I don't understand why gasoline prices are so high, because the price per barrel of crude is currently very low. Or I should say it was when I checked, way down to 1990 prices per barrel.
But if you recall, I did say many companies are taking the pandemic opportunity to increase prices that don't need to be increased. Oil being one of them for sure!
I can see restaurants having higher prices due to more limited seating, and the higher price of ingredients. They still have bills to pay that are also going up, and they have to do so with less customers eating there.
I do realize that how a family owned business is run, even with hundreds of employees who are not relatives, is a far cry different than big business is run. One example is, if we hired a full-time employee, they were full-time, in and out of season, we didn't lay folks off during the slow periods, after all they have families to feed also. And if we had a good year, they got a nice Christmas bonus too.
There are some in the florist industry who only hire temps and keep a very small staff. When a crop is ready to be cut and stored in the coolers, or a bunch of plants are ready to go to market, they simply call in all the temps for a few days.
But sometimes this backfires on them, as their are no temps available to come in during certain times of the year. Especially the traveling harvesters who move across the country following the outdoor crops. Like the tomato pickers and fruit pickers.
I didn't have much control over wages at the florist, but in my restaurants I did, and paid more than the other competitors. And I paid the wait staff the same wages as the prep-cooks and dressers. This is why we had almost no turnover of wait staff employees, unless they had to return to school, but not because they didn't like the job or the pay.
I was surprised to find IHOP ten years later were still not paying cooks and prep-cooks and dressers what I was paying a decade early. And wait staff was not paid enough to keep them supplied in toilet paper, so they relied solely on tips to survive.
But when it gets right down to it, most other restaurants had nearly double the staff I did. Partly because they never know who will show up for work, or quit. And I thought it was horrible the work they made many of them do off the clock too.
I won't name names, but there was a chain restaurant company who had employees on the bench at each store.
They had to come to work, whether they were allowed to punch in or not. But that is how you started at the bottom of the chain. So they hoped four more customers would come in so they could clock in for a half-hour.
One of the big grocery stores had something similar for their cashiers. Their working time was geared to if the register was open or closed. If there were more than 3 people waiting in line at the other registers, they could open their register until the line was back down again. And if the first registers were caught up, they had to slip the barricade behind their next customer in line, and their clock time ended when they closed the register.
No wonder employees are so disgruntled all the time, hi hi.
Alexa vs Alexa
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Re: Alexa vs Alexa
Price of Crude Oil Today: https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/f ... electronic
When I checked the above web page the price of a barrel of crude was $102.49. You may see a variance when you look at the link because the site updates the prices in real time. Back in the '70's a barrel of crude averaged around $30, until 1973 when the OPEC countries declared an embargo. Prices went nuts but not enough to kick in the profitability associated with extracting crude from shale. That trip point was about $70/bbl. Eventually a barrel of crude reached $147 and that is when fracking became a way of life in this country. The price of crude stabilized around $50/bbl which was a net loss for all those fracking operations. Thus many of them shut down because it simply was cheaper to import the oil. The former administration in Washington had a brilliant idea, or so he thought, to make this country energy independent. That means not buying as much foreign oil as well as plundering national parks and polluting off shore resources. OPEC was still a very large supplier and started to lose money when we as a country actually achieved independence from buying their oil. Thus they did what a successful business would normally do and cut down production. When crude becomes scarce it doesn't matter if you buy it off shore or not. The market price soars. And, it did. And since all those frackers closed down operations, guess where we are buying oil from once again. It's an interesting game being played by the Arabs because they are cutting back supply, and reducing revenues, to push up the prices. The hope is that the competition will not be able to bare the higher costs. Well, as you have pointed out often, the corporations don't care because us consumers are the people baring the cost of the political games being played. The oil companies are making record profits, so that it is not in their best interests to lower prices.
Simple, when you think about it.
It might be difficult to discern at times, but I have a lot of admiration for your business acumen. You did things fairly and paid your employees what they truly were worth. That's a great business model if you can do it. A lot more companies than are doing it today could use the same model, but the don't. A good part of the reason why they do not is because the people in congress who pass the laws benefit from the lobbyists sent to them by the big corporations. The partnership works very well in that big business and political parties shake hands with each other can end up in a win-win situation. Then, along comes some socialistic left wing extremist who challenges that arrangement and wants to emphasize benefiting the common worker instead of the corporations for which they work. The headlines today are filled with stories about how well that is going.
When I checked the above web page the price of a barrel of crude was $102.49. You may see a variance when you look at the link because the site updates the prices in real time. Back in the '70's a barrel of crude averaged around $30, until 1973 when the OPEC countries declared an embargo. Prices went nuts but not enough to kick in the profitability associated with extracting crude from shale. That trip point was about $70/bbl. Eventually a barrel of crude reached $147 and that is when fracking became a way of life in this country. The price of crude stabilized around $50/bbl which was a net loss for all those fracking operations. Thus many of them shut down because it simply was cheaper to import the oil. The former administration in Washington had a brilliant idea, or so he thought, to make this country energy independent. That means not buying as much foreign oil as well as plundering national parks and polluting off shore resources. OPEC was still a very large supplier and started to lose money when we as a country actually achieved independence from buying their oil. Thus they did what a successful business would normally do and cut down production. When crude becomes scarce it doesn't matter if you buy it off shore or not. The market price soars. And, it did. And since all those frackers closed down operations, guess where we are buying oil from once again. It's an interesting game being played by the Arabs because they are cutting back supply, and reducing revenues, to push up the prices. The hope is that the competition will not be able to bare the higher costs. Well, as you have pointed out often, the corporations don't care because us consumers are the people baring the cost of the political games being played. The oil companies are making record profits, so that it is not in their best interests to lower prices.
Simple, when you think about it.
It might be difficult to discern at times, but I have a lot of admiration for your business acumen. You did things fairly and paid your employees what they truly were worth. That's a great business model if you can do it. A lot more companies than are doing it today could use the same model, but the don't. A good part of the reason why they do not is because the people in congress who pass the laws benefit from the lobbyists sent to them by the big corporations. The partnership works very well in that big business and political parties shake hands with each other can end up in a win-win situation. Then, along comes some socialistic left wing extremist who challenges that arrangement and wants to emphasize benefiting the common worker instead of the corporations for which they work. The headlines today are filled with stories about how well that is going.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
Back when we had all of our non-insulated greenhouses, 12 acres of the original ones, we kept a close watch on the price of oil, and prior to that coal. For the old coal boilers, we would buy about 6 of the long tractor trailer sized dump trucks of coal while the price was down. We later did the same thing with oil, buy as much as we had tanks to hold it. The only problem with oil is it needs heated to even move it from tank to service tank to the boilers, and heated even hotter to fuel the boilers.
Fortunately, it only took a hot water coil inside each tank, so before we could draw from it, we would crank on the heat.
We never let the service tanks to the boiler get below about 1/3 down, because if the electric went out, although we had the dynamo, you needed the hot oil to run the boilers.
Later on we switched to natural gas, and they could cut us off anytime they ran low on natural gas. So we still kept a lot of oil and a means to heat it if we needed it.
In the restaurant business, it really is hard to make ends meet. Sales always drop a bit when a new restaurant opens in the area. So for a couple of weeks, there was not enough money in the till to pay myself anything. A few times I had to borrow money to make payroll. I knew things would turn around soon and they usually did.
Now if I only look at the Pizza side of the coin. It took a minimum of four employee's, with a couple of them doing double chores. For e.g., the person working the counter also had to take phone orders. A prep-cook once he got the bins full, had to double as a dresser. The dough man was also the baker, slicer and boxer. If anyone had a spare moment they made boxes. Then the bottom of the line was the dishwasher, who also cleaned the johns, mopped the floor, washed the windows, and emptied all the ashtrays and washed them by hand. He also had to keep a supply of clean tools at all the workstations.
Now let's assume it costs between 35 cents and 45 cents in raw materials to make a pizza. And you have 4 employee's at 10 bucks an hour (well back then it was 8.50 per hour, but the pizza's were only $3.50 average), but use the ten bucks per hour at $5.00 average for the pizza. That's 40 bucks an hour 4 x 10 = 40. This means the crew has to sell, prepare, and bake a minimum of 12 pizza's per hour to break even on salaries. Plus, we are only busy around lunch and dinnertime, fairly dead during the day and early evening, then a spurt around 8 pm. If we sold 4 to 5 pizzas per hour during the dead times, I would rejoice. But then during rush periods we would sell about 20 to 25 per hour, which was just barely enough to break even. We could make up to 40 per hour with two ovens, and everyone working their buns off. It took an additional 4 pizzas per hour to cover utilities, rent, and franchise fee.
On the restaurant size we had to have two cooks during lunch and dinner, else one cook during the dead times. Cooks got paid 10 bucks when prep-cooks were making 8.50. 12.50 when prep-cooks were making 10. And then we had the wait staff on the restaurant side, and they too were paid 10 bucks an hour.
The restaurant side did more than double the sales as the pizza side, but the expenses for that side were much higher too.
It was a hard business to be in.
Fortunately, it only took a hot water coil inside each tank, so before we could draw from it, we would crank on the heat.
We never let the service tanks to the boiler get below about 1/3 down, because if the electric went out, although we had the dynamo, you needed the hot oil to run the boilers.
Later on we switched to natural gas, and they could cut us off anytime they ran low on natural gas. So we still kept a lot of oil and a means to heat it if we needed it.
In the restaurant business, it really is hard to make ends meet. Sales always drop a bit when a new restaurant opens in the area. So for a couple of weeks, there was not enough money in the till to pay myself anything. A few times I had to borrow money to make payroll. I knew things would turn around soon and they usually did.
Now if I only look at the Pizza side of the coin. It took a minimum of four employee's, with a couple of them doing double chores. For e.g., the person working the counter also had to take phone orders. A prep-cook once he got the bins full, had to double as a dresser. The dough man was also the baker, slicer and boxer. If anyone had a spare moment they made boxes. Then the bottom of the line was the dishwasher, who also cleaned the johns, mopped the floor, washed the windows, and emptied all the ashtrays and washed them by hand. He also had to keep a supply of clean tools at all the workstations.
Now let's assume it costs between 35 cents and 45 cents in raw materials to make a pizza. And you have 4 employee's at 10 bucks an hour (well back then it was 8.50 per hour, but the pizza's were only $3.50 average), but use the ten bucks per hour at $5.00 average for the pizza. That's 40 bucks an hour 4 x 10 = 40. This means the crew has to sell, prepare, and bake a minimum of 12 pizza's per hour to break even on salaries. Plus, we are only busy around lunch and dinnertime, fairly dead during the day and early evening, then a spurt around 8 pm. If we sold 4 to 5 pizzas per hour during the dead times, I would rejoice. But then during rush periods we would sell about 20 to 25 per hour, which was just barely enough to break even. We could make up to 40 per hour with two ovens, and everyone working their buns off. It took an additional 4 pizzas per hour to cover utilities, rent, and franchise fee.
On the restaurant size we had to have two cooks during lunch and dinner, else one cook during the dead times. Cooks got paid 10 bucks when prep-cooks were making 8.50. 12.50 when prep-cooks were making 10. And then we had the wait staff on the restaurant side, and they too were paid 10 bucks an hour.
The restaurant side did more than double the sales as the pizza side, but the expenses for that side were much higher too.
It was a hard business to be in.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
I can't dispute any of the difficulties you mention in regard to running a restaurant. There are a bunch of them no matter where you go so that I'm pretty sure it's a very profitable venture even though it entails a lot of hard work and exquisite scheduling. I say "profitable" which I'm certain is true if you make it past a certain introductory period with your new establishment. The closest eatery to our house has changed hands four times since we lived here, which is nearly six years now. The next closest one had only three owners in that time. But, O'Fallon if full of restaurants that have been around for many years. It seems as if there are more restaurants than there are people to keep them profitable for any length of time.
Staying in business is one aspect, but start up costs are astronomical. We have a favorite hot dog place that has a few sit down tables inside. It's a small store front and they don't sell much more than dogs and burgers. Oh, and wine and beer, which is where I bet they make the profits. The owner comes by to chat every time we go there, and we complained to him that we have to travel all across town to get there. He should open a place on the other side of town. He signed a little sigh and said that it costs more than $200,000 to set up a shop like the one we were in. I was socked but probably should not have been given the equipment it takes to run even a small cafe. Bigger places much have much bigger start up costs too so that alone would prevent a lot of people from going into the business. Then, if it doesn't all work out, I have no idea how they pay off the loan for that initial investment.
Staying in business is one aspect, but start up costs are astronomical. We have a favorite hot dog place that has a few sit down tables inside. It's a small store front and they don't sell much more than dogs and burgers. Oh, and wine and beer, which is where I bet they make the profits. The owner comes by to chat every time we go there, and we complained to him that we have to travel all across town to get there. He should open a place on the other side of town. He signed a little sigh and said that it costs more than $200,000 to set up a shop like the one we were in. I was socked but probably should not have been given the equipment it takes to run even a small cafe. Bigger places much have much bigger start up costs too so that alone would prevent a lot of people from going into the business. Then, if it doesn't all work out, I have no idea how they pay off the loan for that initial investment.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
The only reason I chose a Franchise Pizza place, was because of how it works.
They provide nearly everything you need from the equipment to the initial inventory, and some experienced workers to come in to teach you for the first month or two. They handled all the accounting, payroll, leases, and taxes.
You basically got a turn-key establishment once they were done setting up.
As the owner of the pizza joint, I got paid only from profits over a certain amount for the first year.
Out of what we took in, they deducted the franchise fee first, and then all the expenses.
At the end of the first year, you take over all the expenses, but still used their accounting department for everything.
The downfall is, you must buy everything from them, even if I could get some things locally much cheaper.
But having the pizza joint and all the equipment is what allowed me to open the restaurant next door, same building.
I only had to lease that storefront, and add a few lower cost equipment items to get started.
Little by little I eventually added almost everything we needed to be self-sufficient, but we were still tied to the pizza place.
When Cibo changed their sauce formula, the writing was on the wall. Nobody liked it! Well, except for a couple of folks.
And talk about luck of the Irish. One of my daily customers loved the new sauce and offered to buy me out. He retired at a younger age from his job after 35 years, but was only like 55 years old at the time. I got out before the Franchise went belly up. Didn't bother the buyer any because he just began buying everything locally and was still in business the last time I was down that way, which was about a decade before I moved south.
We have had a few hot dog places open up down here, some were Franchises, like Woofies. They last about a year then poof they are gone. While the old hole in the wall down the street, who has been there 50 years, is still going strong.
The main reason is nobody can steal their customers is top grade products, and their special way of fixing a hot dog.
While most of the hot dog places just have ho hum hot dogs and some don't even taste that good either.
We even had one place that opened for a short time who tried selling deep fried hot dogs. They had a nice color to them, but not crispy like you would think. I don't suppose they were in the deep fryers long enough to do that, just long enough to get them hot, and covered with oil they rubbed off the best they could.
They provide nearly everything you need from the equipment to the initial inventory, and some experienced workers to come in to teach you for the first month or two. They handled all the accounting, payroll, leases, and taxes.
You basically got a turn-key establishment once they were done setting up.
As the owner of the pizza joint, I got paid only from profits over a certain amount for the first year.
Out of what we took in, they deducted the franchise fee first, and then all the expenses.
At the end of the first year, you take over all the expenses, but still used their accounting department for everything.
The downfall is, you must buy everything from them, even if I could get some things locally much cheaper.
But having the pizza joint and all the equipment is what allowed me to open the restaurant next door, same building.
I only had to lease that storefront, and add a few lower cost equipment items to get started.
Little by little I eventually added almost everything we needed to be self-sufficient, but we were still tied to the pizza place.
When Cibo changed their sauce formula, the writing was on the wall. Nobody liked it! Well, except for a couple of folks.
And talk about luck of the Irish. One of my daily customers loved the new sauce and offered to buy me out. He retired at a younger age from his job after 35 years, but was only like 55 years old at the time. I got out before the Franchise went belly up. Didn't bother the buyer any because he just began buying everything locally and was still in business the last time I was down that way, which was about a decade before I moved south.
We have had a few hot dog places open up down here, some were Franchises, like Woofies. They last about a year then poof they are gone. While the old hole in the wall down the street, who has been there 50 years, is still going strong.
The main reason is nobody can steal their customers is top grade products, and their special way of fixing a hot dog.
While most of the hot dog places just have ho hum hot dogs and some don't even taste that good either.
We even had one place that opened for a short time who tried selling deep fried hot dogs. They had a nice color to them, but not crispy like you would think. I don't suppose they were in the deep fryers long enough to do that, just long enough to get them hot, and covered with oil they rubbed off the best they could.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
Deep fried hot dogs is a new one on me. LOL Then, too, the locals here seem to have a passion for fried ravioli. In all the 70 years I lived in Illinois I never seen anybody offer fried ravioli. Didn't know it existed until I got here in Missouri. The thing about it is that they are not really very tasty. I can only assume the folks around STL who like fried ravioli have very few, if any, taste buds. In the same vein the so called Italian sausage around here is a type called Salsiccia. I guess it's a generic name for Italian sausage but it's made from ground meats and has a much higher fat content that what I've been getting while in Chicago. True Italian sausage is not ground and must have fennel seed in it. I don't know how they get away calling Salsiccia an Italian sausage because it would never pass as such just 300 miles to the north.
The Cibo franchise sounds like an ideal situation for a first time operation. I wonder what happened to the brilliant cost accountant who came up with the suggestion to change the sauce formula because some relative of his could get the ingredients cheaper. I can understand how something that seems as trivial as pizza sauce could kill a business, plus I can imagine why it happened. Your experience with Cibo just points out what I think is/was a most valuable asset of yours. You instinctively know how to run a business, or when it's time to get out. Well, ok, maybe not all the time, but MOST of the time.
The Cibo franchise sounds like an ideal situation for a first time operation. I wonder what happened to the brilliant cost accountant who came up with the suggestion to change the sauce formula because some relative of his could get the ingredients cheaper. I can understand how something that seems as trivial as pizza sauce could kill a business, plus I can imagine why it happened. Your experience with Cibo just points out what I think is/was a most valuable asset of yours. You instinctively know how to run a business, or when it's time to get out. Well, ok, maybe not all the time, but MOST of the time.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
None of the foods they serve down south here are anything like what we had back home in St. Louis.
My electric is flickering on and off, so I might get tossed out on my ear.
We have a thunderstorm going on right now.
My electric is flickering on and off, so I might get tossed out on my ear.
We have a thunderstorm going on right now.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
Of all the pizza franchises I could choose from, at the time Cibo was the only one that let you open in your own leased store front, and not have to build a dedicated building to the brand.
Although a few franchises did allow you to use unique buildings in very few cases.
But with Cibo, you didn't have to pay the entire price up front, and that was their selling point.
However, you did have to sign a loan agreement, but after the initial deposit, they were paid from the profits, which they controlled entirely for the first year, and partially for the second year.
It really was dumb for them to change their sauce formula, as it tasted horrible.
We tried to doctor it up and got called on the carpet for doing so.
My cure for that was to use my formula for pizza purchased from the restaurant side, hi hi.
But I still had to ring it up on Cibo's registers as a retail sale.
This was OK at first, because we didn't sell all that many pizzas on the restaurant side, until after Cibo changed their sauce formula. They also downgraded a few other things as well.
Although a few franchises did allow you to use unique buildings in very few cases.
But with Cibo, you didn't have to pay the entire price up front, and that was their selling point.
However, you did have to sign a loan agreement, but after the initial deposit, they were paid from the profits, which they controlled entirely for the first year, and partially for the second year.
It really was dumb for them to change their sauce formula, as it tasted horrible.
We tried to doctor it up and got called on the carpet for doing so.
My cure for that was to use my formula for pizza purchased from the restaurant side, hi hi.
But I still had to ring it up on Cibo's registers as a retail sale.
This was OK at first, because we didn't sell all that many pizzas on the restaurant side, until after Cibo changed their sauce formula. They also downgraded a few other things as well.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
There are exceptions, but in almost every case changing an existing product in any way involves reducing costs and increasing profits. You know as well as I do to avoid all those things that are "new and improved" because they may be new but rarely are improved. That would be OK if it were not also accompanied by price increases. It's bad enough to cheapen the product, but to do that plus raise the price is nearly criminal. Unfortunately that is a way of life in retail business.
While you had some good experiences with Cibo I see that there are a lot of Imo's Pizza places around here. I'm pretty sure they are a home grown brand out of the Saint Louis area. My daughter, who lived in Clayton for several years, warned us about Imo's before we made the final move. She said it's terrible stuff and to avoid it. LOL They seem to be one of those organizations who don't have a building associated with their brand. That is to say I've seen them in various store front shops, but then, that could be their brand. Mom and pop store front shops would be popular around here. In any case, I took my daughter's advice and have not yet sampled what Imo's has to sell.
My rain gauge shows 2.17 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. It's not been steady rain nor particularly heavy which is why I was surprised to see so much registered on my weather station. I guess you are getting the brunt of this weather pattern. Hope things stay powered for you throughout it all
While you had some good experiences with Cibo I see that there are a lot of Imo's Pizza places around here. I'm pretty sure they are a home grown brand out of the Saint Louis area. My daughter, who lived in Clayton for several years, warned us about Imo's before we made the final move. She said it's terrible stuff and to avoid it. LOL They seem to be one of those organizations who don't have a building associated with their brand. That is to say I've seen them in various store front shops, but then, that could be their brand. Mom and pop store front shops would be popular around here. In any case, I took my daughter's advice and have not yet sampled what Imo's has to sell.
My rain gauge shows 2.17 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. It's not been steady rain nor particularly heavy which is why I was surprised to see so much registered on my weather station. I guess you are getting the brunt of this weather pattern. Hope things stay powered for you throughout it all
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
You got that right Yogi.
The only way I was able to keep the price of my product where it was for many years, was sales kept growing, so I could by the ingredients in increasingly larger lot sizes to get them cheaper.
But after many years of costs going up and up, I was no longer making any money, and sales were going down.
The person who bought my company a few months back worked out a 10 buck higher price as the base price, but is offering a discount, which I've mentioned in the past. Doing it this way will allow him to raise the prices simply by offering a lower discount. Smart move if you ask me!
Another pizza place you want to steer clear of, if they are still in business is Farotto's, they are not a chain, but have the worst pizza in the world. How they stayed in business for so long is beyond me. I guess some folks liked it, like the nut who liked Cibo's new formula.
Just while living in Creve Coeur, I've seen over 20 different pizza places spring up, only to fade away. The same with Mexican fast food places. Some of them had good food, but the franchise went belly up on them.
We had thunderstorms for nearly two days, and it is still heavily overcast, our temps are down in the 40s and night and only mid to upper 50s during the day right now.
Our electric did a lot of flickering, and was only out twice for over a half hour each time. At least it wasn't several hours like usual.
We had to kick the furnace back on, after having the AC running for a few days. Crazy weather!
The only way I was able to keep the price of my product where it was for many years, was sales kept growing, so I could by the ingredients in increasingly larger lot sizes to get them cheaper.
But after many years of costs going up and up, I was no longer making any money, and sales were going down.
The person who bought my company a few months back worked out a 10 buck higher price as the base price, but is offering a discount, which I've mentioned in the past. Doing it this way will allow him to raise the prices simply by offering a lower discount. Smart move if you ask me!
Another pizza place you want to steer clear of, if they are still in business is Farotto's, they are not a chain, but have the worst pizza in the world. How they stayed in business for so long is beyond me. I guess some folks liked it, like the nut who liked Cibo's new formula.
Just while living in Creve Coeur, I've seen over 20 different pizza places spring up, only to fade away. The same with Mexican fast food places. Some of them had good food, but the franchise went belly up on them.
We had thunderstorms for nearly two days, and it is still heavily overcast, our temps are down in the 40s and night and only mid to upper 50s during the day right now.
Our electric did a lot of flickering, and was only out twice for over a half hour each time. At least it wasn't several hours like usual.
We had to kick the furnace back on, after having the AC running for a few days. Crazy weather!
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
I think you did the right thing with the AZ-NO3 business, but the new owner did the more conventional thing by raising prices and offering a discount. I can't tell you how many times I've seen that ploy executed. There is an eye wash product I use that sold for $30. They raised the price to $40 after my first purchase. I stopped buying it but then something odd started to happen. I started to get spam e-0mal from those guys offering a discount coupon for 20% off my purchase, which was less than the 30% price increase. I looked all over the place but nobody sells this stuff but one single company. They did get me, however, when they offered that same 20% discount if I purchased two. It was still a rip off but I figured I'd not have to order from them again for quite a while.
Avoid Farontto's ... check!
We have been thoroughly drenched by rain this past week. Looking forward next week looks like all sun and 90 degrees plus nearly each day. It won't get cooler than 60F on any of those days. If you are lucky this weather pattern will shift in your direction and you can enjoy the sun too. I've been looking at some wind maps ( https://www.windy.com/?38.794,-90.785,5 ) and find the patterns quite interesting even though I don't know exactly what it all means. The flow of air was like a sine wave with STL at the bottom. This allowed us to miss most of the heavy stuff but generally those air currents flow west to east. Strange stuff, for sure.
Avoid Farontto's ... check!
We have been thoroughly drenched by rain this past week. Looking forward next week looks like all sun and 90 degrees plus nearly each day. It won't get cooler than 60F on any of those days. If you are lucky this weather pattern will shift in your direction and you can enjoy the sun too. I've been looking at some wind maps ( https://www.windy.com/?38.794,-90.785,5 ) and find the patterns quite interesting even though I don't know exactly what it all means. The flow of air was like a sine wave with STL at the bottom. This allowed us to miss most of the heavy stuff but generally those air currents flow west to east. Strange stuff, for sure.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
The problem with my product was, I was at the ceiling price, and every time we tried to move it up, sales fell flat on their face.
It took forever to get it up to 19.95 and advertised it at 21.95 so folks knew the 19.95 was a bargain. A couple of places that sold a lot of it dropped the retail price to 18.95 with free shipping on orders over 50 bucks, which is nothing in the reef aquaria business. I did raise my price by a whole dollar to the distributors, but they kept their prices the same because they also knew cross that 19.95 barrier and they couldn't sell any.
This Pandemic caused all prices to go up, so it was a chance for me to up the suggested retail on mine to 24.95 per bottle, as did many other aquatic products that were stuck at the 19.95 level. They all jumped to 24.95 also.
And the guy who bought my company decided to go with 29.95 with a 30% discount, so he could get the 21.00 it should have been at. He will keep the 30% discount for the first quarter, then reduce it to 20% discount for the next quarter, then 10% discount after that and see how things go before he no longer gives a discount.
We have had frost on our cars a couple of times this May so far, the same thing happened last year also, but this year is a bit colder than it was last year. We did have a couple of warm days, up to 70, then it dropped back down to the 40s and 50s. Now this week the weatherman said 70s and sunny. Even though it is still heavily overcast and cold. It may get up to 65 today, but I don't see it making it up to 70. In fact, we actually expect more thunderstorms today by the look of the sky.
It is rare for rain to hit my east facing office window, but it got a good bath a couple of times so far this month. Odd thing though, no rain hit my south facing window at all. Usually our north and west facing windows are where the rain beats down the hardest.
I don't know if it is the weather or something else, but the arthritis in my fingers really ache today.
It took forever to get it up to 19.95 and advertised it at 21.95 so folks knew the 19.95 was a bargain. A couple of places that sold a lot of it dropped the retail price to 18.95 with free shipping on orders over 50 bucks, which is nothing in the reef aquaria business. I did raise my price by a whole dollar to the distributors, but they kept their prices the same because they also knew cross that 19.95 barrier and they couldn't sell any.
This Pandemic caused all prices to go up, so it was a chance for me to up the suggested retail on mine to 24.95 per bottle, as did many other aquatic products that were stuck at the 19.95 level. They all jumped to 24.95 also.
And the guy who bought my company decided to go with 29.95 with a 30% discount, so he could get the 21.00 it should have been at. He will keep the 30% discount for the first quarter, then reduce it to 20% discount for the next quarter, then 10% discount after that and see how things go before he no longer gives a discount.
We have had frost on our cars a couple of times this May so far, the same thing happened last year also, but this year is a bit colder than it was last year. We did have a couple of warm days, up to 70, then it dropped back down to the 40s and 50s. Now this week the weatherman said 70s and sunny. Even though it is still heavily overcast and cold. It may get up to 65 today, but I don't see it making it up to 70. In fact, we actually expect more thunderstorms today by the look of the sky.
It is rare for rain to hit my east facing office window, but it got a good bath a couple of times so far this month. Odd thing though, no rain hit my south facing window at all. Usually our north and west facing windows are where the rain beats down the hardest.
I don't know if it is the weather or something else, but the arthritis in my fingers really ache today.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
Your very last comment rang a bell ... very loudly. My wife of many years has been going through Hell with the arthritis in both her hands. It was not a problem up until about a year ago. Now and days the pain is more frequent and she too thinks the weather has something to do with it. In fact she seriously suggested we move to Florida where she can be warm all the time and (hopefully) arthritis free. I've heard the tale of arthritic pain being triggered by weather many times. People say the barometric pressure has an effect. It's possible, but my wife will have pains when the pressure is high and the air is dry. So I don't know how much the weather influences things, but there is some correlation.
You described the problem with raising prices for AZ-NO3 a time or two in the past. I guess it makes sense that there would be a limit especially if there is an alternate product on the market. You say there is but it is not as effective as your formula. So, I'm wondering exactly what forces are at work to determine the maximum a consumer will pay for a product. Your product worked well and was in fact necessary to keep aquariums going. It's not like there was an option to not use it. So, now the brew is being sold by a new kid on the block. First thing he did was raise the price and is getting away with it. Consumers are not dumb. They know that after the discount is applied the price is still higher than what you thought the market could support. My only conclusion can be that people today expect higher prices due to that infamous inflation everyone is worried about. It's all very interesting.
You described the problem with raising prices for AZ-NO3 a time or two in the past. I guess it makes sense that there would be a limit especially if there is an alternate product on the market. You say there is but it is not as effective as your formula. So, I'm wondering exactly what forces are at work to determine the maximum a consumer will pay for a product. Your product worked well and was in fact necessary to keep aquariums going. It's not like there was an option to not use it. So, now the brew is being sold by a new kid on the block. First thing he did was raise the price and is getting away with it. Consumers are not dumb. They know that after the discount is applied the price is still higher than what you thought the market could support. My only conclusion can be that people today expect higher prices due to that infamous inflation everyone is worried about. It's all very interesting.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
For some reason, humidity affected my grandmothers arthritis big time, and so did cold weather.
But my uncle, in his case, the barometric pressure is what made him ache big time. He always knew when a storm was brewing without ever looking outside.
In my case, I think typing all day has more or less kept my fingers more limber than they would have been if I didn't. And if my thumbs begin hurting too bad, which is what hurts first, I just squeeze them real tight. It hurts like heck to do that, but it loosens them back up really well.
Although my product was the only one of it's kind. When other aquarium use products in the same size are priced following a common pricing scheme, it is hard to move above that indelible price range. I know of several products that were discontinued, because if they upped the price, folks just didn't buy them, and would try other things instead.
Folks claim dosing Vodka does about the same thing as my product does. But it causes all kinds of other problems for them, like hair algae growth, etc. While my product actually reduces hair algae, and is why some folks buy it and use it, even though it is not intended for that purpose.
My wife came home beaming like a Cheshire Cat. She showed me her shopping receipt. I could easily see why on the things I know what they normally cost us at this store. My bread for example is now up to around 1.89, 3.19 at Kroger. At the end of the day, they cut the price down to $1.00. The bakery had a whole truck load of fresh bread, not day old, they would have to dump, because some big store closed for the day due to electrical problems at the store. To get rid of it fast, they marked it all at 75 cents per loaf, no limit.
And not only that, she picked up some ground black angus beef for less than half price also. It is normally 3.99 a pound, and they tried upping it to 4.99 a pound and it just sat. So they brought it back down to 3.99 a pound, but what didn't sell the day before, they decided to sell it for 1.49 per pound, it all still had the 4.99 price stickers on it. So I assume it was 2 days old. That don't bother me since the frau usually leaves ground meat in the fridge for a few days before she uses it. She only freezes what she knows was fresh that day. We've never got any bad meat from them since they put in their big meat department. And since we are regular shoppers, sometimes the manager will tell my wife he can give her a discount on something no one else knows about.
But my uncle, in his case, the barometric pressure is what made him ache big time. He always knew when a storm was brewing without ever looking outside.
In my case, I think typing all day has more or less kept my fingers more limber than they would have been if I didn't. And if my thumbs begin hurting too bad, which is what hurts first, I just squeeze them real tight. It hurts like heck to do that, but it loosens them back up really well.
Although my product was the only one of it's kind. When other aquarium use products in the same size are priced following a common pricing scheme, it is hard to move above that indelible price range. I know of several products that were discontinued, because if they upped the price, folks just didn't buy them, and would try other things instead.
Folks claim dosing Vodka does about the same thing as my product does. But it causes all kinds of other problems for them, like hair algae growth, etc. While my product actually reduces hair algae, and is why some folks buy it and use it, even though it is not intended for that purpose.
My wife came home beaming like a Cheshire Cat. She showed me her shopping receipt. I could easily see why on the things I know what they normally cost us at this store. My bread for example is now up to around 1.89, 3.19 at Kroger. At the end of the day, they cut the price down to $1.00. The bakery had a whole truck load of fresh bread, not day old, they would have to dump, because some big store closed for the day due to electrical problems at the store. To get rid of it fast, they marked it all at 75 cents per loaf, no limit.
And not only that, she picked up some ground black angus beef for less than half price also. It is normally 3.99 a pound, and they tried upping it to 4.99 a pound and it just sat. So they brought it back down to 3.99 a pound, but what didn't sell the day before, they decided to sell it for 1.49 per pound, it all still had the 4.99 price stickers on it. So I assume it was 2 days old. That don't bother me since the frau usually leaves ground meat in the fridge for a few days before she uses it. She only freezes what she knows was fresh that day. We've never got any bad meat from them since they put in their big meat department. And since we are regular shoppers, sometimes the manager will tell my wife he can give her a discount on something no one else knows about.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
I am usually pretty casual when it comes to prices of grocery products. Having said that, I also will say I'm not dumb. Some day old bread is just as good as out of the oven and I won't pass up a loaf of that if the price is right. Same with beef. I look around for what I'm interested in but will not hesitate to buy the "special priced" stuff which is meat that didn't sell the day before. It might not be as pink but it is not lesser quality. I will try to use that special purchase quickly and that upsets my menu planning at times. More often than not I'll just go to my favorite butcher shop an buy about a month's worth of meat and freeze it. It's rarely cheap but it does save me shopping time.
Apparently the aquarium product you sold was not a show stopper if it was not used. I'd have to agree that people will only pay so much for a product if there is a choice. In your case AZ-NO3 was not indispensable so the buyer could be picky. However, the new vendor did raise the price without hesitation and seems to be getting away with it. This all sounds like an exercise in marketing and I never did take a liking to those people. They use Black Magic to make decisions and conjure up sales promotions. I never could understand why they did what they did, but they were getting paid high salaries to do it.
Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints and I can see how exercising those joints could help. But, that's not always the cure, as my wife will tell you. It just amazes me that the weather or other atmospheric conditions would have any effect at all on internal organs.
Last week the grass on my lawn was 9" deep in some spots. By right the lawn mowing guy should have charged me extra for anything over 6" deep. I don't see why because all they do is mulch it. They don't bag it and carry it away. He did do a second pass, however, and I guess that is worth something. He uses a mower that he stands up on so that he isn't putting any extra mileage on his heels. I switched the schedule from cutting every two weeks to once a week. Today the grass looks at least 6" deep, but not as bad as when I let it go for two weeks. All that rain we got must have activated the fertilizer they put on earlier in the spring.
Apparently the aquarium product you sold was not a show stopper if it was not used. I'd have to agree that people will only pay so much for a product if there is a choice. In your case AZ-NO3 was not indispensable so the buyer could be picky. However, the new vendor did raise the price without hesitation and seems to be getting away with it. This all sounds like an exercise in marketing and I never did take a liking to those people. They use Black Magic to make decisions and conjure up sales promotions. I never could understand why they did what they did, but they were getting paid high salaries to do it.
Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints and I can see how exercising those joints could help. But, that's not always the cure, as my wife will tell you. It just amazes me that the weather or other atmospheric conditions would have any effect at all on internal organs.
Last week the grass on my lawn was 9" deep in some spots. By right the lawn mowing guy should have charged me extra for anything over 6" deep. I don't see why because all they do is mulch it. They don't bag it and carry it away. He did do a second pass, however, and I guess that is worth something. He uses a mower that he stands up on so that he isn't putting any extra mileage on his heels. I switched the schedule from cutting every two weeks to once a week. Today the grass looks at least 6" deep, but not as bad as when I let it go for two weeks. All that rain we got must have activated the fertilizer they put on earlier in the spring.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
Back home, almost all of the meat we bought came from one of two different butchers we used. Rarely from the grocery store.
It was not uncommon for us to buy a side of beef from the one butcher, but after a few years, we cut it back to 1/4 side.
I can't remember the names of nearly any of the stores we shopped at, other than Dierberg's and Schnuck's. I do remember Bettendorf's and Schinzing's market of course, both long gone. Seem's like one of the butchers was Koch's Meat Market. But for the life of me, I can't remember the one out west where we bought the sides of beef from. Clancy's or Chaney's something like that. He was the cheapest of them all when you bought a side of a steer to be carved up. He trimmed as much fat of as he could, and if you wanted, he would render the fat and add birdseed to it for you. You usually didn't get your own fat back this way, because he did a bunch of it at once and put it in cardboard trays like square shallow soup bowls. They would fit the standard size suet cake holders.
The only thing I really had going for me was, no one else offered a product that did the same thing. So I had no competition, except for the short lasting snake oil company, hi hi. I never paid for an ad, but three different magazines featured my product which really boosted sales. And got me into the international market for the product. Sales were great for a lot of years.
I hear ya on the wheelers and dealers who manage to get prices up. And they can tell people where to go in such a nice way, they enjoy the trip, hi hi.
Weather, especially barometric pressure, plays a huge role in how our bodies act. Especially if you have places that flare up in paid with those weather changes.
I have my neighbor doing my mowing now, and just a little bit of the trimming work. I offered him 40 bucks each time he mowed. I normally like it mowed only once every other week. But he's sorta like me, he only mows when it become necessary. So the deal is, when he mows his lawn, go ahead and do mine at the same time, while he's dusty and dirty, hi hi.
It is hard do for me to even be able to afford that, but I just can't do it myself anymore, not even the riding mower part. Tried and it zapped me really fast, even wearing my O2 tank.
It was not uncommon for us to buy a side of beef from the one butcher, but after a few years, we cut it back to 1/4 side.
I can't remember the names of nearly any of the stores we shopped at, other than Dierberg's and Schnuck's. I do remember Bettendorf's and Schinzing's market of course, both long gone. Seem's like one of the butchers was Koch's Meat Market. But for the life of me, I can't remember the one out west where we bought the sides of beef from. Clancy's or Chaney's something like that. He was the cheapest of them all when you bought a side of a steer to be carved up. He trimmed as much fat of as he could, and if you wanted, he would render the fat and add birdseed to it for you. You usually didn't get your own fat back this way, because he did a bunch of it at once and put it in cardboard trays like square shallow soup bowls. They would fit the standard size suet cake holders.
The only thing I really had going for me was, no one else offered a product that did the same thing. So I had no competition, except for the short lasting snake oil company, hi hi. I never paid for an ad, but three different magazines featured my product which really boosted sales. And got me into the international market for the product. Sales were great for a lot of years.
I hear ya on the wheelers and dealers who manage to get prices up. And they can tell people where to go in such a nice way, they enjoy the trip, hi hi.
Weather, especially barometric pressure, plays a huge role in how our bodies act. Especially if you have places that flare up in paid with those weather changes.
I have my neighbor doing my mowing now, and just a little bit of the trimming work. I offered him 40 bucks each time he mowed. I normally like it mowed only once every other week. But he's sorta like me, he only mows when it become necessary. So the deal is, when he mows his lawn, go ahead and do mine at the same time, while he's dusty and dirty, hi hi.
It is hard do for me to even be able to afford that, but I just can't do it myself anymore, not even the riding mower part. Tried and it zapped me really fast, even wearing my O2 tank.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
My empathy for you is high because I'm in a situation similar to you. Hopefully my dilemma is only temporary. It seemed natural to have somebody else do the lawn after I had surgery and could not muster up enough energy to do it on my own. That's why I hired the people I used one time in the past. The prices now are nearly double what they were prior to the pandemic. These people lost a lot of employees during that three years and their sales dropped 30%. I am not happy about it, but I guess that is a fair justification for the price increase. I have 6800 sq ft of lawn to cut and they charge me $65 weekly or $76 bi-weekly. I don't understand what justifies the difference in prices, but I'm also not up to giving them an argument at this time. Well, it's all going swell, and I watch the guy trim and cut just about all the lawn. His machine is way bigger than mine so that it doesn't take him nearly as long. Watching the grass being cut is a bit disheartening. I'm not allowed to do anything strenuous for 6-8 weeks. Grass cutting in particular was cited as a no go. I think I'd be really depressed if I thought I could never do it all again.
There is a small store down the highway which has a fairly decent butcher shop. They really don't have much else worth going there to buy, but I'm generally in need of more than meat when I go shopping. Thus Schnucks or Deirbergs are the ideal choices. The butcher I do go to once in a while has a much larger variety of meats and they will cut most anything for you on the spot, if you are willing to pay extra. The highway butcher, however, offers packages of meat that are not quite up to quarter hind size. There are probably a dozen different cuts of meat, plus hamburger in that package. They also have a larger bundle but not quite twice the size. Either package purchased whole is cheaper than buying the cuts individually. I don't but it, but I have thought about it. My freezer isn't large enough to hold that much meat plus all the other things I have in there. And all that meat would probably last the better part of the year for the two of us. That's a bit too long to keep meat in my opinion. When both kids and mom lived with us back in the old house I did have a spare freezer and buying quarter hinds was not unusual for that many mouths to feed.
There is a small store down the highway which has a fairly decent butcher shop. They really don't have much else worth going there to buy, but I'm generally in need of more than meat when I go shopping. Thus Schnucks or Deirbergs are the ideal choices. The butcher I do go to once in a while has a much larger variety of meats and they will cut most anything for you on the spot, if you are willing to pay extra. The highway butcher, however, offers packages of meat that are not quite up to quarter hind size. There are probably a dozen different cuts of meat, plus hamburger in that package. They also have a larger bundle but not quite twice the size. Either package purchased whole is cheaper than buying the cuts individually. I don't but it, but I have thought about it. My freezer isn't large enough to hold that much meat plus all the other things I have in there. And all that meat would probably last the better part of the year for the two of us. That's a bit too long to keep meat in my opinion. When both kids and mom lived with us back in the old house I did have a spare freezer and buying quarter hinds was not unusual for that many mouths to feed.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
From 2002 all they way to when I had my first heart attack, I kept our yard looking like country club. Folks used to stop and comment on how my yard always looked so pristine.
So I feel really bad about how it looks now.
My neighbor who I asked to cut my lawn and weed eat for me, cuts it much shorter than I ever did. So it doesn't look as green as it used to, or as smooth. But what can I do? I'm glad he stepped up to help us for a low fee.
I did have a lawn mowing company, but not only were they unreliable, they often made a mess of things.
I paid them extra to trim a couple of bushes and all they had were excuses why they didn't get around to it.
They never gave my money back I paid them to do it either.
We tried not to buy more than we could eat in 3 months time, otherwise it starts tasting like a freezer or gets freezer burn, no matter how well it is wrapped.
No sense in me buying meats now, as the frau is not good at all at cooking meats, except chicken, hi hi.
I really do miss Dierbergs, so does Debi. She was amazed at that grocery store, had never seen anything like it.
We do have a Kroger store, but it looks nothing at all like a Kroger store back home. And don't even come close to comparing to stores like Schnucks.
So I feel really bad about how it looks now.
My neighbor who I asked to cut my lawn and weed eat for me, cuts it much shorter than I ever did. So it doesn't look as green as it used to, or as smooth. But what can I do? I'm glad he stepped up to help us for a low fee.
I did have a lawn mowing company, but not only were they unreliable, they often made a mess of things.
I paid them extra to trim a couple of bushes and all they had were excuses why they didn't get around to it.
They never gave my money back I paid them to do it either.
We tried not to buy more than we could eat in 3 months time, otherwise it starts tasting like a freezer or gets freezer burn, no matter how well it is wrapped.
No sense in me buying meats now, as the frau is not good at all at cooking meats, except chicken, hi hi.
I really do miss Dierbergs, so does Debi. She was amazed at that grocery store, had never seen anything like it.
We do have a Kroger store, but it looks nothing at all like a Kroger store back home. And don't even come close to comparing to stores like Schnucks.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
You might find this hard to believe, but Dierbergs is a step down from what I was used to back in Illinois. There were many more choices and types of groceries up there, and a Dierbergs would fit into the middle range of what I had to choose from. The thing I miss the most is the ethnic shops. There were Indian groceries, Korean groceries, Italian groceries, and, my favorite, Polish groceries. None of them compared to Dierbergs for size and selection, but they had food never heard of down here in O'Fallon. My cooking experiments were not limited at all because any recipe published in Bon Appétit could be assembled from local grocery stores, assuming you knew which one to shop in. There are tings I find at Schnucks and/or Dierbergs that surprise me, but some of the more common items I like to use, such as Spätzle, simply do not exist. Schnucks did have a packaged form of it the first year I lived here. But once I bought it all they never restocked it.
When I question the store people about why they don't stock certain items, the likely answer is that they never get a call for it. The sad truth is that this town is not nearly as diverse as the place from whence I migrated. I don't think there are any Indians or Koreans living in or near O'Fallon, for example, so why have a grocery for that kind of food? The folks here are about as middle of the Middle Class as you can get. This is the quintessential middle class town and it shows in all the shops, not only in the food supply. Then, too, up north I never saw hog jawls which seems to be a somewhat popular item down here. I've have seen crayfish at the Maggiano's back home, but it can only be had as frozen pieces down here. Now that I think about it, same goes for lobster and crab.
I am familiar with what must be the Kroger style store you mention. We had Kroger too, right next to the WalMart. Then WalMard decided to go super store and drove Kroger out of business. LOL However, when I was growing up in the city of Chicago itself, Kroger, along with A&P and National, were all over the place. They claimed to be supermarkets and put the corner groceries out of business, but none of them were up to the standard you see there in Tennessee. And I know it's not a high standard. Then, too, people expect different things in different parts of the country. I should have checked out the food supply more thoroughly before deciding to move down here.
When I question the store people about why they don't stock certain items, the likely answer is that they never get a call for it. The sad truth is that this town is not nearly as diverse as the place from whence I migrated. I don't think there are any Indians or Koreans living in or near O'Fallon, for example, so why have a grocery for that kind of food? The folks here are about as middle of the Middle Class as you can get. This is the quintessential middle class town and it shows in all the shops, not only in the food supply. Then, too, up north I never saw hog jawls which seems to be a somewhat popular item down here. I've have seen crayfish at the Maggiano's back home, but it can only be had as frozen pieces down here. Now that I think about it, same goes for lobster and crab.
I am familiar with what must be the Kroger style store you mention. We had Kroger too, right next to the WalMart. Then WalMard decided to go super store and drove Kroger out of business. LOL However, when I was growing up in the city of Chicago itself, Kroger, along with A&P and National, were all over the place. They claimed to be supermarkets and put the corner groceries out of business, but none of them were up to the standard you see there in Tennessee. And I know it's not a high standard. Then, too, people expect different things in different parts of the country. I should have checked out the food supply more thoroughly before deciding to move down here.
Re: Alexa vs Alexa
I guess what stores stock have a lot to do with what the ethnic population is.
We had tons of German grocers in and around Des Peres.
And if you got out a little further, then you would find Indian stores.
Head east a bit and there were Irish, Greek, and Polish grocery stores.
But Des Peres was basically all Krauts, hi hi.
I'm not one to eat anything I'm not accustomed to or raised on. So never try other types of foods, especially ethnic foods.
If you lived down here, you could find all the hog jowls, pigs feet, possum innards, you name it. Weird southern foods from the depression era are like a mainstay down here. Heck, the restaurants down here have things like fried Okra and fried Green Tomatoes, etc. Those are also things I don't eat.
The folks down here never heard of sweet yellow cornbread. All of them have the horrible stuff I call ground horse corn. But the only tea any restaurant has is Sweet Tea, hi hi.
On a sad note:
Our 14 year old pooch named Boonleigh, who we called Boon for short, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
That makes six pooches we have lost to old age since I moved south.
We had tons of German grocers in and around Des Peres.
And if you got out a little further, then you would find Indian stores.
Head east a bit and there were Irish, Greek, and Polish grocery stores.
But Des Peres was basically all Krauts, hi hi.
I'm not one to eat anything I'm not accustomed to or raised on. So never try other types of foods, especially ethnic foods.
If you lived down here, you could find all the hog jowls, pigs feet, possum innards, you name it. Weird southern foods from the depression era are like a mainstay down here. Heck, the restaurants down here have things like fried Okra and fried Green Tomatoes, etc. Those are also things I don't eat.
The folks down here never heard of sweet yellow cornbread. All of them have the horrible stuff I call ground horse corn. But the only tea any restaurant has is Sweet Tea, hi hi.
On a sad note:
Our 14 year old pooch named Boonleigh, who we called Boon for short, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
That makes six pooches we have lost to old age since I moved south.