The World's 50 Best Restaurants Award 2013

list from San Pellegrino

The World's 50 Best Restaurants list has been announced, and the big news is of course that Noma's three year reign as the number one restaurant in the world has come to an end. That title now goes to El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain. Noma holds tight at second, while third goes to Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana.

World's 50 Best also announced they'll be doing Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants in September in Lima; more details on that can be found in a press release below.

1. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Catalonia, Spain 
2. Noma, Copenhagen 
3. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy 
4. Mugaritz, San Sebastián, Spain 
5. Eleven Madison Park, New York City 
6. D.O.M, Sao Paulo, Brazil 
7. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London 
8. Arzak, San Sebastián, Spain 
9. Steirereck Restaurant, Vienna, Austria 
10. Vendôme, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany

The World's 50 Best Restaurant Award 2011

quoted from William Reed Business Media Ltd

The much-anticipated S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2011 was held on Monday 18th April at the historic Guildhall in the City of London, in the company of the world's finest chefs, international media and the world's most influential restaurateurs.

The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards and List is organised and compiled by Restaurant magazine, and sponsored by S.Pellegrino. The Awards are now in their tenth year.

Marketing Strategy

Approach and Concept

Marketing is far more than just selling, although higher sales are obviously the ultimate aim. Rather, marketing is a whole collection of activities including advertising, selling and sales promotion, marketing research, introduction of new products, pricing, packaging, distribution and after sales service.

Approaches to Marketing

One approach to marketing is to regard it as the process of finding customers for goods which the firm has already decided to supply. In this case there is much emphasis on face to face customer contact, price cutting, heavy advertising and sales promotions. It might be assumed that customers will always want to purchase well-constructed items that are made available to them at low cost: that all a firm needs to do is offer for sale high quality, sound value product with many attractive features, provide effective after-sales service, and then the goods will ‘sell themselves’.

The Marketing Concept

Alternatively, the firm might seek to evaluate market opportunities before production, assess potential demand for the good, determine the product characteristics desired by consumers, predict the prices consumers are willing to play, and then supply goods corresponding to the needs and wants of target markets more effectively than competitors, business adopting the latter approach are said to apply the marketing concept.

Adherence to the marketing concept means the firm conceives and develops product that satisfy consumer wants. Note however that:

• consumers demand can be and frequently is created and manipulated through advertising campaigns

• unquestioning adoption of the concept could lead to the productions of items that are highly attractive to consumers but which nevertheless are expensive to supply and thus generate negligible profit.

Practical application of the marketing concept implies the full integration of marketing with other business activities (design, production, costing, transport, and distribution, corporate strategy and planning) so that the marketing department assumes extraordinary importance within the firm. Numerous conflicts with other functions arise from situation.

The Marketing Mix

In 1965 Professor N. H. Borden coined the phrase ‘marketing mix’ to describe the combination of marketing element used in given set of circumstances. Appropriate mixes vary depending on the firm and industry, and over time. Professor E. J. McCarty subsequently summarized the

Market Segmentation

The term ‘market segmentation’ describes the breaking down of a market into self-contained and relatively homogeneous sub-groups of customers, each with its own special requirements and characteristics. Products and advertising message can then be altered to make them appeal to particular segments.

Markets may be segmented with respect to customers’ location, ages, incomes, social class, or other demographic variables, or according to consumer lifestyle, attitudes, interests and opinions as they affect purchasing behavior.

It does seem that many consumers buy goods that fit in with a chosen lifestyle (healthy, sophisticated, rugged, etc.) and with their perceptions of what they ought to purchase in order to pursue that lifestyle. Once the lifestyle to which potential consumers aspire is identified, advertising message can be modified in appropriate ways.

Differentiated versus undifferentiated marketing strategies

A differentiated marketing strategy requires the firm to modify its products for various market segments and to operate in all sectors. Production and promotion costs are normally higher when this approach is followed.

Marketing Mix

In 1965 Professor N. H. Borden coined the phrase ‘marketing mix’ to describe the combination of marketing element used in given set of circumstances. Appropriate mixes vary depending on the firm and industry, and over time.

Professor E. J. McCarty subsequently summarized the notion under four headings (known as the ‘four Ps’ of marketing), as follows:

• Promotion – including advertising, merchandising, public relations, and the utilization of sales people.
• Product – design and quality of output, assessment of consumer needs choice of which products to offer for sale, after sale service.
• Price – choice of pricing strategy, prediction of competitors’ responses to changes in the supplying firm’s prices.
• Place – selection of distribution channels, transport arrangements.

Marketing is the primary interface between the firm and its customers, guiding resources towards appropriate product offers and facilitating the satisfaction of customer requirements. Selection of the particular mix to be used forms the basis of the firm’s marketing strategy.

Examples of marketing strategy are:

• developing new product for existing markets
• deeper penetration of existing markets
• entering new markets for existing product
• attacking competitors head-on (rather than following competitors’ norms and behavior)
• serving particular market niches

Marketing Myopia

In 1960 Theodore Levitt published in the Harvard Business Review an article entitled ‘Marketing Myopia’ in which he argued that firms should adopt broad industry orientations rather than focusing their attentions on

10 Ways to Stay Ahead of Your Restaurant Competition

quoted from Ian Macdonald - founder and owner of Macdonald's Gourmet Burgers

Every restaurant owner should constantly be taking an objective look at how well your restaurant is doing. Staying ahead of the competition will keep you on your toes. Here are some ways you can get a good report card.

1. Know who your competition is!

I have encountered situations where a restaurant owner has identified the competition. Or at least what they think is their competition, but they're not. If I am selling Gourmet Burgers with the finest of ingredients, including trimmed premium Scotch Fillet Steak for the beef patties, (like I do), in a licensed restaurant with full service and extras, I am not really in Competition with the greasy burger joint down the road, or a group like Burger King am I?

So make sure your competition is truly your competition in the first place.

2. Get Employees to Sample the Competition.

You should always know what your competition is doing, it is essential to your success. It may be difficult to go yourself though as you would no doubt be known. So send one of your employees instead. Brief them what to look for. It will also give you the opportunity to treat a staff member to something different. How about showing up for work to be told you have to go out to dinner or lunch...all expenses paid!!!

3. Employ the services of a mystery shopper.

This is the reverse of what we have just spoken about. Here you get someone to come to your restaurant and report back to you. So none of you staff know what's going on. I organise this by going to our local business or community college and speaking to someone from the food and beverage school. They always suggest a student that would excel at the project. They earn some money, have some fun, and get a free meal. I often donate something to the college or I might even go and speak to there for them.
Everybody wins.

'10' Restaurant Financial Red Flag

quoted from John Nessel - Restaurant Resource Group

• Absence of a well organized and implemented accounting system
• Key operating expenses too high relative to gross sales
• Menu items not accurately documented, costed and updated
• Food & beverage inventory levels not counted and costed at the end of each accounting period or recorded in your accounting software
• Food and beverage inventory levels too high relative to corresponding sales
• Daily & weekly financial operating data not collected, reviewed or acted upon
• Inaccurate posting of financial information to your accounting system
• Current liabilities sufficiently greater than current assets as to impair future ability to pay bills
• Owner relying on online bank balance to determine available cash to pay bills
• Overall lack of understanding as to how to read and interpret period ending Financial Statements

Why Fast Food Is Not Cheaper Than Healthy Food

quoted from Tim Harland, MD - Board certified internist and founder of Dr Gourmet.com

I get a lot of questions during lectures from people wanting to know how they can eat better when eating healthy is so expensive. They base their questions on claims that unhealthy choices are cheaper. For instance, I saw a recent news story where the reporter walked around Wal-Mart and looked at the value of foods based on the measure of calories per dollar. This is really nothing more than a cute parlor game to say that one dollar will purchase close to 1,000 calories of candy bars but only a single large apple, because it doesn't tell us anything about what we get for our money. Calories are certainly an important part of our diet and weight control, but it is the quality of those calories that matters to our health.

The conclusion often from studies and news reports is that the subsidies on more calorie-dense foods are the culprit Because our government provides funding to farmers growing calorie-dense products like corn (which is processed into sugars) and beef, the typical fast food menu can be advertised as being "cheap, cheap, cheap," and candy bars can be sold for 33 cents each.

This is, however, one of the great myths about healthy eating -- ranking right up there with the fallacy that eating healthy doesn't taste good. I believe it's more economical to cook a fresh, healthy meal than to eat junk food.

The argument I hear most often is that it's cheaper to eat at McDonald's. After going to McDonald's recently and putting together a typical meal for four (mom, dad and two kids), I came up with a total of about $14.00 (I didn't actually buy anything, though). For that money, you get almost nothing of nutritive value, but bland white bread, greasy burgers and fries with a sugary soda.

Memasarkan Franchise

Pemasaran akan sangat berperan terhadap perkembangan franchise terutama pada masa awal dimulainya usaha. Keuntungan anda akan sangat bergantung pada banyaknya orang atau fihak yang menjadi franchisee. Berikut beberapa faktor yang harus diperhatikan:

• Benefit bagi franchisee.  Dibuat suatu skema benefit yang menarik dan menguntungkan bagi calon franchisee. Poin-poin tersebut antara lain: hasil investasi menarik, jangka waktu pengembalian modal yang pendek, dan tingkat resiko yang rendah.
• Perjanjian Kontrak yang menarik.  Tidak jarang suatu konsep bagus tidak diterima hanya karena cara atau metode penyampaiannya kurang menarik atau tampak tidak bonafide. Perlu penekanan masalah benefit finansial yang akan diterima franchisee, serta transparansi dan detail hak dan kewajiban franchisor dan franchisee.
• Strategi pemasaran yang tepat.  Strategi yang tepat antara lain dapat dilakukan dengan menyediakan sebuah outlet sebagai sampel, pendekatan personal, dan pemilihan media promosi yang tepat.

Membangun Sistem Franchise

Kita dituntut untuk dapat menciptakan sistem yang ampuh dibandingkan kompetitor, teruji untuk setiap cabang, dan mudah diduplikasikan untuk setiap franchisee. Di samping itu, keseluruhan sistem harus dikenali masyarakat dengan satu brand (merek) yang dapat merepresentasikan segenap image yang ingin ditampilkan. Sehingga beberapa faktor berikut sangat penting diperhatikan:

• Diferensiasi (unik).  Produk (barang atau jasa) yang unik tidaklah harus selalu dengan menciptakan sesuatu produk yang sama sekali baru, dapat juga dengan memberikan sesuatu ‘nilai tambah’ baik berupa content (materi) atau pun context (atribut) produk tersebut sehingga membuat produk anda ‘berbeda’ dibanding kompetitor lain.
• Uniformitas (keseragaman).  Keseragaman mencakup keseluruhan sistem yang ada termasuk keunikan yang dimilikinya. Perlu disusun suatu panduan standarisasi yang dibakukan dan bersifat simpel sehingga mudah difahami, diimplementasikan dan dapat berlaku secara umum.
• Strong Brand (merek yang kuat).  Merek yang kuat dan dikenal masyarakat akan dapat mencerminkan keunggulan yang ingin ditonjolkan. Merek merupakan suatu kesatuan nama, simbol dan atribut yang dapat menjadi identitas produk atau usaha. Identitas inilah yang merefresentasikan produk atau usaha secara keseluruhan meliputi kualitas, harga, kinerja hingga image yang ingin ditanamkan dalam benak masyarakat.

Host Plus: Mitra Anda

Anda menuntut hasil yang jelas dan pasti, dan kepuasan anda didasarkan pada hasil-hasil yang dicapai.

Dari pengalaman bermitra dengan banyak klien, kami telah menemukan jawabannya, yaitu hasil yang dapat diukur dan kebutuhan untuk menjawab tantangan yang muncul pada saat mengeksplorasi realitas detail bisnis anda. Dan hasil tersebut mencakup komitmen anda, tindakan yang diambil untuk tujuan yang telah disepakati, dan ukuran keberhasilan dalam pencapaian tujuan tersebut.

Kemitraan kita dimulai dengan mencari kesamaan awal langkah penting yaitu bersama-sama menetapkan dan menyepakati persyaratan yang anda berikan.
Selanjutnya kebutuhan anda dianalisis dan harapan-harapan anda kami eksplorasi dan artikulasikan. Kami pastikan anda mendapatkan kejelasan mengenai bagaimana perbaikan dan pengembangan yang harus dilakukan berkaitan dengan rantai sebab akibat untuk mendapatkan hasil yang diinginkan dan bagaimana hasil tersebut harus diukur dan sejauh mana langkah-langkah tersebut diterjemahkan ke dalam penghematan biaya dan peningkatan keuntungan.

Peran kami belum berakhir sehingga anda memperoleh hasil yang diinginkan.

Transformasi Perubahan

Semakin maraknya pelaku bisnis restoran dan hotel berskala internasional di berbagai kota besar di indonesia, baik sebagai pemegang saham mayoritas atau pun menggunakan sistem waralaba, menempatkan pelaku bisnis lokal berada dalam lingkungan strategis yang kurang menguntungkan.

Pelaku bisnis lokal yang berkeinginan merintis dan mengembangkan bisnis dalam bidang ini dituntut menguasai konsep penyelenggaraan manjemen modern untuk dapat bersaing dan mensejajarkan diri.

Menciptakan kemampuan untuk terus menerus mengelola dan mentransformasi perubahan dalam membuat perencanaan yang rasional, pengorganisasian yang tepat, dan kontrol yang baik, akan sanggup memnuhi tantangan dalam realitas bisnis ini, sekaligus memberikan hasil yang terukur ......

Pola Perilaku Pelayanan

Salah satu ciri bisnis restoran ialah dalam operasionalnya terjadi kontak langsung antara karyawan dengan tamu. Kontak langsung ini merupakan moment of truth dan sangat berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan tamu. Ini berarti perilaku karyawan memegang peranan penting terhadap upaya memberikan kepuasan kepada tamu. Menurut Fagel, periode 5 menit pertama saat tamu mengunjungi restoran merupakan saat krusial dilihat dari aspek perilaku karyawan ini. Justifikasi tamu selanjutnya akan diberikan kepada aspek fisik, suasana dan proses pelayanan itu sendiri.

Demikian pentingnya faktor ini dalam bisnis restoran, sehingga orang tidak dapat lagi hanya mengandalkan produk fisiknya semata, melainkan harus pula menggunakan aspek pelayanan sebagai alat bersaing yang dapat diandalkan.

Mengenal Kultur Kulineri Konsumen

Produk makanan dan minuman yang ditawarkan kepada konsumen menentukan cepat atau lambatnya pengembalian investasi. Pengelola bisnis restoran harus memiliki kepekaan terhadap keinginan konsumen. Perencanaan menu yang kurang tepat akan berakibat berkurangnya konsumen yang datang, yang berarti akan berpengaruh terhadap hasil penjualan yang diperlukan untuk menutup biaya ataupun mengembalikan investasi. Untuk itu seorang pengelola perlu memiliki wawasan yang memadai mengenai produk makanan dan atau minuman yang dijual, termasuk kultur masyarakat konsumen.

Awali dari Menu

Dalam perkembangan bisnis restaurant, produk makanan dan minuman yang diwujudkan dalam menu memegang peran strategis dalam kegiatan operational. Tidak berlebihan kalau ada yang berpendapat everythings in food service operation start from the menu, segala sesuatu dalam kegiatan operational restaurant berawal dari menu.

Pengadaan peralatan masak serta pangaturan tata letak dapur ditentukan berdasarkan menu yang dijual. Demikian pula keperluan karyawan sebagai juru masak, pengadaan bahan, sitem pelayanan termasuk return on investment ( ROI ), diperhitungan berdasarkan menu yang di jual.

Satisfying Customers Overview

Total customer satisfaction is the results of giving customers product quality, service, cleanliness, value, and responding fast to recover customers when something goes wrong.

No matter how hard you try to satisfy your customers, mistakes will happen. What you do about mistakes can make the difference between keeping customers or losing them to competitors. Speed of response is vital. That's why every retaurant management team should have a customer recovery system that ensure a quick, courteous response. After the customer's needs are taken care of, find out what caused the dissatisfaction, then fix the problem you've identified, and adopt the solution into your routine.

Satisfying customers the first time, and quickly recovering them whwn you don't, ensures total customer satisfaction, which generates brand loyalty and increased sales.

Host Plus Commitment

At Host+ you will find we grow with our clients, not at their expense. We do not believe in management fads, or one-off programs which do not deliver long term benefits. We see change as an ongoing process, an integral part of your organisation. It is a philosophy of building on what has gone before, never satisfied with what exist today, striving for what the future holds.

Our commitment is to develop a partnership with you to achieve long-lasting results in areas of strategic importance for your organisation, at a scale and pace you otherwise could not achieve alone.

To give you the edge to differentiate your product, processes or market.

Our Partnership with You

You demand solid results and your satisfaction is based on those results being achieved.

We understand there is a high level of dissatisfaction in the deliverables of operation and training consultants, when implemented, hasn't shown itself to be an effective long term solution.

At host+, you will find we have addressed this issue by having consultants capable of identifying the issues, developing a solution and ensuring that the solutions proposed are worked through to deliver bottom line results of you.

Your needs are analysed and your expectations explored and articulated. Each client project is designed not only to produce some tangible, quantifiable results it also expands the capability of client to tackle increasingly ambitious projects with growing competence.

Our role is not over until you realise the desired business results.