May 16, 2014
CEO Newsletter
Te3am,
Last week we had a very successful Board meeting. Overall they are very pleased with the performance of our core business, as they should be. We posted 6%+ growth over the prior year in spite of the impact of it being a non Super Bowl year for Centerplate. One of our large competitors posted their quarterly update this week and came in with sales growth of 3%. We doubled their performance; an awesome start to 2014. We continue to demonstrate that we are about Results and not Rhetoric.
On a related topic, I read an interesting statistic yesterday from the U.S Department of Labor that of all businesses started in 1994 only 24.6% were still in operation by 2010. We have been around since 1929 and this again underscores the strong staying power of our brand. We also know that the bar for doing business is constantly being raised. Attached is an interesting article that lays out the current reality. In essence there is twice as much competition than just 5 years ago while 94% of customers are getting tougher to deal with, 76% TREAT YOU MORE LIKE A COMMODITY and 88% demand more expertise and service. It is imperative that we continue to work on ways to elevate our service, bring new innovation and deliver on our brand positioning of Making It Better To Be There.
Additionally, we need to build upon our strong core sales growth start and look for ways to add accretive new business. The NBD team is hard at work but we need your help in the field. You know your market better than anyone else. Please make it a priority to seek out new venue opportunities around you. We have paid out a few ‘Around Me’ bounties and nothing would please me than to write many more checks in 2014 and beyond. Let’s dial this up!
E3 moments of the week …
The 4th Annual Administrative Professionals Day Fashion Show & Luncheon at the McAllen Convention Center is co-sponsored by Centerplate and our client. The event is produced in-house to market the venue directly to local professionals that choose meeting space for their organizations. Our client could not have been more pleased, “Your attention to present the banquet options available is specifically important and this year was no exception. I applaud you and your staff for the service well done and the appreciation we have that our clients are in good hands with a partner like Centerplate.” Great job by Executive Chef Ruben Flores, Chef Alex Martinez, Eva Paschal, Luke Wooldridge, Valerie Vance and our entire team in McAllen!
Centerplate and Louisville Slugger Field have been selected as the 2014 Community Partner Award recipients by the Junior League of Louisville for assistance with the Hollydays Art and Gift Market held last December. The award is presented each year to the corporation or community organization that has shown tremendous support to the League and its mission. Congratulations to Jeff Hafling and our team and client at Louisville Slugger Field for this great community recognition!
Onwards!
Lithera Forbes May 22, 2014 at 5:19 pm
For a Company that has been around since the Great Depression Era; it shows that this Company can stand the test of time. We are the Company that is here to be of service to our guest. When our guest enters the venues, arenas and convention centers that we hold contracts with it is our priority to make them feel welcomed and provide them with our delectable tangible goods that will be rendered to them as they watch their favorite teams go for the WIN.
As far as innovation goes we need a strong presence on Social Media and my suggestions are keep updating great content that is relatable to the Hospitality industry and the wording has to be very creative, motivating and adding humor so we can have a presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Also we need to have our very own Centerplate Chefs hold cooking shows sponsored by Centerplate and make it interesting you can use YouTube to showcase the cooking shows and propose it to the Food Network.
Searching for venues
Have the NBD team look at venues in South Africa; there is a multitude of stadiums located in Cape Town, Johannesburg, South Africa. I provided the link of the list of stadiums that country has. http://www.worldstadiums.com/africa/countries/south_africa.shtml