Thursday, December 17, 2009

(empo-tuulwey) NTN Buzztime as part of an overall strategy

I don't think I've ever written an "empo-tuulwey" post in my Empoprise-NTN blog (I do them all the time in my Empoprise-BI business blog), but this is as good a time as any to start.

With the possible exception of strip clubs, there is no one single element that can necessarily make or break your restaurant or bar. Even a steak restaurant is not entirely dependent upon steak; one time my wife and I had a problem at a steak restaurant because chocolate sprinkles somehow ended up in one of our salads.

So if you're running a restaurant or bar, including NTN Buzztime will not automatically make it the best place around, and pulling NTN Buzztime will not automatically confine it to the dregs.

RoadDog recently blogged about the Kross Inn in Fox Lake, Illinois, which just introduced NTN Buzztime. But RoadDog noted that the Kross Inn has a history that predates their introduction of trivia.

This place has been there for many years and at one time was owned by Al and Marge who we know very well from the American Legion. This is not one of your BW3s, Friday's or that type of place.

I'd describe it as more of a Cheers place.


While the rest of this post concentrated on the NTN aspect (and provides a prime example of why it's valuable to drink your own Kool-Aid), a follow-up post notes some other things offered by the Kross Inn.

A mug of beer is $1.50. Pints are $2. There are also daily drinks specials.

Tuesdays they have Italian beef and fries for $4.25.

Thursday are two burgers for the price of one. Mondays is the best with $3 burgers and $1 brats (both with fries).


Great. Now I'm hungry for brats, and the Kross Inn is far away.


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The Inn's NTN Buzztime page is at http://www.buzztime.com/players/bt_site.php?sid=35481.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Nothing new on the Trinad Capital front

I was checking my analytics, and I noticed a huge Stumbleupon-related spike for my July 3 post about Trinad Capital's allegations of mismanagement, fraud, et al at NTN Buzztime. So I thought I'd see what was happening.

In my July post, I noted that Trinad Capital had bought NTN Buzztime shares as recently as May. I checked Yahoo, and they have not made any purchases since.

And NTN Buzztime's most recently quarterly report makes no reference to Trinad Capital, in the "Legal Proceedings" section or anywhere else.