How fast is too fast for your fast food? That may be the question facing many quick service food chains pretty soon. The popularity of online and mobile app-based ordering has reached new heights for many casual dining chains like Five Guys and Chipotle. Pizza has been in on the trend as well. Many pizza restaurants and chains allow you to order your food from home or on the road from your mobile phone or tablet. It offers an added layer of convenience and customization. However, should fast food restaurants incorporate online and mobile ordering into their restaurant services? It’s really a tough call.

For the most part, fast food restaurants have veered away from the idea of mobile and online ordering because of the logistics involved. Fast food restaurants are already geared towards fast, convenient food and some feel that mobile and online ordering may interfere with these operation plans or affect the quality of the food. It was never cost-effective as many customers are on-the-go or in a hurry anyway. However, with the successes mentioned above, some quick service restaurants are beginning to question whether there might be a market for online ordering in quick-service restaurants too.

Recent news from Sonic Drive-In restaurants suggests that this may be the case. Sonic will be testing out online ordering in a select number of its restaurants in Arizona. Snapfinger, the service provider that includes several restaurant chains like Subway, Baja Fresh, and Outback says that it has the technology to ensure that food quality doesn’t go down. If this is the case, food consultants might encourage more online ordering in quick-service restaurants. It should be interesting to see what the future holds.

Congratulations to VSAG friend and client, Terrapin Chef Rodney Einhorn, on having been invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard Foundation.  Chef Einhorn will bring his culinary talents to NYC’s Beard House on November 29^th, during a celebration of Robert Foley Wines.

An acclaimed culinarian, Chef Rodney has received praise from critics and patrons alike, and participating in this prominent event is just another achievement in the professional career of this imaginative chef.

Named the 2007 Winemaker of the Year by Food & Wine magazine, Robert Foley’s Napa Valley portfolio attracts raves with every new vintage.  According to the James Beard House, “[Foley's] bold and expressive wines are a natural match for Rodney Einhorn’s modern approach to classic New American cuisine.

We wish Chef Rodney much success at the event – and bon appetit!

For more information about this event, please go to: http://www.jamesbeard.org/index.php?q=events_beardhouse_112911

Principal Dan Simons with recipient, Lily Belter

Soon the school year at George Washington University will come to a close, and one student in particular has VSAG, Founding Farmers and Farmers & Fishers restaurants in her corner, with a $5,000 scholarship to help get her closer to her BBA from the GW School of Business in 2012.   Lily Belter was selected as the first recipient of the new Scholarship for Sustainable Hospitality, and over the next four years four other students will be selected to receive the $5,000 prize.

Last fall, VSAG Principal and GW School of Business ’92 alumni Dan Simons presented the award to Lily at Founding Farmers in Washington, D.C., just two blocks from campus.  VSAG Principals Dan Simons and Michael Vucurevich have committed to to continue awarding this scholarship for a total of five years, seeing the scholarship as a way of not only helping to support a bright future for a student that will make very positive contributions to the preservation of the earth and our environment, but also as a way to give back in support of the GWU community.  ”We’re really proud to see someone as accomplished and as motivated as Lily be our first Scholarship for Sustainable Hospitality recipient.  It’s encouraging and fulfilling to know that issues of earth-friendly practices are as important to the next generation as they are to us,” offered Simons. Both Dan and Mike have greatly influenced and contributed to more sustainable practices and awareness through the restaurant community (and beyond) in D.C. since launching Founding Farmers in 2008, the region’s first LEED Gold Certified Restaurant, and one that continues to draw thousands of guests a week.

Congratulations to VSAG client, Terrapin restaurant in Virginia Beach, on being one of the top 50 US restaurants to win the coveted, “Diners’ Choice Award for Restaurants Providing the Best Service,” awarded by OpenTable, a leading online provider of restaurant reservations and guest management systems.

Winners of this prestigious award were chosen after more than 7 million OpenTable diners submitted reviews on their service experience at over 12,000 restaurants throughout the US over the course of the last year.

Terrapin, which opened in 2006, offers guests modern, yet classic American fare, with a dedication to using local and sustainable ingredients. Chef Rodney Einhorn helped design a space to compliment his innovative cuisine, and provide guests with the exceptional service experience they were honored for.

We wish Terrapin continued success and congratulations again on this well-deserved Best Service recognition.

For more information on Terrapin,please visit www.terrapinvirginiabeach.com

In the restaurant business (or in any business, really), when there’s two people in a room, somehow there’s going to be three opinions.  While this can be frustrating, any smart operator knows the value of opinions and harnesses that as a secret weapon as they develop their concept. 

In the service industry, opinions never stop.  People (involved or not….experienced or not…) have opinions every step of the way during planning, strategic growth, concept development and implementation.  And we’re not just talking about your designer, Director of Operations or Chef … we’re talking about your Mother, or your fish purveyor or your landlord.  And the opinions don’t stop once you’ve made and implemented your decisions:  in fact, a slew of new opinions will begin to flow the moment guests walk through the door. 

A strategic operator knows that the earlier you seek out opinions – from those related to your project and not – the better prepared you will be for the public reception of your project.  Nothing is more frustrating that getting feedback on something that is too late to change.  The earlier you seek out opinions – from your designer and chef but also your mother or newspaper deliveryman – the less you’ll have to rethink a decision you spent money and time on.

Now, we’re not saying to grab the next person who walks by on the street – be strategic in your opinion seekers, and seek balanced, informed people to weigh in.  Opinions are subjective and it’s important to remember that the foodie friend you ask for feedback on your menu may just not like salmon.  But the more of the right people you consult, the more you are doing research on how the public and consumer will receive your venture.   And this may save you headache – and heartache – in the long run.

As the Principal of a firm with a wide range of services, I often find myself working with other service providers where there is some overlap between our scope of services.  Oftentimes, it’s one of the hurdles of a project – the more people involved, the more opinions that may differ from your own.   But sometimes you find the holy grail of collaboration – when a group of people come together and are inspired and energized by each other, as opposed to competitive.  We always recommend our clients seek a team of advisors (consultants, designers, branding firms) that will create a sum greater than its parts – as a team filled with competitive entities or people who don’t get it is never worth the time, money or headache you will certainly run into.    

Recently, the VSAG team had the chance work with a confidential client in Manhattan—along with five other services firms—and saw the holy grail in action.  This kickoff meeting saw 20+ people  (some of whom had been on the project for a year or more), all from top-tier service providers in our industry.  During this eight hour work session, with presentations of tremendously detailed work, I witnessed fantastic listening skills, honest dialogue and a collective enthusiasm bubbling amongst all.  The focus stayed clear: a genuine end product, realistic expectations, great results for the client and an all-around winning project.  No one worried about services overlap, no one worried about who might get credit for an idea and the client, who has some of the best talent in the world in-house, was able to find the perfect balance of leadership, collaboration, passion, contribution and listening.  While the Client and project remain confidential, I can say that working with Clark|McDowall, Gigunda Group, Roman & Williams, and Bar Lab is as good as it gets in the quest for Genuine Collaboration….and it’s going to be really fun.  I look forward to the lessons our team learns working such high caliber talent. – Dan Simons

On October 21, VSAG Marketing Director Jennifer Motruk Loy, gave the Washington Business Journal initial details about the second Founding Farmers location. The Journal’s BizBeat blog published news of VSAG’s plans to open Founding Farmers in Park Potomac, MD next Fall. The Washington, DC location opened September 18, 2008 and VSAG has signed a lease in Park Potomac, MD with the goal of opening the new location around that same time in 2011. VSAG will continue to manage Farmers & Fishers, Founding Farmers in Washington, DC and at this new location. More news to come.