, or some may just opt to switch to other payment methods.

Is it worth the change for your operation? Here’s some facts to help you make an informed decision: • Visa and Mastercard have placed a 2.4 per cent cap on the fee, preventing businesses from surcharging more than the processing cost. • Surcharges are not applied to Visa Debit or Debit MasterCard cards. • Merchants must clearly disclose the surcharge to customers and that it is being applied by the merchant, not the credit-card companies before a transaction is completed. The charge must be disclosed to the customer at the point of interaction (POI) and on the cardholder’s receipt. • In order to add a surcharge on MasterCard payments, you must notify both MasterCard and their “acquirer,” (the bank or financial institution that processes the credit card payments) at least 30 days in advance. For Visa credit cards, you only need to provide written notice to your acquirer at least 30 days prior.

FACTS

• In many parts of the world, including the European Union, Israel, the United Kingdom, China and Australia, interchange fees have been capped at less than one per cent. • Canada has some of the highest interchange fees in the world, with the average being 1.4 per cent.

SURVEY SAYS

According to a recent survey of CFIB members (Canadian Federation of Independent Business): 19% of merchants intend to implement the new surcharge 26% said they will do it if their competitors or suppliers do 40% said they are not sure yet if they will surcharge 15% said they don’t intend to do it

Businesses that often sell to other businesses (B2B), like construction, manufacturing and finance/insurance, were most likely to report they will surcharge for credit card usage, while businesses that serve consumers were less likely to say they will do it. Among consumer-facing sectors, those that intend to surcharge are: 19% of hospitality (such as restaurants) 17% of personal services businesses (such as salons) 12% of retailers intend to surcharge.