Restaurant Industry In Bowling Green Is A Tough Gig

In the event of the recent shutdown of three of Hitcents Park Plaza's concept restaurants located in the bottom of the BG downtown parking structure and the layoffof 30 employees according a newspaper article in today's Bowling Green Daily News posted below, I only have this to say-

"The restaurant industry in Bowling Green is a tough gig all around because of the sheer high volume of competition. Anytime you open an eating establishment in this town these days, you are taking a risk because of the stiff competition and the tough economy. I always thought Hitcents was taking a rather bold step with five concept restaurants in one location (parking structure). Not only were they competing with other restaurants in BG, they were competing with each other."-Galen A. Smith Sr.

Three out of the five restaurants in Hitcents Park Plaza have closed to undergo renovations and move in new restaurant concepts. (Miranda Pederson/Daily News)


Former staff dissatisfied with layoffs


Posted: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:05 am

By MONICA SPEES The Daily Newsmspees@bgdailynews.com 783-3246| 2 comments


In the wake of three restaurants shuttering Saturday, employees say they didn’t see their layoffs coming.

Candace Barbee began working at Mariah’s 3 1/2 years ago and stayed with the restaurant when it moved to Hitcents Park Plaza. Barbee was eventually promoted to assistant manager of Brick & Basil Pizzeria, Tres Molinos and Pagoda Asian Cafe, all three of which closed Saturday.

“I knew there was a meeting scheduled for Saturday, but nobody was told why,” Barbee said. “Everybody was just really nervous. We weren’t told anything. We were kept completely in the dark.”

Rick Kelley, consultant for Hitcents and former owner of Mariah’s, delivered the news to the approximately 30 employees at Saturday’s meeting that the restaurants were closing, Barbee said.

Barbee, a Western Kentucky University student, said Kelley thanked the employees for their hard work and said that though the fast-casual concept is a popular trend in the nation, regrettably, it hadn’t succeeded at the plaza. If the employees gave about three hours of their time to help clean up the restaurants, they would receive a severance package.

“It could’ve been handled a different way,” Barbee said. “I cared about (my employees) ... and that’s why it was so hard that everything happened. ... It just seemed like a community injustice.”

Barbee said she feels that she and the other employees worked to promote the restaurants and drum up business. However, Barbee said she thinks the restaurants’ overall marketing campaign was poorly executed. Barbee said she often had to explain to people where she worked because they had never heard of the restaurants.

Natasha Patterson, a WKU student, was formerly a cashier at the restaurants. She was among the first employees working at the restaurants when they opened earlier this year. Patterson wasn’t scheduled to work a couple days before the Saturday meeting, but she felt that something was wrong after seeing signs posted in the restaurants about a mandatory meeting.

When Patterson arrived at the meeting Saturday morning, she said she could tell by the way Kelley was talking that the employees were about to lose their jobs. Patterson knew business was slow – an issue she partially attributes to sparse marketing.

“I loved working there. ... I just wish we could’ve been let go a little more tactfully,” Patterson said.

Clinton Mills, co-founder of Hitcents, said after the closure Saturday that they plan to open full-service restaurants in the fast-casual restaurants’ place in the coming months. Mills reiterated this morning that Hitcents would invite former employees back when the new restaurants open.

Mills said Saturday that Hitcents had underestimated parking challenges, because most customers, after taking the time to drive downtown and park in the parking garage, were going to Mariah’s or 6-4-3 Sports Bar.

Mills said this morning that 30 employees were let go and 15 employees were kept on at the plaza because they were cross-trained. All the restaurants at the plaza employed about 200 people.

“To only lose 30 people, it shows that we tried to retain and repurpose as many people as we could,” Mills said.

While Mills said he can understand the former employees’ frustrations, he thinks most of them probably “knew it was coming.”

“It’s nothing against them,” Mills said. “It’s just unfortunate that the restaurants weren’t profitable.”

Mills added that Kentucky employers can let employees go at any time for any reason.

“If they think they were let go unfairly, that’s the opinion of a couple people because (Kentucky is) an at-will state,” Mills said. “We thought we were very nice and very fair to everyone and went above and beyond what most employers would” by providing severance pay.

— Follow business beat reporter Monica Spees on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNbusiness

Bring Elivs Back To Life In The Form Of A Hologram While He Performs On Stage At The Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tenn.

      "I just thought of a way that the citizens of Memphis could pay for the renovation and all of the attractions and exhibits that everyone is currently talking about in regards to saving and remodeling the Mid-South Coliseum. Bring Elvis back to life in the form of a hologram while he performs on stage at the MSC. Also, he could perform with a mock up band that resembles his old band and they would be performing everyday year around to tourists and fans from all over the world.  Of course, there would have to be money to be loaned up front to get the MSC up to par and to pay for all of the extras such as the hologram and everything else that would be involved.  But I feel strongly, that people would pay good money to see Elvis perform live again, in my opinion. I know I would!

Inside The Mid-South Coliseum

Elivs Performing Live

"-Galen A. Smith Sr.

Memphis Cannot Afford To Lose The Mid-South Coliseum

"When I was growing up there in the 60's and 70's, Memphis had the original WWII Memphis Belle B17-F Flying Fortress bomber at the fairgrounds for years. Later it sat on display at Mud Island for years I understand. Then somehow it was taken away from Memphis which was a great loss to the city I feel. The Mid-South Coliseum is a permanent structure with a unique history like the Memphis Belle. But the MSC cannot be uprooted and moved up north like the famous aircraft was. However, Memphis cannot afford to lose another incredible piece of its iconic history through demolition either."-Galen A. Smith Sr.

Learning From Kiss' Gene Simmon's Public Relations Disaster

"I hope Gene Simmons of the longstanding rock band "Kiss" learned a lesson. When you're a celebrity in the public eye and have been for years, anything you say these days in the media (which is automatically conveyed on over to social media in a heartbeat thus millions upon millions of people will read it) will spread like wildfire. Also, their words can be easily misconstrued whether he or she meant it or not. I like Gene and Kiss and still do. However, it seems that Gene's highly criticized news stories that he was quoted in about America's wealthiest 1% and people who have depression and suicide tendencies really bothered me.

In the event of Robin Williams recent suicide which made world-wide news was bad timing for Gene, it also appeared to me that Gene's ego was way out of control with a lack of humility towards his fellow man. I thought his comments were coming off very outlandish, going against the grain of average society, and were very destructive to the Kiss franchise and his business dealings and for his partner, Paul Stanley. Mainly, I thought it was bad publicity and public relations for everyone involved in the Kiss camp and the Kiss name brand at the tail end of their highly publicized and expensive 40th anniversary tour."-Galen A. Smith Sr.

Bowling Green Based Houchen Industries' "Crossroads IGA" Now Open In Smiths Grove, Ky.

Shell fuel pumps in front of Crossroad IGA

    I've always liked Bowling Green based Houchens Industries, Inc. http://www.houchensindustries.com/ and the story behind their incredible financial success through the years who now have their world-wide headquarters located down on Church Street in the old Fruit of the Loom building or "The Derby" as they used to call it around here.
According to their website, Houchens have experienced major growth in the last 25 years.

Side of building facing McDonalds

     "From 1988, when the company was purchased by the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), Houchens Industries has experienced unprecedented growth.  Today, Houchens Industries, Inc. is a diversified conglomerate wholly owned by its employee owners. Houchens has businesses in retail grocery and convenience stores, quick-to-service restaurants, insurance, stock brokerage and financial services, franchising of optical stores, construction, fence materials manufacturing and distribution, crushed stone aggregates and asphalt paving, recycling, tanning supply distribution, manufacturing, software and website development, property management and juice concentrate, manufacturing and distribution."

"Listed by Forbes as one of the largest 100% privately held companies in North America and according to the ESOP Association, the largest 100% employee owned company."

Sign seen from I-65

  

     With Houchens Industries being located in Bowling Green, residents in the Southcentral Kentucky area get to experience a wealth of nice, grocery, retail and convenient food markets throughout the region. One of their latest concept convenient grocery market stores is the Crossroads IGA in Smiths Grove, a small town in the northeast part of Warren County where about 850 or so residents live. The store is located right off the exit ramp of I-65, sandwiched between McDonalds and a truck stop and not far from Wendy's, just down the road. I have shopped at several of their other Crossroads IGA markets in the Bowling Green many times through the years. This new Crossroads is a brand new, state of the art, beautiful building where they are currently advertising, "Your all-new neighborhood grocery store!" Besides tons of regular food items that you would normally purchase at other larger grocery stores, they also offer fresh, fast and convenient foods including a Scholtzky's Bakery Cafe which has 15 different types of sandwiches, Cinnabon Classic Rolls and Carvell soft-served ice cream. They even have a drive-thru window available.
    I stopped by this new store earlier this week and I was very impressed. First, I filled up at their Shell Station fuel pumps located out front and then I pulled around and parked on the side of the building. When I walked in, I was blown away of how clean and orderly the store is. Everything was placed perfect on the shelves and the restrooms, being brand new, were of course super clean and nice too. I couldn't believe how many choices they had to offer as far as take out food including fresh fruits, deli items and veggies. I saw one local elderly farmer just walking around in a daze basically in awe, checking everything out. Also, I checked out the Scholtzky's Bakery Cafe but I ended up settling for a sandwich, chips, a bottled soft drink and a cheese snack out of the deli items area. The young lady who checked me out was very friendly too and I asked her how long they had been open and she said, "Two weeks!" with a smile.

Paul Stanley's "Face The Music, A Life Exposed" Grips Your Attention With A Stranglehold

     I wrote about the mega, super rock group, "Kiss,"  in an earlier blog of mine. It was about my first and only Kiss concert that I ever attended in December of 1978 at The Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tenn., when I was 16 years-old. http://acriticfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2011/01/all-way-to-see-kiss-at-mid-south.html  I went by myself because none of my other friends wanted to go with me.  I heard recently on a podcast that "Lifelong, die-hard Kiss fans take a lot crap throughout their lifetime."  I think that statement is somewhat true.

The cover of Paul's book

Me and Paul at his book signing in Bowling Green, Ky.

    And as far as the individual members of the group are concerned, to be honest, I never thought a whole lot about lead singer and guitar player, Jewish born Paul Stanley, "The Starchild," as being my favorite member of the group.  I suppose I've always liked Jewish born Gene Simmons the best, the fire-breathing, blood spitting "The Demon," bass player of the four male members who wore make-up and black costumes on stage for years. Originally, there was also drummer Peter Criss and lead guitarist Ace Frehley too.  Gene, however, always seemed to be the most colorful to me catching my attention, on and off camera.  And now since Peter and Ace are out of the band again, now there's Tommy Thayer on lead guitar and Eric Singer on drums and they are wearing the original make-up of Ace and Peter, the Spaceman and the Catman. But for me, I had been seeing Gene on television the most throughout the recent years thanks to his hit A&E reality show, "Gene Simmons Family Jewels."  I felt the show gave me a real sense of who Gene Simmons really was.  Especially when you saw behind the scenes of his life where you got to know his beautiful wife, Shannon Tweed, and his kids, Nick and Sophia Simmons and his lovely mom who still lives in New York City.  As far as Paul was concerned throughout the years, I would catch headlines of him some in the past.  Such as the time he began to paint and sold some of his paintings at auctions and where he made over $2 million dollars from selling them according to media sources at the time. And I think that I heard somewhere along the way that he liked to cook too.  But that's about it that I can remember about Paul.

    But this book. OMG!  Wow, did I get to know Paul Stanley! Now I feel like I really know him. It all began when I got a chance to meet him at our local library in Bowling Green, Ky., for a book signing in May. I wrote this too in a recent blog and I even included a video of the event that I made. http://www.acriticfromthesouth.blogspot.com/2014/05/kiss-paul-stanley-brings-people-out-of.html  I was able to purchase a pre-signed copy and I had my picture made with him.  When I met him, I realized he's just a human being like me while side standing next to him.  He didn't shake my hand but he fist bumped me.  (I guess if I had to meet that many fans during a book signing tour, I would be a little concerned about germs or injuring my guitar playing hand too)  Before I left after our very brief meeting, I told him that my wife and I were going to see Kiss in concert in Nashville, July 16th.  He said, "We'll see you there!" he said and then smiled. I said goodbye. And that was it.  I still have my picture with him to show for it.

      Paul seems to be completely honest in his book.  Early in this 462 page turner with several great color and black and white photos, he writes about an ear defect that he was born with and how he was teased about it during school.  He writes of his home life and some of the struggles that his family endured growing up in the NYC.  He also writes about of his early years of how he became a musician and how he met Gene and how they recruited Peter and Ace and how they eventually became to be one of the biggest and hottest bands in the world.  There's a lot discussions about some of the different personalities of the different band members through the years such as Peter, Ace and Eric Carr, a drummer that passed away of heart cancer in the early 80's.  You learn about his first sexual experience and all the women that passed through in his life. Tons of them!  I thought Gene lead the field in that area, but now I'm starting to wonder if Paul has just as many sexual encounters with women as him.  You learn about Kiss' management team and original record label, Bill Aucoin and Neil Bogart of Casablanca Records.  You learn about the ups and downs of the band and their roller coaster ride to the top.  After I went to college at the University of Mississippi in their early 80's, I pretty much lost contact with Kiss.  I didn't keep up with them a lot then.  Oh, I would see them from time to time on MTV with a new video here and there they had out or something like.  But that was about it. Or I also saw where they had some new band members and went "Unmasked" to the public.  But those years, during and after college as a Kiss fan, it went totally blank for me.  I had also gotten married in 1986 and my son was born in 1987 and I had moved to Kentucky and went to work full time to raise a family.  So the book was very helpful to me to fill in the blanks of the missing Kiss years from the early 80's all the way up to about 1998 when I saw them on national television during the Halloween concert at the LA Dodgers Stadium during the reunion tour with all four original members on stage again.

Gene, Shannon and Paul

     I suppose what struck me most about this book besides Paul's honesty is how hard this man has worked to be the musician that he wanted to become and the driving force to keep Kiss together all the years.  He admits that he smoked a little pot during the early days but he has nothing against drinking and absolutely loves women or sex if you will.  That was his main vice he said, relationships and women. He gets into depth about his first marriage to actress Pam Bowen and the birth of his son, Evan, the divorce and eventually the marriage to his new wife, Erin.  I really liked this paragraph in the book where he talks about seeing Erin for the first time, "If there was ever going to be a moment that proved to me the existence of God--and I do believe there is a God--then this was it.  Sure, some people might choose to call it luck. Too me, luck, is taking advantage of a situation God puts in front of us. The woman's name was Erin. She was tall as me and had a great laugh. And she was a practicing attorney."

All of the members of Kiss throughout its history

    The only negative criticism I have about Paul's book is that I realize now what a stumbling block Peter and Ace eventually became for the band as well as their originally manager Bill Aucoin.  Some of the things, he writes about Peter and Ace are sometimes overbearing but I have to admit, they did say and do some stupid shit according to Paul in the book.  Also, I couldn't understand why he didn't invite Gene to his wedding to Erin. Technically, I understand his reasoning why and the principal behind it because Gene went around for years stating to the public and press that he did not believe in the institution of marriage.  Of course, Gene finally married Shannon after many years on their reality show, "Family Jewels."  But come on, Gene is Paul's best friend and business partner.  Gene even took Paul in and let him live in his guest house when him and his first wife separated and Gene and Paul hung out together doing things together during those times.  I feel like it probably really hurt Gene's feelings but I'm sure would never would admit it.
    In this book, I realize that Paul Stanley, at age 62, as a musician, a rock star, a husband, a father and as a human being is now self-actualized.  Throughout the book, Paul was not to afraid to admit that he pretty much has or had sought out the help of a psychiatrist and counseling to deal with a lot of his personal issues even an early age.  I really admire that. And the fact that he is strictly a hard driving, creator, co-musician and the mega force behind Kiss, who has always tried to keep the band moving forward, Paul Stanley has achieved a mountain of success in his lifetime by somebody who pulled himself up by the booth straps and did it on his own along with three other unknown musicians in make-up from NYC.  But the beautiful thing about Paul Stanley, the rock star, is that he also found the inner beauty of life with a family-his wife and four children. When he is not on the road or on tour, he admits these days he would rather be home with his family at his mansion in the hills of LA over looking the ocean, baking pizza in his brick oven on his patio. And he admits, it's not about the money anymore because you know he is worth millions of dollars like Gene, but it's about quality family time.  He admits that he loves cooking too for family and friends and I think that's really cool.  I can understand that.  That's where his human side really shines through to me.  Here you have a rock star who has survived the music business for 40 years and still rocking on the stage.  He is also business partners with Gene, owning a chain of restaurants and an arena football team.  And now he is a published author with a best selling book and a highly successful book signing tour.  I  suppose that I will never meet Paul Stanley in person again or stand that close to him.  However, after reading his book, I realize that he is just a human being just like you and me but had a drive to succeed and never give up like no other person in the music industry has before. Also, I think he sincerely cares about Kiss fans and is interested in their lives like we are his.  But thanks to modern technology, you can reach out to him on daily basis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just remember, Paul Stanley is "Watchin You" because he'll see that you are watching "The Starchild" too.  Go buy and read the book.  You won't be disappointed and you find it hard to put it down.  Thanks Paul Stanley for sharing your life with us!

YouTube's "Southern Women Channel" Brings It Down Home With The "Sh%t Southern Women Say" Video Series

If you're looking for some good Southern fun and want to see some good looking, funny, smart Southern women, check out the "Southern Women Channel" on https://www.youtube.com/user/SouthernWomenChannel.
YouTube.
The first episode of the series has gone viral with over five millions views since it first came out only a couple of years ago. There have been four episodes made so far and a new one that just came out recently called, "The Dixie Download."  Julia Fowler, the creator of the video series is a native of South Carolina.

Here's Julia's bio:

"Julia is an actor, writer, producer, singer and dancer. Originally from Gaffney, South Carolina, Julia holds a BA in Theater and Dance from the University of South Carolina where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. After college, she moved to New York City and achieved her childhood dream of becoming a Broadway musical theater performer. Julia eventually made the move to Los Angeles and wrote, "The Possum Trot Cloggers," a screenplay influenced by her real life experiences in the competitive clogging world. The script, originally optioned by New Line Cinema, is currently seeking independent financing. Julia recently wrote, directed and starred in the YouTube viral video, "Sh%t Southern Women Say," which was featured on NBC's "Today Show." She also created and executive produced the reality pilot, "Growing Up Broadway" for E! and performed in the Hollywood Bowl's 2012 summer production of "The Producers" directed by Susan Stroman."
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Art/Work Entertainment