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June 6, 2003/Sivan 6 5763, Vol. 55, No. 41
Seventh-graders do business for charity
RAEANNE MARSH
Special to Jewish News
"Corner!" reverberated throughout the rear of the restaurant as seventh-graders from Cocopah Middle School navigated the sharp turn from kitchen to dining room, confidently calling out to warn fellow servers and bus persons that a customer's order was on its rapid way to the table.
Taking over the Outback Steakhouse on Drinkwater Boulevard in Scottsdale to run a one-time lunchtime restaurant - Queen Sale's Steakhouse - culminated six weeks of focused study covering product, packaging, pricing, promotion and profit (the five "P's" of marketing) on the part of Stacy Sale's advanced humanities class. Their lesson in basic business entrepreneurship included developing a business and marketing plan and then executing that plan.
"We thought the royalty theme was good. It was a big theme we could do a lot of things with," explains class member Brandee Nemire.
They carried the theme through in menu names (such as Coroneted Chicken), attire (they all wore crowns with their name on them while working), and of course, the logo. The logo is a shield depicting a crown, a knife and a fork all resting on a tasseled cushion. The choice was made after discussing the marketing advantages of submitted designs.
"We wanted something that was simple and to the point. We chose this one because it was not busy and ornate so it was easier to print out," relates Nemire, explaining that meant there was less likelihood of mistakes on the tickets.
"The marketing was important," notes class member David Rovey. "We had to advertise, and really get out there what we were doing."
Success was especially important to them because of their profit motive - to make a charitable contribution. The students, many of whom are Jewish, researched several organizations, looking into such things as who the organization helps and how much of the money actually goes to charity. They chose to help a child through Make A Wish Foundation. "Our real objective was to raise money (to make a wish come true) for Dave," Rovey explains.
Todd TenBarge, proprietor of the Outback Steakhouse, helped the students develop a menu that offered a suitable variety of entrees, an appetizer and a dessert. Deciding on the all-inclusive price involved another class discussion. "We didn't want to make it too pricey, but we had to make sure we made a profit," explains Nemire.
Twenty dollars, they decided, would be acceptable to the majority of people. Each student was to sell 10 tickets. Seeing the possibility they would fall short, Nemire had her mother take her to businesses in a one-mile radius of the restaurant, where she passed out fliers and explained what they were doing. Since Outback is not usually open for lunch, she pointed out, this would be special opportunity.
And special it was. TenBarge, who gave the students a two-hour version of his five-day training program for servers and bus staff, was impressed with how well they got into the kitchen's intense and fast-moving pace and how attuned they were to patrons' needs.
"They truly had the desire to make sure the guests were taken care of," he says.
"They recognized that even the bus person's job was important to tips," says Sale, noting their professionalism in focusing on why they were there and not bickering over jobs. Taking advantage of exceptional talent among them, they also offered such tableside entertainment as singing, instrumental music and magic tricks.
Commitment was very important to their success, Nemire notes. With a Make A Wish price tag of $5,000, they augmented their lunch ticket sales with raffle tickets and tried to earn good tips.
"We made $5,009.00," reports Rovey.
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