Finding solutions to supply chain challenges
Despite progress being made in so many areas, the restaurant industry still faces strong headwinds, from supply chain and labor to inflationary pressures. The National Restaurant Association published a survey in November 2021 that found 95 percent of restaurants experienced significant supply delays or shortages of key food items, and 75 percent of restaurants have made menu changes because of those issues.
At Slim Chickens, having a menu centered around one protein helped, Rothschild says, plus boasting an experienced supply chain team who developed great relationships with vendors.
“We were chasing some supply stuff around, but we never had a real issue where we couldn’t serve our menu,” Rothschild says. “Where we ran into issues like my peers was the cups, the lids, the straws, and plastic ancillary items in supply chain, which was one of the most challenging we saw.”
Issues with plastic ancillary items had more to do with manufacturers being understaffed and not being able to keep up with orders, he notes. While restaurants experienced issues with stocking enough of their inventory earlier on in the pandemic, it’s now transitioned to feeling the effects from staffing challenges hitting broadliner and supplier partners.
“There’s a greater incident potential for new people at a broadliner pulling product or mispicking, so we could get romaine instead of spring mix,” Robison says. “We’re going to have to continue to work on this industry side by side with our broadliners to understand what they’re facing, yet also hold them accountable for what we need from them to take care of our guests.”
King echoed Robison’s comments about food distributors’ labor challenge in competing for truck drivers.
“There’s not a lot of excess capacity in supply chain distribution, so it’s time to really work with those partners, because there really are no options to go anywhere else. It’s been a real challenge for us to have to think about it differently than we’ve ever thought about it,” King adds.
Aside from trying to find out about food shortages and changes in advance, King is also pushing stores to make sure inventory levels are higher than ever, and be “more flexible on when those deliveries are going to come, because we have to be,” he says.
Bolstering employee benefits is no longer a trend, but a thoughtful necessity
According to the National Restaurant Association, no other industry has faced a longer road to reaching a full employment recovery. As of April 2022, eating and drinking places were still down 794,000 jobs, or 6.4 percent below pre-pandemic employment levels.
For King, one post-COVID trend he sees is the need for companies to market their mission statements and values—and demonstrate those with actions—in order to attract the younger generation of employees and customers. In August, Donatos tapped Christina Jackson to enhance company culture and develop an inclusive personnel plan as chief people officer.
“If you want to be successful in today’s world, guests want to know what you stand for and what’s important to us as much as our team members do,” King says. “The younger you are, the more important it is for you to say, the brands I do business with need to align with my values, and I think it’s a fantastic thing.”
With that being said, restaurants that showcase how they value their staff members—by increasing pay or bolstering benefits packages, for example—are gaining a leg up on competitors in their space. Donatos, for example, has raised wages and created opportunities for employees to learn more skills in the workplace, especially since Donatos is a big employer of 14- and 15-year-old staff members where it’s allowed.