Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions)
Our first question comes from Destin Tompkins of Morgan, Keegan & Company.
Destin Tompkins – Morgan, Keegan & Company, Inc.
Bert, you talked a little bit about a marketing plan for 2008, can you just tell us a little bit about some of your testing in Cincinnati, the plans for 2008, what you expect to see from that marketing plan?
Bert Vivian
Well, I probably want to add too much more color than what I did in my specific remarks. Last year in Cincinnati, we did a number of things from a marketing standpoint. Virtually everything other than TV type media. We felt that it provided a nice lift to our sales in Cincinnati. It drove a number of folks into our restaurant and I think we were able to capture some new guests. We will try the same type of tactics as we push forward into California again. A number of different medias and channels other than TV and we will see if we have the same type of results in California.
If we are successful there, then we will begin to do, we will perform the same type of operation in various markets around the country. We will see whether or not we are successful as we roll through the year and at that point in time, I will comment probably a little bit more on that.
Destin Tompkins – Morgan, Keegan & Company, Inc.
And did you say how much menu pricing you assumed in your forecast for 2008 for the Bistro?
Bert Vivian
I did not, but my guess is you can assume that we will be somewhere in the 2% - 3% kind of price for ’08.
Destin Tompkins – Morgan, Keegan & Company, Inc.
And then I just had one more question for Russell on Pei Wei, there has been a lot of focus on improving the operating margins and labor has been one specific area you guys are targeting, can you just lay out maybe some of the initiatives some more detail around how you are looking to reduce labor, reduce turnover some of the things you are working on there?
Russell Owens
I have a little flavor and I think that we are looking at revising some prep processes in the back of the house that will simplify products reducing labor cost. We are looking at how we staff the restaurants from a managerial versus hourly perspective in trying to reduce management time and focus on specific functional tasks, and we look at reducing some of the menu items on the menu. The test menu has pure items that will just simplify the operations and eliminate an hourly position in the back of the house. We are cautious about that one because we are taking things off the menu so we want to make sure consumer feedback and sales trends are not negatively impacted by that and those are kind of the primary focus. We have got a lot of development programs and leadership development programs designed to enhance the ability of our managers to run restaurants and make them better operators for Pei Wei Asian diner.
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