From the Editors
Posted by estiator at 5 August, at 08 : 46 AM Print
Ch-Ch-Changes
When glam rocker David Bowie urged us to “turn and face the strange changes” almost 50 years ago, he probably couldn’t have imagined the changes taking place in society today. While the official story pins it all on a handful of people in Wuhan, China, with a taste for chiropteric delicacies, conspiracy theorists see it as a global test case in voluntary human subjugation. While the delivery of many of our liberties in the name of public safety trudges forward, adaptation is occurring, particularly in the business world. In other words, the fittest are finding ways to survive.
In this month’s Estiator, we are making an attempt to define the nature of change, explore how the fundamentals and structures of the restaurant business are changing, and look at real-time, real-life changes being made by some of our industry leaders in their own businesses.
To start, in “The Cheese Has Moved” our resident restaurant guru Constantine Kolitsas (Managing for Success) sets out to philosophically understand change and how, as a naturally occurring phenomenon, individuals (and businesses) need to understand, accept, and embrace change if they are to survive (and, hopefully, thrive).
Contributor Michael Kaminer’s exposè “Taking Back Control from Delivery Services” reports on the movement to rein in the exorbitant fees charged by third-party delivery services that are robbing businesses of profits, and the temporary victories made by restaurant crusaders in the wake of COVID-19.
He follows this up with a look at how public relations and marketing for restaurants are adapting to the pandemic in an interview with PR veteran Steven Hall of Hall PR (“Promotion in a Pandemic”). Check out Hall’s list of tips, which are timely and effective.
In this month’s cover story, “The Diner Chronicles: How Our Family Mainstays are Coping During the Crisis,” Kaminer reaches out to several diner owners to get firsthand accounts on some of the changes those operators are implementing to keep their businesses intact (such as erecting makeshift drive-in theaters in the parking lot of one such business!).
And finally, under the Staffing header, Mr. Kolitsas takes a look at how the labor problem that has plagued the industry for the last decade has persisted while the nation experiences levels of unemployment not seen in most of our lifetimes (“Unemployment Levels Explode, But Labor Shortage Remains”).
Until next month, we hope you are all navigating the changes with success. Stay agile and push forward!
The Editorial & Publishing Staf
