50 great ideas: 2016 edition

Operators constantly are looking for an innovation that’s going to set them apart from the competition. But what takes a notion from “that’s cool” to a smart, business-forward point of differentiation? We present 50 of the greatest on-trend ideas we’ve collected throughout the year. 

At RCB Bakery, a concept by James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Mindy Segal in Chicago’s new Revival Food Hall, bar-style cookies are offered by the inch instead of by the piece. The sweets sell for about $2.50 per inch, so diners can order the exact amount they want, whether it’s a quick (short) treat on the way out (RCB is located near Revival’s exit) or several inches to share.

As a perk for loyal guests who want to skip the checkout line—as well as a way to drive repeat visits and go more green—The Ohio State University sells reusable soda cups equipped with an RFID code that is scannable at fountain drink stations. The cup comes loaded with 10 free fills, with the option to purchase more drinks after those credits are used up.

A Suwanee, Ga., Chick-fil-A franchisee has put a new spin on the chain’s community-focused philosophy. To foster family interaction during dinner at the restaurant, the restaurant challenges guests to silence their smartphones and place the devices in a “cell phone coop” that looks like a takeout box. If the party can make it through the meal without opening the coop, everyone in the group is rewarded with a free ice cream cone.

Joanne Chang has worked hard to maintain the supportive, encouraging culture at her four Flour bakeries, her restaurant Myers + Chang and her commissary kitchen, all in Boston. “It’s easier to hire and keep people,” she says, and it’s earned her a reputation as a good employer. Each of her stores features a whiteboard where staffers can write notes when they see co-workers delivering great guest or internal service. At the end of each month, the notes are gathered, and upper managers pick the top five across the company and hand out gift cards. 

To avoid losing alcohol sales on takeaway orders, fast-casual chicken concept Flyrite in Austin, Texas, incorporated beer into its to-go business. Carryout customers can order growlers and six-packs of craft beer in the restaurant or at the drive-thru. Buffalo Wild Wings, too, plans to test to-go beer this fall in select markets. 

The pre-theater Surf ‘n Turf Menu at Ocean Prime in NYC goes for $55 and includes a to-go bag of the restaurant’s signature truffle popcorn to snack on at the theater during intermission.

Restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area—including some McDonald’s and Papa John’s units there—are testing a new Google service that allows customers to pay for a meal by saying aloud, “I’ll pay with Google.” Called Hands Free, the system works off an app; users don’t have to remove the phone from their pocket or purse. Tech at the point of sale detects a selfie on the customer’s phone and shows it on the POS system’s screen. The employee taking the order verifies the identity and approves the transaction.
A receipt then is beamed to the guest’s phone.

Two dozen hotel and buffet restaurants in California, New York and Illinois are taking part in a program to eke a few more dollars out of food and beverage revenue. Customers pay a small fee—typically $2 to $4—via mobile app, and then show up 15 minutes before close to fill a to-go box with all the food they can carry out. The program appeals to cash-strapped consumers, and the app’s developer, BuffetGo, touts combating food waste and hunger as its main benefits. 

To save some valuable tabletop real estate as well as make an Instagramable presentation, when guests order oysters from Jose Andres’ restaurants, Wine Director Andy Myers withholds the ice bucket and tucks the wine bottle directly into the crushed ice on the plate with the shellfish.

Two burgers go head to head each week at Baileys’ Range in St. Louis. The one that garners more sales survives to fight another week. The aim: to market new menu items and test their appeal.

Chris McCracken, director of nutrition services at the University of California San Diego Health System, starts the subject line of every email he sends to his staff (and they do the same) with one of three words: Action, Information or Response. The universal prompts help recipients prioritize those emails that require them to do something or weigh in on something, while leaving the FYI-only messages for last.

Chicago’s GT Prime steakhouse eschews the “bigger is better” sentiment of some of its peers serving hefty portions of meat. Instead, the Boka Restaurant Group concept offers 4-ounce servings of all of its steaks, ranging from $14 to $28, so customers can try multiple cuts, from traditional rib-eye to bison tenderloin. It also serves The Carnivore, a sampler of four 4-ounce cuts that feeds four to six people for $110.

Service time guarantees, such as Buffalo Wild Wings’ fast-break lunch, have been popping up of late. Some chains are taking to-the-minute quotes a step further, adding estimates to the app experience even before orders are placed. Outback Steakhouse quotes wait times at each location before patrons put their name on the list, and Pizza Hut now offers “promise time” by projecting the wait for delivery and carryout before orders are submitted, based on how busy they are in the restaurant.

To court loyal business of new local residents, Chick-fil-A tucks a “Welcome to the neighborhood” message in with the retail coupons that are sent to people who register a move and change their address with the post office. Included is a coupon for a free sandwich or order of chicken nuggets, valid only at that nearby location.

Upscale coffee chain La Colombe offers what it calls the first-ever draft latte, made with cold-pressed coffee and frothed milk. The beverage, also available in cans, takes a fraction of the time to prepare and features a stronger taste than traditional iced lattes, because it’s poured cold from a keg and not watered down by ice cubes.

Salt Lake City-based Even Stevens Sandwiches commissions local artists’ renderings of its sandwiches, and offers them as free prints. The graphic riffs create a “sticky” guest experience that follows them home, says COO Michael McHenry. “We’ve identified creatives as stakeholders, and authentic advocates across all markets.”

To appeal to fun-seeking connoisseurs, The Geneva Inn Restaurant in Lake Geneva, Wis., invites customers to test their wine knowledge in a blind test. People can purchase a mystery glass of vino for $10. If the guest can identify the brand from among one of the eight rotating wines on the menu, they win the entire bottle. 

To elevate the ubiquitous bread service, market-cafe Buttercraft is thinking outside the basket with its butter sampler boards featuring scoops of housemade butters paired with toast. The Portland, Ore., concept offers a changing selection of butters in varieties such as pepper balsamic, Sriracha and orange honey.  

When Chipotle shut all 2,000 of its U.S. restaurants earlier this year to review its safety plan, it made sure to console patrons who might have been annoyed to find their lunchtime unit locked up. Consumers were told they could get a free burrito by texting “raincheck” to a particular number before the restaurants reopened. The giveaway also was a  pass-along deal; fans could give the number and code to friends who might have been lapsed regulars or lost customers.

Glazed and Infused—a five-unit doughnut shop in Chicago from Francesca’s Restaurants—offers a two-for-one doughnut happy hour to help get rid of its fresh-baked goods before it closes at 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The time changes daily, says the manager of the West Loop neighborhood location, to keep the deal an unexpected surprise for customers.

Helping staff retention, Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group in San Francisco lets workers customize their benefits. On top of healthcare and paid time off, employees can choose from Netflix subscriptions, dining credits, commuter checks and sommelier certification reimbursement.

As a new spin on using the chef demos as a marketing tactic, Old Chicago posts its bar training videos online. The videos stamp Old Chicago staffers as experts behind the bar, and potential guests get clued in to the type of experience they can expect. 

To save time for guests seeking a dozen doughnuts in a jiffy, Donut Friend in Los Angeles offers what it calls Volume 1 and Volume 2: preboxed no-substitution assortments of the concept’s best-sellers. 

“Fail fast” was an oft-repeated mantra by restaurant tech experts at this year’s FSTEC conference. Former TGI Fridays CIO Tripp Sessions takes that idea literally. To incite an IT team to explore a new technology, he suggests choosing one with an API and asking the group to mash it up with a data set in a specified period of time—and offer a $500 gift card if they deliver. You’ll be amazed by the quality of their work, he says. And you’ll pinpoint where you need to spend time bolstering their knowledge.

Recognizing that many meetings happen outside of the office, Starbucks created a free plug-in, making it easy for Microsoft Outlook users to set up and invite co-workers to meetings at a nearby store.

A busy Houston location with a number of deaf staffers added simple tools to improve the experience both for those employees and guests. For instance, when coffee is finished brewing, the timer flashes and vibrates instead of beeps. And staff take orders on digital dry-erase boards.

As a new perk of its much-lauded loyalty program, Starbucks lets members earn points for more than coffee. Via a partnership with Lyft, guests get stars if they use the ride service to commute. And coming soon: a Starbucks debit-style card that awards points for purchases made anywhere Visa is accepted.

Without pushing any candidate, CEO Howard Schultz sent a letter urging all Starbucks employees to vote, and offered access to online registration. “By helping to increase voter registration and participation, we believe more people will have an opportunity to make their voices count,” he wrote.

As some eateries double down on “no modifications” policies, Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab earns service points for readily going off script. The iconic independent menus its signature stone crab in portions of five, six or seven per order. But a server may happily offer timid first-timers the option of sampling a claw for a prorated market price. Verts Mediterranean Grill similarly has allowed guests to buy one meatball, normally sold as a trio for $7.50 to $8.50 as a main protein in its rice bowls, pitas, salads or wraps.

At The Granary ‘Cue & Brew in San Antonio, chef Tim Rattray harvests the drippings from meat as it smokes and creates Barbecue Butter that he sells with bread as an add-on. The smoky butter also is used to baste quail.

Newk’s Eatery used to send out a booklet to teach individual restaurants about its quarterly LTOs, but it’s switched to e-learning. Corporate sends out a webinar a week before the rollout, and it has an interactive component for managers to type in questions. Instead of wondering who was reading the snail mail, Newk’s now can track who is watching.

To promote and inform guests about its brews from multiple roasters, All Day Cafe in Miami offers dine-in customers a flight of any three coffees, so patrons can sample its ever-changing selection.

Bar Marco, a wine bar in Pittsburgh, takes its staff education on the road by organizing and paying lodging and travel expenses for brief group stages. For instance, on a two-day trip to Chicago, the bar team spent time at mixology lounge The Violet Hour, and the pastry chef shadowed at Blackbird and Baker Miller, taking what she learned at those restaurants to apply at Bar Marco.

As part of its makeover earlier this year, Donatos updated its staff uniforms to appeal to millennials, said CEO Tom Krouse. In addition to a choice of a T-shirts and hats, associates can add a personal “pop of red” to their gear, such as a necklace, bandanna or shoes. “It’s stuff they want to wear, instead of corporate-looking,” Krouse said.

When consumers sign up for San Francisco-based The Melt’s ordering app, they can input their favorite songs into their profile. The chain not only uses beacon technology to fire an order when a diner gets nearby, but it adds music that fits within that person’s preferences to its playlist, creating a crowdsourced musical queue that resonates with patrons in the store.

Across the street from the San Francisco Giants’ stadium, shipping container concept The Yard is open well beyond the warmer days of baseball season. Due to Port Authority regulations, open-air concepts such as Anchor Brewing Co. and burger restaurant Belcampo could not install space heaters, so The Yard rents blankets for guests 

The Painted Burro in Somerville, Mass., covered its soundproofing panels in burlap and had them painted by a local artist to add a neighborhood vibe—and some quiet—to its dining room.

Instead of simply painting an accent wall red, Convivial—a French concept with an American twist in Washington, D.C.—wrapped one of its walls in red felt to absorb excess sound. 

As a nod to an old hunting lodge as well as the Houston area’s Germanic roots, upscale American concept State of Grace framed its sound panels and nailed deer antlers to them for artwork that also filters sound out of the main dining room.

While a lot of traditional fast casuals hand out a number or ask guests for their name to let them know when their meal is ready to grab, Twisted Root Burger Co. hands out cards with the names of celebrities—such as Elvis, Diana Ross or Rosie O’Donnell—along with a fun fact about that star. Workers then call that name over the loud speaker, adding an element of fun and eliminating any confusion of multiple orders for John or Jane.

To drive more of its staff to its e-learning tools and train millennials on devices they already know how to use—their mobile phones—Grimaldi’s puts QR codes on its training materials that take employees to YouTube.