New look will keep us moving forward

As very small fish in the great high-street ocean, we tend to wait and see what hours the multiple retailers decide to trade over the Christmas period before we commit ourselves.

Thankfully, the high streets in our part of the world look as though they won't be trading on Boxing Day or New Year's Day, so we can also take the opportunity to remain closed.

On New Year's Eve, it seems, retailers will be closing after lunch and we will again follow their lead. The millennium celebrations will not have any effect on our business, but others are clearly deciding that either the market doesn't exist or that the hassle is too great and are closing their doors.

Trading remains buoyant, and at the end of the first quarter our like-for-like sales are 4.8% up on last year, which we consider to be an excellent situation. We enjoyed a terrific Saturday last week and at the end of the day we wondered why we were about to spend tens of thousands of pounds on refurbishing and buying new furniture, which would not actually allow us to take any more money on days like that.

The only answer is that you have to keep the product moving forward and looking fresh in the hope that more sales are generated in the quieter periods, which occur more often than capacity Saturday lunchtimes. In any event, we are convinced that we have to spend the money to create change (nothing too radical) and hope it pays off. If I'm still employed in the new year, you'll hear about it.

Looking at competitors' menus is a must as part of the process that will culminate in the introduction of our own new menu after Christmas. We have found only one major operator still using encapsulated picture menus, which confirms our view that such menus are now, perhaps, looking dated. Accordingly, we are looking at a much simpler style of production, probably laminated, with text only.

We have received a visit from the chairman of the Lincolnshire Training and Enterprise Council to present us officially with our Investors in People plaque, which now occupies a prominent place on the restaurant wall.

Lincoln's Christmas street lights are due to be switched on this Sunday; then it's our world-famous Christmas Market; and before we know it, it'll be the new millennium.

JOHN DOWNS is managing director of Lincoln-based Jay-Dees Family Restaurants

Next diary from John Downs: 13 January 2000