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Some consultants tell business executives and consumers to reduce dining out during recessions. Such advice is not exactly music to the ears of Paul Hartgen, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland.
Maryland restaurant sales were down about 1 percent in 2008 from 2007 to $8.7 billion, according to association figures released this week. Sales declines hit double digits in Dorchester, Somerset and Calvert counties, while Cecil County saw the largest increase of 9 percent.
In the face of that environment, restaurants are working hard to offer more menu value items and daily specials, Hartgen said. "They are also reducing costs in some creative ways, such as redoing employee shifts and doing fewer brunches," he said.
Starbucks recently implemented a cost-saving policy of not brewing decaffeinated coffee after noon each day. But the Seattle-based coffee company, which has numerous locations in Maryland, has also been forced to close cafés and lay off workers.
Michele Gaidelis, owner of the Montgomery County franchise of Bevinco, an alcohol and beverage inventory control and sales auditing company, works with restaurants and bars on ways they can save money and increase revenue by cutting down on sloppy drink pouring, free drinks and theft.
"Keeping the doors open is the main concern this year," Gaidelis said. "It is rough. I am the objective pair of eyes that can look at restaurants and can help them make it through these trying times."
But even in recessions, businesses should try to come up with fresh services and products to boost sales, Gaidelis said. She recently started a new consulting and distribution company in Silver Spring called Signature Restaurant Solutions, offering bars and restaurants bag-in-the-box energy drinks and juices, efficiency training and consulting.
Using corporate jets is another expense some consultants tell clients to scale back. Some companies, including Bank of America of Charlotte, N.C., the largest bank in Maryland deposits, have sold jets outright.
Citigroup recently opted not to purchase a $42 million Dassault Falcon 7X jet the New York banking and financial services firm had ordered. Citigroup is also among the largest banks in Maryland.
The moves have hurt corporate jet manufacturers. Citing declining orders for its corporate jets, Wichita, Kan., manufacturer Cessna Aircraft plans to lay off 4,600 workers by March, mostly at its headquarters. Cessna, part of Textron of Providence, R.I., has also cut costs in other ways, including cutting the work week of production employees.
Passenger traffic at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport in Linthicum tapered off 1 percent in the 12 months ending in October, the most recent yearlong period for which data are available, according to Maryland Aviation Administration figures. Southwest Airlines, the top carrier at BWI by far with 52 percent of the traffic, saw a decline of 2 percent during that period.