ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - November 28, 2003

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and colleagues in the US. I read today that while the Pilgrims may have had the first Thanksgiving meal, they only did it once. That may be the way some of you feel about it today! Still, it is a good excuse to stop for a moment and get back in touch with gratitude.

It's a Wrap!
This also marks the official start of the Christmas shopping orgy which brings to mind an idea that I got from Peter and David Troutman of Scargo Cafe on Cape Cod.

You know how hard it is to wrap presents without the rest of the family finding out what you've got for them? At Scargo Cafe, they pile a couple of banquet tables with wrapping paper, ribbon and all the other gift wrapping necessities and invite their guests to come by and wrap their presents. This often turns into a lunch or at least a cocktail or two.

The wrapping tables are up for a week but they promote the first day of it to their database to make it into more of an event. Personally, I think it is a great way to stay connected with your guests during a time of year when they could easily be distracted by other attentions and get out of the habit of dining with you.

Scargo Cafe is a great example of a determined independent operation doing all the right things to stay in front of their guests in a very seasonal market. I am also impressed with their website, particularly the webcams. Check it out for yourself. (PS: Peter and David will be attending the Super Summit in January. They came in 2002 and this time they are bringing their managers. Maybe this is part of their competitive secret.)

Take a look at the Scargo Cafe website at http://www.scargocafe.com

Early Registration Deadline Extended
Because Thanksgiving makes this a rather confusing week, we have extended the early registration deadline for the Super Summit to December 7. That sounds like a long way off but it is only another week away. Scary.

The focus of the Super Summit is "Re-Inventing Your Business ... and Your Life," certainly not a topic for the timid. Reinvention is about going beyond simply improving to truly innovating. Reinvention is tough. If you haven't found that to be the case, then maybe you are not really doing it. You may be good at making incremental improvements in your business, but true reinvention is different. Improvement makes what you are already doing a little better. Reinvention is about doing very different things with your thinking, your products, your processes and your practices ... and that makes all the difference.

The Super Summit will happen on January 12-13 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, bringing together some of the sharpest independent operators in the world with a faculty of forward-thinkers. There is no other event in our industry that is even close. If you think Disney makes magic, just wait until you experience what we have in store for you at the Super Summit!

Attendance is limited. Register now while we can still fit you in.

Get the whole story on the Super Summit at http://www.supersummit.net

The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?

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