On Foodable Weekly

According to Foodable Labs, an industry-wide restaurant recession is not currently taking place. This conclusion is based on a close analysis of the total Social Restaurant Visits (SRVs) recorded and compared so far for the year of 2016.

It appears that the restaurant industry experienced a five-month consistent decline in SRVs from March 2016 to July 2016. In February, total SRVs were at an all-time high at just under 126 million, but by July, SRVs declined by almost 16 million. However, by August, the figures normalized, jumping back to just over 122 million SRVs, which even surpassed the figure for the month of March, where we first noticed a small decline.

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Content marketing is perhaps the buzziest of buzzwords when it comes to marketing and advertising strategies today — but ironically, with this buzz also comes buzzing confusion. Last year, research showed that 55 percent of B2B marketers said that their organization's content marketing program is not defined and that it was unclear if their organization's program was effective or successful.

As more and more brands are attempting to adopt these practices of integrated storytelling, while also trying to keep up with the shifts that happen within marketing almost every day, what is content marketing and what does it actually entail?

The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as "a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action."

In short, consumers don't want to be sold. They want to be told a story.

As brands navigate the ever-changing mural of how to market to their audience, companies are popping up to help brands of all shapes and sizes tell their story and find the audience that resonates with their messages.

In this episode of "On Foodable Weekly," Paul Barron takes us inside Content Marketing World 2016 and identifies a few companies that are innovating and helping brands and marketers find that sweet spot of strategy and creativity to reach their customers.

Paul also dishes out three tips to help marketers tackle the content marketing conundrum.

For an operator, it can be very overwhelming to think about seizing opportunities to grow a business from single unit to multi-unit operations, all while maintaining or improving their brand identity. You may ask yourself: How can I focus on business development while keeping up with my day-to-day responsibilities to my current customers and employees?

On a previous episode of "On Foodable Weekly," we spoke to restaurateur Sam Fox, from Fox Restaurant Concepts in Phoenix, about the hurdles to conquer when it comes to restaurant expansion. In today's episode, we traveled to Nashville, Tenn., to chat with Matthew Bodnar, a partner at Fresh Hospitality, a company that helps scale chef-driven concepts into multi-unit businesses with self-sustainable and profitable business models. We sat down with Bodnar at Cochon Butcher, a concept in its early stages of scaling by Fresh Hospitality.

Bodnar explains Fresh's mission is to help entrepreneurs grow.

Want to learn more on how Fresh Hospitality is offering a fresh perspective to fast casual? Watch the full episode now!

Wahlburgers, a better burger concept that opened its doors back in 2011 in Hingham, Mass., has rapidly differentiated itself from the pack not only by providing a split-service model to its customers, but also by quickly rising to the No. 24 spot in the 2016 Most Loved Brands Report by Foodable Labs after just under five years of its launch.

In this episode of "On Foodable Weekly," we are joined by the CFO of Wahlburgers, Patrick Reena, who discusses why he thinks the brand has ranked so high despite the adversities they face.

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Tales of the Cocktail is committed to the growth of the cocktail industry through providing a week of seminars, tastings, networking events, and more, and is specifically designed for bartenders, mixologists, distillers, and other spirits professionals around the globe. This annual meeting place to share new techniques, products, and ideas seems like a huge endeavor — but how did it first stir up? In this episode of "On Foodable Weekly," we get the inside sip with co-founders Ann and Paul Tuennerman.

The concept began in 2002, but was originally a walking tour where a small gathering of cocktail lovers explored bars and restaurants across New Orleans.

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As the Oscars are for the film industry and as the James Beard Awards are for culinary, the Gold & Silver Plate Awards are the academy awards of foodservice. The celebration, which honors the nation's most prestigious operator talent, is hosted by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) every year in Chicago.

The 62nd Annual Gold & Silver Plate Awards night was held on May 21 at Revel Fulton Market and highlighted nine Silver Plate Award winners, all from different foodservice categories and chosen through a painstaking, thorough jury process of the most innovative and history-making icons of the industry. From that elite group, one winner is honored with the Gold Plate Award.

This year highlighted winners from nine different categories, all nominated by industry leading companies. From those candidates, the Gold Plate Winner was voted on through a secret ballot by previous Silver Plate Award winners, national trade press editors, and foodservice experts.

In this On Foodable Insight Series episode, we catch up with Mariano's Amanda Puck, director of strategic brand development, and Gary Zickel, manager of foodservice operations, to find out how Mariano's keeps up with consumer demand for a restaurant experience at the grocery store.

Part of the restaurant experience provided by Mariano's is the Café, where customers can sit down to enjoy coffee, bakery, and an array of prepared foods; the Grill Station where meats and seafoods picked up in store can be prepared on site at no charge; a wine bar; an onsite dietician available for nutrition consulting and education for the more health conscious consumer; and pick up and/or delivery service of groceries for customers looking for convenience.

The groceraunt experience — the restaurant experience in the grocery store — is all front of the house so the associates have to be personable, be able to communicate, know what it is they are serving, and be pleasant, Zickel says. "Those are our ambassadors in the kitchen who are going to bring the customers back to us."

To accomplish this, Puck says they work with an amazing team of chefs, lifestyle and fitness experts, among others, who love to shop in Mariano's stores. These Mariano's Tastemakers are also featured in ad campaigns and events showcasing the brands they love.

Over the last few years, mobile technology has moved the industry to new heights. What was arguably a rather analog or traditional industry is now seeking to catch up, and even get ahead, of the latest devices to meet consumer needs more efficiently. With new options flooding the space, how do operators sift through and determine which technological advancements best suit their needs? And how are brands integrating technology with their day-to-day processes?

Taking that big data and making it actionable — whether making it mobile-app based to making sure your store has the bandwidth to handle more tech — is a challenge when digitizing your operation, but technology is no longer a "you can," but a "you must."

One way restaurant can use technology is to determine ROI. The practice blurs the line between true data science and predictive analytics, connecting consumer behavior and purchasing tracking and overlaying it with various data points depending on the sentiment information brands are seeking.

Aside from predictive analytics, brands are now incorporating technology into employee training. How does tech facilitate this process? Through providing consistent and clear communication.

No one knows this better than Director of Training and Development at The Habit Burger, Michele Lange, as two years ago, the Habit Burger created a proprietary training system and moved away from paper-based to tablet-based training.

Dive deeper into the restaurant tech trends of 2016 by watching the full episode.

Fast casual has already made its mark on the industry as a game-changing segment — and the fastest-growing one the industry has ever seen — as the all-in-one answer to the consumer need for speed and better-for-you ingredients. In a previous episode of "On Foodable Insight Series," Foodable discussed the innovation of fast casual phenoms, but how does fast casual continue to evolve? Is it becoming higher class? Moving from a simple step above quick-service restaurants to upscale fast casuals, to now chef-inspired fast casuals, there's no denying that this segment continues to defy the odds.

Paul Barron sits down with Oath Craft Pizza President and COO Rick Wolf, and co-founders of Mendocino Farms, company CEO Mario Del Pero and company President Ellen Chen, to see how their own philosophy of connecting the best farmers and artisan food to their industry is something that is being seen across all of fast casual. How does the consumer psyche play a role into this?

Want to learn how these premium fast casual players are opening up the discussion of sustainability, craft pizza, craft beverage, and more in the industry? Watch the full episode.

Curious about the state of the beverage industry? Craving more insights on trends? Quench your thirst for knowledge in this "On Foodable Insight Series" episode. Joining host Bill Bender are Nick Fosberg, senior manager for Program Compliance at the National Restaurant Association, and Rachel Speckan, the national wine director of City Winery.

Fosberg is known as one of the highest-paid marketing and promotional consultants in the bar and restaurant industry, unintentionally becoming a marketing junkie while he was simply discovering new ways to advertise his own bar and get customers through the doors.

Speckan has traveled extensively and possesses a global understanding of various wine flavor profiles. From drinking wine around the world and eating at local specialities, why does she believe alcohol is important in the restaurant industry?

Watch the full episode now!