Menu Engineering: A Model Including Labor

Menu engineering is a methodology to classify menu items by their contribution margin and popularity. The process discounts the importance of food cost percentage, recognizing that operators deposit cash, not percentages. The authors raise the issue that strict application of the principles of menu engineering may result in an erroneous evaluation of a menu item, and also may be of little use without considering the variable portion of labor. They describe an enhancement to the process by considering labor

South Beach Wine and Food Festival - Why Participate?

This paper studies why restaurants, wineries, and other exhibiters participate in Wine & Food festivals. We hypothesized [hat the purpose was to acquire new customers thru promotional involvement in the festival. A secondary outcome was to ascertain if there were differences in motivation between the three groups. A survey was conducted of participating companies in one of the largest Food & Wine festivals. We found differences in what motivated winery participants from restaurants or other exhibitors. A discussion of these differences and how festival organizers may aid participants in achieving their goals is presented

Prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of low-dose amiodarone in patients with severe heart failure and asymptomatic frequent ventricular ectopy

Sudden cardiac death is a common cause of mortality in patients with congestive heart failure. To determine if low-dose amiodarone could reduce sudden death among these patients, a prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind pilot trial was conducted. One hundred one patients with ejection fractions p = 0.02) and remained low after 6 months, while there was no change in ventricular ectopy among the patients receiving placebo. Despite the reduction in ectopy, there was no improvement in mortality or decrease in the incidence of sudden death. One-year mortality by Kaplan-Meier analysis was 28% in the group receiving amiodarone and 19% in the group receiving placebo (p = NS). One-year mortality in patients with >75% reduction in ventricular ectopy after 1 month of treatment was 31% versus 17% in patients with p = NS). Although the size of the trial and its statistical power do not eliminate the possibility of a significant reduction in mortality with low-dose amiodarone, any effect is likely to be modest, i.e., <25%. Therefore low-dose amiodarone can be safely administered to patients with severely impaired myocardial function and will significantly suppress spontaneous ventricular ectopy. However, despite arrhythmia suppression, low-dose amiodarone may not reduce or may have only a modest effect on the incidence of sudden death in patients with heart failure and asymptomatic ventricular ectopy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29119/1/0000158.pd

Second-Chance Scluing

Hoteliers may be overlooking an opportunity to increase revenues with few additional costs. By establishing specific values for business that has already been booked, hotel managers can encourage salespeople to increase the productivity of existing resources through second-chance selling. Working in conjunction with catering, convention services, and other departments, the sales force can become more effective in extracting profit from booked business. If salespeople have clearly established goals and objectives and a second chance to increase their rewards, they may work harder to achieve the goals. Moreover, the group-service departments will no longer have adversarial goal structures and may work in better harmony. The hotel will increase its profits and the meeting guest will be better served. © 1994, Sage Publications. All rights reserved

A Multi-Variate Approach Towards Marketing Decisions In The Convention Segment

The researchers performed an exit study of air travelers in New Orleans. The purpose of the study was to determine the most important type of advertising medium used by the travelers in selecting a hotel. Multiple discriminant analysis was used to identify discriminant variables and to provide a two-dimensional graph. The researchers applied the findings to a marketing model for the convention segment. This paper discusses the differences in using advertising for hotel selection between markets segments: particularly the convention segment. © 1991

Using Decision Theory For Strategic Decision Making In The Convention Industry

Managers use the concept of strategic planning to help reduce their uncertainty in the decision process. The use of decision models, such as decision theory, can help convention industry executives make better decisions. An example dealing with a decision as to the possible expansion of a county-owned convention center which is interested in attracting larger conventions is provided. Sample calculations provide a practical basis for applying the modeling techniques. © 1990