SugarCreek: Brandworthy Food Solutions

Some of the biggest time and money wasters for QSR managers actually seem pretty benign, but paying attention to training, targeting food safety and getting a handle on your purchasing procedures can help you run your location as efficiently as possible.

It's 8am — or maybe even earlier. Your customers may be awake by the strictest definition of the word, but most of the time your drive-thru or counter service items are the real kick-start to their morning. With grogginess comes habit, and with habit comes a rare opportunity to forge a brand loyalty bond, one breakfast item at a time.

That's why QSR breakfast items have made some seriously impressive headway in the industry during the last year alone. Heavy hitters are making big changes: McDonald's has finally relented on their "after 10am" breakfast moratorium, and surprising early-morning contributions are popping up from the lunch-and-later players like Taco Bell. With competition old and new eyeing up your morning crowd and QSR industry challenges as prevalent as ever, what's the best way to remain competitive during breakfast hours?

There are three methods that are easy to implement, but offer an outsized positive impact.

Local-sourcing. Organic. Free-from. Sustainable sourcing comes with a lot of buzzwords. And when it takes a significant investment of time and capital for a fast food brand to shift suppliers or alter sourcing practices, it’s critical that a brand knows a particular trend has staying power before launching any sustainability initiatives.

Operating a successful quick service restaurant is all about ensuring the right systems are in place: the right people, at the right time, with the right tools. While there may not be fryers and grills on the fast food supply chain — unless they're being shipped, of course — the same principles apply to locking in success. The right supply chain management, much like store-level management, should be adept at not only putting initial decisions into play, but making course corrections when they're needed. To truly "own" their own supply chains and leverage all the positive benefits they have to offer, the QSR and QSR-Plus industries need to carefully weigh three aspects of smart supply chain operation.

Technology is becoming the tie-breaker between large companies after the same demographic, and nowhere is competition more hungry — pun intended — than in the food industry. Using new supply chain technology not only helps companies deliver safe, fresh product, it allows them to glean a wealth of data in the process. However, not all forward-looking leaps are for the better, especially when they're implemented a little too hastily. Here are four common pitfalls to watch out for when considering implementing new technology in your food supply chain:

Some supply chains have a bit of flexibility built into them, but that's a very rare trait in the food industry. When dealing with perishables, time is most decidedly of the essence, and a matter of an hour or two at the wrong temperature or location can mean the difference between a successful delivery and a huge liability. Meats, in particular, are very susceptible to these small fluctuations, which makes adding agility to supply chain technology within the food supply chain a challenge. Finding a distributor who not only takes food safety very seriously, but business-oriented agility as well will help you stay competitive in any market.

Supply chain disruptions can mean trouble for nearly any type of business, but it's an especially pressing concern when it comes to the food service industry. Major events like the West Coast port labor dispute of 2015, where western farmers saw their produce rot on the docks and meat overflow cold storage during nine months of stoppages and slowdowns, or even smaller incidents like a sudden storm that diverts a truck carrying a new order have the potential to damage a business’ reputation and dramatically impact bottom line at the exact same time. It is the job of any procurement professional to be ready for these types of events — even natural disasters that have little to no warning. Your customers still expect to see product on the shelf even when there’s a hurricane in the gulf or a strike at a local distributor.