Mike Hohnen

Coaching for personal growth, change and development

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Cold sandwiches, salads and snacks at terminal gates

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The Dallas Morning News reports:

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is testing a program that allows its concessionaires to sell cold sandwiches, salads and snacks at terminal gates. It’s the first such experiment in the nation.

Au Bon Pain has opened a kiosk equipped with refrigerated cases at gate C19 in Terminal C, and TGI Friday’s has a similar operation at A18 in Terminal A. Corner Bakery will sell its fare out of a modified golf cart that will cover Terminal C between gates C27 and C35, depending on the flight schedule.

The three operations, which opened Oct. 7, are expected to serve 50 flights a day carrying about 5,000 passengers.

The test, which will last until January, is the latest example of how the aviation industry is trying to figure out how to get food to passengers without operating in-flight catering services.

D/FW also is hoping the program will boost its food and beverage revenue, which accounts for almost 10 percent of the airport’s total.

Sales of food, drinks, newspapers and gifts brought in $29.8 million in revenue during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up almost 9 percent from the year before. But such revenue is still down more than 12 percent since before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Star Concessions spent $27,000 modifying a golf cart to house a refrigerator case for sandwiches and yogurt. It also carries snacks and hot coffee, all of which carry the Corner Bakery brand, owned by Dallas-based Brinker International Inc.

“We could probably do three or four of these carts just in Terminal C,” Mr. Aranza said. “They’ve been doing very well.”

Food items can be ordered as boxed meals, or a la carte. Prices range from 99 cents for a carton of milk to $10.50 for a box lunch including a sandwich, chips and a cookie. The cart and kiosks accept cash and credit cards.

Food for thought on how we build our relationships

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I picked this from the Herman Trend Alert Herman

—

Trend Alert: Building Relationships
October 15, 2003

Wal-Mart stores have a long-established tradition of greeting customers as
they walk in the door. The company typically hires senior citizens for this
important position, enjoying their maturity, dedication, and sincerity in
serving customers and representing the company. People shopping in Wal-Mart
Stores have an expectation that, if they have questions or concerns, there
will be someone right there at the front door to help them solve their
problems.

We’ve seen other retailers follow this same practice—from restaurants to
boutique shops to automobile dealers. No sales focus or other
responsibilities are involved; just a warm welcome. A number of employers,
particularly those with large facilities, employ greeters—to monitor
security as well as foster those valuable relationships.

Does this make sense? Will more employers assign people to serve as
greeters, to welcome customers and other visitors, answer questions, and
solve problems? Will these employees be solely focused on this role, or will
this responsibility be an additional task assumed by employees with other
duties? What difference will it make?

As technology fills an increasing role in consumer interaction, customers
will feel more separated from companies they do business with. This
depreciation of customer-supplier relationships will erode loyalty, putting
dependable revenue flow at risk. Wise employers will strengthen human-to-
human interaction to build loyalty and consumer satisfaction, particularly
at critical connection points like welcoming people and responding to
complaints. Whenever someone may be confused about how to interact with an
organization, opportunity for human contact will be especially valuable.

Union Regional Medical Center, Monroe, North Carolina, stations official
greeters in the lobby next to the reception desk. These greeters add an
extra welcome to what visitors already receive from the receptionists. They
answer questions, solve problems, and escort people to the correct
elevators, hospital services or facilities, or offices in the building.

Surprisingly, the people who perform this work, on a scheduled basis, are
hospital executives and mangers. Being helped by a high level executive
(yes, even the Chief Executive Officer participates) sends a clear message
to visitors and employees that treating guests (and patients) well is
essential. This is the future.

Culinary kids unveil their wacky menus

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Children throughout the country have been coming up with some crazy culinary ideas to create a new dish for Spirit Group?s Wacky Warehouse menu.

Spirit has chosen 10 finalists from all over the country who have come up with the wackiest menu ideas.

Wacky Warehouse launched the hunt for budding chefs by asking children eating in their 120 outlets to name their perfect dish.

The 10 winners each won a meal for four at a Wacky Warehouse. One overall national winner will be chosen next month and will receive a trophy for creating Britain?s Wackiest Recipe.

The winning entries included bonkers bananas ? chocolate-coated bananas with ice cream cones for hats, and a jelly island volcano made from a mound of sponge and custard.

?We review the menu in our Wacky Warehouses to make sure the dishes are appealing to our children but also contain ingredients that are nutritionally sound,? said head of marketing Rory Carlin.

Source: The publican.com

Swiss inventors develop spaghetti plate

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The spaghetti plate looks similar to any other, except that it has a ‘crater’ in the middle, a little like an egg cup. Eaters use the hole to help wind the spaghetti around their forks.

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Quarter-size cabbages for Japanese singletons

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One of Japan’s leading supermarkets is to start stocking quarter-size cauliflowers and cabbages as part of a new dwarf vegetable range for single people.

Japanese retail giant Aeon said it had taken the decision to ramp up its mini- vegetable range after successful trials of half-size radishes.

“A growing number of people, especially in urban areas, live alone and they cannot consume large vegetables by themselves,” said company spokeswoman Naoko Ueda.

The mini versions of traditional vegetables have been developed by Switzerland’s biotechnology firm Syngenta Seeds, which prides itself on serving growers’ individual requirements.

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Tables turned on airline food

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Gourmet” sandwiches, brand-name snacks and decadent desserts are fast replacing mystery meat on U.S. airlines.

There’s one catch, though. You have to pay for it.

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MASSCLUSIVITY nyt Marketing Buzz word

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The popularity of Royal-Class airport lounges and invitation-only Centurion credit cards are just two examples of modern man’s immense need for respect and privilege. The more access consumers have to outstanding quality goods and services (the DVD player in your living room probably doesn?t differ too much from the one Queen Elizabeth?s grandchildren use to watch ?Lord of the Rings?), the more they want exclusivity and status of a different order. The kind that visibly sets you apart from the masses and gives you access to privileges most others won?t get.

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