West Lane News Ed Op

This is an Editorial I was asked to write for the West Lane News shortly before they went out of business this winter.
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Oh, the joys of running a small business! Working harder for yourself than you ever did for anyone else, you find your satisfaction in even the smallest things. Surviving the economic slow down of last winter . . . priceless! In business just as in life, we learned to trim out the fat in our diets and run lean in order to keep our doors open. We cut expenses right and left, scrutinizing every aspect of our operations but especially our labor budget. Trimming the labor budget often meant taking more of the work load on yourself. There is no handyman. There’s you staying late to fix the gate or step or one of the many other things that breakdown in a business. We were also forced to take a hard look at our customers and who we were serving to better focus our limited marketing dollars.

In a former bedroom community like ours so close to a large city like Eugene, most small businesses will have two customer bases they need to reach in order to succeed – the locals and the visitors. We all love the convenience of shopping and dining locally, but what if the local traffic isn’t enough to keep a business’s doors open?

Locals are our bread and butter, the customers we rely on for day to day business. Visitors are the gravy, the little extra that tips the scales to carry us over until next month. We rely on our bread and butter both to frequent our business and to support our everyday needs. As part of a small community, businesses need to support other businesses. We need the mechanic down the road to keep our vehicles running, the local bookkeeper when we have questions beyond the day to day, and a friendly insurance provider down the road to protect our business investment. No one lives in a vacuum here. Still, small businesses struggle to survive on local customers alone. We need the visitors too. This is where tourism comes in and gives the local economy a boost.

The word ‘tourism’ is bandied about in political circles at the county and state level as the new industry for former logging communities. But what does it mean to you and I?

I have found it beneficial to visualize tourism as a rain (very Oregonian, I know). As the rain of tourism begins to fall near one business first, the affect is felt elsewhere as the rain gathers and accumulates on the ground. First we see puddles and then streams of runoff along the side of the road. Rivers rise. Lakes rise. Until we can all see the results of the rain and the higher water levels everywhere around town. As the Fern Ridge Chamber of Commerce motto says, “a rising tide floats all boats.” What this rather poetic example is trying to say is that when even one business is growing and doing well, it benefits us all. Whether the traffic coming through town is because Our Daily Bread is serving a tour group from McMinnville or Stillpoint Farms is hosting a summer concert, we all benefit to some degree. Visitors need gas, a meal, somewhere to shop, somewhere to play and any number of other necessities along the way. Visitors who stay and play in our community are more likely to come again and may even consider staying for good. When the business community is doing well, it’s good for everyone.

Like all growing things, businesses need to be watered and nourished. Do your part and support your local small business by frequenting it. As far as the rest . . . bring on the rain!

Goodbye Wholesale Bakery

For those of you who didn't know, Our Daily Bread Restaurant has been supplying several coffee carts both here in Veneta and in Eugene, with assorted bakery products and, until recently, our breakfast burritos. Well . . . no more! As of March 31st, the only place you will be able to find our popular Pumpkin-Gingerbread Muffins is here at the restaurant. We have been supplying some of these carts for over a year now, so we've committed to meeting the demand in-house with a larger array of pastries in the morning. This, along with the espresso we offer here, might just be enough for the disappointed regulars of our local coffee carts.

BACKGROUND
Like many aspects of the ODB that have come and gone over the last three years, the wholesale bakery idea was one of those that just fell into our laps and we decided to give it a try. We were approached by a local coffee cart about our bakery products. Because of them, we developed a rather extensive wholesale menu and decided to pursue other coffee carts. We even went so far as to hire a salesperson on a commission basis to pursue coffee carts farther abroad in Eugene and Junction City. At its height, we served upwards of 10 different coffee carts several times a week.


NOT SO GOOD NEIGHBORS
The wholesale business is a cut-throat one! Someone is always trying to get THEIR product in over yours. It was a constant haggling process with the coffee carts to get our items at lower prices. Our prices were often under-cut which required us to come back and make a better offer. Both my parents and I, come from 'let's work together' community mentality. We appreciate business relationships and expect them to be honored. We do not operate with a 'dog eat dog' mentality. We were incredibly disappointed by the underhanded actions of fellow business owners to take away our business with the coffee carts. Indeed, our entire breakfast burrito wholesale business was under cut by another local restaurant. While we were disappointed with the restaurant owner (and will never eat at his establishment again), the coffee cart owner is not blameless in this either. The coffee cart owner never communicated what was going on or gave us a chance to make a better offer. She just dropped the burritos. We'd created the wholesale menu and pricing for her and she's just threw away any semblance of a business relationship without notice.

THE DECISION
The decision to discontinue wholesale sales came about quickly based on the above circumstances and a few other reason . . .

1) Profit Margin.
Wholesale is what comes before retail as far as pricing goes. We make significantly less percentage of profit per a bakery item than if we sold it in our own restaurant. In order to make money in the wholesale business, you have to have volume. We don't have the time to grow the business fast enough to accommodate the need for volume.

2) Restaurant Image
From the beginning, we have struggled with the image of being a bakery not a restaurant. Too often, a bakery is all people think of us as. And here we are putting our name out there on a bakery item! It doesn't make much sense and gives potential customers a false impression of who we are. We are much more than a bakery.

3) Labor
The wholesale bakery orders required a delivery driver. Whether it was three items or twenty, the delivery driver (our baker) had to drive the route three times a week. The carts also need their items early so this meant that the baker had to be scheduled at a time that was appropriate for deliveries. This was rarely an efficient use of labor in a time when we were making cuts across the board to accommodate the economic challenge of the day.

All in all, we found the wholesale business to be the wrong fit for us. It took away from the restaurant and gave very little back. Our energies can be spent better elsewhere. We haven't eliminated it entirely. Instead, we set a hire minimum order for wholesale products. This summer will be supplying several local farms with bakery items for resale, but no more of this little stuff.

Community and Christmas

Maybe its because we're in a small town. Maybe its because all the behind the scences movers and shakers come through our doors. Maybe its the social atmsophere and the conversations we have with our regulars. Whatever the reason, I have never been so aware of the many individuals who do thing for others more needy than themselves around this time of year! As always, you have the small core group of people who do 75% all the work. All around I see groups raising money or food or toys for others. I have the honor of serving with serval non-profits so I get to see the stuff that goes on behind the scenes - all the meetings and planning and work parties that go into making each event sucessful. I look forward to contiued work with these nonprofits as we reach out the community members that needs us. Good job Veneta!

Our Country Store

Time is a precious, precious commodity. There's only so much in a day and it seems like something suffers when you add just one more thing. The nice thing about being in business as a partnership and not a sole proprietor is that you can split up the ultimate responsibilities of business ownership. Well . . . we at the ODB have started a few new endeavours. Catharine will be taking on the wholesale end of the ODB while my personal new area is "Our Country Store."

With its beginnings as our wine shop, "Our Country Store" will house a variety of local and regional products. Our goal is to serve tourists with a gift shop setting while keeping an inventory of products locals will want as well. "Our Country Store" will include an ever increasing inventory of such edible products as nuts, honey,cheeses, jams, our salad dressings, wines, microbrews, chocolates, crackers, and a variety of locally bottled products from Winter Green Farms including spagehtti sauce. We'll also be looking at crafty items as well - metal and woodworking and such. We presently have a line of body products from Triple Tree Farms in Lorane. The possibilities go on and on. I feel like we have only touched the tip of the iceberg as far as vendors, distributors, and craftsmen go.

We also carry with us the heritage of the Veneta Downtown Farmer's Market. For those farmers who sold products in the lot next to us all summer, we are able to provide a year round option for them - especially those products that we can shelf for a while. In collaboration with another market venue and the Farmer's Market, we'll be hosting our own Holiday Bazaar on the weekend of November 21st and 22nd. Its such a huge tradition in Fern Ridge area that there about about 29 other locations happening all on this one weekend! We're expecting a tremendous turnout considering the high level of breakfast and lunch business without having a bazaar - just pass though traffic. Although, we expect to make the real money off of the increased restaurant business, we'll be selling our own host of ODB products - baked goods, gift baskets, and such. Exciting stuff and a great kick off to our own Country Store!

Dinner Theater

Sunday, October 5th we had our first dinner show here at the ODB entitled 'A Little Dinner Music.' A local community theater group, Kaleidoscope, presented an evening of song and food preformed by the New Vision Singers. This is a group Marshall and I sing with on Monday nights, so, as you can imagine, we were quite busy that evening. Between the two of us, we handled the bartending which was much more than we anticipated. We had a FULL HOUSE (actually a little over full due to a few unscheduled guests) with 64 attendees. The audience was composed of about 70% family and friends, so they made for an easy sell. Response was great with the audience laughing and clapping spontaneously throughout the evening.

The format of the event was that of singing waiters. The nine of us who were performing also served the entire meal. Each course was followed by a 5-7 minute set of songs. For those of you who don't know, the restaurant industry is overly populated with artists of all kinds. It's very hard too earn a living in the art world, so artist often fall into the restaurant industry just looking for enough money to pay the bills while they are pursuing their real career. Anyway . . . we were blessed with some very handy performers who also knew their way around the kitchen. The entire evening was a success from everyone's standpoint - the audience, the performers, Lu the Director, and we at the restaurant. Multiple individuals requested we do this again, maybe even do it once a month!

Marshall and I each had a little solo in the big pop medley with me singing a blurb from 'Let's get physical' (yeah, I know) and Marshall singing a bit of 'Spinning Wheel.' At one point the entire cast formed a kick line for a section of the old favorite 'This is it.' Boy did we get a huge response from the audience on that one! Most songs were accompanied by 'planned movement' (not dance) so there was a lot for the audience to take in.


Our kids, Shane and Harmony were in attendance sitting with our parents in the back. The kids have been to all of our rehearsals and knew the songs almost as well as we did. We'd hear them spontaneously break out into to one of the songs in the car or at the dinner table. Makes you wonder what they're singing at school! 'Let's get Physical' does come across quite the same from a three-year-old's mouth. My Mother-in-law tells me that Shane was telling her what was coming up next during the performance and both were often singing along with us.


Practices continue as we're work towards a full-length concert on December 6th. Plans are in the works for future Dinner Shows at the ODB, so stay tuned!

A Comedy of Errors

Here we are, one month after my last post. Noble intentions often fall to the side in the face of reality. Who knew it would be this hard to stay up on my posts?! I guess it should be no surprise to me. I always had a problem keeping up on journal writings when I was younger too. Here are few big things that happened over the last month.

As some of you may have noticed, on September 13th we closed the restaurant for a private event. We hosted a wedding reception for 150 here at the ODB. I have posted a full article about this event as well as pictures on my wedding blog - http://www.oregonweddings.blogspot.com/. Marshall and I also took a vacation (yeah!) the last week of August. Nothing big. A few day trips to the coast, the lake, Corvallis and the Wildlife Safari, but it was a wonderful rest just the way vacations ought to be. Our very own Jessey took a road trip to California to see relatives and came back tanner than ever. We hired a local couple to take on the wholesale side of our business. My son started kindergarten and rode the bus for the first time. My husband ate a salad for the first time in 15 years and we had the chance to get out and socialize with a few other couples. Lots going on as I am sure is true with your family as well.

This week's post is a continuation of the last one which dealt with community involvement and how it can go wrong. Much has happened in just a month in this area of my life. (Again names are changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.) While you may not know the context of the events and issues described here, I hope that you can identify with them in the context of your own community, business or social situations. People aren't very different from each other from one place to another. That's how we get such stereotypes as 'The Gossip,' The Player,' and 'The Comedian.' To better illustrate my situation, here are the two stereotypes I am dealing with - 'The Puppet' and 'The Tyrant.'

'The Puppet' is a generally nice guy with good intentions. He's an older puppet, so he'd been around for quite a while. He has experience with performance and this is certainly not his first time on stage. Just as with any other puppet, however, his actions and words are not his own, but those of a third party behind the scenes pulling his strings. The puppet thinks he is moving and speaking for himself when in reality he is merely the kind face of an unseen and unsightly force. Often a puppet will be placed in a role of authority for best affect - the better to control with.

'The Tyrant' is usually a dynamic individual who knows people and can get a lot done. They are well-spoken, well-educated, and generally think they know everything. 'The Tyrant' is good at getting people to believe in them, a great salesperson and is generally a charismatic individual. They know all the communication tricks, just like 'The Politician', so good luck nailing them down on anything or getting a straight answer. Disagree with or question a tyrant and you are out of the club, blacklisted, disowned. Tyrants present an image of being infallible - they can do no wrong. Tyrants make horrible partners because they can't share power but rather they gather it to themselves as if it were a shield. A shield that without, 'The Tyrant' would be exposed for the real person that they are - a person just like you and me. You will never hear 'The Tyrant' apologize or say they were wrong. Humility is not a word in their vocabulary. Instead, every situation will be twisted in such a way as to make everyone else be in the wrong.

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MY SITUATION
Have you ever thought you knew a person and had a eye opening experience that threw into question every thing they'd ever said and done since you've known them? Have you ever backed someone up in the past - taken their side on an issue - only to find yourself on the other side of the fence and now having to protect yourself from that very person? Have you ever had someone tell you there is no way you can understand the level at which they are thinking and operating and then want you to back their plan - whatever it might be - whole hearted? Have you ever been in a position of accountability, but you weren't given right to oversight or insight into programs, finances, or policy decisions? Have you ever been given a smile and nod by someone only to find out later they are disparaging you both professionally and personally behind your back? Well, its a first for me and not a fun experience let me tell you!

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So . . . what do you do with a tyrant? I can only think of three options.

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1) Put up and shut up. You go along with whatever 'The Tyrant' says. You become a 'Yes man', simply rubber stamping everything that comes before you.

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2) You fight. You assert yourself, stick out your neck and be vocal. You do what you can for change and join with others with similar concerns and goals.

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3) You get out. This may be for a variety of reasons. The personal or professional risks may be too great. Maybe its really not worth it and you should just let 'The Tyrant' fail or succeed on their own (they're certainly not listening to you). Whether you are comfortable with the means or not, maybe the positive results of 'The Tyrant's' work will out weigh the bridges burnt and heads lost along the way?

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Who knows! You don't want to be yet one more person without the stamina/time/energy to face down 'The Tyrant,' but is it worth it in the end? You will be the one to pick up the pieces after the battle. Can you pick up the pieces and put them back together as they ought to be? Do you have the time, the energy, the desire? Such are the issues and questions I have been dealing with this past month. At this point I have to question whether continued confrontations are healthy for me, my business, my family, and the organization itself. And you know what, I don't have the answer.

Welcome to Community Involvement

The greatest irritant of an event planner is to be a part of an ill-planned event. I know this is a hard gripe to identify with, as there are so few people in this category. Let me see if I can relate it to you in whatever profession you are in.

Think of whatever it is that you do really well. It could be baking or fishing or raising kids. Whatever it is, its got a lot components that have to come together in order for whatever it is to turn out well. Imagine you're asked to consult the person who is doing what it is you really should have been asked to do in the first place (because you actually know what you're doing). You're also asked to help this person by volunteering your time and actually doing a very small aspect of that thing you do really well. You do your best - answering questions, raising your own questions to make sure everything makes sense, talking through it with those involved trying to nail down all the details. All the while, you're trying not to be pushy or to take charge (as is your natural inclination) as that would offend. When you see all the parts failing to come together, your concerns are not taken seriously. Instead you are simply reassured that everyone's got their part covered and it will all come together in the end. You, in fact, end up looking like the bad guy who's stirring up trouble rather than the concerned (and informed) participant that you are. You step back and let the event take its course. There's nothing more you can do any way since "it will all come together in the end." You show up where you are asked and spend the entire time reminding yourself that you are not in charge and to just take deep breaths. Does that sound familiar?

Such is the bain of an event planner - an ill-planned event I am supposed to be a part of and, as in my case, promoting and putting your name behind. When committees are making decisions, where's the buck stop? Who has the final responsibility? Who gets the praises for a success and the criticism for the failures?

I've notice that committee and group leadership is especially prone to ruffled feathers - think non-profit organizations. While I am a firm believer in consensus and collaboration, projects require direct leadership and accountability. Committees can be great for spreading out the responsibility and workload and pooling talents, but you can end up with a faulty end product when there is no one to oversee the big picture and pull all the details together. Such is the case with events. Someone has to know everything about everything, be able to answer all the questions, and make the 'in the moment' adjustment decisions. Hopefully, some of this ranting makes sense. Out of context (as it must be for the sake of both the innocent and the guilty) you may not know the people, but situation may strike a chord with an experience you've had. We've all had times where all you can do is bite your tongue, get the job done, and then go home and vent to your husband.

Welcome to community involvement!