— By Hara J. Prager and Tom Coble — Whose leak is it anyway? HVAC provider or roofer? Imagine — it is a beautiful spring day; the air is cool and crisp, the sun is bright, with the promise of summer days near. You’re enjoying your first day off after the holiday rush. At least now, with the ice of winter behind you, you won’t be facing water leaks…right? Think again! On this beautiful 50-degree morning, as you’re enjoying a stroll, you get a panicked call from …
— By Hayden Spiess — Wild Birds Unlimited offers backyard bird feeding retail for an increasingly diverse customer base, with a growing flock of franchised locations. Jim Carpenter’s aspirations were not always avian in nature. The founder and CEO of Wild Birds Unlimited originally had his sights set on medical school. However, in 1981 he pivoted, opening the first Wild Birds Unlimited store in Indianapolis, driven by a passion for nature and birding. This same passion unites Wild Bird Unlimited store owners, managers and customers across the …
— By Zayn King-Dollie — Utilizing mobile ordering and building design to capitalize on takeout trends. Last year, The National Restaurant Association estimated that 2022 would have record-breaking sales revenue of $898 billion, a 12.4% increase from 2021 and 3.9% above pre-pandemic sales. The predictions signaled an optimistic future, but instead, many businesses now are facing additional hardships brought on by inflation. Even with higher sales, the industry profit margins are 11.5% lower than in 2019. A third of all restaurant operators expect sales revenue outcomes to …
— By Amanda Anderson — When is the last time you looked up? The day starts early with management opening the doors to prepare for incoming customers, following a routine checklist to ensure a successful day. There are drawers to fill, schedules to make, questions to be answered by associates and patrons. But when is the last time you looked up? Or down for that matter? In the blur of day-to-day operations, little details that can have a huge impact are often overlooked when it comes to …
— By Kevin Piel and Joe McMenamin — Choosing the best insulated-panel system is paramount in ensuring optimal climate-controlled operation in many different applications. The days when grocery shopping was solely an in-person, on-site event that involved the maneuvering of a shopping cart (wobbly wheel optional) through a maze of aisles featuring shelves stocked with a wide array of goods have come to an end. Technological advances had already begun to make grocery shopping from home much more accessible and appealing in recent years. Then came March 2020. The …
— By Jim Metevier — Striking the right balance between dine-in and digital investments. In a world where convenience is king, the quick-service restaurant industry is experiencing an unprecedented push toward digitization, and understandably so. Throughout 2020 and 2021, while in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, brands needed to pivot to survive. Traditional guest-facing techniques fell to the wayside, as consumers called for contactless pickup and delivery — relying mostly on apps and websites to place orders, and demanding as little person-to-person contact as possible. Amazingly, for …
— Interview with Corey Perez — R&R: Where are you based and how long has the company been in business? Corey Perez: We are headquartered in San Francisco with locations in Los Angeles; Fresno, California; Stockton, California; Las Vegas and Dallas. Originally founded in 1958, current ownership has been in place since 2003. R&R: What is your name and title, and how long have you been with the company? Perez: Corey Perez, senior vice president. I have been with AD ART for 13 years. R&R: What trades/services do you …
— Interview with Eduardo Luz — Panera puts on a show with several new design formats catering to the needs of an increasingly digital and off-premise guest. If variety is the spice of life, the many evolving iterations of Panera these days is keeping its real estate and construction game pretty hot. Currently boasting more than 2,100 bakery-cafes (in 48 states and Ontario, Canada), Panera operates under the Panera Bread® or Saint Louis Bread Co.® names; roughly half of these cafes are company-owned. Never a brand to sit …
— By Chelsea Brady — 5 opportunities to help retailers build resilient supply chains throughout 2023. From high inflation to rapidly changing labor needs and hiring challenges, retail manufacturers and logistics providers continue to face multiple supply chain challenges with their organizations and there’s no determination of when these challenges will subside. However, there are certain opportunities retail manufacturers and logistics providers can take advantage of now to start to overcome these challenges and rebuild their resilient supply chains throughout 2023 and beyond: Opportunity 1: So Long, Standardization Let’s face …
— By Tyler Simmons — Restaurants need a new menu item: food waste strategy. Waste is a concept. We decide on a marker of when something usable becomes unusable, whether that is within a certain timeframe or due to a certain visual indicator — like a bruise on an apple or a snack past its ‘best before’ label. One minute food is edible, delicious, desirable — the next it’s unsellable, tainted, trash. Waste is an unfortunate output of system inefficiency, and the economical and environmental impact of when the …
