Memphis
So here's how my trip to Memphis for the 2008 GM Conference went. It's more than a little long, so I used a few LJ cuts.
Memphis - Day 1
Tim and I flew out of Sacramento to Dallas (we entertained ourselves by looking at all the ridiculous things that are sold in the SkyMall catalogs), where we had about a 2-hour layover before flying in to Memphis. From there, we took a cab to our hotel in downtown Memphis. Things started off weird when the cab driver offered us a receipt (which we needed in order to be reimbursed), and he handed us a form but didn't fill anything out on it (of course we didn't notice this until after he left). We checked in to the hotel, where the guy at the front desk insisted he needed another credit card than the one that was on file (our owner's credit card, which he used to make the reservation). Basically, Tim wound up having to put our whole stay on his card.
Checking in right behind us were two guys who we learned were from the Thousand Oaks restaurant. We talked briefly, and agreed to meet in the lobby after finding our rooms to head out and wander the town. We made our way to Beale St. (only two blocks from our hotel), and that's when all the fun ensued.
We first went to BB King's Blues Club and had some drinks. After a few minutes, a group of people walked in, and Tim told me they were all Melting Pot people. They were all wasted. I quickly met a bunch of them, and after a few rounds at BB King's, we headed off down Beale St. to find our next destination. We ended up at Alfred's, a bar that happened to have karaoke. I watched a bunch of GMs sing in between shots of jager. One GM wound up outside puking on the street, and then proceeded to drink more before wandering off down the street with a few other wasted GMs (one of which was apparently running around the halls in his underwear later on). Tim and I spent most of the night talking to the GM from Whippany, NJ, who had lots of questions to ask us about the way we run our restaurants.
I had quite a lot of scotch and a fair number of shots of jager. I was told by the bartender that we were allowed to take our drinks to go (one of the coolest things about Beale St.), so as I mentioned in my last brief post, I stumbled home carrying my scotch and soda and never ended up drinking it. Back at the hotel, Tim (who doesn't drink, so he was entirely sober) ironed his clothes for the next day while I rambled incoherently on the phone with Lea. I then passed out very quickly and was woken up bright and early the next morning by Tim telling me it was time to get ready for our meetings.
Memphis - Day 2
It was about 7am California time when we got up, and although I was groggy, I miraculously wasn't hung over. We showered and headed down to register for the conference, had a light breakfast, and met up with a few of the people who had been out at the bars with us the previous night. The meetings began around 11am, and went on all day with just a brief break for lunch. Dinner was catered at the hotel, and the GMs from CT and NJ that we had been hanging out with brought down a bottle of '98 Joseph Phelps cab from their room for us to have with dinner (it was tasty).
After dinner, the group all decided it would be a good idea to take a shuttle into Toluca, Mississippi to go gambling at the casinos that they have there. Tim and I were both tired, and decided that we didn't feel much like going. Instead, we wandered Beale St. again briefly (didn't go inside anywhere though). We walked by the Bigfoot Lodge, where they apparently sell a 4-pound hamburger that is free if you can eat in an hour. We also found the Gibson Guitar factory, and made plans to stop in there on our last day in town. We headed back to the hotel early, turned on the TV, and both went to sleep quite early.
Memphis - Day 3
Day 3 started at 8am (6am California time). Thankfully, I felt pretty rested since we called it an early night the previous night. We went and had breakfast, a few brief presentations, and then we were shuttled over to St. Jude Children's Hospital (only about 10 minutes from our hotel). There, the CEO gave us a very inspirational and uplifting speech about our comany's involvement with St. Jude (not counting this past holiday season, we have raised nearly $2.5 million for the hospital). We then had lunch before touring the hospital. It was a really cool experience to get to see the hospital.
We headed back to the hotel, where we had about 2 hours of downtime before heading to dinner at a nearby rib restaurant. There, I had my first ever pork ribs (I didn't eat pork for most of my life). Tim and I spent most of dinner socializing with the GM from St. Petersburg, FL and Reno.
After dinner, a ton of GMs, FBCs (Franchise Business Consultants), and even some people from our corporate office headed out to Beale St. for drinks and live music. We spent a long time in a blues bar connected to the Rum Boogie. After that, we wound up back at Alfred's, the same place we visisted the first night. The GM from Whippany wound up singing 5 or so songs for karaoke, some of which I got on video.
We called it a night sometime close to 2am (even though bars serve until 3am), and headed back to the hotel. Tim, the Whippany GM, and I hung out for another good hour though, talking about a lot of the differences between our restaurants, and about the labour laws in our respective states. Eventually, we went to bed sometime around 3:30am, I think.
Memphis - Day 4
It was another early morning on day four. After breakfast we had a ton of presentations and handouts given to us regarding a lot of operational updates and chances that are soon to take place. In the course of 2 1/2 hours, we received just as much information as we had the past two days. We broke at 1pm, and most people made their ways to the airport. Our flight didn't leave until 5:10pm, however, so Tim, myself, and the GM from Darien, CT, wandered around, and visited the Gibson factory and the minor league baseball field across from our hotel to kill time.
Around 3pm, we took a cab to the airport. As we went to check our bags, I realized I had left some stuff that I had bought on Beale St. in the cab. Thanks to the fact that we had a receipt, though, I was able to call them and have them come back within a few minutes. We said goodbye to the CT GM, and headed to our gate to wait for our flight. There is where the real fun began.
Watching the screens at the gate, Tim and I saw that our flight got pushed back from 5:10pm to 5:30pm. No big deal. A few minutes later though, it was pushed back to 6pm. The flight time was supposed to be an hour and forty minutes, which would have put us in Dallas at 7:40 when our connecting flight was to leave at 7:50. We ran into the GM from Reno at our gate, and she was outright told that she would miss her flight, since her connection left at 7:30pm. They told us that we would probably make it, though, and even moved us further up in the plane so that we could get off quicker.
Of course, by the time that the plane finally left, it was around 6:20pm ... so we weren't too optimistic about catching our other flight. Sure enough, by the time we got to the gate in Dallas, it was 8pm ... 10 minutes after our other flight left. This meant that we had to find another option to get home, since there were no other flights to Sacramento. We wound up going standby on a flight to San Francisco, where we planned on getting a rental car and driving home. The GM from Reno decided it would be too far out of her way, so she just stayed in a hotel in Dallas for the night. Luckily for Tim and me, we did get onto the flight to SF. The flight was long and uncomfortable, and although we were both extremely tired, neither of us was able to sleep on the flight.
We got to SF just around midnight PST, and had already been awake for 18 hours at that point. By the time we were able to get a rental car (which was a 2008 Mustang ... quite fun) and get home, we had been up for 21 hours. Needless to say, we were exhausted. We were both supposed to open at our restaurants the next morning, but thankfully the closing managers agreed to switch shifts so that we could at least get a little sleep.
Friday morning Tim and I had to head to the Sac airport to pick up our luggage, because it came in on a morning flight from Dallas rather than going to SF with us.
And thus concluded our trip to Memphis.
As a whole, the trip was long and tiring, but ultimately very fun.
I have some pictures, but I have to charge my camera and sort through them. I'll try to post them tomorrow. Not that anyone really cares. Hah.
Memphis - Day 1
Tim and I flew out of Sacramento to Dallas (we entertained ourselves by looking at all the ridiculous things that are sold in the SkyMall catalogs), where we had about a 2-hour layover before flying in to Memphis. From there, we took a cab to our hotel in downtown Memphis. Things started off weird when the cab driver offered us a receipt (which we needed in order to be reimbursed), and he handed us a form but didn't fill anything out on it (of course we didn't notice this until after he left). We checked in to the hotel, where the guy at the front desk insisted he needed another credit card than the one that was on file (our owner's credit card, which he used to make the reservation). Basically, Tim wound up having to put our whole stay on his card.
Checking in right behind us were two guys who we learned were from the Thousand Oaks restaurant. We talked briefly, and agreed to meet in the lobby after finding our rooms to head out and wander the town. We made our way to Beale St. (only two blocks from our hotel), and that's when all the fun ensued.
We first went to BB King's Blues Club and had some drinks. After a few minutes, a group of people walked in, and Tim told me they were all Melting Pot people. They were all wasted. I quickly met a bunch of them, and after a few rounds at BB King's, we headed off down Beale St. to find our next destination. We ended up at Alfred's, a bar that happened to have karaoke. I watched a bunch of GMs sing in between shots of jager. One GM wound up outside puking on the street, and then proceeded to drink more before wandering off down the street with a few other wasted GMs (one of which was apparently running around the halls in his underwear later on). Tim and I spent most of the night talking to the GM from Whippany, NJ, who had lots of questions to ask us about the way we run our restaurants.
I had quite a lot of scotch and a fair number of shots of jager. I was told by the bartender that we were allowed to take our drinks to go (one of the coolest things about Beale St.), so as I mentioned in my last brief post, I stumbled home carrying my scotch and soda and never ended up drinking it. Back at the hotel, Tim (who doesn't drink, so he was entirely sober) ironed his clothes for the next day while I rambled incoherently on the phone with Lea. I then passed out very quickly and was woken up bright and early the next morning by Tim telling me it was time to get ready for our meetings.
Memphis - Day 2
It was about 7am California time when we got up, and although I was groggy, I miraculously wasn't hung over. We showered and headed down to register for the conference, had a light breakfast, and met up with a few of the people who had been out at the bars with us the previous night. The meetings began around 11am, and went on all day with just a brief break for lunch. Dinner was catered at the hotel, and the GMs from CT and NJ that we had been hanging out with brought down a bottle of '98 Joseph Phelps cab from their room for us to have with dinner (it was tasty).
After dinner, the group all decided it would be a good idea to take a shuttle into Toluca, Mississippi to go gambling at the casinos that they have there. Tim and I were both tired, and decided that we didn't feel much like going. Instead, we wandered Beale St. again briefly (didn't go inside anywhere though). We walked by the Bigfoot Lodge, where they apparently sell a 4-pound hamburger that is free if you can eat in an hour. We also found the Gibson Guitar factory, and made plans to stop in there on our last day in town. We headed back to the hotel early, turned on the TV, and both went to sleep quite early.
Memphis - Day 3
Day 3 started at 8am (6am California time). Thankfully, I felt pretty rested since we called it an early night the previous night. We went and had breakfast, a few brief presentations, and then we were shuttled over to St. Jude Children's Hospital (only about 10 minutes from our hotel). There, the CEO gave us a very inspirational and uplifting speech about our comany's involvement with St. Jude (not counting this past holiday season, we have raised nearly $2.5 million for the hospital). We then had lunch before touring the hospital. It was a really cool experience to get to see the hospital.
We headed back to the hotel, where we had about 2 hours of downtime before heading to dinner at a nearby rib restaurant. There, I had my first ever pork ribs (I didn't eat pork for most of my life). Tim and I spent most of dinner socializing with the GM from St. Petersburg, FL and Reno.
After dinner, a ton of GMs, FBCs (Franchise Business Consultants), and even some people from our corporate office headed out to Beale St. for drinks and live music. We spent a long time in a blues bar connected to the Rum Boogie. After that, we wound up back at Alfred's, the same place we visisted the first night. The GM from Whippany wound up singing 5 or so songs for karaoke, some of which I got on video.
We called it a night sometime close to 2am (even though bars serve until 3am), and headed back to the hotel. Tim, the Whippany GM, and I hung out for another good hour though, talking about a lot of the differences between our restaurants, and about the labour laws in our respective states. Eventually, we went to bed sometime around 3:30am, I think.
Memphis - Day 4
It was another early morning on day four. After breakfast we had a ton of presentations and handouts given to us regarding a lot of operational updates and chances that are soon to take place. In the course of 2 1/2 hours, we received just as much information as we had the past two days. We broke at 1pm, and most people made their ways to the airport. Our flight didn't leave until 5:10pm, however, so Tim, myself, and the GM from Darien, CT, wandered around, and visited the Gibson factory and the minor league baseball field across from our hotel to kill time.
Around 3pm, we took a cab to the airport. As we went to check our bags, I realized I had left some stuff that I had bought on Beale St. in the cab. Thanks to the fact that we had a receipt, though, I was able to call them and have them come back within a few minutes. We said goodbye to the CT GM, and headed to our gate to wait for our flight. There is where the real fun began.
Watching the screens at the gate, Tim and I saw that our flight got pushed back from 5:10pm to 5:30pm. No big deal. A few minutes later though, it was pushed back to 6pm. The flight time was supposed to be an hour and forty minutes, which would have put us in Dallas at 7:40 when our connecting flight was to leave at 7:50. We ran into the GM from Reno at our gate, and she was outright told that she would miss her flight, since her connection left at 7:30pm. They told us that we would probably make it, though, and even moved us further up in the plane so that we could get off quicker.
Of course, by the time that the plane finally left, it was around 6:20pm ... so we weren't too optimistic about catching our other flight. Sure enough, by the time we got to the gate in Dallas, it was 8pm ... 10 minutes after our other flight left. This meant that we had to find another option to get home, since there were no other flights to Sacramento. We wound up going standby on a flight to San Francisco, where we planned on getting a rental car and driving home. The GM from Reno decided it would be too far out of her way, so she just stayed in a hotel in Dallas for the night. Luckily for Tim and me, we did get onto the flight to SF. The flight was long and uncomfortable, and although we were both extremely tired, neither of us was able to sleep on the flight.
We got to SF just around midnight PST, and had already been awake for 18 hours at that point. By the time we were able to get a rental car (which was a 2008 Mustang ... quite fun) and get home, we had been up for 21 hours. Needless to say, we were exhausted. We were both supposed to open at our restaurants the next morning, but thankfully the closing managers agreed to switch shifts so that we could at least get a little sleep.
Friday morning Tim and I had to head to the Sac airport to pick up our luggage, because it came in on a morning flight from Dallas rather than going to SF with us.
And thus concluded our trip to Memphis.
As a whole, the trip was long and tiring, but ultimately very fun.
I have some pictures, but I have to charge my camera and sort through them. I'll try to post them tomorrow. Not that anyone really cares. Hah.