ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - October 8, 2004

I get back on the road again this weekend, heading to Florida for a full day session for the Club Managers Association. I figure by now they have had enough time to get the power back on and the roads clear. Now if we can just avoid Hurricane #5 until at least Wednesday ...

The following week will find me in Buffalo, presenting two programs to the Western New York Chapter of the NY State Restaurant Association. These guys are doing it right and regularly offer business-building activities for their members. What has YOUR chapter done for you lately?

Women to Drive Drink Sales
An upcoming article in Restaurant Business magazine quotes a study by London-based Data Monitor that predicts a surge in drinking by women. They think that a rise in midweek imbibing that will fuel a 14% rise in beverage sales at U.S. restaurants and bars during the next five years. But what Americans consume will shift significantly, and in a decidedly back-to-the-future way, the report asserts. It predicts a marked increase in the purchase of non-alcoholic beverages, with soda likely to account for 37% of on-premise drink sales in 2008, compared with a 30.6% share today.

At the same time, the study forecasts that U.S. consumers will buy more premium beverages, resuming the drink-less-but-better trend of the late 1990s. The study expects the drink mix to change for restaurants and bars because of an anticipated upswing in beverage purchases during the week. Data Monitor forecasts that the typical American will buy 44 drinks between Monday and Friday in 2008, compared with the present incidence rate of 36 occasions. The researcher attributes the shift in habits to desires to extend the weekend, avoid the crowds of a Friday or Saturday night, and "maintain a work/life balance."

The other dynamic likely to raise and change the mix of on-premise beverage sales is an increase in the number of women who feel comfortable about drinking outside their homes. Data Monitor predicts that the consumption of alcoholic beverage by female consumers will jump 27% by 2009.

"The feminization of alcohol has had the single biggest impact on the [on-premise] trade in the past 15 years, and has affected male drinking habits," said Danielle Rebelo, a consumer-markets analyst for Data Monitor and author of the drink study, "Trends and Behaviors in the On-Trade 2004." She attributes the sharp rise in drinking by women to changes in their earning power, relationships, and status.

Operator or Entrepreneur?
You probably flip through articles like the one above every day. Some relate to things in the restaurant industry, but most discuss general trends in consumer behavior. What are people buying more of? less of? How have styles and expectations changed? What's hot and what's not? Articles like this are everywhere if you look for them.

My question is, "How are you positioning yourself to make money from what you read?" It is one way to tell if you are truly an entrepreneur ... or just an operator.

Five years from now, operators will be running the same kind of places they are running today, perhaps with a few minor improvements.

Five years from now, the business model of entrepreneurs will likely look very different from what it does today, with dozens of major and minor adjustments and the addition of several new streams of income.

Good News/Bad News
You already know about Bill and Joel's Most Excellent Restaurant Marketing Birthday Bash in Las Vegas on November 15-16. The good news (aside from the startling fact that this event is our birthday gift to you!) is that we have over 70 people signed up with five weeks still to go.

The bad news is that the last day to register and attend for free will be October 20th. After that ... if we still have seats left ... it will cost you. The program would still be a deal, even at the $500-600 that we should (but won't) charge for it. However, if you can attend at no charge ... well, why not?

That gives you a little over two weeks to arrange your life so that you can be away from the shop for a couple of days. (If you think you can't be gone for a couple of days, then you REALLY need to attend this program!)

Click here to get the full story on the Las Vegas Birthday Bash.

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

I ask the question every week. Bryan Mulder of Pizza Ranch just wrote, "I learned that employees will only stand as tall as the bar is raised. If owners/operators are not going to live up to what they want/expect out the staff, how in the world can they expect any level of success higher than what they are currently getting? To think otherwise is just another way to define "Insanity!"

What did YOU learn from YOUR staff today? Pass it along and I will share it next week.

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