Root Beer Floats, Ice Cream, and Hot Dogs

Summer is coming and the shop is gearing up for a fun and busy season.  Today we started our ice cream special.

All ice cream products are at a discounted price for the month of April.  This promotion is always a winner.  There is no reason not to think that it won't be again this year.
The root beer and orange float promotion starts in April and will continue through the summer.  This is a gamble on my part.  The floats went well, last summer, when we ran The Summer Diner.

The question will be if we can transfer the interest to The Snack Shop.  The weather certainly didn't cooperate today.  The temperature hovering around freezing was hardly an invitation to buy a float.
Root beer floats seem to be the most popular, but I'm hoping the orange floats will sell well too.

We already have Pizza by the Slice Wednesday and starting, soon, we'll be offering Hot Dog Tuesday.
Not just any hot dogs, but Zweigle Red and White hots fresh from the grill.

The object is to make The Snack Shop THE place to go for summer treats.  It can be ice cream, pizza, floats or hot dogs.  All of the things that make for a fun summer.

Constructive Tuesday

It is snowing. 
This storm has teased us for almost two days.  The view from the window is no different than it was a week ago.  Big flakes of snow blowing in from the west. 

View from my window.  Same picture, different day!

I'm glad I didn't have to go out.  There was enough to keep me busy right here.

Before I went down to open the shop for the day, I had a brainstorm (which are always dangerous). 

I checked NOAA weather and copied the storm warnings.  Printed a sign "Today's Forecast", pasted the forecast, and left a gentle reminder on the bottom that The Snack Shop carries soups, mac & cheese, lean pockets, hot chocolate and hot tea.  The one thing I didn't have to remind our residents about was stamps.  They went out the door like hot cakes.  When I left the shop after my shift at 6pm we had sold 115 stamps.

The signs went up at each elevator, in the community room, and on our bulletin board in front of the shop.  They had to have some effect since we did a booming business all day long.

The one item that really surprises me is ice cream!  There is a wind chill of -6 and they still buy ice cream.

I worked on January's newsletter today.  The front page is just about finished.  By the end of next week, just after Christmas, it will be ready for distribution. 

The recipe page was complete a few weeks ago.  I love that page.  It is my challenge to find recipes that are easy to make and just right for cooking for one or two.  At one time most of us cooked for large families.  Getting into the habit of downsizing our portions isn't easy.  Yes, one can freeze and bring back the dish at another time, but apartment freezers can only hold so much. 
I had recipes for December and January in one file.  Some of these made the December newsletter, the rest will be for January:

• Parmesean Chicken
• Broccoli
• Potato Pancakes
• Orange Pecan French Toast
• Pasta Fagioli
• Apple Glaze Pork Chops
• Italian Pork Chops
• Apple Cranberry Hot Cider
• Cheesecake Brownies
• Boneless Chicken Tenders

 I'll include a lot of apple recipes since our apple man delivers every Friday during the winter. 

Tonight, I'll continue to work on the newsletter and get laundry done.  It's been a good day.