The Restaurant Doctor - Electronic House Call

ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - September 21, 2001

This is a little later than usual -- I was up all night with a sick computer!

MOVING ON
While news of rescue efforts and anti-terrorism campaigns continues to dominate the news, I think people are ready to pull themselves away from CNN and start to re-establish some semblance of their normal routine. It looks like the economy is going to tank, at least in the short term. Couple that with the slowdown in travel and many of you, particularly those in vacation areas, are looking at a challenging fall and winter. Your choice is to either knuckle under and ride it out or get proactive and use this period as a way to actually increase volume and profitability but it will definitely not be business as usual.

Along this line, I have been working on ideas as to how you can prosper in tough times which I will offer in a tele-seminar on Tuesday, October 2. More details at the end of this message for those that are interested.

SPEAKING OF THAT . . .
The mailing just went out on my new Coaching Program. Those who asked to receive notice should watch your mailboxes. If you would like to find out what this is all about, either send me your mailing address or go to my website and click on the link for "Management Coaching for 43 Cents a Day" at the top of the home page to download a PDF file with all the details.

PROMOTIONS R US
The value of promotions and festivals is that it gives you a good excuse to invite people to come back. You can't really say, "Come back on Tuesday because it's, like, really dead and we need the business!" On the other hand, it's easy to say, "Come back next Tuesday. We're having a lobster festival and it's really going to be fun!" Prompted by an inquiry from a reader, I recently discovered Chases Calendar of Events, a reference that lists more than 12,000 historical anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, and events that can be attended, such as fairs and festivals. Your local library should have or one or you can subscribe online for about $52.95 a year.

I got a subscription so I could share this information with members of the Coaching Program, but for reference, below are just a couple of excuses to invite guests back during October. The advantage in tying in with these promotions is that other groups will be spending money to promote the idea to the public. Often they will have point-of-sale material. Occasionally, there may even be marketing dollars. In any event, you can get more bang for your buck. It's what Max Hitchins, Aussie marketing guru, calls "slipstream marketing."

Eat Better, Eat Together Month (Oct 1-31)
Time to encourage families to eat together. Research indicates that children who eat with their families not only have better nutrition, but they do better in school and have fewer behavior problems. The general focus of this is eating together at home but it wouldn't take much to put a dining out spin on it. For more information, contact Sue Butkus, Nutrition Education Network of Washington State, Cooperative Extension, Washington State University, 7612 Pioneer Way E, Puyallup, WA 98317-4989. Phone (253) 445-4553. Web: http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/nutrition.

National Pork Month (Oct 1-31)
The National Pork Producers Council, the National Pork Board, in cooperation with state pork producers associations, celebrates October as National Pork Month. While pork promotions are conducted throughout the year, special emphasis is placed on Pork: The Other White Meat® during October. For more information, contact Natl Pork Producers Council, PO Box 10383, Des Moines, IA 50306. Phone (515) 223-2600. Fax (515) 223-2646. E-mail pork@nppc.org. Web: http://www.nppc.org/.

Vegetarian Month (Oct 1-31)
This educational event advances awareness of the many surprising ethical, environmental, economic, health, humanitarian and other benefits of the increasingly popular vegetarian lifestyle. For more information, contact Vegetarian Awareness Network, Communications Center, PO Box 321, Knoxville, TN 37901-0321. Phone (800) USA-VEGE.

OCTOBER TELE-SEMINAR:
How to Prosper in Tough Times
Like it or not, the economy is going to contract, at least into the first quarter of next year, perhaps longer. You can't do much about that . . . but the impact that his has on your business is very much up to you. On Tuesday, October 2 I will conduct a tele-seminar to explore ten specific things you could be doing right now to keep from being another casualty of circumstances. As the format implies, this seminar will be conducted over the phone so you can participate from your home or office. The cost is only $28 ($21 for members of the Coaching Program and $14 for members of the Gold Group.) If you cannot be on the phone on the 2nd but would still like the information, audio tapes of the program will be available.

The session will be held from 3:30pm to 5:30pm EDT (12:30pm to 2:30pm PDT) and space is limited, so sign up today. You can register for this program on my website. This is also the place to order tapes or CDs of the program.

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