Though many lodging chains have limited or ceased expansion in the past year, Value Place is taking the exact opposite approach.

The News & Observer reported the Wichita-based chain is calling for 500 properties to be built over the next five years – six of which will be in the Triangle area but over the course of 10 years. The first area Value Place will open in Apex in January. That the plans of the Wichita, Kan.-based company have not been scaled back because of the recession speaks to Value Place's no-frills business model. For about $200 a week, plus a $100 damage deposit, Value Place guests get a clean, safe place to stay and not much else. The approach has proven attractive at a time when corporations are slashing travel budgets and more people find themselves in housing limbo because they have relocated but can't sell the home they left behind or simply because they are out of work.

"A lot of apartment dwellers don't want to commit to another year lease because they don't know where there job is going," said Gina McKee, Value Place's vice president of franchise development. McKee said occupancy rates across Value Place's 160 properties have remained about 80 percent during the recession. She also revealed that the Triangle market is attractive because of the large number of business travelers coming for extended visits and because so many people are moving into the area.

Carter Rise, a franchisee in Richmond, Va., who hopes to start construction on a Value Place on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh early next year, said the brand fits the current economic environment. "You get basic, ultra-clean, very safe lodging in a comfortable but not ostentatious room with minimal amenities," he said.

Martinizing has been the gold standard in dry cleaning since its inception in 1949 and is expanding its presence further with the recent acquisition of Minneapolis-based Dry Cleaning Station.

American Drycleaner reported that according to Jerry Laesser, Martinizing’s vice president of marketing and development, it’s anticipated that a combination of 10 Dry Cleaning Station full-service plants will initially convert to the Martinizing brand in four markets, including Denver; Southern California; Tulsa, Okla.; and Minneapolis, with other markets to follow. Martinizing will expand its brand into new markets and rebrand existing Dry Cleaning Station locations as Martinizing centers; stores in markets with existing Martinizing locations will retain the Dry Cleaning Station name.

“People may be cutting back on luxuries, but they will never give up their dry cleaning,” said Laesser. “By joining forces with Dry Cleaning Station, Martinizing is giving its customers the confidence that they will receive the best service possible at all times.”

Photo: Martinizing's Jerry Laesser.

While many think adding a catering program is a simple add-on service to boost sales and gain new customers, it takes a significant amount of time, effort and ingenuity for one to become successful. Thankfully, there are experts in place to lead the way.

Nation’s Restaurant News reported that since sales of off-site meals have to be integrated into the whole business plan and not just tacked on as an extra service, several restaurant companies are implementing operations software designed specifically for catering. Many nationally franchised brands turn to Altametrics, a California-based firm whose eRestaurant software suite has a module for catering and event management. Mitesh Gala, co-founder and chief executive of Altametrics, says catering is a natural extension of serving food, but the tactic requires planning. “You have to remember to look at the business holistically,” he said. “If you think catering is this silo that doesn’t impact other parts of the business, it’ll hamper your success. Make sure whatever you’re going to do is going to integrate, otherwise the left hand isn’t going to know what the right is doing.” As operators take orders using Altametrics’ system, the food and labor requirements for those meals flow into those metrics measured for the whole location, automatically coordinating scheduling and purchasing. About 44,000 locations of brands like California Pizza Kitchen, Wendy’s and Rock Bottom Restaurants use the eRestaurant suite, Gala said.

McAlister’s Deli, the fast-casual chain of nearly 300 locations, does healthy catering sales without dedicated software—about 8 percent systemwide—but it plans to test a Web-based catering module in units near its Ridgeland, Miss., headquarters starting in January, said vice president of training Vickie Frisbie. Currently, the brand manages catering orders with a blend of its point-of-sale system and pen and paper, Frisbie said. Catering software would allow McAlister’s to track customer data better and build reliability within those relationships. “By knowing the group you’re delivering to, you can tap further into the broader audience you have,” she said. “That leads you to the sports complex, then the coaches, then the [athletes’] moms, who end up being your social-catering clients.…This lets you segment out your database and market with things that will drive more sales in that area.” McAlister’s already sells lots of sandwich platters and gallons of sweet tea, Frisbie said, but it also will push its side dishes and holiday cookie platters to get more people thinking of the brand as a go-to catering option. “The relationship of catering and the economy today is important,” she said, “and we’re making sure we have reliability and great relationships with our customers. To perform detailed sales and profit analysis is going to be critical to us in 2010 to continue to grasp that market share.”

Photos from top right: Mitesh Gala reviewing eRestaurant results with Applebee's area director Vilma Tawil; a McAlister's Deli location.