scale growers have been increasing 

 the size of their businesses. So small 

 growers have been pressed to find 

 ways to widen their profit margin. 

 The rake-your-own concept may not 

 be an option or panacea for all small 

 growers, but it can help increase 

 profit margins, Murray says. 



Of course, for those who want to 

 try, a good location is critical to the 

 success of a tourism-oriented 

 business, says Rebecca Dunning, an 

 aquaculture economist working on 

 the project. And similarly, growers 

 will need good customer service 

 skills to deal with people wandering 

 around on their leases. 



"A lot of people just want to 

 grow clams. They don't want to deal 

 with the people aspect of it," Dun- 

 ning says. "But I think a lot of 

 (growers) will be interested. It 



depends on how profitable it is." 



At the end of the 1996 tourist 

 season, Dunning will examine the 

 success of the business and indicate its 

 feasibility for other East Coast 

 locations. Profitability will be her 

 measure of success. For instance, 

 she'll look at whether the business 

 made money and how it made money. 

 She'll scrutinize business records to 

 learn whether Midgett sold more 

 clams, lowered his labor costs, or 

 profited from sales of sunscreen, 

 drinks or footwear. 



By October, she hopes to know 

 how the project fared at the cash 

 register. 



Murray is optimistic. He predicts 

 that Hatteras Village Aqua Farm will 

 increase net profits by 20 percent. And 

 if it does this well, he anticipates 10 to 

 15 new businesses in North Carolina 



and at least one new business per 

 state from Texas to Maine within 

 three years. 



But income won't be the sole 

 standard of success — there's also 

 customer satisfaction. A marketing 

 survey will test the waters. 



As customers are leaving, Bresee 

 will ask them to answer some ques- 

 tions. How did they hear about the 

 business? Why did they come? Did 

 they consider it a family activity? Did 

 it enhance their vacation? Would they 

 recommend it to friends? What 

 improvements would they suggest? 



From this information, a mailing 

 list will be compiled and used a 

 couple of months later to randomly 

 survey 300 customers. They'll be 

 asked whether the experience made a 

 long-lasting impression on them, 

 whether they told their friends or 



8 MAY/JUNE 1996 



