I cannot believe that it is September 1st! Where did my beloved summer go? Here in Lancaster County it still feels very much like summer with temps in the 90′s today. I know the days will soon turn cooler as high school and college football games start this weekend. I do enjoy the fall and love football season.

At Kitchen Kettle Village we celebrate the fall season with a Tailgate Festival on September 17th & 18th. What a fun weekend we have filled with great tailgate foods, musical entertainment, an appearance by the Philadelphia Eagles mascot, Swoop, on Saturday at 10am and so much more. It is so much fun – we all get to wear our favorite sports gear like jerseys, baseball hats, etc. I will be wearing my Penn State jersey on Friday and looking to tackle anyone sporting Ohio State gear!

There is also the scarecrow contest that guests get to vote for their favorite scarecrow in the Village. They all have a sports theme that ties into tailgating. The pumpkin bowling will again be available for everyone to enjoy. My son heard me talking about the pumpkin bowling the other day and asked if we left the stump on the pumpkins. We have a very talented maintenance guy named Rusty who takes the stumps off the pumpkin “balls” and seals the area where the stump was located. He also paints finger holes onto the “ball” for all those official bowlers who want to give it a try! Did I mention the pins are made from ears of corn?

I would be remiss if I did not mention the food – because what is a tailgate without food?! There will be plenty of samples to try like jalapeno mustard with pretzels, warm cheesy pepper dip and zesty apple butter barbecue with pulled pork in the Jam & Relish Kitchen. Visit the outdoor Eagles & Steelers sampling tailgate areas – their food items are being kept top secret at the moment. We also have apple cider made right up the road at Kauffmans Fruit Farm and we will be making s’mores (the official dessert of tailgating). The Cafe and Kling House Restaurant also have a full menu of delicious specials for the weekend.

So what are you waiting for? Mark your calendar for September 17th & 18th and wear your favorite “team” gear and we will reward you with a special gift. Just stop by one of our outdoor sampling tables to show us your gear! If you can’t make it to the festival check out our Recipe Exchange for some great tailgating recipes you can try at home.

Enjoy the fall

I’ve talked about our vision at Kitchen Kettle Village as being “Simply…World Famous”. That is who we are. It describes how we behave.

Okay, so what do we do at Kitchen Kettle? What is our mission? We “deliver a fun and unique experience to our guests while they’re shopping.” It’s that simple. And it’s that tough.

We’ve been guided by the same mission since about 1986. It was then that my brother and I went to Disney University. What I took from that course was the importance of a mission – knowing what you do, what business you’re in. It became clear that we aren’t really selling jams or quilts or leather coats. What’s really important is that our guests are on vacation and they want to have fun. The experience our guests have while here is the most important piece of our business. And yes, they also have to shop while having that experience or we’re out of business pretty quickly. So I don’t mean to minimize the jams, quilts and leather coats. It’s just that the quality of those products is assumed. So why would anyone buy them here instead of somewhere else? Because of the way they feel about the experience of buying the products, that’s why. It’s up to us to create that great feeling about their whole experience at Kitchen Kettle Village and Lancaster County.

Defining who we are – being “Simply…World Famous” may be a little tricky and has lots of possibilities for interpretation. But describing what we do can be very specific and expectations can be created around it. We call our expectations the QFACTs. I’ll unscramble that acronym in the next post on this blog. In the end it’s all about you the guest, and you, the team member. What does the guest want? Are you as a team member excited about finding out and then providing it? If not, you’re probably in the wrong job.

If you’re interested in delivering a fun and unique experience to our guests while they shop, go to www.kitchenkettle.com and fill out an application. We love to find new people who want to join our team. And if you’ve had a fun and unique experience while you visited Kitchen Kettle Village, let me know about it. Or, if you haven’t, let me know about that too. We work at it all the time but we aren’t batting a thousand yet!

Simply…World Famous. How does that strike you? It may sound a little arrogant, a tad ambitious or it may not make much sense at all to you. But it is what drives us at Kitchen Kettle Village every day.

We all have our specific ideas about what it means. For me, it means that Kitchen Kettle Village is introducing the simple life to the world. There is such a curiosity about the Amish way of life. Although even among themselves there are differences on where to draw the boundaries, it is clear that the simple life is being practiced throughout their culture. And who among us isn’t striving every day for simplicity?

Being “Simply…World Famous” also has implications for our own behaviors. Think about it. If you had committed to being world famous in the way that you treated a guest in your home, would you roll out the red carpet? Would you treat that guest differently than if you had not made that commitment? If you really thought of yourself and your house as an ordinary, run of the mill place, how excited could you get when someone came to visit? Compare that with your waiting with great anticipation the arrival of a guest so that you can share what you are so lucky to experience every day. That’s how we feel at Kitchen Kettle Village. We can’t wait to show you Lancaster County at its best. So when you come the feeling should be contagious. You love it as much as we do. That’s being “Simply…World Famous.”

Finally, we had a woman from England who began working with us. When we told her our vision she silently scoffed and said, “Yeah right. Here we are in Intercourse, Pennsylvania and they’re acting as if the world is coming to their door.” Well, guess what. They are!! After working with us for a couple of weeks, this woman came to me to tell me about her doubting Thomas attitude and how what she found in our Village were people from all over the world! It’s amazing the distances people travel to experience simplicity and what are coming to be known as “old fashioned values.”

Now you know our vision. You know how we interpret it and you know the freedom it gives to every team member to express that vision in their own way. And when it’s really working, we ask each other, “were you being Simply…World Famous when you answered that guest’s question?” or “Did that guest go home thinking they had a Simply…World Famous experience? If not, why not? The vision keeps us all going in the same direction. And every once in a while, it stops us short and we realize that maybe we forgot about it that time. So it asks us to renew our commitment to it.

How ’bout you? Was your experience at Kitchen Kettle Village Simply…World Famous? Let us know. The only real answer to that question comes exclusively from our guests.

I don’t know about your house, but in mine life centers around the kitchen. That’s what we like to say about Kitchen Kettle Village – “40 shops, restaurants and lodging rooms built around our kitchen.”

The kitchen may be the heart of the Village, but every house also needs a strong foundation. Ours is no exception. The foundation grounds us. It keeps us consistent and it holds us up when we falter. For us, vision, mission and values act as our foundation. They bring us back into focus; set the boundary lines for our decisions, define who we are and tell us what to do. In other words, vision, mission and values are the basis of our corporate culture.

At Kitchen Kettle, our mission has been the same since 1986 – “to deliver a fun and unique experience while shopping.” We launched the vision almost ten years ago in 2002 – to be “Simply…World Famous.” And our values are (in this order) Safety, Integrity, Fun, Efficiency and Community. I would like to think that if you asked any of our team members on one of your visits to Kitchen Kettle Village, they would be able to tell you the vision, mission or values. Try it out – I’m curious to know if I’m right.

One of our newly hired managers asked me a few years back, “Joanne, what do you think is the reason Kitchen Kettle has weathered all the storms over the years?” And I quickly responded, “Our vision, mission and values hold it all together. They keep us on track.” Naturally, they are not the only thing that has helped us weather the storms, but I’ve come to learn, they are the foundation for this wonderful business we’re in.

Does your personal experience of Kitchen Kettle reflect our vision, mission and values? Let me know. It is certainly our intention that it does.

When guests visit and when team members are at work,they both say there is a feeling at Kitchen Kettle that is different. An energy that goes away when they leave the premises. What is that? Where does it come from?

I’m not sure I can explain it. In fact, I’m sure I can’t explain it but I can attest to it and I can say that we work very hard at creating it every day at Kitchen Kettle Village.

Because we hear about it so often I decided to start a new category on Kettletalk.com and share with you our approach to guest service. It’s certainly not something we invented. We have learned from the best of them – Disney University, bizFutures who helped to create the enthusiasm at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle to name just two of them. Then we add our own Kitchen Kettle flair.

Over the course of the summer I intend to pick apart pieces of what make Kitchen Kettle Village tick and share them with you. If you have questions, suggestions,comments or experiences which were other than I am describing, please let me know. and if you would like to share your own passion for creating a corporate culture, I heartily invite you to get in touch. Any new possibilities are more than welcomed.

Here’s to a new experiment for me in blogging! Let me know what you think!

A long and often snow-bound winter promised this bountiful and glorioius sprintime we are now enjoying.  As you’ve been reading in this blog, the rhubarb crop this year is plentiful, sweet and ready for our festival this weekend. 

In the meantime, lots of changes have happened in the Village.  The Deerskin Leather Shop’s Brighton merchandise has been so popular they needed a whole new store.  So Brighton Collectibles moved into what was By Candlelight.   Country Life has moved in near the Main Street of town and the Flower Shop is now part of Ken’s Gardens, a beautiful greenhouse enterprise just down the street from Kitchen Kettle’s Route 772 entrance.  Some of our existing stores have done major changes – Grande Place closed the Crimson ‘n Clover store but enlarged their music box collection and expanded their line of Christmas offerings; the Jam & Relish Kitchen enlarged their retail space and Lily’s Bears has a brand new home.  So as you can tell, our building crews have been very busy and once again managed to meet our spring deadline of completion.

I hope you will visit us soon and give your approval.  It all certainly has my approval.  The years have shortened my hours on hand but the family and their active associates keep us growing quite nicely.  All those return visits by long-time admirers are a blessing.  Just last week I was talking to a group of people who decided to celebrate their parent’s 50th wedding anniversary at the Inn at Kitchen Kettle Village.  They came from Alabama, Massachusetts and even Equador.  See, all roads really do lead to Intercourse, Pennsylvania!  When you or your family comes to celebrate an occasion, be sure to look me up.  I love getting to know our guests.  And if you have a yen for rhubarb, don’t miss this Friday and Saturday at Kitchen Kettle.  See you there!

What is rhubarb? My favorite line is that it is one of two perennial vegetables. What is the other perennial vegetable? You can find it at roadside stands all around Lancaster County this time of year…asparagus.

I just love rhubarb. We have been celebrating it at Kitchen Kettle Village for 27 years. One of my favorite activities of the festival is the baking contest.  You would not believe the beautiful desserts that are created by local & non-local residents (and they taste great too). There are cakes, pies, crisps, cookies, muffins, and one year even a beverage…all featuring rhubarb. The contest takes place on Saturday, May 22nd at 10:30am; all desserts must be at Kitchen Kettle by 9:30am that morning.

All the desserts are judged by a panel of judges, winners are selected, prizes are handed out ($250 in cash for the grand champion) and did I mention the bragging rights! To be the grand champion of the Kitchen Kettle Rhubarb Dessert Baking Contest puts you in the company of a local cookbook author, a father/baker, a PA Farm Show Grand Champion and the list goes on. It is about the appearance of the dessert, but taste is also a big factor. It’s just the right combination of rhubarb that creates a mouth-watering treat.

My favorite part of the contest is eating the desserts! After we announce the winners, we slice the rhubarb creations and sell them by the slice with all proceeds going to the Lancaster Farmland Trust. It is a win-win situation. Our guests get to enjoy some of the best baking around and the Lancaster Farmland Trust gets some funds to support their preservation efforts.

So how are your baking skills? I encourage you to enter the competition or at least come purchase some outstanding rhubarb desserts at the Kitchen Kettle Village Rhubarb Festival. And if you are saying to yourself, “I don’t like rhubarb,” then you definitely need to come to the event. I know I can tempt you with desserts, beverages & other delicious rhubarb concoctions. Happy spring!

Yummie’s Giant Easter Egg Hunt takes place on Saturday, April 3rd. The fun gets underway at 9am for those who want to have breakfast with Yummie and the Easter Bunny (reservations are required). We also have crafts, balloon twisting and the Cherry Crest Farm live peeps at the stage area from 9am until noon. And just this week we added a sky diver to the mix. Local Sky Diver Steve Lapp will “drop” into Kitchen Kettle around 10am with some treats for the kids. I think this is the first time we ever had a sky diver at Kitchen Kettle. Should be fun.
The egg hunting starts at 10:30am for the 0-3 age children; 10:45am for the 4-6 year olds and 11am for the 7-10 year olds. We wanted to stagger the times in case moms had a few children and needed to be at multiple hunt locations. Our lodging department has been busy filling eggs since January and at this time all 3,500 eggs are filled and ready to be hidden next week. We do have a golden egg in each category with a special prize for those children who find the golden egg.
Right now the weather forecast for Saturday looks good, much better than last years rainy day. Come enjoy a day at Kitchen Kettle Village, find some eggs, collect some prizes and have a wonderful holiday weekend.

It’s my birthday next week – Patricia Kling for St. Patrick’s Day – so Lisa asked me to write some perspective.  I never claim to be a poet but I sometimes get inspired to write in a rhyming scheme.  So here goes:

There are memories, and people, and things to record

My full mind can contain them no more

There is music, and dancing of those from before

Who taught me the worth of this bountiful lore

There is constant new change and insights galore

Mistakes to improve and late thoughts to explore

There were lessons for growth that I should have known…

Never use two flat tires in storms that have blown

With an uncharged cell phone

There are books to be read, plans to be made

Words to be heard and thanks to be said

There will always be trust for those near me to love…

Most truly the wisest:  my good Lord above.

As Browning quoted Rabbi Ben Ezra:

“Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be”

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  We’re about to be hit with the second of a double shot of foot high snow accumulations.  Last Saturday we all but gave up.  A few intrepid participants from the NAFDMA Convention were bound and determined to visit the Village and trudged through almost 20 inches of snow.  Thank you to all the shopkeepers who came in and to those incredibly adventurous NAFDMA folks!

So we got all dug out on Monday, it’s now Tuesday afternoon and we’re about to be hit again.  Wouldn’t you know we were to host an all-day workshop with some of those same NAFDMA conventioneers called Agri-Tourism Lancaster County Style?  We had seminars, tours, lunch and a visit to Lapp Valley Farm all ready to be explored.  But we don’t do very well in the snow.  It takes a while to plow out the parking lot, to assure guests that it’s safe to travel the roads and to make sure that all our employees can safely make it to work.  So we’ve had to cancel our plans for tomorrow.  Instead, I’m going on the road and will take the seminars to downtown Lancaster at the Convention Center.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way I guess.

But I promise we’ll dig out once again and be ready for the three day weekend coming up.  The Annual President’s Day Sale starts Friday morning at Deerskin Leather, Girls Day Out, Village Quilts, and Village Outfitters.  A lot of their merchandise is 50% off and it only happens one time a year so make your way out here.  Deerskin Leather even has a few styles of UGG on sale this year.  And for the first time Village Quilts has selected a few quilts for the sale.  If you can spend the night there are a couple of  rooms left.  It will be beautiful in Lancaster County – the roads should be cleared but the fields will still be covered in snow.  Bring your boots!

All this and I almost forgot Valentine’s Day.  What a great romantic surprise to spend the day or the night in Pennsylvania Dutch Country!  See you soon.