nm reef
Active Member
...some of you may already know that over the past year I've started a small part time maintenance operation and currently have a 220 semi-reef/fish system...a sweet little 100 bowfront that I set up for a local business office...a 90 gal in-wall for a local Dr. and a small 29 gal fish only for a retired widower....its been some what profitable and very interesting so far. Doesn't consume a lot of my time and helps defer the expense of maintaining my reef.
Well....Red Lobster found out about my services from one of my clients and contacted me about doing quarterly maintenance on the local stores lobster tank....basic stuff....nothing too complicated....they explained that their corporate offices insist a independant vendor perform quarterly maintenance and the region I'm in hasn't yet met that requirement. The manager here and his regional manager informed me that the standard rate is $150 every 3 months plus material expenses paid directly from Red Lobster corporate offices. Tomorrow I sign the contracts on two regional Red Lobsters(one here in Clovis and another 100 miles away in Roswell) and there may be additional stores in my region that will contact me ... for out of town stores the $150 quarterly fee applies plus .35 cents per mile and cost of materials.Not a bad deal for a very limited amount of time spent ... and the extra income will help me continue to develop my humble little reef.
But this gets even better. Being very inquisitive I got on-line and researched the equipment Red Lobster uses. Basically looking for tech info and possibly manuals. Well...Marineland provides them with their tanks and associated equipment. I had a couple of questions about the manuals I found on-line and being somewhat intelligent I figured out that I could call Marineland and request info directly from their service techs. I did so and had a very interesting conversation with one of them. He was very helpful with all my questions in regard to the equipment used by Red Lobster. Towards the end of our conversation he asked me if i'd be interested in doing contract work for them at locations other than Red Lobster. It seems they provide equipment under warrenty to a number of retailers and restaurants and whenever there are equipment problems they prefer to send out regional representatives to check things out and if needed make required repairs. He futher informed me that they have nobody servicing the area I live in which would include Amarillo...Lubbock....even Albuqueque. As an example he told me that the (god I hate this place) Wal-mart Super Center here in Clovis had recently called in with a air flow problem on their lobster tank. Marineland was probably going to have to send somebody from out of state to check it out since over the phone conversations hadn't corrected the problem....long story short....I just went on my first service call and replaced two air difusers on their tank....1.5 hours - $45 per hr.....billed to Marineland......now....I don't know about y'all but i seldom have days that end up this good!!!!
Not enough to make me consider quiting my day job...but it looks like my "Wizardry Reefkeeping" fund may get a needed boost. Makes the thought of equipment up-grades and improvements...not to mention frag additions... much easier on the budget. The Marineland folks seem very interested in working with me considering I'll have limited availability...and for a part time deal the pay is decent.......
I certainly hope y'alls Friday has been a good one....
Well....Red Lobster found out about my services from one of my clients and contacted me about doing quarterly maintenance on the local stores lobster tank....basic stuff....nothing too complicated....they explained that their corporate offices insist a independant vendor perform quarterly maintenance and the region I'm in hasn't yet met that requirement. The manager here and his regional manager informed me that the standard rate is $150 every 3 months plus material expenses paid directly from Red Lobster corporate offices. Tomorrow I sign the contracts on two regional Red Lobsters(one here in Clovis and another 100 miles away in Roswell) and there may be additional stores in my region that will contact me ... for out of town stores the $150 quarterly fee applies plus .35 cents per mile and cost of materials.Not a bad deal for a very limited amount of time spent ... and the extra income will help me continue to develop my humble little reef.
But this gets even better. Being very inquisitive I got on-line and researched the equipment Red Lobster uses. Basically looking for tech info and possibly manuals. Well...Marineland provides them with their tanks and associated equipment. I had a couple of questions about the manuals I found on-line and being somewhat intelligent I figured out that I could call Marineland and request info directly from their service techs. I did so and had a very interesting conversation with one of them. He was very helpful with all my questions in regard to the equipment used by Red Lobster. Towards the end of our conversation he asked me if i'd be interested in doing contract work for them at locations other than Red Lobster. It seems they provide equipment under warrenty to a number of retailers and restaurants and whenever there are equipment problems they prefer to send out regional representatives to check things out and if needed make required repairs. He futher informed me that they have nobody servicing the area I live in which would include Amarillo...Lubbock....even Albuqueque. As an example he told me that the (god I hate this place) Wal-mart Super Center here in Clovis had recently called in with a air flow problem on their lobster tank. Marineland was probably going to have to send somebody from out of state to check it out since over the phone conversations hadn't corrected the problem....long story short....I just went on my first service call and replaced two air difusers on their tank....1.5 hours - $45 per hr.....billed to Marineland......now....I don't know about y'all but i seldom have days that end up this good!!!!
Not enough to make me consider quiting my day job...but it looks like my "Wizardry Reefkeeping" fund may get a needed boost. Makes the thought of equipment up-grades and improvements...not to mention frag additions... much easier on the budget. The Marineland folks seem very interested in working with me considering I'll have limited availability...and for a part time deal the pay is decent.......
I certainly hope y'alls Friday has been a good one....
