Debby Cannon, Ph.D., CHE

July/August 2010

The National Restaurant Association designated in their “What’s Hot: Top 20 Trends in2010” that locally grown produce was the “No. 1 Trend” for foodservice opera- tions, followed by locally sourced meats and seafood (#2), locally produced wine and beer (#5), farm/estate-branded ingredi- ents (#8), sustainable seafood (#10) and organic produce (#12).

There’s no doubt that local, organic and sustainable dining is hot, but understanding what is considered “healthy cuisine” is not a simple matter. Comprehending consumer preferences for healthy food is even more puzzling. With 65% of American adults overweight, one might assume the market for healthy food is limited. However, we know from the trends charted that the de- mand is actually increasing. Evidence of this can be seen in all segments of foodservice from quick service to fine dining.

Research has shown that the primary consumers of organic food are women ages 30 to 45 who have children in the household and who are environmentally conscious. Interest in organic foods also seems to be growing among younger individuals — particularly college students.

As part of the millennial generation (those in the 16-29 age range), college students and others in the “younger than 30 set” are of great interest to most industries. With more than 70 million in this gen- eration, they already compose 50% of the workforce and, in time, will grow in pres- ence with the eventual retirement of baby boomers. These millennials, with their strong buying power, are already making an impact on the hospitality industry. This can be seen in the “lifestyle hotels” of Hotel INDIGO, aloft and N YLO, all the way to McDonald’s decision to incorporate an am- biance of Starbucks into their restaurants.

But what are the food preferences of millennials? While locally produced preferences have not received research attention yet, consumer preferences for organically grown items have been the focus of several academic studies that have centered primarily on college students.

One study (Dahm, Samonte and Shows, 2009) of 443 students in a midsized south- ern university found that positive attitudes toward environmentally friendly practices were linked to positive attitudes toward organic foods. Students who were more oriented to sustainable practices overall were more likely to purchase and consume organic products. Other research, however (such as the study by Magnusson et al., 2001), found taste to be a top factor in the purchase of organic food regardless of philosophical ties to sustainability.

Colleges have recognized students’ increasing interest in healthier foods. According to Dahm and her team of re- searchers, the University of Wisconsin at Madison was the first major American public university to consistently put foods grown on local farms on the regular menu. Over the last 10 years, the introduction of organic food options on college campuses has grown exponentially. According to the national farm-to-college program manager of the Community Food Security Coalition, based in Los Angeles, about 200 campuses around the country buy at least some food from local farmers.

What does this mean for the restaurant industry as it addresses the buying power of more than 76 million millennials? Eating habits cultivated during college, particularly supported by campus dining operations offering organic, local and other healthy food options, can and probably will transcend beyond college.

Another research finding relevant to the restaurant industry is the perception of where to find healthy food items. In one college-based study, a strong majority of students (79%) indicated organic and locally grown foods were available in grocery stores and health food stores. Slightly less than 10% (9.7%) indicated organic products were available in restaurants. These findings indicate an opportunity for restaurants, through targeted external marketing and internal selling (servers aware of items that are locally grown and produced, increased visibility on menus) to reach this sizable market segment.

Georgia State’s School of Hospitality also conducted research on students this past spring with findings relevant to the restaurant industry. A survey of 364 students targeted their eating habits and price points for the three day parts: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The study separated students who were commuters (did not live on campus) and those who lived in campus dorms, but the overall results were consistent for both groups. Of the commuter students, 45% indicated they would be willing to spend up to 50 cents more per meal for organic food with 30% indicating they would spend up to $1.00 more per meal. Ten percent of the commuter students indicated a threshold of $2.00 in their willingness to extend their consumer dollars for organic items. Students living on campus were more supportive of spending up to $.50 more per meal (71%) with lower percentages going up by $1.00 (20%) and $1.50 (9%) per meal.

The basic conclusion of this study was that a significant proportion of students will support their preference for organic items and even spend more — up to a point.

Millennial buying patterns, particularly focused on food and beverage preferences, will be an area for rich and relevant exploration for now and the future.
Debby Cannon, Ph.D., CHE, is Director of the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality, located in the highly ranked Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

The school offers three different programs: A B.B.A. degree with a major in hospitality; a cer- tificate program (a post-baccalaureate program) in hospitality operations, event planning and meeting planning; and an M.B.A. degree with a concentration on hotel real estate. Visit the School of Hospitality’s website at www.robinson.gsu.edu/ hospitality, or call (404) 413-7615

July/August 2010

By Ryan Turner

At Muss & Turner’s, we’ve created a beverage program that promotes the excitement of exploration and delight of discovery. After all, if we can keep it interesting for ourselves, our guests will never be bored with it. Although we do not have a full bar, our focus on beer and wine has proven an extremely valuable portion of our business, and can be for your restaurant, too.

The successful management of our beer and wine lists and service boils down to one word: TRUST. If your guests trust your intentions then you can meet them where they are and bring them where you want them to go. That is the essence of sales at its very core.

Your beverage program has the potential to become a deeper component than just tertiary profits around food and be a primary reason why people talk about you or continue to come back. Here are some key points on what, how and why you should develop a strong, successful beverage program.

Wine
This statement is on the top of our wine list: Our Take on Wine – We love wine, but hate the pretense that often surrounds it! Really … it’s fermented grape juice that is intended to make you feel warm and fuzzy. What really matters most to us is matching the style of wine you’re looking for and whether or not you like it. We put ratings, tradition and brand recognition aside. We trust our own palate and select wines based on merit. Our selection process is simple. 1. Is it delicious? 2. Is it unique? 3. Is it a good value? The list is categorized in style and it changes often.

Selection. My hope is that 95% of our guests do not recognize any wine on our list. The more esoteric, the better. On any given day, we have about 25 to 30 wines by the glass to choose from categorized by style vs. varietal. I am a big proponent of helping people understand the style of wine they enjoy or not, and we intend to have something for everyone. Make your customers feel comfortable that wine is not always about points and pretense. Delicious matters. Recognition does not. Remember that reference to discovery.

Distributors. There are a lot of wine distributors these days, which can be a challenge in managing the sales calls. At any given time, there are more than 15,000 skus of wine in inventory in Metro Atlanta. We look at distributors as partners who are bird-dogging for us and sifting through to get to the gems. I ask them to bring me what they like and feel is a good value. What is the bottle of wine they are hoping they have some left to bring home after riding around town all day? That is the bottle I want. We don’t seek deals and demand tons of free samples. I tell people jokingly all the time, if we ever go out of business, I’ll be damned if I am going to have an inventory full of wine I don’t like.

Inventory & Menu. One of our biggest advantages is also our greatest challenge day to day. We change and print a new menu everyday. We run a very lean inventory for a couple of reasons. 1) we have limited space to store wine, 2) to preserve cash. We don’t buy anything to store and age. We buy it to sell. We buy based on a budget that is based on the sales of the previous week. We order what we think we need to get through the week and will move wines around all the time and if we run out. This dictates having someone to maintain the list and inventory very carefully every day. Our menu will also have descriptions that will hopefully help our guests make a decision (or at the very least make them chuckle). These descriptions also help our servers in guiding guests through their experience with us. So when we have five new wines come in, it is quite the endeavor to manage writing a description, updating POS system and educating staff. I am crystal clear on why many operations buy wide, go deep and do not change the list often. The path we’ve chosen can be a royal pain, but if you believe your efforts are a major part of who you are, it pays huge dividends long term.

Price & Value. Does it taste better than what you perceive it costs? That is value, and that is what matters to us. When we try wine, we never look at the price first. Does it taste good on merit alone? If so, then give me the cost and story of the winery. I would rather sell two glasses of wine for $7 that will rock your world than a one-time hit of $12.
One of the biggest complaints about the restaurant industry is the mark up in wine. Our guests understand that it takes serious expense to procure, prep and produce the food, but they have trouble with the fermented grape juice. I am very aggressive with educating them about this. We explain that when a bottle of wine is opened, it becomes perishable. If we don’t sell three more glasses after the first, we risk losing money or just breaking even. So it’s important that we recoup as much of the bottle cost as possible in the first glass. Most folks understand and respect this. Where they still have a disconnect is we can’t make the same argument when selling an unopened bottle, but they do understand that we can’t sell it as cheaply as a retailer because of higher overhead costs and labor our gross profits needs to absorb.

Beer
If you are not aware of how popular craft beer has become in Atlanta, consider this your wake-up call. Many of the cerebral components that make wine so alluring are found in beer as well. I can sell a 750ml bottle of what many consider to be one of the best beers in the world for $24 and it might give more real satisfaction than the most expensive bottle of wine on our list.

Sophisticated consumption has nothing to do with a guest’s wallet size, but more to do with the appreciation of what variables are involved with making great wine or beer. The varietal of hops and where they came from is now being listed on some beers.

If you want to provide your guests with delicious elixirs of uniqueness and authenticity, then beer can be a very powerful component of your business. I love to see the proverbial light bulb go off over the head of a fellow wine geek when they try a tripel or intensely hopped beer.

There are far fewer distributors who are really embracing the beer phenomenon, but it is happening and we are now seeing the wine vendors bringing on beers into their portfolio. They don’t do that unless they think there is money to be made, and the momentum is self-evident.

We make it a point to not sell the standard selection of domestic or imported beers. The beer revolution in Atlanta blossomed in 2004 when the law changed to allow higher alcohol levels for beer. The tide is turning and the minds are opening, but people’s attachment to brand name beers is still a very personal thing. When we don’t have their brand, we need to be very careful that they don’t view it as judgment on them. We explain that we simply want to be a place of exploration with food, wine and beer. We don’t want to sell you something that you can get everywhere. We’d rather force you into trying something new and gamble on the enjoyment that could bring.

The path we have chosen with wine and beer is a more challenging one, but our guests seem to love it and come back often to experience it. It works for us, but may not for you. Start asking your guests what they are interested in. As long as they sense your intent is pure and not purely profits, they’ll give you all the answers you need to determine your own path. That’s what I do. Cheers!

Ryan Turner is the co-owner of Muss & Turner’s restaurant in Smyrna. Now into its 6th successful year of business, Muss & Turner’s is a casual neighborhood spot that has been characterized as “foie gras in your flip flops.” They specialize in a seasonal farm-to-fork menu alongside an ever-changing boutique wine and beer list. M&Ts is currently ranked No. 2 in Atlanta on the Open Table Diner’s Choice survey for Notable Wine List. Visit mussandturners.com for more information.

July/August 2010

By Jaymi Curley

With a host of popular metro-area restaurants under its belt, local restaurant corporation Metrotainment Cafes is poised for growth in an economic environment when many are just trying to hold their ground.

Metrotainment Cafes was founded in 1991 by CEO Jeffrey Landau as a natural expansion of his career in the hospitality business. “I had worked in restaurants prior to that, learning just about every aspect of the business,” says Landau, “and I wanted to open up my own restaurant.” That first restaurant was to become Einstein’s, a restaurant in Midtown that has since become a fixture in the Midtown dining scene. “I didn’t have very much money at all. It was definitely a low budget endeavor. We found an old restaurant in the heart of Midtown that had recently closed down, and I thought it was a great opportunity.” At first occupying a single 1920’s bungalow, the Einstein’s concept, which Landau describes as a “casual neighborhood favorite with an innovative menu,” has grown to encompass three houses on prime corner real estate in the heart of Midtown.

Though his early focus was on growing Einstein’s, Landau still kept an eye out for chances to take his company forward.  “Midtown was starting to take off in the early- to mid-90s, so we saw a lot of opportunity there,” says Landau. “I don’t think in 1991 we had a vision as to where we were going to go with the company. But we saw potential for growth. Einstein’s was doing really well, and Midtown was really becoming a vibrant community.”

Another opportunity for Metrotainment opened up in 1993, as they added a “casual steakhouse in a honky-tonk atmosphere” called Cowtippers. Its location on Piedmont road in Atlanta made it highly accessible to several popular neighborhoods in the Midtown area. “It was a recently closed-down restaurant as Einstein’s was, so we saw a lot of opportunity there.”

As Metrotainment Cafes has added concepts in its expansion, including sports bars Hudson Grille and Joe’s and a wholesale bakery operation, all of its themes have been connected by the company’s central philosophy that puts the guests squarely in the center of its focus. Landau says that the key is “to offer guests great value in an entertaining environment. We are always focused on offering guests true value in fun, entertaining and interesting environments.”

Landau believes that added value is the difference between success and failure, particularly in an economy that has not been kind to the restaurant business as a whole. “We believe that in difficult economic times—and I don’t think a return to a robust economy is going to be happening anytime soon—focusing on value, rewarding our loyal guests, and providing an entertainment component is really important.”

“Our guests are looking for more than a good meal when they dine out,” says Landau. “We are providing extra value in entertainment, such as sports in our sports bars. Hudson Grille and Joe’s on Juniper all have dozens of plasma TVs, and we purchase all the sports packages from the networks. It is expensive, but we certainly offer more than just a great dining experience.”

Metrotainment Cafes manages the main portfolio of its business with a laser focus on strategy, but still maintains touch with the human factor that helps it to succeed. With a soon-to-expire lease under consideration, the group sold off its popular Buckhead sports bar Cheyenne Grille in favor of opening a Hudson Grille location in Midtown Atlanta. “Hudson Grille is the concept we are attempting to expand really, and Cheyenne Grille was a one-off. We hadn’t had any plans to open any more branches of that one anyway.”

But rather than import a whole new staff as some restaurants might, Metrotainment kept the staff intact, essentially just moving the well-oiled machine that had been providing great service for years. “We relocated the entire team from the Cheyenne Grille after the sale to the new Hudson Grille in Midtown, and it was an existing, built-out restaurant that did not require a large investment.”

Indeed, keeping an eye out for already finished locations has been a key move for improving Metrotainment Cafes’ bottom line. Landau says, “Typically we have expanded into existing locations, which dramatically cuts the initial investments. I would say this cuts the investment by 50 percent plus.”

In a tight economy, this kind of cost saving measure can be crucial. “We would not have gone out and opened up a raw space, especially since it is difficult right now to achieve much financing. I look at the new Hudson Grille as more of a move, rather than a cold opening.”

Moving in to spaces where other restaurants have already been thwarted might seem a risky undertaking since location is a key factor in success in the restaurant business. But Landau maintains that keeping the focus on the people in the equation—guests and staff alike—gives Metrotainment Cafes a solid basis for overcoming any lingering ghosts of restaurants past. “We commit to employee training, we offer a concept the neighborhood finds more unique and we constantly look for ways to provide the guest with an experience at a reasonable price point,” says Landau. “Hudson Grille has a great feel, but the burgers are still $7.95. We’re not doing a ten-dollar hamburger at the Hudson Grille.

When guests walk out the door, they are going to think ‘Hey, we got our money’s worth and then some.’ We are always trying to exceed their expectations.”

Landau believes strongly in providing the best training for every member of his staff, seeing that as a prime investment in Metrotainment Cafes’ success. “It is paramount to achieving that goal. The dining experience is driven more by service than any other component. If the staff is not well-trained and well prepared, we will not be able to offer our guests an enjoyable dining experience.”

Currently Metrotainment is focusing all of it plans for growth inside the perimeter of metro Atlanta. “There are exceptions of course, but we feel more strongly about the potential for growth inside rather than outside the perimeter right now.” With consumer spending pulling back across the board, the city centers appear to be the areas where money is still comparatively fluid.

“I am not an economist,” says Landau, “but I feel strongly there is far more disposable income ITP than OTP right now. We have experienced both, and I think a lot my peers and our vendors share this opinion. If you are getting a lot of singles and young couples without a lot of dependents, you can still do well and excel in this environment. If your clientele is more family oriented—lot of dependents, big home, big mortgages, college tuition, private school tuition—you are relatively going to get creamed in this economy. Young people are still going to go out to eat, drink, socialize and meet people of the opposite sex. Families don’t have to.”

Landau fully embraces technology and social media as a way of connecting with Metrotainment’s client base.  “We are trying to create online community by communicating with our guests on a weekly, even daily basis.” Harnessing opt-in email blasts, Facebook, Twitter and other avenues keeps his customers informed while building a sense of loyalty to the local restaurants. “We let them know about specials, who’s working tonight, what events are happening. We are even sharing recipes. We’re trying to create what we have done within the restaurant—creating a community—and move it to the online world.”

This connection with customers has resulted in getting the kind of feedback that marketing teams salivate over. And in return, Landau notes that guests of Metrotainment’s establishments feel like they are making an impact. “We pride ourselves on responding in a timely fashion to all our customer feedback. It is invaluable for helping to ensure the best customer service. If we see a trend, we can respond quickly. And you’ll find that a number of changes we’ve made, from menu items to the events we host are based on customer feedback we get on Facebook, Twitter and by searching comments on the web.”

Metrotainment’s new concept, a retail bake and beverage shop called Sugar Shack, which at press time was due to open at the end of June was a direct result of customer feedback. “We have the Metrotainment Bakery, which is primarily wholesale baked goods, though we did sell some limited retail goods there. And we kept getting feedback that what the people wanted was to have those bakery items available in a retail space, someplace where they could actually have a seat, slow down and enjoy their pastry there. And then an opportunity came up where we could get a space in Brookhaven, about 500 feet away from a Hudson Grille location that was already there. We decided it was absolutely the right time for it.”

Sugar Shack will be featuring Metrotainment Cafes baked goods along with a limited assortment of sandwiches and coffee, and the location in Brookhaven Station at a crossroads of several metro neighborhoods combined with a buzz created by social media chatter presages a successful opening.

Restaurant Forum asked Jeffrey Landau, president of Metrotainment Cafes, what three things he’s done in the last three weeks that have improved or impacted his business:

1) We’ve made a concerted effort to hire from within the company. In the last three weeks, we’ve taken three individuals who worked for the company on an hourly basis for a long time and promoted them to manager positions. All three of them are off to a tremendous start, and I have the utmost confidence in them. I think we’ve improved the restaurant by rewarding their loyalty, and in turn we have hired people who understand the culture of the company and I think are going to be even more committed at the outset more than an outside individual.

2) We’ve made some enhancements to our loyalty card program. We’ve been working with our loyalty/gift card provider and been making that program more user-friendly for our guests. It is becoming a little easier to earn those rewards.

3) At Joe’s on Sullivan, our restaurant in College Park, and at Cowtippers, we have made changes to the menus at both those establishments. Both menus have gotten major overhauls, and we are getting a lot of positive feedback on both.

May/June 2010

By Richard A.L. Caldarola, D.B.A., CMA, CFM

This is not quite the question you thought it was when you saw the headline—this is not New York. No, this is a question of what might be more important to you, attracting new customers or keeping your present ones. Of course you want to do both! What restaurant operator would choose to lose valuable customers and not attract a new loyal following? But just what do you get for that $4,000 marketing investment that you made?

You have what would seem to be a plethora of choices when it comes to spending your advertising budget, from mailers and door hangers, to radio spots and print ads in newspapers and magazines, and even collateral pieces that can be distributed in hotel lobbies. If that wasn’t confusing enough, you also have to decide whether you are targeting new customers, trying to urge past customers to visit you again, or perhaps some combination of both.

Then there’s the message – should you have a percent or amount off coupon, or perhaps list your address with the menu and prices and with your restaurant’s tag line and logo prominently displayed, or should you have a special event to try to prompt an immediate response from the reader such as Come to dinner tonight! What should you do?

Perhaps we should consider first what not to do. Do you find that any of these fit your restaurant’s situation?
•    We estimate our target market by intuition, past experience and sometimes by what we think just might work.
•    We assume that the lack of complaints means that customers are satisfied and therefore will return for additional meal purchases.
•    We expect to be able to attract the same customer (types) to every daypart.
•    We think that coupons work to bring in new customers.
•    We believe that marketing is just advertising.
•    We have no idea how well our advertising works.

If you can answer yes to any of those statements and your sales aren’t increasing the way that you believe that they could, perhaps your message isn’t getting across the way it should.

It might be that you targeted the wrong audience or have the wrong message, or even have cannibalized your sales by offering coupons to attract new customers but find that the only ones using them are loyal, repeat customers.

So – what do you get for your $4,000? If you don’t know, it isn’t because of the marketing communications system that you use. It’s not only that coupons don’t work or print ads don’t work, or even that your image advertising spots on the radio don’t work. How would you know for sure unless you have a comprehensive measurement system? The more likely reason is that the design of the entire marketing program has a hitch in it, and the general cause for program design problems is when we equate Marketing with Advertising.

You know about the Marketing Mix, the now well argued 4 Ps of Marketing, of Product – Price – Place – Promotion. So certainly your product and service quality initiatives are well designed and implemented. Clearly you have price points for every daypart that represent a quality transaction for the customer and are very competitive. Your location was well researched and your signage is distinct and attractive. And of course you have your advertising promotions.

Those are all fine, but they all miss the 4 Ps of Strategic Marketing, the components without which even the finest products, the most competitive prices, the best location and the most creative advertising just won’t generate the results you expect. Strategic Marketing includes:
•    Probing (the market) – Market Research
•    Partitioning (the market) – Market Segmentation
•    Prioritizing (the market) – Selecting Target Markets
•    Positioning – Your special message to your Target Market in which you present your competitive advantages

Without strategic design and post implementation measures, the marketing mix is developed in a vacuum without clear direction, and there is no obvious way to know if your new product, coupon discounts, physical décor changes, or even that $4,000 in advertising have done what you intended.

Your restaurant should earn a reasonable return on all the investments that you make. That includes investments in the messages you send to your current and prospective customers, from your hostess stand, to your servers, to the print ads, radio spots and coupon mailers that you use.

Unless you first consider your Strategic Marketing program design and incorporate that fully into your Price, Product, Place and Advertising and other Promotions, you won’t know if you selected the right target markets, have the right value message for them, or even if your proposals for them—that is, your advertising messages—are telling the story that you want and need to tell. And in the end, don’t you want to know what you will get for your $4,000?

Richard is an Associate Professor of Business at Troy University’s Atlanta campus. He teaches graduate courses in Marketing, Strategy, and Managerial Accounting. As an integral part of their learning, Richard’s Marketing course students often provide Client-Based Consulting services to Atlanta area businesses. Richard can be contacted by email at rcaldarola@troy.edu.
Troy University has several graduate and undergraduate programs in business, including a BS in Business Administration degree with a concentration in Hospitality and Tourism degree and a Master of Science in Management with a concentration in International Hospitality Management.

May/June 2010

Debby Cannon, Ph.D., CHE
Director, Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality , Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University

The most important time for a new employee is the very first days on the job. Research has consistently supported that most turnover in the first six months of an employee’s tenure can be traced to the first week of employment. These first days are crucial, but there are ways to orient new employees and acclimate them during those first weeks of employment to not only make employees stick around longer, but also reduce the potential for inferior performance and employee frustration.

Everyone has anxiety about starting a new job – whether it is a person’s first job or his or her 20th.  The first few days can confirm the new employee’s speculations: “I made the right decision to come to work here. This is going to be a great place to work” or “I think I’ve made a terrible mistake by taking this job.”

These first impressions are extremely important to the socialization process of becoming a committed and engaged employee. Individuals who are engaged in their work and committed to their employers have greater job satisfaction, perform at higher levels and are not as prone to leave their jobs compared to non-committed employees.

While employers may think the main function of a new employee orientation program is completing required forms and paperwork, this should only be a minor part of orienting a new employee. The beginning is an excellent time to provide information on the restaurant’s history, the founders, what is special about it and how the new employee is an important part of the company’s mission as well as vision for the future.

If looking for a company to benchmark, Disney World is one of the best in orienting new employees. The Disney culture is brought to life for new cast members, from the refreshment cart worker to one of the restaurant’s chefs. Through a variety of methods including tours, videos, demonstrations, presentations and games, new employees get memorable information that forms the foundation for their Disney careers.

Smaller employers can be just as effective in orienting new employees. Top management support and involvement are crucial, involving spending time with new employees to discuss what is important to the company and what is expected of employees.

Of course there is additional information important to the success of the new employee such as understanding employee standards of conduct, policies and procedures. The company’s service culture can be reinforced through the orientation process with incoming employees learning the basics of working with customers and guests as well as fellow workers. These service basics should be continually refined and expanded throughout the employee’s time with the company.

One of the challenges in orienting new employees is providing too much information to the point of being overwhelming. Rather than trying to present everything in the first few days of employment, it is important to prioritize and provide the necessary fundamentals.

What is vitally important for the new employee to know from “day one” of employment? Employees can be faced with safety and emergency issues for which they should be prepared. For example, any employee regardless of seniority can face a fire emergency and should be prepared for such. Failure to prepare employees for potential safety and security hazards could result in liability for the company under the legal doctrine of negligent training. Another facet of negligent training involves not providing information and materials that can be comprehended by non-English speaking employees.

Documentation of training, including the material covered in orienting new employees, is important. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, including having employees sign that they have been informed of policies and procedures, which is typically done by reviewing the employee handbook. Likewise, they can sign statements that they have been taught the basic emergency procedures or safety/security practices. Other employers have selected a more targeted approach in testing employees on material covered in orientation to not only document but also validate that the information was understood.

The first impressions of a company are not formed solely on information presented. New employees must feel genuinely well-received and welcomed by managers and fellow employees. Quality service starts with a commitment to internal service. What are ways that you can make employees feel good in their new work place?

•    Existing employees are sometimes in cliques that are intimidating and less than welcoming to newly hired individuals. Be aware of these cliques and their potentially negative influences. If existing employees are involved in some aspect of selecting, orienting and training new employees, they tend to be more interested in contributing to the success of their new associates.

•    Communicate to existing employees the names and backgrounds of new employees who have recently been hired with your company. Encourage existing employees to introduce themselves and to help make the new employee feel at home. This can be done through employee newsletters, bulletin boards or in pre-shift meetings. Always keep your restaurant’s goals clearly in focus for new and existing employees as well as progress being made towards the goals. Working together to achieve goals is one of the best ways to bring employees together as one team.

The “sink or swim” approach that involves starting employees immediately in their respective jobs results in inferior performance and employee frustration, which often leads to turnover. Providing an orientation for new employees is vital to the success of the restaurant operation and to the success of the individual employee. Starting the new employee on the right path, starting with that first day at work, will provide valuable momentum to the training, coaching and development that will follow.
The Cecil B Day School of Hospitality is located in the highly ranked Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

The school offers three different programs: A B.B.A. degree with a major in hospitality; a certificate program (a post-baccalaureate program) in hospitality operations, event planning and meeting planning; and an M.B.A. degree with a concentration in hotel real estate. Visit the School of Hospitality’s website at www.robinson.gsu.edu/hospitality or call (404) 413-7615.

Insights from Nancy Oswald

Every Ruth’s Chris Steak House, whether in a large metropolitan city or smaller town, takes pride in being not only a restaurant, but also a part of the local community.   Decisions to invest in a community are the driving force of any new business decision we make.  We follow general business principles when selecting cities to open new restaurants, examining population and income demographics, executing detailed analyses of exact restaurant locations and consulting our experienced legal counsel Charles Hoff.  Our Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses in Huntsville, Ala., and Columbia, S.C., are located adjacent to convention centers, enabling us to appeal to traveling groups, convention audiences and locals alike.  We have partnered with premium hotels including Embassy Suites, Hilton and Crowne Plaza in Birmingham, Ala., Huntsville, Columbia, Greenville, S.C., and Kennesaw, Ga., providing strong and synergistic relationships.  The overall economic aspects of a potential city and opportunities within the local dining community are always very important, but we examine closely a variety of situations and facets to help ensure the success of Ruth’s Chris in that particular market.

We have found Ruth’s Chris is successful in smaller cities predominately because the areas open our restaurants have embraced the Ruth’s Chris brand and greatly welcomed us. The towns’ pride in having a Ruth’s Chris Steak House has elicited an endearing degree of support.  When we opened in Huntsville, in October 2006, then-Mayor Loretta Spencer attended every opening event, leading our signature jazz procession for the Ruth’s “Chris”-ening with parasol in tow.  A Ruth’s Chris “raving fan,” she was such a visible fixture during our first few weeks open that we designated her favorite table as “The Mayor’s Table.”  Her kindness in honoring the restaurant and visiting Ruth’s Chris corporate executives with keys to the city remains a highlight of the restaurant’s history. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County’s executive team invited us to their offices and educated our local team on the area’s economic background, position and goals to ensure we were well-informed about the Huntsville business scene, enabling us to make strategic decisions with that knowledge.

We experienced similar Southern hospitality in Columbia. The city’s Mayor Bob Coble, affectionately known to citizens as “Mayor Bob,” declared our opening day of August 20, 2007 as “Ruth’s Chris Steak House Day” in the City of Columbia.  In addition to the mayor, our Columbia opening was attended by many local dignitaries, including University of South Carolina football Coach Steve Spurrier, the governor and lieutenant governor. The city embraced our arrival and afforded us rare opportunities for high-profile media coverage that might not have been available in more intensely news-laden metropolitan areas.

Further, our success in areas less populated than Atlanta is the way Ruth’s Chris immerses ourselves in new communities.  In Columbia, we dedicated our pre-opening charity events to South Carolina’s Harvest Hope Food Bank following their devastating loss from a cooler’s sprinkler malfunction. The pre-opening events raised more than $16,000 for the food bank, immediately creating a corps of dedicated supporters who understood that Ruth’s Chris is a civic-minded business and awakening the food bank’s desire help us succeed.
Our restaurants have thrived in part because of our direct involvement with key community organizations.  We make a point of establishing caring partnerships and have been fortunate to engage in instantly reciprocal processes – processes that must continue long past opening festivities.

One of Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s four core values is that we are good civic citizens, continuing to honor the legacy of our founder, Ruth Fertel, who was passionate in her belief that commitment to community involvement is our part in developing society.   Much like Fertel, my Sizzling Steak Concepts, LLC franchise partners, Jim Brooks, Phil Brooks and Mark Oswald and I are dedicated to community and caring for guests by serving the highest quality food with exceptional service in warm and inviting atmospheres.

Nancy Oswald is a Sizzling Steak Concepts, LLC partner, owner of 8 Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses and a former Chairperson for the Georgia Restaurant Association’s Board of Directors.

by Diana S. Barber, J.D., CHE

Have you ever been surprised to learn that your vendor or supplier agreement did not expire, but continued on for another year or longer because you missed the window to cancel the agreement prior to automatic renewal?

Sure, if your vendor is meeting your needs and you are comfortable with the relationship, you might not ever need or want to terminate your agreement or the relationship.

However, a number of reasons could cause you to want to out of that agreement. If your supplier changes ownership or begins to sell you inferior products or service fails to meet your expectations, for example, changing vendors may be important to your ability to service your own customers. Also, if technology changes the way you operate your business or the owner of your restaurant has a closer relationship with a competitor of your vendor or supplier, you might want or need to change your vendor or supplier for pure business reasons unrelated to the vendor’s or supplier’s quality.

Small printed vendor forms cannot only be difficult to read, but can be full of traps to keep you in the relationship longer than you want to be. Below is a list of clauses essential to all restaurant vendor and supplier contracts to reduce your liability exposure as well as some clauses you should avoid in your negotiations and the written agreement.

1.    Need Early Termination. Because any number of reasons can arise in which you want or need to terminate your current supplier or vendor, make sure you negotiate an early termination provision that allows you to terminate for any reason or no reason during the term without having to pay a fee or penalty. Usually, a 30, 60 or 90 days written notice to your supplier will be fair and sufficient to avoid such penalties. There may be a certain time period in which the vendor must recoup out of pocket investments so be flexible on the early notice provision if it makes sense. The time period is negotiable and some vendors will not agree to allow an early termination. Other vendors and suppliers show confidence in their products and services by allowing an early termination clause. Although some agreements provide a termination mechanism for nonperformance of the parties, an early termination clause provision will allow you to avoid the task of justifying your termination of the agreement.

2.    Check Licenses and Permits. Do your homework on all your vendors and suppliers. Ask for copies of their business and operating licenses and permits. You need to know who you are doing business with and that they are current on their licenses and permits. Be particularly cautious with new vendors or suppliers with whom you have no prior relationship or good references. The clause in the contract should obligate the vendor or supplier to obtain the proper licenses and permits, keep all of them up to date and provide copies to you upon request. Additionally, the failure to have, maintain and provide such licenses and permits to you needs to be expressly listed as a default under the contract.

3.    Obtain an Indemnification. The contract should provide that the vendor or supplier will agree to indemnify, defend and hold you, the owner or manager of the restaurant, your officers, employees and agents harmless against any acts or omissions of the vendor or supplier (including their employees, agents and contractors) that directly or indirectly cause harm or damage to your restaurant or anyone in, on or about your restaurant, such as employees, patrons or other vendors/suppliers.

4.    Obtain Current Insurance Certificates. An indemnification from the supplier or vendor is only as good as their ability to stand by their agreement. If the company providing the indemnification has few assets to make good on any claim, it is essential to have a third party to look to for relief if you suffer damage. At a minimum, the vendor or supplier should list your company and the owner/manager of the restaurant as an additional insured (or named insured, if acceptable to the vendor) on the vendor/supplier general liability insurance policy. The clause should obligate the vendor/supplier to provide copies of insurance coverage via a certificate of insurance, obtain sufficient amounts of coverage depending on the type of product or service offered by the vendor, keep the insurance coverage current and provide that the insurance company will give you written notice of any lapse in coverage. Obtain copies of the certificate of insurance upon signing your agreements with vendors and suppliers and keep them on file for future use. When damage or injury occurs, it will be very difficult for you to obtain this vital information about the insurer from the vendor/supplier. Failure to comply with these requirements needs to be a default under the contract.

5.    Provide Details of the Product or Service. Many managers make assumptions regarding the quality of product or services they are expecting to receive from suppliers and/or vendors. These assumptions can be very expensive. If you are expecting first-class or luxury quality, it is essential to spell it out in the agreement. The standards of quality should be communicated and then delineated in the contract in sufficient detail to avoid disputes later on during the term of the agreement.

6.    Need to Provide the Term of the Agreement. It is essential that the contract contain a beginning or delivery date and an expiration date. Be clear in the contract as to your expectations to avoid a dispute. In addition, make sure all blanks (including the blank for the date at the beginning of the contract) are filled in prior to executing the contract, and certainly prior to the commencement of services.

7.    Define the Remedies for Nonperformance. The contract should contain provisions that will explain the procedures or remedies for nonperformance or poor performance. Written notice of the default, if it is to your benefit to require such notice at all, should be delivered by certified mail or overnight delivery in order to track receipt of the notice. It is common to allow a certain time period to cure defaults prior to terminating the agreement, if possible to cure under the circumstances. Make sure your contract contains these provisions so you will know how to handle these types of situations or that you made an informed decision to leave them out of the contract.

8.    No Automatic Renewals. Make sure your contract does not automatically renew so your company is not obligated to accept the products or services for another term. Some agreements provide a certain time or window for you to terminate the contract, usually 30 or 60 days prior to the anniversary date. If you allow this type of clause without having an early termination right as mentioned above and you miss this cancellation window, you will be locked into another year (assuming it is an annual renewal term). Even with an early termination clause, it is best to have the term of the agreement expire on the anniversary date and a new agreement may be entered into between the parties. Over time, too many variables can change and the best way to protect you and your business from a bad deal is to avoid committing yourself to long-term arrangements. At the very least, if automatic renewal must be part of the deal, you should be compensated for allowing the clause into the contract.

9.    No Restrictions on Assignment. Many standard vendor and supplier forms prohibit the customer from assigning the agreement to another party. There may come a time when the restaurant changes ownership or management and there is a need to transfer the agreement to the new owner or manager so that the product and/or service will continue uninterrupted. Having the flexibility of assignment built in to all your vendor/supplier agreements will save you the time and money needed to obtain vendor/supplier approvals of the assignments when an event occurs that requires obtaining consents. The reverse is not true. The vendor, however, should not be free to assign the contract without your prior approval.

10.    No Personal Guarantees. Some vendor and supplier forms require the owner or manager to sign a personal guarantee primarily used for securing payment in the event the restaurant business is unable to pay. I suggest you negotiate the deletion of these clauses. Provide financial records or bank references to the vendor or supplier to achieve the comfort level needed to omit this requirement. If you do enter into a personal guarantee, make sure you fully understand all of the ramifications to your personal assets. On suggestion is to allow them for a set period of time only.

Although not exhaustive, this list will go along way in reducing liability to your restaurant. Carefully review each one of these clauses in all contract negotiations.

Diana S. Barber, J.D., CHE is a hospitality lawyer and also teaches full time at Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality, J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. For more information, Ms. Barber can be reached at (770) 813-9363 or dsbarber@gsu.edu.

This article contains general information. It is not designed to be and should not be relied on as your sole source of information when analyzing and resolving a specific legal issue. Each fact situation is different; the laws are constantly changing. If you have specific questions regarding a particular fact situation, we urge you to consult with competent legal counsel.

Tipping the Glass – Georgia’s Restaurateurs on Trend with Wine and Beer

March 2010

by Shannon Wilder

When it comes to beverage trends, the clear expectation is that flavor is going to carry the day. But what comes to the fore in this economic environment is that, across the board, savvy restaurateurs are focusing as much on the experience surrounding the drinker as what’s in the glass, whether it’s wine, beer or non-alcoholic beverages.

According to data from the Beverage Information Group, people in the United States consumed nearly 3 gallons of wine per person in 2008. Many are the first round of Millennials—those born roughly between 1980 and 2000— who are now of legal drinking age and who are more savvy about wine at an earlier age than previous generations.

Many diners, including Millennials, will continue to be cost-conscious through 2010 as the economy slowly rebounds, and that means bottles of wine between $25 and $50 will continue to be frequent sellers.

Unique Experiences Reign
Diners have been cautious regarding who they spend their money with, and that won’t change in 2010. Restaurants who can provide these cost-conscious patrons a unique experience without them spending a bundle will be rewarded with repeat and loyal customers.

For Joël Brasserie in Atlanta, that unique experience translates to wine tastings and dinners, educational wine seminars, and its French-born sommelier, Perrine Prieur.

Prieur, who grew up on her family’s vineyard in Burgundy, has an extensive knowledge of wines from around the world. Diners often seek out Joël—recognized in both 2007 and 2008 with Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence—and Prieur because of her deep understanding of French wines.

Prieur helps educate diners and attract people to the restaurant with monthly wine seminars. The budget-friendly events are $35 for an hour and a half session, complete with hors d’oeuvres, and focus on wines of a particular nation or region, such as France, Italy, Spain or South America.  She also uses the seminars to focus on new and upcoming trends such as organic and biodynamic wines.

And while the more pricy wine dinners are nothing new, they still do attract diners looking for that unique experience and will continue to be popular in the coming year.

Prieur says she enjoys planning wine dinners for her restaurant’s clientele. “Every month, sometimes twice a month, I try to get winemakers here,” she says. “I try to do wine parings but it’s boring to do always the same wines. Each dinner needs to try something different.” So far, she’s hosted vintners from Chile, Argentina, Napa Valley, Oregon, Bordeaux and Champagne. A recent wine dinner focused on a vineyard in Burgundy that uses organic practices.

As far as the wines themselves, more clear fruit flavors are starting to overtake the woodsy notes, and brighter flavors are gaining popularity.

Staying Green and Close to Home
It’s no surprise that the organic and local movement is starting to infiltrate the beverage world given its popularity in chefs’ kitchens, and organic and local wines will continue to pick up steam in the coming year.

While there are several Georgia wineries gaining recognition, Prieur has noticed that it’s been difficult to carry Georgia wines in the restaurant, but sees that changing in the coming years as the local movement continues to gather steam.

She currently offers an ice wine from Clayton-based Persimmion Creek, noting that it pairs well with dishes as diverse as foie gras and a Fuji baked apple with caramel sauce.

“I’d like to pour some more and represent a little bit more,” she says of Georgia-based wineries, “but it’s not that big a demand yet.”

Although interest in “green” beverages is growing, restaurant diners may still be confused about some of the terminology. Part of the issue is that these sustainable labels don’t always have teeth. While food and beverages can be certified organic, there is still some confusion regarding other green terms slapped onto labels. More regulations within the wine industry are on the horizon to help customers navigate these increasingly popular terms, and with it an increase in diners’ requests for these more earth-friendly options.

Tech-Savvy Equals Wine Savvy

The wine world has not been immune to the influence of the Internet, and Millennials are leading the charge.

From the social networking site Wine 2.0 to more than 700 wine blogs and iPhone apps, technology and the Millennials who use it will continue to influence how restaurant patrons learn about and purchase their wines while dining out. It’s a trend that shows no sign of stopping, and could influence how restaurants market their wine lists in the future.

Getting Crafty
Just as the local and organic movement is touching the wine world, so too are there an increasing number of organic and locally brewed beers being requested by diners.

According to the National Restaurant Association, the top trend for beer and wine is locally produced wine and beer, with organic wine and beer coming in fourth and craft beer ranked at No. 6.

A few decades ago, says Nick Kaye, managing editor of Atlanta-based Beer Connoisseur, a newly launched magazine that aims to be the brew crew’s version of Food & Wine, there were just a handful of big breweries producing beer in America.

Now, however, the craft brew movement is in full force. Much like family-owned wineries, craft breweries – defined by the Brewers Association, a trade group for craft brewers, as producing no more than 2 million barrels of beer a year – are cropping up all over the country producing innovative reinterpretations of historic beer styles made from a mix of traditional and nontraditional ingredients.

You’d be hard pressed to find a drinking establishment in the state these days that doesn’t have at least one local Georgia brewery represented in some form.

That wasn’t always the case. Alan LeBlanc, co-owner of Atlanta’s Max Lager’s, the state’s oldest independent brewery restaurant, encountered a sort of bias against craft beers and microbrews when he started up 12 years ago. “They’d say, ‘No, I don’t like microbrews’ because they had one they didn’t like. I think a few years back we reached the tipping point where people realized they might not like all the microbrewed beers, but that doesn’t mean its bad beer. It’s no different than preferring Merlots over Cabernets.”

The craft beer movement, Kaye says, “is a mission to spread the word of good beer and get it into more people’s mouths and restaurants. Beer is being treated these days, and appreciated these days, the way wine always has. It’s a whole new level.”

And like wine, several restaurants in Georgia are starting to offer beer-cheese pairings and beer dinners. In fact, Kaye says when it comes to one time-honored pairing – wine and cheese – beer may be ready to give the grapes a run for their money. “At its base level, the effervescence of beer, the carbonation really cuts through some of your more heavy, fatty buttery cheeses like a goat cheese.”

Knowledgeable Staff
Many in the state’s rapidly expanding restaurant market rely heavily on well-prepared servers who function as de facto cicerones, the beer world’s version of the sommelier, to help educate diners on the increasing array of beer choices.

Kaye singles out Taco Mac’s extremely knowledgeable Beverage Director Fred Crudder, who has a sort of club room named after him at the Sandy Springs location. It’s open to members of Taco Mac’s Brewniversity, a combination beer education and customer rewards program that helps patrons navigate the chain’s formidable beer offerings.

Based on Taco Mac’s former Passport Club program, the Brewniversity encourages patrons to try new beers. Diners get credit for each different brew they select, and an “ID card” keeps track of progress. Those in the program start to receive rewards starting with the 13th unique beer consumed.

Trend Setters
Down in Savannah, the Nichols brothers, John and Phillip, who recently reopened one of the city’s oldest dining establishments, the c. 1933 Crystal Beer Parlor, offer a page-plus menu advising the perfect beer to go with dishes such as chili cheese dogs, gumbo, steaks, shrimp, and even a Greek salad.

Crystal Beer Parlor has close to 100 beers in bottles and 15 on tap. The Nichols also keep a book out in which patrons are encouraged to make suggestions. Most of what’s currently in stock, Nichols says, is craft brews, including beer from Savannah’s own Moon River Brewing Co.

Max Lager’s, which, like Moon River, is one of the nation’s 990 brewpubs, now offers beer parings, beer dinners and beer flights with six glasses.

“It’s very social,” says Alan of the beer flights. “It’s very interactive, and you’re developing a nice knowledge.”

The restaurant has also launched an entirely new event, Beer Judging 101. LeBlanc says patrons are presented with an official beer-judging sheet and compare one of Max Lager’s house brewed beers with similar bottled varieties. The idea is to learn to assess the characteristics of each.

“We conduct a beer judging seminar to teach people about the different varieties,” he says. “I’ll bring our beer and several bottles of a similar style together and lay out the official beer judging guide sheets and have some appetizers beforehand. Then we’ll come in and sit down and do a beer judging seminar so people can see varieties, … what the differences are in character. That’s something I find to be a lot of fun.

“It’s about different, unique flavors and experiences,” he adds. “Not seeking the same old same old but trying to discover something interesting, something that you like, something that’s different.”

Unlike many of the state’s dining establishments with hundreds of beers available, Max Lager’s carefully culls its offering to some 30 bottled beers in addition to the handful of house brews. While some offerings—usually a dark lager, a pilsner and Vienna-style red beer—stay on tap year-round, LeBlanc says brewer John Roberts reserves one or two of the restaurant’s taps for a seasonal brew such as a barleywine beer that will be ready to pour this spring and an Imperial Oatmeal Stout, which is earmarked for St. Patrick’s Day.

Before the new Crystal Beer Parlor owners relaunched the restaurant, they sat down with a local beer expert and planned out the offerings. Among them is a selection of retro beers called “Beers of Our Fathers,” which includes such familiar names as Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz, Stroh’s, Dixie and Genesee Cream Ale.

Nichols also keeps an eye out for vintage beers – he happened upon some vintage 2006 and 2007 Stone Double Bastard, a California ale. “I got the only two cases in Savannah and sold them in 24 hours,” Nichols says. The higher the alcohol content, the longer the beer keeps, he adds. But don’t expect any 100-year-old vintages; beers last about five to six years.

He also plans to start carrying gluten-free beer in the near future. He’s had a few requests for this type of beer, which is made from sorghum, and also has a family member with celiac disease—such people can’t tolerate gluten, which normally comes from grain, especially wheat.

The industry is also seeing an upswing is canned beers, but not like the ones your father used to drink. Canned beers have had a bad rap for so long, but with new lining technology, more breweries are finding that the cans keep the beer fresh longer and give a truer taste with some types of beer. Dale’s Pale Ale, a craft beer out of Lyons, Colo., is just one example of a high-end beer that’s sold in a can and has started to have a wider distribution in Georgia.

It’s this mix of quality and perceived value that will continue to drive the beverage industry into 2010.

“Conspicuous consumption is not cool anymore,” LeBlanc says. “For somebody like us who’s always offered a high-quality product, we’re not the cheapest but we’re not the most expensive—we’re being successful in this environment.”

Question: With so many new restaurants opening, how do you utilize marketing dollars to stay top of mind with your customer?

Hugh Acheson, Five and Ten, The National:
“We don’t have marketing dollars. We don’t advertise, and we don’t have a marketing budget. We do direct mail, email, things like that. And of course, the number of restaurants opening now is a lot less than a year ago. So the way we market is consistently good product, and hopefully people are always talking about it.”

Rick Crowe, McKendrick’s:
“Quite honestly, we keep it local. For us, we really don’t spend a lot of marketing dollars. It’s all word of mouth. With the people we have in the four walls, we’re rely so heavily on them to spread the word and keep things moving that we kind of focus in on that. What we do spend is local, we do a lot with the concierge, we do a lot with the hotels. We do a little bit with a magazine here and there, but not a whole lot. And by local I mean a dinner for the VIP or we’ll pick up the tab, things like that with our dollars. That’s kind of how we target it.”

Russ Umphenour, FOCUS Brands Inc.:
“In addition to our traditional means of media outreach, we’re diligently working on using more direct response and social media vehicles to better measure the effectiveness of our advertising and further connect with our customers.  Of course, we always develop new products to continually position ourselves as innovators in the food industry, and we’re increasing our level of in-store service to enhance the way we market our brands to our customers in person.”

The National Restaurant Association surveyed more than 1,800 American Cullinary Federation Chefs determining the hottest food and beverage trends for 2010.  The results show the continued desire to offfer local, sustainable and organic food and beverage.

Restaurant Forum has worked for several years with Georgia Organics, promoting and educating restaurateurs on local, sustainable and organic farm products.  We encourage restaurateurs to contact Georgia Organics to learn how to source from local farmers and learn best-practices.

To see the complete survey results, click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

1.  Locally grown produce
2.  Locally sourced meats and seafood
3.  Sustainability
4.  Bite-size/mini desserts
5.  Locally-produced wine and beer
6.  Nutritionally balanced children’s dishes
7.  Half-portions/smaller portion for a smaller price
8.  Farm/estate-branded ingredients
9.  Gluten-free/food allergy conscious
10.  Sustainable seafood
11.  Superfruits (e.g. acai, goji berry, mangosteen, purslane)
12.  Organic produce
13.  Culinary cocktails (e.g. savory, fresh ingredients)
14.  Micro-distilled/artisan liquor
15.  Nutrition/health
16.  Simplicity/back to basics
17.  Regional ethnic cuisine
18.  Non-traditional fish (e.g. branzino, Arctic char, barramundi)
19.  Newly fabricated cuts of meat (e.g. Denver steak, pork flat iron, Petite Tender)
20. Fruit/vegetable children’s side items