We have had steady revenue growth throughout the first quarter. Our best increase was in March with 12.3%. January was 3.4%, Feb. so slight it's not worth mentioning, but still up, and April 3.4% again. And we have served fewer customers. I redesigned the menu last fall which increased our per plate sales a minimum 20%, but I did not raise prices, and in fact lowered a few that were out of line. The old menu was an abomination both in design and content. It had an extensive add-on menu that was confusing to people and therefore ineffective. Instead, I packaged items such as walleye with shrimp or scallops for a set price, steak and shrimp or scallops, etc. The previous manager had tried to do lower priced entrees to increase volume, but it didn't work. In order to do it he had to bring in low quality items that don't belong in the type of restaurant that it is. It just dumbed the place down and alienated the clientele we did have. I stopped it and went back to what we normally did. Serving less people allowed me to cut labor by 17% and yeah, we're all tired from not having a dishwasher on and everybody doing dishes, but we survived. Restaurant News recently stated that industry experts believe we are approaching the end of the restauant crunch for several reasons. I told my boss back in the fall that people are not going to go out as much, but they will go out because there's always a birthday, aniversary, etc. They are going to be careful where they go as they want value for their money which doesn't necessarily translate into cheap. In order to attract that business, I said we had to be better than everyone else both in quality of product and service. I hammered this home with the staff and they have responded beautifully. Even in bad times, people will treat themselves and they can justify going out to eat as a person needs to eat anyway, so it doesn't appear to be a huge indulgence. Also, many people decided to forgo major purchases such as cars and big appliances until things stabilize. A dinner out doesn't look expensive compared to a new car or big screen T.V. Restauant News believes that since the restaurants were the first to be hit, they will be the first to recover. And my final take on the situation is people were scared over losing their jobs and tightened their spending, but you can only retain a high level of panic for so long, and then they think "To heck with it. If I lose my job, I do and I'll deal with it then. Meanwhile, I'm hungry." We ran a comment card campaign that just ended. Overwhelmingly people were very pleased with the service and food and the ones who mentioned price felt it was good value, so we're right where we need to be thanks to a staff that responded and stepped up when it was critical. We're looking forward to a busy weekend with two local college graduations and Mother's Day and then on to a hopefully busy summer. I hope everyone else here has the same. Another thing, the outside of our building was starting to look kind of shabby. Hadn't been touched in years, so we rebuilt some railings, repainted the trim and added carpet to the ramp leading in which helps make us look prosperous. Hanging flower baskets are next, which we have never done but is something I always wanted. People want to go to the place that looks like it's doing well. So even if things could be better, do a few minor improvements if you can as that indicates you are looking ahead which inspires confidence in your clientele. There's always the rumor mongers that tell people you're going out of business even if there's no basis for it, so improvements indicate you are not and the rumor monger must have meant some place else.
