B&B Business Programming

Interest in developing home-based businesses has been increasing as New York State's economy and employment patterns have shifted away from agriculture and manufacturing toward the service sector. One of the home-based business alternatives chosen by urban and rural individuals is opening a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) operation. A B&B business is a private home or renovated historic house that has been modified to provide overnight accommodations and a morning meal for several people. The difficulty of successfully starting and operating such a business is often overlooked because of the emotional appeal and romantic notions surrounding the concept.

Cornell Cooperative Extension staff recognized the need to respond to this growing interest in these home-based businesses and to evaluate the changing Extension role with this targeted audience. Mail survey studies of B&B owners and Extension staff1 were conducted in 1987 to analyze the expressed educational needs of B&B owners, Extension staff perception of those needs, and Extension educational program response to those needs.

As the number of B&B businesses increased and management skills developed, Extension's role has broadened to include teaching leadership and organizational process skills to help several regional associations and a statewide B&B association. Interaction with state tourism promotion and planning agencies and key legislators was encouraged. By 1987-88, Extension's method of delivering educational programs and materials was increasingly channeled through the existing B&B organizations. Extension's role changed as more successful operators became association officers, private consultants, published authors with books on how to open and operate B&Bs, or started reservation service organizations.

The results of these studies with Extension staff and B&B owners suggest several concepts for designing and improving Extension programs for related home-based business target audiences:

1. Periodic surveys of Extension staff can indicate the amount of involvement with specific client groups and provide a realistic assessment of the client's needs. This information can help state and regional specialists proactively design, develop, and disseminate educational materials or deliver programs.

2. State and regional specialists need to be more involved in applied research related to special client needs not addressed by research faculty. As research scientists at land-grant institutions move toward more basic and long-term research projects, the need for Extension specialists to provide more short-term, research-generated information for specific client needs increases.

3. Understanding individuals who don't adopt an educational program may be as important an impact as understanding those who do so. For example, individuals who attended Extension programs on starting a B&B and subsequently didn't open such a business have been helped to make the correct decision for their situation. Negative outcomes that were avoided are difficult to measure, but are as important an impact as positive business startups.2

4. As Extension plan of work development incorporates a more anticipatory and comprehensive planning process, added emphasis should be placed on the maturation of a client group and their changing educational needs. For example, the change from teaching individual B&B owners to working with association officers and private consultants requires different teaching approaches and skills plus a strategy for progressive disengagement with the client group. The process of Extension disengagement is often difficult for all parties involved and critical to a positive long-term relationship between Extension and key client groups.

When Cornell Cooperative Extension staff were invited and challenged to respond to the growing interest in B&B businesses, most initial educational program efforts were reactive and consisted of reorienting existing programs for a new clientele. However, the ultimate success of the Extension programs for B&B businesses was the result of anticipatory and proactive program development supported by the applied research of Extension specialists.

1. In 1987, mail surveys were sent to 495 people with appointments as state or regional specialists and county agents to evaluate staff involvement, number of contacts, perceived impacts, and perceived client needs. We had a 61% response rate.

2. B. T. Wilkins and B. DeYoung, "Negative Results? They May Not Be!" Journal of Extension, XXI (September/October 1983), 51-54.