Espionage

I have seen the enemy and they is not us. I figured my main three competitors for business are Bob Evans, Pagliai's and Super Suppers. So I've got their goods and here's the reports:

Bob Evans: ordered the meatloaf dinner for 4 or family style or whatever. Got 6 slices of meatloaf (about a pound, I'm guessing), a tub of mashed potatoes, a salad with dressing and six rolls for $24. The mashed potatoes were pretty good. The meatloaf was drenched in that gravy. The salad was large enough but other than lettuce, it contained 6 cherry tomatoes. Four people could have eaten a complete meal off this so, except for the meat and salad being heinous, it was a good deal.

Pagilai's: ordered the single lasagna dinner for pickup. Split it with Amy. The lasagna hunk was about 4" x 4" and tasteless. I'm not just being catty here: it didn't taste like meat or tomato sauce or garlic or anything. And it seemed like it was just noodle pile with some sauce on top. And the "garlic bread" was 2 pieces of plain ol white bread sort of grilled with no garlic flavor whatsoever. The salad was fine. $8.50.

Super Suppers: bought a Groupon for $15 for tasting event which is usually $15 anyway but this deal included two sides and a dessert along with the one 2-3 person entree that usually comes with the tasting event. Which said entree would be $12 if you just bought it so I guess your other $3 was for the snacks and winey beverage they provided. The thing about SS is you buy this stuff frozen OR you go in and prepare it for yourself from raw ingredients at these stations and then you have to go home and cook it. I made the meatloaf for my entree which was OK but again, a pound of meat with some onion, GP, tomato sauce, egg, bread crumbs and spices which if knew how to cook would cost you about $5. Plus you have to take it home and cook it for 45 minutes. Where's the time economy in that? For my two sides I chose the sweet potato casserole which was good but $4.50 and the pasta with tarragon butter which was way too salty and you had to cook the pasta and add in this 2 T. of herbed butter stuff. And $4.50 for about 30 cents worth of materials. And the dessert Chocolate Lovers Paradise was some chocolate mousse with some oreos crumbled into it. So to get a whole 2-3 person meal from them would cost $22 at least, the sides are frozen and you have to cook it.

Last week turned out fairly well after my initial feeling like I was at a standstill. I got my hood quotes which seem low enough. Met with an equipment guy and the building owner and got some questions answered. Went to the bank and applied for some SBA loans and got a checking account and got details on a debit card swiping system (too many details to explain here). At the bank, one of the women I met with said, after they quizzed me on my business plan, "Either you have been coached really well or you have done a ton of research" because I had a good answer for everything they threw at me.

Tomorrow I'm turning in my BG loan app without one piece: my damn 2009 tax return. Thursday I meet with an architect for some Q-and-A on my layout so he can get on with stamping my plan for approval.

I feel like I'm behind time-wise some but nothing I can't make up with a lot of concentrated action over the next couple of weeks.