Featured in Restaurant Start Up and Growth Magazine, "26 Concept and Design Ideas You May Have Overlooked", by Jeff B. Katz.

A few items that you might not have considered while planning your new restaurant........ MORE >>

Featured in Restaurant Start Up and Growth Magazine, "Designing Your Restaurant's Floor Plan", by Jeff B. Katz.

A detailed, step by step process for thinking through your restaurant's floor plan........ MORE >>

Featured in the "Turning the Tables" section in Nation's Restaurant News.

An interview with retail anthropologist Paco Underhill who unlocks the secret behavior of consumers in his books, "Why We Buy" and "The Call of the Mall"....... MORE >>

Provided to FHA from Jim Eiting with American Structures, Inc.

This is a in depth look at the steel industries shortage of resources and the resulting increase in steel prices. MORE >>

ONE
Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6,9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied." "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

TWO
The paragraph above doesn't amaze me because of what happened a couple of months ago. I was checking out at the local Foodland with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "Dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "Divider! " looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me," Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK" and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

THREE
A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."

FOUR
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied," Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

FIVE
Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.

SIX
My neighbour works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"

SEVEN
Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

Texas Architect, "A Loss Cause" by James B Atkins, FAIA and Grant A Simpson, FAIA.

This article offers insight on professional liability insurance issues from an Architect's point of view. ...... MORE >>

Featured in Restaurant Startup & Growth, "Ten Common Mistakes Made by Restauranteurs in the Startup Phase and How to Avoid Them" by Jim Laube

This is a must read for anyone with a startup business ...... MORE >>

Nations Restaurant News, "On the lighter side, a smorgasbord of restaurant sillies to digest" by Ron Ruggles

Restaurants are funny. When a public space brings together so many different people from so many different walks of life in so many moods to be offered so many different options by so many different staff people, some humor is bound to be involved...... MORE >>

Retail Construction Magazine,"Top Retail Architects"

For the fourth year, FHA was recognized among the top retail architects in the country. The firm currently has projects with its majors clients in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and in Mexico.

Scaling new heights: in an effort to entice customers and improve sales, fast feeders upgrade units and serve up dining environments that are better by design. MORE >>

Originally published by, Nation's Restaurant News, March 10, 2003, written by Lori Lohmeyer