Difficult Year Ends With Winterfest
When the clock struck midnight last night, one of the most difficult years of Big Red's life came to an end. And, Winterfest followed suit exactly as the whole year had gone.
While it was a good weekend, my Winterfest sales were down 40%. Oddly, my funnel cake and corn dogs sales were both up considerably, plus we added fries to the menu for this year. But, Lemonade sales were down 40% and drink sales down 50%. Several reason for this. One, Chick-Fil-A now has a permanent stand with a hood system and is a major presence giving us strong competition from a name brand. While the value would diminish if we had a lot of repeat customers who knew our quality, service, etc., Winterfest are folks we see only once a year or are totally new to the experience.
Secondly, last year, there were only three locations selling beverages and we were one. This year, there were about 10 locations in addition to Chick-Fil-A. So, our drink sales suffered.
I was shocked to realize that Chuck and I, and remember because of my hip I was virtually useless, did more food than Tank and I did last year with me healthy. God Bless, Chuck!!!! And Ryan who ran her butt off getting food inside.
For the year, my sales were down 12%. Most of that can be attributed to my basically being unable to do much for the last 5 months and I was unable to fill in several open weekends that normally I would have worked somewhere. My racing program was up a tick, baseball was up considerably. and football at Liberty showed a nice increase. JMU football was down, my trade shows were down, and I lost the whole basketball season at the Vines Center. So, I was probably lucky for sales to only drop 12%.
Obviously, 2012 will start off way behind as I will most likely be closed until the end of March. With my surgery in 12 days, the doctors tell me I should be ready to go for the spring race at Martinsville which will probably be my next event. And, since Tank now has a full time position, additional changes will probably occur, especially in the area of my working muliple events the same weekend. But, time will tell.
Even though I am not a holiday person, something I've alluded to numerous times in the past, I had a good Christmas season, despite the pain. Jason, Grant and Katie spent several days at the farm before Christmas. One of those days I opted out of my pain pills and visited a bourbon bottle with Jason numerous times. I spent Christmas eve with Peggy, Kagen, Todd, Allison, Will and Todd's girlfriend, and Christmas day with Peggy's family at her sister's. Then, had another Christmas with sis, Gene, and Amanda when I got home.
With 2011 now gone, I wish each and everyone of you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2012 and I will keep everyone updated on the upcoming hip replacement.
