Email us at magnachamberofcommerce@gmail.com or call 801-250-6613 to reserve your place at the luncheon.

 Please join us on May 16th for an exciting opportunity to recognize three very deserving students from Cyprus High School. Continuing the longstanding tradition ATK and The Magna Chamber will present three gifted students with college scholarships. At the luncheon we will also be privileged to hear from Kent Rominger, a former astronaut and current VP at ATK.

Date: Thursday, May 16th at Noon

Location: Webster Center (8952 West Magna Main Street)

Featuring: Kent Rominger, ATK Space Launch VP and former NASA Astronaut

Mr. Kent Rominger:

• Over 7,000 flying hours in 35 different types of aircraft and has completed 685 carrier landings
• B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, Master’s in aeronautical engineering from U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Top Gun graduate
• Has been at ATK since 2006
• 5 time shuttle astronaut
• Logged over 1,600 hours and has traveled 27 million miles in space
• 26 year career in the Navy

 RSVP required in advance by emailing at magnachamberofcommerce@gmail.com or calling 801-250-6613.

Cost for lunch: $15 for Chamber Members and $17 for other attendees. Pay online at www.magnachamber.org by pressing the donate button.

Magna is now home to a new business and new member of the Chamber of Commerce. Sea Bears Fish House and Bakery was recently opened in the former Kiwi Bakery location. Kiwi Bakery had closed its doors early this year, so we are very excited to see a new business take its place. Sea Bears carries many of the same menu items that Kiwi had included fish and chips, meatpies, sausage rolls, and all kinds of pastries.

The name for Sea Bears come from a nickname and play on words of the owner’s last name. Tony and Monika Siebers opened the business as a family affair. Tony has been waking up very early to make the donuts, and Monika works with marketing and finances, their two teenage sons help work in the restaurant. They are hoping to find long term success on Magna Main Street.

Tony believes a key to his success will be getting the support of the surrounding business community. While foot traffic is light on Main Street, it gives him some flexibility to deliver food to businesses in the area. They also can cater events, their catering menu features some scaled down items such as mini-meat pies and small sausage rolls, and they have already booked catering for several events. One of the reasons he joined the Chamber was for the opportunity to network and gain the support of other Chamber members. Call today to order lunch for your whole office!

They have also added some new items to the menu like jalapeno poppers, chicken strips,  and stuffed mushrooms. Besides food for lunch and dinner, dessert is still front and center in the store display cases. Donuts, cream puffs, cookies, brownies, and all sorts of pastries are made fresh daily. Sea Bears offers some great variety to Magna’s restaurant landscape.

To celebrate their opening in Magna, Sea Bears and the Magna Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening event on Saturday May 25th at 10:00 am. We hope you will join us for this opportunity to meet the Siebers family, and try some of their delicious food.

Sea Bears Fish House & Bakery

Grand opening and Ribbon Cutting

Saturday May 25th at 10:00 am

8963 West Magna Main Street

Date: Thursday, May 16th at Noon

Location: Webster Center (8952 West Magna Main Street)

Featuring: Kent Rominger, ATK Space Launch VP and former NASA Astronaut

Mr. Kent Rominger:

• Over 7,000 flying hours in 35 different types of aircraft and has completed 685 carrier landings
• B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, Master’s in aeronautical engineering from U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Top Gun graduate
• Has been at ATK since 2006
• 5 time shuttle astronaut
• Logged over 1,600 hours and has traveled 27 million miles in space
• 26 year career in the Navy

 RSVP required in advance by emailing at magnachamberofcommerce@gmail.com or calling 801-250-6613.

Cost for lunch: $15 for Chamber Members and $17 for other attendees. Pay online at www.magnachamber.org by pressing the donate button.

The name for Sea Bears come from a nickname and play on words of the owner’s last name. Tony Siebers opened the business as a family affair. His wife Monica helps with marketing and finances, and his two teenage sons help work in the restaurant. They are hoping to find long term home on Magna Main Street.

Tony believes a key to his success will be getting the support of the surrounding business community. While foot traffic is light on Main Street, it gives him some flexibility to deliver food to businesses in the area. They also can cater events, their catering menu features some scaled down items such as mini-meat pies and small sausage rolls, and they have already booked catering for several events. One of the reasons he joined the Chamber was for the opportunity to network and gain the support of other Chamber members.

They have also added some new items to the menu like jalapeno poppers, chicken strips,  and stuffed mushrooms. Besides food for lunch and dinner, dessert is still front and center in the store display cases. Donuts, cream puffs, cookies, brownies, and all sorts of pastries are made fresh daily. Sea Bears offers some great variety to Magna’s restaurant landscape.

To celebrate their opening in Magna, Sea Bears and the Magna Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening event on Saturday May 25th at 10:00 am. We hope you will join us for this opportunity to meet the Siebers family, and try some of their delicious food.

Sea Bears Fish House & Bakery

Grand opening and Ribbon Cutting

Saturday May 25th at 10:00 am

8963 West Magna Main Street

Location: Webster Center (8952 West Magna Main Street)

Featuring: Kent Rominger, ATK Space Launch VP and former NASA Astronaut

Please join us on May 16th for an exciting opportunity to recognize three very deserving students from Cyprus High School. Continuing the longstanding tradition ATK and The Magna Chamber will present three gifted students with college scholarships. At the luncheon we will also be privileged to hear from Kent Rominger, a former astronaut and current VP at ATK.

Mr. Kent Rominger:

• Over 7,000 flying hours in 35 different types of aircraft and has completed 685 carrier landings
• B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, Master’s in aeronautical engineering from U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Top Gun graduate
• Has been at ATK since 2006
• 5 time shuttle astronaut
• Logged over 1,600 hours and has traveled 27 million miles in space
• 26 year career in the Navy

RSVP required in advance by emailing at magnachamberofcommerce@gmail.com or calling 801-250-6613.

Cost for lunch: $15 for Chamber Members and $17 for other attendees. Pay online at www.magnachamber.org by pressing the donate button.

I came up with the phrase “crystal ball and chain” years ago to describe one predictable barrier to introducing a useful business planning process into an existing small business.

The phrase is intended to combine the crystal ball with the ball and chain. It happens because normal people, even good performers, and stars on a business team, naturally worry about changes. And when compensation is involved, and management structure, and raises and bonuses, it’s only natural to worry.

Good planning involves setting performance goals and tracking results against the goals. Milestones and metrics, which mean setting numerical goals and then tracking performances, are essential.

It’s obvious how this kind of tracking can help a business perform better. The plan vs. actual analysis gives the whole team an objective way to look back at what they planned – the milestones and metrics, in this case – and analyze what happened.

Still, good people still worry, because that’s a very human reaction. Are they trying to get the goods on me to fire me later?

Those objections almost always come as objections to the idea of predicting the future. People will say:

“But how can I possibly know today what’s going to happen six months from now? Isn’t that just a waste of time? Can’t it actually be counter-productive, because it distracts us, and we spend time trying to figure out things in the future?’

The right answer to this, from the leadership of the business or business team, is about collaboration and cooperation. Projecting future business activities isn’t a ball and chain at all, because in the right planning process the existence of the plan helps you manage effectively.

Here’s a concrete example: it’s September and you are developing your plan for next year, which includes an important trade show in April. You plan on that trade show and set up a budget for expenses related to that trade show. Even though it’s September, you have a pretty good idea that this will happen in April.

When January rolls around, though, it turns out that the trade show that normally takes place in April will be in June this year. Does that mean the plan was wasted time? Absolutely not! It is precisely because you have a plan running that you catch the change in January, move the expense to June, and adjust some other activities accordingly.

In this example, the plan isn’t a brick wall you run into or a ball and chain that drags you down; no, it’s a helpful tool, like a map or even a GPS device, because it helps you keep track of priorities and manage and adjust the details as they roll into view.

We’ve all seen how technology is changing our attention span and sense of time. And we’ve seen how technology allows us to work at all hours, and from any location. These changes make planning and management, working with good planning that focuses on milestones and metrics, more important than ever before.

Magna Chamber of Commerce Luncheon

Thursday April 18th at Noon

Featuring: Patrick Leary, Township Manager for Salt Lake County

Magna Chamber Office – 8952 West Magna Main Street, Magna UT 84044

The Great Recession technically ended back in 2009, but you wouldn’t know it from the way Americans are spending (and saving) these days. Despite some natural post-election optimism, issues such as rising food and energy prices, Congress’ “fiscal cliff” and debt ceiling struggles, and the rise in the payroll tax mean Americans are still clutching their wallets tight. With many Americans widely feeling that “we’re not out of the woods yet,” how can your small business develop marketing messages that resonate with penny-pinching prospects?

Start by understanding what your customers and prospects are worried about so you can tailor your marketing message accordingly:

• A Gallup poll conducted last month reports that for consumers with incomes under $24,000, the costs of food and energy were the biggest concerns (cited by 81 and 80 percent, respectively), with healthcare costs (70 percent) and taxes (67 percent) close behind. Lower-income and middle-income consumers are being hit hard by the expiration of the payroll tax cuts in January, which cut about $1,000 in take-home pay from someone making $50,000.
• Upper-income consumers (with incomes of $90,000 and up) were more likely than lower-income consumers to be worried about longer-term issues such as taxes (cited by 79 percent) and the federal debt ceiling (66 percent).
• If you’re a B2B business selling to small business owners, know that they’re worried about the same costs consumers are. A recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey found small business owners say taxes, energy costs and healthcare costs are hurting their businesses more than anything else.

So what kinds of marketing approaches will resonate with each of these groups?

Lower and middle-income consumers are worried about the short term. Their paychecks just got smaller while their cost of living is rising. As a result, they’ll be responsive to marketing that offers:

• Immediate discounts. Draw them in with sales, coupons, stock-up-and-save specials or two-for-one offers.
• The ability to stretch a dollar. Position your business as an advocate, helping them save for what’s important to their households. That could include offering flexible payment plans or layaway programs to help them afford bigger purchases.
• Understanding. Emotion is important in purchasing decisions. Your marketing should appeal to these customers’ desire to provide for their families, treat themselves and have fun without breaking the bank.

While upper-income consumers have some of the same short-term concerns, they are more focused on long-term issues such as how taxes and government regulations will affect their future income and savings. As a result, they’ll be responsive to marketing that offers:

• Flexibility. Upper-income consumers want to splurge when they can, but to do this they also need to save when possible. The three-tiered pricing strategy works well with this group. Develop a silver, gold and platinum package in the low, mid-priced and high-end range. Often, customers who might normally go for the lower price will be more open to buying a midrange package when there’s a higher-priced option, because they feel like they’re still saving money.
• Value. Your product or service doesn’t need to be rock-bottom priced if you can convey its ultimate value. In other words, is what you sell worth the cost because it saves time, saves money in the long run or will last 20 years?
• Understanding. For this group, focus on the longer-term benefits your product or service offers, such as how it protects their investments in their homes, helps them become better at their jobs so they have more job security, or helps them create lasting family memories.

Local Magna restaurants will have a variety of food samples from their menus for you to taste. Come and taste of great food and also listen to some great music entertainment provided by the “New Fiddlers”.

 Taste of Magna!

Date: Friday, March 22nd

 Time: 5:00 pm

Cost: $5 per person 

Magna Senior Center

9228 West 2700 South

Magna, UT 80444

For more information download the flyer:

Taste of Magna Flyer