Our Strategy and Implementation Plan...

The marketplace is dynamic and successful customers carefully examine new developments and trends. Our perspective on marketplace developments and trends has been developed from monitoring and assessing the behavior of 7.5 million guests this season, which we believe qualifies us to make this assessment. 

These are exciting times for those of us who provide mobile food and beverage services. Our industry segment has changed, in terms of Guest Traffic, guest expectations of Value and guest Consumption Habits. Customers have invested substantial capital to generate increased Guest Traffic but this increase has not come without challenges. Shifting Guest 

Traffic requires a non-traditional approach to meeting guests' food and beverage requirements. Guests still demand Value for their money, which links retail sales success directly to the Value Equation. Successful marketing of food and beverage products to these guests must also be responsive to their new Consumption Habits. 

New attractions have been added which dramatically increase Guest Traffic, but which radically alter traffic patterns and further reduce available space. In-line restaurant facilities are rendered functionally obsolete by these traffic pattern changes. It is the worst of all worlds for customers,

as new  attractions are lacking adequate food and beverage facilities and in-line restaurant facilities are located in areas that guests infrequently visit. The continual addition of new attractions causes Guest Traffic patterns to constantly change. Construction of new in-line restaurant facilities continues the vicious cycle. New attractions consume significant space which, in many cases, was formerly used for food service. Future food and beverage sales must come from locations with much smaller footprints. Mobility and space are essential and that means the use of nontraditional food and beverage assets.

Guests are still purchasing food and beverage products with the Value Equation in mind, which is Value = Quality + Service + Convenience + Reasonable Pricing + Bulk. The good news for those of us who live by this equation is that pricing is not as strong a 

factor as it has been previously. However, the other components are as significant as ever.  Quality is sought by all guests, which they often associate with well-known and established brands. Private label food and beverage products are not generally associated with quality, regardless of how good the product appears or tastes. Guests this season reacted negatively to unknown brands (distributor private labels) with inferior ingredients (artificial, bag-in-the-box lemonade versus 100% natural lemonade). It is difficult to create Value with food and beverage products that the guest believes to be of lesser quality. Quality is one of the most important factors in the Value Equation.

Service is a function of labor and an efficient food and beverage distribution system. Minimizing management turnover is an important challenge, as each manager must be thoroughly trained before being placed in charge of the hourly worker team. Recruiting, hiring and training of the vast numbers of required hourly workers takes a significant amount of time and a successful system. Management and hourly worker teams represent a substantial investment. Customers whose events are either brief (e.g. weekend) or seasonal (e.g. summer) require the expertise and experience of a food service company that excels with its' recruiting and training system. Efficient distribution systems can make employees much more productive by improving product throughput. Guests will accept longer lines only if the lines are moving quickly. It is the long and slow moving line that causes guests to simply pass on the experience. Good Service is another key component in the Value Equation.

Convenience is often overlooked yet it is particularly important as guests attempt to make the most of their day. Food and beverage assets must be convenient to the guest, or impulse purchases are largely lost. It is for this reason that well-situated mobile food and beverage assets will generally gross more than in-line restaurant facilities that are inconveniently located.

Reasonable Pricing is expected by captive guests at outdoor and/or seasonal events, as opposed to very competitive prices when they are not captive. We have found very little resistance to aggressive pricing this season when the menu was intelligently structured and the guests believed they were receiving Value under the Value Equation. Premium pricing can therefore be synonymous with Reasonable Pricing in this environment. The same marketing rules continue to hold, e.g. lead with very reasonably priced menu items for those seeking lower prices and increase prices for differentiated products with perceived greater value.

Bulk is considered by guests on a visual and physical basis. Human beings are very visual which requires a product appearance that creates the look of a large, substantial product. Guests will remember the product on a physical basis once consumed and continue purchasing those products that provide them with a sense of product mass, that "filled" feeling. Cotton candy is an example of a food product that is successful visually but fails on a physical basis.

Consumption Habits are changing in outdoor venues, as few guests wish to consume a full meal in a restaurant setting. They prefer to continually snack on many different food and beverage products throughout the day as they visit attractions. A guest must consume several hot dogs before the hot dogs equal a meal. A quick comparison of a hot dog versus a cheeseburger and regular french fries makes the point. Each of our regular hot dogs with bun weighs approximately 2.5 ounces, while a cheeseburger with topping and regular french fries weighs 12.7 ounces. It would take more than five (5) hot dogs to equal one (1) cheeseburger with fries. We noted very few guests seeking healthy food and beverage products, i.e. fat free hot dogs, sugar free lemonade, etc.