After more than 15 crazy months, which felt more like 15 crazy years, consumers are back. They’re ready to throw their cash at you for the opportunity to grab some food and get back to normal. Are you ready when customers come your way?
Over the last few weeks, I have waited ten minutes or more in line at fast food drive-thru lanes, and waited for 30 minutes in a fast-casual restaurant (with plenty of open tables in view). I want to give you my money, but it is tiring. And I am tempted to go elsewhere.
I’ve watched others look at the drive-thru line or hear the wait at a restaurant and leave, taking their money with them.
Look, I get it. Hiring is miserable right now. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index, which measures the total cost of employee compensation, shows the largest three-month increase in service employee compensation in over a decade! Who would have thought pay for service employees would turn into an arms race: $12, $13, $14 or more, plus hiring bonuses? It feels unsustainable. Even when you increase prices, you’re still not optimizing your cash flow or bottom line. Your business model wasn’t built for this.
Winston CVap® equipment is here to help. Full-time employees can cost you $58,000 or more per year, if you can hire and keep them. In comparison, four stacked CVap ovens can do the same work at one-fifth of the price. That’s what one of Winston’s biggest clients learned. They initially purchased two stacked oven pairs for a single location. When they realized the benefits and labor savings, they installed the same stacked oven pair in every restaurant in their system.
You have a choice: adapt or fall behind. Adapting means investing in a solution that will ease hiring difficulties, get more food to customers, and save money. And falling behind is just that – watching your competition win the race for labor, profits, and customers.