(Annie’s Mailbox is the continuation of “Dear Ann Landers” that is a syndicated column that runs in many newspapers in the US. After I read a “Dear Annie” letter and the response in the paper, I stepped in to provide my own advice).
Dear Ken Keller:
Thank you for your letter offering advice to one of our readers. We would like to print an edited (for space) version of your letter on Friday, August 3, 2007, along with your name and city. Here is what it will look like:
Dear Annie: “Sayre, Pa.” wrote about her struggling restaurant business and said she was depressed. You told her how to find counseling, but you didn’t give her any business advice.
To help ease her financial pressure, she can:
1. Raise prices. Inflation is running close to 8 percent and this is one of the reasons she is feeling pinched. She should plan on regular quarterly price increases. Her customers buy food at the grocery store and understand prices have gone up.
2. Negotiate better terms with her suppliers. Or find new ones.
3. Make it easy for her customers to pay her by taking credit cards, cash and perhaps personal checks.
4. Revise her menu to eliminate items that take too much time to prepare, are seldom purchased, or are otherwise not profitable.
5. Develop a customer loyalty program so regular customers will come back more often.
6. Meet for free with representatives from the local Small Business Administration
