Lazy Man and Money

The Rise of Fast Casual Dining

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The following is a guest post from reader Dave Clark. I’m getting interested in the franchise business space (though not likely food) and this article seemed appropriate. Personally, I love Chipotle. The wife is more a Panera person.

A new trend for eating out is emerging and beginning to attract the attention of consumers and investors alike. A shift can be clearly seen away from traditional restaurants and towards restaurants offering a fast casual dining experience. According to industry expert and NPD restaurant industry analyst Bonnie Briggs “Fast casual concepts are capturing market traffic share by meeting consumers’ expectations, while midscale places continue to lose share.” Openly acknowledging how fast casual food is gaining success at the expense of other dining experiences.

It is not just traditional dining experiences which are under threat from fast casual however; fast food is also suffering as a result. Over the last few years fast food has been suffering from something of a PR crisis anyway, the association of fast food with unhealthy food is leading companies to attempt to rebrand themselves as “Quick Service” establishments, although whether the public will catch on is doubtful. This rise in fast casual dining can only worsen the situation for fast food, as this is a new trend coming in with none of the bad associations. The growth of two of the US market leaders – Chipotle and Panera Bread – has outperformed that of McDonald’s. The growth of these two leaders’ top-line revenue has been 133% and 75% respectively over the last five years compared to McDonald’s 22%. This gives an indication of the increasing trend towards fast casual, while showing fast food is not growing as quick.

The reason why many people are increasingly going to fast casual dining establishments is that it is seen as the best of worlds. With better service than fast food and the lack of association with un-healthiness, it is also seen as a more affordable option than standard dining. This may be why in America visits to fast casual dining restaurants rose by 8% in 2013, while the year also saw an impressive 10% increase in spending when measured next to the 2012 financial year. There is also solid growth in the sector as shown by a 6% US increase in the number of fast casual units in 2013, it is clear that if business’ were struggling there would be cut backs, whereas this growth only indicates the promise which has been seen. This trend is also seen in the UK with two restaurants chains, The Giggling Squid and Wahaca, opening multiple locations across the south of the country; as well as companies such as McCain launching products especially for the casual dining sector.

With these factors in mind it looks like 2014 will see a continued increase in the size of the fast casual sector, with both the traditional and fast food restaurants suffering. While other factors may lead to this changing over the next year, indicators suggest that this will be a big year for the industry.

Frugal or Cheap: Using True Orange at a Restaurant?

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We know there’s fine line between being frugal and being cheap. At this website, and many other other money-conscious websites, being frugal is something to be celebrated. There’s nothing wrong with trying to stretch a dollar. However, some times people take it too far, to the point of being cheap. That’s typically not something that is celebrated, save for a few people on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates show.

Today, I’ve got something that I feel walks that fine line between frugal and cheap. I may have mentioned it a couple of times (especially in a SodaStream article), but I’m a big fan of True Orange. It’s a product that I don’t think a lot of people know about. Essentially it’s crystallized orange in a sugar packet-sized foil wrap. Add it to water (or carbonated water via a SodaStream) and you’ve got a lightly orange-flavored calorie-free drink. You avoid all the artificial sweeteners found in soda and the sugar in lemonade or juice. Nit-pickers may point out that soy (a controversial ingredient) and cane juice appear in the ingredients, but I believe it to be in too small a quantity to be significant. The same company makes True Lemon and True Lime, but their Orange is my favorite.

A couple of weeks ago, I got the idea that I could save myself a couple of dollars at restaurants by ordering water and add a packet of True Orange. The idea actually came to more for the health reasons mentioned above than the money saving reasons. I decided to put a packet in my thin wallet for future use. Last week, we were at the Olive Garden for lunch and it occurred to me this would be a good time to put my money saving plan into effect.

I had told my wife before and made sure that she wouldn’t be too embarrassed by my experiment. Her opinion was that you shouldn’t do in front of the waitress or with important company. Of course, I wouldn’t do that. I got to wondering whether it was “wrong” in the first place. I remember getting the following comment in my article about saving money at restaurants:

Drink water is fine. Request lemon is fine. But do NOT make pauper’s lemonade in a restaurant.
1. It is tacky
2. Water with lemon is a cost to the restaurant and a courtesy to the customer, don’t abuse it.
3. Your waiter will see you as a cheap-ass and presume you’ll also be skimping on the gratuity. Your service will be lousy.
4. Your waiter counts on you paying for drinks to up the bill as most people tip based on a percentage of the bill. It is the same amount of work for them to get your makings for lemonade, but they see no bump to the bill (and tip).

So: Drink water, even with lemon. Don’t make your own lemonade as it is rude, tacky and cheap. Don’t cheap out on the gratuity, unless you never plan to visit that restaurant again.

I don’t know if this is tacky or not. However, at least it is not a cost to the restaurant (other than water, which would be like charging to use the restroom). If the waiter doesn’t see me put a packet of True Orange in (my wife didn’t see it even when I forewarned her), he/she can’t see me as cheap and presume a lower tip. I think the commenter is wrong that the waiter should count on people to pay for drinks to up the bill. It’s probably fair the waiter to be disappointed in having a small bill table, but I don’t feel obligated to give the restaurant more money just so that they can expect a higher tip.

The other thing that I thought might be wrong is bringing in “outside food” to a restaurant. That’s tacky, right? But does a packet of calorie-free True Orange count as outside food? It’s not much different than a free lemon wedge right (except that it packs more flavor)? No restaurant, that I’ve been to, has giving me the option to purchase True Orange. It’s not like I’m taking away the sale of a product. I haven’t been to a restaurant that offers a similar calorie-free, no artificial sweetener alternative that I can buy (actually maybe unsweetened ice tea counts? I’m not a big ice tea fan).

At 5 cents a packet, True Orange can save some money. If you go to a restaurant once a week, you can spend anywhere between $100 and $150 in soda. The same amount of True Orange comes out to around $2.60. Is it the world’s best money saving tip? Nope. However if I do something that is healthier and keep $100 in my pocket, that’s a good thing, right?

So what’s your call? Does using True Orange in water in lieu of ordering a drink count as cheap or just great frugal thinking?

Reader Email: What is a Good Food Budget?

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[Editor’s Note: Sorry for the lack of posts of late. I’m moving this week and traveling the next. In the mean time Cox Communications seems to be completely inept at setting up an Internet connection. Hopefully with the travel, I’ll have better access to Internet than I do now.]

A regular reader, Mike sent me the following email:

Subject: Question for your readers

Body: My wife and I live by ourselves. Our largest monthly expenses are her student loans, the mortgage, and then food. Are we spending too much on food? We average about $200/mo on sit down restaurants, $200/mo on fast food, and about $150/mo on groceries. This comes to about $9-10 per person/day. Too much? Tips to save?

I like how Mike is focusing on the biggest expenses and looking to bring them down. It’s much better than attacking the small things (though the small things can add up to be equal or more than the top big expense).

People typically spend a good amount on food, especially eating out. The USDA has some guidelines on how much people spend on groceries. Using the most recent data, a typical couple in the 19-50 range (a typical Lazy Man reader) would spend between $87.30 and $111.50 a week on thrifty or low-cost plans. I’m going to presume that the typical Lazy Man reader is going to be skewed to the more frugal options since we tend to be more mindful with our spending. The average of the thrifty and low-cost plans comes to about $100 a week for a couple or a little more than $14 a day. Per person this works out to be $7. Mike’s $9-10 per person estimate for all food (groceries & restaurants) comes in at around $136 per week which puts him almost exactly at the USDA’s moderate cost number of $138.70. Since the USDA’s number is about groceries only Mike appears to be doing great overall.

As for tips to save, I’ve got some Amex Blue Cash will put 3-6% back in your pocket on groceries. Unfortunately, Mike emailed me back to say that his grocery store doesn’t take credit cards (imagine that!). All is not lost though, he can use a debit card that can earn up to 2% back from Perkstreet.

As for restaurants, Mint has some good ways to track spending. (Side Note: It’s been too long since I’ve checked out their tools myself. That’s going on my to-do list.) It looks like Mike has already done the math to compile the $400/mo. number (I’m combining fast food and sit down restaurants). I don’t have comparison numbers for restaurants, but sit-down restaurants would be the place to focus on saving money. The cost per meal at one can be ten times what you can make at home. I have my own set of tips for save money at restaurants. One can consider eating out at a sit-down restaurant as entertainment too as the ambiance typically plays a role in the value.

Fast food restaurants can be cheap if you make the most out of value menus, but they typically don’t win any awards for great nutrition. From a cost perspective, a dollar McDouble is a pretty frugal meal… four of them a day (around 1500 calories) would set you back $120 a month, which is a pretty low food budget. I’m not recommending that, we say how that worked out for Morgan Spurlock in Super-Size Me, but the numbers illustrate how an occasional fast food trip can fit a frugal budget.

It’s hard to put a strict “you should spend $X amount on food” guideline in place. Geographic region, diet requirements (some people choose to pay more for organic), and other factors (time to clip coupons) can move your food budget in either direction. This is why I would focus on making sure that my spending is in a fiscally responsible range. Some of the tools I mentioned above can help provide a sanity check to make sure they are fiscally responsible.

Getting back to the subject of Mike’s email. He wanted to put the question to the readers. So now it is your turn to give feedback. I’m particularly interested if someone can find some food spending to income ratio numbers. That strikes me as a valuable piece of the puzzle.

If you have a personal finance question contact me and perhaps you can be featured in a future Lazy Man and Money article. And don’t be shy, we’ll keep things anonymous.

Plan Ahead to Take Advantage of a Recession

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I’m taking a little trip this week. I’m not that far from home, just a hundred miles north of Silicon Valley where I usually live. It puts me in smack dab in the middle of Sonoma Wine Country, the hidden gem that gets overlooked due the popularity of nearby Napa. The place I’m staying at is beautiful, with a heated pool and a brand-new gym. The view of the wine producing vineyards is amazing. It is 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Why am I taunting you? The hotel room that I’m in is only $120 a night… and the place is empty.

I can only come up with one explanation… the poor economy. In an economy such as this one, I can’t imagine too many people are traveling a thousand miles to drink some wine. I’m kind of disappointed because I could use a little more pool conversation. (On the other hand, it is nice to have the gym to myself.)

Of course hotels aren’t alone in offering deals. You can find deals on all sorts of industries that cater to those with disposable income when times are good. Reminds me how not to long again, every restaurant wanted to save me money as they lured me in with deal after deal. Were they really saving me money? Not really – I could have saved a lot more by cooking for myself. However, they provided with a lot more value than usual.

What’s the lesson to be learned? I look at it and think that you should apply the theory of dollar cost averaging to your life. When the economy is good take advantage by socking away some of that extra money. I know it’s tempting to pour it into the stock market to make even more gains, but I think the rewards are better if you wait for a time when prices are low. You’ll find that your dollar goes a lot further then – just like how you get more stock for your money when investing in a down market.

Bonus Limited Time Deal: I know this isn’t related to the article, but today LivingSocial is selling a $20 gift card to Whole Foods for $10. I know that Whole Foods is expensive, but it’s a pretty high quality. The 50% savings probably puts many of their products in the same budget as your local bargain grocery store.

Taking Advantage of Fleming’s Steak House

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I was initially hesitant to post this deal because I thought that Fleming’s Steak House was just a regional chain in the California area. To my surprise, it is in 28 states across the country including southern states like Florida and Alabama and northern ones like Massachusetts. (If there isn’t a Fleming’s near you or you are not a Costco member, this article might not be right for you.)

My wife and I were in Costco about a year ago and found that there was a deal for $100 worth of Fleming’s gift certificates for the price of $80. We figured we’d pick them up for a special occasion, like a birthday or an anniversary. When our anniversary rolled around last year we used them and had a very good meal. Our only complaint was that the dinning room was too dark… so dark that I’m bringing a lantern with me next time.

Alas, by the time we finally realized that Flemings was good, Costco stopped carrying the discounted gift certificates. That was the end of that deal. We ended up going back a couple of months ago for a similar occasion and ended up paying full price. That was unfortunate, but at the end of the dinner they gave us a receipt that promised $25 off our next dinner if we complete the survey. Typically these surveys are a contest with no guaranteed payoff… The gamble usually isn’t worth it for a national chain with many customers. However, for the guaranteed $25 savings, I was in. The $25 savings have a couple of restrictions the typical “not valid with other offers or special deals.” However, it’s good to have options.

I went to Costco last week and much to my surprise they brought back the Fleming’s gift certificates deal. The good thing about these gift certificates is that they don’t count as an “offer” or a “special deal”, it’s more or less straight cash homey. The next time we go to Fleming’s we’ll stack the $25 survey savings on a $50 gift card (that we paid $40 for) and get a $75 dinner for $40. Perhaps it’s not complete highway robbery, but it’s as good as some Groupon’s out there.

I know what you might be thinking… wait, I have to go to Fleming’s and pay for a full price meal before I can get the $25 in survey savings. You’d be right. However, I’ve got you covered. In July and August Flemings is doing a $30 3-course prime rib special. Use one of the $50 Costco Gift Cards (a $40 cost to you) and pay the $10 remainder of the bill (plus tax, tip, etc.) and have two prime ribs for a little over $50. It’s a pretty good deal at what I consider a good steakhouse. If you are thinking of using survey savings, plus the gift card on the 3-course prime rib deal, I think you’ll be told that the prime rib is a special offer and not eligible for the survey savings.

I’m sure this might sound like a lot of work, but throwing gift certificates in the cart at Costco is extremely the easy. The survey wasn’t difficult either. It’s a very Lazy friendly deal.

Finally, remember that going to steak houses is hardly recommended as a path to financial freedom. Budget for it accordingly and use these tips to save money at restaurants.

Update: I almost forgot that you can use Open Table to make reservations and earn points towards a free meal as well. Every little bit helps, right?