The Gray Cat Blog
A comprehensive collection of blogs designed to assist small business owners and multi-unit operators.
One of the most interesting activities that I have been involved with regarding branding is called a Semantic Differential exercise. It is important to delineate salient attributes that form the...
Operational excellence is a retail buzzword that often gets glossed over. Retailers talk the talk, but often miss on walking the walk. Operational excellence has a singular focus: the customer. The...
Last week, I sat through a meeting with one of my clients where we discussed the infamous question of “who are we?” that faces every retailer. As retailers grow – both in store...
The concept of vertically integrating your brand message is clearly not new. Companies for years have embraced the concept that if you are going to communicate a brand message, it is best to...
Come on, admit it. You wish you were a better networker. Fear not, it is time to unleash your inner networker.
Networking is one part art and one part discipline and while there is more than one...
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into...
Foodservice operators have long wrestled with the challenge of balancing the demand for increased menu options by customers with that of menu simplification. While a focus on systems and procedures...
You own a bunch of stores all varying in size and age. Over the years, product assortments and sets have come and gone and you have ridden certain designs into the ground. Each of your stores needs...
Convenience store operators continue to plunge into foodservice with the hopes of stemming the tide of lower margins with high-margin foodservice offerings. While the degrees of foodservice can...
Recently, I spoke at the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association on Developing a Winning Foodservice Strategy and the same holds true – foodservice is where it’s at in the...
With every passing day, month and year, better for you foodservice options continue to infiltrate the convenience store industry. Slowly but surely, the convenience store industry is...
Over my career I have worked with a number of organizations where making inroads into certain verticals (industries) was critical for our success. Whether you target the banking, healthcare,...
