[judylou]

It boggles my mind that owners of businesses just hire teens to run their stores. These kids aren't the least bit interested in the business. They just want a few dollars. I work with a bunch of kids and if they don't feel like coming to work they just call off. I realize they are cheap labor but what you pay for is what you get. They do all kinds of things that I really don't think most adults would do, like instead of washing all the expensive stainless steel utensils they just throw them in the garbage. I would fire them on the spot. Some days I say if I was the boss, I would be running this place by myself, I'd fire every last one of them.
The owners of the businesses in the villages need to know that the Villagers are old, but not stupid. They worked all their life to get that retirement and they are not going to throw it away at a place with bad food and bad service. Only the strong can survive in this bad economical times we live in.

[Puterguru]

Originally Posted by schwarz

as a restaurant manager I can easily tell you why many fail. Poor management, poor service and not good value. Look at Oakwood, lines every day...why? Great food, great prices and excellent and fast service...they run lines year round. Villagers know where the value is.

Exactly!
There are plenty of restaurants that are always busy and plenty of them that are not. It simply has to do with consistent food and good management.

I get tired of hearing people say "It's the developer, high rent, blah blah blah"

[inda50]

One of the reason that businesses in the villages should not be going out is the low cost of labor. Perhaps they are not trained properly or selected properly, but there can be no doubt that there is plenty of labor to choose from. how they are trained is a different matter.

When times are good almost any reasonable business can make out, but when costs of doing business goes up the business owner must adjust his cost vs selling price vs propensity of consumer to buy. After all the customer is also thinking about his abilty to afford the purchase.

Who shares the belt tightening??? I guess not the developer.

[PlanetSmoothie]

Hello Villagers-

I am the current owner of the Planet Smoothie located in Lady Lake across from Home Depot. I read talk of the villages all the time to see what is going on and read what residents are saying about local restaurants. Residents give so much feeback on this site that I am amazed more managers from restaurants are not on here and part of the discussion. I am in no way trying to solicite or advertise for free, I just to be apart of this forum as a business owner.
I have been in my location for over a year now and I would say that 15% of my customers are village residents. The rest are those that work in the area. I have advertised and advertised and I feel the product is phenomenal! I work in my store Mon-Fri and some weekends. I do have teenagers that work for me as well however they do not run my store as in some cases in the area. My rent is average however it is very frustrating to get in and out of my plaza. I wonder everyday what I am doing wrong due to slow sales and lack of customers that live in the villages. :dontknow:
I have a second location in Volushia County that is very successful! Help villagers, your feedback means the world to me!

[villages07]

Smoothie,

Probably the biggest factor is that you are not golf cart accessible. However, as the new shopping center continues to fill out and get busier, hopefully this will improve your business.

Kudos to you for reading this forum to understand the pulse of the community and what makes us happy and what makes us angry. That's very business-savvy of you.

I'm not that much of a smoothie drinker but I have heard good things about your products...also, doing sandwiches now if I recall correctly?

Good luck in building your business.

[wlou]

My take on the empty restaurants, etc..As a former business owner in a service related business here in VA ( for 20 years) and a business coach...Service,service,service...Our home in TV is closer to LSL, and I can tell ya, if you go to the Italian place there, the food is OK..( not great, but good) however, the service is SO bad, we just quit going...It is not that hard to serve customers,,but when you act as if the customers are interrupting YOUR evening, then we wont come back. At least pretend like you are happy we are there and supporting your paycheck, maybe, just maybe we will try it again..Look at Bone fish Grill..Always a line, always busy and we still keep going even if it is a 40 min golf cart ride. The service and the food is excellent...If anyone wanted to be sucessful in TV, they could. They only need to be accessible by golf cart, good servers and quality food..hey, I think it would be great if a pool of villagers opened a restaurant..If everyone had a small share in it and took turns working, I would be willing to bet it would be a huge success!!

[NJblue]

PlanetSmoothie,

I hope you are still around when we move down there. I have a Planet Smoothie close to where I work and I go there for lunch quite frequently - love the Chocolate Elvis!

Based on your current location, I can say that I would schedule my visits to Home Depot around lunch time so that I could grab lunch as part of my Home Depot run. Thinking along those lines, perhaps you could make a joint arrangement with the manager at Home Depot. Perhaps they would let you put a sign in their entrance advertising your business and offering a 10% discount to anyone that shows a Home Depot receipt from the current day. That way, you would benefit from some of the Home Depot traffic and eventually build a loyal following who will come even if they don't have to go to Home Depot for something. Home Depot would benefit because there would be an added incentive to come to them versus Lowes or other competitors.

Another thing that our local Planet Smoothie offers which you may or may not already be trying is a punch card where you get a free small Smoothie for every 10 Smoothies that you buy.

They also have some advertisements from nearby small businesses by their entrance. My guess is that if I were to go to these other businesses, that I would see advertisements for Planet Smoothie there as a reciprocal advertising agreement.

Hang in there. I'll need my Chocolate Elvis fix when we get down there.

[redwitch]

I do think your problem is location. You're just not convenient unless someone is going to Radio Shack or Verizon, sorry. Going to Home Depot and then having to cross 441, turn left, turn right, park and then either risk car to turn left to get down to 466 or 466A or wait forever at a light to turn left to go back on 441 just isn't something I'm willing to do for a drink or sandwich.

I have stopped in and gotten smoothies twice. Both times it was only teenagers working. The service was okay, not great and nothing to write home about, but nothing bad, either. Being a California brat, I have a great affinity towards smoothies. They've always been a favorite treat. While Planet Smoothie isn't at the top of my list, it isn't bad.

So, I would guess the problem has to be location.

[blueeagle65]

There was a smoothie shop of some sort once upon a time in one of the out parcels at the Southern Trace shopping plaza. The location was OK - had golf cart access - close to Publix, but it has been gone for quite a while. The few times were were there it was staffed by a couple teen girls - still no adults around. They also had some strange concoctions that I wouldn't have consumed even if they were giving them away, but I'm a fan of fruits and not powdered nutrients and additives, etc.

[PlanetSmoothie]

I appreciate all of the feedback!

NJBlue: We do offer buy 9 get one free cards! I plan on being here for as long as I can afford to be here, can't wait to meet you- the Chocolate Elvis is a great choice The Home Depot is a great idea in regards to the receipt, I will look into that. I have approached them in regards to standing at the front door with little response.

I understand we are not golf cart accessable, and this is a huge factor./ Unfortunately it is not in my control I am very much looking forward to the new plaza opening more stores and becoming busier....

As I said I do have teenagers working in the store, however they work late afternoons and weekends only. I open the store mon-fri and work all through lunch. There are things outside of the store that must be handled so I cannot be there from open to close. The 3 employees I do have have been with me since we opened last April, so I have been fortunate in very little turn around.

Redwitch: I apologize you had an "ok" visit. Come see me and I will make sure your next smoothie is fantastic and compliments of me!

blueeagle65: The smoothie place you are thinking of is Smoothie King. They are known for using more syrups rather then real fruit. We use all real fruit: strawberries, mangos, peaches, banana, raspberries, blueberries and pineapple. No syrups! :#1: :#1:

[PlanetSmoothie]

oh... and yes we are now a Planet Smoothie Cafe so we offer sandwiches, wraps and salads!!! :bigthumbsup:

[jtdraig]

The thoughts coming through this thread are pretty consistent with discussions I have had with restaurant managers or experienced employees around the Villages. A good kitchen staff, good service, and evidence of caring for your customer is pretty much a given. Within the Villages, this gets magnified mostly because we are a demanding bunch who communicates widely with each other. A restaurant opening "within the Compound" had better have a trained staff, reliable kitchen, and overkill on service the first few weeks or you are pretty much doomed (Whiskey Creek/Copper Pot/Main St Bistro/Juan's Mexicali). If you have been here, started well, you need to maintain that level or you,re doomed (Dominic's). Restaurants outside of the compound like Bone Fish Grlll and Longhorn did it right. They aren't burdened by high rents and percentage fees that you have within the Villages itself and they have their service and food quality thing down pat (Giovanni's). Golf cart access is always best but Longhorn is doing well without it. You can almost always go into a restaurant around here and get a feeling if it will last or not. Villages restaurant managers don't always know about the websites (this one and the Villages Gourmet Club) which they should monitor. I just find it all very interesting.

[marantho]

Went into Amigos on Sunday at 5pm, empty(except for two people at the bar) and no one at the reception desk, either. Walked past Big City Grill(next to Katy Belles)same thing, the place was empty. Thought this odd at dinner time on a Sunday. Does anyone know if Amigos has stopped serving food?

We went to TooJays and that is always dependable!!!

marantho

[GMONEY]

Alot of them do close, look at DQ,,Bono's,,Whiskey Creek, and on and on. Then there are the ones that make a killing. Giovani's (spelling) is always packed, Beefs at Southern Trace is packed. I think it is the atmosphere, location and service. The gent that owns Beefs kills me in there. He is non stop and the food is good. He always talks to people and has a good time. Some places get to how do you say, young and dont care attitude. It is all about Service and Quality.
Have you ever watched Chef Gordon on Hells Kitchen. You can see how a restaurant should run. Like Guy F. that has that show on Food Channel, Heck if he was your Chef and ran the joint, it would make a killing. You have got to work it as they say.

[texasfal]

We ate at Amigos Saturday for lunch. No one was in the resturant and the bartender had to come out to seat us on the patio. Weird. On the plus side, the food was excellent.