What About a Restaurant ?
Position Paper 3
by
Stephen C. Anderson
Candidate for the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors
Stephen C. Anderson
Candidate for the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors
Contact:
or
(702)
514-0059
Q. What is your position
on having a restaurant in Anthem Center?
A. The Board needs to
step back from making any decision at this time and wait to get self-management
under way and in place for a period of time.
Making a decision on the restaurant
should not be a top priority as we undertake our move to self-management.
Our
new General Manager has had previous experience managing properties with
restaurant operations, which should be helpful to making a decision for Sun City
Anthem.
With our new management structure, the General Manager will be a key
person in having input into the decision. However, our new management team will
need to have the time to develop alternatives that can be presented to the
Board.
The Board also needs to take the time to formulate sound policy that can
guide management in moving ahead on this issue. This will include listening and
dialoging with members about what they want and in clearly understanding the
history of past restaurant failures at Sun City Anthem.
I know that the issue of
subsidization and the word amenity often come up in regards to discussions about
the restaurant.
The association already subsidizes the restaurant (whether open
or not) by owning the kitchen equipment, dining room furniture and other items
necessary for a restaurant operation.
One option might be to self-manage a food
service operation or to look at another contractor run operation.
Another option
would be to have a food service operation that would include a call-in take out
service.
There are any number of great ideas that need to be carefully
considered in making a decision.
However, at this time my position is to be not
either for or against a restaurant option.
Critical to my making a decision is
listening to what the members of the association have to say and the nature of
the proposal(s) that come forth from management for a Board
decision.
Any offer that the
Association considers must have a sound business plan and address the issues
that have plagued operations in the past.
A food service operation ideally would
provide at least some additional revenue to the association or serve as an
offset to the costs we currently incur for the space.
If an outside contractor
were to be utilized then a contract needs to be structured in a business like
manner. The costs for rent, trash and utilities need to be well structured in
advance and be set at a reasonable level based upon past experience.
Under no
circumstance should the association ever engage in loans to the vendor.
Again
these are just some thoughts about this issue and key is listening to the input
from the members.
This issue underscores
the importance of the board in implementing a strong governance structure that
focuses on strategic planning and performance assessment and evaluation.
Dealing
with this issue also places emphasis on LISTENING to the
community.
- - - - - - - -
Got a comment or question for Steve
Anderson?
Send it to:
Good Morning:
We have lived her since 2001 and sure have been disappointed with the Restaurants going under and I think it has a lot to do with the Contract that was written and not sticking to it.
I'm a Real Estate Agent as well and quite involved with the Community.
I would take my clients there and several times they didn’t have what was on the menu, prices to high and the list goes on. I have always liked the idea of having a place close to dine and a nice place but at this point, whatever works in the way of savings us money or even making us money,
I’m all for it as long as it has to do with some kind of “Food.” I’ve heard Gambling etc and that just does not belong there.
I guess if you had a Bar and Grill type place with a few Slot machines, that make us money.
That would be fine but this is the fourth to 5th time going through this.
As you know we are also dealing with the Liberty Center that wasn’t properly followed to closure.
You never close on a building until you have an inspection. Doesn’t mean that would have shown anything, but I bet it would have showed some potential problems.
No matter what kind of a dining place or eatery, you just cannot ignore a contract.
It’s actually our fault for allowing this to happen if this is the case.
I really hope you can find a good solution for this and a very long lasting one.
Many thanks for all your time!
From Marty & Donna....to...Anthem Opinions
Sure sounds like Steve Anderson's reply (to me) is that as he places all those "options" in his answer, all he's doing is throwing enough stuff on the wall and maybe it'll stick. In other words, he still wants a restaurant, but doesn't know how to say it straight out. His stock answer is, "let's talk about it and maybe someone will come up with some magic formula to make number 5 work."
Not a chance in hell, Steve, dream on.
Take all those used pots and pans and send them to Goodwill or any charity of the new boards choice.
Let private enterprise (at a "arm's length transaction") do what it does best.
The last bunch of folks had all the credibility in the world, and that is that their experiences in the restaurant was, "they knew how to eat."
If I said it once, I said it a hundred times, a triple net lease "WAS" the only way to offer a restaurant, and THAT included no options for changes knowing what transpired in the past, but those dolts didn't have a clue because they never, ever had to reach in their pocket and start and run a business. They all were "Corporate America MBA's," and thought they knew better.
Take that piece of the building and put grass in it!