Milwaukee’s Joe Sorge is one of the most effective yet easygoing restaurateurs I’ve met covering this industry, so at first it’s baffling that his latest idea has me thinking about something as unpopular as Congress and a movement as controversial as Occupy Wall Street.
In order to explain, let me first praise his newest promotion. Through the end of the year, Sorge is offering free lunch at his riverfront restaurant, Water Buffalo, to any businessperson in Milwaukee taking a job candidate out to eat during an interview. His reasoning: If, for the price of his food cost, he could facilitate a little more hiring in Milwaukee, eventually a few more local businesses and citizens would have more money to spend at Water Buffalo and Sorge’s other restaurants — spreading positive word-of-mouth along the way.
“These things are so easy to put together to help yourself stand out,” Sorge said. “There are alternatives to discounting to get people in the door. I’d rather be memorable and help the community in order to stay on top of people’s minds.”
It’s a big idea for a big problem like unemployment, but in a small, achievable measure. Ingenuity like this gives me hope; Congress and Occupy Wall Street don’t.
As I finished writing this column, the congressional “deficit supercommittee” failed to reach any agreement for the nation’s long-term budget. And while I sympathize with the frustrations of Occupy protesters — I have a mortgage, student loan and medical debt, and a 401(k) and my infant’s college fund taking a beating from stock market fluctuations — I doubt the movement will help me.
I’m not waiting for bailouts to absolve my debts and replenish my savings. I’m taking on small, achievable measures, including tightening my budget — even, I’m sorry to write, dear reader, at restaurants.
Sorge and other operators recognize better than most people how acute the jobs crisis in the United States has become. When people lose their jobs or fear they might, they often cut restaurants from their shrinking budgets, forcing operators to cut labor hours or jobs when traffic dries up.
While Democrats and Republicans can’t find any common goal to work toward, Sorge has built partnerships. He brought in Milwaukee-based staffing and recruiting agency ManpowerGroup and online magazine OnMilwaukee.com as partners to promote Water Buffalo’s free lunch for job interviews.
“First, I just wanted to put it out there,” Sorge said. “But if you want to take it further, with media partners you can reach a much larger audience, and the program could have a wider benefit. You can say that about any promotion.”
Improvements in our communities, and thus in demand for our restaurants, are bound to result if our industry considers following Sorge’s example of building small successes from big ideas.
Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter at @Mark_from_NRN.
