Restaurant And Hospitality News – February 8, 2016
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week, McDonald’s is resurrecting its Happy Meals Books program through February 15th, Arby’s saw the best same-store sales in two decades, and research shows Airbnb users spent $2.4 billion on lodging last year.
McDonald’s Serving Up Books With Happy Meals To Foster Reading
McDonald’s has reintroduced the Happy Meal Book program, running through February 15th, giving customers the option to choose one of four books with their meal. First introduced in 2013, the Happy Meal Book program has allowed McDonald’s to help combat illiteracy in children across the United States, and by the end of 2016 the chain will have distributed more than 50 million books to children. McDonald’s has donated 100,000 books from this year’s Happy Meal Books program to RIF. With two-thirds of children living in poverty without books, McDonald’s is helping to provide critical access to books to inspire children to read.
According to the Los Angeles Times, McDonald’s is including four different books in this experiment. Three of them are Valentine’s Day themed: Clark the Shark Takes Heart by Bruce Hale and illustrated by Guy Francis, Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond, and Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day Is Cool by Kimberly and James Dean. The fourth book is the classic Paddington by Michael Bond and illustrated by R. W. Alley.
Arby’s Sees Best Same-Store Sales In Two Decades To Close 2015
Arby’s system-wide sales for 2016 reached $3.5 billion, the best same-store sales figures in more than 20 years, according to the Nation’s Restaurant News, rising 8.1 percent for the year. The company also reported that longer-term same-store sales also reached record figures. CEO Paul Brown stated, “2015 was a record-setting year for Arby’s. We are particularly pleased with our significant increase in guest traffic throughout the year.”
The chain’s same-store sales have grown for 21 straight quarters, and increased 13.8 percent on a two-year basis and 16.6 percent over three years, both figures were the highest in two decades. The company and its franchisees have opened 69 new locations in the past year, 60 of them in the U.S., marking the first new openings since 2008.
“Arby’s momentum in 2015 is driven by our proven formula of product innovation, breakthrough marketing and ‘Make It Right’ service culture,” Brown said in a statement about Arby’s third-quarter success. Brown and Arby’s are aiming to ride this momentum to generate $4 billion in system-wide sales by the end of 2018. “Arby’s has tapped into something special — the right combination of great food, excellent service and breakthrough marketing — backed by a talented and motivated team and franchise community,” Brown said. “We have unlocked a powerful recipe for success, which is resonating with our guests, and our strategy will continue unchanged in 2016 as we look for opportunities to outpace our competition.”
Analysis Shows Users Spent $2.4 Billion On Lodging Over the Past Year Through Airbnb
Airbnb’s presence in key markets is expanding rapidly, according to new analysis from CBRE Hotels’ Americas Research, which demonstrated that users spent $2.4 billion on lodging in the U.S. over the past year, ehotelier.com reported. More than 55 percent of the activity during the study period was centered in five major cities: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Boston. To assess the relevancy of the Airbnb platform to the traditional hotel industry, CBRE Hotels created the Airbnb Competition Index.
“It seems reasonable that Airbnb will impact hotels in two ways,” said R. Mark Woodworth, senior managing director of CBRE Hotels. “For existing hotels, the growth of average daily rates will most likely be curtailed. The fluid nature of Airbnb’s supply suggests that traditional hotel’s historic price premiums realized during peak demand periods will be mitigated. The other impact may be on new hotel construction. Airbnb may be an impediment to traditional hotel construction and could reduce traditional hotel supply growth in many markets.”
CBRE Hotels also compiled city level reports assessing Airbnb’s annual performance compared to relevant lodging industry data for 59 U.S. cities, encompassing 229 submarkets, and found that Airbnb is not always the lowest priced option for temporary accommodations.
“By comparing hotel revenue per available room to the number of active Airbnb units in a particular location, it appears that hosts respond to market incentives, such as a higher room rental rate and excess demand. The presence of these factors causes more Airbnb units to appear in the market,” said Jamie Lane, senior economist of CBRE Hotels. “This holds true at the macro level–where markets with higher ADRs and occupancy have the highest number of active Airbnb units, and on the micro level–where we see a spike in the number of active Airbnb units during major events such as the Super Bowl and New Year’s Eve.”