nickshanagher

  The US edition of Setting the Table , Danny Meyer’s inspiring guide to success as an independent restaurateur, has a brilliant blue cover with a single saltshaker. The edition I bought does not and that is the only weakness with this useful guide to setting up your first shop, moving from one to two, from two to four, and from four to infinity. The saltshaker is relevant because it is attached to a brilliant story about leadership from Meyer’s early days in the mid-1980s when he had opened his first restaurant and was developing his business style. Pat Cetta, an experienced restaurateur who informally mentored Meyer asked him to clear a table of everything except a saltshaker. He asked: “Where is the saltshaker now”. “Right where you told me in the centre of the table.” “Are you sure it’s where you want it?” I looked closely. The shaker was actually about a quarter of an inch off centre. “Go ahead put it where you really want it.” I moved it very slightly...

and carrots too, says Time magazine in its December 1 edition, arguing that shoppers should forget what the foodies tell them. "Some of the tastiest and healthiest food around is also the lease expensive and most ordinary,"it says. Written by Mehmet Oz, professor of surgery at Columbia University, the article argues that frozen spinach is nutritionally similar to a fresh organic leaf spinach. The rise of foodie culture has venerated all things small batch, local farm and organic. "The fact is a lot of the stuff we ate in childhood can be good for you and good to eat if you know how to shop," he says. Knowing how to shop means the ability to read the label, which will tell you how frozen or canned food was prepared. Dr Oz is a big fan of the tuna salad sandwich and of ice cream! The problem with the latter is the amount consumed. And peanut butter - what you are often seeing is "a source of quality nutrition disguised at indulgent junk". Peanut butt...

A third generation family business, TJ Morris, the company behind Home Bargains is both a success story and an enigma. Well on its way to £1 billion of sales in the UK, it is highly profitable. In 2009 operations director Joe Morris spoke to the FT about its reasons for success: 1. Word of mouth 2. Good products 3. Low prices 4. Honesty 5. Transparency. Its strategy for good products and low prices: 1. Only sell brand names 2. Only sell products it can make a profit on. No loss leaders. 3. Don't confuse shoppers with offers that are here today and gone tomorrow [opposite of Zara!]. 4. Stock changes depending on what can be bought cheaply [manufacturers who overproduce are use TJMorris to get rid of volume.] Run by four brothers. The driver is Tom, who is renowned as a great buyer. "If you buy right you can make money even if the stores are not perfect," says Joe. The shop experience: 1. Is about browsing: let's see what is in there motivation for shopp...

In the wake of Morrison's results announcement last week, The Lex column in the Financial Times provided a brief and pithy piece of analysis that is food for thought for businesspeople investing in local shops. Lex says there are two reasons for Morrisons to be wary. First, local shops mainly sell food and this means the margin mix is not as attractive as in a supermarket where you can sell more high margin goods. The Co-op, which I think is a good benchmark for independent retailers to compare themselves to, makes a 3 per cent operating margin in food. Lex contrasts this with Tesco's 5 per cent margin. Second, enthusiasm for the sector could be overdone. While the IGD predicts the local shop sector will grow by 5 per cent a year to 2017, Lex says consumers' love of the high street could be an "austerity-driven blip rather than a long-term trend". Indeed. However, the trend started before austerity and is based on the size of households and the age of the ...

In February this year two UBS economists argued that food might become a political issue in the first world as commodity prices put pressure on household budgets and the UK at that time seemed to them to be the country most at risk. Shoppers, they argued, based their understanding of inflation on the increases in high frequency purchases and their model suggested that prices of processed foods in the UK were rising 2.5% higher than they should be compared to the US, France and Germany. This might focus the attention of politicians. Six months later, the food industry seems to have been let off by the energy industry - with rises in petrol, gas and electricity prices making the headlines. However, the impact of the squeeze on consumer purchasing power is still being watched carefully. In comments to the FT this summer, Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, said his company needed to be very close to the consumer and needed to offer them more choice at different price points ...

Interim results from Waitrose this week confirm the industry figures that show the upmarket supermarkets and convenience stores are leading the market (albeit from a 4.2% share according to Kantar Worldpanel). Charlie Mayfield, the chairman, highlights many reasons for its success and here are five that local retailers should consider. Marketing works. Waitrose claims that more than 370,000 extra customer transactions resulted from its spring tie-up with Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal in the first eight weeks. This autumn, it launches a cookery school. Engaged shoppers are more profitable shoppers! You need a value offering. 17 per cent of Waitrose sales are from its value range, called essentials. Momentum works. Its strategy is to bring Waitrose to more people in more places. It invested in 75,000 square feet of extra selling space in the first half of this year, including three convenience stores. In the second half of the year, it is adding eight convenience stores. Str...

Betty McBride, policy and communication director of the British Heart Foundation, has written to the FT today to attack the food industry for its objections to traffic lights labels appearing on food. Shopkeepers need to watch this pressure for regulation closely. She was responding to an FT column which highlighted discussions in Brussells over what a portion was: one biscuit or three. It depends, the industry suggests. Ms McBride disagrees and is happy to define "realistic portions". "Independent research has shown that a combination of traffic light colours, guideline daily amounts, and the words high, medium and low would be the best way to give shoppers the at-a-glance information they want," she writes in support of labeling. The industry, she suggests, desires to "deliberately confuse people about how unhealthy some of its products are." The danger of her words is real. For example, in Scotland, the government has suggested it might remove confectio...

It is a slogan coined by or for Dawn Primarolo, UK Minister for Public Health, who used it to welcome the commitment of major UK retailers to work with her Food Code of Good Practice. She said retailers provided neither a scapegoat or a panacea for people's unhealthy lifestyles; people are ultimately responsible for their own health. But retailers who helped to shape people's minds and tastes would help shift the commercial landscape; to one where children saw fruit at eye level and not candy bars, for example. She sees that major retailers are headed for the same destination, albeit perhaps not travelling on the same path. She clearly likes the progress that she sees in the major corporates' initiatives. What is the big deal: No-one likes to say they are selling stuff that is bad for you! But setting aside any cynicism, her fundamental point is correct. Influencing shopping baskets creates and reinforces behaviour. What the major stores do today will impact what e...