FREE Restaurant Marketing Seminar Update

We have been inundated with requests from owners all over the country to move the FREE Restaurant Marketing Seminar back a week. And we are happy to do so. So we have now re-set the date for September 18th. Check out the details here. There are still 13 seats left.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hot Areas Of The Business

The Sweet Life
The nation’s sweet tooth is becoming more insatiable, driving everything from the franchising industry, where cookies and ice cream concepts are growing categories, to the fine-dining industry, where diners are staying more often for the grand finale.

Dessert has become such a significant portion of the food industry that it’s warranted its own annual trade show since 2003. Meanwhile, according to Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association, almost 1 in 3 fine-dining operators reported that consumers bought more desserts last year than in the two previous years. In an increasing number of cases, high-end desserts are stealing the spotlight, as entire independent restaurant concepts are being founded on the premise of tasty, upscale indulgence.

Paul Conforti and Kim Moore, 36 and 40, respectively, researched the restaurant industry for a year while attending Harvard Business School before they opened the doors to their first upscale, dessert-focused restaurant, Finale Desserterie & Bakery, in Boston in 1998. Offering an exquisite menu featuring Valrhona chocolate, honey caramel gelato, nougat mousse and cherry almond Florentines, they are often credited with the distinction of starting the first high-end dessert concept. Their focus is as much on high-quality ingredients as it is on the overall experience. Says Conforti, “Making sure [customers] have the best dessert of their life is important, but it’s also about the atmosphere, service, background music [and] cleanliness of the restaurant.”

They have since grown their restaurant concept into a $6 million-plus business and are about to open their fourth location this month. Planning to open three more locations in Massachusetts next year and to reach Washington, DC, by 2009, they are working toward their ultimate goal of going nationwide. With an idea as divine as upscale desserts, $1 million in sales can be achieved with only one location, and the proof is in the pudding: One of Conforti and Moore’s locations makes twice that much annually.

Coffee

Whether you want to buy a franchise or do it yourself, check out 7 hot markets that can make you a millionaire.

Starbucks revolutionized the coffee industry by transforming the beverage into the most necessary of luxuries, but numerous independents and ambitious franchisors have profited from coffee’s popularity and are riding on their own caffeine high. According to Rob Stephen, immediate past president of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, a coffee trade association, opportunities in the industry abound. In fact, according to the SCAA and Mintel Group, the industry grew to an estimated $12.27 billion last year. So if you thought Starbucks had the market locked down, think again–many are drinking in their own share of the profits.

Eric Schmidt, 43, is the owner of a Dunn Bros Coffee franchise in Lawrence, Kansas, and although he just opened his coffee drive-thru in March, he’s already working on opening two more coffee kiosks and estimating total year-end sales to be in the low seven figures. While he believes he could have reached this point with his own coffee concept, he has no doubt that buying a franchise helped him avoid many of the initial difficulties. The wealth of information available to him and the one-on-one assistance with finding the right location enabled Schmidt to get off to an impressive start.

But in moving forward, the defining strategy for success has simply been Schmidt’s own commitment and constant presence in the business and his community. From personally making sure that customers’ needs are met to being involved in local civic organizations and the nearby university, Schmidt makes sure all his bases are covered. “That’s probably the single biggest thing about it,” he says. “You have got to be completely involved in it from the day you open [your] doors.”

For those looking to establish their niche, Stephen identifies two trends taking place in the industry: product differentiation and point of view. In a market once defined by regular or decaf, coffee consumers now pay attention to the very farm where the beans are grown. Says Stephen, “You’re seeing coffee labels growing to three lines.”

Customers are also looking to retailers for opinions and overall expertise, so it is important for coffee entrepreneurs to be knowledgeable about the products they’re selling. Stephen believes that quality products, knowledge, point of view and a good location are the defining factors of success for both independent coffee entrepreneurs and franchisees.

So what’s ahead for the industry? Says Stephen, “We’re seeing a renaissance in iced and frozen beverages as a way to get to a part of the market that’s interested in soda or energy drinks.”

Source: Entrepreneur.com

Popularity: 18% [?]

10 Costliest States for Business

Hawaii, New York, and Alaska are the most expensive states for businesses, but Connecticut has the highest costs associated with wages, according to a report by the Milken Institute, an economic think tank.

The same three states took top spots in the institute’s Cost-of-Doing-Business Index last year. The index, which is sponsored by the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, takes into account wage costs, taxes, electricity costs, and real estate costs for industrial and office space.

The states with the highest and lowest costs in those individual categories are:

	Highest	Lowest
Wages	Connecticut	South Dakota
Taxes	Vermont	New Hampshire
Electricity Costs	Hawaii	Idaho
Industrial Space Costs	Hawaii	Iowa
Office Space Costs	New York	Iowa

The ten most expensive and least expensive states for business overall follow. An index score of 100 means that the state is equal to the U.S. average.

Ten Most Expensive States

Rank	State	Index
1	Hawaii	151.5
2	New York	130.9
3	Alaska	130.8
4	Massachusetts	130.6
5	Connecticut	127.5
6	California	122.9
7	New Jersey	120.9
8	Vermont	110.2
9	Delaware	110.1
10	Rhode Island	108.0

Ten Least Expensive

Rank	State	Index
50	South Dakota	70.2
49	Iowa	79.7
48	North Dakota	81.3
47	Nebraska	82.3
46	Idaho	82.8
45	South Carolina	82.9
44	Montana	84.1
43	Missouri	84.6
42	Tennessee	85.2
41	Arkansas	85.4

Popularity: 5% [?]

Help…My Brain Is About To Explode

Is it just me or is everybody and his brother writing about how they think wine markups are too much?

These are people who have no clue about the economics of the industry, let alone the individual nuances of each and every market in the US.

For the record, I am going to charge whatever my target market will pay. Period!  If price sensitivity begins to constrict, then obviously my prices will too. If it expands, hey guess what? So will my prices!

And Paris Hilton’s new line of mid-priced jeans is a bargain at $80?

Gimme a break!

Popularity: 17% [?]

Free Marketing Seminar September 11th

After much ado about a lot, I have been convinced to do one more marketing seminar this year. The difference this time is that there will be NO tuition or fee. That’s right – it’s totally FREE! Not, “you-pay me-a-$1,000-then-if-you-don’t-like-the-seminar-I-refund-your-money-free” – There Is No Fee Whatsoever!

The date will be September 11^th, so you have roughly a month to plan. The location will be here in Dallas – site not picked yet – but it will be close to the airport so you can pop in and then fly back out as soon as you’d like. There are plenty of economical accommodations in the area. I will send you a list of them if you need, just let me know.

You can sign up for the seminar at www.RestaurantCoachingSeminars.com

I am sure this will fill up quickly, but I need to limit it to the first 25 people – this does not include spouses or staff that you decide to bring.

There will be a small homework assignment that you need to complete and send back to me once you register. This will be sent to you shortly after you sign up. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. We will be focusing on how to develop and then implement a real, living, breathing marketing plan that makes sense for your specific business – and of course there will be no discounts or coupons involved! We’re about making money, not giving it away!

Popularity: 4% [?]

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