We live in times when sales of beef and hard liquor are steadily declining, while organic greens and fresh papaya are available year-round at almost any local supermarket, when health fads are reported as dogma on the evening news. Has this carried over to a demand for a healthier menu in the resort food court?
Not really. True, sales of salads, wraps and stir fries are definitely trending upward in resort cafeterias. But at the vast majority of both day and destination resorts, they still represent no more than one or two percent of F&B sales. Even in the Southern California (SoCal) market, source of countless cultural trends, traditional food service items continue to sell like, well, hotcakes. Skiers like to eat hearty, not heart-friendly.
Sticking with the Basics
“If we eliminated 80 percent of our menu and just offered cheeseburgers, fries, pizza and chili, it would make virtually no difference to our total sales,” says Gary Forest, F&B director at SoCal’s Snow Summit. “Last season we sold 78,000 burgers on 500,000 ticket sales.”
It’s the same story across much of the country. “Our deli sandwiches and pizza do fine—but the burger is number one,” says Ed Meyer, president of Ski Snowstar, Ill., and his observation is typical.
Most F&B directors realize that increased profits come from finding ways of serving standard items more efficiently, rather than widening choice. “It’s all about speeding up the process and alleviating congestion,” says Forest.
Speed, indeed. Almost by definition, a food court, dealing with 5,000 customers a day at a major resort, has to serve as broad a range of skiers as possible, as quickly as possible. If a line at one service station is busy, customers are likely to move to a second choice or wherever they see a gap, instead of waiting for the first choice item.
That’s why trendy SoCal’s Snow Summit has this food-service goal: customers should never spend more than 10 minutes from the time they enter a food venue until they sit down with their meal, even on sell-out days. The area has also taken numerous small but important steps, such as including sales tax in all prices and rounding amounts to the nickel, to avoid handling pennies.
“Instead of widening choice we have actually shrunk the menu as small as possible so people can make decisions quicker,” says Forest. “We do try to up-sell and offer impulse items, but up-selling is more about presentation than selection.
“The customers that demand more choice are the ones who are here every day,” he adds. “But they are a small percentage of our customers, and the group that spends the least on F&B.
“Instead of more specialty items, we have opened more satellites to make service areas less congested. We always hope for a sunny day, because it keeps people at our outdoor venues. But we make sure we can enclose all our outdoor venues so we can sell in any weather. Versatility is the key, because 80 percent of the business is done in three hours a day. It gets pretty intense, so we need to avoid waits.”
Exceptional Dining
Yet there are exceptions. Intrawest, with its far-flung empire, sees regional differences. In Glacier Creek at Blackcomb, the stir-fry station is the most popular in the food court, perhaps because of the strong Japanese market and the local taste for Asian food. At Copper and Mammoth, Mexican items sell well. Even burgers in the Intrawest realm reflect regional markets: West Coast consumers prefer all beef and no spices, East Coast skiers want garnishings and flavorings.
Then there’s Deer Valley, the biggest exception of them all, with its Natural Buffet stations that overflow with wondrous salads and healthy items.
“A lot of our older locals are very health-conscious and go for the healthy sandwiches and salads,” says Julie Wilson, F&B director of Deer Valley. “But we also get just as many 30- or 40-year-olds lining up. Everybody loves a burger, but our turkey chili and another five items are all top sellers. The grilled salmon panini is a huge hit, and we always offer four grilled items either as a sandwich or on a bed of greens.
“I think healthy food would work at any resort with a focus on food,” she says.
Maybe so. Some areas with no particular culinary reputation are also seeing healthful trends, especially in their fine dining restaurants. Paul Doty, F&B director at Grand Targhee, has seen the area’s steak house trend to more healthy Hawaiian style cooking, such as seared Ahi or ginger snapper.
But, Doty notes, “Lunch is still dominated by burgers and pizza.” And Intrawest’s F&B director, Malcolm Scott, questions the value of broadening the menu. “For example,” he says, “the way items are positioned and displayed has a huge impact. We know we could increase sales of salad based solely on the way it is plated, but what would this entail for positioning of other items?”
Feeding Off the Bottom Line
If nothing else, providing freshly cooked items shows a clear commitment to customer service. But given that food sales at most resorts count for around 15 percent of total revenue, the obvious question is, does increased variety of fresh foods do anything for the bottom line?
Like the majority of F&B experts, resort restaurant consultant Doug Fischer of FHG doesn’t think so.
“Except at long-stay resorts where people do need variety, at most ski areas the only impact of restricting the menu would be more bored regulars. If you put on better salads, people will buy them—not because they are so worried about their health, but because they are tired of the standard offerings. But if Deer Valley took away their salad bar, or Vail their wraps and Whistler their stir-fry stations, would they see a decline in food sales? Probably not.”
Forest has proof of that. Four years ago, Snow Summit replaced fresh patties with pre-cooked burgers to increase speed of service by 20 percent, with absolutely no complaints from customers since. The move also saved many hours of manpower which had previously been spent tracking emissions from the grill at the insistence of California’s air quality control officials.
And if those hasty tasteless SoCal trendsetters get indigestion, well, you can always up-sell them some Rolaids.
