From the Editors
Posted by estiator at 7 November, at 07 : 51 AM Print
Change, Adaptation, and Natural Selection
Things change. That’s the natural order of things. Our ability to adapt to that change determines whether or not we survive. This is true of the species, but also of business, regardless of whether Darwin was studying apes or birds or corporations.
One of the biggest changes we have seen in decades is in how people eat, with larger numbers pushing back against processed foods and embracing healthier options. In By the Numbers, the statistics are laid out, indicating the growing number of full-time, parttime, and flex-time vegans, and the tremendous impact they are having on the food industry, which is evident in the growing number of products catering to them on supermarket shelves. For our cover story, contributor Maria Benardis digs deep into the highly publicized plant-based trend and how restaurants are adapting by adding new offerings intended to attract a rapidly growing portion of the population that eschews animal proteins. She looks at the big players in fast food that are racing against one another to add plant-based burgers to their menus, at the big companies producing these seemingly odd but widely acclaimed non-meat meat substitutes, and at one of the country’s big gyro producers that is making huge headways into the plant-based market. In our Pizza column, we go so far as to present a how-to for pizzeria operators trying to adapt to these changes by looking at choices in the plant-based mozzarella market.
And because running a business that can adapt means more than just serving the right food, this month Estiator takes a look at tax strategies (Feature: Year End Tax Tips), real estate trends (courtesy of Koutsoudakis & Iakovou Law Group), and how political decisions are impacting your bottom line (Special Report: Will Tariffs Affect Your Business?).
Whether or not we like change (really, does anyone?), our ability to embrace it and adapt our business models and offerings is often the determining factor in whether our restaurants experience sales growth or contraction; of whether or not we keep ourselves strong enough to survive or face possible extinction.
We hope that between this month’s covers you find some valuable insights that help you to adapt wisely and profitably. Thanks for reading!
The Editorial & Publishing Staff
