Monday, September 26, 2011

Golfing Fever

Is it just me, or did more people start golfing on a regular basis this year?? I know I did! I went from going every now and then to at least twice a week this summer - I don't know what got into me! Golf has pretty much taken presidence over all other activities - including baseball and hiking! Something about being out on the course, relaxing and spending time with friends...I couldn't seem to get enough this year.

I bought a new driver (swapped my R9 SuperTri for the Burner Superfast 2.0) and I also bought some new irons...I first went with the Mizuno MP-57's but then realized that I wasn't good enough to hit those, haha. So I ended up purchasing the Mizuno MX-1000's and I seem to be doing fairly well with those. Although, the Mizuno JPX-800's are looking pretty tempting as well! If you can't tell, I like the Mizuno irons. I was hitting the Titleist dci981's for a long time and decided to do some research on irons...I found that the Mizuno's were the highest regarded club maker on the tour right now, so I gave them a try.

I'm wondering how long into the winter I'll continue playing this year. I'm not a huge fan of playing in the rain, and the cold isn't any more appealing - but who knows, perhaps I'll buy some winter golf gloves and keep playing till the warm weather comes back!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Travelers Insurance - NOT Writing Restaurants With Happy Hour

After reading this article, please view the comment below.

I'm a bit perplexed on how Travelers Insurance can say that they insure and protect restaurants...but then they say that they will NOT insure a restaurant that has any form of a Happy Hour. I'm being completely serious - I just got off the line with my underwriter and I have an account that has a HH which includes NO alcohol, it's purely food discounts. Even so, they "passed" on accepting to write it.

Tell me, is there honestly a single restaurant in the US that doesn't have a HH in this economy?? I would imagine that as a restauranteur, you would try anything that is tasteful to entice patrons to dine.

I understand that Travelers may not want the drinking exposure to increase due to low prices cocktails and other alcoholic beverages...but to exclude coverage to a restaurant that only discounts their food items seems a bit draconian to me. I was fully willing to place this restaurant with Travelers, which has been in business for 16 years, loss free.

It looks like I will have to give it to an insurance company that actually understands the hospitality world - a carrier that understands the restauranteur...someone like, perhaps, Liberty Northwest / Mutual...or even The Hartford, who has turned their restaurant division up a few notches (which I like to think I had something to do with that) haha...persistence always prevails!

I'm not saying that Travelers is going to deny any claims that arise from their currently insured restaurants just because they have a HH...I'm simply stating that for new business, it seems that they are strongly shying away from it. If you know anyone who owns a restaurant, they owe it to themselves to seek consultation from a broker that knows and understands the industry - pass along my information to them so that they can be fully educated on their covered exposures.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Jack in the Box retools french fries

After receiving feedback from a study that was conducted using actual customers, Jack in the Box has completely re-vamped their french fry recipe! The new fries will have improved crispness, temperature and freshness. I think this is a great idea, Micky D's has always owned the market with their fries...so let's see how Jack in the Box will compare!

I just hope that they don't change the curly fries...because when I do eat fast food (which I will admit is not very often) I tend to gravitate to the Jack in the Box curly fries :)