Meal Assembly Watch

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% — far more than previously estimated — according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

Biofuels are prime cause of food crisis, says leaked report

First off let me say, Finally! It’s about time Starbucks closed some of these damn stores. Their growth has been completely out of control and unrealistic. Do you really need Starbucks stores right across the street from each other and within eyesight of each other? I for one will be glad to not see a Starbucks on every street corner.

However, as a side let me also say that doesn’t their expansion and now closure sound somewhat familiar to those of us in the meal assembly industry? And specifically doesn’t it sound like one company in particular? Think back to 2006…

Just in case it wasn’t apparent, not only did Dream Dinners try and model their expansion and marketing techniques after Starbucks, they hired several of their corporate office lackeys from within the ranks of Starbucks itself. It was also right around 2006 (same time that Starbucks went nuts and opened so many needless stores that they now have to close them) that Dream Dinners went around opening so many needless stores that they have started shutting down.

Dream Dinners followed that same pattern of trying to open as many stores as possible in the shortest amount of time possible with the unrealistic aim that by having their name on the sides of and in the windows of so many stores that they were building name recognition and marketing themselves. Having 4 stores in the same area was only strengthening their presence and making it convenient for people to come in. The brain trust they lured away from Starbucks kept the same walk-in mentality for making once a month meals as they did for 3-minute coffee. Brilliant!

The main difference however is that with Starbucks shutting down some stores they are displacing some coffee slingers making a few dollars and hour who with their highly tuned skills will land back on their feet in plenty of time to sling some eggs and bacon or maybe drop another fry basket. Meanwhile, Dream Dinners owners will lose their homes, cars, college funds and who knows what else because their corporate thinkers didn’t make a distinction between a $5 cup of coffee that you buy on a whim versus $220 worth of meals you buy once a month if you happen to put it in your planner.

It’s going to cost Starbucks around $400 million to deal with their over-expanding desires, how much will it cost the DD owners to deal with Stephanie and Tina’s expansion folly?

Another fine example of what happens when you get greedy and let unbridled expansion be your master.

2008-07-02 — Starbucks Corporation has announced the next step in its multi-faceted plan to transform the company, with a decision to close approximately 600 underperforming company-operated stores in the U.S. market. This decision is a result of a rigorous evaluation of the U.S. company-operated store portfolio and includes the 100 stores targeted for closure in the company’s previously announced plans. In addition, Starbucks now expects to open fewer than 200 new U.S. company-operated stores in fiscal 2009.

The stores identified for closure are spread across all major U.S. markets with approximately 70 percent of them opened since the beginning of fiscal 2006. The executive and field leadership teams used several criteria to identify stores for closure that included locations that were not profitable at the store level and not projected to provide acceptable returns in the foreseeable future. In addition to site and market-specific criteria, consideration was given to the impact of current and anticipated economic trends.

Starbucks to Close 600 Stores

This year, a trip to the grocery store may hit your wallet as hard as a stop at the gas station. Food prices are rising along with gasoline, and the results are leaving many Americans struggling to find any extra money come the end of the month.

Is your grocery bill causing you and your family more anxiety than usual? Follow these tips to save on your bill.

Save Big On Next Month’s Grocery Bill

Perhaps a glimpse into Darin Leonard and his decision making process for Dream Dinners. The way the bio at the end reads, Darin is a CEO for hire. He is a fixer so to speak. When you realize things are starting to go South you call in someone like him to “drive exceptional revenue growth”.

Despite what people have said, Darin isn’t doing this for free or out of the goodness of his heart. This is his job, to try and save companies and turn them around.

Will Dream Dinners be a monumental feather in the cap or an entry on a resume you don’t talk about?

In our business, we are consistently asked to join organizations that have churned through several executives. The cycle is eerily similar in most companies. They have hired good pedigree, strong resumes and rock star bios. The hire traditionally is a strategic mind and can cast a vision for what they wish to accomplish when you bestow upon them the mantle of leadership in your company. Then sometime after 6 months but almost always before 18, it starts to happen. The grand promise and hope attached to this individual starts to erode. The vision isn’t converting to revenue or share growth. The team is starting to show frustration or you are losing key talent and the reason is right before you, yet, you cannot see it.

Darin Leonard is a Regional Managing Partner at OneAccord, a professional firm that provides interim and permanent executives to mid-market companies to drive exponential revenue growth.

The Most Dangerous Job in America - The Mid-Market VP

The homemaker Diva may be in lower demand than originally thought. Stocks are going down, viewers are tuning out and product sales aren’t where they should be. Seems that Dream Dinners as part of their multi-faceted, multi-pronged, multi-step plan to regain their market share may not have done enough research to realize that perhaps they were backing the wrong horse.

Their kissing up to Dr. Phil doesn’t seemed to have made anyone take notice and now it seems no one is going to take notice of their sassy dishes featuring Martha and Emeril. So what exactly do you do when no one cares about your new spokesperson?

Can Martha make a comeback… again… ?

Is Martha Stewart washed up? Wall Street says yes.

Investors have pummeled the shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO, news, msgs), which are down 40% since the middle of last December, while the broader stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index ($INX), has gained 8%.

It’s not just a question of shareholders being tired of stars-and-stripes cupcakes and perfectly coordinated window dressings. As they tend to, investors are merely reacting to bad numbers.

Has the public soured on Martha Stewart?