Food & Food Equipment News

Ryder Expands Food Packaging Capability

Ryder System Inc., a leader in supply chain, warehousing, and transportation management solutions, today announced it has expanded its food packaging and distribution capability by investing in significant enhancements to its 327,000-square-foot food packaging and distribution center in Beaver Dam, Wis.

Strategically located in the heart of the Midwest’s agricultural region, the Beaver Dam Logistics Center serves food manufacturers with distribution, packaging, and production capabilities for a wide array of frozen and refrigerated foods. The facility, which features a low-temperature environment (-10° to 45° degrees Fahrenheit), was recently expanded with a 15,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled addition that has been equipped to package refrigerated and frozen foods, vegetables, fruits and meats. Ryder also added a state-of-the-art packaging line with seven-station blending capability that includes high-speed robotic palletizing and automatic and semi-automatic cartoning. With a total expanded space of 342,000 square feet and the new technology, the BDLC will be able to add lines quickly and easily to meet increased volume requirements as well as provide packaging for a greater variety of products, packaging sizes, and blends.

“Increased consumer demand for frozen and refrigerated foods in convenient formats is driving food manufacturers to look for unique and cost-effective ways to better manage how they process, package and distribute their products,” said Darin Cooprider, Vice President of Consumer Packaged Goods, Ryder Supply Chain Solutions. “With this large, multi-client facility, our customers can take advantage of the investments Ryder has already made in the technology, equipment, and processing capabilities, while also enjoying the flexibility of a space that can be adjusted to meet their changing needs.”

Overall capabilities at the BDLC include vertical form-fill seal for vegetables, fruit, and other foods; blending and mixing; individual quick freeze; vegetable processing, including cleaning, cutting, inspection, and sorting; and high-speed robotic palletizing. Packaging formats include zipper top, pillow pack, steamer, and upright (doyen) bags. The BDLC processes approximately 75 million pounds of goods per year and features 40 shipping doors and three rail doors. It has a “Superior Rating” from AIB International and is Safe Quality Food certified.

“Ryder offers primary and secondary packaging facilities in many U.S. markets,” said Cooprider. “With our logistics footprint across North America, our full suite of capabilities and our focus on excellence in execution, Ryder is well suited to provide both a turnkey solution that handles the entire food packaging and distribution process for our customers, as well as a solution adapted to meet specific customer needs, such as supplemental capacity during peak seasons.”

Ryder Supply Chain Solutions is a business segment of Ryder System, Inc. The SCS network includes more than 28 million square feet of warehouse space and more than 230 warehouses in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, China, Singapore and Europe.

Emerald Coast Restaurants Turn to Disaster Relief Supply After Emergencies

The gulf coast of northwest Florida is world-renowned for its beaches, shopping and illustrious restaurant industry. Recently, some of these restaurants have been turning to a new supplier for things like cleaning supplies, pest control products, and safety gear. The emergency preparedness retailer Disaster Relief Supply unintentionally stumbled upon a thriving local market after reaching out to customers through regional cable TV advertising. With products matching necessary goods kept at most eateries (i.e. mops, absorbents, pest products, blowers, safety fixtures, etc.), restaurant owners have become the newest group of customers to grace both the aisles of Disaster Relief Supply.

“We never thought we’d be selling to restaurants,” says Mike Fisher, General Manager of the Disaster Relief Supply store in Destin, Fla., “outside of disaster preparedness and cleanup, restaurants weren’t in our minds at all as a potential customer base.”

But given recent store and website traffic, the mindset of DRSupply management is shifting towards appealing to more of the hospitality industry. Equipment rentals have become a major focus for the emergency supply retailer, offering generators, carpet cleaners, pumps, and more. Along with a brand new rental stock, cleaning supplies, caution tape and signage, protective gear, and oil and chemical absorbents like Nature’s Broom Absorbent, have been the main focus of promotions and ads.

Fisher explains, “What’s great is that a lot of these local guys want to invest in the community. We’re a local business that goes out of our way to help our customers.”

Fisher said Disaster Relief Supply goes out of their way by offering special ordering, on-the-spot discounts and keeping a strong online presence in their national website where people can find what’s available, and order products to be picked up in the store.

For Disaster Relief Supply, the focus of the summer season was hurricane and storm preparation, but now the conveniently located retailer has something else to look forward to; tourist season.

“Now that we know we have restaurants to cater to, we’re going to be doing everything we can to accommodate their needs,” Fisher vows. And with a catalog offering thousands of products in hardware, maintenance, furniture, appliances, and more, Fisher is confident that Disaster Relief Supply can handle it.

NCR Launches Customer Feedback, Social Media Referral Solution for Restaurants

NCR Corp. today announced the launch of NCR Customer Voice, a web-based customer loyalty, retention and referral tool that enables operators to monitor customer satisfaction, deal with any dissatisfaction immediately and turn happy customers into brand ambassadors using social media channels.

Already driving increased sales for users, NCR Customer Voice provides restaurant operators with an easy way to survey customers and automate the process for receiving feedback on the customers’ experience. The software uses two survey questions that take less than 30 seconds to complete for customers and are distributed via email or available via a survey link on the customer’s receipt. Analytics that leverage the Net Promoter Score methodology are then used to escalate any concerns by customers so that operators can quickly make wrongs right and reach out directly to customers as soon as the feedback is given.

The solution also includes tools to turn happy customers into an unpaid sales force by leveraging social media channels, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This creates a powerful low-cost, high-value marketing channel for restaurant operators to reach prospective customers through referrals driven from their existing customer base.

NCR Customer Voice is currently integrated with the NCR Aloha restaurant technology solution and will be made available for other NCR product lines in 2013.

“NCR Customer Voice gives operators the ability to understand the true value of every customer they have through the customer lifetime value model,” said Jeff Hughes, Vice President of Hosted Solutions, NCR Hospitality. “Its robust capabilities empower operators to take action on customer feedback and increase their marketing channels.”

Tom & Eddie’s, a quick service concept in the Chicago metro area, implemented NCR Customer Voice in November to incorporate gaining customer feedback and measuring customer satisfaction into its operations.

“It’s more expensive to attract a new customer vs. keeping an existing one,” said Tony Dentice of Tom & Eddie’s. “With Customer Voice, we are keeping customers that we never knew were dissatisfied in the past. As a result, our customers are happier and we’re able to increase our average checks.”

“Within four months, 2,000 surveys were completed with 16 percent of these customers referring friends to our restaurant by sharing incentives through their social networks,” said Tammy Cicora, Chief Hospitality Officer, Tom & Eddies. “Over 20 percent of these referrals have come into the restaurant, driving new customer traffic and giving us the opportunity to create more brand ambassadors.”

Cintas Floor Traction Treatment Service Helps Improve Foodservice Floor Safety

Cintas Corp. today launched a floor traction treatment service for foodservice operations that helps prevent slips and falls. The service enhances the texture of floor surfaces, such as quarry tile, porcelain and unglazed ceramic tile prevalent in foodservice facilities to improve slip resistance. Details of the new service are available at Cintas booth #3624 at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) 2012 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

“No foodservice operator wants a slip-and-fall accident to happen, but the reality is that they occur every day,” said Ann Nickolas, Senior Director of Foodservice, Cintas. “A yearly traction treatment service substantially mitigates that risk, potentially saving customers thousands of dollars in injury or litigation costs.”

Throughout daily foodservice operations, dirt and grease fill the grooves in the floor surface making it more slippery. Cintas’ traction treatment service enhances floor traction by creating micro-textures in the floor surface.

To perform the traction treatment service, Cintas service professionals apply a specialized cleaning chemical across the floor to loosen the soils. They then agitate the surface using a special brush. The entire treatment takes less than an hour to complete and leaves floors available for immediate use. The service should be used in conjunction with a hard floor deep cleaning service to ensure floors remain in peak condition.

“Foodservice operators face enough challenges in their business to spend time worrying about a slip-and-fall accident,” added Nickolas. “When they use Cintas to clean and protect their floors, they have the peace of mind that they are using a program that will help protect their patrons, staff and business.”

For more information about Cintas’ safe floor solutions for foodservice, please visit www.cintas.com/foodservice.

VoIP Equipment Supplier TelcoDepot.com Introduces Phone System for Restaurants

Leading business phone system provider TelcoDepot.com is offering special pricing and support on selected phone systems for restaurants and food establishments. TelcoDepot.com is a provider of business phone system equipment and services covering VoIP phones, VoIP service, hosted PBX service, PBX phone system equipment, telephone system accessories and more, including VoIP phone system support. Shop for leading phone system equipment from brands like Aastra, Allworx, Grandstream, NEC phone system products, TalkSwitch, Xblue and Yealink at affordable prices with great support options.

As restaurants evolve and expand their branch networks, their communications needs expand as well. With more and more branches and outlets comes the need for more phone systems, more efficient networks and VoIP integration for seamless communications.

Restaurants need phone system solutions that will stand the test of time, accommodate growth and boost overall productivity—mobility, call handling, cost savings and adaptability are key factors for restaurant phone systems, and with the TelcoDepot.com offer, restaurants can now access solutions that provide these and more.

Restaurants can now save significantly on costs, improve communications efficiency and benefit from TelcoDepot.com's extensive technical expertise as a leading business VoIP equipment and general telephony provider.

To learn more about the TelcoDepot.com special offering for restaurants, including details on availability, pricing, discounts, systems and more, call TelcoDepot.com at (800) 390-1200 or email [email protected].

 

ERI Launches Executive Search Division for Hospitality Industry Executives

After 20 years serving as a key contributor of staffing solutions to South Florida and Central Florida, Employment Resources Inc. will expand its focus in 2012 with a new division dedicated to executive and senior management in the hospitality industry called Executive Hospitality Search. The award-winning, black woman-owned company will focus on recruiting executives for hospitality companies primarily in New York, Chicago and Orlando, as well as throughout Florida and the Caribbean.

The launch of Executive Hospitality Search will provide executive recruiting services for top talent to benefit clients operating preferred luxury hotels, resorts, country clubs, convention centers, casinos, private estates and fine dining restaurants. EHS will conduct executive search campaigns for C-level Executives, including Director of Sales & Marketing, General Manager, Conference Catering Manager, Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Human Resources. In addition, EHS will provide executive recruiting services for positions including C-level Chief Engineer, Executive Chef, Executive Housekeeper, Food & Beverage Director and Membership Director.

"There are very few things that are as important to an individual as their profession. My teams and I have been able to make a positive influence and impact many lives. It's very rewarding," said Marcia McPherson, President and Owner of ERI.

"With the launch of the new division, ERI has come full circle. We honor the hospitality foundation on which the company was built. Using the experience and skills learned over the years, coupled with knowledge of the needs and expectations of the hospitality and service industries, we will continue to provide management resources and offer consultative business support to our established clients and prospects," McPherson states.

Hoppit Launches Ambience Search Engine for Restaurants, Bars

Hoppit, a Manhattan-based startup and the world’s first ambience-based search engine for restaurants, has launched in 25 cities today.

Hoppit’s tailored ambience and guest-based recommendations are built on an innovative personalization platform and delivered to consumers with just a few clicks. Consumers can pick from 10 Hoppit “vibes” or atmosphere styles, including: classy & upscale, hipster, watering hole, romantic, cozy & quaint, mad men, trendy & chic and more. Another click selects one of six types of guests accompanying the user. Users can choose “I’m dining with my 2-year old,” or one can select friends, family, someone to impress, business colleagues or dining alone. Hoppit’s search results present a full selection of restaurants according to the vibe you want, and include special deals, wherever possible.

“We’ve all been tasked with the proverbial ‘where should we go’ question at some point. How many of us then scour web reviews or email friends or family for their suggestions? Let’s face it: that gets annoying. So, we made the Hoppit app and the Hoppit site to solve this problem,” said Steven Dziedzic, CEO of Hoppit. “Hoppit is a personal concierge that knows the interior and vibe of every restaurant, bar, lounge and café in your city and makes personalized recommendations based on the ambience you are looking for and the type of guests in your party.”

Hoppit’s state-of-the-art natural language processing technology and related algorithms take into account a consumer’s preferences and provide personalized search results. This unique technology is a first in the web-world of restaurant search.

Included in its search process are more than 10,000 local food and beverage deals. Hoppit aggregates these deals from sites such as Groupon and Gilt City, and presents them alongside search results. Users can also search in “Deals Only” mode.

Hoppit began investing in its personalization platform in mid 2010. Established by its CEO; a brilliant graphic designer; an engineer with a photographic memory; and one of the world’s most socially outgoing software developers, Hoppit was built by harvesting the vast amount of information available on the Web and creating its own catalog of vibes in turn.

The startup’s management team consists of web pioneers from Pandora, Google, and Pitney Bowes.

Check us out at www.hoppit.com on your mobile device or on the web. The Hoppit App for Android and iPhone is scheduled for release in early May.

Harbortouch Adds Tableside iPad Ordering Functionality to Hospitality POS Systems

Harbortouch, a leading national supplier of point-of-sale (POS) systems, today began deploying its new tableside ordering feature on all Harbortouch Hospitality systems as part of its industry-leading free POS system program.

With Harbortouch Tableside, restaurant servers input customer orders directly into the POS software at the table via a dedicated Apple iPad app that mirrors the main POS interface. Orders are relayed directly to the kitchen or bar for a dramatic increase in efficiency for both the restaurant and its customers, as well as other key benefits, including:

• Increased speed of service for a better customer experience,
• Quicker table turns, which produce additional revenue,
• Elimination of redundancies associated with hand writing orders,
• More accurate ordering, and
• A unique, impressive dining experience for restaurant patrons.

"The operational efficiencies gained with touch-screen POS systems are undeniable," Harbortouch CEO Jared Isaacman said. "However, all POS Systems are vulnerable to one antiquated technology: pen and paper.

"When you look at large restaurant chains and high-end dining establishments across America, they all have some of the most sophisticated POS and restaurant management systems available. However, their servers still use a pen and paper to take the order and then must walk to a POS station to input the order," he said.

"With Harbortouch Tableside, restaurants can eliminate this redundancy and greatly enhance the substantial efficiency gains of having a POS system in the first place. There is no question that Tableside will have a tremendously positive impact on the financial performance of restaurants across the nation."

As part of the company's unprecedented free equipment program, the Harbortouch Hospitality software is perfect for fine dining or casual restaurants. The system offers countless time- and money-saving features, such as employee management, inventory tracking, customized menus, flexible pricing and advanced reporting. While the iPad integrates seamlessly with the Harbortouch Hospitality system, the customers are responsible for purchasing their own iPad.

For more information about the Harbortouch free POS system, visit www.harbortouch.com.

Ruby Tuesday Awards EMCOR Subsidiary Integrated Facilities Management Contract

EMCOR Group Inc., a Fortune 500 leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure and facilities services for a diverse range of businesses, announced that its subsidiary, USM Inc. has been awarded a three-year contract for integrated facilities management at 742 Ruby Tuesday owned restaurants throughout the United States.

USM will be responsible for comprehensive facilities management and critical asset management, including all refrigeration, food and kitchen equipment, and all other traditional facilities services for the contracted Ruby Tuesday restaurant locations. Scope of work includes performing full electrical, HVAC, fire protection, and plumbing services, as well as all landscaping and snow and ice management services. Additionally, USM’s scope of work includes repairs and maintenance on all kitchen equipment, foodservice equipment, refrigeration, ceilings, fixtures, floors, sidewalks, windows, cabinets and doors, as well as support and maintenance of lighting, material handling equipment, and parking lot repair and painting.

“We are pleased to have been selected to help Ruby Tuesday maintain their iconic brand through this IFM program,” stated Ivan Dubow, Chief Operating Officer for USM. “USM knows facilities maintenance inside and out, and this new partnership in the casual dining restaurant market plays to USM’s strengths, highlighting our breadth of skills and experience, as well as our ability to address and understand a client’s comprehensive needs when it comes to the client’s places of business being an important reflection of its brand image.”

Steton Releases Franchise Edition for Foodservice Brands

Steton Technology Group today announced the release of Steton 360 Franchise Edition, the latest addition to its popular Steton 360 product line. The new Franchise Edition has been designed specifically for foodservice brands and enables franchise operators to conduct self-assessments based on specific corporate operating standards.

Steton 360 Franchise Edition is designed to complement corporate assessment and third-party audits and provides even deeper insight into what's working and what's not across the entire retail operation. Steton 360 Franchise Edition uses the latest mobile technology and business intelligence tools, making it easy for operators to identify performance gaps, make adjustments, and see progress in real-time.

"Experience shows that small and consistent improvements in food quality and guest experience can increase same store sales on average by as much as $11,000 annually," said Dennis Derrick, Steton Vice President of Sales. "As a franchisor operating hundreds or even thousands of restaurants, the systemwide increase is dramatic and amounts to tens of millions of dollars."

Using an Apple iPad or iPhone, Google Android- or Windows-powered device, managers can conduct self-assessments covering food safety, quality and presentation, service times, guest area cleanliness and more. Steton 360 Franchise Edition then consolidates, correlates, and selectively publishes this data in near real-time to front-line managers and corporate decision-makers using business intelligence reporting.

Corporate and franchise managers alike can then spot issues and make improvements affecting customer satisfaction and profitability. Steton 360 Franchise Edition allows everyone to standardize on a shared solution. Now, both franchisors and franchisees have the ability to see what's really going on, resulting in improved communication and performance. Franchisees get the insight they need to increase same store sales, and franchisors get the insight they need to direct improvements across the entire operation.

Steton 360 Franchise Edition is a software-as-a-service solution. Franchisors can use Steton 360 Franchise Edition at no charge to conduct franchise audits and view consolidated franchisee assessment results. Each franchise operator pays an annual subscription of $199 per store for unlimited use. Steton 360 Franchise Edition is available immediately. For more information, visit www.steton.com/franchise.