DailyFranchiseNews.com

‘Tis the Season to Give

The holidays may be winding down but here’s one business owner that gives and gives and gives all year long.

YourHub.com reported that Katherine Keeley, a former educator, first opened American Ramp Systems in 2004 with her sister, Dianne Larkowski, but assumed sole ownership of the business in March of 2006. Since that time, Keeley and her team - which includes daughter Robynn, sons Brandon and Kevin, and daughter-in-law Mandy - have installed approximately 200 ramps throughout the state of Colorado and have plans to continue providing their services to those in need well into the future.

"I wanted to make sure that any business I started would be one that truly improved the lives of others and American Ramp Systems does just that," said Keeley, 54. "Whether one is elderly, disabled or recovering from surgery, everyone wants to maintain their independence and I'm able to provide my clients with a way to do that every day."

In addition to obtaining business through referrals from hospitals and assisted living facilities, Keeley also works with several national charities including Rebuilding Together and Volunteers of America. Through Rebuilding Together, Keeley helps the organization's local chapter to help people safely restructure their homes and improve accessibility. According to Phil Kroeker, a member of Rebuilding Together's board of directors, Keeley has assisted the organization in 16 installations and is a wonderful individual that is always willing go above and beyond to ensure that each project is done right. "We couldn't ask for a better partner," said Kroeker. Keeley also recently began working with Volunteers of America's Senior Community Care, an all-inclusive care program for elderly residents of rural regions, and has since donated time, labor and materials for three ramps. Center director Eva Veitch couldn't be happier, stating, "All we need to do is take the measurements and Katherine takes care of the rest. And with our program growing as fast as it is, we don't know what we would do without her!"

"A Dog's Disney World"

If you aren’t fortunate enough to have a pet-friendly office like ours, don’t fret: Fido and Fluffy don’t have to sit at home waiting for you all day long any more.

The Sheboygan Press reported that Central Bark Doggy Day Care, a franchised operation with 30 locations in seven states, is the equivalent of a dog's Disney World. Children's plastic "Little Tyke" furniture, tennis balls, pea gravel pit stop areas and wading pools enhance the outside and inside play areas. Rubber mats provide traction indoors, while the outside play area is paved for easy cleanup. Soothing classical music plays in the air-conditioned nap rooms, dog murals and paintings by local artists adorn the walls and a welcoming full water bowl sits at the front entrance next to a pet boutique.

"We want them to want to be here," said Sheboygan Central Bark owner/manager Linda Gurath about her clients. "Really. I am one of those parents who was feeling guilty when I went to work every day ... the dogs look at you with those big sad eyes. We really want to take the stress out of it for them." Gurath, a former corporate controller, opened her Sheboygan Central Bark location in late August. She appreciates being able to bring her four canine "kids" to work, she said, and also enjoys being a surrogate mother, noting that the dogs grow and develop as they get used to their new daytime digs. "Some come in and they're a bit shy — to see them blossom and start to participate with the other dogs is really great."

Adrianne Spaulding, owner of the Manitowoc Central Bark location, reiterated the social benefits to participating dogs. "You can take your dog to the dog park and meet the random dog, but you don't know what you're dealing with. You're more likely to know what to expect in an environment like this. We see our clients regularly, we have a one day per week minimum commitment, and any changes in attitude and behavior, any nuances, even very subtle ones, we're actually quite in tune with." Central Bark owners also make a point of being in touch with their surrounding communities. "We're always doing something fun, seminars and parties and training," Spalding said. "If day care doesn't work for you, there are other things going on." Franchise owners are also required, per the corporate offices, to donate a portion of their profits to charities, with many, said Spaulding, choosing to support Dog Bless America, a charitable organization that helps to provide war veterans with service dogs.

Ice Ice, Baby

Now may seem like an odd time to talk about frozen treats but it's a franchise and news so we’re going to let y’all know about it.

The Houston Business Journal reported that Trevose, Pennsylvania-based Rita’s Italian Ice will open a store in late spring – the first of 50 planned for the area. Its signature product is its Italian ice, which is smoother than a snow cone and combines ice with fresh fruit that is mixed on-site in batches and served within 36 hours.

Mark Mele, vice president of franchising for Rita’s, says the stores will be located in busy strip shopping centers with major anchor tenants. He says the retailer saw high demand from franchisee prospects in the Houston area who are already familiar with Rita’s. “We love the fact that Houston has such warm weather and is one of the largest cities in the U.S.,” Mele says.

A Resolution You’ll Actually Keep!

A new year is just three days away…have you made your resolution(s) yet? If not, here’s one to seriously consider.

Nation’s Restaurant News reported that Tossed has created the Resolution Salad to appeal to health-minded consumers during a time of year known for personal vows to hit the gym, eat better and shape up. The salad will be available from January 5th through March 1st; Eric Clark, chief operating officer of the Fort Lauderdale-based chain, worked with two of his chefs to come up with the Resolution Salad. The salad is made with hearts of Romaine, baby rocket or arugula, mandarin oranges with a little bit of their juice, jícama, diced tomatoes, sliced carrots, and slightly steamed sugar snap peas and mixed with the chain’s proprietary strawberry-balsamic vinaigrette. Clark uses the slightly bitter arugula to provide a different note for the Resolution Salad.

“With salads nowadays, the lettuce is the base of consistency, but it never has great flavor,” he says. “We are fans of arugula.” Clark and his team are going for the healthful angle to capitalize on guests who want to turn over a new leaf, so to speak, as 2009 gets underway, but he was intent on giving consumers a good deal as well. “It’s the lowest-calorie thing we got out there,“ he says. “We kind of tossed the food costs thing away. We took some expensive ingredients. I said, ‘Let’s not calculate the food costs until we are done.’ If we lose money, it is all about giving back.” Additionally, the restaurant is holding promotions in different markets throughout the week of January 5th through 8th in which the Resolution Salad is free for a single day, and all the proceeds from other sales that day go to the stores’ favorite local charities.

Pitch Perfect

Does your job allow you to wake up every day and do something you truly love? If not, take a cue from Daniel Ferrel.

The Herald-Zeitung reported that after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army and nearly 10 years with Apple Inc., Ferrel decided to turn his passion for America’s pastime into a full-time career. This past September, and after a two-year search for the right location and building, Ferrell scored a career-making homer when he opened Extra Innings, part of a 35-strong franchise first established in Boston more than 12 years ago.

“I’m very proud to say Extra Innings - New Braunfels is the only premier indoor baseball and softball training facility in [Texas’] Comal County,” Ferrel, 34, said. “With year-round practice facilities, nearly a dozen professional instructors offering various clinics and our nationally-recognized pro shop, we are set up to be a complete ‘one-stop shop’ for everything baseball and softball.”

Housed in a 15,500-square-foot building, much of the facility is taken up by a total of eight netted and artificially turfed “batting tunnels.” One tunnel is mainly reserved as a timer-operated batting cage, while the remaining seven are multi-use, retractable tunnels, allowing players of all ages and skill levels to work on their pitching, hitting and fielding. As well as the tunnels, Extra Innings has a specialized circuit training area where the art of hitting is honed. And, while the pro shop is big enough to meet the needs and price ranges of players of all ages and ability levels — including the ability to custom-fit any size team — Extra Innings also has a private area where friends and family members can enjoy birthdays or other private events.

“We are an all-year-round facility where the game never ends,” Ferrel said. “Of course, we are an important place for those seriously focused on improving their skills, but Extra Innings is a very family-friendly place where parents and children can come to for a relaxing and fun evening out.”

New Kid on the Block

Being new in town can be difficult but that hasn’t been the case for Glenn Miller.

The News Virginian reported that Miller’s new Waynesboro business, McAlister’s Deli, has been thriving since opening its doors in July. Miller also owns another McAlister’s in Harrisonburg and 18 Arby’s restaurants in Illinois with his brother, Ian, and was excited to offer “a healthier’’ alternative to traditional fast food fare. He heard about McAlister’s from a fellow Arby’s operator, and liked what he saw.

“He seemed very pleased with McAlister’s,’’ Miller said. Miller also said the languid economy hasn’t dampened the traffic at his restaurant. “They like our product,’’ he said. “The restaurant is doing remarkably well. I thought it was a great site. Target and the big box stores help.” Miller’s future plans include a McAlister’s in suburban Richmond.

Top-Shelf Opportunity

Matt and Beverly Ferguson didn’t have to look far to find a business to help them weather the real estate industry meltdown. In fact, they found what they were looking for right in their own backyard.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the Fergusons found ShelfGenie – a franchise that designs and installs custom Glide-Out shelving in homeowners’ existing cabinets, pantries and cupboards – to be the perfect complement to Matt’s background in homebuilding. While the Fergusons know that no business is truly recession-proof, they think ShelfGenie is mighty close. "Out of all the options we had, this is the one that has the most potential in this economic climate," said Matt.

ShelfGenie specializes in Glide-Out shelving that makes cabinet space easier to use. The shelving, made of Baltic birch wood, is milled and assembled to custom specifications. The product was developed eight years ago out of a Goochland County home garage and marketed until now through affiliated dealers until one year ago when ShelfGenie Franchise Systems was started in the Atlanta area to convert the company's sales to a franchise system. The company currently has 41 franchises in major urban markets nationwide and expects to add 10 shortly in San Francisco.

"A lot of franchise companies don't work well in this environment, but ours does," said P. Allan Young, a Mechanicsville resident and chief executive officer of ShelfGenie, which emerged from a Richmond area company he helped to expand. Young originally was a business consultant to what was then known as Shelf Conversions and after a six-month stint in the Middle East for the Army Reserve, he returned to the Richmond area in late 2005 and joined the company. He became a part-owner of Shelf Conversions in 2006. About the same time, the company changed its name to G-O Manufacturing and split the retail business into individual Shelf Conversion dealerships, including one owned by Young in Richmond. The company grew quickly to a distribution network of more than 30 dealers. The company – now owned by Young, three business partners and three outside investors – established ShelfGenie as a franchise company a year ago to build a stronger network for marketing its products and services. Each franchise covers a territory of about 250,000 households. As a result of the changes, the company's revenue grew 136 percent from 2005 to 2006, and 275 percent to 2007, according to Young. "A lot of it comes from being very, very small . . . and growing into a national organization."

Happy Holidays from the DFN Team!

Though most of you are already be up to your elbows in gift wrap, decorations and in-laws, we at DailyFranchiseNews.com wanted to take a moment and thank all of our readers for another wonderful year. We will return on December 29th but until then, have the happiest of holidays!

Beer Barons, Beware!

While a wink and a free drink may help a bartender score a larger tip, it can wreak havoc on a bar’s bottom line if it happens too frequently. So how are these establishments to increase their profitability and reduce wasteful and dishonest practices? Read on for how just that is happening in Milwaukee.

BizTimes Milwaukee reported that Greg Clark acquired the franchising rights for BEVINCO, which uses custom-designed software to measure existing bottles of alcohol against purchase orders and sales receipts on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to determine how much product went missing and was not sold and how that affects the company’s profitability.

“We start by doing a secret audit at first,” Clark said. “That way, none of the bartenders change their habits. After we conduct the secret audit, we can show owners how much they are losing on average in a one-week time period.” According to Clark, all restaurants experience some degree of liquor inventory loss, but some could be losing more than $3,000 per week. “Almost no one believes me when I first show them how much they lost,” Clark said. “They are shocked and generally want to know right away how they can fix it to get that money back.”

Lost liquor can occur due to over pouring, running of the beer tap, spilled drinks, drinking behind the bar and employees giving away drinks, Clark said. Once an owner decides to advance beyond the secret audit, BEVINCO employees will conduct a meeting with the entire staff and walk them through the audit process, Clark said. Typically, BEVINCO employees will come every week to count the liquor, beer and wine inventory. All bottles and kegs are weighed on a scientific scale that is connected to a laptop, equipped with the BEVINCO software. The inventory is then tallied against weekly sales, pinpointing any discrepancies between liquor amount sold and amount used.

After the audit, Clark will meet with the staff and give the owner some tips on how to curb some of the habits that lead to loss of revenue. The tips can be as simple as just making the staff aware that the audits are being done, making sure everyone understands portion size and drink recipes, or as severe as taking away staff discounts, shift drinks and drinking behind the bar. If revenue doesn’t go up, BEVINCO has the ability to perform random daily audits in order to pinpoint which shift is losing the most liquor, but it usually doesn’t get that far, Clark said.

“Usually, the staff changes their habits before it gets to that point,” he said.

Brinker Says Bye-Bye to Macaroni Grill

During this time of year, the mention of macaroni usually conjures thoughts of these, not these. But, as many of us well know, this is a very different holiday season than previous ones.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Brinker International Inc. has completed the sale of Romano's Macaroni Grill. Brinker wanted to sell the brand outright but those plans were stymied by the tight credit market and challenges facing the Italian-themed chain, which got high marks for food but struggled to find an audience. So Brinker, also parent of Chili's Grill & Bar, sold an 80.1 percent stake to Mac Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital, for about $88 million. Brinker paid Golden Gate $6 million to retain the other 19.9 percent. In addition to the sale price, Brinker expects to receive a potential tax benefit of about $44 million. Money from the sale will be used to pay down debt.

"We greatly appreciate the hard work, patience and tenacity our respective teams exhibited to finalize this complex transaction," Chuck Sonsteby, Brinker's chief financial officer, said in a statement. As part of the deal, Brinker will provide services such as payroll and accounting to the chain for at least one year. Macaroni Grill restaurants will also continue to participate in Brinker's gift card program.