Checking in With:

As of

February 2001, we continue our updates of the businesses Business Diary has

been following since May. This month we check in with Beverly Hills Hair Design

(first reported on in August 2000) and the Naples Dinner Theatre (September

2000).

Beverly

Hills Hair Design, Sanibel

Hair-styling

salon

On

their one-year anniversary in business in Southwest Florida, Joe and Ginny

Micale celebrated with a bottle of champagne on the lanai at sunset, “watching

the sun do its magnificent dance,” says Joe. It was like a scene out of

Hollywood, where Joe used to style the hair of many a movie star, but it was

right here in Southwest Florida. “The best sunsets in the world are right

here,” says Joe.

It was

the comment of a man satisfied with his decision to change his life midstream,

moving his hair salon from chic Beverly Hills to Southwest Florida. Yes, they

miss California, but they wouldn’t go back, says Joe. Home is here now, and

business is very good. After a year in business, Joe feels he has established

himself with a reputation for quality haircuts in this market.

“I had

no idea how long it would take to build a clientele here,” says Joe. “It has

gone much faster than I would have bet on. I’m very flattered, very pleased

with the growth rate. It’s something I wouldn’t have predicted.”

After

moving to Cape Coral to be close to his wife’s family, Joe and Ginny bought the

Village Hair Salon on Sanibel in November 1999. Part of the agreement was that

the previous owners — long-time islanders Joe and Anne Costanza — would remain

as part-time workers in the salon, maintaining their own clientele. That

arrangement has continued to work out well, says Joe.

He,

meanwhile, changed the name of the salon to Beverly Hills Hair Design (the name

of his salon in California), set up a private room for his own clients, and

started to get the word out that he was in town. He did a little bit of

advertising, offered complimentary haircuts to a few people, and waited for

word of mouth to do its magic. Business in the first year has come primarily

from word of mouth and referrals, says Joe.

He also

joined the Sanibel Chamber of Commerce. “I recognized that as a real powerful

thing to do for a new business,” says Joe, who believes that membership has

brought him new business. As far as return on his advertising dollars, Joe says

an ad in the local Yellow Pages has been his best investment.

All of

these marketing tools have helped bring him customers, but to keep them coming

back, Joe says, he continues to do what sets him apart from many other

hairstylists — applying geometric principles to hair. Joe specializes in a

method of cutting hair at precise angles that determine how each hair blends

with the rest. “You’ve got to understand the nature of hair and work with it,”

says Joe. It’s a method he developed working with other stylists in California,

who would get together and experiment with various techniques — “like jam

sessions with musicians,” he says. Joe traveled to hairstyling shows around the

country demonstrating his method.

After a

year in business, Joe is very happy with his choice of location. “Sanibel

really does remind me of Beverly Hills,” he says. “I find it interesting and

impressive that everyone, no matter what part of the country they are from,

understands that Sanibel has a reputation for offering the finest. I can go

miles away and mention that my salon is on Sanibel, and people recognize it. If

I said my salon was in Fort Myers, it wouldn’t have the same effect.”

In the

next year, Joe plans to continue growing his business. His goal is that “by

summer, which normally means a downturn in business in this area, I won’t see a

dramatic downturn. I will have enough people who see me 12 months a year.”

Joe

hopes soon to hire another hairstylist. “I want to develop another stylist who

is ambitious and forward-looking. I’m looking for someone who cares, someone

with a passion for their work. I have an awful lot I could teach the right

person.”

Ginny,

who serves as nail technician for the salon, is becoming more involved in

running the business, and they have recently put into place a computerized

salon management system that will let Joe keep a historical and pictorial

record of every client from visit to visit.

One

part of his overall plan is on hold, says Joe. He has not yet implemented his

idea for a nonprofit foundation called Hair for Kids, which would provide

professionally styled hairpieces to children who have lost their hair through

illness or injury. “I realized that once I put [the foundation] together, I may

be forced to give up [my regular hairstyling business]. I’m not ready for that

yet. I will implement Hair for Kids. It’s just a question of when. I’ve had

offers of money and assistance when I’m ready.”

Naples

Dinner Theatre, Naples

Professional

dinner theater

It’s

not that they weren’t warned about slow summers in Southwest Florida. The three

partners in the new Naples Dinner Theatre knew full well that filling seats

would be difficult throughout the off-season, but it was even more of a

challenge than they expected.

“Summer

was a bit of a surprise,” says managing director Stuart Glazer. The theater

suffered losses, though many people they have spoken to tell them they did

better than expected for a business in its first year, notes Glazer.

With a

lot of hard work and a little patience, they made it through the slow season,

and now in their second full season, their seats are filling up.

“We’re

in a new season and doing spectacularly,” says Glazer with a mixture of relief

and enthusiasm. “There are days where we are totally sold out.” New Year’s Eve,

for example, was sold out a month in advance (at $125 per ticket), notes

Glazer, and had a waiting list of 100 patrons hoping to join the festivities

that night.

Glazer,

joined by artistic director Michael Wainstein and associate artistic director

Barry Marcus, took over the Naples Dinner Theatre in October 1999. The

threesome, all once affiliated with the Naples Players, a local community

theater group, frequently drove by the vacant dinner theater on Immokalee Road

and wondered why nothing was happening with it. The 28,000-square-foot building

had been erected in 1975 by Julius Fiske who owned and operated the theater for

22 years until poor health forced him to close the doors in April 1997. He

passed away in May 1999. Glazer, Marcus, and Wainstein purchased the theater

from the Fiske family.

The

theater started off its 2000-2001 winter season in November with “42nd Street,”

always a surefire crowd-pleaser. Now playing is “La Cage aux Folles” (January

10 – March 4), and coming next month is “Damn Yankees” (March 7 – April 27).

Leading into the theater’s second summer will be “Ain’t Misbehavin” (April 25 –

June 10), followed by “Plaza Suite” (June 13-July 8), and “The King and I”

(July 11 – August 26).

As the

new season got under way, the theater was averaging 75 percent occupancy — 250

to 300 of its 350 seats filled; that compares with an average of about 200

seats last season.

One

major difference this year over last is an increase in group sales, a significant

and essential element of any dinner theater’s revenues — typically as much as

50 percent of total ticket sales. Last year, because of a condensed start-up

period — the new owners moved into the theater last November and opened their

first show six weeks later — they did not have time to ramp up the group-sales

operation. Now with a marketing director and two assistants working on it,

group sales are running about 30 to 40 percent of the total.

Theater

personnel do some community outreach, speaking to country clubs and senior

citizen groups to drum up interest in group sales. They also attend trade

shows, especially those where they can reach tour operators, a very important

component of group sales, notes Glazer.

Entering

its second year, the theater has been able to refine its marketing, figuring

out what works and what doesn’t. “We have been able to eliminate a lot of

advertising that wasn’t producing,” says Glazer. Ads in local newspapers have

proven to be the most effective at filling seats, those in local lifestyle and

travel magazines less effective.

The

theater will continue to do a lot of advertising on the East Coast of Florida

as well, though that’s mainly important in the summer, not the winter, notes

Glazer.

One

important change at the theater has been the addition of several theater

professionals, such as a scenic designer, sound engineer, and technicians. “So,

the quality of our shows has improved,” says Glazer. Staff size is up to 75.

The

restaurant side of the operation has seen very few changes because it has been

working so well, according to Glazer. People seem pleased with the quality of

the food, which the partners realize, is at least as important as the quality

of the theatrical productions. Chef Jacques Perry continues to oversee the

eclectic menu.

The

biggest challenge, says Glazer, even after a year in business, is getting