Breakfasts from the mini bar
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- Written by Angus McLeay, Travel Essentials
Author and analyst of social trends in Australia, Hugh Mackay, observed how Australians greet each other differently these days.
"In the past," Mackay writes, "Australians used to say, 'How are you going? All right?' Now most of us say something like, 'How are you going? Busy?' The situation is unlikely to be any different in New Zealand.
The change says something about contemporary lifestyles and how we see ourselves. Naturally there is a consumer effect too. Consumer analysts have dubbed it the 'convenience mega-trend'."
Guest convenience has always been an important element of hospitality. So what does the 'convenience mega-trend' mean for hospitality? I believe it represents a key opportunity for growth. But it also requires adapting operations to exploit that opportunity. Consider a practical example in regard to food and beverage operations.
Recently I was speaking with the executive chef of a four-star hotel in a capital CBD. He sees that buffet breakfast habits are changing. He said to me, 'guests just aren't going down to the restaurant and paying $25 for a buffet breakfast'. The guests who do have a buffet breakfast invariably have it included in their package at a rate that sharply reduces margins.
This chef also has a street-facing café offering. But this also fails to capture many guests who have neither a buffet breakfast nor time for an á la carte meal (the café isn't open until 7am). Looming behind already lean F&B operations are labour costs that are likely to rise causing either reduced staff (thus declining service standards) or thinning profit margins.
What has this chef done? Among other things he added breakfast to the mini bar - more about that later. First, back to the convenience mega-trend.
The convenience mega-trend has several drivers, many of which are structural in nature. For example household changes such as the proportion of working couples and the number of 'singletons' have increased time pressures, while simultaneously boosting disposable income. At a psychological level there is a feeling of being overwhelmed by expanding choices and commitments. Consumers are increasingly willing and able to take up expedient solutions to manage the plethora of demands on them.
Responding to a fast developing trend often means re-thinking traditional operations and products. In the food industry, an example of this in action was the rice growing company, Sunrice. It was forced by the drought to re-think its operations. The company recognised the convenience mega-trend and successfully transitioned from a focus on growing rice to selling rice-based convenience meals.
F&B is, of course, a major area of travel expenditure. One opportunity for accommodation suppliers is capturing more convenience-related F&B revenue. Traditional approaches assume that guests have leisurely time for on-site meals, or nowhere else to eat and they're satisfied with typical mini bars. In reality on-site F&B offerings now compete with an abundance of off-site choices, many of which are appealing to the convenience needs of on-the-go travellers.
The chef referred to earlier sees mini bar breakfasts as a way to cover all bases with breakfast service. He sees that F&B service that is overlooked by the property will be met by other businesses.
Convenience and travel should be natural bed-fellows. How are your operations adapting to the convenience needs of today's guest?
