Grocery Life February 27, 2015

Posted on February 27, 2015 by pwpadmin

Grocery Life February 27, 2015

By Tom Butler

Good afternoon from Butler and Bailey Market. Hopefully the fun of the last two weeks is going to end until next year. March is just around the corner and maybe warmer temperatures will accompany the new month! Maybe my kids will go to school in March? I don’t think Erica will ever complain again about getting up early to take them to school after having them at home the last two weeks.

I haven’t written since before Valentine’s Day, which seems like three months ago even though it has only been two weeks. It has been kind of crazy and nerve racking at the store with all the storms so I haven’t been in the right spirit to share my nonsense. I also went on a short fishing trip with a friend last weekend. We had planned it for February because usually business is slow for both of us. After spending most of Friday morning shoveling a path in my neighborhood to get the boat out, we were on our way. The fishing wasn’t that good, but we did go far enough south to find some warmer weather and fresh oysters on the half shell. I just left my boat down there, which is a good thing since we would have had to shovel the neighborhood again to get it back home. I will go back in March to get it.

Even though the store is a lot harder to operate under the conditions of the last two weeks, business has been great, which more than makes up for it. We happen to be in a business where bad weather helps. I know that is not the case for most businesses so I am grateful! I am also grateful for the employees that have made such an effort to get to work when it would have been a lot easier to stay home. Some drove, some caught rides with other employees, some we have gone and picked up, some have walked, and some have done a combination of all of the above. When it comes to getting to work, we have a lot of resourceful people.

During the warm months, I usually buy the employees lunch every Friday. We usually grill burgers or chicken out back. Maybe next Friday we will cook steaks and have our famous twice baked potatoes in recognition of all their hard work over the last few weeks. I imagine the employees that didn’t miss any work will see to it that the ones that did miss work will get hot dogs.

I don’t punish the employees for not showing up under these conditions. Probably because I know their fellow employees will give them such a hard time for the next few weeks, that will be punishment enough.

The best I can tell, most of the businesses in the shopping center stayed open during all of the weather “events” so I guess I am not the only one with dedicated employees. The other businesses I have talked to have told me they have been really slow over the last couple of weeks, but they are still showing up in case you need them. I bet the restaurants in the center will have really good business now because people will be tired of being stuck at home cooking. Our business will probably slow for the same reasons.

I have gotten in the habit of ordering sushi from Ichiban Asian Cafe to take home on the nights I close the store. They are the new restaurant just up the sidewalk. I don’t know if sushi is on my diet because besides the rice I don’t really know what is in it. I do know everyone that works their looks skinny so it must be okay for a diet. Eric and his staff have been good neighbors to us so I hope you will give them your support.

It also looks like Charles over at Sullivan’s is doing some remodeling on his restaurant. We have been cutting steaks for his restaurants for several years now. It has been a win win for both of us. We get a lot of business from him, and he says he has quit having to worry about the quality and consistency of the steaks he is serving. I often go there for lunch meetings and always get a good meal.

I am sure both Eric and Charles will be glad when the weather gets good enough for people to start eating out again.

I am looking forward to getting back to normal here and I am sure you are hoping for the same in your lives. We are hoping for a great year, maybe we will now get some time to sit down and figure out how to accomplish this…and maybe I will have more time to sit down and write my nonsense?