GOLF MEDIA DIRECTORY

Canadian Golf Media Directory

The following directory is a list of golf journalists /media representatives who work in the Canadian golf media and report industry and consumer news. If you would like to send information to them or create a media E-blast to promote your golf club or product, please contact randy@linksmarketing.ca or call 905-636-1400. This list is not our complete media directory and the names/companies may change over time.

If any media wish to be added or deleted from this list please contact the web site administrator and we will update this directory

Golf Trends to distribute Page & Tuttle

Page & Tuttle is pleased to announce a partnership with Golf Trends of Mississauga, Ontario as the new distributor of Page and Tuttle Golf apparel to the Canadian market.

Golf Trends Inc. was established in 1987 to provide quality merchandise to golf professionals, golf course operators, and off-course golf retailers across Canada.  By focusing on quality products, fast shipping and exceptional customer service, Golf Trends has built a reputation as one of the premiere distributors in the industry, representing well known brands such as Bag Boy, Datrek, Tour Edge/Exotics, Burton, Golf Pride, Lamkin and Winn Grips.

“We are very excited to become the Canadian distributor for Page & Tuttle” says Ryan Redmond, V.P. of Operations for Golf Trends Inc. “We have always been very strong in the green grass market.  The addition of Page & Tuttle further increases the breadth of products we can make accessible to pro shops across the country. Page & Tuttle is a high quality apparel line with quick turn-around times, innovative technology, and great margin potential.  Combine that with small minimum order quantities, this line should be well accepted in the Canadian market.”

“We are very pleased to have Golf Trends on board,” said Jimmy Glass, Vice President, International Sales for Page & Tuttle Golf.  “Golf Trends’ commitment to building relationships in the golf and green grass markets are invaluable and will help us grow the Page & Tuttle brand in the Canadian market.”

Page & Tuttle Golf, a division of River’s End Trading Company based in Medina, MN, is a golf apparel company featuring innovative, high-tech and classic men’s and women’s golf apparel, headwear and accessories.  The brand is distributed primarily at green grass shops and resorts in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada and Dubai.  More information about the Company and its products please visit pageandtuttle.com.

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About the R&A

Based in St Andrews, The R&A is golf’s governing body and organizer of The Open Championship.  The R&A is committed to working for golf and operates with the consent of 136 organizations from the amateur and professional game and on behalf of over thirty million golfers in 123 countries.

The R&A takes its name from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which has continuous records dating back to its foundation in 1754, and although the Club continues its long history with 2,400 members throughout the world, The R&A has become a separate entity to focus on its governance role.
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Best Practices

Robb James

Director of Golf/Head Professional

Royal Mayfair Golf Club, Edmonton, AB.

By David McPherson

Royal Mayfair is an established private club founded in 1922. Prior to coming to Royal Mayfair as an assistant pro in 2006, James was at Victoria Golf Club in Edmonton. He was named head professional in 2009 and made several changes to make his staff more visible to members — getting them out of the shop and spending more time playing, teaching and fitting.  The result: hard good sales in the shop have increased and there is a better rapport between his assistants and the members.

Here, James explains this best practice:

Get out of the shop. We’ve made changes in the last couple of years to get our professionals to be more active with our membership. Our new golf shop is not connected to the main clubhouse, so there was a fair bit of disconnect compared to the old building where members had to walk through the pro shop every time they were on the property. The first couple of years I was here, I was working in the shop so much I didn’t have time to teach and fit, which often leads to retail sales. So, when I got the head job in 2009, I said I was going to build a job for my assistants that I would have wanted to have when I was an assistant. The biggest thing that was missing was our members’ access to our professionals.

There was tons of feedback last year following my first season as a head pro regarding the increased accessibility of the professional staff and the ability to get out and network. Each of our pros (me included) are scheduled one shift a week on the first tee. In the past, we had a first tee host, but they weren’t golf professionals.  They didn’t understand the Royal Mayfair program where there are tournaments and events that can be promoted. They were essentially just checking golfers in. Having the professionals on the first tee increased the participation in our events.

Saturday mornings were my mornings. It allowed me to get feedback from members. They no longer walked off the golf course and went right to their car, forgetting about the comment they should have passed along. Right off the 18th green, I would ask, “how was your round today?” And, if there was something that needed to be addressed – whether it was course conditions or pace of play – I could address it right then.

We also moved the demo equipment outside, so it was more convenient for members.

In 2009, when the economy was quieter, we saw our hard goods sales spike because we got equipment into members’ hands and let them try it before they bought it.  My assistants also all increased the amount of rounds they played with members and the lessons they taught, and, more importantly they did it while they were here. They didn’t need to do their eight-hour shift and then do four hours of lessons. We had enough coverage for the shop.

Reaching out to the next generation, James adds that they’ve also created a website specifically groomed to juniors to take away any intimidation of going down into the men’s or ladies’ locker room.

The junior program has softened at our club. All of my staff had good junior programs at the clubs we played at as kids and we didn’t want to see that go away. We revamped a few things and changed our clinics around.  The one exciting thing we did was create a website for them. Here, they can build their own profile with their name, age and their highlight of the year. The idea was to increase participation in our junior programs.

Nancy Pierce

Superintendent

Crowbush Cove

PEI

“Let Mother Nature Rule” says Crowbush Superintendent

By David McPherson

Crowbush Cove is best described by Superintendent Nancy Pierce as a golf course where nature is allowed—not encouraged—to follow its own path. The Prince Edward Island gem is a perfect example of how sound environmental stewardship doesn’t deter from the enjoyment of a golf course. Ever since opening, Crowbush has been ranked as a top course in Canada. They’ve also won two environmental awards: the CGSA/Toro Environmental Achievement Award for all of Canada (2002) and the GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Award (2004).

“As the course has matured I’ve discovered that, not only for budget reasons, but also for environmental reasons, less is more,” says Pierce. “I don’t try to fight Mother Nature. Instead, I go with the flow and maintain those areas that are the highest priority.”

When Crowbush was built, there were many acres seeded to wild fescue. While a lot of greenkeepers maintain it as pure fescue -  spraying to keep wild flowers out, or mowing frequently to thin it out – not Pierce. “That does not allow it to mature naturally,” she says. “Now, in the late summer, our fescue areas are just beautiful when the wildflowers come out.”

Crowbush was built in an environmentally-sensitive area nestled among PEI ’s sand dunes. Before they could build, an environmental-scoping study was done, which identified several components the course needed to maintain. These included the sand dunes, the wetlands and the ground water.

“The sand dunes, despite their large looming appearance, are fragile structures that rely on marram grass for their stability,” Pierce explains. “Marram grass is very susceptible to trampling damage. We don’t want people running all over the dunes because then they will blow out, so we have sensitive dune habitat signs along holes adjacent to the dunes. We also have a local rule that if a ball goes into the dune habitat you can drop a ball at the point of entry with no penalty.”

Before Crowbush was built, there were four natural wetlands on the property. The course built two additional ponds—adding to the total acreage of wetlands.

“All the shoreline vegetation was maintained with buffer zones around each one, even during construction,” Pierce says. “Buffer zones provide a visual screen between people and the wildlife, so the aquatic species have a place to hide.”

In the ponds at Crowbush you’ll find lots of muskrats, ducks, geese, salamanders, and frogs, which Pierce says are “deafening” in the spring.

Crowbush uses effluent water for its irrigation; it comes from the clubhouse and the resort and is dumped directly into the irrigation pond. Pierce says this has reduced their need for ground water by about 15 per cent. About one-third of the storm water on the course gets drained into man holes, which is delivered to the irrigation pond and reused. “For the past seven years, our ground water has been tested for phosphorous, nitrates, plus 12 known pesticides, and for seven years our groundwater has been described as pristine even though we are on sandy soil,” Pierce comments.

People come away from Crowbush happy they have experienced something unusual and enjoyable, and walked around a course that is a great example of environmental stewardship. “I always tell people we are not trying to change the nature of golf, but rather that nature is part of the game,” says Pierce.

Ted Stonehouse

General Manager

Bell Bay Golf Club,

Nova Scotia

Making them feel like a million bucks

By David McPherson

Looking for a fresh idea to get recurring customers and grow your margins? Head east and chat with Ted Stonehouse, general manager at Bell Bay Golf Club, located in the seaside village of Baddeck , Cape Breton Island . His philosophy: Understand people’s expectations and then exceed them. He also understands the importance of selling your entire operation—from the pro shop to the driving range to the beverage department.

“We incorporate the entire facility into everything we do,” says Stonehouse, who started as a range rat at Ontario ’s Maples of Ballantrae when he was eleven.

The Ryder Cup Boys

The annual boys’ golf trip is a niche market, but one that continues to grow. Catering to these groups—which often range from 20 to 40 guys—provide healthy margins; all it takes is extra time and the right package of add-ons to make participants feel special.

“Give them the things that make their event that much more memorable and enjoyable and all of a sudden you’ve got them for 10 years,” Stonehouse says.

Helping plan a Ryder Cup event is an opportunity to sell the golf course and sell merchandise. You can make several shirts for the two teams, which Stonehouse often buys in closeouts, so his margins are good, yet he still offers great value. Other value-adds Bell Bay offers include: drawing up score sheets for the players, picketing off a section of the driving range, pyramiding the range balls, and putting individual name plates in front of each stack. Stonehouse even takes an hour out of his day to announce each player on the first tee.

“The guys feel like a million bucks when they walk out there and we make it happen without too much difficulty,” he says. “We’ve had one group for 10 years, another for eight years, and another for six years. Does it mean you have to have a rock bottom price? Not necessarily. You just have to understand what costs you money and what doesn’t, and what is perceived value and sell that. I want to fill the tee sheets now for next year, especially in such a competitive market where supply far outweighs demand.”

The final touch is the six-foot charcoal barbecue that is heating up, sitting on a reserved area of the club’s deck as the groups finish their round. Stonehouse says they recognized most of these guys want a nice steak dinner, but don’t want the hassle of buying the food, planning the menu, cleaning up, etc. So Stonehouse and his staff added this to their packages.

“Every group has a guy that wants to cook the steak,” he says. “It’s casual, they have a blast, and at the end there is no clean up. We then make sure they are shuttled back to their cottages.

“It’s a niche market that we grabbed onto and took hold of,” he adds. “Not everybody is going to go above and beyond and make it happen, but for those who do, there are lots of opportunities.”

Food and Beverage

BY Glenn Phillips

What’s New

Arnold Palmer is back! Yes, that is correct.  After being pulled from the Canadian marketplace for a year Arizona Ice Tea has brought back the very popular Arnold Palmer. For those of you that may not be familiar with this, it is half iced tea and half lemonade. It’s a great thirst quencher blend that leaves you feeling satisfied and hydrated. Now I’m not someone who has a sweet tooth or drinks a lot of sweet beverages, (I even drink my coffee black) so for the most part I drink water or PowerAde on and off the golf course. However, I know sometimes I need a little sugar to make it through the round, or to get through the day, and this has a nice contrast with sweetness at the beginning and a nice tart finish.  Last time this was available in Canada you could only get it at the golf course but now you will see it everywhere.

In case you are wondering, yes, Arnold Palmer did come up with this mix of lemonade and iced tea.  Back in the early ‘90s at my first Canadian Open I heard one of the players ask the bartender for an Arnold Palmer.  The bartender quickly mixed iced tea and lemonade without hesitation. Afterwards I asked the bartender how he knew what an Arnold Palmer was and he replied, “that is what all the pros drink.”

What’s Interesting: The bottle presentation looks awesome!

What’s Different: less sugar and calories than most regular iced teas

What’s best: Great marketing opportunities at the club

What’s worst: The glass bottle. Aluminium bottle would have been a better choice for the product, the environment and the customer

Average Cost: $1.10-1.25

Average Selling price: $2.95-3.95

What’s Cooking

Smaller portions! That is what is going to top the list of trends over the next few years. This trend is going to come and stay with us for a while. It really has already started in a lot of restaurants on a small scale but look for it to increase in popularity quite quickly. With the continued Asian influence in our society, along with the aging population and the more educated and gastronomically-inquisitive consumer, we are being gently pushed into this more healthy eating style.

For years I have always enjoyed going to a restaurant and ordering 3 appetizers rather than an entrée. I’m not sure why but I always thought it was because I got bored with having too much of one thing.  Maybe it was more that I just liked having small tastes of different foods. Regardless, when I now go out for dinner I am starting to see a larger selection of interesting appetizers available on the menu.

Although the Spanish perhaps perfected this style of eating with “Tapas” don’t think it all has to have a Spanish influence. If you are going to start to introduce more appetizers into your menus here are a few things to consider:

1)       Price needs to support the portion size

2)       Have the portion size appropriate as a “sample” or “tasting”

3)       Use ingredients that you already have in other sections on the menu

4)       Remember the season when selecting the menu items

5)       Make sure the plates are garnished

6)       Have sauces on the side when possible

7)       Have some sharing platters (antipasto)

Food and Beverage Management

By Rick Young

If you’re on the service side of the golf industry you don’t have to go back far in the past to remember what a lot of food & beverage managers might refer to as ‘simpler, less stressful times.’ Within the structure of overall operations the food and beverage portfolio was considered a club amenity, a necessary albeit secondary function boards of directors more than willingly subsidized as part of the annual club budget.

Break even? Quite often that was considered a successful season for F & B especially if a year was punctuated by a run of bad weather, a late start or an early wind up. Miracles were never expected nor were huge profit margins.

Times have clearly changed. Today, food & beverage has become primary to operations, so much so that in these leaner times the department is now expected to help subsidize the golf side of the business while running independently as a stand alone business.

Larry Ross has seen both ends of the F & B spectrum. The multiple Florida restaurant owner and Ph.D. at Florida Southern College sees the mounting pressures being placed on food and beverage managers in the areas of control function, menu, plate costing, purchasing and inventory and service levels. Asked as part of a PGA Merchandise Show Educational seminar this year whether enough buffer is being built in for F & B operations today, his answer was quick and concise.

“When you say enough I’m going to ask you, is any being built in at all, and more often than not the answer is no,” Ross says. “F&B has become a pressure filled, no margin for error business today. The challenges facing golf clubs is dramatic. We’re an industry that relies on discretionary income. That’s for people to be members of a club or to play their golf through local public facilities. But are they coming in to eat after golf now? Are they having one drink instead of two? Even if membership dwindles F&B still has to do numbers. You’re still expected to show profit. They still want you to pull that rabbit out of your hat.”

Ross insists F & B’s Cycle of Control – from menu costing to purchasing, to receiving, to storing, to issuing, to production, to service to analyzing sales – is a complex, dynamic process without a lot of moving parts. A simple menu change for example alters every aspect of the cycle. Because F&B is tightly controlled by an adherence to specific standards, it’s imperative for F&B managers today to look for options – as challenging as that can be at times.

“I know one restaurant owner who could not figure out what was happening with his inventory. Then he realized: he wasn’t locking the back door. He didn’t have control of his access. Once he did his numbers changed almost overnight.” Ross says. “You have to look in every nook, every cranny. One club in my area had an F & B manager who was awful proud of how he reduced his costs year over year. Only one problem: as he reduced costs he reduced quality. Members began staying away. Play that game and you’re walking the wrong way on a one way highway.”

Marketing is high on Ross’ priority list. During his Orlando presentation he spent a good amount of time on the virtues of marketing for F&B managers at golf clubs and the kind of returns one can expect from investing in it.  Admittedly he thinks golf clubs don’t pay enough attention to marketing the F & B operation. That places the onus on the managers to make a strong case for its implementation.

“Marketing is quite often done on the F & B side as an afterthought by administration. People on this side of the business need to step up,” he says. “They need to make a case for its inclusion in regular communications to members. If, for example, you’re not using your menu as a marketing tool you’re missing a major opportunity to increase business. If you don’t know how to market find someone who can. It will be worth your time.”

Staying with menu Ross believes strongly in regular trash audits. Mention of this got him some puzzled looks from the assembled audience but he quickly made his point explaining what F & B managers can learn from doing, as he calls it, “a CSI on the garbage.”

“Take out the trash and look at what members aren’t eating. To me that can be as valuable a piece of information as what they are. If something is showing up regularly it may require an adjustment,” he says. “It’s not necessarily a pleasant exercise but there’s information there you need to have.”

Purchasing is an area of F & B that can promote operational stability – or keep it teetering on the edge of uncertainty. Cash flow problems, increased storage costs, quality deterioration, theft, added costs of emergency delivery and loss of volume discounts are all components of ineffective purchasing. Even one of those Ross says will be detrimental to the bottom line. He encourages a regular review of quality and quantity standards, evaluation of convenience products, combining orders and larger volume, co-operative purchasing, promotional discounts and discontinuing unnecessary services. As for sales reps he expects people to ask about alternatives.

“You might be amazed at what the reps can do for you but you have to ask,” he says. “You never know. If you find a substitute for something on your menu at a reduced price while still maintaining the quality you’re looking for, you’ve made a big step.”

Ross does not envy F & B managers in the industry today. The high pressures of the position dictate sound decision making, intuitive insight for menu options, quality controls, purchasing, storage and inventory turnover. He’s a big believer in an ‘Analyze, Act and Evaluate’ philosophy.

“First you set the standards then you measure the results and then you analyze and act,” he says. F & B places bigger demands on those of us in this industry now. It’s all about staying one step ahead of the game.”

The Wine Cellar

By Rick VanSickle

WELLAND, Ont. — Thinking of beefing up the wine list at your golf course? Stephen Billyard, general manager of LochNess Links Golf Course in Welland, Ont., has a word of advice.

“Always have something special tucked away for your high-end customer. It’ll keep them coming back.”

Billyard, who is part of the family operation at the modern-style links golf course in the heart of Niagara, has built up an impressive wine program at the private-public course from humble beginnings just 10 years ago to over 60 different choices on a well-rounded list today. And he has seen a big difference where it counts — on the balance sheet.

Billyard, who has been GM for a little over four years, made a “conscious” decision to build up a wine list that members and the public would appreciate for its diversity and selection.

The improved wine list coincided with the club’s new Swing Restaurant that serves everything from casual food to fine dining. Both Billyard and his father Sandy are wine lovers and wanted a wine list they could both appreciate and feel proud of. It’s no surprise it mirrors their tastes in wine.

That meant a lot of vino from their favourite region of Napa Valley in California, especially those big and delicious Cabernet Sauvignons.

Billyard says it was a “building process” putting together such an eclectic wine list that runs the gamut from nice California treasures, to fine Italian wines, a small selection of Australian wines, French wines, and a modest sparkling and dessert wine selection. But the biggest selection, including a special LochNess label, is from Niagara.

“The biggest challenge I’ve seen is how best to balance the list,” Billyard says as we sip a glass of his favourite Napa Valley wine, the Joseph Phelps Innisfree Cabernet ($90 a bottle), on the patio overlooking the 18^th green.

The key, he says, is to have a varied selection of wines at different price points — pricy bottles for someone out with their spouse or entertaining a client, mid-range wines for the foursome just coming off the course or for enjoying with a casual meal, and, of course, wines for the budget minded.

What you want to stay away from, warns Billyard, is having lower end, popular wines sold at the LCBO. “Avoid what everyone perceives is a cheap wine.”

The wine at LochNess is geared a lot toward the customers and members who largely come from the Niagara Peninsula or visitors from neighbouring New York State.

That means a good selection of local Niagara wines. Mike Weir wines are popular as is the Cave Spring Cellars Off-Dry Riesling ($45) and Creekside Laura’s Blend ($36).

Also popular are the California wines including the McManis Family Cabernet ($50) and, for something very fine, the Joseph Phelps wines from Napa Valley.

What’s truly interesting about the list Billyard and his team have put together is the fact that the wines are generally not available at the LCBO. They buy from wine agencies and purposely look for those “hidden gems” you can’t find anywhere else. Billyard also likes to keep a few prized wines off the list to surprise his very best diners.

“A customer loves nothing more than a good bottle that’s not on the list.” He points to Niagara’s best Pinot Noir from Le Clos Jordanne as an example.

LochNess, built in 2000, is a rolling landscape of testy mounds, 110 bunkers, water, fescue and bent grass with the occasional tree in a links-style design. It has about a 70-30 split between members and the paying public at the course, which is a good sign considering it has come from a 40-60 split the other way just a few years ago.

Billyard sees the pendulum swinging in favour of golf courses as members migrate back to the country club atmosphere. And with that comes fine dining and a great wine list.

It’s something both Billyard and his father have worked hard at providing. And where that’s most evident is on the balance sheet thanks to the number of diners who keep returning for more.

Billyard has some tips for golf courses just getting started with a great wine list.

1) Anticipate holding $5,000-$7,000 of inventory at any given time.

2) Pay attention to your stock (if wines are getting old, put on specials and discounts to move them out).

3) Avoid the temptation of putting LCBO bargain wines on your list — it devalues your list.

4) Always have something special “off list” for your high-end customers.

5) It’s hard to get wine-trained staff but at least make sure they know to open and serve wine.

To see what LochNess has on its wine list, visit the website here: www.lochness.com

winesniagara@gmail.com

What’s Cooking

F&B by Glenn Phillips

What’s cooking

Vegetarian dishes! As the Canadian population‘s demographic changes we are going to see a large increase in vegetarians over the next 10 years. This change has already started and is only going to pick up speed as time goes on, so you better to get prepared now.  There are lots of reasons why vegetarianism is increasing so rapidly. People are becoming vegetarians because of  lifestyle or health reasons, but the biggest reason for the large increase in vegetarians in Canada is mostly due to immigration.

According to the federal government we are going to see a large growth in the South Asian population across Canada. Regardless of the reasons for the increase from a menu and food offering perspective it is all the same – you need to have a larger selection of interesting, tasty, and healthy vegetarian choices. Not being a vegetarian myself I had to do a lot of homework so that I was able to expand our offerings with the right selections. Just adding more salads and a few more vegetarian pastas is not going to work. We need to be more creative in the selections with a focus on interesting spices and  ingredients such as beans, nuts, tofu, pastry etc.

I also went to several Indian restaurants looking for inspiration and ideas and this is where it became evident that just because you’re a vegetarian does not mean you don’t have taste buds. The flavours and textures of the dishes were amazing and I think this is what has been missing in North American vegetarian cuisine. Now you may not be able to, or even want to add traditional Indian vegetarian dishes to your menu but developing “fusion style” dishes will go over well.

This vegetarian necessity is not just for the restaurant, let’s not forget the Halfway House, beverage cart and banquets as well. I am sure you have noticed an increase in requests for vegetarian meals at corporate events and weddings but in the restaurant environment we are a little slower in noticing this movement.  Most menus have a few options by default (salads) or items that can be made vegetarian by simply eliminating the meat from a pasta dish.  Making these small changes are no longer enough for this growing market segment, the days of mere substitutions are coming to an end.

Money Matters

I have noticed that menu pricing is now are all over the map! Once upon a time almost all prices on a menu ended in a .95. Then came along the fast food chains that put all the pricing ending in .99 (they realized that every penny counts therefore capitalizing on the extra 4 cents ). Then a few years ago all the fancy new restaurant decided that even numbers were the way to go so then all you saw was $25. But now I am seeing .75 and .88 and all kinds of random numbers and was curious as to the rational.

I was taught that menu pricing is an art. You want to price it so you get the most money for the item but you want it to look as cheap as possible. The customer reads the price on the menu then they “translate” it by rounding it into an even number because we think and remember even numbers easier than long unusual numbers.

Here is what I mean: if something is $11.95 on the menu we round that in our minds (as well as in conversation) to $12.00 and if something is $11.25 we round that down to $11.00. So at what point do you stop rounding your numbers down? The majority of the population will round down to .45 and at .50 the population is spilt on how they round on that number. So it stands to reason that we could actually go as high as .49 and most of the population will still round it down to the nearest dollar.

I think that everyone started to use even numbers on menus rather than the .95 as they realized people would round up anyways and why even bother putting in the pennies. No one really uses pennies anymore and besides, if we are in the business of making pennies, why not take every last one? But here is what I think they did not consider. Don’t you think that $11.95 on a menu looks cheaper than $12.00? Does $11.95 look any cheaper than $11.99? Here is the strategy that I think uses the best of the tried, tested and true strategies of the past as well as taking into account today’s consumer. The best contribution strategy for menu pricing is putting some items at .99 and mixing in an even number of .48. By not having it consistent with either the .45 or .95 it will actually make the menu look interesting and overall cheaper to the customer while creating a greater perception of value.

Service excellence

A key ingredient in service excellence is “empowerment”. Providing the proper level of empowerment to all the service staff will put a sense of “ownership” in their hands and that is a great foundation for providing great service. Obviously that is not the only ingredient needed, but often the one ingredient that is left out. There often is a fear that if you empower the staff they will abuse it or misuse it. Which I am sure sometimes may be the case, but if you hired well and provide a good work environment, your risk for abuse will certainly be minimal. Should abuse occur, with good controls in place you will know right away if anyone is abusing power.

So, what does empowerment mean? Well, when I refer to empowerment what I mean is the power to make things right. When something does not go as planned or is not as “good” as it should be, the staff have the power to correct it, change it or yes, even refund it. Most people know and understand that things can go wrong but what separates the weak from the strong is how they handle the problem, and if the issue can be resolved quickly without making it into a bigger deal than it needs to be, everyone is happy.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that the service staff will be able to handle all the issues but before you start drawing a line in the sand that the service staff can’t cross, perhaps you let them draw the line for you and until they prove they can’t handle the responsibility you should not sell them short.

What’s new?

Q-Water is an in-house 4-stage water purification system that can produce extremely high quality still and sparkling water. With the ongoing “green” movement we always need to be looking for ways to help support the environment by reducing our carbon footprint and this is a great new product. This is specifically designed for the hospitality industry and when installed it looks very similar to a draught tower. It uses very little electricity because it uses a cold plate that you just add ice to when you are using it. Just think about how many cases of bottled water you go through and all the handling required from ordering, receiving, processing the invoice, storage, inventory, moving from one area to another etc. It just goes on and on. This would eliminate most, if not all of that. Additionally it is very cost effective with several different programs available, including a new rental option. For all the details go to the website at: www.qwater.ca

What’s best: revenue opportunities and environmental impact, made in Canada

What’s worst: initial cash outlay but the new rental options do help with this

What’s interesting: making your own high quality still and sparkling water on demand

What’s different: the mouth-feel of the carbonated water is almost like a really good champagne

Average Costing: 0.04-0.18 cents per litre

Average selling: $2.00-$7.00 per litre

Changing Lanes

By Nancy McTaggart

After the turbulent times of 2009, the automotive world continues to evolve.  Under GM’s government-supported restructuring, they have downsized brands that were less profitable and are now focused on improvements and innovative upgrades to existing models.  Chrysler was sold to Italy’s Fiat Group, owners of Ferrari, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo.  Reports show sales in 2009 were off as much as 15 per cent for new vehicles.  U.S. sales, however, were down by 30 per cent. But did you know that 80 – 85 per cent of what is being manufactured in Canada was destined for the U.S. market?

Both GM and Chrysler have emerged from the government supported bankruptcy protection with a solid business plan. However, their single largest challenge will be to convince the public that they are in it for the long haul.  Customers had moved away from the conventional (tired) line up.  Competition will be aggressive.  It will be interesting to see if the market will continue to be dominated by a handful of big players – some of whom have reduced their dealer base significantly.   Long time automotive industry observer and analyst Dennis DesRosiers, expects as many as 600 dealerships will close over the next 4 years, spawning a vast army of “free agent” car buyers who have no loyalty to a particular brand or automaker.

(Above article in CAA spring 2010)

Comparing similarities in the depressed auto industry to our past experiences is all too easy.  We are all too familiar with “downsizing” as many sporting goods companies have experienced a decline in revenues, profits and staffing in past years.  Our original thinking was the “impact of 9-11” however, the number of corporate amalgamations or downsizing of North American companies started over a century ago.

Corporate acquisitions by Acushnet, Nike, Adidas, and Callaway made a significant impact, strengthening brand programs.  Meanwhile the retail sector continues to struggle with a handful of independent stores left.  The uncertainty of employment, investments, and health care has had a direct impact on many North Americans, unwilling to spend money on expensive recreational products.  Baby boomers, hit with the harsh reality that retirement is farther away, have adopted a “closer to the chest” spending.  The housing and auto industry are a reflection of the depressed national economy.

Our continued focus on the “lean and mean” simply indicates that getting back to the grass roots of successful retailing may be the only answer to survival.  Competing for a sale these days is tough enough but unfair advantages between retailers are obvious and no one is making any money on the sale.  It is time for a change in the market place.

Loyalties have changed dramatically.  Just as there is a lack of brand loyalty at the retail level, there has also been a change of loyalty at the wholesale level where buying power reigns.

Our market barometer continues to hinge on a single retailer who has taken the golf industry to a new level of big box exposure.  This one stop shopping of golf and related items has been a huge success and has been a welcome change to golf “retailing” in the Canadian market.

Credit exposures today, however, appear to depend on purchasing ability as wholesalers compete for wall space.  Financial institutions demand security and documents that allow a sound business decision, yet wholesalers appear to simply extend credit on a handshake.

Stop the train!  I want off!  The wheel of time continues to gain momentum in the race for sales dollars.  But have we taken the time to assess and properly evaluate other markets and opportunities?  With the Canadian dollar and our manufacturing quality, we applaud the Canadian manufacturers who have started to sell into the U.S. market.  And yes, we absolutely have the technology to research risk and opportunity outside your local markets.

Let’s be leaders.  We are a century ahead of the automotive industry and should continue to pioneer and be innovative in developing a strong business plan.