Table of Contents

• COMMITTEE REPORTS
  • MEMBERSHIP REPORT
  • SOCIAL REPORT
  • SPEAKER COORDINATOR REPORT
  • TREASURER REPORT
• LEADS
• NOTABLE MENTIONS
• BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
• MAIN SPEAKER

Committee Reports

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

Rich Higgs resigned this week.  He has some personal conflicts making it hard to make the Friday morning meetings.

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

The MABE spring fling will be on May 6th.  We will have a BBQ picnic with hotdogs, hamburgers and marshmallows.  Lisa will also have non-alcoholic drinks available so if you are so inclined...BYOB

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

The is no meeting next week due to the Good Friday holiday.  When we return on April 21st Joe Hesch will be our main speaker.

Treasurer Report

Your 2nd quarter dues are now due.  Don't make Mark Howard get ugly(er)!  Get 'em paid.

Leads Report

46-28, 20-13, 20-45, 18-30, 26-30, 26-41, 24-23, 10-22, 10-13, 21-31, 21-13, 22-21, 03-41, 31-21 (x2), 43-28(x3), 40-19, 48-30, 48-22. 

This week's leads focus...

• Joe Hesch
• Mark Howard
• Charles Hultstrand

Notable Mentions

Based on last week's discussion of the recommended bylaws revisions, the bylaws committee will move integrity issues to a preamble leaving the rest of the bylaw changes a simple matter of reformatting what already existed.  When we return from our holiday break they will present a clean copy for review.

The group will not to have a meeting on Good Friday, April 14th.  However, Dave Lathrop and Nick Mawrenko will have an informal breakfast meeting (same time & place).  They invite other MABE members to join them.  Please note that MABE will not be paying for breakfast.  This group will continue the discussion on debt.  

Business Spotlight 

No spotlight.

Roger Carpenter
Down Under Wines

Roger Carpenter was born in North London a "few years ago".  He left school at the age of 15, on a Friday, and started work the following Monday.  He graduated from the school of hard knocks.  Since his father was a merchant marine, Roger was given a job with a shipping company.  This same company owned an insurance agency which is how Roger ended up in the insurance business.  He did the suit-n-tie and top hat routine for 35 years. 

Roger married a lady from South London.  Neither wanted to move to where the other lived so they compromised and moved to Australia.  He got a job.  She got a job.  She's still there.  They had two sons that are now 27 and 30 years of age.

So why is he here in Arizona?  Australia is hard on small businesses.  They always grow large through acquisitions.  Roger was tired of the insurance business and tired of working for big corporations.  He had friends in Arizona that he visited in December of 2000.  He started looking at business opportunities and in April 2001 said yes to a franchise, Red Kangaroo Wines.  He moved here in September ready to open for the Christmas season.   Two things put a kink in his plans.  (1) After leaving his job, selling his house and having purchased his one-way ticket to the United States, he found out that they hadn't even started construction on the property where his store was to be.  (2) September 11th happened two days before he left.  He arrived to a very shell shocked America. 

Roger was not able to open his store until March.  He has been in business 4 years now and has continued to grow and change to give himself an edge against the competition.  His latest change involved leaving the franchise.  When he bought into Red Kangaroo Wines it was under the assumption that this franchise was going to grow big.  They had 3 stores when Roger came on board.  They now have two.  As far as he knows it is the smallest franchise in history!  Long story short...They store owners collectively told the franchise owner to "go forth and multiply".  This man has in fact fled the country and abandoned the franchise.

Roger is reinventing his store.  He is now Down Under Wines.  He has taken on a third partner whose buy-in has helped them payoff some old debt and refurbish their location.  He is focusing less on the retail side of things and more on the bar and snack niche.  He will not have a full kitchen.  But he will have a small menu of unique snack foods that he will continue to add to as they grow.  He is also adding more events to bring in people including wine and cheese evenings that will focus on different regions each time.  (He may even throw in a Wisconsin wine [beer] and cheese night for Lisa!).   Also look out for their patio dining area which will open soon.  If you would like to receive notices of his upcoming events let him know and he will add you to his email list.

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