Glance at the calendar

As I write this, the final draft of FoodService Director’s 2011 editorial calendar is in the hands of our marketing and design team. It’s always a good feeling to get a project off my desk, and this one is particularly gratifying.

Creating a plan is always a stressful exercise, whether it’s for the content of a magazine or for the menu and marketing of a new or existing foodservice facility. Existing features are weighed for their continuing value to the customer. A lot of ideas get tossed about as the team tries to come up with some new features to satisfy customers’ needs. What must stay, what needs to go, where should it be located, how much exposure should it get—all these questions have to be answered before you can proceed.

In the publishing field, there is the battle that must be waged between editors and sales staff. Salespeople want to know in excruciating detail what will be going into the magazine, so they can sell ads against topics. Editors want to keep things more nebulous, less exact, not only because they don’t like to tip their hand to the competition, but also in order to keep the content more fluid, to be better able to respond to changes in the industry that dictate the relative importance of features.

So I’m hesitant to share too much about our plans for 2011, which is difficult because we think we’ve got a strong line-up for the coming year. But I can tell you this: we plan to cover virtually every facet of your jobs, from menu and marketing to equipment and technology, and we will be doing so in some innovative and, possibly, even unique ways. We have a few new elements planned, both in print and on the Web, and with your help we will cover the industry more fully than we’ve ever done.

But as stressful as planning the editorial calendar, the hard part is still to come. Once that spreadsheet is printed, we’ll have to make those topics come to life. Hunting down the most innovative people in the business and coaxing them to share their stories is not always as easy as one might think. But, like our readers, we are motivated by the desire to exceed our customers’ expectations, month after month. It’s why we put in the hours and the travel, and we always hope you’ve appreciated the effort when each issue hits your desk.

So bring it on, 2011. We’ll be ready.