I saw an item today that Citizens Bank Park, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, ranks the highest in vegetarian food offerings of all U.S. baseball stadiums. I welled up with pride, that my city, which is best known  for cheesesteaks, scrapple and Tastykakes is now taking the lead on healthier food options on the sacred stadium ground. Go figure, hon.

Now I am not a particularly avid Phan-atic and I am married to a Yankee fan so our trips to the South Philly stadium are limited to one or two a year. But I must confess, that this has intrigued me. Now those of us who make loved ones happy by sitting through live sporting events can look forward to some new culinary delights. Prior to this our vegetarian options were limited to soft pretzels (a must), peanuts and popcorn.

Furthermore-I'm looking forward to seeing how this designation will be used as a marketing tool. It takes more than love for the home team to fill up stadium seats. Otherwise, why would stadiums be so eager to partner with Food and Travel channels to create shows around eating at ballparks? Vegetarian offerings are now another draw to potential stadium visitors.

What is it that you do that sets  you apart from other businesses? Do you have the largest selection of cardstock colors? The deepest selection of acrylic stamps? The most classes? Knowing that piece of information can open the door to a new promotional initiative and at the very least, be one piece of information that you regularly cite that proves why your store is special and merits a business.

We know people will drive distances to visit stores that have the widest selection of a product they desire. So if you are the scrapbooking version of "most vegetarian options" you need to get the word out. Include it in your ads, promotional materials, website, newsletters, email boilerplates. After a while you'll hear people saying, "Hey did you hear that the Memories Store has the widest color selection of Core' dinations cardstock?" Yet another building block to strengthen your reputation.

Yo, youse guys, have a great weekend, I'm thinking I should get myself down to the stadium for a little quesadilla, tofu pup or veggie burger.-- Beth