Blog

Showcase Showdown

What is a showcase? It is when you throw a party, but in your own honor! It’s when you say to the event world – “Helloooo! We are here, we are hoppin’, and we are the place to be!” Showcases are parties planned by venues to “show off” their venues to potential clients, allowing them […]

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Retail Merchandise Consulting: What We’ve Learned from our Clients

It’s hard to believe it has almost been one year since JGL started offering retail merchandise consulting services! With our dedicated Senior Retail Consultant, John Franzini, we have worked with both past and new clients spanning the museum, zoo, and aquarium worlds. We knew that our experience with food and beverage consulting would be beneficial […]

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MCASD Celebrated it’s Opening on April 8, 2022! Congratulations to the MCASD Team!

On Friday, April 8th, JGL had the great privilege of attending the member’s preview and opening reception for the stunning new Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla, California. JGL worked on several aspects of the MCASD project including development of the vendor business structure and a dual track RFP focused on selecting […]

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4 Tips for a Self-Operated Shop: Finding and Creating Unique Items to Sell in Your Museum Shop!

Museums that operate their own shops have the freedom to show off their personalities! Whether the products sold are logo branded, locally made or reminiscent of the exhibitions, they should effectively reflect the museum’s brand. Here are 4 tips to finding and creating unique items to sell in your museum shop. Don’t Recreate, Innovate! Innovation […]

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Two Truths and a Lie

It’s April Fool’s Day, friends!  JGL is known to go above and beyond for our clients. To that end, we have found ourselves in some scary, funny and downright embarrassing situations! Two out of three of these stories really happened. Which one do you think is a lie?! Story #1: About seven years ago I […]

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Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego will Celebrate their Grand Re-Opening in April

JGL was retained by the Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego to assist with a feasibility study, food service vendor selection process and rental program development. JGL worked with the client to mitigate operational challenges, develop a feasible operating model, and secure a fabulous café operator along with a short list of caterers. MCASD has […]

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Smaller Groups, Larger Returns

For cultural institutions that earn commissions on catered events, there has definitely been a change in earned income due to the pandemic. Many organizations have seen a dramatic uptick in weddings, especially if they have large, outdoor spaces to offer. If weddings were never the bulk of your business or you don’t have ample outdoor […]

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The Importance of Stress Testing

As all JGL clients know, we are big believers in developing pro forma projections for a wide variety of scenarios so our clients are prepared for any outcome. The importance of undertaking this level of analysis has been intensified by the ongoing pandemic. The financial return or expense from any food service operation is hugely […]

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50% of Nothing is Nothing!

Negotiating a higher commission or lower fees isn’t always the best strategy. While earned income is important, there are times when a higher commission can result in lost revenues. JGL manages two dozen plus RFP processes annually. We generally shy away from municipally run or managed RFP processes because of their usual focus on highest […]

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Do You Have a ‘High Level’ Understanding of Your Zoo or Aquarium’s Food Service Operation? JGL Shares Tricks of the Trade to Do a Self-Assessment!

Welcome to 2022.  We have all made those New Year’s resolutions that focus on improvement or growth. JGL’s assessment process for food service and retail operations does the same. Our first blog of the New Year is a list of six of the experiential review and key metrics Team JGL uses when working with a […]

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