Yesterday I left readers dangling with a “things are looking better, but…” ending. So with commodity costs down, sales down to flat, but profitability starting to tick upwards, why wouldn’t a small business owner want to draw a paycheck? Perhaps the first paycheck in over a year? Earlier this month, a coalition led by the [...]
Over the past year I’ve tracked the roller coaster trends in commodity food costs that affect the restaurant industry. It started in late 2007 with the “corn bubble” where over zealous farmers were chasing the ethanol craze, creating a ripple effect on the world food supply. The resulting food cost escalation squeezed restaurant profitability and [...]
While there are still mixed messages on the macro-economic front, we are definitely seeing stabilization in our customers and prospects businesses. Most companies we are dealing with acted very aggressively in the 4Q08/1Q09 timeframe to cut costs, people etc. in anticipation of a bleak 2009. Some closed stores, some deferred capital spend and others had [...]