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Come Celebrate With Us, Thursday, June 3rd at 5pm. Special Appearance by Steve Sharp
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Loyal customers, employees past and present, friends and family you are
all invited to our open house this Thursday from 5pm till ????
We will
have appetizers, drinks, and plenty of memories to share.
Steve
Sharp will play at 5:30. We really hope to see you there.
Sincerely, Ray and
Rita With
all we had to prepare for last weeks newsletter we were a day or two
late. This week with our planned open house for Thursday we wanted to
get it out early. Here are links to all four chapters of our story. Chapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter Four |
Around the Industry
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2010 National Restaurant Show ReportBy Ray
I am a 30 plus year veteran of the National Restaurant Show. It is one
of the largest "conventions" in the world. I find it really interesting
to observe the changes over the course of all these years. The reason
being is that our industry is a microcosm of our society and our
economy. The restaurant industry has it's fingers into almost every
segment of American life. We also employee more people than any other
industry. I am sure there will be other numbers claimed that might not
match my observations, but I found the attendance and exhibitors down
again this year. I would have to guess it is about half of what it was 2
or 3 years ago. Most of the old standard, large companies that have been
exhibiting
for years were still there. I found a very noticeable lack of start up
companies and small businesses with fresh ideas. It could be because of a
lack of small business capital, the cost of exhibiting or just the
fragility of our economy. Every year the "hot dog wars" are getting more fierce. In the past you
might have had one or two booths giving out quartered hot dogs. Now
there are about ten major producer giving out full size puppies complete
with every topping you can think of. Nathans, Vienna, Dietz and
Watson,Eisenburg and Bobaks just to name a few. I went to my first seminar on the health care reform and how it will
effect businesses like mine. The National Restaurant Association
claims they just tried to limit the exposure to its members versus
actually fighting it. They claim to have had a hand in setting the 50
employee threshold for applying some of the rules. I was amazed at how
much of the
legislation is still unwritten and find it very scary that it will
probably be some bureaucrat that will be writing the fine print. They
have a complicated formula for calculating part time employees into full
time employees. From the sounds of it if you are close to that 50
employee threshold you will not want to go over it. In the end, it might mean that
it would be less expensive to close the last couple days of the month rather
than cross that threshold. Either way if you are close to the
threshold you will certainly think twice before you grow your business
and hire more people. The bookkeeping is going to be a major, major
burden. They are using a monthly cycle just like your health insurance
bill. So if you pay weekly or biweekly you will have to find some way to
provide the data monthly. They also talked about some of the reasons that we are
where we are today, one of them being our nations obesity and the
effect on all of our health
care.Coincidentally, shortly after writing this I read this article from The Business Journal of Milwaukee. It gives several examples
of how this is going to effect the restaurant industry. Including
several examples of how operators are planning to downsize and even sell
off some of their operations to fall below the the threshold. I have a
feeling this is not the last time I will be writing about this.Health Care ArticleAnother seminar
that interested me was on the web service called Yelp. Yelp is to
business and consumer networking what Facebook and Myspace are to social
networking. At Yelp, businesses and consumers network mainly through reviews.
They claim 85% of all the reviews are positive. It also makes it easy to
gauge for yourself if the review is truly a negative review or just a
negative reviewer. It can also help you as business owner to improve
your weaker points. If get one review that says your bread is stale it
could be a bad reviewer. If you get several that your bread is stale,
well then your bread is probably stale. They even have an I-phone app
where you can point your phone down a street and your phone will show
what is on that street complete with reviews.Click here for a sample of Yelp!On to the
dining scene, one of the fringe benefits of going to the show is you get
see new dining trends i.e. eating out. I am still not sure what to call
this type of restaurant. Lets call it "communal". They
are very heavy on charcuterie, meat, game, small plates and sharing not
just plates but long tables with other groups of diners. In the last
couple of years it was Publican and Bristol that opened in the outlying
areas as well as Rootstock this year. It must be a real trend now
because one has just opened on Michigan Avenue called The Purple Pig.Purple PigIs
the show moving? It sounds like a new contract is in negotiation and a
decision might be near. There has been a lot of press in the last year
about how much more expensive McCormick Place is than any other major
convection center in the US. What is funny is when you talk to a
bartender, server, or taxi driver it is their favorite week of the year.
They say things like "you restaurant people tip, you are easy to wait
on and are appreciative". When you ask which one is the worst, it is medical
related conventions. It would be a major loss if it leaves Chicago |
From Farm to Restaurant
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Epiphany Farm by Ryan
A recent article in the Chicago
Tribune (see link below) recognized a young man that had spent a few
years working as a chef in the Las Vegas restaurant scene. He had a few
years of culinary school under his belt and a few years of working under
famous chefs, most notably Thomas Keller.
It took only a few
years for the Las Vegas scene to wear him out. He came up with this idea
to grow his own food, feed his own livestock and then take that food
and serve it at his restaurant. The reason I mention this article is
because the restaurant is going to be located in Bloomington, Illinois.
Just an hour from here, this idea is something to keep our eyes on.
Ken
Myska left Las Vegas and moved to Downs, Illinois. With the help of his
wife and a couple of recruits he has already completed research and
built his farm (Epiphany Farm), he is currently in the growing process
and next year is the planned opening of his restaurant.
The
restaurant is not yet named and it will be an upscale, fine dining restaurant
which begs the question of survival, especially in this economy, in a
rural area. The idea behind replacing food cost with farming and labor
costs is an idea that has not yet been proven to work, but it is a very
intriguing idea to know that everything you serve is only what you've
handled, grown and harvested. Truly an organic restaurant, it will be
interesting to find out if Ken Myska makes it. He's only an hour away
and this was a story we thought you might be interested in following.
Chicago Tribune Article
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New Way to Find Us
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Honey Let's Eat by RyanHere is a new way to find us over the web. honeyletseat.com This website provides monthly deals where the site visitor has a chance
to win $25 gift cards to area restaurants. They also offer sweet deals
of the day that might be as simple as a free appetizer. You can sign up and have these "sweet deals" emailed to you
weekly. It doesn't cost you anything. The website contains menus of all LaSalle county
restaurants that have signed up with the site and also directs you to
the restaurants website, if they have one. How many times do you thumb
through the phone book looking for menus or how often do you surf the
web trying to find an online menu? Well, now you have this one simple
location to
help you place that carry-out order that much faster.Honey is
also linked with facebook and twitter. Honey Let's Eat |
Not Your "Everyday" Specials |
Friday Nights, Seafood Mixed Grill It
includes
a 4 oz lobster tail with
drawn butter, 4 oz salmon filet with basil
cream and 4 oz whitefish parmesan with lemon caper
butter. All for only $19.75
Monday Nights, Steak Diane Every Monday after 4 pm, we will be serving Steak Diane for $13.75. This will be just like the Red Door Inn. With Victor's stamp of approval.
Sunday, All Day, Sizzling Sunday Fajita and Margaritas You
get a chicken
fajita for two with a 64 ounce pitcher of margaritas for only $20! Imagine this on a Sunday afternoon on the patio or at a sidewalk table
with the sunshine and a nice breeze! No, your not in Cabo, but it sure
feels like it!
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On Our Special |
Blackberry Point Oysters on the Half Shell Blackened Duck Breast Tomatillo Chicken Nachos Panini Sandwich with Manchego Cheese and Roasted Vegetables Including Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Red Peppers and Portobello Mushrooms. Jumbo Soft Shell Crabs Lemon Sole Bonne Femme Steamed Mussels and Lemongrass Over Linguini Balsamic Mint Glazed Sugar Snap Peas
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Win a Free Lunch
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Foodie Fight Free Lunch Contest by Kris
Each week in the newsletter we will ask 3 questions from the Foodie Fight cards. The first person to email us (see link below) the correct answers to all three questions will receive a complimentary free lunch. The winner has to have the correct answer for all three questions, no exceptions. The following week we will publish the correct answers and the winner from the previous week. So come on in and have a drink, study the cards, test each other and have fun. Good Luck!
1. What crop is grown in the United States only on one single plantation?
2. Who is credited with developing the methods for making champagne?
3. What is the general term for cheeses made with milk from animals that live on the farm where the cheese is made?
[email protected]
Fine Print... You must be the first person to respond with all three correct answers. The response must go to the email address in the above link. You must reply within 24 hours from the time the newsletter is published. Participants are eligible to win a limit of 3 times a year.
Last Week questions and answers....
1. What is the Spanish
toast to health? Salud
2. Who was the first
president to hire a French chef for the White House? Thomas Jefferson
3. How many large whole
eggs yields 1 cup? Five
Last weeks winner of the free lunch ... Mary Kramer
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Playlist Theater |
Tickets on sale now.
Upcoming Shows
Griffin House Friday June 4th SOLD OUT
Roy Davis Friday August 13th Tickets on sale now
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Uptown Grill 601 First St. La Salle, Il 61301 815-224-4545 Mon - Thur 11 am to 10pm - Fri & Sat 11 am to 11 pm Sun Noon to 10 pm Uptowngrill.com
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You can read all of our past UPtown UPdates by clicking the link below. UPtown UPdate Archives |
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