Very Important Beverage Professionals Chain Beverage Buzz: March 17, 2014

Snacks: A Growth Opportunity for Restaurants
Snacking is pretty ingrained behavior for most people. Three-fourths of consumers (77 percent) snack at least once a day. However, snacks are fairly new to the foodservice arena, and data from Technomic’s newest Snacking Occasion Consumer Trend Report points to opportunities for restaurant operators to increase incremental traffic and sales through snack offerings. MORE>>

TGI Fridays Launches New Menu Items
It’s not just lunch, it’s the First Happy Hour of the Day, and Fridays is making it official by inviting guests to lunch better with new sandwich selections and a variety of freshly chopped salads starting at $6.99, and new fresh fruit teas and smoothies. Whether it’s a quick bite or a leisurely lunch, Fridays Mobile App allows guests to pay directly from their phone. MORE>>

Restaurant Sales Remain Dampened in February
Restaurant sales remained dampened in February, due in large part to continued challenging weather in many parts of the country.  Eating and drinking place sales totaled $46.5 billion on a seasonally-adjusted basis, up 0.3 percent from January’s downward-revised sales volume of $46.4 billion, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. MORE>>

Restaurant March Madness Promotions Go Beyond Basketball
The phrase “March Madness” typically evokes the traffic-driving benefits of the NCAA basketball tournament for most restaurants, but this year the month is aligning several calendar shifts that have many brands — not just the usual players — anticipating a continuous benefit from college basketball and St. Patrick’s Day. MORE>>

Shifts in Adult Beverage Market Signal More Intense Competition in 2014
Declines in beer, the continued premiumization and price inflation across the industry is resulting in dollar increases and volume declines, according to Technomic's just-released Special Trends in Adult Beverage Report: 2014 State of the Industry. Per capita consumption, volume and dollars rose for spirits and wine, while beer declined in per capita consumption and volume, and achieved a modest dollar gain. MORE>>

Impact's Top 100 Spirits Brands
Impact’s exclusive report on the world’s most valuable spirits brands reveals that 22 brands generated retail sales value of more than $1 billion each in 2013.Diageo’s Johnnie Walker once again leads Impact’s top 100 spirits brands worldwide—by an enormous margin. The Scotch brand accrued nearly $6 billion in retail value last year on global sales of almost 20 million cases, according to Impact Databank. MORE>>

Taking a Deep Dive Into Beverage Trends
Beverages have been called the "holy grail of profitability." Their high-margins are reason enough for operators to experiment a little with broader offerings. But there's much more to this trend. Restaurant visits are increasingly driven by beverages, and consumers want diversity — in the morning, for lunch, for a snack and late into the evening. MORE>>

BYOW: Michigan Bill Allows Restaurant-Goers to Bring Their Own Wine
A Michigan bill that allows people to bring their own bottles of wine to bars restaurants took effect just in time for the St. Patrick's Day weekend. Introduced by State Representative Jim Stamas, House Bill 5046 makes it legal to bring an unopened bottle of wine to an establishment with a liquor license. MORE>>

Obama's OT Expansion Could Hit Restaurants Hard
The Obama administration's anticipated efforts to change U.S. Department of Labor regulations to extend overtime pay rules to millions of workers currently considered exempt will face a groundswell of opposition from employers, management-side lawyers say, calling the potential changes an “ambush” and warning that they could be devastating for some restaurants and retailers. MORE>>