How does America eat?
For 10 years QSR® magazine has defined it: traditional quick-service, fast-casual, coffee and snacks, and related segments like full-service takeaway, concessions, and convenience stores. We serve the decision-makers who work in this market–and they're ready to hear how you can help them reach greater levels of success.
QSR magazine is the only foodservice publication that delivers this $180-plus billion slice of the restaurant industry. If you want to speak to it, QSR is the platform.
5 Key Markets
QSR magazine is about quick-service restaurants—and so much more. The restaurant industry has evolved, and rigid segment labels simply don’t work. We’ve learned to think broadly about the industry, and so should you. With that in mind, these are the 5 key markets QSR focuses on:
- Quick-Service: Traditional fast food still offers value, but as consumer desires have grown, quick-service has adapted, with premium and healthy menu items, customizable food, and more.
- Fast-Casual This part of quick-service is all about upscaled food and interior designs—the place where quick-service convenience meets casual dining menus and feel, at a higher price point that consumers are willing to pay.
- Coffee/Snack These cravable, quick stops for a smoothie, ice cream, or cup of coffee—and even a sandwich or salad—are a crucial part of foodservice for time-starved consumers.
- Casual In today’s foodservice market, where casual dining influences quick-service and vice versa, and also offers options like curbside takeaway, this segment is a natural fit for QSR magazine.
- C-Store/Grocery Convenience stores and groceries have upped their off-premises meal options, blurring the line between them and traditional restaurants. And all are after consumer food dollars.
QSR® Online: An Essential Online Resource for Building Smart Restaurants
In complement to feature-based QSR magazine, QSR Online delivers breaking news and a decade of in-depth content about the restaurant industry. It serves as an archive for QSRmagazine and literally thousands of news stories about hundreds of restaurant operators. Find trends in drive-thru performance, the emergence of new restaurant segments, our franchisee satisfaction survey, and chain restaurant performance data.
- Banners: QSR Online relies on DoubleClick.com’s DART software to serve ads on the QSR websites.
- E-Letters: QSR magazine currently publishes e-letters boasting more than 11,000 opt-in readers.
- Webcasting: Several times a year, QSR magazine hosts online seminars on the hottest topics available.
- Microsites: Exclusive, targeted, and impactful presentation.
- Customer Service: Integrate with applications to maximize call center performance and citizen satisfaction
Forecasting Change
A new software program promises to transform the way restaurants forecast and schedule labor.
by Quinn Bowman
Restaurant managers and corporate
bosses who want a new way to forecast and schedule
their workforce have a new software option that
utilizes a bottom-up scheduling method. The option
is called the Deterministics Labor System (DLS),
and its designers claim the system can provide
a more accurate and effective staffing situation.
Co-creators Brian Sill and Paul Malmo debuted the
web-based software bundle at the November 2006
FS/TEC show in Long Beach, California.
DLS has two basic components: a forecasting tool
that predicts the amount of labor needed based
on food purchased and preparation time and a labor
scheduler that utilizes the forecast information
to make a more efficient staff timetable. The system
isn’t really about scheduling labor; it’s
about scheduling work loads, measurable denominations
of work that take into account all of the labor
needed to serve food to customers.
Using detailed time studies, DLS has the capability
to determine much time it should take to make each
menu item, down to the ingredient level. Take a
Caesar and Buffalo chicken salad, for example.
Although both items are salads, the Buffalo chicken
takes 3.3 minutes more time to prepare, according
to DLS’s calculations.
Choosing A Back Office Vendor - A Process
How long should you allow RFP submissions?
Begin the process of selecting a worldwide, unified
provider of point-of-sale and back office hardware and software. Attend workshops to define requirements
across a multitude of dimensions including functionality, cost,
support technology, and the vendor’s ability to support the
vision of their products. Send RFPs to as many vendors as there are available. Not all of them will respond.
What are you looking for in a vendor?
Considered a variety of criteria when selecting your vendor of
choice: years in business, support infrastructure, number of customers
served, countries served outside of the U.S., POS hardware and
software costs, warranty/return policy, and is there a single point of contact.
What else should a company consider when
trying to create a template for their back office solution?
Include
all areas of the organization that need information in making
decisions and who would benefit from the access (i.e., operations,
marketing, R&D, finance, training, international, etc.).
What is the biggest lesson you can
learn throughout the process?
Agree upfront on what the
key objectives and needs are and use a process to make the selection
objective.
