Objective outside analysis elevates business perspective.

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“The best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett

At CBA we love to problem solve for others, get into the fine details and arrive at the answer.  It is hard work that we believe is worth doing because we help business owners invest in themselves.  By breaking down businesses into CORE components and refining each component for completeness, we help you plan ahead so that you and yours will be able to enjoy the shade of your own tree. 

And for that reason you can say that CORE Business Analytics is here for you; you the business owner, you the entrepreneur, you the intellectually curious.  We have a deep-seated drive to solve issues of all complexity for local small businesses.  

It is this drive that sustains us at CBA.  Combine this with paid access to some of the best research available on the market care of IBISWorld, CBA promises an objective approach to understanding your industry, your business, and your needs.

The purpose of the CORE Thoughts blog is to provide a forum for sharing business data and economic facts, but with an informative and engaging edge.  The primary focus will be highlighting local industry, showcasing local small businesses and their owners, and addressing the current economic state of local industry.

As the blog grows and perhaps podcasting and video become complementary components of it, we pledge to keep the topics alluring and the discussion illuminating.  And, what better way to showcase this pledge than with an example. 

The New York State Restaurant Industry: 

COVID has had a tremendous, largely negative impact on many different industries, however, the restaurant industry has been impacted more than most.  I went to the Hook & Spoon website this afternoon to discover that they have closed.  It appears that COVID has snuffed out yet another restaurant here in Livingston County, NY.  *If you are a local restaurant owner with questions, concerns or if you think you may need financial assistance, there are local resources available for you meant to help keep your doors open and unburden some of your stresses:

• Livingston County, NY government: Resources for Restaurant Operators 
• Livingston County Chamber of Commerce: COVID-19 Resources
• GrowLivCo: Resources

Whether you are a restaurant owner or a restaurant patron, being knowledgeable of the current state of the industry is vitally important as we strive to support local businesses.  Updated as of October 2020, these IBISWorld figures paint the picture of a very difficult year for the New York State restaurant industry:

This graphic depicts a -13% decrease in the number of operational restaurants in New York State in 2020, while 2021 expects to see a 17% increase in the number of establishments.  Based on this chart, restaurant operators and patrons will likely need to brace themselves for a volatile 2021 as we see more restaurant doors both open and close for good.

It does not seem like all bad news though because the timing is excellent for innovative restaurant operators to take advantage of unique changes in demand.  For the near term operators will not be able to rely on the same volume they historically experienced.  Instead, they are charged with increasing the value of the average order to make up for lost revenue.  

How would it be possible to do this though?  In order to even begin solving these problems for operators, it’s important to understand what types of restaurants comprise the New York State restaurant industry:

By comparison, the overall US industry looks rather different:

Having a better understanding of the various types of restaurants we have in New York helps frame the potential problems that may end up plaguing an establishment.  Alternatively, it also helps outline the potential opportunities that exist.  It may be obvious to state the following, but time and again it seems operators may lose sight of this concept: when opening or operating a restaurant in New York, having a firm grasp on the types of cuisine that are popular is critical for long term success.  Moving forward with a less popular concept does not automatically doom the idea, but it must be understood that additional levels of effort and creativity are required to drive revenue. 

Now, contrasting the New York industry with the entirety of the US industry, we start to extract some very interesting information.  For example, seafood restaurants are few and far between in New York State, and only comprise 7.1% of all restaurants in the US.  Seafood restaurants inherently carry higher food costs as well because of the amount of labor required to catch the various species.  Add to this:

• the cost of shipping these items to Western NY in refrigerated trucks,
• the skill required to cook these high-end items, i.e. more expensive kitchen staff,
• the often more expensive items to pair with seafood, such as wines, etc.
• plus many other operating expenses, taxes, etc.

And what becomes obvious is that opening a seafood restaurant in our area may be more challenging than other cuisines because of the apparent lack of demand for seafood locally.  Applying this information to other various cuisines can help a restaurant operator hone in on their specific niche.  What is it that you do well, and who is in the market for that good or service?

It’s in the analysis of numbers that pictures begin to get painted.  Taking the above analysis a step further, not only must a restaurant consider the type of food to serve, but they must consider how customers prefer to consume that type of food:

Informed with this level of information, decision making for restaurant owners becomes just a bit clearer.  Making more informed decisions allows for more effective operations, and more effective operations provides a better customer experience.  And at the end of the day, businesses that focus on delivering a premium customer experience put themselves in a better position for success.

The above discussion points only just barely scratch the surface of a much bigger conversation concerning the restaurant industry.  Ignoring the political and governmental influences on the industry, the conversation for the restaurant industry is extremely interesting and critically important.  Getting into the fundamentals of physically operating a restaurant, creating the menu, cooking the menu, serving the menu, etc. is something that we at CORE Business Analytics thoroughly enjoy doing.  

If you agree, leave us a comment with any questions, concerns, or topics you would like to learn more about.  

And if you are a restaurant owner or operator, we can bring value to your business! Our CORE strengths include: 

• Identifying your CORE Demographic
• Refining your concept to ensure it targets your COREDemo
• Developing marketing campaigns aimed at your COREDemo
• Fully document the processes and procedures targeted at improving your CORE operating efficiency.
• Calculating beverage and food costs down to the penny
• Plus many more…

To learn more about how we can help your business as described above, please be sure to check out our CORE Capabilities page.

This was an introspective into the purpose behind our efforts at CORE Business Analytics, LLC.  We hope you found the restaurant content engaging and informative, and that you still have a hunger for more!  Until the next CORE Thought…be safe!