This Sucks…and hurts your community
Snowzilla is upon me, and I’m here at my restaurant, cleaning the office and my kitchen a bit. I’ve taken a break to post up a passionate entry that strikes close to my heart.
As independent business people, we put our lives, the lives of our families and spouses, our literal blood, sweat and tears into our establishments. We sweat every last detail as best we can, we ask for loans, work 18 hours a day to keep the gears turning, and in this day and age, many of these types of businesses that make up the fiber of our local community are closing.
A friend opened DeJaBel cafe about 2 years ago, and I’m saddened to say, he struggled hard and made valiant efforts, but he just closed his community coffee shop in Wheaton. I feel for him, his family, his kids and his customers too! Not only are businesses in business to make money, but believe it or not, we do this also more than you know for the feedback, the community, the gathering, the connections, the excitement of hosting our party and seeing shining faces that are happy to have the fruits of our passion. Getting up at 7 am to prep foods, unload trucks, change displays or whatever, we do this for YOU, our clients and friends. SO MUCH OF OUR SATISFACTION is derived from non monetary rewards. Please take a moment to compliment the store owner or manager at your next engagement to purchase something, it means a lot to many of us.
That being said, businesses need money, and your support by HELPING TO SPREAD THE WORD. I can see people who read the articles when a business closes in shock
“Oh wow, how sad…did you see that XYZ Company closed??”
But yet as a happy customer of XYZ Company, they never took a few minutes to write a recommendation on any of many Social Media Sites to help spread good word, they never realized that asking to use 2 or more discounts on their last purchase sucks the profitability out of doing business, and they are amazed when a street in their local area has 5 closed shops??
So…take action to save your local retailer!! Go to Yelp, Twitter, Facebook, Urbanspoon, or even the shop or restaurants website and SPEAK OUT about how much you like them! That helps expose great businesses that are struggling, bringing in CRUCIAL dollars that they need to pay rent, gas, water, insurance, taxes, supplies, repairs, marketing, salaries, etc.. that fuel YOUR local economy.
Perhaps this is nothing new, and perhaps those who read this may not care, or do anything, but at least I can say I tried to spread the word. IF you got this post and it resonates with you, PLEASE pass along using my “share” options below… this CAN start a grass roots movement to get people to SPEND LOCAL, and HELP BY SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE FAMILY OWNED BUSINESS.
Thanks for listening,
Chef Tony
Visions Restaurant
p.s. Here is an article about my friends shop, written in this weeks paper, before he announced the closure of his place that I saw today. Hope it helps motivate you to action. Eddie, take solace that you made every effort, you created something amazing, but in this day, along with sadly many others, it just wasn’t enough. Take a day off my friend, I’m sure you need one…
