Beef’s a trip day 21: When numbers are down, busy is good

Sometimes I would come home feeling like I’d walked miles and miles, and I probably had. But hands down, one of the most exhausting days I worked as a waitress was today: the day right before Thanksgiving.

I haven’t waited tables in quite a while and instead I’ll be one of the millions of restaurant-goers across the U.S. today. My little family is traveling. It’s over the river(s) and through woods (farmland) to Grandmother’s house we go!

So what about those places we’ll stop at to fill our bellies? What are they thinking about today and every day?

Vice president Mark Polzer is our in-house guru on all things foodservice, so I picked his brain and three things rang out:

• The number of people going into restaurants has not increased this year. In fact, sometimes it’s been down compared to last year. That’s a worry.
• We hear it everywhere, but food prices are high. In the last 12 months, restaurants have paid more for beef than they ever have before.
• Meeting customers’ expectations is more imperative now that it’s ever been.

Our CAB foodservice division just wrapped up its seventh consecutive record sales year, even when it was sold at record prices.

“To me that says something. That says people are willing to pay more for quality because people know they can’t let customers’ expectations down,” Mark says.  (Remember Dennis talking about those empty seats?)

We’ve got examples of chains and independents all over that are bucking the trend. They’re attracting more people in and selling more beef, even at higher prices. One of those is Taste of Texas on the west side of Houston.  They’ve been licensed since the year I was born and just take a gander at the food on their website. It shows why their sales increased over the previous years!

Owner Edd Hendee told us a few years back, “I have a theory that no one who makes a decision to lower the quality of the product they’re serving does table visits.”

As somebody who has spent a fair amount of time on both sides of that table, I’d have to say I agree. And as Mark puts it: “If you don’t satisfy the customer, it doesn’t matter how much they save if they don’t come back.”

As we continue this journey, we’ll talk about some people who make certain consumers come back, and come back specifically to eat beef.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

Beef’s a Trip Archives:

Day 1: Starting at day one

Day 2: Who are these people?

Day 3: Stockholders

Day 4: The cowherd’s purpose

Day 5: Deciding to care

Day 6: Quality focus doesn’t have to skip the middleman

Day 7: Stocking for quality

Day 8: SOLD!

Day 9: What have you done today?

Day 10: Working together to make ‘em better

Day 11: Keep on truckin’

Day 12: Packers want quality

Day 13: The target

Day 14: Packers up close & personal

Day 15: It’s not all about the beef

Day 16: Further processors

Day 17: From here to there–and a lot more

Day 18: He’s on your team

Day 19: Beyond prices, grocery stores uncovered

Day 20: Getting quality in the carts

PS—Have you heard? We’re not blogging alone. Check out Holly Spangler’s “30 days on a Prairie Farm” series for a full list of all of those writing their way through November.

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