Just to wrap up the break-in issue which was my last blog post, the Manatee County Sheriff's Department captured the young man responsible for that episode. He went to trial, pleaded guilty, and was fined and so on and so forth. He was mandated to pay the costs I incurred as a result of the break-in. He even wrote a letter of apology. Haven't received any money yet, but I think that will take time since he's a teenager and probably isn't working on a regular basis. 'nuf said!
On another note, both Manatee Memorial Hospital (MMH) and Carmella's Casa Italiana (CCI) enjoyed a busy season. It seems like I've been burning the candle at both ends; but really, what else can I expect? I work full time plus take call at MMH and CCI is my business which classifies me as a "busy restaurant entrepreneur." There's a chuckle in there somewhere...... And right, if I could only master "entrepreneur" I could hang up my scrubs and scrub hats once and for all. We'll see.
We started a Loyalty Program that is really well accepted. We had another loyalty program about 18 months ago. Leasing software was involved and there was a steep monthly fee. The return on investment was minimal and the customers complained about various aspects of that program, so eventually I cancelled it. I devised this new program, it's free to initiate and maintain, and so far, no customer complaints. I call that a win-win situation!
Most of the tourists left. I hate to see them go. They are a pleasure to serve and their loyalty and word of mouth recommendations are priceless. They are the backbone of my business during the winter months and I am always eternally grateful for their arrival and extremely sad over their departure.
It looks like the price of gas peaked and currently it's down to $3.80 in some places. Since the tourists are gone the traffic is less congested and with price of gas dropping, it seems we're acquiring more business from the locals. Before the economy took a dump in 2008, we had a booming business from the locals. It's going to be great when that happens again. One of the guys who used to be my dishwasher stops in periodically. He said, "You're name is out there." So, apparently we're doing something right.
Besides focusing on retrieving business from the locals, we're also focusing on catering. CCI is really small, so if we ever really want to make it to the big time, we have to develop our catering business. We recently catered a golf benefit in Bayshore Gardens. The food went out on time and there was enough of it. The golfers were pleased and promised to use us again next year.
I'm also creating a new website and we have a new domain name. The old website and domain name will soon be gone. I started the new website but it's taking long to build because I have to learn my way around the software. I purchased the template this time so that the next time the web hosting site changes, I can take my entire website with me.
Learning never stops, so I am not complaining. It's a process and slowly but surely I'm getting there. I'm going to set this one up a little differently and I'm going to do more of a separation between the menus. If this is Greek to you, eventually it will all make sense. Feel free to visit the new site. It won't be helpful as far as ordering food, but you'll be able to watch the construction, so to speak.
I always have fun doing these sort of things, and typically as time goes on, I get more creative. Maybe too creative......Deborah mentioned that possibly this new website will be classy. I agreed. Good idea. Then it occurred to me that perhaps she didn't exactly appreciate all the sexy girls and all the other craziness I incorporated into the old website. Actually, it was all well and good and fun and games until the day she was talking to our good customers who also happen to be priests. She was showing them the site and decided to scroll down, right to the place where some scantily clad women had happy new year written across their collective butts. Oh well, sex sells and it was fun while it lasted!
The only difference between the two domain names is the hyphen. The old site was http://casa-italiana.info/. The new website is located at http://casaitaliana.info./
So, it's a matter of letting go and moving on. I can do that. What do you think? Can you?
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