We had a meeting earlier this week and decided to pursue something we've all wanted to see happen since we moved into our new facility a few years back; a monthly gathering of local Subarus at our shop for the spring/summer months. We're right in the beginning stages of planning this out, so I'd really like to get some input on what participants want to see out of these gatherings. Here's a few questions and ideas, chime in with your thoughts so we can get some ideas flowing: We talked about holding the events on the first or second Friday of May, June, July, August, and possibly September. I personally like the idea of the first Friday since it coincides with Cars and Coffee on the following day, which to me means a lot of people's cars will be nice and clean. As far as time-frame goes, we're thinking around 4 to 7/8. Thoughts? Would a shop tour during the event be something you would be interested in? Would you want products available for sale? Apparel/Stickers only or everything? We're kicking around the idea of a food truck, is that something you'd like to see at a fairly low-key event? More than likely we'll have a photographer on hand or have one of our employees taking pictures with the shop camera so that we can post Facebook/Blog content later on, I assume everyone's on board with that? We want to keep this a predominately-Subaru/Ford meet (as many of you know we're entering the Ford market this year), but won't necessarily turn away other makes/models as long as they're respectful of the venue and overall vibe. In that light, we'll likely spread the word about the event to the local Subaru/Ford communities, but others will be welcome. Looking forward to hearing what people have to say! -Art
I hate living so far from the cities and missing out on things like this I'll have to make the trip at least once if this comes to fruition. A shop tour would definitely be neat to see for those who have never been to the shop before.
Awesome! Thanks for posting Art! 1)1st Fridays seem logical to me!(once a month also makes sense) 5 or 6pm-8pm...because work. 2)Shop tours are cool, but i'd rather tour your office(lol). I kid 3)I think that it would be beneficial to be able to pick up parts like exhaust gaskets and such. So apparels AND parts would be my vote. 4)Food truck would be cool! I think, if someone at GS was willing, that grilling could be a good/less expensive route. Again, if someone was willing to man the grill/buy the food/collect the monies/etc. 5)Facebooking photographs? Why not!? Really looking forward to this getting off the ground! Could really be a fun alternative to our lost Firestone Fridays!
After C&C would be ideal IMO. Weekday evenings can be tough before 6-7. 7 seems to be the sweet spot to expect people to show up for the weekday events I have attended. I'd still try for it earlier on Friday if need be, but availability gets a lot spottier. I think a lot of people are in that boat based on what I've seen. On Friday you're also contending with people getting ready to go do whatever it is they do on Friday nights. If I go to C&C I'm usually interested in grabbing lunch on the way home. I would be all over it if there was a low key meet with some food available. No problems putting down a few bucks on a simple grilled burger/brat. Probably could lend a hand most weekends. Shop tour would be cool. Bonus points if an engineer could run through a current project or new item or just some interesting challenge they're working on. I've heard tell Subaru'ing nerds are a thing... I personally don't go to meets and shows with the intention of buying products. That said, if you already have staff on site it might make sense to leave the option open. Wouldn't mind being able to pick up some dumb little things not worth the special trip like license plate bracket screws or the odd gasket. Everyone, their brother and their brother's dog thinks they're a photographer these days. It goes without saying that one should expect photographers to be milling around anything remotely resembling a car meet or show with the results ending up on FB or similar.
^i'm guessing that they are shooting for Fridays as the shop is already open and employees are punched in. Saturday would/could be a cool option for after C&C tho! I would like it better than Friday, but understand from a biness standpoint why they are looking at Fridays.
Saturdays would be awesome as it would allow some of us out-of-towners to make the trek! But yeah, I see where Friday would make more sense for GS since they'd be open. lol I saw this too...smh
Absolutely, I definitely want to see all the MNSubaru supporters out here in drones! 5-8 seems to be what people are saying, that means the employees sticking around for the event can just clock out and get to it, as you mentioned that's the big reason we'd hold it on a Friday rather than the weekend. What I'm thinking of is setting up the tent and a few tables to display some of the apparel and if people want a downpipe or something like that, make it available for purchase by grabbing it from the back. Exactly, grilling is seeming to be the popular consensus anyway. Thanks for the excitement in this, I think a lot of people have been waiting for a structured Subaru-based meet to get put together, so hopefully this can satisfy that. Thanks for the feedback! I mentioned up top that weekends events would be a bit tougher for the staff, if the turn-out ends up being substantial then perhaps we can think about doing it on the weekends as time goes on. As far as times go, that 5-8 is sounding good, but we'll have room for tweaking that if it doesn't work for a majority of people. I think that would be pretty neat as well, getting the engineers to stay after-hours will probably be the challenge there, haha. Got it; it's sounding like a small, cheaper items are the way to go. -Art
I love the idea and would make sure I could make it for all of the events. I love the social aspect of being able to post pics and get pictures taken of attendees cars. Also having merchandise at the meet would be awesome I'm always up for checking out new grimmspeed gear and am looking for the release of the new yeti grimmspeed thermos Question I have is would you be looking to possibly add vendors in the future?
I do as well, what I'd like is for attendees to take pictures in addition to whoever is doing it for us and post them to the Facebook group for the show. It sounds like merch. will definitely be up for sale, perhaps with some sort of raffle/give-away type thing towards the end. I suppose that depends on where we want to go with the meets, I'm picturing more of a grassroots gathering to begin with, but if we were want to make it more sizable bringing on additional vendors likely wouldn't be out of the question. -Art
Solution to your Saturday meet and employees is to give the ones that work the meet an alternate day off of their choosing the week leading up to that meet.. pretty simple solution/ incentive to work the weekend for a few hours. I would forsure be interested in the event, parts available during event, and tours for the first few events.
It's not quite that simple. In a small buisness everyone has a daily job to do. If you take a day off when there are other people that depend on your role (in small bushiness nearly everyone's job is dependent on someone else doing theirs) you screw up the work flow of things and to do that once a month adds up massively by the end of the year.
Well is there a day that maybe works for everyone, I know we do the weekly meeting on Tuesdays. Could we switch the day that works for everyone?
You're absolutely right, it becomes a bit of a logistical mess when it comes to days off/switching schedules for a business of our size. For example if the inventory manager is off on Monday because he worked the show Saturday, all of a sudden piece-parts we ran out of that day can't be re-ordered, builds can't be finished up, and orders go unfulfilled. We can potentially look into other weekdays but from the sounds of it Friday nights works well for a majority of people since they don't have to work the next day and are more inclined to come out as opposed to, let's say, on a Thursday night. At the end of the day however there is an element of trial-and-error, the first meet or two will help us get an understanding of what needs to change, if anything. -Art
You've got my number buddy! Let me know if i can help you with working out any of the logistics. PS:tell Andy that we have a date set for the cruise and that I'll be stopping in to see him.
Definitely, I'm having a sit-down with the Matts soon and we'll talk about the prospect of some outside help if needed! Sounds good, I'll let him know when I see him. -Art
Definitely in and interested. Possibly available to help if needed as well. Thanks for all you guys do for the community!
