A colleague once told me she disliked the phrase “I'm reaching out today” in an email. I've used that phrase, what, maybe hundreds of times? But now that I know it makes her wince, I am sure not to use it when I write to her. When you start to notice a certain turn of phrase or new jargon, soon, every time someone writes it, it jumps off the screen in blazing neon lights.
March retail sales slid 8.7 percent. April's sales fell 16.4 percent, the biggest two-month decline on record. May brought better news, albeit tentative, as some states allowed some so-called nonessential retailers to begin reopening.
As CEO Jeff Crivello put it, “we're in inning number three of the turnaround.” In the top job at Famous Dave's since November 2017 following a revolving door of CEOs and past management missteps, Crivello & Co. are charting a multi-faceted course toward growth as their newly formed restaurant group seeks to build a barbecue empire. Will their auspicious plans pay off or prove to be overly complicated? Perhaps Crivello says it best: “We don't know which one it is, but one of them will be right for the next 10 years.”
Channeling my inner Pam Beesly, I carefully drew vertical and horizontal guidelines on my blank sheet of paper, then sketched out a nose, two eyes and a mouth. What was I drawing? Why, a cartoon monster with instructor Bette from Young Rembrandts, of course.
On the day hair salons and nearly everything else were locked down in her locale, Bette Fetter, founder of Young Rembrandts, immediately pivoted to produce videos starring her teaching drawing lessons so students could learn at home.
What tactics really work for restaurants in crisis mode? We spoke with four sandwich brands to find out how they're driving sales and maintaining that customer connection.
When Rod Smith loaned a 17-year-old Peter Cancro $125,000 in 1971 to buy a single sub shop, he set in motion a long series of events that eventually made Jersey Mike's a sprawling, 1,700-store sandwich empire that sells more than $1 billion in subs a year.
Mary Rawlins spent 21 years in the Burger King system, ultimately serving as controller for a large franchisee. Then she heard about a little sandwich chain started by “two actual firefighters and their dad, a retired fire captain. It's a good story,” she said.
The hardest thing for longtime franchisee Scott Hatter to understand when he switched to the franchisor side: How some operators could give up so easily.
Blending charity and business, one Great Harvest Bread Company operator turned the pandemic into an opportunity to drive sales and help out as best he could.