May 4
When we did our strategic planning for 2002, we asked ourselves what we had been doing well. Advertising? No. Marketing? Not really? Food quality? Very high. Giving away free stuff? Ah, yes. We’re really good at that! By this time we had become the “go-to” restaurant in town for people looking for help with fundraising, silent auctions, those types of things. And we had given away a bucket load of free lunches at Free Day. Hmmm. Let’s give away more free stuff! So, we added the phrase “and dinner” to our banner we hang out front for free lunch day, and in 2002 started serving both free lunch and dinner. Results? 1,388 lunches (we love beating previous year results). 1,586 free dinners. We thought we might be on to something, and evidently that year 2,974 folks agreed. I won’t bore you with all the numbers, but suffice it to say we kept raising the bar, kept making sure it was fun, and people kept coming. We steadily grew the Customer Appreciation Day crowd up over the 5,000 mark. We passed 5,000 for the first time in 2007. Along the way, we had to make some changes to be sure the experience was pleasurable for everyone who came out. In year one, we tried (with little success) to pour everyone a fountain drink. It was like throwing a stick in the spokes of a bicycle humming down the road. Screech. Hurry up and wait for your drink! We tried. We had 6 people doing nothing but pumping out drinks. The mess took a a few days to clean up. We had to ditch our noble efforts, suck it up, and serve canned sodas and bottled waters. And so we have, ever since. It was critical, though, that all the food we served was exactly what was served here every day. We’ve stayed true to that, and tomorrow when you come you will get a Pulled Pork or Chicken Breast Sandwich with the same bakery-fresh bun as always. Served with homemade Cole Slaw and BBQ Pit Beans. The photo with this post shows the banner we fly over Gilbert Road prior to the event. The Town is kind enough to put it up (for a mere $200 a week) when we remember to get our name on the waiting list for the banner spot. 90 days before you want a banner hung, you had better get your request in, or some school wanting to advertise enrollments will beat you to the punch! Sign-A-Rama does an awesome job of making our banners, and we’ve been very happy with their work over the years. Hopefully more coming later today about the behind-the-scenes stuff leading up to the big day. Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow. Tad
Free Day - History Part 2
When we did our strategic planning for 2002, we asked ourselves what we had been doing well. Advertising? No. Marketing? Not really? Food quality? Very high. Giving away free stuff? Ah, yes. We’re really good at that! By this time we had become the “go-to” restaurant in town for people looking for help with fundraising, silent auctions, those types of things. And we had given away a bucket load of free lunches at Free Day. Hmmm. Let’s give away more free stuff! So, we added the phrase “and dinner” to our banner we hang out front for free lunch day, and in 2002 started serving both free lunch and dinner. Results? 1,388 lunches (we love beating previous year results). 1,586 free dinners. We thought we might be on to something, and evidently that year 2,974 folks agreed. I won’t bore you with all the numbers, but suffice it to say we kept raising the bar, kept making sure it was fun, and people kept coming. We steadily grew the Customer Appreciation Day crowd up over the 5,000 mark. We passed 5,000 for the first time in 2007. Along the way, we had to make some changes to be sure the experience was pleasurable for everyone who came out. In year one, we tried (with little success) to pour everyone a fountain drink. It was like throwing a stick in the spokes of a bicycle humming down the road. Screech. Hurry up and wait for your drink! We tried. We had 6 people doing nothing but pumping out drinks. The mess took a a few days to clean up. We had to ditch our noble efforts, suck it up, and serve canned sodas and bottled waters. And so we have, ever since. It was critical, though, that all the food we served was exactly what was served here every day. We’ve stayed true to that, and tomorrow when you come you will get a Pulled Pork or Chicken Breast Sandwich with the same bakery-fresh bun as always. Served with homemade Cole Slaw and BBQ Pit Beans. The photo with this post shows the banner we fly over Gilbert Road prior to the event. The Town is kind enough to put it up (for a mere $200 a week) when we remember to get our name on the waiting list for the banner spot. 90 days before you want a banner hung, you had better get your request in, or some school wanting to advertise enrollments will beat you to the punch! Sign-A-Rama does an awesome job of making our banners, and we’ve been very happy with their work over the years. Hopefully more coming later today about the behind-the-scenes stuff leading up to the big day. Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow. Tad
