Table of Contents

• COMMITTEE REPORTS
  • MEMBERSHIP REPORT
  • SOCIAL REPORT
  • SPEAKER COORDINATOR REPORT
  • TREASURER REPORT
• LEADS
• NOTABLE MENTIONS
• QUESTION OF THE DAY
• MAIN SPEAKER

Committee Reports

Membership Report
(Click here to go to the Membership page)

Roger Carpenter of Red Kangaroo Wines visited our group today.  He has been in business for 2-1/2 years.  He is actually part of a chain.  There are three other locations in the Valley.  They specialize in Australian wines but offer other wines as well.  They have wine tasting parties, happy hour, etc.  Roger is the owner and he is interested in joining our group.  Part 2 of his application will be sent out as soon as it is completed.  

Applications in process:

[membersonly/archives/applications/submitted_applications.htm]

Social Report
(Click here to go to the Social Event page)

Thank you to Mike Tanner for organizing the baseball game social.  The Diamondbacks won!

Just a reminder that the holiday party is on Friday, December 3rd.  There will be a big band and vocalist.  The cost is estimated at $30 per person or $60 a couple.

Speaker Coordinator Report
(Click here to go to the Speaker Schedule)

Our guest speaker had to cancel.  We will try to reschedule him at a later date.

• 08/13/04     Nomination Speeches
• 08/20/04     Mike Whalen
• 08/27/04     Charles Hultstrand

• 09/03/04     Labor Day - No Meeting
• 09/10/04     Keith Miller

Treasurer Report

Looks like we are all caught up with the exception of one outstanding account.

Leads Report

46-28, 46-06, 17-06, 29-28, 29-41, 29-07, 12-03, 12-18, 18-03, 28-06, 28-03, 28-32, 24-06, 07-06, 07-13, 45-15, 15-19, 15-10, 21-25, 21-13, 21-17, 21-37, 11-19, 11-02, 11-43, 11-03, 11-34, 11-33, 06-34, 34-17, 22-40 (x2), 22-06, 22-41, 35-22, 43-30, 40-10, 40-42, 40-37.

Notable Mentions

The floor was opened again for board nominations.  None were made.  We have two openings coming up.  We have two nominees:  David Spiess and Mark Dreher.  The board transition will take affect September 1st.

The personal roster will circulate for a couple of weeks before going to print.  Please make any changes.

Question of the Day

Phil Passante was wondering...
Have you ever had to reduce an employees pay?

Phil had an employee overstate his qualifications when hired and now feels he is overpaid.  He wants to know if anyone else has had to deal with a similar situation.

• Fire him.
• When you hire people, discuss with them what they need to do to maintain their pay level.
• Ask them to evaluate themselves.  They will usually come up with the same issues that you have.  They will sometimes fire themselves.
• Set quota's across the board.
• People want to do a good job.  Offer incentives.
• Help employees buy into the profitability of the company.

Gary Nelson
BBQ Builders (formerly Smokaroma)

Gary Nelson has been a member of MABE for 10 years. He is originally from Southern California. He has a bride of 2 "glorious" years (they have been married for 25 years). He has 3 daughters a dog and cats. And they are all female!  He feels just a little discriminated against.

Gary bought Smokaroma 14 years ago. Back then it was a restaurant equipment business. The former owner had a niche because he had a background in the restaurant business. Gary did not have the same advantage. He changed the company focus by accident. The yellow pages placed his ad in the wrong section of the book. This ended up being a good thing.

12 years ago Gary moved into his first retail location. They were very successful for 8 years. But the shopping center he was in started to lose traffic and business suffered. They again changed focus to accommodate their new situation.  They closed the retail location last year.

Their new focus was on the construction side of business. When times were good at the retail location, construction only made up 25% of their business. Then it grew to 50% .  It now constitutes 90% of their business.

Gary has a new retail location opening up at Gilbert and Warner "hopefully" at the end of August. It is in a great location and will feature a very nice outdoor display area with a garden, water features, pond, etc. They will be open 7-days a week and begin having their cooking classes again. They are also making changes in how they present their classes. Before, they were lucky if they broke even. This time around they will be looking to make a profit.

Another new aspect to his business is the alliance with Arizona Fireplace. As mentioned earlier, construction has been BBQ Builders' main focus. But new construction was hard to get into. Arizona Fireplace has provided them an access point into this market. 

A final word on grills...It is better to have quality parts inside a less expensive shell than to have cheap parts inside a pretty box.  When you buy grills from Home Depot (and the like), you are getting a low quality grill wrapped up in a pretty package.  You will notice the difference when you use the product.  Gary's location will provide a wide range of grills at all different price ranges.  But even the least expensive product at his location will be superior to the highest priced grill at the Home Depot.  Stop by his new location and let him show you a grill that fits your lifestyle.