We heard a lot of compliments when we expanded the list of top restaurants in our Great Florida Restaurant Guide last year. We also got a lot of e-mail and calls from readers with even more names of restaurants you felt should have been on the list. We passed along those names to Florida Trend Restaurant Editor Robert Tolf, who told me that there were plenty of great restaurants statewide to easily expand the list to 500.
With your recommendations in mind, the 2004 edition of the Great Florida Restaurant Guide will feature the Top 500 Restaurants in Florida.
The handy digest-size guide will be mailed to subscribers (at no extra charge) along with the March issue. In addition to restaurant reviews organized by region of the state, you'll find the newest Golden Spoon Award? winners, Best Newcomers and Golden Spoon Hall of Fame.
Another way we're expanding our reach is through distribution of the special sections that are so popular with both readers and advertisers. Our upcoming Travel Guide to Meetings and Conferences, Vacation Getaway Guide and a new Florida Resort Living special section will be inserted into Georgia Trend, Business Alabama, Birmingham Home & Garden and Mobile Bay Monthly magazines.
Adding this audience of 142,000 affluent magazine subscribers -- plus pass-along readers -- in Georgia and Alabama will allow hotels, conference centers, resorts and residential real estate to reach this desirable market and generate interest in Florida vacation and business travel and resort living. Look for these special sections in your December 2003 and May 2004 issues.
Businesses hoping to locate top talent from Florida's universities, colleges, tech and trade schools will be especially interested in the newest of our special sections, "Florida Graduates Ready to Work."?
Inside the January and May 2004 issues of Florida Trend, this new section will spotlight the resumes of top graduates selected by the participating schools. It is a great way to let Florida employers -- and top graduates -- know they don't have to go out of state to fill positions or find good jobs. Added benefits will be a strengthened connection between Florida employers and higher education plus increased visibility for the special degree programs being offered at schools all across the state.
The online version of "Florida Graduates Ready to Work" will debut in January and will allow employers to search for job candidates with qualifications ranging from entry-level to Ph.Ds. Links will direct employers to career services offices and connect the participating schools to companies needing qualified employees.
Just as so many of you have expanded your business targets and reached out to meet the challenges of today's economy, we at Florida Trend will continue to reach out, too. For the past 45 years we have been helping our readers and advertisers reach their goals. And by expanding our reach in 2004, we plan to continue doing just that.
I encourage you to read more about the programs that could benefit your business in the Editorial Planning Calendar that appears after page 26 in the print issue. Or click on Advertising and then "2004 Editorial Planning Calendar."