Like many Americans, I am blessed with a healthy family and a business moving in the right direction. Over the Holidays I did some R&R in California and watched the Trojans crush my Nittany Lions. During the trip I found myself reflecting on my experiences in ’08 as it related to my travels and discussions with food guys all over the U.S. and I wanted to recap some of those experiences for you. Those that know my company Integrated Management Solutions, and are customers of mine know how serious we are about your concerns and issues. My newsletter readers hopefully understand that through this newsletter.
The year started out, as most years do, cleaning up old affairs and getting involved in new projects. One of those was an opportunity to work with a chain of Indian restaurants that was highly successful in their core New York markets and wanted to leverage their depot kitchen to get more business in the food service space. They opened up a plant in NY and were investing millions to take their business to the next level. Their major concern was traceability and the need to recall product if there was a problem. This concern about food safety would continue on a trend through out ’08.
Later in the year we worked with a barbeque/brisket processor in Texas with the same issues and also was looking at a new plant expansion. The hurricane Ike was the first obstacle, the second was the beginning of the wavering economy in September that stopped their plans for new technology. Lke our friends in NY traceability was a key factor, but they felt they had to wait. How long can you wait to improve your business?
Then there was the meat guy in the Bronx Coop Market who was robbed by a trusted employee because he was not tracking inventory with his system. This was an exact duplicate of our associate in Philadelphia who had the same problem with another “trusted” employee. As times get tougher people find creative ways to supplement their income. Make sure your assets aren’t being used for that purpose. We have an associate in MN that is working towards stronger security on his present system to avoid the retelling the stories from our NY and Philly folks.
As fuel and commodity prices plummeted in Oct. and Nov. one of our good customers in PA was leveraging those reduced costs to have a great Holiday season by buying at market low when purchasing raw materials for 4th Quarter production. Smart buys can produce increased margins to help weather the storm.
I recall with great pride assisting a jobber in San Diego who opened a warehouse in Las Vegas. He leveraged the taco shop supply business he had been building for over 15 years off the truck. Good luck and great way to leverage your business model and relationships.
Then there was the farmers coop in Iowa who was just bringing on board a plant, abandoned by off shore investors, in MO for processing hogs. They were investing a ton of money to create a market for their small member farmers (producers) hogs so they could insolate their farmer members from predatory practices of the agri-business oligopoly. These are the people that represent the fabric of America’s food chain. Leveraging a changing economy for their benefit in the long term. That’s American ingenuity.
All of these stories share a common theme , PASSION !!
Your passion is what you do every day.
Our PASSION is YOU.
Happy New Year
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3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."
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