The Flags of Spring Valley 

By Ray

Monday, Memorial Day, Decoration Day was the first time in what seems like several years that "The Flags" were allowed to fly, outside that is, without the threat of rain. I know for sure it has been since before our newletter started. I know most people are busy with their own holiday festivities. I thought I would share what was missed. This day there were 413 flags flying in what seemed to be a perfectly steady breeze that allowed them to float freely. The sound of 413 fluttering flags is amazing. The sky was as clear as could be and the sun was shining brightly. In all of the years I have attended this, the weather was the best it had ever been.

Each flag has the name of a deceased war veteran on it. Each year there are a couple of more flags on the avenue. Each year we remember a little less. One of the speakers, Phil Valle, had some comments that I thought were of particular eloquence. He commended the children that were in attendance and then their parents. No matter the age of the child, it was a sight so moving any child would have to wonder what it is all about. This can only be a step in the right direction.

Click here for a short clip from the Memorial Day session 

Credit Cards V.S. Debit Cards and the Durbin Amendment

By Ray

Credit card fees have always been a contentious issue for me. There are also many aspects of this that I don't think the average customer realizes. I have always looked at credit card fees as a sorta, kinda, a national sales tax. Of every bill I pay each month, this is the one I hate paying the most (well maybe besides taxes). With supposed relief on the way, I went to a seminar that addressed this. On July 21st, the Durbin amendment is supposed to take effect. This will effect everyone that purchases anything.

The CEO of one of the largest credit card processors, Heartland Payment Systems, was the moderator. A couple of facts he brought up I found interesting. Heartland's customers alone would save 450 million dollars with the average merchant saving $1192 per year on debit card swipe fees. Throughout the country, this will put 3 to 9 billion dollars back in merchants hands. He claimed that today 55% of all credit card transactions are debit cards. For us this would mean on a $150 ticket using a debit card, our cost would go from $3.90 to .12 cents. Pretty nice for us.

Things are not that simple though and there are always unintended consequences. That 3 to 9 billion dollars has to come from somewhere and it will come from the banks. Many will have to start charging much more for checking. Many will stop handling debit cards. Overall, the banks would like to have some more time to review the implications and make revisions. My guess is that this can and will get kicked down the road, but at least there is a discussion started. Processing a debit card should not cost the merchant the same as a credit card.

The last time I checked (it is probably less now), the average restaurant made less than 5 cents on a dollars worth of sales. Back in the mid eighties when we opened, credit card sales were only about 30 percent of total sales. Today credit cards account for almost 80%. The reason that I say it is almost a sales tax is that by law we have no right to pass the credit card fees back on to the customer. We are allowed not to take credit cards at all. If we choose to accept credit cards, then the processing fee has to be included in the price. I am not saying that I would pass this on to our customers, but I believe I should have the right to. Some types of credit cards have a swipe fee of over 4%. When your overall profit is 5% to begin with, it is a tough pill to swallow. What ends up happening is that a business increases it price to everyone, to pay for these fees. Is this fair to the customers that want to pay cash? Is this fair to the customer that do not accumulate any miles or other perks? When you pay cash or with a debit card, you are basically paying for someone else's perks. I thought the system has been broken for a while.

Now enter debit cards. There are 2 types of debit card transactions, the pin (personal identification number) and the swipe. The pin carries less risk because the customer has to enter his pin where as the swipe carries some risk related to fraud. The risk is what justifies the fees. The pin is more secure to a merchant than taking a check. You know you are getting paid. In a restaurant environment entering a pin is an inconvenience that most establishments will not put their customers through, so almost all of them do not ask their customers to enter that pin. On most of these transactions, we pay around 2.5%. I know it does not sound like much, but when you put it in the perspective that is equal to half of your profit, it is huge. Then when you consider that this is not credit that is being offered, it is basically just like writing a check. Why does it cost the same as a credit card?

Organic Food

By Jim 

Over the course of the last few years as more and more Americans are becoming conscious of their health, the term organic is all over the supermarkets and restaurants. Organic food has grown into a multi-billion dollar market, representing the fastest growing segment of the grocer industry.

As defined by the USDA, "Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation."

Over time and more so in the last 5-10 years, our culture began asking questions about the foods we eat. Where does it come from, how is it grown, what chemicals were used and how does it affect the flavor? The thought process is, the more organic it is, the better it tastes. Organic food is not grown for its uniformity of size, color or the plants yield. Non-organic simply meets the demand of a particular product. Concerns over the long term health affects of pesticides, chemicals and growth hormones used in conventional farming has people covinced to look for alternatives. Outbreaks of "mad cow" disease and E-coli have further put the scare into consumers about factory raised feedlots. Studies find that organic food contains more vitamins and nutrients than conventional methods. Others find the environmental impacts of industrial farming push them to buy organic.

As more and more people began to purchase organics, it was only natural that the big agribusiness took notice. The term "industrial organic" took shape with images of cows grazing on green pastures, pigs playing in the mud and chickens scratching in the dirt instead of all locked up in tight cages. But what has to happen for a food to be termed organic?

A food labeled 100% organic is an entirely organic whole food or is processed from entirely organic foods. Food labeled just "organic" describes food that is no less than 95% organic. "Made with organic" indicates that a specific organic ingredient is used in the processed food, although at least 70% of the product must be organic ingredients.

When buying organics, it will most likely be more expensive than conventional foods. If you would like to choose organics but are concerned about the costs, pick and choose what to buy. USDA testing shows that some conventionally grown produce contains more pesticides than other produce. Spinach, peaches, apples, strawberries or potatoes contain much higher levels. Produce that is typically unwrapped (such as bananas, onions, corn, mangos) have a lower level of pesticide. Choose organic for those that contain the higher levels of pesticide to avoid them. Choosing local also gives you a better food selection. The average food item travels over 1,500 miles from source to the table and about 20% of our daily gas output is burned moving food around the country. Exploring our local farmers markets benefits us by not only allowing us to enjoy it as its peak of quality and abundance, it is also at its lowest price of the year. 

I was one of those people that really did not care what I ate until about 7 years ago. Hot pockets and frozen pizzas were both items I enjoyed late at night after work. As I met my wife and her family, I now have the comfort and privilege to enjoy a variety of organics. My father-in-law always has a large and plentiful garden. He grows everything you can think of. You name it, there is probably at least a plant or 2 of it. No pesticides are used and you can always walk out and pick your next meal. Canning and freezing also allows us to enjoy those fresh items when it is not in season. In addition to those fruits and vegetables, he also raises chicken and cattle. It can be farm fresh eggs every morning of the year if I wanted and a steak that I know was raised on Illinois Valley corn and hay with no growth hormones or steroids. So if you ask me, yes I do believe in organics and we have some wonderful places right here in the Illinois Valley to get it from. Whether it is your own back yard garden, Boggio's Orchard and Produce in Granville, Foothills Organics in Utica and coming soon, all of our local communities have their farmers markets. These are all great ways to enjoy quality produce without all the preservatives.

When it comes to how we purchase our products here, we do try to buy organic whenever possible. There are items on our menu such as the mesculyn, walnut and gorgonzola salad where the spring mix often comes from organic farming. However, there is the issue of supply and demand. With the volume of a particular product that we need to have on hand to run a restaurant, sometimes it is hard to buy organic for everything. A lot of times seasonal items are not available, the weather in the valleys have resulted in a poor growing season or the price is at least 4 or 5 times more expensive. We do try and take advantage of our local farmers markets as well. Check out the facts on the link below on reasons why we should try to go organic.  

You Are What You Eat 

Foothills Organics 

Boggio's Orchard and Produce 

Yelping About Yelp

By Ray

When I saw this seminar in the schedule at the National Restaurant Show, I had to see what everyone was yelping about. The panel included Luther Lowe, director of business outreach for Yelp, Corby Kummer, a real food critic from the Atlantic Magazine, and Chef Stephan Richter, "Top Chef" runner up and restaurateur. Stephan's restaurant is in Los Angeles and is called Stephan's LA farm. I could immediately tell this was going to be a lively debate. A show of hands indicated that about half of the 100 people in the audience were restaurant owners, and the other half were reviewers. I was somewhat shocked at Stephan's tone right off the bat which included language that would make an overly tattooed NBA basketball player blush. To him, Yelp really was a 4 letter word. Because of the size of our market, I can understand how a restaurant in our area is not faced with the severe implications of a bad review like Stephan's restaurant would be. When you have thousands of places to choose from, bad reviews could kill your business.

He talked about how someone would get a steak medium rare when it was ordered rare, and his rating would drop to one star. He also talked about how he would know every table on a particular shift and what happened. Every customer left with a smile and did not indicate anything was wrong. Then they go home to do some damage. Stephan was livid about how he could put not just his life savings, but his soul into his restaurant. He knows what a quality dining experience is. One person with a keyboard could bring it crashing down.

Luther Lowe went on to speak about what options a restaurateur has in these situations. They can respond privately to the reviewer and try to get them to recant. He recommended that if they can't at least get an answer in 72 hours, to post a public rebuttal. He went on to explain some of the other tools business owners have available to them. I am lucky that I have not had to try this out yet. Mr. Lowe went on to explain that 83% of the reviews on yelp were positive.  

Click on the picture above to go to Uptown Grill on Yelp.

The restaurateurs in the audience also had some interesting insight. Several thought it amounted to extortion that by not having one of their premium memberships, it limited what you could do about these reviews. These memberships are somewhat expensive. An owner of a banquet facility talked about how she tried to get an extremely terrible review about a wedding event off of her review page. She claimed it was extremely unfair, not true and maybe even instigated by her competition. Since she was not a premium member, she could not do anything about it. Another banquet facility owner went on to say that he does 120 weddings a year. He said "six times a year 'bridezilla' walks in my front door". He claimed he can see them a mile away. When this happens he said, "I won't even talk to them. I tell them I am not interested. It is just not worth the bad review and I know I could never please them in a million years".

What I came away with was that here is one more thing in today's new world that a business owner has to watch and manage. Incidentally, but not on Yelp, that very week we became aware of something negative written about us on one of the social media sites. A person claimed they had three bad experiences here and they were giving up on us. Not one of the three bad experiences rung a bell with any of the supervisors. At staff meetings last week, I expressed the importance of getting the supervisors involved anytime they even thought there was an issue with our product. That we accurately, fairly and contemporaneously recorded what the issue was. That we did everything possible to make it right then and there. Some idiot once said the customer is always right. This is not true. To say this means your staff, your food, your business is always wrong. I don't believe this. I believe in my staff, my food, and my business. What might be a great experience to one customer might be a terrible review to another. We all have opinions. At staff meetings, I like to say it like this, "The customer is always right, even when they are wrong, just make them happy."

Update from Anna Marini (Past Employee) 

"I've been in Joplin, MO since Tuesday of last week, but it feels like a month. We've been working 12-16 hour days ever since our arrival. I got here ready to help in any way I could. I started in the missing person call center where people called in to report missing family members or friends. I was moved out to the field (disaster area) last Wednesday. I worked with Americorps members from Washington State and St. Louis who acted as our site supervisors. I participated in debris removal and search and rescue. This past weekend, I was the volunteer coordinator for my division C. We had over 500 volunteers work with us on Saturday and over 800 on Sunday and Monday. No, I did not get to see Obama, I was working! But it's okay. Today I started working with social workers helping people apply for disaster food stamps.

I've seen so much sadness and destruction this past week. It's been so hard seeing families lose everything they owned within a few minutes. I've had to put my feelings aside to help volunteers and teammates with their thoughts. Luckily I've been taught to take care of myself as well. All and all I'm doing fine. Just a little tired and would like a real meal. (Vegetarians don't have a lot of options)

We have extended our time here in Joplin to mid July. When I get back to Denver, I'll have some time off and then it will be time for GRADUATION!"

June Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

Jen Love

Josh Theisinger

Grant Zimmerman  

Anniversaries

Andrea Neff- 1 year

Here are three things picked by our staff, the people who know our menus the best, that they think stand out from the more than 500 items you will find on our food and drink menu. 

From Nikki - Raspberry Cheesecake - This week we have raspberry cheesecake on special. Cheesecake has always been one of my favorite desserts to get, considering I love cream cheese. Ours isn't just any cheesecake out of a box. Chef Chris made it himself here at the Uptown. This cheesecake tastes so delicious, and the fresh raspberries give it an incredible finishing taste. Share it with someone else, or hog it all to yourself! Whichever you choose, don't miss this dessert before it's all gone. 

From Ryan- Grilled Pork Filet - Our specials list this week is phenomenal. The orange roughy that Jim writes about is also excellent. Sometimes there are weeks here that I think our Chef Chris outdoes himself. This is one of those weeks! The grilled pork filet is about as tender as a regular steak filet. It just melts in your mouth. Our polenta that comes with it tastes like a homemade polenta. The shiitaki mushroom and black garlic demi glaze I wasn't so sure about before I tried this dish, but after trying it, I want this semi sweet sauce to top all of my meals. The sauteed broccolini almost makes the dish impossible to finish. I said almost. This dish is a must try! Available all week.

From Jim - Orange Roughy - Although a traditional favorite, we have added a slight twist that makes this meal taste and look amazing. An orange roughy filet that is broiled and topped with real lump crab meat. Not some stuffing mixture that hardly has any real crab flavor. To finish off this dish, it is topped with hollandaise and roasted asparagus. What makes this dish a bit different is the wehani rice that we serve with it. Wehani rice is a variety of aromatic brown rice that was developed from basmati rice seeds from India. It's slightly reddish-brown in color and has an aroma of buttered peanuts when cooked. It's quite a combination with this oscar dish.

appetizers

deep fried alligator    

lemon garlic marinated alligator buttermilk battered and deep fried. served with a creole sauce.  8.75

oysters on the half shell

blackberry point oysters from northwest coast of prince edward island, canada. clean, crisp medium to large size. initial mild sweetness with medium to high salty finish.  served with a mignonette   10.75  

artisanal cheese sampler

1. Castelinhos (Portugal)  2. Pinna Brigante (Italy) 3. Soignon Buche Goat Log (France)  4. Idiazabal, sheep cheese (Navarra-Spain) 5. Life Prov Velours Bleu (France) 6. Sap Sago, Switzerland.  serves 2 to 4 people  19.75

salad

wedged boston bibb salad

wedged boston bibb lettuce, vine ripened tomatoes, applewood smoked bacon and fried leeks with salemville bleu cheese dressing   13.50

sandwich

bacon and gorgonzola meatloaf sandwich

housemade bacon and gorgonzola meatloaf topped with caramelized red onions.  served open face on black forest rye.         9.75

mesculyn salad & panini sandwich combo

turkey, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, and brie cheese. served with a mesculyn, walnut and gorgonzola salad. balsamic vinaigrette dressing 10.75   with cup of soup of the day 12.25

entrees

orange roughy oscar

broiled orange roughy filet with lump crabmeat, roasted asparagus and hollandaise sauce.  served over wehani rice pilaf  21.75

infused chicken

two six ounce butter garlic chicken breasts served with white wine cream sauce and our seasoned rice blend  13.75

grilled pork filet

6 oz. pork filet grilled and served over polenta with a shiitake mushroom and black garlic demi glaze. served with fresh broccolini sauteed with white wine and plugra butter with a touch of cracked red pepper  16.75

side

corn sautee 

corn, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, onions and celery sauteed with wine and sweet plugra butter   5.75

dessert

raspberry cheesecake

our house made cheesecake with made with fresh raspberries in a graham cracker crust  6.25

colonial apple pie

warmed apple pie, served with sisler's french vanilla ice   cream 6.25