Can you make a strong business making a better world?

With rising fuel prices, food prices, employment issues, not to mention a war, there’s a lot to complain about.

Can you make a better world and build a strong business at the same time?

Talking to the CEO of a meat packing company the other day, he told me his biggest pain point is that he needs to hire about 400 people to start fulfilling orders. He said: “I have about 2,500 employees at the moment, a stack of orders for my products, and I need at least 400 more people to make good on those orders.”

He went on to say that he didn’t believe people wanted to work anymore. He said people would rather stay at home and collect money from the government than work. He also said we should do away with any support for those ‘freeloaders’. He was obviously frustrated. But also a little narrow minded in my view. And perhaps trying to hold onto a business world that no longer exists.

But here’s the real question: Can you make a better world and build a strong business at the same time?

IMO: The Truth About Workers

I have two thoughts about the employment issues we are all facing, despite what this CEO thinks. One, people do want to work, but there are real reasons why some are finding it difficult to take a job. Two, workers in the United States are finding themselves in a unique position at the moment: there are fewer of them than there are jobs. This won’t last forever, probably, but at the moment, with less than 4% unemployment, most people in our country can be choosy when it comes to where they work.

When I asked this CEO if he would take a job in his company for fifteen bucks an hour to package meat when he could just as easily take a job at Target for twenty-four bucks per hour packing shopping bags, rather than answer, he swore at me and hung up. The question must have hit a sore spot. But my question wasn’t meant as an insult, it was meant to look at the employment question differently.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against making a lot of money (I do that myself), but I am against complaining about how nobody wants to work when I’m not willing to look at the job I’m offering and at what price I’m willing to pay.

BTW: The CEO of Otis Said It First

Years ago I was in a planning meeting with the CEO of Otis Spunkmeyer and his sales and marketing team. He said: “If you’re flying on autopilot and the ground changes, you are not likely to survive.” He was trying to get his sales and marketing team to think about the business differently. At the time, Otis Spunkmeyer was a DSD business, and he was trying to pivot the business to sell through standard distribution. His sales team wasn’t moving very quickly in that direction, so he decided to be direct in his request for his team to get on board.

Like then for otis, this moment in history is pivotal for business and politically. The landscape in business, politics, and human nature is changing rapidly. Prices are rising, the world is at war (maybe not directly, but certainly world war three has already begun in spirit at least), and we are entering into the slowest population growth rate since the early 1950’s.  According to Pew Research, over a third of the workforce, or around 41 million workers, come from the Baby Boom Generation, born from 1946 to 1964. As the end of the Boomer Generation retires, there is going to be a real problem getting people to work for you.

Q: Can you make a better world and build a strong business at the same time?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is also yes, but not the way we’re headed at the moment. The problem is, most business leaders think in a two-dimensional way. They tend to look at the world through the eyes of a business owner from the 1960’s. When I speak with CEO’s like the one at the meat packing company, they think their workers should be grateful for anything they get. The incentive for that line of thinking is the same as it was decades ago. As the CEO, I should be paid lots of money, and you, as a worker, should not.

But, what if we changed our minds and our business incentives?

An idea I have been thinking about is one of incentives. What if, as a board of directors, and even as a nation, we didn’t look for a minimum wage at all. What if, instead, we tied the wages of management to the rest of the workforce. Hear me out. What if companies simply put a cap on how much more anyone in a company can make when compared to anyone else in their entire system. This would include any forign suppliers as well as those who actually work for the company in any capacity.

The argument against this idea would be that we can’t be expected to control how much a supplier pays their employees, and if we did pay everyone more, prices would go up and up and up. But that simply isn’t true. You may not want to control what is being paid in association with how much you make, but you certainly can. It wouldn’t even be difficult. Just tell your CEO, business owner, COO, etc. that from now on, they are going to make 250% more than the lowest paid employee in our entire system and not a penny more. And if they want a raise, great. Find a way for everyone else to make more as well. And not just the people working for your company, but any company you buy from. 

Keep in mind, these people are brilliant. And they will find a way to make fortunes even with those incentives.

GOAT: If it’s worth doing, it’s worth paying for.

My brother is a very conservative person. He’s a good guy, too. Funny, hard working, and a good father. But he also has some very strong opinions about ‘other people’s jobs’. As an example, not long ago he was telling me that people who work in quick service restaurants are “just flippin’ burgers, and don’t deserve to make more than they do.” As a side note, he also complained that it has been taking too long to get his burger lately, without drawing any connection between the two thoughts.

Here’s the question: is he right? Do burger flippers, or janitors, or meat packers deserve less money than truck drivers, sales people or CEOs? Maybe. But how much less? I mean, if it’s a job worth doing, isn’t it a job worth being paid a living wage? My brother, and a lot of my restaurant and food company clients, would argue that if we pay low-skill workers more money, the price of everything will go up and up and up. They narrow mindedly think those workers are all tied to keeping prices low. So the answer in their minds is, no, we can’t afford to pay them a living wage. They will argue that these are temporary jobs, a place to ‘step’ on your way to something better up the ladder of success.

Except when you think that way about a job you’re offering, you suddenly project yourself and your job as not worth doing in the first place. Instead, what if, just for the sake of argument, we decided to change our minds about what people are worth. What if we tied the incentives of our CEOs, human resources directors, company presidents, and anyone with any authority for that matter, to the success of their co-workers? If the CEO, COO, president, owner and all the rest in any company were told the only way to make a higher wage was to get more money for everyone that worked in the company. What do you suppose would happen?

Here’s what I think. People would start to make more money, and our society would start to change. CEOs like the meat packer who hung up on me would not be bitching about his workers, and he would no longer be embarrassed about the jobs he is offering.

What do you think?

I would love to hear your view. Leave me a message, even if it’s just to bitch about what a fool I am to think that the wages of workers and the income of business leaders should be connected. I can be reached here: mlaux@laux.com 

And thanks for coming to work today.

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With restaurant menu price inflation hitting a 39-year high this past fall, it may be time to take a look at offsetting your food and labor costs. Even if you just took a price increase this past November or December, it still may be time to take another bump.

The food-away-from-home index rose 0.6% his past November, and 5.8% over the same period a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By the way, that was the highest annual rate of increase for that index since 1982.

Here are 7 tips to help offset rising costs without losing any customers.

1 – Figure out your theoretical food costs.

Before you do anything with your prices, check the price on the menu against the actual cost of goods. Simply take the price per ounce and multiply it by your portion size in ounces. Add in other plate costs and simply divide the selling price with the food cost to get to the food cost percentage.

Before you take a price increase, however, make sure the food contribution (margin) is still strong enough to support the product on the menu. Just because the price increased on beef, as an example, that doesn’t necessarily mean the product is no longer profitable. So be careful with percentages, and always make your decision on how much actual money you make, and not the overall percentages.

2 – Use mental anchoring on your menu to bring in price comparisons.

The most expensive item on a menu is always the hardest item to sell. Which just means you need something more expensive on the menu to make the higher priced items look less expensive by comparison. Remember, the one time in a person’s life they are most likely to buy the most expensive item on a menu is the day they sign on their house (and housing sales are at their peak right now). The thinking is: “I’m $300,000.00 in debt, what’s another $100.00?”

When we redesign a menu, we always add a higher priced combination to offset the price points of the higher priced items with some other item you already have on the menu. So if you have a shrimp scampi on the menu, use that together with the steak for a steak and shrimp item that can be a higher price than the steak.

3 – Place expensive seafood and beef items together in one location on your menu

Then, feature them with highlights to call attention to them. When consumers go into a restaurant, they want to know what you recommend. Because steak and seafood are valuable, people expect to pay more for those items. So, all you need to do is recommend them to give them a boost and sell more of them. And when you do, you will take more money to the bank.

4 – Use a beef temperature ordering guide on your menu.

Consumers believe, and rightly so, that you take beef products seriously when you have a guide to ordering beef by temperature. When you use this chart, you are telling your guests that you know how to cook steak, and they will like the steak more when it’s cooked to their perfect doneness.

5 – Use table talkers to sell your star products.

People respond to photos, but only if the photo looks good enough to eat. So don’t go cheap on photography, but instead, make sure your photos look really terrific. Place the food plated up, and use natural light with a smartphone to get a nice shot. Even upscale restaurants can take advantage of a well designed table tent.

6 – Offer a bonus to your servers.

Restaurant servers are coin operated. They focus on the products that bring the easiest money for them, or that offer an incentive of some kind. And keep in mind, steaks and seafood products often bring an additional $8 or $9 dollars to your plate contribution. So, there is enough money there to share with your servers. When you give them a buck for every steak they sell, they will put their focus on those items, and make a lot more money for your restaurant in the process.

7 – Make sure your menu is design-engineered.

This is essential. A great menu can bring up to 12% to your bottom line. Plus, your menu never takes a day off, never gets sick, or insults a guest. Think about it, if you take in a million dollars in sales with the menu you have, a well engineered menu could bring in an extra $120,000.00 this year alone. Worse, if your menu is not well engineered, you’re losing that much every year you’re in business.

For a business consultation, give Mark Laux a call at 800-316-3198, or contact him through his website here.

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See if you agree?

According to a recent study in Forbes, these are the top points of interest for clients looking for marketing agency representation. See if you agree.

1. An understanding of your business – and your industry.

It’s not enough to know the business specifically, most clients are looking for experts in their market. For this reason, LAUX focused on the food industry. We’ve been working with food since the 1980’s. We may just know as much about the food business as anyone in the industry (maybe even you). 

2. Media strategy.

Between social media and classic marketing, most businesses see the media industry as a swamp where their money goes to die. LAUX has a map and can bring guidance to your journey through social and classic media. We also know how to negotiate to get the most ‘merchandising’ available for your business.

3. Better creativity.

This can be subjective. But it’s also objective in that the creative needs to produce results. The content must deliver more engagements. The creative must grab your attention and create a moment of happiness and a reason to buy. The call to action needs to be subtle, but effective.

4. More consumer insights.

What’s on your mind and what’s on your customer’s mind may not be in alignment. What we do is help you think like your guest, end user, and consumer. This requires ‘thinking through’ your distribution system to the consumer. The best part is, we are very good at getting inside your consumer’s heads and connecting with them in a positive way.

5. Communicate what you’re best at.

Back in the day,  (maybe before you were born), we called that the unique selling proposition. This is your point of difference. The thing that makes you stand out from the competition. We’re experts at uncovering those points and making them important to your customers. We’re also experts at knowing which points to leave behind.

6. Get more results with less budget.

Making each dollar spent bringing better results is always important. ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) is essential to the growth of any business. You would never spend a dime if you thought that money was being wasted. The average ROAS is about 4 to 1, but there are ways to get a much higher return. Mark Twain put it best when he said: “Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”

7. Understanding the power of your brand.

Your brand is your personality. It’s the halo around your products and services. Your brand needs to be nurtured, protected, and expressed properly. This may be, more than anything, the most important part of any marketing agency/client relationship. Pick the wrong group, and they mess up your brand, it can take years to correct (if it can be done at all). At the very least you want to work with brand experts who know enough not to lose sight of your brand personality.

Does any of that interest you?

Working with us opens up a dialog over time and we have a lot of everience with the food industry. We can connect on all 7 of the most important things you want in a marketing partner.

Looking for help? Contact LAUX here. Scroll to the bottom of the page and fill out the form.

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Social media, like any advertising program works well based on three factors.

“I love your creativity and enjoy your expertise around the restaurant industry. I will be 100% honest, I am very doubtful of Facebook for our specific setting and location only because we have gone with many different companies going back many years ago and results were BLAH. I would LOVE to be shown that I am totally wrong about this.”

My answer contained these three factors. 

What You Say and How You Say What You Say Impacts Results

Mark ‘Z’ is Rich, Here’s Why

Like Everything in Food, Consistency is Key

The post The Three Factors That Make Social Media Work appeared first on Laux.

Just yesterday I was talking to a client about a billboard for his restaurant. He wanted to know if we had ever done the creative for billboards. We have, lots of times, so I dug through our portfolio for a few to share with him. Here are some cool billboard designs from M+K LAUX.

Bull Feathers Lakeside Grill

This was for an introduction of the restaurant. They had not been able to get passing traffic to try them, so we decided to do something that would capture ‘mom and dad’ and make any kids in the car giggle.

Baldino’s Giant Jersey Subs

We worked with Baldino’s for years until they sold the business. These billboards were designed to talk to the local community in a way that would attract their attention, and talk in their language. Most of the local people thought that Baldino was a person, which is wasn’t, but we advised to let them think that. It gave them a connection that we could make into a local legend.

Pine Mountain Grill

‘Praise the Lord and pass the gravy’ was the tagline we used for this family style restaurant. Local to Kentucky, our first thought was they may not like our ‘spiritual’ approach. Instead they loved it, and so did the local community who make a lot of comments. Many of the local community started saying it to their servers.

Napoli’s Italian Restaurant

This is the client who called recently looking for a new billboard. He wanted a very conservative approach, and wanted to let people know that he offers ‘The Best Italian Cuisine’, which is what we did for him.

Connie’s Pizza

These were pitch layouts we offered Connie’s when we were developing their menu a while back. I remember the Marketing Director told the VP of marketing in our meeting: “You’d be a complete fool not to run these.”

We are particularly fond of the line: “Connie’s Always has one in the oven.”

Let us know your thoughts! And if you’re looking for help with your foodservice marketing communications, reach out to M+K LAUX here! We’d love to help if we can. Because if you sell food, we can help you introduce your food to more people.

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