Last Updated: December 11, 2003

Hospitality Masters and Pencom International present

A Rare Business Growth Experience for Dangerous People

Everything You Know is Wrong!

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Did you ever get a message from the Universe -- I mean an idea that seemingly came out of nowhere, whacked you between the eyes and wouldn't go away? The first one I remember is the headline above: Everything You Know is Wrong! When this one hit me, it scared the hell out of me! I was probably in my late 20's at the time, with four years at Cornell and a few successful jobs under my belt, including a stint as a Navy Supply Officer.

Like I say, it just struck me as a word of truth ... and it chilled me to the core. I had all this time and money invested in an education and if everything I knew was wrong, what was I going to do? I tried ignoring the message, but the idea wouldn't let go. I was forced to stop and ponder what it might mean.

This was probably my first bit of serious introspection. I had spent most of my life with what I thought was a good idea of how things "really were." When I really started to look at it, though, I realized that in the larger sense, I really didn't have a clue.

Thinking that I "knew" something was only a way to fool myself, stay stuck in old thinking, repeat endless cycles and cut myself off from new possibilities. Even if everything I knew WAS wrong, everything I could learn from then on might be right. The seemingly ominous message didn't mean that I couldn't move forward, just that I had to do it with some different ideas than I had cultivated up to that point in my life.

If you have ever had the feeling of "been there, done that" or found yourself repeating patterns in your life, you have been caught up in what you "know." We do what we do the way we do it because that is the way we understand how to do it. There is nothing wrong with that, of course, and my guess is that you have been successful at making money with what you know or you wouldn't even be reading this.

In my experience, however, the truly successful people are never really satisfied. They are always looking for the next great thing, the new idea that will re-kindle the flame and keep them ahead of the pack, the fresh approach that will give them an unfair advantage over the competition. They are ready to toss out any old ideas that no longer serve them in favor of new direction that comes from fresh insight and a lack of attachment to their own thinking.

Everything You Know is Wrong.

I am still working on this notion, although at much deeper levels than when it first presented itself, but I think it means that what you "know" is made up of old stuff -- events that have already happened, ideas you have already had, techniques you have already tried, explanations you have already made and accepted. This is fine for repetitive situations where all the variables are known -- what to do when the ice machine stops producing, how to make a Bloody Mary, how to re-boot the computer -- things like that.

But past experience -- what you "know" -- won't necessarily help you much in situations where all the variables are NOT known ... and that is most of what you will face in the future. The competitive environment is constantly changing (have you noticed?) and old thinking will not necessarily help you master new situations. So ultimately, staying competitive is less about what you know and more about what you can learn. It is about being a continual student of life, about realizing that everything you know may indeed be wrong and continually re-examining what you do and how you do it.

Why Is This Important?

Surely you have noticed that you are operating in different market conditions than when you first got into business. The profile of your guests is different. The workforce is different. You are facing different competition than you did in the past -- and I don't mean just from other restaurants. There is that, of course -- chain restaurants are displacing independents from their historic market niches -- but supermarkets are after the home meal replacement market and convenience stores are cutting into the pizza delivery business. Economic concerns, home theater, video games and the increase in meals available for takeout have changed peoples dining habits. Their experiences and expectations have changed. In short, all the principal business factors are different ... yet many operators are still doing business the way they learned it decades ago.

Think of it this way: if you were starting a new restaurant from the ground up today, would you create exactly the same things that you have now? Perhaps you would ... but what other possibilities are out there now ... possibilities that might be even more lucrative? That is why I say that your long term success is more a function of what you can LEARN than in what you KNOW.

When I talked about this at the Super Summit last year, I noted that there were several ways to get new ideas and insights. Some will touch you in a quiet moment of reflection when your mind quiets down and you suddenly see a bigger picture. This is earth-shaking when it happens but for most operators, finding the quiet time is the hard part.

Some breakthroughs come during travel -- from seeing what other people are doing or talking to colleagues from other areas and recognizing ways to adapt their approaches to fit your own special circumstances. Unfortunately, finding the time (and the money?) to travel can be a luxury. I also find that when we do get away, my wife doesn't appreciate my spending too much time talking shop with some restaurateur when I should be enjoying quality time with her!

Seminars at association and vendor trade shows can be a good source of new possibilities as well, but often the subject matter is rather elementary or, worse yet, totally predictable. This is probably appropriate for the venue and diversity of the audience, but it is often too basic for the experienced operator. I am not knocking trade show seminars -- I have done hundreds of them over the years and like to think that they have helped a lot of people get better as a result. But if you are an experienced restaurateur and your question is, "What's next?" you are not likely to find your answer in a public forum where the material -- of necessity -- tends to be more conservative and reflect the common thinking. People don't go to trade shows to have their old ideas challenged too strongly.

So Where do Dangerous People Go to Expand Their Thinking?

Before we get into this any farther, perhaps I should define what I mean by a dangerous person. To my mind, people are dangerous when they are in the learning mode. Dangerous people march to the beat of a different drummer. Dangerous people are IN the market but not necessarily OF the market. They are always looking for an edge, for the new idea that nobody has thought of yet.

While they have a healthy respect for the competition, in their heart of hearts dangerous people feel slightly more enlightened than other operators in their market. They are not afraid to experiment. They are not afraid to try something that might not work. They thrive on calculated experimentation and pushing the envelope. In short, dangerous people are mavericks.

Dangerous people are dangerous just because you never know what they are going to do -- you just know that they are going to do something unexpected -- and that the market is likely to follow them. They are a lot of fun to hang around with ... but only if you are as dangerous as they are!

Enter the Super Summit

Several speaker colleagues and I were talking, probably two years ago now. The general consensus that emerged was that we were all a little bored with the need to cater to the middle ground. We had edgier ideas, but they only came out when we had a private consulting client who was ready to hear them. Most meeting sponsors wanted to play it more safe. In the manner of an old Mickey Rooney movie, the idea came up, "Let's put on a show!"

So in April of 2002 we conducted a bold experiment. We gathered fifty-five dangerous people in a meeting room at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle, added eight faculty who were pushing the envelope with their own ideas ... and waited to see what happened. What we got surprised -- and delighted -- everyone.

Listen to what Jim Dietz, owner of Smith's Row Food & Spirits in Columbus, Indiana has to say about his experience at the last Super Summit:

The first Hospitality Masters Super Summit was a one-of-a-kind hospitality industry event, a stealth conference conceived and presented by eight of the leading experts in the industry. It was all about growth -- growing your sales and growing your business -- and was targeted to a dangerous audience with the maturity, experience and professional curiosity to recognize the value of fresh thinking and "out-of- the-box" ideas. The program material was blunt, controversial and politically incorrect.

Attendees were challenged, encouraged, inspired (and perhaps occasionally irritated!) by approaches and ideas that were superior to anything they had ever seen, heard or even imagined. In addition to the ideas provided by the faculty, the attendees themselves were a treasure house of ideas and experiences that were shared openly. Nothing was sacred, nothing was secret and nothing was held back.

Attending the Super Summit was one of the best things I have done. I thought it was a gamble at first
but the timing was right and I went with my gut feeling. June 2003 was 70% ahead of June 2002
and I don't intend to stop climbing anytime soon. The investment was well worth
it and using THE BEST CONSULTANTS works. The Super Summit gave
me the kick start I needed. As they say "the rest is history".
Now if only I could get all the ideas implemented ...

Patrick Griswold, Pizzi Cafe

If you were there, you know that it was an electrifying two days! One of the attendees described it as like trying to drink from a fire hose! Great ideas were bouncing off the wall. The camaraderie among the attendees made the Super Summit a very personal experience. Those who attended saw some great restaurants, snagged more new ideas than they could adapt in a year and generally had the chance to re-think the way they did business. Another attendee summed it all up in one word, "Wow!" When was the last time you went to an industry event that you could honestly describe as being a Wow?

If you weren't there ... well, you missed something very special. Don't let that happen again. I am not sure how we will be able to duplicate the magic we created in Seattle, but we are sure going to try to find it again in Anaheim this January ... and you will definitely want to be there.

Last year focused on growth issues. This year we will focus on the question of "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Super Summit 2004:
Re-Inventing Your Business ... and Your Life!
January 12-13, 2004

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.

I may sound a bit over-excited about what I am telling you, but please don't confuse it with "hype." I am just totally thrilled about the opportunity to get together again with a group of top restaurant owners and managers from around the country and mastermind with some of the most brilliant business experts in our industry.

(If those prospects don't excite you as well, save yourself some time and quit reading now. The Super Summit is not going to be your cup of tea. However, if you find yourself getting excited by the possibility of a quantum leap of understanding that can propel you and your business to profitable new heights, keep reading.)

How often do you get two full days to totally focus on your business with no interruptions? No phone calls, no meetings, no salespeople -- just you and a compatible group of peers exploring possibilities that most other operators would not even understand. It takes a tremendous amount of personal courage to take such a deep look at your most basic assumptions and be willing to chuck them all if you find a better model. Talk about dangerous! Talk about gaining an unfair advantage! We've got it in spades!

You cannot even come close to this with books, tapes, ordinary seminars or even one-on-one consulting! Being at the Super Summit will allow you to rub minds with the best marketing, management and business minds in the country. Over two intensive days, we will be handing you the best we have to offer -- secrets that until now were reserved only for our best private clients or for our own companies.

The Objective Is ...
... to send you home MUCH more skilled and better-equipped to re-invent those parts of your business that are necessary to assure your growth into the next decade ... to help you transform your business and your business approach so you can do what you need to do better, faster, quicker, easier and more profitably than ever before ... and to give you an outrageously good time in the process!

I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you how excited I was to hear about
the Second Super Summit that you have scheduled for this January in Anaheim. Although you
and I have occasionally enjoyed some lively debate over various topics, I can say with absolute
certainty that you are "the man" when it comes to attracting restaurant consultant talent.

Last years Super Summit was truly a "worth every penny" event.
My brother David and I were only sorry that we didn't bring our managers along to catch the fire
and enthusiasm that we felt after three days of inspirational and educational contact with your esteemed faculty.

Where else can you see, hear, and have one on one access to some of the
greatest minds and talents in our business? Ideas, ideas, and more ideas! After 17 years operating in
the same location, I sometimes think that I have seen and heard it all. The chance to recharge my batteries
and gain a fresh perspective on what we do every day was invaluable. I can't wait to see what you have planned this year.

Peter Troutman, Scargo Cafe

Here Are 5 Profitable Reasons Why The Super Summit Is The Single Most Important Business (and Personal) Decision You will Make This Year ... Maybe In Your Entire Career!

True success is really about the way that you go about making money, acquiring customers and creating relationships. It is about lifestyle, philosophy and peace of mind. It is about the way that you think -- not as much about WHAT you think as about HOW you think. You shouldn't have to sell your soul to own a restaurant. You shouldn't have to compromise your marriage or the precious short time you have to spend with your children or the valuable time you want for yourself in order to be successful in this industry. Life is far too short to do it the hard way ... and we have become very good at doing it the hard way!

That's where the marketing and management experts that will be at the Super Summit come in -- sharing with you all the inside secrets they spent years learning and refining. Their trials and errors can save you years of time, energy, money and effort. I am totally convinced that if I can get you in a room with the greatest business minds in the industry for only two days, we can shatter the box you have built for yourself, skyrocket your potential, help you see the way to grow your business to any size you want ... and do it in a way that will produce a quality of life you have only dreamed of.

Let me tell you about the incredible line-up of operators and consultants that will be working for you during this conference.

1. If you Want to Be the Best, You Have to Hang Out With The Best People, Listen to What They Have To Say and Understand How They Think

For Super Summit 2004, we have assembled six of the best operations and marketing minds in our industry. Their sole focus for two days will be helping you see how to re-invent your business. At this point, I should tell you that all we know for sure is their general areas of focus. When I asked each one what they planned to talk about, the universal response was, "I'm not sure. It will depend on what the attendees need and where my thinking is in January. Give me some time to reflect on it." I say that is fair enough. After all, if you want fresh ideas, they are likely things that have never occurred to any of us before. With that said, let me introduce the faculty for Super Summit 2004:

Re-Inventing Your Crew

Doing more of what you have been doing will get you LESS of what you already have. If you want to re-invent your business, it will have to start with a different approach to the way you view and work with your staff, supervisors and managers.

My name is Bill Marvin and I am known as The Restaurant Doctor. I contend that in a "people business," those with the best understanding of people will come out ahead every time. I have devoted the last half of my professional career to offering common-sense insights into how individuals and organizations function to help managers tap the innate abilities of their staff. When that happens, the result is a climate where productivity, retention and service increase naturally, where the workers think like owners and where top line sales (and bottom line profit) come more easily. Does that sound like something you would like to see in your organization?

Re-inventing your organization requires re-inventing the way you think of the folks that work for you and the way you work with them. This probably sounds too easy. It is ... and it isn't. The shift of understanding does not come all that easily. For example, you may know that trusting your staff will build a better working relationship, but you can't trust people as a technique. You will trust people when you see them as worthy of your trust ... and that involves a shift of perspective on your part. I am talking about a true shift, not just an intellectual grasp of the concept.

That shift -- when the power of these notions really hits you for the first time -- is the most critical element in creating a positive work climate. It is the climate on the job that determines how long your staff will stay with you, how productive they will be while they are there, what sort of service they will deliver, how much (or little) trouble they will be, and on and on.

The sad truth is that people don't leave companies, they leave managers. You will never be able to build and sustain a highly effective organization unless you have high staff retention ... and you will never have high staff retention if you or your managers are driving good people away, no matter how unintentionally.

My part of the program will look at how to become the employer of choice, get the right people (the first time!) and keep them engaged once you have them on board. You will learn proven techniques and policies that will keep your crew bulldog loyal ... and you will learn how to become the sort of manager that good workers want to stay connected with.

I have a truly radical idea to share with you that may do wonders to improve your retention ... and will probably make your attorney nervous. (I love making attorneys nervous!) I do not mean to be disrespectful of attorneys ... but they should not be deciding how to run your restaurant!

I may also spin this in the direction of how to re-invent your service in the process ... but time will tell. Whatever the final content of my program, I promise it will leave you pondering new possibilities ... and that will make all the difference.

Re-Inventing Your Organization

According to Restaurant News, Harry Bond personifies the new kind of thinking that experts say the restaurant industry needs to embrace. Harry is president of Monical Pizza Corporation, a 52-unit regional chain based in Bradley, Illinois. In 2002 Monical's was recognized as the industry's outstanding Full Service Family Restaurant and was presented the Employer of Choice award. At the 44th Annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators Conference, Monical was awarded the People And Performance Award (PAPA). They were just honored by The National Restaurant Association and American Express with the 2003 Restaurant Neighbor Award winner for Illinois.

Harry knows that sometimes you have to turn things inside out to move forward. A long-time Monical employee, he assumed leadership of the once family-run full-service company in 1993. At the time, sluggish sales, high debt and rising turnover plagued the 35-year-old company. Yet the Monical's Pizza concept maintained strong consumer appeal. Harry and his executive team turned their attention inward to jumpstart the company.

He was turned on by the idea that profitability is directly linked to customer loyalty and that, in turn, depended on employee satisfaction and loyalty. He knew if he was able to raise employee satisfaction levels, their loyalty, efficiency and productivity would rise, guest satisfaction would follow, and growth in sales and revenue would be right behind. To create a more employee-centric corporation, Harry eliminated any vestige of traditional corporate structure and reorganized Monical into four management teams: employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction, revenue growth and profitability.

He created an organization based on results and driven by staff training and development. To finance the new training initiatives, Harry transferred Monical's media budget into training and development and canceled all advertising except some print. There was no cost increase from the new training initiatives. By redirecting media dollars into people dollars, he says they got a bigger payoff than any ad campaign they could have run. The result of restructuring the company to facilitate an employee-first approach is an 80-point improvement in employee retention since 1994.

Does this sound like a model you would like to know about ... that you NEED to know about? Harry is a real-world kind of guy who is driven to produce real bottom line results, but in some very untypical ways. I am pleased that he has agreed to join us for the Super Summit to share with you what he did, how he did it, and more important ... how you can apply these lessons to your own growth and prosperity.

Re-Inventing Your Food Program

In the restaurant business, it's about the food, stupid! Anyone who has ever heard Phyllis Ann Marshall speak comes away with a new awareness of -- and dedication to -- what is happening in their kitchen.

Phyllis Ann is a skilled chef who now works with restaurants ranging from fast-food to five-star, helping to develop new concepts as well as to refine and retrofit existing operations. Her unique sense of product and presentation has also made her an advisor to shopping center developers, department store restaurants, food courts, cafeterias, grocery stores and premium-brand product makers.

As co-owner and operator of Mr. Stox, one of Southern California's most popular restaurants, she helped create an innovative and highly regarded dining facility which received the prestigious Wine Spectator Grand Award, as well as the California Restaurant Writers' top annual awards. She is a frequent contributor to national food and restaurant trade and consumer publications and is the restaurant reviewer for Orange Coast Magazine.

Today change is one of the few constants in the foodservice industry. Sweeping trends have transformed the restaurant business, demanding ever greater innovations and constant evolution to stay fresh and current. Phyllis Ann specializes in concepting and analyzing restaurant operations and food merchandising.

Phyllis Ann will explore how you can Re-Invent Your Food Program. I never know for sure what she is going to come up with, but she could easily fill the entire two days of the Summit ... and you would love every minute of it! As of this writing, she has said she wants to talk about any or all of the following:

- The care and handling of the kitchen, be it chef or kitchen manager, and how to get the best out of this vital team
- How to make your food an integral part of the experience
- How your food program can get you free and/or cost-effective exposure in your community
- New examples of the Soup Nazi approach to marketing using food
- New food opportunities for everyone from fine dining to good food fast
- How to use local farmers in your purchasing
- Awesome appetizers from small plates to combo platters to tapas
- Making the bar/lounge a bigger profit center
- New day parts that are worth exploring
- Great grab & go ideas
- How to use tablescapes to increase your check average
- How to create "eye candy" that pays
- Under-served markets and how to reach them
- How to make every square inch of your restaurant into a marketing scoreboard
- How to add new sizzle to steaks
- How to braise your way to lower food costs

How much of this will make it into her final program is anyone's guess at this point, but I promise that her free-swinging session will look at how to be more responsive to current customer demands and how your food program can open up new possibilities for merchandising and marketing. All of this will add up to increased revenues and customer counts, profitability and repeat business.

Re-Inventing Your Marketing

There are those who will contend -- and arguably so -- that the only thing most operators are really interested in is how to build top line sales. If this describes you, the Super Summit is the place to be, because to build sales, you will have to do some marketing ... but what? and how?

Traditionally, marketing has looked like putting clever ads in various media (newspapers, magazines, radio, TV) and hoping for the best. It is expensive, difficult to track and increasingly ineffective. As people are bombarded with too many messages every day, they just tune yours out. To break through the pre-occupation is difficult at best ... and it is only going to get worse.

Rory Fatt, President of Restaurant Marketing Systems, is another returning faculty member from Super Summit 2002 and is well-known to many of you. Rory is the guy who puts those ads in various trade magazines suggesting that he can show you how to double your restaurant's profits in 119 days or less. The claim sounds too good to be true, but with over 2,700 members and many success stories, Rory has proven time and again that he has advice and strategies that can help independent operators reach the sales success they deserve ... and do it all without investing in conventional advertising.

What sort of results are we talking about? One of his member's sales were up 72% even after September 11 -- over $400,000 per year! Another canceled $120,000 worth of traditional advertising and now just uses a couple of Rory's marketing strategies. He reports that this generated $45,000 in additional sales and sales were growing by 10% per MONTH ... compounded!

Rory will elaborate on, thoroughly explain, and demonstrate his new Marketing System that can completely revamp the way you look at your restaurant. This is a true "more GAIN with less PAIN" system designed to help you focus on only your best money-making opportunities and cast aside those bothersome income robbing 'chores' that most restaurant owners focus 99% of their time on. He will show you how to work smarter rather than harder to achieve the kinds of success that, until now, has only been reserved for a privileged few.

He promises not to "overwhelm" you with 500+ marketing ideas…where you become so confused that your head is spinning. He has spent hundreds of hours whittling down the very best strategies so he can give you only the most PRODUCTIVE systems…step-by-step, ready to plug into your business.

He also promises to reveal NEW AND DIFFERENT OPPORTUNITIES for attracting precisely the prospects, customers, customers you desire -- and have them pre-disposed to do business with you. He will cover strategies for eliminating skepticism, price resistance, and other selling obstacles. And he will give new insights for maximizing your profits that he has only revealed to attendees at his exclusive Restaurant Marketing Boot Camp.

If you are interested in re-inventing your marketing to get the kind of results that Rory talks about, you will definitely be way ahead of the pack after the Super Summit.

Re-inventing Your Leadership

Molly Hancock, President of the Hancock Consulting Group was the surprise star of Super Summit 2002 for her no-nonsense style and incredible depth of insight. It is no wonder that Ron Cohn, owner of Consolidated Restaurants in Seattle once described Molly as, "... the smartest person I have ever met in the restaurant business. She has a unique ability to quickly grasp complicated situations and find simple solutions."

Perhaps that is why he made her his Chief Operating Officer! Molly is a hospitality industry success story, working her way from part-time server during her undergraduate days to COO of one of Seattle's leading restaurant groups.

A feature article in Washington CEO magazine lavished praise on this amazing woman, her passion for the industry and particularly her love of the people that make things work. Now on her own and a sought-after consultant, Molly applies her insights to organizations that want to grow successfully and sanely by making the right decisions at the right time for the right reasons ... with the right people.

These days, Molly has been working as an interim executive, helping struggling companies get back on track. She understands not only the need for continual re-invention ... but how to pull it off without damaging the good will of the business. When Molly talks, people listen ... and learn.

Re-inventing Your Relationships

I am particularly pleased to have Robert Kausen of Life Education, Inc. joining us on the faculty for Super Summit 2004. Robert is a personal friend and guru who has been instrumental in setting me on the path of human understanding that resulted in a quantum leap in my effectiveness as a manager.

Over the past twenty years, Robert Kausen has been a contributor to the development of an emerging new common sense understanding about how to get people back in touch with their innate wisdom and psychological health. Merely grasping this understanding improves communications, simplifies relationships and increases the effectiveness of employees and managers. Robert designs and delivers innovative and successful programs based on this understanding to clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small entrepreneurs to foreign governments.

He teaches individual executives and senior level teams how to bring the best out in people by showing them how to access their innate high performance, creative thought process. This new understanding results in highly effective business relationships, impactful communication, creative approaches to business challenges and the virtual elimination of stress. He also works with couples who want to enrich their marriages.

Relationship is usually defined as connection between persons. Your level of expertise in handling your relationships in life has everything to do with your success as a manager, mate, parent, and friend. Every human being is a work in progress -- either maintaining the status quo or evolving. How well you direct that process depends on how well you understand (and skillfully use) your thinking. Robert will help you get an objective view of any relationship ... including the one with yourself! He will discuss the essential elements common to all successful relationships and how to enhance those qualities in the way you relate to your staff, guests, family, friends ... and even strangers. What if all these relationships were smooth, productive and mutually enjoyable? Personal evolution can be a source of inspiration and joy ... if you know what you are doing.

Re-inventing Your Training

Have you ever been to a really superb restaurant? I am talking about one where even YOU couldn’t find anything wrong? For those of us in the business, it doesn’t happen all that often ... but it happened to me when I went to Napa Rose in the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland for a conference a few months ago.

The Napa Rose has a California Wine Country theme and is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. The exhibition kitchen hums, the wine list is to die for and the staff is exceptionally well-trained. How do they manage to do it? To find out, I arranged a Management Insight Series interview with Michael Jordan, GM of Napa Rose to learn some of his secrets. Not only was he most forthcoming about what they did and how they did it, but he agreed to give us an onsite "class" on the first day of the Super Summit.

Not only will we will get behind the scenes and actually see what they do and how they do it, but we will have dinner in the restaurant on Monday, January 12th which promises to be a real treat! Better yet, dinner is included in the price of the Summit! (If any of you were at the dinner we had at Kaspar's in Seattle the last night of last year's Summit, you have an inkling of what sort of toe-curling dining we have in store.)

Michael, Chef Andrew Sutton and their staff will give us new ideas on training (the restaurant has 26 first level sommeliers on staff including several of the cooks!), how to create and support a wine program that will help you own your market, how to enhance creativity in the kitchen, how to REALLY make an exhibition kitchen a major marketing advantage and much, much, more. No matter how far up (or down) the food chain your restaurant is, I guarantee you will pick up some ideas you can profit from.

How did last year's Super Summit change my business?
As per Joel (Cohen's) suggestion, we became "The Official Hometown Tacotorium for Portales and Clovis since '69"
As per Molly Hancock's talk about catering, we ceased and desisted our half-fast catering operation.
As per Phyllis Ann Marshall's suggestion, we now talk about the food (and the freshness).
I have used Susan Clarke's videos in our employee meetings.
And of course, all the other speakers made me think and rethink our operation.

Tom Martin, Taco Box, Clovis, NM

Looking at this collection of industry wisdom, if I do say so myself, the appropriate word is "Wow!" Just the lineup would be enough reason to register, but when you see what we have in mind, you might also wish the Super Summit was a three or four day event to give you more time to listen, question, absorb and assimilate the amazing ideas and insights we will share. We won't be able to do that this year ... but if you bring a couple of colleagues, you will be able to kick some of these ideas around while they are still fresh (and without the distractions that are sure to greet your return home.)

2. Optional "Kick in the Concept" Tour

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a first-hand experience is easily worth a novel! You know that many restaurant concepts and food trends start in California and work their way east. We know that while you are in the Golden State, you will want to look around at what other operators are doing and we also know that your time is limited. As an experiment this year, I have asked Phyllis Ann Marshall to put together a "Kick in the Concept" -- a behind-the-scenes look at some of the best new ideas in Southern California restaurants.

On Sunday, January 11, immediately before the Super Summit begins, Phyllis Ann is organizing an intimate look at some of the hottest concepts in Southern California. (As the restaurant reviewer for Orange Coast magazine, she knows what is hot and what is not.) Now you may think that you can do this on your own ... and perhaps you can wander through the dining rooms of a few places ... if you knew which ones were really happening ... and if you had a car ... and knew where to go ... and if you could set all this up in advance.

But on your own, you could never duplicate what Phyllis Ann has in mind for those who attend the KITC Tour. You will not only get "Up Close and Personal" with some of the freshest operations in our industry, but you will have a chance to talk with the folks who pulled it off and learn HOW -- and more important, WHY -- they did what they did ... and you will be able to do it all in the restaurants themselves. That in itself could be priceless, but you will also have Phyllis Ann explaining what makes these ideas work and how they can be adapted to your particular needs.

How will she know your particular needs? Because the itinerary for the tour will be drawn up based on what the attendees tell us they want to see. We are talking about a custom-designed excursion into the kitchens (and the minds) of some of the country's best restauranteurs. You could never get this close on your own or be guaranteed of direct access to the chefs, owners and managers who make it happen. Think of it as a day-long guided tour with your own private instructor.

3. "Pick The Brains" Of Other Dangerous People -- Restaurant Owners Who Share Your Sense of Professionalism and Desire to Grow

Do you have a marketing/consulting roundtable or mastermind group? If not, this is your opportunity to change that -- to forge mastermind alliances with some of the most talented restaurant owners in the industry today.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: At the Super Summit you will connect with the brightest, most dangerous, creative-minded men and women in the business today. Nowhere else can you "rub minds" with such an elite group of speakers and restaurateurs as you can at the Super Summit ... and this year we are making the program even more interactive.

You will meet and talk with restaurant owners from big cities and small towns all over North America. Some have big businesses, some are small, some have gone from struggle to prosperity, some are still struggling to get all the pieces put together, and some have huge incomes. Some have increased their earnings while taking more time off than ever before, for family or personal interests.

Frankly, your networking with all the other operators in attendance can actually be even more valuable than what you hear the speakers say -- and you can NOT get this from tapes, or books or any other way other than by being here! It doesn't matter whether you are wrestling with menu pricing or competitive challenges, employee or expansion difficulties, time problems, even personal/emotional hang-ups. There will be people here who have already slain those very same dragons and will generously share their experiences.

You will meet people new to the business and very experienced veterans. Getting inside these closed doors and being with this group for two intense days will have a lasting impact. You will form friendships, share strategies and experience "mastermind" alliances that will last a lifetime. Couldn't you use a support system like that? The mastermind principle alone can make all the difference in the world to your business.

They will all be "into" growing their businesses whether from one unit to two or from ten units to fifty. They will all be ambitious, progressive and innovative. Just by seeing the value of registering for this event, they will be pre-qualified, guaranteeing that you will be surrounded by people worth exchanging information and ideas with.

4. The Super Summit is a True "Insider" Event

The Super Summit is really a "stealth" conference. It will not be promoted to the general public. Unless you are connected to one of the faculty or sponsors in some way, the odds are that you would never even know about it. If you ever wanted an unfair advantage in the market, this is surely the place to get it.

The content will be INTENSE. We have assembled the best of the best in the world to present at the Super Summit. We have been friends and professional colleagues for years, but we are never all on one program at one time ... other than at the Super Summit. You will not find this at any other industry conference. No other program sponsor could afford the fees for this much top-end talent!

We have made a deal with each other that the material we offer will not be anything we have ever presented to a general audience before. It might include inside secrets we have previously reserved only for our private consulting clients, but the Summit will present our most current thinking rather than anything you may have already heard from us. This is not an opportunity that is likely to come up again in any other forum and we are excited ... and frankly, a little nervous ... about it. But if we are asking you to relax and try on some new ideas, it is only fair that we do it ourselves.

This is a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners sort of event. We will not pull any punches or attempt to be politically correct. The material may (or may not) be controversial, contrarian or even confrontational. It won't always be pretty and it certainly won't be polished or well-rehearsed. In many cases, you will hear ideas that have never occurred to us until just before the program. You may even hear a seeming reversal of our normal posture. How's that for mind-stretching?

The programs will be longer than is possible in most industry forums, giving that precious extra time to develop the points, take questions and generally do justice to the ideas being presented. We are making the event much more interactive this year to give more opportunity to learn from each other.

5. You Do Some Work For Us ... And We Will Give You Money!

To help the faculty tailor their presentations more closely to your needs, every registrant will receive a Pre-Summit Questionnaire. We want to know about your business and your business challenges. We want to see photos of the place, inside and out. We want a photo of you and your staff. We want your menu and examples of your marketing pieces. To paraphrase the words of Tom Cruise in the movie, Jerry McGuire, we want you to, "Help us help you."

We recognize that this will involve some extra work on your part and we want to reward you for that. So in addition to all the other benefits of the Super Summit, each attendee who returns their completed Pre-Summit Questionnaire by the due date will receive $100 in Super Script that can be used to purchase materials and services at the event. Use the script to buy books for your professional library, pick up some one-on-one consulting advice or apply it toward any of a number of continuing education programs offered by the faculty. How's that for value-added?

What Could You Accomplish With Two Full Days of TOTAL IMMERSION
in Edgy, Outside-the-Box Growth and Re-Positionging Strategies,
Away From the Day-To-Day Routine and Pressure?

We know that it is difficult to deal with all the day-to-day stuff and still find time to clear your head to focus on new, better or different ways of doing things.

Getting away and immersing yourself in the Super Summit environment with a small group of other like-minded professionals and guest service experts is an extremely powerful step, one that we believe could mean extra money in your pocket every year. As long as you are getting up every morning ... going to work ...spending money and working hard to grow your business, why not construct exactly the kind of business you most desire?

We want to see who is SERIOUS about really seeing how they can re-invent themselves for a new century ... and which ones are all mouth, no action. Truth is, EVERYBODY says they want to make a whole lot more money. And most restaurant owners also whine about how hard they work, how much stress they're under -- but most are also entirely unwilling to do anything about it.

We Want This To Be The Most Profitable, Money-Making,

Life-Enhancing Event Of YOUR LIFE!

This is the industry event you MUST attend, no matter what you need to do to clear your schedule and make the investment (which will return to you many times over), no matter if it is inconvenient. This is where you will get the ideas, insights and understanding that will help ensure your success well into the future, regardless of the threats you face from a changing economy and the fierce new competition that is springing up every day.

But we want you to be committed when you show up. That's because if you are going to "push the envelope" with your business, you will need to honestly confront and question everything you previously heard or knew about how to think of your business. We intend to pull the rug out from under "the way we've always done it" traditions of the past.

I think that what you are trying to achieve -- and I applaud you for it -- is what we are all looking for:
New thought, outside the box, at the edge, a bit uncomfortable, makes you think and can be puzzling.
But it is hard, hard to do. And I don't know that it can be done every year, no matter what. But that, really,
is what we have to do in our business, re-invent, get out in front, always growing.

I have the dates set down in my calendar for Anaheim. I would love to be a part of something that is going
to stretch me and our business. And that is what I look forward to.

Michael Hawkins, Green Street Restaurant

There probably are a few reasons for saying "no" and staying home. "It's my busy season." "It's my slow season." "I can't be away from my restaurant for three or four days right now." "I will still be recovering from the holidays." "I can't afford the registration fee."

We said that the Super Summit was not for everyone. You need to look in the mirror and decide for yourself whether you have the courage to consider opening yourself up to these kinds of changes ... shifts in thinking that can bring breakthroughs in business, income, attitude and marketing know-how. You need to really decide if you are ready to put your money where your mouth is and take full control over your life. Nobody can make that decision for you ... but not to decide is a decision in itself.

Will You GUARANTEE that the Super Summit Will Increase My Income?

Not a chance! Look, we know that the ideas we will present will work ... and work well. We have watched our ideas and strategies make huge money and solve "un-solvable" problems for restaurant owners all over the world. We will also be presenting ideas that may not have proven themselves out yet because they are still so new that not many people are aware of them yet. In fact, the general populace might dismiss them as crazy, impractical, too much work or perhaps simplistic. But the general populace will always be playing follow the leader ... and the Super Summit is for the leaders they will be following.

So we think that you will get ideas that can propel your business to entirely different -- and incredibly exciting -- levels, but we are not crazy enough to guarantee that you will make you huge money. Why? Because we can't control what you do ... and if you do nothing, that is precisely what you will get -- nothing. There are just too many ways you can screw it up for yourself that are completely outside of our control. We cannot guarantee specific results and that is just the honest truth.

But we know, as you do, that nothing will change unless you actually take action and we also know, as you do, how easy it is to get side-tracked once you get home from a conference. To help assure that you will get the results you say you want, we will give each attendee a schedule of FOLLOW-UP TELEPHONE CONFERENCES with various faculty members, a series that will extend through May. These teleconferences are open only to Super Summit alumni and are included in the tuition. (The long distance charges to call in are on your dime, however.) They are opportunities for you to discuss your specific questions directly with the Super Summit faculty.

We will go you one better and offer you an incredibly generous -- dare we say bold and daring? -- guarantee. In fact, we challenge any other conference in the restaurant industry to match our guarantee and put their money where their mouth is. Here is our guarantee and promise to you:

Participate in the entire first day -- right up to 5:00pm. If by then you are not
completely convinced that the ideas, systems and strategies that you are
learning will help you successfully re-invent all or part of your operation,
just ask for a refund, turn in your materials and you can leave. We won't
just refund your tuition, we will also pay for your hotel room for the night!

That's right, if we fail to convince you of the value of what you are learning, we will reimburse you for your hotel room over and above your tuition refund. I doubt you will ever find anybody providing any kind of seminar or event that is willing to provide such a super-strong guarantee. We can do it without a second thought because we know we have created the most unique hospitality learning event ever.

If you are already convinced that you must be part of Super Summit 2004, click on the link below and save yourself some time. If you need more information, read on.

Odds are that you have already started to sweat, worrying about how much you'll have to invest in an event as powerful as the Super Summit. I really hope you are imagining a huge number. Given all that we are offering, you wouldn't expect it to be cheap ... and it isn't! This is no $195 plain vanilla seminar that will get you all pumped up, only to leave you flat and depressed a few days later, making no meaningful changes in the way you do business.

If you are half as dangerous as we suspect you are, attending the Super Summit could easily add $100,000 or more to your income, increase your equity and help you transform your business. As you already heard, Patrick Griswold said he was up 70% compared to the last year. Something that can help you do that, particularly in today's economy, SHOULD have a big ticket attached.

But instead of the big price tag that we should hang on this (and perhaps eventually will!) we have made it a whole lot more reasonable. The tuition for the Super Summit is just $1297 -- a little more than last year ... but we didn't include a 5-star dinnner in the price last year, either! $1297 is certainly a bargain for this type of personal training with the caliber of experts you will be working with. An additional partner, spouse, or key employee can attend for just $897. (By the way, the Super Summit registration, travel, lodging, meals, the works should be 100% tax deductible, so keep track of every penny.)

Is $1297 a lot of money? I suppose that depends on how you look at it. On one hand, $1297 should be enough to cause you to approach the Super Summit seriously, determined to get your money's worth. In fact, that mindset is an important part of assuring that you get full value from the programs. On the other hand, $1297 is about one-fifth of the money you generate just by getting ONE new customer and less than half of what it costs you every time you turn over an employee, even a bad one. (If you question that, I will show you the calculations at the Super Summit.)

To keep things in perspective, the $1297 is less than $25.00 per week -- a hair over $3.50 per day for the next year. That's less than lunch at McDonalds. Less than a couple of cups of coffee at Starbuck's. Less than a glass of wine in most bars. Just about any way you could slice it, the investment is minor compared to the enormous value you will get and the upside income increase it can bring you.

Still, $1297 is not an insignificant sum. If you are relatively new to the business and it presents a financial strain for you, there is no shame in being cash-poor early in your career -- there is only shame in staying that way. If you've been in business for a while and the registration is still a financial strain for you, that is the best argument of all for making sure you do not miss the ideas and insights of the Super Summit. It would be a crime if you ever again had to agonize over spending $1297 on your professional advancement. In either case, we can make the pill easier to swallow by offering the option of paying the registration fee in three installments at no additional charge (but only if you act quickly.) You can pay by credit card or have the funds automatically withdrawn from your checking account. Details are on the registration page.

Good News: You Don't Even Have To Pay the Full Tuition ...
But Only If You Act Fast!

There are a number of discounts available, and you may qualify for one or more of them. There was an early registration discount (that you missed.) There are discounts depending on what other programs you already subscribe to. There is a discount for attendees from outside the US in consideration of the additional costs they incur to attend and the occasional pounding they take on the exchange rate. All these discounts are spelled out on the registration pages. Better yet, these discounts can be added together. Details are on the registration page.

You can add the "Kick In The Concept" Tour to your Super Summit experience for only an additional $397 which will include lunch, dinner and a full day of insights from Phyllis Ann. That's all in addition to getting behind the scenes at some of the restaurants that are blazing new trails of possibility in Southern California.

There is one other important fact you need to know about. Attendance at the Super Summit is limited. We cannot provide the quality of experience we demand with a huge group and we have no interest in creating a mob scene. Seats will be allocated on a first-come, first- served basis. Once the roster is full, your name will go on a waiting list in the event of a cancellation.

HURRY: Time Is Short! The HOSPITALITY MASTERS SUPER SUMMIT is coming up faster than you think. To get all your discounts, and avoid being shut-out, you must act NOW on this invitation.

Click here to order now or call me at (800) 767-1055. You will receive a receipt, confirmation letter, special hotel rates, and info by return e-mail.

Why Should I Be In Disneyland?

One last thing: a few people have asked why we decided to hold the Super Summit in Anaheim, California rather than a more central location (like Omaha?) Here are the top ten reasons why you should come to Disneyland this January:

10. The weather in mid-January should be terrific ... and a whole lot warmer than Minneapolis! Bring your golf clubs and take an extra day or two.

9. Most of the faculty members live on the west coast. Since it is our show, we will do it the way we want and for once, we want a trip that doesn't involve a change of time zones! (You will have to cope as best you can!)

8. Anaheim is within easy striking distance of both the Los Angeles and Orange County airports. It will be easy to reach from most anywhere in the country.

7. We will be meeting right next to Downtown Disney -- the entrepreneurial part of the park -- where dozens of exciting new (private) restaurant concepts are showcasing the future trends in our industry. The restaurants at Downtown Disney are a veritable university on how to appeal to families with children at all levels of the food chain. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a visit is worth a book! These are all great ideas you can adapt to gain an unfair advantage over your competitors, most of whom are probably too anal to see the value of the Super Summit and are therefore picking up their "hot new ideas" from the chain restaurants near the mall.

6. If you want to see a world class wine operation and the definitive, interactive exhibition kitchen, there is no better place than Napa Rose.

5. Disney is the acknowledged master when it comes to branding. Even without trying, you will absorb many valuable ideas on how to strengthen your own brand identity, just by wandering around.

4. Now that we have the learning process of one of these events behind us, we promise that Super Summit 2004 will be even more responsive to your needs, even more interactive and even more impactful than last year ... if that is possible.

3. Robert Kausen is not a "restaurant guy" and Harry, Molly, Rory and Phyllis Ann do very little speaking. This means that the only way you could gain the benefit of their wisdom, experience and insight would be to retain them as your personal consultants ... and that would take a whole lot more money than you will have to invest in Super Summit 2004!

2. If you can swing it, bring the family and take a couple of extra days to see Disneyland and Disney's California Experience. You are never too old for a happy childhood!

1. The best reason to come to Anaheim in mid-January is that if you don't, you will miss the Hospitality Masters Super Summit ... and we promise you will kick yourself if you are not there! Don't take a chance. Register today while space is still available!

I am so looking forward to sharing this experience with you.

Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor

PS #1: Do not wait and be disappointed. You can still qualify to pay by installments. See the registration form.

PS #2:. Seats are limited and last year's Super Summit alumni have the first choice. Once we reach our limit you will be locked out. Don't be disappointed. Register Now!

PS #3: Details, Details. The Super Summit is at Disneyland in Anaheim, California on January 12-13 with the optional "Kick in the Concept" symposium on Sunday, January 11. There are discounts as mentioned on the order form. You can bring additional people from your organization for only $897 each. Lodging is at the Paradise Pier on the Disney property at $119 a night, the Disneyland Hotel at $159 a night or the Grand Californian Hotel at $199 a night (all plus the usual add-ons.) You will receive more information when you register. The rates are good for a week or so before and after the event.

PS #4: We are working on several other interesting surprises ... but you will not learn about those until after you register. So register you should ... and soon. See you in Anaheim!

© 2003 Restaurant Doctor