The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 244

Greenville just part of the 'food chain' Robert Scott ers. His locations, which he says are good at retaining servers, are feeling the effect. "Raising wages isn't the answer," he said. "These people just aren't out there." Jeanne Lemon, vice president of recruiting for Apple South, said her company deals with the worker shortage by offering benefits, competitive salaries, training and a career track if the worker is interested. Still, "It's a challenge," she said.

Fred Grant, chief financial officer of Ryan's Family Steak Houses a Greer-based chain of 221 restaurants, agrees with that assessment. But, he said, as more restaurant chains look to expand beyond the nation's largest markets and into second-tier cities, Greenville will continue to whet their appetites. So, as the servers say (if you can find one), "bon appetit," "enjoy" and "eat up." Greenville will take what it can eat, but can it eat what it takes? Chicago Brew Pub, another Apple-bee's and two at Greenville Mall, Frescoes and Greenville Diner, to name a few. Within a block's distance on Pel-ham Road are the new Ruby Tuesday's and two giants announced in August, Romano's Macaroni Grill and On the Border. Downtown lately is counting two large brew pubs and Cafe Rivera at the West End Market.

Fourteen of those just mentioned are large chain restaurants. Hot item "Greenville appears to be the hottest place in the country for a lot of chains, but it's not that hot," said long-time Greenville businessman George Stathakis of Stax's fame, who has five restaurants of different styles and a bakery in the area. "There's just too much growth of this particular type of restaurant," he said of the chains, which he believes are all too similar. Observing the onslaught, Stathakis said he is concerned about restaurants finding enough work And that compares favorably with an industry turnover average that runs from 150 percent to 225 percent. That adds up to a lot of job demand in a market already stung with low unemployment.

If you thought the waiter or waitress for your table was tough to find before, just wait. "Sorry," they'll say. "Not my restaurant." High count Count 'em. Saskatoon, Tomato Rumba's, Hooters, The Palms, Arizona Steakhouse. On Haywood Road, it's the trendy Caliente Grille, Chili's and Johnny Rockets.

The "saloon grill" theme is building force on Congaree, where we'll have the Lone Star Steak-house Saloon and Red Robin Grill Spirits (a duo at Halton Road announced last week) as well as Grandma's Saloon Grill and Bennett's Smokehouse Saloon. Woodruff Road is digesting the People in Greenville must be very, very hungry. Or so the nation's restaurant chains must have discovered. That hunger is the best sauce for an extraordinary number of companies that have decided recently to start new eateries here, particularly on the Eastside. My informal count for 1993 put the number of substantial new restaurants in Greenville at about 20, which seemed at the time like a boon.

Last week I counted 40 restaurants that in the past year have opened or announced a new store, not including fast-food outlets. At least 26 of those are large restaurants seating 100 to 300 people. A few of them replaced older restaurants, which indicates that restaurateurs are positive even about locations in Greenville that have failed. The main lanes for newcomers are Haywood, Congaree, Woodruff and Pelham roads. They represent several thousand new table settings every night in the local market.

WFBC owners say area ripe for channel, despite problems vj If XC- lt) A -m" S' Big question The big question among these businesses is not whether they'll bring in enough customers, but whether they'll find enough employees. Some of them staff more than a hundred people. Plus, turnover is a real problem. Apple South officials say turnover at its popular Applebee's restaurant off Haywood Road is about 85 percent, meaning 85 out of every 100 positions must be replaced every year. WFBC PROGRAMS Sitcom reruns: 'Murphy 'Who's the 'Night Court' First-run dramas: 'Outer 'Baywatch Nights," 'Highlander' Talk shows: 'Jenny 'Montel 'Rush Limbaugh' TV station.

"This market can support another television station and Greenville deserves it," said Steve Green, media director for Leslie Advertising. "It's going to give viewers more choices and it helps advertisers" by expanding the supply of media outlets. "We feel the market will remain strong into '96 and '97 and it's poised to take on another TV station," said David McAtee, vice president and general manager of WYFF, the local NBC affiliate. "The timing is good." The Upstate hasn't had an independent TV station since WFBC's predecessor on UHF Channel 40, WAXA, went dark in 1991 before being purchased by WLOS and re-broadcasting that ABC affiliate's signal. WHNS operated as an independent for four years on UHF Channel 21 before hooking up with the Fox network in 1988.

What took so long? Green pointed to signal problems in mountainous North Carolina that will By Paul Davidson Business Writer As WFBC-TV, Greenville's first independent television station in four years, flickered to life at 5 a.m. Saturday on UHF Channel 40, no one, including its owners, was expecting overnight success. The station's myriad hurdles include its residence on the lesser-used UHF dial, initially poor channel position on the Greenville (Ch. 41) and Spartanburg (Ch. 42) cable systems and signal problems that will prevent viewership in most of the North Carolina market.

Also, the channel, which will air fairly typical independent-station fare first-run syndicated dramas, sitcom reruns, movies, cartoons, talk shows and regional college sports events had to cobble together a program lineup from shows already passed up by the four network affiliates. Yet WFBC owners, rivals and advertising executives agree that the Upstate is more than ripe for a fifth broadcast channel and that perhaps no other independent station here would have as great an opportunity for success. With 672,000 households, the area represents the 35th largest television market in the country and one of the few in the top 50 without an independent prevent about 200,000 broadcast and cable households nearly a third of the TV market from watching WFBC. "That's going to hurt them with national advertisers," Green said. Jim Conschafter, WFBC vice president and general manager, said the station is exploring other ways to deliver the signal, including fiber-optic cable and microwave devices.

Conschafter also conceded that although this market is populous, it is geographically dispersed and so has fewer major local advertisers than more urban areas. Despite the drawbacks, the station's owner, River City Broadcasting of St. Louis, was able to confidently take the gambit because its investment, and risk, is relatively low, Conschafter said. The company, which also owns Asheville-based WLOS-TV, is largely using that station's resources to operate WFBC. To repeat WLOS's signal on WAXA, River City already had a federal communications license and transmission tower in southeastern Greenville County, as well as an office building and sales staff at 100 Verdae Conschafter said.

Only about a dozen new staff members were hired for WFBC, since programs will largely be run by existing WLOS technicians and producers in Asheville, he said. And although the company had Candice Bergen to buy the movies and some sitcoms from studios, several sitcoms were sitting on the shelf at WLOS. Other programs, including first-run dramas and talk shows, are acquired on a "barter" basis: the station pays no up-front fee but shares advertising time with the syndicator. Conschafter estimated that River City's ability to tap those resources enabled it to save as much as $16 million in start-up costs. Among the company's largest expenses is the "several hundred thousand dollars" being pumped into TV and radio advertising.

"I don't know that this would work as a stand-alone entity," Conschafter said, noting that River City purchased WLOS and WAXA last year. "The expenses would be too high and it would be marginal." The minimal costs afford River Montel Williams City maximum patience. Until the November ratings, WFBC is offering advertisers deeply discounted introductory rates as low as $50 for a 30-second spot and average charges of about $300, according to Conschafter. Conschafter said "we would be happy" with a 2 to 5 percent audience share in November, although Green said the station should more realistically expect 1 percent. By comparison, WSPA snared a 22 percent share in the May ratings; WYFF, 19 percent; WLOS, 17; and WHNS, 10.

"There's no magic number that's really going to disappoint us," Conschafter said. "We're asking people to get another viewing habit and we know that's going to take a lot of time." Said WYFF's McAtee, "I be- SeeVlonpagei PAGE 2 THE GREENVILLE NEWS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1995.