Happy September Ramily,

In my youth, the month of September started with angst which emanated from the pressures and stress of starting school. I did not necessarily enjoy school so I guess that is why I felt that way. It is funny though how powerful emotions can be as years later I still get a bit anxious as the summer draws to an end. The power of emotions………

Hey, we have a number of things happening right now so here we go. Yesterday Banger sent out our new Happy Hour Menu. Making a splashing debut is our new Personal Size Beer-Crust Pizza. We are really excited to be able to introduce our awesome pizza to our Happy Hour guests. New also on the Happy Hour Menu is Tempura Green Beans and Crispy Calamari. Both are tasty but I must tell you that I did not eat dinner after the afternoon Calamari tasting – too full. One more item, in Meridian, Kent, Medford, and Salem we are testing the Tater Tot Tower – this is a bomb of deliciousness. Thank you to our culinary team for driving this bus.

Also new on the food front is our Weekend Features. It is rare that I pass up a breakfast burrito and our All-Day Breakfast Burrito is killer. The over-easy eggs take this tasty treat off the chart. I know our guests will love our new Morning Glory Pizza. Pizza for breakfast? Come on who does not love that? Back by popular demand, we have our BLD (Breakfast Lunch Dinner) Burger. Yep, three-day parts in every bite.

Next to the Happy Hour Menu in our Drink Menu, we have our new Fall Classic Cocktails. How about a Starburst Margarita with el Jimador Tequila, Chambord, lemon, lime, orange, pineapple & cranberry juice or maybe a Kickin’ Mango Mule with New Amsterdam Vodka, lime, fresh jalapeno, and mango? These are just a couple of new refreshing treats. Many thanks to our beverage team for their creativity.

One store left and we will be 100% on pizza. Weekly sales have been just over 1,500 pies on average excluding happy hour. We are seeing increased pizza sales on to-go which is nice. I fully expect our weekly pizza sales to keep growing. We have a large investment in our pizza program so please keep your ovens sparkly clean. Each culinary team was given a cleaning tutorial during installation. You can always refer to your pizza station book for cleaning details too.

My favorite seasonal beer Ofest taps on September 19th. Anticipation!

As a kid I rode dirt bikes occasionally; my parents were not too keen on motorcycles. In adulthood, I bought my first road bike in 2002. The bike in the Hopper Chopper giveaway is (soon to be “was”) mine. A winner was just selected at random. Congratulations to Lake Stevens guest Zachary Jones. He will soon be riding a beautiful Harley Davidson VROD. When I and John Morse phoned him on 9/1/22 with the news the first words out of his mouth were, “no f-ing way!”. Zach said he went to the Ram every day for 46 straight days to try and win the bike. Robert Zimmer of Salem/Wilsonville wins Burgers for a Year and Medford guest Kim Rose-Young wins a 2023 Mug Club. Congratulation to our winners and thank you to all who participated. This promotion generated very valuable traffic for us which John Morse will recap for you soon. Thank you all for your support.

Per John’s recent email, “Pick-a-Winner” has become “Beat the Bartender”. This is a fun event and a great format for our teams and guests. Game On!

As I close out this message, please remember to open doors, smile, make eye contact and say “thank you” to our guests and our fellow team members. Drop those rocks and boulders. Do something unexpected and special for our guests and team members. Thank you.

In September we say thank you to our fellow team members celebrating significant anniversaries with the Ram: Jennifer Hunt (26 years), Tim Moore (10 years), Karlie-Jean Schmidkofer (6 years), Helen Ledger (5 years), Sulma Gomez Martinez (5 years), Courtney Casey (9 years), Antonio Magallanes Davalos (5 years), Patricia An Agustin T (9 years), Joshua Smith (9 years), Ronis Zumba Jacobo (9 years), James Campolo (6 years), Maria Zolotsev (6 years), Benjamin Garcia-Cantoran (6 years), Nathan Williamson (10 years) and Banger Smith (16 years). Thank you all very much!

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

` Vince Lombardi