It’s Time to Discuss Your Prices: Joelle Parenteau, founder of Wolf Down

Are you charging what your food is worth or are you charging what customers are willing to pay? What do we need to do to fix our broken system? We cover this and so much more with third-time entrepreneur, first-time restaurateur Joelle Parenteau whose fresh take on the industry will blow your mind.

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SHOW NOTES

• Beginnings of Wolf Down
• Lessons learned in the first year of business
• Many in the supply chain have dated processes
• Estimating food volume is very difficult to do
• Put back up plans in place to have enough stock
• Allocating staff hours is tough
• Restaurant business is volatile
• Coping with rushes in the restaurant
• Increase efficiency
• Time to get an order through
• Time to make the doner sandwich
• Time to get people through the door
• Streamlined menu
• Allocating sources accordingly
• Labor
• Having a delivery business
• Wolf Down was always a delivery business
• Was 50-50 delivery - dine-in
• Now predominantly delivery
• Covid happened 10 months into operation
• Bakery who makes there bread shut down for many weeks
• Foundational issues in the industry
• Pricing in the restaurant business
• Price wars have caused low prices
• Will customers revolt?
• Provide a unique, high-quality product to justify higher prices
• Wolf Down increased pricing during Covid
• No one noticed or cared
• If the product is good, people will pay for it
• Prove the value is there no matter what your price point is
• Stand out and differentiate
• Raising delivery pricing in line with commission costs
• Third-party delivery apps take 25-30% commission
• Customers wanted delivery
• Offering delivery at a premium
• Consumers are moving to the convenience model
• We must adjust and adapt to our customers wants
• Some issues with gratuities
• Relying on customers to pay your people
• Most people don’t vary the tip amount
• Tipping is not motivating service
• Doesn’t make sense for quick-serve establishments like Wolf Down
• Creates discomfort for customers
• How Wolf Down attempted to solve the tipping problem
• Abolished gratuities
• Raise pricing to pay staff
• Staff don’t ask for tips
• Tip jar for customers who insist on tipping
• People were angry they couldn’t tip
• Engrained in the culture
• Benefits of a cashless system
• Saves labor costs of staff counting tills
• Safer - cashless restaurants less likely to be robbed
• If someone comes in and they only have cash, staff find a way to make it work
• The realities of restaurants post-covid
• Pre-ordering
• Delivery
• QR Menus
• Joelle’s aim is to build foundations this year for expansion in later years
• Message to the industry
• Raise your prices