This Beautiful City Is Straight Out of a Fairy Tale ADD SINTRA, PORTUGAL, TO YOUR TRAVEL PLANS!
This season, you might already have plans to travel to Punta Cana, London, Key West, Paris, or a similar destination city. One more to add to your travel checklist is Sintra, Portugal. This beautiful town rests on the hills of Serra de Sintra, just outside the capital, Lisbon. The two castles within the city are the main draws, and it’s easy to see why.
Some rooms are painted as an optical illusion, with doors and hallways looking three-dimensional when they’re just flat.
Once you head back outside, the rest of the grounds are just as lovely. The enormous gardens have many trails, marked and unmarked. You can get lost in the beautiful oasis, and we encourage you to put aside at least half a day to explore the gardens. QUINTA DA REGALEIRA Quinta da Regaleira is the city’s second significant castle boasting beautiful gardens, but its main draw is the initiation well. This 80-foot- deep well is a wonder as it sinks into the earth with mossy walls. We suggest you go early, as this is another big attraction for those visiting the city, and officials try to keep people moving as they arrive, mainly as it’s one-way traffic on the steps themselves. Once on the grounds, you can explore many grottos by following their main paths. The castle itself isn’t as opulent as Pena Palace, but it’s still a lovely location to visit. Sintra is perfect for any vacation, and though these are the main draws for the city, by no means are they the only ones. We encourage you to check out this city and see if it fits your travel plans.
PENA PALACE AND GARDENS The National Pena Palace and
Gardens are absolutely stunning. The palace is adorned in primary colors, with intricately carved yellow, red, and blue buildings. It’ll cost you 10 euros to
explore the grounds and a couple of extra euros to go inside, but it’s worth it! The carvings include many styles, including Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance. Everything is opulent, and you’ll have a great time as you take in the extravagance.
Flipping the Script
RISING LABOR COSTS HURT FAST FOOD OPERATORS
Retaining workers has long been one of the biggest challenges for fast- food franchisees. Now, the landscape for fast-food wages is changing in a way that will pose new challenges for restaurant operators. Labor costs are continuing to rise. A minimum-wage increase set to take effect April 1 for fast-food workers in California is no April Fools’ joke. Employees’ wages will rise by 25% to $20 an hour, based on an agreement reached by fast-food franchisors, the Service Employees International Union, and Gov. Gavin Newsom. The California agreement covers quick-service restaurants with more than 60 locations nationwide, including McDonald’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Starbucks, Yum Brands’ Taco Bell, In-N-Out Burger, and other franchisors. These companies are expected to raise menu prices by about 5% or more as a result. Restaurant operators will be watching to see whether labor organizers’ campaigns to increase fast-food wages spread to other states. Also, restaurant operators’ post-pandemic increases in menu prices are taking a toll. At first, customers ignored the increases, but a recent survey of 1,000 restaurant customers found nearly 60% thought prices had risen too much, according to the Restaurant Finance Monitor, an industry publication. As a result, most fast-food restaurants have been
posting declines in year-over-year same-store traffic each month since early 2023. Low-income customers in particular are relying more on convenience stores and discounters such as the dollar stores for snacks. Among the hardest hit are the quick-service and pizza chains that compete for low-income customers. Successful operators will focus this year on getting back to the basics of building customer counts. These include compelling marketing, appealing promotions, clean restaurants with open dining rooms, and well-trained, friendly employees. If fast-food operators succeed in these efforts, they should be able to attain about the same customer traffic levels as last year, according to the Restaurant Finance Monitor. Restaurant operators also will have to find creative ways to broaden their demographic appeal, according to the National Restaurant Association. Co-branding, or adding a second restaurant brand to a single facility, is one way to offer diners a wider range of choices. Examples include two restaurants sharing a physical location, as Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins do. Other companies will appeal to younger consumers by sponsoring a youth sports team or treating participants to an occasional free meal. These and other strategies can help keep a restaurant brand fresh in consumers’ minds and get them excited again about eating out!
2
westcoastfranchiselaw.com
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator