Davidson summit shapes F&B business

ATLANTA – Davidson Hospitality Group recently hosted a summit dedicated exclusively to its food and beverage leaders centered around communication and teamwork, led by Greg Griffie, senior vice president, Food & Beverage, Davidson Restaurant Group.

The program featured educational breakouts, general sessions, a tradeshow, and collaborative experiences.

Among the highlights Griffie shared with Hotel Investment Today was how the group took a deep dive into how to design menus for increased profit, as well as being conscientious of today’s landscape where consumers crave more non-alcoholic options and smaller portion sizes.

Menu engineering was on the agenda with a focus on understanding how to build a report, but more importantly how to leverage data. Griffie also emphasized the importance of engaging with the Davidson Restaurant Group to revise, edit and sometimes redesign the physical menu to drive sales and profitability.

Griffie said guest engagement is key to create unique experiences by leveraging partners, adding thatfocus on activations is what matter. “Every activation is accompanied by a mini-P&L and ROI summary. Use data to determine what is a successful activation and if it should be repeated,” he said.

Davidson Chief Operating Officer Jason Reader (l.) with President and CEO Thom Geshay.

The event included a hands-on experience on how to use the Davidson Restaurant Groups Culinary Tool Kit with attendees partnering with teammates that they had never worked with. They were tasked with working through a challenge while using the tool kit, recipes, and process. Griffie said they used this exercise to show the importance of process and how a leader can teach someone who’s never made a product (in this case Hollandaise sauce) under pressure.

Another call to action: build a stronger non-alcoholic drink program with a focus on non-alcoholic spirits, mocktails and creative kids drinks. Even better, work on upsells, Griffie added.

The conversation also turned to creating better events for groups and meetings. Messaging matters, according to Griffie, as stronger communication leads to more seamless events.

They talked about how to prepare and execute a better banquet event order/event order meeting and Griffie referenced cadence, topics covered and details needed as crucial elements.

The group also focused on how to leverage food buying and Davidson Restaurant Group’s strategic sourcing and procurement to create cost efficiencies, from purchasing to distribution.

When it comes to foodbuy optimization, Griffie said the discussion focused on the importance of “blind” cuttings, as well as identifying the best product at the best price point without brand bias.

“It was an invigorating and rewarding experience to host a summit dedicated exclusively to our food and beverage leaders,” Griffie said. “This type of specialized professional development and training is a real differentiator for Davidson as an operator and a tremendous example of how we create value in all that we do. Our primary goal is to drive performance for our owners and sharpening our F&B teams is a way we can ensure optimized performance at every hotel.”