In the News/Marketing Case Study

We kicked off with whats in the news. Its a bit aggravating because Richard asked a table to choose someone to lead the conversation -- public speaking and selling yourself and your ideas are part of the curriculum. But these students are so spineless and wishy washy, they can't choose someone so they all go up, 4 people timidly present one little article then the one comfortable person dominates for the rest of the exercise. If one of these scaredy cats were actually go by themselves, maybe they'd get the experience to be more comfortable! Anyway...

In Britain, dietitians are attacking poor old Nigela Lawson for not giving a flying f@ck about limiting fat at the expense of flavor. Judging for the picture above featured in the article, I'd say Nige is a bit pudgy and I'm quite all right with that!

The Times had a cool article on Cashew Chicken, the Chinese fast food staple that was invented by a Chinese cook in Missouri about 50 years ago, and it has gone on to become a signature dish of a whole region near the Ozarks. Weird.

The NY Post features some bon mots from a doctor touting the benefits of drinking alcohol. Can I get a "what-what?!" Can I get a "who da hat?!" With all the bad press booze has gotten since the beginning of time, there must be SOMETHING good about it to cause people to still drink it year after year.

The next part of the class was a video about three people opening a restaurant, an owner, a chef and a manager all with debt up to their eyeballs. They all have different visions, the are don't really communicate, the budget goes from $300k to $1.2 milly, and when the date to open arrives, they have no seating, an untrained staff, and no parking for a large suburban location. WTF? And yet, some how, they are successful. These videos only seem to show restaurants that thrive despite all the retarded mistakes they make, not because of them. Hmmm.

Next up, Richard ran through a marketing plan for a restaurant he consulted for, from SWOT analysis to analysis. We received a new text on supervision, which will be a new topic starting on Monday.

Marketing

The day started with odds n' ends, which is supposed to be idle discussion of our recent experiences in restaurants, though some of the less swift students still pull out newspaper clippings during this time -- are they so broke that they don't hit up restaurants?

Dave got some veal picatta the other day and in the first bite got a mouthful of cardboard stuck to the bottom of the meat. Patrick went to Ciprianni's with a friend and was shocked by the bad service, the crappy food and the $400 bill...for lunch. Richard spoke of a local restaurant (on the UWS) he hit up with a friend, a homey Latin joint. They noticed people in the restaurant drinking beer...out of paper bags. He also noticed a sign saying they were under new management. It seems when a restaurant changes ownership, they must reapply for a liquor license. When Richard asked if they served beer, the server gave a conspiratorial wink and delivered bottles in paper bags to the table. It seems that if a cop were to pass the restaurant, he could bust them if he saw booze being served...but if he only sees paper bags, he'd have to get a warrant to come in and search the bags for alcoholic content.

We chatted a bit about the annoying ServSafe exam we took on Monday (spelling errors! vague questions! unexpectedly easy!) then moved into more nitty gritty on marketing.

Marketing is all about finding and taking advantage of trends, as opposed to fads. Fads are a quirk, a spoke that comes on quick, rises and falls in a blink. Trends slowly build, sustain, and slowly fade away. Dance music is a trend. The Lambada is a fad. Trends and fads are results of consumer behavior.

We reviewed several models of consumer behavior. In quick succession, there is the Marshallian Economic Model: consumers are rational, as price decreases sales will rise, as the competitions prices fall, your prices will fall, and as you advertise more, your sales will rise. This doesn't always work -- if wagyu beef was listed at $9 for 30 oz, something would be very suspicious. People buy stuff like obscenely expensive watches simply because they are expensive. Fact is if you devalue your core product, consumers won't be willing to pay more for it in the future.

The Pavlovian Learning Model states that behavior is learned. Drives are strong internal stimuli, cues are weaker stimuli from within and the environment. A response is a reaction and reinforcement is positive or negative influence on the response.

Veblomian Sociopsychological Model states the social environment is all important. Trendy restaurants in the meat packing district are not places to eat good food so much as places to be seen.

The Howard-Sheth model of Buyer Behavior accounts for a large number of inputs and outputs, too many to recount here. The Nicosia Model states that the message given out by an institution contrasts with consumer predisposition to create certain results. For example, McDonalds took the name of a perfectly ordinary breed of cow and gave it's name to a burger - the Angus Beef McWhatever was the same old same old, but the message hit on a predisposition to think it meant something more.

The last hour of the class was dedicated to running through the seven steps for putting together a marketing plan.

• Situation Analysis: where you are right now. SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. Who is the market? How is the competitor's product perceived?
• Goals: General statement of hoped for results from marketing.
• Objective: Measurable statement to help determine how much should be spent on marketing.
• Strategies: how to reach the objective, specific techniques. Four base strategies: aim for target markets or new markets, focus on core products or develop new products.
• Tactics: Action Plan. Down and dirty, the precise actions
• Budget: Based on tactics, in line with objectives.
• Evaluation: Can be built into tactics. That's why some shops ask for your zip code -- to see if their advertising in a certain area makes a difference.

ServSafe

We did a short 'In the News' before rolling into an extended lesson from the ServSafe text -- we're taking the national test on Monday. It seems because the French are so concerned about alcoholism and drunk driving, not only has their consumption dropped from the #1 spot in the world (that now goes to the booze-loving Brits), but their rate of heart disease has skyrocketed. I thought the French were supposed to hate Americans, so why are they acting like us?

According to a blurb in Restaurant News, our culinary school's main competitor is cutting tuition on select programs by thousands of dollars. Richard noted that in tough economic times, c-schools usually do extraordinarily well, but because of the credit crisis, people are having an extraordinary time getting the loans and money required to attend.

Starbucks is in crisis mode -- the niche of "good quality but expensive" was a great place to be in the go-go 90s, but today they have eliminated decaff and now have started selling packets of instant coffee to take home. Sanka, anyone?

To close out was a trio of McDonalds stories. Anyone with an internet connection already knows all about the Crazy Nugget Lady, who called 911 three times when the McDonalds she was at ran out of the McNuggets she ordered. When the cops arrived, they McArrested her dim-bulb butt.

Then theres this shmuck who ordered employees to eat 2 day old McDonalds burgers after scolding them for not appreciating how lucky they were to have a job.

Finally, a poor shlub working at the Golden Arches sees a dude delivering a smack down on a lady, escorts dude outside, and gets shot 3 times for his trouble. After months in the hospital and 300 large in bills, McDonalds rejects his workman's comp claim. Classy!

The first story was handled well, with the company apologizing for the crazy lady, giving her a full refund and free meal. The second was neutral, with them releasing a statement about how McD's should always be eaten immediately. The third, however, was a huge opportunity to celebrate a low-rung worker, get much more than $300,000 in free advertising and turn a tragedy into a feel-good branding opportunity. Instead, they just look like an evil corporate empire. Which they are. F@ckers.

The rest of the class was dedicated to rote lecturing about cleanliness and safe habits in a commercial kitchen. Monday will be dedicated to this, so I'll resume blogging on Wednesday. Until them, mi amigos, stay classy!

Marketing Overview / ServSafe

Steve ran the class again while Richard covered wine in the other section of management. First part of the class was dedicated to talking about culinary news. The peanut plants that were run out of business recently because of salmonella issues were, believe it or not, organic. Being "organic" is not a measure of cleanliness, it seems. It points to a problem in the system -- it is the companies wishing to be certified organic who pay for the inspection and certification. It is in the interest of payer and payee to certify every one under the sun regardless of quality or cleanliness. The USDA organic green and white logo is a bit of a fraud.

ServSafe was a laugh riot as usual -- Monday we're taking the test and then this will be done. To recap quickly, food flow safety -- keep the cold cold and the hot hot. Thaw in the fridge, not the counter top. On a buffet, a sneeze guard must be 14" or more above the food and 7" or more extending in front of the food. Fascinating stuff.

The second half of the class was dedicated to a PowerPoint presentation all about marketing. Bottom line is passion -- someone somewhere when creating the concept must have a passion for the product. From there, marketing can focus on finding new customers, getting current customers to come back, and getting current customers to spend more. The first part is where the big expenses come in.

The "Four Walls" theory of marketing is this: If you can successfully pull off four products within the four walls of your restaurant, it's guaranteed to succeed. The four products are food, service, ambiance and sizzle, aka hook & pizzaz. Which sounds a lot like pizza to me.

Marketing is all about studying the moments of truth: initial contact, whether by the web or phone. The greeting at the door, the view from the floor. There is definitely not a shortage of things that a well-paid restaurant consultant couldn't pull apart in detail.

International Food Show

Today was no class work, but a trip to the Jacob Javitz Center on the west side of Manhattan for the Food Show. It was the biggest snow storm of the year, so most of the class didn't make it, nor did most other attendees. Some booths remained unstaffed, notably our friends from last week's field trip, the Hunts Point Fish Market. Baldor, however, had a huge booth cranking out hot samples to taste.

I focused on all things pizza, and found some notably gross products spread out through the convention. One group was selling an "encruster" machine. Basically anything that can be frozen can be surround in dough to be baked. Simply, a machine that pumps out hot-pockets. Another were all about super thin pre-baked pizza crusts which tasted basically like tortilla wraps, made a little crisp. Someone came up with this and bet money on it? Damn. There was a baking supply outlet with some nice pizza peels and decorative pizza pans, and a company that sold all sorts of gas-burning pizza ovens.


There was a pizza pavilion which was quite underwhelming, sponsored by a pizza trade magazine. A flour distributor, a company that gives away free pizza boxes with ads all over them, a purveyor of pizza-centric food supplies, a company pushing a remarkably cheesy (no pun intended) franchise out of friggin' Buffalo, NY. I mean, really? Maybe I'm a snob, but NYC seems to be overwhelmed with slice joints, many of which are great, many more which are whatevs. The angle that should be being pushed is pizza sophistication, not more cheap sloppy garbage pie-style stuff.

There was an exciting list of talks and events listed for the day, but the bad weather pushed everything back and I never got to see the USA Pizza Team do dough acrobatics on latex pizza skins and watch Dom DeMarco of DiFara's get awarded a life-time achievement award. Oh well.

And if your playing a drinking game while reading this, here ya go: pizza. Pizza pizza pizza.

ServSafe / Trends Overview

Richard was away teaching wine to another management class, so we had Steve head the class, who is the head of the department. We did the introductions, every student giving their shpiels, and Steve introduced himself, with a very lengthy resume that included running a pizza shop named 'Rosey Tomato' in Greenwich, CT. We recapped the fish market visit -- it's a bit of an anachronism. Back in the day, more than 90% of all fish came through the market, but now with so many alternate means of getting into restaurants, it's now closer to 20%.

We barrelled through some ServSafe noise, summed up thusly: FIFO, first in first out -- use the old stuff first. When it comes to proteins, the stuff that is cooked to the lowest temp is on top, highest temp on bottom. In a fridge, fish goes on top, then whole meat, then ground meat, then poultry on the bottom. Fish juice on chicken will get cooked beyond it's danger zone, but chicken juice on fish may still be sickly at a fish-cooking temp.

We watched a cringe-worthy video about the effects of salmonella poisoning on the human body, from replicating in the gut, to vomiting and pooping, and all the tricks the body does to attack it and excrete it. Pretty poopy stuff. Oddly enough, it kinda skipped over why chicken is so dangerous -- salmonella lives in it's intestinal tract and poop, and we don't eat those things. So why is chicken so ridden with salmonella. Oh yeah. BECAUSE MODERN POULTRY FARMS ARE F@CKING FILTHY AND YOU SHOULD NOT EAT CHICKEN AS A RULE. Eat pork, fine readers, if you really care about your health, preferably organic and humanly raised.

The class ended with Steve presenting a PowerPoint slide show on trends in the restaurant business. It was really interesting, but undercut by the really poor design and unnecessary animated clip art and clashing colors. Some early basic points: You can never know too much about your clients. You must be better than your competition in some way to grab market share, a.k.a. penetration. And heed the dayparts, for people come in for lunch for different reasons than dinner.

Current major market dynamics: cheap is chic, driving is frowned upon, kids bully families, wives bully husbands, more senior citizens than ever, people are hurried, people are more sophisticated and aware of green issues. There was a lot of information presented in regards to trends (Eatertainment! Asian fusion! Neighborhoodiness!), but in the end, it made me think -- should a person go into this business to follow the trend and maximize the ability to rake in cash, or should you first find out what you want to dedicate your passion to then hope it lines up over the trends?

Tour of New Fulton Fish Market & Baldor

We trundled into a big bus at 4:30am this morning and shot up to the New Fulton Fish Market at Hunts Point in the Bronx -- it used to be on South Street by the water on the old southern tip of Manhattan for over 100 years, but according to the security guard/tour guide/all-around mook, fish hasn't been brought to market by boat for at least 40 years -- everything is by tractor trailer or airplane.

We arrived around 5am, and it was starting to wind down -- load in is around 8pm the previous day, and the main selling to the purveyors and restaurants happen between midnight and 6am. It was a huge cavernous hangar, with a grounds reminiscent of an airport -- how did this ever fit into downtown Manhattan? The room is climate controlled between 40 and 45 degrees, and the smell of fish is omnipresent. The air is very moist, the floor is wet, and trays of fish over ice are everywhere. The moist air guarantees you WILL smell like fish after you leave. After a minute, though, you barely notice.

Unlike the old market, this one is not subject to weather. Fish froze in the winter and spoiled fast in the heat of summer. Even though the fish are out on the selling floor, they are kept at a perfect temp to keep it fresh. According to the manager of Blue Ribbon, one of the most reputable fish companies in the market, after each stall does its own sanitation, a machine very similar to a Zamboni comes out and fully cleans the market floor. I would've loved to stay and see that!

Here are some random shots of what I saw....



Most of the workers carried these intimidating looking hooks in which they used on everything from dragging boxes to picking up huge fish by the gills.


Geoducks!!


These shrimp were genetically modified for their shells to look like printed cardboard boxes. This is one huge shrimp, huh....


Wanna know where gefilte fish comes from? Carp is not a very sexy fish...


After the fish market, we went next door to Baldor, a huge purveyor of produce and specialty foods. Unlike the fully unionized, once mobbed-up fish market, this place is privately owned by one person, has no union, is spotless, has a gym for it's employees, is 100% HAACP certified (that's the highest level of government-certified cleanliness), and they bent over backwards to give us a thrill with a good tour.

This place is huge. It's not a warehouse, but a series of linked warehouses. Here is a room just for a wide variety of potatoes...


In other areas, you could find more exotic hings, like edible flours...


Before they took us for muffins, coffee and free swag, we went into the room where veg is cut and processed -- it seems in hotels, where the union requires a potato peeling person to earn $25 an hour, Baldor has found a big business in cutting and prepping veg for unionized institutions. Being HAACP certified, no one can go in with exposed hair....