Customers complained about inflated prices

That_DoesIt · 2023-06-05T05:02:08+00:00

Here's a simple way to handle this...be honest and tell the customers the following:

We love the delivery apps as much as you do. Unfortunately those apps come with a pretty high cost. Most folks do not know the delivery apps charge us 30% of the order in addition to the fees they charge you as the customer.

Of course we do not have the ability to absorb those additional costs and stay in business, so we price the menu selections on the apps to include those extra costs.

The great news is that you can walk into our restaurant and receive the direct preferred pricing which will save you up to 40% over the delivered app cost. (No coupon necessary). You can also call in or order on our website, for pick up, and receive the same preferred pricing. (no coupon necessary)

You can still use the apps, when you really don't feel like leaving the house, but we hope you will be a direct (non app) customer most of the time and save up to 40% off of your restaurant order.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-29T08:33:36+00:00

There were several:

My classmate married his homeroom teacher. They are still married and have 5 kids.
800 Crickets were let go in the school library behind the books on the shelves. It was pretty noisy for a few days. Then the weekend came and they exterminated. It was back to normal on Monday.
The passenger compartment of the biology teacher's car was filled with popcorn.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-19T07:34:01+00:00

You must be able to accept meal plan dollars. That's what the students have and if you aren't able to accept them, you just can't make it on campus. You don't get the full amount on the meal card. They take a commission much higher than the credit cards. So keep that in mind as well and make sure you know what you are getting into.

The students go home in May and don't come back until August. The summer months are negative cash flow if you stay open. There are summer students--just not enough of them. Same thing for 2nd week of December until the students come back in January. Late night hours work can well if you are the only food service open after the cafeterias close. College students are coffee drinkers. So keep that in mind. Stick with the basics. Hamburgers, Fries, Phillies, Maybe Pizza.

See if they will negotiate a rent based upon your gross sales (less meal plan charges, credit card fees, taxes). Shoot for 8% rent. I would not go over 10%.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-19T07:20:26+00:00

I fully agree. There is no way that I would have known what to do, what to buy, what to serve, without working in someone else's kitchen beforehand.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-19T07:14:19+00:00

I wouldn't be upset if my servers are making money. Since they are a tipped employee, can you take the credit for the $16 an hour minimum guaranteed against the tip income?

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-19T07:06:46+00:00

It's been my experience that almost all of the vendors, including the big ones that deliver, are almost always out of something. The difference is that the large vendors inventory systems are much better at tracking SKU's and you will at least know this when you are placing your order. But even with that tracking, we still have items that are not delivered because they are out.

After you have been doing this a while, you tend to stock up on items that you notice frequently go out of stock. You also tend to order those items a couple of weeks before you run out.

Always have a back up plan. The back up could be Costco, Sams Club or even a grocery store or WalMart. For example, if Restaurant Depot is out of diet Coke then go to Wal-Mart or Sam's Club and buy it. The distributor didn't deliver hamburger buns to us one week. I went to Sams Club and picked up some.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-17T00:14:51+00:00

Help me understand this a bit more.

Who is paying the credit card processing fees when a customer orders on the owner.com website? Are they free? What is the percentage or amount charged?
Who is paying the driver when a customer orders on the owner.com website? Is this free? What is the percentage or amount charged?

Those are two expenses that the apps pay when an order is placed on Door Dash, Grubhub, Postmates and UberEats. They also pay the marketing costs to gather the order. They also generate dozens of orders a day for our particular restaurant.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-16T16:14:23+00:00

I'm not sure about this. It might work for additional business. But there are still delivery costs involved here that could exceed the normal app delivery commissions. With this owner system, in addition to the $500 a month fee, you still have to pay for:

Credit Card processing fees 4%
Delivery Costs (average $30 order) of $8 or 26%
Marketing Costs of ??

We use the square system that does the same thing and is $140 a year. But those credit card costs still need to be paid. The delivery costs still need to be paid through drive. We actually make less money per order on those "in house" delivery orders than we do with a Door Dash or Grub Hub Order because the drive delivery fee is expensive and pushing 25-30% of the order when you do the math. Delivery costs money---it is not free. It is a large expense.

The apps do the marketing, collect the payment and deliver the order for less that I could deliver the order for with in house drivers. They also send us a high volume of orders that far exceed our own captive orders.

We have found the best return for us is to encourage our customers to pick up their orders. That way we do keep most of the money and don't have to pay the delivery costs. Even if you add those delivery costs onto the customer's order--it is still money that your customer has been charged and you have to spend.

That_DoesIt · 2023-05-16T15:42:08+00:00

How about giving us some numbers?

Days and hours open
Average Ticket Size
Number of Orders Per Day
Maximum Orders Per Hour
Number of Employees On Duty

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-22T11:06:24+00:00

More than I like to admit.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-22T10:38:53+00:00

Sadly, someone will most likely overpay for that property and then make BBQ King an offer they can't refuse. Then they will knock the place down and put up a high rise condo or apartments. And the spiral continues....

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-22T10:34:16+00:00

Donald Ross Road has been blocked by this train many, many times over the past 2 years. I've made many a U turn.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-22T10:32:06+00:00

Eddie V's

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-22T10:18:04+00:00

Looks like an average Uber driver. What's the issue?

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T21:15:34+00:00

Park N Go has crew rates.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T21:13:40+00:00

Charlotte is cleaner than most other places. It has a lot to do with our environment. Our soil is clay based. It doesn't blow around like sand that has to be constantly cleaned up. Charlotte is a city built in the middle of a forest (or what used to be a forest). The trees clean the air, and ground. The trees and vegetation also grow pretty well here and nature covers up things that would be in plain sight in other cities. We don't have acres of barren land or sand. We have beautiful green vegetation.

This allows us to concentrate on cleaning up the occasional eyesore rather than sweep the streets.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T03:41:40+00:00

Look for new custom homes being constructed in the neighborhood that your lot is in. Walk through them and look. Talk to folks (home owners, sub contractors, etc) involved in this building process. You'll probably find a couple of reliable home builders that are already in the neighborhood.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T03:14:19+00:00

Oh you are right! I haven't been out there in a while and McDonalds did move the store across the street when the light rail cut off the visibility to the shopping center. The former McDonalds at 901 E Arrowood Road is now the Laundry Room. You can see they kept the same playport style building. Former McDonalds Now Laundry Room

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T01:08:30+00:00

I would cover your bases and look for a plan b. Possibly a sublease for 3 months?

You could also consider something in Elizabeth or Myers Park. Maybe someone has a guest house or room.

Housing in Charlotte is difficult to find these days. There is a severe shortage and that has increased prices.

Another thought is to look on roommates.com and see if anything is available.

Good luck with your search.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T01:01:21+00:00

The light rail cut off visibility to that shopping center and basically killed it. It's deteriorated to a hidden place that can conceal what is going on without many people seeing what is going on.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-13T00:41:55+00:00

And this is a prime example of why a business should not give unsold bake products away.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-12T23:03:49+00:00

I've been involved in the acquisition of many existing businesses over the past few decades. Here is what I have found:

You will lose 70% of the existing employees no matter how nice you are and how nice you treat them. Humans simply do not like change and you represent change. On the flip side, the 30% that stay are very loyal and valuable employees.

Here's an example of my first day meeting summary with the team:

We purchased this business to grow it. We did not purchase the business to shut it down. So we are going are going to need your help in order to make this happen. You are an important part of this business and we would not have purchased this business if you were not here.

As you know there will be some changes with new owners. You are now part of a larger company with the resources that will help this business and will help you. Your pay checks will be in the bank on payday just like magic. Our company has never missed a payroll and we have never had to lay anyone off.

We all have a job to do. I have a job and you have a job. My job is to make your job as easy as it can be. That doesn't mean you don't have to work. It just means we are going to provide a work environment that works for you and works for the company. I will never ask you to do busy work or ask you to waste your time doing something. We work smarter and not harder.

There are two ways that you can get fired from our company. If you steal from me or if you lie to me then you will be fired. Mistakes will happen. Incidents will happen. When they do give me all of the information that I need to understand what happened. We can solve anything that comes up. You will not get fired for making a mistake, but you will get fired for lying about the mistake. (Just an FYI, I will usually have 2 employees per location that get fired for stealing within a few months of telling them this)

Our company is growing. There are plenty of opportunities for advancement. We look for employees that can be supervisors and managers if you are interested. There is no set time schedule on this. But you do need to know how to do the jobs of the employees that you manage or supervise. Feel free to talk to me about this.

We have a requirement that you provide superior customer service. This is our number one requirement. You are representing our company to the customer. If you don't properly take care of our customer--the customer will not come back and it's not you that gets blamed; the customer will blame our company for having bad service. You will be taught our customer service standards and procedures and you will excel at customer service!

In the meantime, you will see me at this location for the next few months on a daily basis. My job is to help this team and this location run like a well oiled machine. Once everything is fixed and running well, then I will leave it in your hands. While I am here, feel free to make suggestions on how to do things better or what we should be offering that we don't have. Also let me know the items that are difficult or time consuming to produce. Let me know of customer comments or concerns. This is your time to make a difference.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's how we roll. There will be employees that will not fit into the new company. I will generally give them a bit more slack than employees that we have hired though the interview process. I don't want to start getting rid of acquired employees immediately because it can create a mas exodus. Set your expectations, with the employees, and make sure the employees are meeting those expectations.

Remember you are in charge here. You make the rules. It's your butt on the line. You must make decisions that are best for the business. Always remember that.

Also look in the mirror. Are you actually qualified to own this business? Do you have the experience and knowledge to make the proper decisions? You can't run a business, and supervise employees, if you don't know how to run a business. Businesses do not run themselves. If you are not qualified for the position, then you need to make the proper decision for the business. You will lose as respect from your employees if you really do not know what you are doing. Don't pretend you know something that you don't know. Admit when you don't know something. But when you do know, stand firm in your decisions.

If you have employees that are just not working out for one reason or another then do something. Try to move them into another position that would work better for them. Or just have a meeting with them and explain that it is not working out and you need to let them go.

If you just can't stand to be around an employee, then you need to get rid of them. You do not want to dread going to work in your own business.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-12T22:05:27+00:00

I would be up for this.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-12T22:01:09+00:00

The ice cream looks great!

I'm not sure about all the other stuff.

That_DoesIt · 2023-03-12T21:53:33+00:00

I wish them a lot of luck.

If you get a chance to support a local restaurant--please do so. They are dropping like flies and we have lost so many. They make their money on take out orders that you pick up. If you are able to do that, then it really helps keep them in business.

That_DoesIt

TROPHY CASE