OK.... I went to visit the Menlo Park store in No Cal today. I went around 5:30 and stayed for about 1 1/2 hours. It wasn't very busy...people just sitting around the perimeter of the dining room...booth patrons only.
I talked for quite a while with the Store Manager and met the District Manager, but we only talked briefly.
Some of what we talked about:
The stockholders meeting was attended by 24 people...many from out of town who flew in. Not a whole lot was divulged during the meeting. Apparently one of the stockholders asked about with only 24 restaurants, why are there 18 Vice Presidents? A good question which really never got answered. Talking with the Manager, I would speculate that possibly they are preparing for there massive growth spurt over the next year.... making sure everyone is in place at the top. He said one thing that did come out of the meeting that was not known was that they will probably open a site in an Airport in DC.... whether its BWI or Dulles, I'm not sure.
The Manager says that the way they do things in this company is First Class all the way. They are running as if they are a big company.
There was news today but I didn't see any press release. The Hamburger Hamlet deal was finalized today. The Distict Manager felt this was positive news and a cash positive deal. Perhaps the stock will rise with release of this news. They plan to introduce the Flame Broiled Skinnless Chicken to the Hamburger Hamlet customer in hopes to gain more name recognition. They apparently picked up HH at a good discounted price.
This particular site has never been super busy and the dining room is never full. The manager thinks and I agree that the location is not all that great. The parking is hidden behind the building, halfway down the street. The store is on a corner.. the sign on the busy side street is hidden behind a tree. Its very hard to tell what the place is.... especially with no name or visual recognition here in No Cal. On top of that, the store is elevated above ground level so that even people walking by cannot see inside the restaurant. Not even a chance to peek in to see if they may be interested. If you do happen to find the place... and then find parking...then walk to the place..hopefully its not raining...you should enjoy your meal.... but if you need to use the restroom, you must exit the restaurant through a back door, follow a few arrows, take the elevator down to the lower level and make a right. When I came back, the elevator wouldn't come back for me! I had to walk around the back of the building and re-enter thru the front.
The food was OK.... while talking to the Manager though, an employee alerted him to the fact that they were out of Sprite and Diet Coke. He introduced me to the Manager of the Color Me Mine, which is slow during the week, but pretty busy on Sundays. The KKR Manager went to get a card from the CMM Manager, but was told that they were having a problem getting them...but they should be in soon.
The Manager told me that business was either growing or at least maintaining, but he doesn't see that he is losing business at all. He does recognize that business is not at all as good as it is in So Cal, but again there is no name recognition here. They are planning one more site not too far from this one in Los Altos. Every little bit helps.
One other site they will be opening is 100 Wall Street, in NY. Maybe that will generate a bit more interest by those who invest. They still maintain they will open 80 stores by the end of '98.
Sorry this was so "here and there" but I wrote it as I remembered it. I'll add more as I remember.
I should tell you that I think the Manager is a top quality Manager from what I could tell. He'd be the type I would want running my store. He was out there talking with the patrons .... and good sign and will definitely build customer loyalty. His staff seemed very pleasant, all of whom offered a smile. I did notice that they were mostly latino and asian in a city that is mostly white and affluent. I don't say thats negative or positive but I throw it out there because I definitely noticed.
I believe that we are at the bottom and that probably we will hang around here for a while....my guess...at around 4 1/4. I will probably pick up more to average down. The top office is very business-savvy and know what they are doing. I'd prefer them to expand more in Southern CA, and now that they have 1 in No Cal and 1 more on the way, it would be nice if they opened 4 or 5 more within 30 miles or so from the one now opened.
Cheers, Mike |
