Preferred Partners.
Partnerships: A Win-Win World Whether you’re finding a replacement chef, buying new gear, sorting services or seeking customised insurance cover, there are good deals to be had from Hospitality NZ’s preferred partners scheme – as VICKI JAYNE discovers. Down in Invercargill, café owner Donna Hamilton is enthusing about her new payroll provider Flexitime; from Napier, Econo Lodge manager/owner Jeremy Bayliss describes his deal on Sky as “outstanding”; Palmerston North restaurant owner Reuben Leung Wai is happy with his discounts from Noel Leeming. What they have in common is that they’re all hospitality operators looking to trim costs wherever possible – and finding ways to achieve that through Hospitality NZ’s preferred partners scheme.
As sole operators, most have neither the time nor the commercial clout to negotiate favourable terms of trade with big suppliers – but HNZ’s membership benefits include serving up a whole menu of pre-cooked discount deals from a steadily growing range of companies. Their offerings range from customised insurance cover to cut-price computer consumables or on-line menu costing. The main criteria for partnering, says HNZ CEO Bruce Robertson is that suppliers are able to add value for members.
“One of the keys to these partnerships is because we are able to negotiate on behalf of all our members, we get conferred rates that are not available to non-members.” The scheme is more than a decade old but has received more focused attention since the association’s re-branding, says Robertson. “We are discriminating – we don’t third partner with anybody. The deals have to be creditable. And we tend to focus on national companies simply because we’re a national organisation and need to make these offerings to members across the country. continued on page 31 MAY 2012 | HOSPITALITY/THIRST | 27
r u o y e g a e l n p o Ma e p e h t d n h t a i t s w risks ally under u . t c e r a a o y e wh h t t wha
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Practical Industry Training
VISIT WWW.HOSPITALITYNZ.ORG.NZ AND BOOK ONLINE TODAY! Starting with these workshops you can book online today or look at other options by visiting www.hospitalitynz.org.nz to check out our nationwide training calendar. AUCKLAND
| Business benchmarking – Tuesday 22 May | Food cost management – Tuesday 19 June
HAMILTON
| Food cost management – Tuesday 29 May | Team leadership – Tuesday 5 June | Business benchmarking – Tuesday 12 June | Dynamic pricing – Tuesday 26 June
NAPIER
| Team leadership – Wednesday 27 June | Food cost management – Wednesday 27 June
WELLINGTON
| Food cost management – Wednesday 6 June
QUEENSTOWN
| Business benchmarking – Tuesday 19 June | Food cost management – Tuesday 19 June
CHRISTCHURCH
| Food control plan – Tuesday 29 May | Food cost management – Tuesday 29 May
INVERCARGILL
| Business benchmarking – Tuesday 5 June | Food cost management – Tuesday 5 June
For All Your Office and Business Needs We have a dedicated specialist to research and promote exclusive appliance offers to members. Our buying team is devoted to sourcing the latest brands for Hospitality NZ members, and we can customise technology and appliance packages to suit. 9
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Preferred Partners. continued from page 27 “[The scheme] has expanded significantly over the past few years and will continue to expand. We are constantly looking to where we can add value” That is a two-way street – those companies choosing to join the scheme see hospitality as an attractive market segment they want to address. One of the latest to join is recruitment specialist Q Jumpers which sees the high-churn hospitality market as a good fit for its services. “We recently partnered up with Hospitality NZ because we saw it as something of benefit to both of us,” explains marketing specialist Gretchen Kebbell. Q Jumpers offer an on-line recruitment system that allows businesses to advertise job vacancies across Seek, TradeMe and other key sites, then manage the whole application process via the one website. Access is easy and there’s no need to download special software. “It saves them a lot of time in terms of managing what can be a pretty time intensive project – and allows them to keep all that communication in one place,” says Kebbell. As well as simplifying the basic job search process, Q Jumpers can offer additional help if needed, she says. “We have a team in our business support centre who can help write ads or if a business is struggling to get enough high quality candidates we can look at how their advertising might be adjusted or what other assistance they might need.” Unlike traditional recruitment, Q Jumpers offers a fixed price model – which comes with an attractive discount for HNZ members. Pricing starts from $299 and members get a $100 credit against services – plus a 10 per cent discount. Although it’s only been on offer since late last year, quite a few members have become clients, says Kebbell – including HNZ itself. Attractive discounts are also the order of the day from retailer Noel Leeming – both through its own and Bond & Bond stores – something hospitality providers like Jerry Bayliss take advantage of on a regular basis. “I buy a truckload of stuff through them and always get prices better than anything else around.” Other partners offer services particularly targeted to the sector. The Hospitality Insurance Solutions offering managed by Marsh is one example. This provides access to a range of tailored business and personal insurance solutions including: assets, business interruption and liability covers; house, travel and motor vehicle policies; plus life and disability insurance. The sector does have some quite specific insurance needs, notes Marsh NZ executive director Garry Bray. “We worked with Hospitality NZ to develop a bespoke product for their members – so it’s a product that specifically focuses on the needs of hoteliers and other hospitality providers.” It’s not rocket science, he adds – just a case of focusing on the specific market segment and making sure the scope of cover available is what clients need. And it comes with the backing of a global player which boasts a New Zealand-wide market presence. That carries some weight in a world now dealing with the aftermath of damaging earthquakes. “What happened in Christchurch has had a huge impact on the market by way of increased costs and decreased capacity,” says Bray. Some insurers have exited the market, others are curbing their cover or choosing not to offer any at all in areas seen as too vulnerable, he notes. “We’re working hard to ensure we can find the cover and capacity for members at a reasonable price.” The company is now able to offer access to a specialist facility that has the ability to provide commercial earthquake cover for businesses in Canterbury as well as high-risk earthquake zones like
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Every Drop Counts ... How much money do you think you’re losing?
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Preferred Partners. Wellington. It involves an increased level of risk information – such as a geotechnical or engineer’s report and will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Another option the company is considering in what are tough times for many operators is a two-tier system of insurance, says Bray. “That would mean either offering the full bells and whistles cover or a pared-back basic sort of offer. It would be a matter of giving people greater choice, depending on current turnover.” The company does work at being responsive to changing market needs – which is another reason why working closely with Hospitality NZ confers benefits in both directions. “We see the hospitality sector as an important part of Marsh’s client base and one with a good New Zealand-wide spread. Certainly the working partnership we have is a win-win arrangement.”
Websites to washrooms Whether you’re looking to tart up the website or the washroom, it is worth checking out companies currently partnering with HNZ to see what’s on offer. There are already some 30 suppliers involved and the partnering process is a
dynamic one, says HNZ’s Bruce Robertson. Newer arrivals include New Zealand owned and operated Sleepyhead which is offering special rates on commercial inner-sprung mattresses and bases, bunks and bedroom furniture; Viaduct which is the country’s leading independent provider and point of sale solutions; MenuMania – officially ranked as New Zealand’s No.1 website for eating out (see box story on page 39); and recruitment services company Q Jumpers. There are some fairly attractive discounts to be had. The following are just a few examples. SKY Business offers a 25 per cent discount on TV subscriptions and pay-to-view for commercial viewing – that’s a minimum saving of $140 a month. As well, additional decoders can be had at one third the standard rate. Southern Hospitality offers a discount of up to 40 per cent to members across a wide range of products specific to hospitality and foodservice industries – from tabletop to complete fitout. Fountain Drinks offers members significant savings with the convenience of post mix instead of bottle mixers while OfficeMax can help with special negotiated rates on washroom, back of house requirements,
office supplies, packaging or computer consumables. There are also options for website booking technology, online recipe costing solutions, handcrafted fashion menu covers and internet-based print solutions. The full list can be accessed from the member benefits pages at www.hospitalitynz.org.nz Those already making use of it are fans. Christchurch-based restaurateur Campbell Parker (The Old Vicarage Restaurant and Bar) says there’s no question Hospitality NZ has some worthwhile benefits. “The savings on SKY TV and business insurance alone make it worthwhile, not to mention the advice and assistance available.” Batch Café owner Donna Hamilton is similarly enthusiastic and has made good use of many partnership benefits at her latest establishment. “Southern Hospitality, Flexitime, Noel Leeming – they give great discounts so financially it would be silly not to use them. In this day and age anything you can make a bit cheaper is great. “The Hospitality Association is such a great bargain anyway – by the time you add in all the various discounts, it really is cheaper. Any café should be involved with them.”
Batch Café owner Donna Hamilton MAY 2012 | HOSPITALITY/THIRST | 35
Preferred Partners.
Sorting pour performance A surprising percentage of hospitality enterprise profit can disappear over the bar counter – and often it’s just a result of sloppy practice. Identifying where the loss is occurring is the speciality of liquor auditing company Bevinco and, according to Australasian managing director Peter Nelson, the amounts can be significant. “Virtually without fail for any new client we take on board, we identify 20-30 per cent of the losses occurring. So, yes, it does represent a fair amount of money. Often people think they are on top of what they’re doing – but they’re not.” The biggest problem is not theft but poor practice. “Initially, when you talk to customers, about 99.9 per cent of them think they have a theft issue. Seasonally, that is an issue because it’s one industry where there’s quite a lot of cash around. Plus you’ve got alcohol. The two of those together is a bit like one+one makes five. “However [theft] turns out to be maybe 30 per cent of the problem. The rest is to do with poor procedures, poor training and poor processing.”
So, for instance, it could be that pricing is pitched to a 150ml glass of wine but the bar tender consistently pours 165ml. Nice for the customer but it tots up to a lot of lost profit over time. Pouring a high-price whisky but charging for a lower-priced version is another example of the many ways bar profit can be undermined. Then there are such issues as short deliveries – often because there is no formal system for cross-referencing orders and deliveries, says Nelson. He notes that people are often attracted to the hospitality industry because it’s a fun, high-energy place to work. “It’s great and can be a lot of fun – but when it comes to doing the hard yards in terms of implementing accounting and processing systems, some fall down. So that’s when we come in and try to sort out proper systems and practices.” The Canadian-born company has developed its own technology to figure out just where losses are occurring. It does complete bar assessments – including weighing all open bottles and beer kegs to get exact usage of what has gone across the counter over a given period of time.
“That may show that there is maybe $1500 difference between what they’ve recorded in sales and what they’ve used in terms of product at retail value – and we’ll start to work through the reasons that $1500 loss has occurred,” explains Nelson. The company can then follow up by talking to bar staff about how to improve practice. “It’s crucial to make them realise we are not here to be the big bad policemen – but to improve practice.” That leads to more successful business, happier owners – and hopefully happier employers. The company does offer a certain amount of training or can recommend where people can go to get it. “But a lot of it has to do with on-site procedures and sloppy practice.” Bevinco has been part of HNZ preferred partner scheme pretty much since it started, says Nelson. “I guess we have similar aims. HNZ are working with members to give them the best value for money they can get – and we’re working with their members in terms of enhancing profits to ensure they get the best value. Our goal is basically to minimise loss and maximise profitability.”
MAY 2012 | HOSPITALITY/THIRST | 37
Can an ATM make you money?
If your business processes 1,500 or more eftpos transactions per month, then you can really benefit from having an ATM. On average, 20 per cent of all eftpos transactions include ‘cash out’ requests. If these are handled by your fast, convenient ATM instead, you can: UÊ ÕÌÊL>ÀʵÕiÕiÃÊ> `Ê VÀi>ÃiÊÃÌ>vvÊ«À `ÕVÌ Û ÌÞ UÊ >À Ê>ÌÌÀ>VÌ ÛiÊÀiL>ÌiÃÊ ÊÞ ÕÀÊ / ÊÌÀ> Ã>VÌ Ã UÊ ÌÌÀ>VÌÊ ÀiÊ«>ÌÀ ÃÊ> `Êi ÃÕÀiÊÌ iÞÊÃÌ>ÞÊ }iÀ And of course, if your customers have more cash in their wallets, they are likely to spend more. Our hospitality clients report sales increases of up to 14 per cent, thanks to their convenient ATM.
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Preferred Partners.
Where women rule
Want to put more bums on restaurant seats? You have to get your message out to the women of this world – because they mostly make the dining decisions. That’s where Menumania has it sussed, according to company marketer Karen Gibson. “We have more than 315,000 diners coming through our website every month and in terms of our core market – which is women aged 25-54, we have one in five of that target market in New Zealand. “Typically around 71 per cent of our diners are female and they’re the ones who tend to organise groups of friends, family or business colleagues to eat out.
It’s always been that way.” What the company offers the hospitality industry is the ability to drive customers through their doors. “”With Menumania you get in front of people who are actually looking for somewhere to eat but they haven’t thought of you yet. So it’s pushing the restaurant or café to someone who is just the hottest prospect you could imagine.” The website lists every New Zealand eating establishment and offers a pretty direct communication conduit between restaurant and diner. The latter can put up reviews – a process that is robustly managed to ensure
it is not misused, says Gibson. If automatic filtering picks out descriptions that could be inflammatory (cockroach and hair are included), then it has to pass human inspection before being uploaded. Those who sign up to the service can make the listing their own – updating information when necessary. They are also alerted by email to any reviews being posted and can respond privately if they want. “One of reasons we get so many diners coming to the site is that they know they can share their experiences. So we work very hard to ensure our content is reliable and accurate as possible,” says Gibson.
MAY 2012 | HOSPITALITY/THIRST | 39
20%
Save as a Hospitality New Zealand member off Boost marketing programme on menumania.co.nz Boost your business: market to MenuMania’s 325,000+ diners a month.
These are mostly high-earning women who organise eating-out for couples, friends, family and business.
Here’s how you’ll get more diners:
Plus...
•
Your eating establishment features at the top of search results
•
•
Promote yourselves on other restaurant/ cafe/bar pages – you’ll entice diners who didn’t think of eating with you until they saw your ad there. A HUGE number of diners will click through after seeing your ad on another bar & bistro, cafe or restaurant’s page on MenuMania.
Stop other restaurant ads from featuring in the centre of your page.
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Analysis of average monthly diner views.
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Help you to update your page & menu.
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Promote your Functions facilities on Homepage.
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Link to your own website, or use it as a website if you don’t already have one.
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Market your special promotions, online menu, photos, hours, map.
•
Your restaurant/bar/cafe will also be listed on NZ Herald, MSN, Tourism Auckland/Wgtn/ Dunedin, etc, websites - all within the new MenuMania Dining Network. Update your info on just one listing, and it will instantly change on all websites.
Here’s what one of our customers said:
“In an average week, we receive at least 2 guests dining at Euro Restaurant from direct bookings through MenuMania. This excludes reservations received via MenuMania from those who will have clicked through to our own Euro website or called direct to book. There are actually an average of 350 diners clicking through each week to our MenuMania listing, and I would conservatively estimate at least $10,000 per annum generated because of the Boost marketing programme with Menumania.co.nz. I believe it is generating more money into our business than what it would cost us to do the marketing”
Jeff Bull
General Manager, Euro Restaurant & Bar, Auckland •
Capture iPhone-savvy diners out and about. Get priority listing on MenuMania’s iPhone application
•
Inspire diners with your photo on the Home Page.
•
Choose your favourite review to appear at the top.
Hospitality New Zealand Members get 20% off
(So a CITY location is $10.89 a week when you pay $47 monthly +gst, or in non-CITY areas, just $9 a week is $39 monthly, on Direct Debit)
no long term commitment, just one month at a time. MenuMania is officially ranked NZ’s No.1 website for eating-out, by both Nielsen research, and Hitwise.
menumania.co.nz is NZ’s Busiest & most Popular dining website!
For more info, please contact: Karen Gibson (MenuMania) karen@menumania.co.nz Telephone: 09 521 8533