PERRY — When Ceaser Gorman re-opened the doors of his family’s restaurant in April, the indoor eating area had been overtaken by women’s suits, large hats and accessories.
The addition of women’s apparel, he says, was necessary to have more than one option to make money as word spread to long-time customers that the restaurant, first opened in 1969, was back in business.
“The fashion has been outperforming the food,” Gorman said. “But people have been slowly realizing we’re back in the food business.”
The situation is odd, but becoming more common: small businesses seeking to generate more revenue are adding to their cache as a way to diversify their clientele — and source of revenue.
Kimberly Barbeque got its start in 1969 as a soul food restaurant. Started by the late Ceaser Gorman Sr. and his late wife, Hattie, the business thrived in its small quarters off Sam Nunn Boulevard. It was mostly because of the way his father treated his customers, the younger Ceaser Gorman said. If someone called saying they weren’t going to make it before closing, the elder Gorman kept the doors open. Customers were never turned away.
“Daddy said you don’t do that,” the younger Gorman said.
They’ve been through several closings, but never because of money issues. Several years ago, it was because Ceaser Gorman’s wife, also named Hattie, was back and forth to Indiana to help care for her ailing mother.
‘A match made in heaven’
It’s been five years since Legacy Fine China & Gifts merged operations with Yelverton Jewelers but, Donna Shaheen Kiefer says, the two were “a match made in heaven.”
Both businesses had been located in Shaheen Plaza, off Houston Lake Road, operating as separate entities in Warner Robins. Kiefer, the owner of Legacy Fine China & Gifts, said she had been sending customers the way of Yelverton for years. Vice versa, Yelverton owner Darrell Yelverton said.
“Twenty-five years ago, it was not uncommon to see this (type of merging),” Yelverton said of the combination of china and jewelry. “Now, her customer base is mine, and my customer base is hers. It’s opened up doors people may not have thought of before.”
Both saw the economic need to combine their operations. “People regularly come in for a gift having $30,” Keifer said, mentioning that the jewelry store alone would offer few options.
The layout also lends itself to customers with the occasional wandering eye.
“They may come in here for a silver plate and end up leaving with a piece of jewelry,” Yelverton said.
Doing whatever they can
Researchers with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program examined longevity rates for 212,182 businesses that started in the second quarter of 1998. By 2005, only 31 percent of those businesses remained. Several economic factors were included in the reasoning for the closures.
Mike Stamler, a spokesman with the U.S. Small Business Administration, said many business owners across the country are doing whatever they can to generate revenue lost because of the economy’s downturn.
“These are the times that try businessman’s and businesswoman’s strategies,” he said. “They’re adapting to different economical challenges and lower sales and fewer customers by finding ways to bring more customers in to increase sales.”
In the time that the Gorman’s restaurant was closed, Hattie Gorman began concentrating on woman’s apparel. She had wanted to get out of the food business for some time. Then, the family decided last year to re-open the family business. Both ventures, they felt, could feed off the other.
“Barbecue is something we know,” Ceaser Gorman Jr. said. “But food and fashion go well together.”
One day last week, Hattie Gorman talked business on a phone call from the store’s back room while the couple’s son, Ronald, took and filled orders at the takeout counter. Ceaser Gorman Jr. said things, so far, are working just fine.
And, he said, he’s still practicing his father’s etiquette, which includes, among other things, free food for unsatisfied customers.
“We give you your money back,” he said. “But if we see you back, you pay for the first time.”
To contact writer Marlon A. Walker, call 256-9685.
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