Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Stew Leonard’s builds “buffer stock” as COVID cases surge ahead of Thanksgiving
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Stew Leonard, Jr. is stocking up for a second wave of the coronavirus. He and his suppliers do not want to be blindsided like they were in March.
“They’re all anticipating at least a 20 percent increase in buffer stock,” Leonard told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
The second generation owner of Stew Leonard’s supermarket chain headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut said he did not predict cleaning products, paper towels and toilet paper would be in short supply when the pandemic hit the United States eight months ago, but now, he is prepared as the virus surges in a majority of states with hospitalizations rising, too.
“Our backrooms are stuffed right now with product and we’re buying as much Bounty and Charmin as we can get right now,” Leonard told WCBS 880.
He’s been reflecting on his father’s advice from when he took over the family business in 1987 – 18 years after Stew Leonard, Sr. opened the original store.
Leonard, Jr. told Connolly and Carousso his father advised he pay attention to his customers and “be really nice to your suppliers,” because they are providing the quality product shoppers expect.“I’m calling them up and I’m on my knees. I owe a lot of favors right now,” Leonard laughed. “You know ‘Game of Thrones’ where the guy said I have to bend a knee? Well, I’ve had to bend a knee a lot here.”
He said he is informing his suppliers – local farmers and fisherman among them – that he is still in business and they are his priority.
“Sometimes there might be a hiccup and they need something delivered and I’ll have some of our people go and deliver it to them because they’re in a jam,” he said, adding, “I would expect our suppliers to do that for us, too.”
Leonard told WCBS 880 it is imperative business owners in the food industry listen to their customers because they have no data to indicate how to prepare for Thanksgiving this year.
“The only way you’re going to get a little handle on it is if you really just say, ‘I’m going to talk to five customers a day,'” he advised. “They’ll give you a feeling of what it’s like, whether they want delivery, whether they want curb side, how they’re shopping, what their Thanksgiving’s going to be like.”
Leonard surveyed thousands of his customers and found 9 out of 10 are having small Thanksgiving dinners this year with immediate family in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. That influenced his decision to reduce his typical order of large turkeys weighing 24-25 lbs. by 20 percent; he bought 20-25 percent more smaller turkeys that weigh 15-16 lbs.
Stew Leonard’s has seen a 600 percent increase in online orders in the outset of the pandemic as the supermarket implemented “triple cleaning” procedures and got rid of in-store buffets and bagel trays to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
While families save on eating out and entertainment because of the pandemic, there is more demand for quality ground beef and wine at Stew Leonard’s.
“They want to still make that restaurant-style meal at their house so we’re seeing our porterhouse steaks (and) our filet mignons (are) incredibly high in sales, and also, all of our prime beef that we offer at Stew Leonard’s has gone up tremendously,” Leonard said.
He tells WCBS 880 he has not raised prices in the pandemic. In fact, he gave his employees an extra $2 an hour in the first months of the crisis. He is restoring that boost ahead of the holidays plus Leonard is giving his workers an extra week’s salary at year’s end.
Watch Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso’s conversation with Stew Leonard, Jr. above or listen to it on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast.
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Laughter and Love: Businesses Born Out of Pandemic Needs
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Some of the best businesses solve unmet needs.
Ray Ellin, executive producer of Comedy Central’s “This Week at the Comedy Cellar,” went from performing at New York comedy clubs to entertaining sales teams on Zoom after founding Comedy Cloud in May when a customer insisted he pivot to live virtual comedy shows.
“I had thought about it, but I was like, ‘There’s no way this is going to work,’” Ellin told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
He did not think Zoom comedy shows for businesses would be profitable, but now, he credits his Aruba Ray’s Comedy Club customer to his growing adjacent service.
“He really had to twist my arm. It was really something,” Ellin laughed.
Photo credit: Ray Ellin Businesses hire him for about $2,000 to provide hour-long comedic relief and engage their remote workers – many of whom have not been in the office for eight months – in a fast-pace virtual program featuring standup comics sidelined due to the pandemic. It has also served as a coping mechanism for Ellin whose older sister died from COVID-19 in March in Silicon Valley.
“I really felt like this would also provide me with a good purpose,” he told WCBS 880, continuing, “If I could try to boost the morale of people that are home alone in a similar situation, well, great, let’s give it a shot. Let’s see if this will work.”
Jenn Augustine of Floral Park has tackled adversity head on since she started her dream wedding planning business Forget Me Knots in 2018 while receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer and carrying her first child at the same time.
“The first wedding that we ever booked, we did it in September, and a day later I had my double mastectomy,” she said, adding. “I wanted to make sure I was there and part of that wedding and loved every second of it.”
Photo credit: Jenn Augustine She has been cancer-free for two years this past September and her daughter is healthy as well.
When the pandemic hit, Augustine had been used to the mental health challenges of isolation, but her business was shut down. As Mother’s Day approached in May, she reached out to potential customers on Instagram with a new service: flowers. She wanted to support Long Island floral farmers she had been working with for wedding bouquets. She only expected a few orders, but was flooded with over 100 orders throughout the Tri-State area.
“There’s still a need for people to send joy and love and a lot of people do that through flowers,” said Augustine. “We realized that that side of the business really has been growing because when you don’t see a family member for a certain amount of time, you really appreciate them and the time that you do spend together, and you want them to remember, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about you.'”
Now, with weddings in New York capped at 50 people, including wait staff, she told Carousso her flower delivery business is more profitable. She is planning what she calls “micro-weddings” in clients’ backyards and small venues.
“I just recently did a wedding in Long Beach at the Allegria Hotel and they only allowed 40 people with 5-6 feet tables apart from each other, no dancing, you have to wear a mask when you get up from the table and they usually stay away from buffet-style eating. Everything is individually plated,” she said.
Augustine discovered micro-weddings are more intimate and fun because it is with a small group of close family and friends. Beaming with a positive outlook on life full of uncertainty, she fills the void of love.
Hear ideas for growing an adjacent service in the pandemic on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above.
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What employers and employees can do to advance in the pandemic economy
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Now may be a good time to take steps to advance your career or grow your business.
With millions out of work and traditional jobs disrupted by the pandemic, there are new jobs and skills in demand, which Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso explore with former U.S. Department of Labor official Jane Oates on this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
Oates served as assistant secretary for the Employment and Training Administration from 2009 to 2013 and was executive director for the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and Senior Advisor to former Gov. Jon Corzine from 2006-2009.
She is currently the president of WorkingNation – a non-profit that examines the changing workforce and offers solutions for adapting to challenges such as those brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“You have to know what your skills are. It’s no longer just doing job title to job title,” she explained.
Oates told WCBS 880 those out of work and/or looking to change careers should try to use their existing skills that can apply to parallel industries that may value them more.
“So, can I go from being, you know, a banker to a middle school math teacher? It’s not going to be a straight line. It’s going to be a rich pathway that has lots of circles,” she said, adding, “So, you have to make sure you can articulate to yourself and others what your skills are.”
Technology and digital skills are in high demand right now and new jobs are being created in the pandemic.
Indeed lists numerous software development and information services jobs on its site.
There were 1.5 million new applications for Employer Tax Identification Numbers in the third quarter of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s a 77.4 percent increase of new business applications from the second quarter.
“I think what we’re seeing is a lot of innovators and that’s what we’re known for, right, that’s what the United States is: we’re a nation of innovators,” Oates said.
As a mentor for emerging technology startups in education, she told Connolly and Carousso that she has learned of an influx of investments in the space over the summer.
Meantime, operating businesses are preparing for their future. Oates said many companies have started using staffing agencies to train young workers – many recent college graduates – to develop their talent pools.
One staffing agency she mentioned on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight is Houston-based Talent Path; they provide career development for recent graduates so they are “work-ready.” On its website, Talent Path writes, “colleges and universities don’t always know the pressing technology needs of employers.” The firm aims to bridge that “disconnect.”
“We’ve seen a lot of it all over the country and New York always has been a place where staffing agencies have been a vibrant source where employers can kind of see before they buy,” Oates said.
The former Labor Department official named Revature, Genuent and Optimum Healthcare IT as other qualified staffing agencies.
“I also think (employers are) waiting to see what the longer term trends are going to be,” said Oates, continuing, “I mention healthcare, what’s going to happen permanently with telemedicine, and quite frankly, what’s going to happen permanently in terms of people working full-time remotely?”
She pointed to her own experience working longer hours at home and worries about family relationships being harmed because people cannot physically get away from their jobs. She also expressed her concern about adverse unintended consequences surrounding career advancement of which, she said, employees and employers should be aware.
“If you can’t impress somebody on the work site, if they can’t walk past you or have you come into a meeting – a meeting that you might not have been invited to originally – and have you really impress them with your knowledge and skills, I think that will be bad for the upward mobility, professionally, for so many people,” Oates said.
Hear ideas on how to combat these challenges and the steps you can take now to advance your career or business on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or the media player above.
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UWS small business finds new customers on e-commerce store
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Retailers that have grown their e-commerce platforms are the ones that are surviving the pandemic.
Sylvia Parker owns Magpie – a gift store on Amsterdam Avenue between 83rd and 84th Streets on the Upper West Side. She told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, “now is the time” for retailers to focus on building and growing their online presence.
“I know shop owners are really busy, but if they can take these couple of extra minutes or whatever to do it, then it’s worthwhile, obviously worthwhile,” she said.
Parker, with the help of a “tech savvy staff member,” recently built a new website using a “big e-commerce” platform that has templates. Her product photos stand out on the easy-to-navigate online store. She told WCBS 880 that she purchased a portable photo booth for about $100 from a local camera store to take product photos for her website and Instagram page.
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NYC Tech Startup Credits Fast Recovery, Growth To Sales Ops Change
By Neil A. Carousso
Learn how you can spot and take advantage of sales opportunities to recover and grow at the WCBS BNB Bank Virtual Business Breakfast with Joe Connolly on October 15. See the program and how to participate here.
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Don White, co-founder and chief executive officer, of Satisfi Labs, Inc. was not sure his Artificial Intelligence company would survive the coronavirus pandemic, but since March he made several quick pivots that has led to his sales doubling year-over-year.
“We’ve transitioned from a regional sales team to a vertical sales team,” White told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
His sales team had previously focused on national clients by location, which allowed account executives to schedule a number of in-person meetings with clients and leads to maximize business trips. When the pandemic halted non-essential travel, White, along with many other business owners and individuals, saw the value and efficiency in video conferencing platforms.
“We give your customers expertise, someone that knows ski resorts in-and-out, someone that knows the museum industry in-and-out, baseball in-and-out,” he explained. “That’s a pretty big shift for us.”
White believes it is a viable, long-term shift with promising early results.
Satisfi Labs’ clients are in sports, entertainment, hospitality and retail – all of which had been shut down and severely impacted financially by the coronavirus pandemic. His most notable clients include Major League Baseball teams such as the New York Mets, the National Football League, Hilton hotels, Universal Orlando Resort, Macy’s and more. The startup provides automated customer services through its proprietary A.I. platform that allows its clients to swiftly and accurately communicate with customers while enhancing customers’ tangible experience with the brand.
When gatherings were banned due to the pandemic, Satisfi Labs’ monthly revenue plummeted 85 percent.
“Now, someone who covers the Georgia Aquarium can now cover an aquarium in California and have the same relationship,” White said, continuing, “We originally felt that at least one or two face-to-face meetings a year were required for relationships, but I think now the world has adopted that digital relationships are just fine and video calls have replaced the fly in.”
In addition to making a key structural change, Satsifi Labs launched “COVID Assistance” in the early weeks of the pandemic as a way to help other businesses communicate with their customers about their pandemic responses and business changes. White said they are offering the product for free as a way to attract new leads.
“That’s a way that I think we twisted it to say, ‘Look, let’s help you first, let’s not come at you with a pitch right away, but let’s do something to help you get out of this. And when you come out of this, hopefully, you’ll remember us,'” White said.
He told Connolly and Carousso launching an adjacent service at the outset is a proactive approach other businesses can learn from in responding to a crisis.
“It’s just a unique way to build relationships that we hadn’t done in the past,” he said.
He is hopeful those leads will convert to clients who may want to streamline their customer experiences post-pandemic when it’s clear what market changes and consumer demands have taken shape.
“Our talent pool has so much increased by having remote has a non-issue,” he said, telling WCBS 880 he is starting to restore salaries before rehiring employees this fall.
“The workplace of the future, you’re going to see more diversity, which I think is a big focus of a lot of companies,” said White, adding, “And now, you’re going to see all these talent pools that are not typically in your recruiters’ network just open up. I think it’s going to be better for business overall.”
He noted that mothers who want to return to the workforce, but are raising children, now have an opportunity to work from home and be a productive employee, as it has proven to be efficient for many companies and industries over the past four months.
“You’re going to see people come back, have families and be able to work more easily,” White said.
The savvy tech founder and new-age employer evolved in his belief about how A.I. will disrupt the workforce. He told Connolly on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight in December 2018 that Artificial Intelligence would not destroy jobs, rather, it would add an efficiency to compliment skilled laborers. As a result of the pandemic with more than 30 million Americans receiving unemployment benefits, White now tells WCBS 880 it will “replace some roles,” meaning A.I. will replace menial tasks like emails while creating new, advanced jobs.
Listen to the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above for creative sales methods that could be viable for your company and to hear about Don White’s personal battle with COVID-19 and how he and his family have recovered since they fell ill in March.
