Oser Communications Group

Restaurant Daily News May 20 NRA 2013

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R e s t a u r a n t D a i l y N e w s M o n d a y, M a y 2 0 , 2 0 1 3 8 0 LW: We are in the business of providing a variety of dessert mints and candies to the foodservice, retail and promotional products industries. The majority of our mints/candies are individually wrapped. RDN: What would you say makes your company unique? LW: Our company is unique because we are "Made in America." We are vertically integratedwe produce the product, print and wrap the product under one roof here in Boone, N.C. Our creamy buttermints are known by millions, coast to coast, as the industry standard, for their creamy, melt-in-your-mouth taste. Because we do everything under one roof, we can prof- itably ship as few as five cases of custom- wrapped product or 10 cases of stock- wrapped product to our customers. Our capability to custom-wrap our mints/can- dies, as well as our flexibility and creativ- ity, sets us apart. Also, our customer serv- ice team is first-rate. RDN: Did your marketing strategy in the past year provide you the overall position you had projected? LW: In foodservice, we are just now gaining traction with our "It's More Than a Mint, It's a Message" marketing initia- tive. The wrapper can be used as a bill- board for the restaurant operator, to inex- pensively market anything that is rele- Hospitality Mints (Cont'd. from p. 1) vant to their customer. Really, this is our primary focus for 2013 and beyond, as we focus on the foodservice marketplace. We, like most folks, understand the need to sell our products to the emerging chain concepts. Foodservice is still the "engine" at Hospitality Mints. RDN: What distinguishes your prod- uct(s) from the competition? LW: We are well-known for our butter- mintsperiod. RDN: To what do you attribute your company's success? LW: Our success is attributable to our peo- ple, products, creativity, drive and our loyal customers who have supported Hospitality Mints, through thick and thin, and continue to see the benefit in our products. RDN: How can our readers find out more about your company? LW: Readers can go to www.HospitalityMints.com to learn more, or go to www.PartySweets.com to get a taste for our retail offerings. They can always email our sales division for more information: lwilkie@hospitali- tymints.com. For more information on the company, visit: www.hospitalitymints.com. Visit Hospitality Mints at the NRA Show 2013, booth 3352. WG: Excel Dryer is the manufacturer of the original, patented, high-speed energy-efficient XLERATOR ® hand dryer. XLERATOR was introduced to the market in 2001 and has become the new industry standard for hand dryers. RDN: What do you attribute to your company's success? WG: As a hand dryer manufacturer, we realized we were making a product that people didn't like to use. People were frustrated that it took too long to dry their hands using conventional dryers, and they often resorted to wip- ing their hands on their pants. Given a choice, they would grab paper towels instead. So, we completed a compre- hensive redesign to make our hand dryer more powerful, yet energy effi- cient. With the help of scientists and thousands of hours of R&D, we devel- oped the XLERATOR hand dryer, the first hand dryer to do its job in ten to 15 seconds – three times faster than conventional machines, while also using 80 percent less energy. RDN: What distinguishes your prod- uct(s) from the competition? WG: XLERATOR's decade of proven performance, reliability and customer satisfaction have made it the new industry standard by which other hand dryers are judged. The XLERATOR is more user-friendly than recently intro- duced 'Trough-Style' dryers and com- pletely hands-free: there is no risk of touching a potentially unclean surface while drying hands. Unlike the newer models that require users to insert and remove their hands, the XLERATOR is intuitive and does not require instruction. Priced at less than half of the cost of trough-style models and virtually maintenance-free, the XLER- ATOR is easier for restaurant man- agers or owners to install and maintain in their restrooms. RDN: How are you continuing to pro- vide innovative solutions? WG: Excel Dryer continues to lead Excel Dryer (Cont'd. from p. 1) the industry with a full suite of XLER- ATOR hand dryer accessories featur- ing the first-ever certified HEPA fil- tration system, adhering to stringent HEPA regulation standards of 99.97 percent filtration; Exclusive digital imaging technology for custom cover designs adopted by organizations such as the Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Frito Lay and many more; Newly designed XChanger ® paper towel dis- penser retro-fit kits enabling a com- plete transformation from paper tow- els to XLERATOR equipped rest- rooms without major renovation need- ed; and a Microban ® anti-microbial wall guard supporting superior hygienic standards. RDN: What products do you see being hot this year? WG: Anything that is environmentally- friendly and cost effective. As all facili- ties are now looking for green and cost- saving initiatives, the installation of XLERATOR accomplishes both. RDN: What is the nature of your distribution? WG: Listen to our on hold message for this answer about our network of distrib- utors, product available in 60 and 50HZ for distribution worldwide etc. RDN: Who are your target end-users? WG: Any facility who has a restroom and is looking to reduce its cost, mainte- nance and waste. RDN: How can our readers find out more about your company? WG: People can learn more about us at the NRA Show at booth 6831 or on our website, www.exceldryer.com, where they can instantly calculate their savings versus paper towels, by answering a few quick questions. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google Plus. For more information, visit booth 6831, go online to www.excel dryer.com, call 800-255-9235 or email sales@exceldryer.com. extending its leadership with several new exciting products. Drop by booth 7140 at the National Restaurant Association Convention and see what tomorrow has today! Meet with the management team that will show you how easy and cost effective it is to join the "Green Initiative." Green Wave compostable products are made from renewable and sustainable natural resources such as sugar cane, bamboo and cornstarch. These raw mate- rials are found throughout the world abundantly which allows Green Wave to manufacture a product without exploiting the environment or disturbing the ecolog- ical system of our planet. Since its beginning, all of Green Wave's products were produced with the preservation of our planet as its mis- Green Wave (Cont'd. from p. 1) sion. Green Wave was the first to dedi- cate its resources as such, no trees or plastic are used. Today, Green Wave is recognized as a leader in "Green Technology" and has been awarded numerous awards for such. Green Wave's cornstarch products, "Ultra" plates, "To Go" containers and "Epoch" cutlery are the most recent to be recog- nized. To date, no other manufacturer can duplicate this process. From the original Bagasse (Evolution) (Ovation) (Green Square), Green Wave is continu- ally developing products that are not dependent upon trees or fossil fuel. For more information, visit booth 7140 at the NRA. Meet with Gideon Wong, President, John Calarese, Sr., Executive Director, Michael Hicks, National Sales Manager, and Brian Parpart, Western Regional Manager. make our lives easier, so consumers are consequently beginning to demand that businesses offer a mobile payment option. However, the question remains: single-purpose app, or web-based digital wallet? To ensure convenience and secu- rity for your patrons and eliminate "app- fatigue" – downloading countless apps and remembering which to use for each business – a web-based digital wallet will clearly prevail, and here's why. Starbucks offers a good example of a single-purpose app. With millions of pay- ments in 2012, it also demonstrates the consumer's appetite for a mobile pay- ment option. However, given their requirement to use a credit card to fund a Starbucks card which subsequently funds the app, consumers will demand a more convenient solution once the novelty wears off. Moreover, people dine and shop at hundreds of locations, and cannot be expected to maintain a separate app, login, password, and funding for each. Beyond convenience, your cus- tomers will also demand that mobile pay- ments are secure. With the increasing threat of identity theft, people are increasingly reluctant to surrender their card to a stranger. This means that your mobile offering must be integrated with the POS, allowing a secure exchange of payment information rather than involv- ing your staff. This also translates into a considerable increase in efficiency for your business. Systems East (Cont'd. from p. 1) There is also the matter of exposure. Single-purpose apps require confidential card information to be stored in several places. With a digital wallet, sensitive information is stored only in the wallet, but can be used in a variety of locations. The vendor receives customer informa- tion and a transaction reference number, but never sees the credit card number. Practicality was a fundamental con- sideration in the design of Xpress-pay Mobile, released in 2011. Since it was a full-featured extension of Xpress- pay.com, our Internet payment product, we understood public expectation of con- venience and security. For restaurants it also had to provide specific tangible ben- efits, including accelerated table turnover and efficiency for your staff. The restaurant pay-at-the-table component of Xpress-pay Mobile was released in January, and as a secure dig- ital wallet, eliminates "app fatigue" and is well on its way to becoming the uni- fied national solution. Better still, Xpress-pay empowers the consumer's phone so there is no equipment required for acceptance – the consumer already owns it, and we are confident a con- sumer-based secure digital wallet solu- tion will prevail. Visit booth 9552 to learn more. For addi- tional information, please visit www.xpress-paymobile.com, call 607-753- 6156, or email jim@systemseast.com. For a recent TV news segment, visit www.xpress-pay.com/video.

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