If the President of the United States can give a State of the Union speech, and the Governor of New York State can give a State of the State address, so, too, can I give the State of Ben’s in far fewer words than the President and/or the Governor.
So let’s get right to it:
Ben’s has experienced the unprecedented emergence of Covid (at least in my lifetime), and was able to navigate through all the vitriol and divisiveness in the country, and the rampant inflation that all of us have experienced as consumers and vendors. So after all this, where are we now and where are we headed in 2023? Ben’s through the years has had its share of ups and downs but never were we so threatened as we have been … but we emerged, and I think stronger than we have been in some time.
My goal has been to maintain the restaurant locations we now have and increase our sales by expanding our delivery areas as well as our offerings. We have an amazing amount of dedicated and caring workers who know the mission and the goal in the coming years of being the preeminent kosher caterer and restaurant in the United States. It is not an easy business and never was but as we overcame the high interest rates in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the financial crisis in 2008, we, too, shall overcome all the issues I have raised. How do we do this?
We do this by having an evolving menu with more food options, maintaining the cleanliness and good looks of the respective Ben’s locations and seeking out superior management talent.
We look forward to 2023 with optimism and with the hope that our vendors, patrons, and employees face the future with the same optimism. And I must thank all the patrons who have written me, called the “hot line,” made suggestions, criticized or complimented on what they saw and experienced.
May you all have a resurgence of optimism, health and good fortune in 2023.
See you all at the Deli,
Ronnie
