another milestone

we had our single best hour of sales yesterday 10/29.
that's telling me that what we're doing is right and we need to continue down the same path.
i read on the internet how others have tried to do italian in a drive thru or fast food scenario and none have succeeded. even the big guys like pizza hut tried and failed.
i feel real fortunate to have been raised and schooled at the famous italian gardens and i have been able to bring all the experience and knowledge that i gained to the igtogo.
believe me, what i know you really can't learn from books. it takes practical experience.
we have several investors looking at our expansion plans and i'm confident someone will step up soon.
sabenadica,
john david dicapo
p.s. i received our trademark from the uspto yesterday. we are now officially dicapo's italian gardens togo and no one can use that name. salute

headed in the right direction

we broke a sales plateau yesterday surpassing our best day ever. that's telling me that we are not only keeping our regular customers but attracting new ones. i do have a new advertisement coming out for november in the star and in december using valumail. i do need to do more advertising as it is reflected in our sales figures and bottom line.
it's great to hear from our customers how much they like the food and the service at the gardens and how it differentiates us from the rest. we take pride in treating each and ever customer like their members of the family and people can definitely see and feel it.
it the gardens way!
we hope our positive momentum continues.
ciao,
john david dicapo

the system

we have developed a great system over first year. we can get a person through the drive thru in less than 1 minute if they order pasta and were in dinner hour. that's amazing and I'm proud of the folks that have helped put the system in place and that work it.
we had a good night last night but we could do so much more. we need to advertise and promote. it's the key.
the soliciting of investors is in high gear. we need to find that special person or small group that can make this happen. i believe in my heart and with the faith in god that it will happen and happen soon (in the next few weeks).
ciao,
john david dicapo

investment goal

we are actively seeking investors to participate in the growth and expansion of igtogo. we've got a start and we hope to have the capital collected in the upcoming weeks.
this is an opportunity that some day will be written up in a book.
it's history.
sabenadica,
john david dicapo

good solid weekend

we had a good solid weekend with consistant sales all three days.
we had a price increase that took effect on friday and not one customer has mentioned it. i guess most feel that even with a slight increase our food is still a great value. what we will NEVER do is sacrifice quality for price. i've seen many operators substitute a lower quality product in order to increase profits and it usually doesn't work.
we will continue to sell restaurant quality italian food in a quick serve, drive thru facility that provides good value to our customers. that's the key to our success.
ciao,
john dicapo

I'm so excited

i feel were really on our way. it's a great feeling to know your close to doing something that will change the way america eats. mcdonald's did it, taco bell did it, kfc did it, subway did it and now were going to do it.
we're going totally against the crowd. we will stand out by being the first drive thru only italian restaurant in the city and maybe the country.
we provide restaurant quality food at a good value in a fast, clean environment.
what's not to like?
people love it and so do i.
god bless.
john david dicapo

alot of interest

i have alot of interest from people who want to get involved with me to build our first prototype igtogo but no firm commitments as of yet. meeting with the bank today to show them the property so that they will be ready when we pull the trigger.
the barry road igtogo is doing just fine. our sales have slowed alittle from two weeks ago when we were making record highs but those days will be back real soon. we ran an ad for free spumoni with the purchase of a pasta dinner and got very limited response. we won't be doing that one again anytime soon. we need to build the lunch business up and i'm going to focus on that starting next week. new signs and i'm going to visit local businesses with our new menu. we get nothing but positive comments from customers about our food and service and everyone is talking about catering and planning events for the fall and the holidays.
we will end up doing alot of catering out of the igtogo not only on barry but all future locations. it will be a good source of income for any of our restaurants.
we're real close to making my dream into reality. just one break and were on our way never to look back.
it's going to be a wild fun ride.
please come along.
ciao,
john david dicapo

investors needed, please apply

meeting with the bank tomorrow to view the op property and work on the sba package. still haven't secured the $150k equity need to proceed.
i am soliciting many different groups. someone is going to be real lucky.
ciao,
john david

we had a nice weekend

business as very good this weekend. nothing exceptional but busy as usual.
we had a family party last night for my mom's 75th birthday and all our family attended a dinner and we had a great time. ava enjoyed herself as the only youngster there taking pictures and being the center of attention. she really is a beautiful girl. god bless ava.
we have a very busy week ahead. meeting with the bank on wednesday and investors all week.
need to get the financing in place for overland park. should be our first $1m store.
ciao,
john david

it's a great day

today's my birthday and i'm real happy to be here. i'm 52 years old and have an opportunity in front of me that few people get in their lifetime. i'm able to take the family business to the next level with the help and support of my mother and father. i have my health, my faith in god, my little daughter ava and my parents and brothers and their family.

what a lucky guy. i'm going to do what i do every birthday and that is to work a shift and then do a little celebrating.

headed in the right direction

i think were headed in the right direction. business is good and we have a plan to expand. the economy isn't great but for a restaurant company that is different but good and a value to our customers our timing couldn't be any better. when most other qsr are doing $1 deals and lowering their prices we are raising ours because our customers tell us that they love the food and they get way too much for the money. we are trying to get to the point where we become profitable and the consumer still gets a great value. our new menu with a few added changes and an increase of 10% in pricing should do it.
where can you feed a family of 4-6 great pasta with meatballs, a family salad and a whole loaf of garlic bread for under $22. that's $4.40 per person for a family of 5.
this is restaurant quality food.
i had a woman come thru last night and told me that she would have paid almost twice as much at applebee's to get the same amount of food and her family liked ours more. now that's what i like to hear and we just need to do more advertising and tell more folks.
i am going to make an effort to hit some businesses around the area in the next few weeks with our new menu and maybe some free drink tickets.
we need to spread the word more.
have a great day.
ciao,
john david

great spot

well i found the spot in overland park and negotiated the price to where it is fair. all we need now is the money to get started.
we can sit and blog all day long but until we get to op/ks and do 1m a year in sales we will go unnoticed.
let's find the money and get rolling.
john david

happy columbus day

i hope everyone has a great columbus day and appreciates all the good things italians have brought to american. i wish we were in a position to celebrate the day at the igtogo. when we get our new building and new location we will definitely promote columbus day.
enjoy!
john david dicapo

we need an investor

we need to grow and we need an investor. i've been told by several banks that at least 2 years of financials are need before they will look at a loan to expand. that just bank bs.
we need to find a person with adequate capital that believes in this company the way i do.
if you know of anyone send them my way. we have deals looming we just need to capitalize them.
the time is now.
john david

good help

is hard to find. we have been through several (over 10) people now who say they want to work and after a few days or weeks decide they really don't. the american work ethic i'm sorry to say is dying if not already dead. how can the unemployment rate be pushing 10% and we can't find people who want to work for an honest days wage.
business is great and seems like were going to just get busier.
we'll keep trying to find good help. i hope these employee struggles won't continue with us as we grow. we need to find a solution.
training and retraining takes away from time cleaning and selling.
ciao,
john dicapo

we're coming into our own

we have been fortunate enough to develop a good business model. good quality inexpensive great tasting food, fast service, clean restaurant and courteous friendly employees
with the watchful eye of god looking over us we are very blessed.
john david dicapo

it's official

it's official. the last 3 days were the best 3 days we've ever had at the igtogo. i think people are finding out how good the food is and how great of value it is. we have a good staff and everything went real smooth. i'm very happy and ready to start the week. hopefully we can continue our momentum.
we really need to secure an investor and get these other locations locked up. we need to get moving with plans and start the process needed to expand.
hopefully one of the people we are talking to will see the potential and get involved.
i watch cnbc and see how people invest with money managers who promise big returns and only steal and squander away people's money and then ask myself why a person would give a person $200-$300k when they could invest with me and actually see their money at work and be a part of the success of igtogo.
i'm sure someone will see what were doing and want to finance our expansion.
hopefully that person will step up so we can get moving forward and expanding our business and brand.
ciao,
john david

our best weekend ever

we are into our best weekend ever. the igtogo is rolling and we are real happy about it. the customers are happy, the employees are happy and i'm happy. we had an advertisement go out in a local marketing magazine and it brought in alot of customers. we offered an italian dinner for two for $14.99 including drinks. it was and is a big hit.
we are planning to raise our menu prices about 10% in the coming weeks. we need to do that to become more profitable. after one year in business and developing a good customer base i hope that a small increase will raise our profits and make our bottom line shine. i don't feel like it will effect our customers who get great restaurant quality food in a drive thru.
we have located a great piece of real estate in jo/co and want to move forward building our first prototype igtogo to our spec. we have a great design and with it we feel we can achieve our goal of doing $1m a year in sales.
we need to continually move forward.
have a great sunday.
god bless you.
john david dicapo