AOL – Bigger Not Always Better

Everyone has heard of AOL (America Online) for one reason or another. Many utilize the service, others saw the movie, and some simply relate to the term “You’ve Got Mail.” However, few are aware of the history or continued acquisitions of this media giant. Here’s a quick update of what’s been going on behind the scenes.

  • Headquartered in Dullas, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., the Internet giant has done little for its shareholders over the past 25 years. It has acquired blogs, search engines, e-mail providers, social networks, ad networks, and Internet service providers (50 in total) — $11.3 billion to date with little to show for it from the investors’ standpoint.
  • AOL recently purchased the Huffington Post for $315 million. Arianna Huffington certainly benefited financially from that transaction, but time will tell if the same can be said for AOL.
  • In 1998, it purchased Netscape, a browser already on the decline, for $4.2 billion.
  • It purchased MapQuest for $1.1 billion in 1999 just as Google entered the competition.
  • In 2008, AOL purchased Bebo, a social network, for $850 million. AOL sold it in 2010 for less than $10 million.
  • How many of you were aware of the following? Tegic ($350 million in 1999), Quack.com ($200 million in 2000), or Third Screen Media ($105.4 million in 2007) to name just a few.
  • Of course, you can’t overlook AOL’s $184 BILLION (with debt) takeover of Time Warner which made headlines world over.

New CEO Tim Armstrong has continued the tradition since arriving in 2009 by masterminding 14 deals totaling over $600 million in the 15 months since AOL was spun off from Time Warner. The acquisitions continue to appear, but the value has yet to emerge for investors. AOL is fast approaching a do-or-die challenge and should prove interesting for those who monitor media progress.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Darden Restaurants

Who's Your DaddyBear with me for just a few short minutes here to enhance this introduction. Suppose an associate invites you to discuss a business proposition over lunch and recommends that you meet him at your local Darden Restaurant. What comes to mind? Total blank? Don’t recognize the name? No Darden Restaurants in your vicinity?

Let’s try another scenario. Your associate invites you to meet him at the world’s biggest and most successful casual-dining operation in the world. Now what comes to mind? Another total blank? No idea as to where to head? Let’s clear the air.

Both locations are one in the same and when you arrive you’ll immediately recognize the restaurant. However, don’t look for the name Darden on the marquee. Darden is the name of the parent company. The name you may recognize can be found in this list:

  • Olive Garden
  • Red Lobster
  • Longhorn Steakhouse
  • Bahama Breeze
  • Seasons 52
  • Capital Grille

This famous group of brands make up the family of Darden Restaurants which happens to boast the following:

  • It is the country’s largest full-service restaurant operation.
  • It is the 29th-largest employer in the United States.
  • It is a pioneer of what’s known as “casual dining,” which accounts for 39% of all sit-down restaurant meals.
  • It generated $6.7 billion in revenue last year.
  • It owns and operates 1,770 restaurants.
  • It employs 180,000 loyal staff members.
  • It proudly boasts one of the few African-American CEOs in the Fortune 500, Clarence Otis, the 53-year-old son of a janitor from Watts, the Los Angeles neighborhood that made headlines for the California riots of 1965.
  • It boasts a $100 million state-of-the-art headquarters in Orlando.
  • It serves more than 400 million meals a year (which happens to be the equivalent of feeding the entire U.S. population, with seconds for residents of California, Florida, New York, and Texas).
  • It has tripled its stock price in the past year.
  • It plans to add as many as 55 restaurants in the coming year.

All of this takes place at a time when the average American family has, for budgetary concerns, reduced the number of times they experience sit-down meals in restaurant out to 79 per year, 16% fewer than 15 years ago, according to industry analysts.

Even though you may not be familiar with the parent company, Darden Restaurants has been around for 70 years. Bill Darden, the founder, was just 19 years old when he opened his first restaurant in 1938. At that time, no one would have guessed what the future might hold as Darden’s first attempt at success was a simple lunch counter in Waycross, Georgia, with a mere 10 stools, two booths, and curb service. Remember those days? Darden called the place “The Green Frog” and promised “service with a hop!”

Today his dream has grown to include:

  • The Red Lobster consisting of 690 restaurants producing annual revenues of $2.63 billion. It boasts: “The taste of wood-grilled seafood.”
  • The Olive Garden consisting of 689 restaurants producing annual revenues of $3.08 billion. Its philosophy: “When you’re here, you’re family.”
  • The LongHorn Restaurant consisting of 322 restaurants producing annual revenues of $885 million. Its proud of “The flavor of the West.”
  • The Capital Grill consisting of 37 restaurants producing annual revenues of $235 million. People visit there to “Be wined, dined, and dazzled.”
  • Bahama Breeze consisting of 24 restaurants producing annual revenues of $135 million. Come there to “Feed your island spirit.”
  • Seasons 52 consisting of 37 restaurants producing annual revenues of $45 million. Here you can find “Seasonally inspired healthier dining.”

It once owned Smokey Bones but sold the 127-restaurant chain after deciding it lacked national appeal.

Darden Leadership operates its major brands as test labs, sharing the best ideas and even personnel, while maintaining their distinctive identities. This approach is rather unique to the industry but has proved to be very successful. More than 1,400 executives and support staff share energies in its $100 million state-of-the-art building in Orlando.

As a result of its belief that the direction of its business is based on understanding customers, it has invested in a great deal of customer research. It’s obviously paid off in a very positive ROI … something its competition should consider. Most see this kind of research as a cost rather than an investment and have diminished their efforts in this area.

COO Drew Madsen said its research revealed that “People come to a restaurant for both physical and emotional nourishment. The physical is the food; and the emotional is how you feel when you leave.”

To address this revelation, Olive Garden executives began tying everything to a mythical Italian family, adopting the tagline, “When you’re here, you’re family.” New locations were designed to suggest Italian farmhouses, with a large family-style table similar to those found throughout the Italian countryside. Executives even formed a partnership with actual Italians: Olive Garden’s Culinary Institute of Tuscany (CIT).

Eleven times a year, Olive Garden sends 14 top employees, many of whom have never set foot in Italy, to spend a week in an 11th-century village in Tuscany and learn from Sergio and Daniela Zingarelli, a husband and wife who operate a restaurant, winery, and inn. The couple and other local experts expose the Americans to everything Italian such as pressing olive oil, how to layer flavors in a Bolognese sauce, how to buy fresh vegetables at a market, and how to prepare a multicourse Italian meal. Since 1999, some 850 employees have attended CIT, and 80% of them are still with the company.

Darden has a very simple one-minute rule: Food should arrive at the table within one minute of being ready. To achieve this goal at every location, they must find the best mix of independence and collaboration, often relying on the latest technological breakthroughs such as Guest Forecasting, Kitchen Monitors, and Meal Pacing software. While all of its chains may use the same technology to pace their cooking and predict their dinner traffic, and they may serve shrimp from the same Thai fish farm, but each brand needs to remain distinctive. There’s an art and science to this to achieving the necessary balance to attain success.

Over the past two years, Darden has reduced unplanned hours by more than 40% and trimmed excess food costs by 10%. This kind of performance explains the phenomenal execution, achievement, and growth Darden has enjoyed and the potential it has for continued success.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Pinnacle Foods Corporation

Who's Your DaddyChances are you’ve never heard of this company. In a quick, informal survey, I discovered that, of the 20 people I questioned, none could identify the company nor any of their products.

However, you might be surprised to discover that your family has long enjoyed many of the brands that make up this unique international food group. The vast majority of their brands have been in existence for at least 50 years each, and they penetrate 81% of U.S. households.

You won’t find them displayed together in the same area of your favorite grocery, but you will readily recognize them and may very well be stunned to discover that they belong to the same family of fine foods.

Their dry food segment includes well-known brands such as Duncan Hines baking mixes and frostings, Vlasic pickles, Armour canned meats, Mrs. Butterworth’s and Log Cabin syrups and Open Pit barbecue sauce.

Their frozen food segment includes well-known brands such as Hungry-Man and Swanson frozen dinners, Aunt Jemima frozen breakfasts, Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s frozen seafood, Lender’s bagels and Celeste frozen pizza.

All these once-heralded labels have come under the ownership of Pinnacle Foods Corp., whose strategy is to purchase tired but well-known packaged food brands and reintroduce them, adding modern-day twists.

In this very chaotic age of constant change and global competition, we, as organizations, should be doing very much the same thing. We must maintain our well-known, successful foundations while searching for necessary changes to address new customers demands, technologies, competition, etc. Pinnacle Foods has obviously accomplished this challenge as they enjoy continued success in a very competitive marketplace. Those who have chosen to refrain from this strategy have lost their competitive edge or, in many cases, simply fallen by the wayside.

They are a company of iconic brands that are very much part of the fabric of Americana, each of which has some great history and heritage. We, as consumers, know the products from ad campaigns of decades ago, and the company is trying to capitalize on that recognition.

But there’s a challenge: The American diet has changed. Besides fried chicken dinners and breakfast biscuits, people want healthy options, prompting Pinnacle to add new products.

Pinnacle Foods Corp., headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is one of North America’s largest packaged food companies, founded in 1998 as Vlasic Food International.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Who’s Yer Daddy? – Dollar Stores

Who's Your DaddyAre you Dollar Dazed?

The everyday “Dollar Store” is actually anything but. Most everyone accepts these discount havens as being a nationwide chain of relatively small, convenient stores where you can buy most anything for a buck. In reality, there are a vast number of chains that fall into that category. Regardless of what name you may see on the store, we tend to call them all “Dollar Stores.”

Some of those chains include:

  • The Dollar Tree
    It began in 1986 in Chesapeake, Virginia, and currently boasts 3,156 stores in 48 states. Everything is one dollar or less.
  • Family Dollar
    It began in 1959 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and currently boasts 6,000 stores in 44 states. Much merchandise is one dollar, but they also carry products which sell for more than a dollar.
  • Dollar General
    It began in 1955 in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, (suburb of Nashville) and currently boasts 8,164 stores in 30 states, selling products for one dollar and less.
  • Liberty Dollar Store
    It began in 1983 in Conway, Arkansas, and currently boasts 2,000 stores in 50 states and 23 countries.
  • Fred’s Super Discount
    It began in 1947 and currently boasts 683 stores in 15 states.

Those five chains alone account for 20,003 Dollar Stores!

The list goes on and on, but we don’t have the space here to list them all. However, a few others would include My Dollar Store, Allied Dollar Store, Dollar Castle, 99 Cents Only Store, Deal$, Dollar Discount Store, Dollar Deals, Dollar Depot, Dollar, Dollar Value, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Dollar Daze, and Greenbacks. Are you starting to get the picture? These stores are big business all over the world.

For many Baby Boomers, the typical Dollar Store will convey vivid memories of what was once known as “five and dime” stores. It might be difficult to convince today’s generation that you could actually purchase something for a nickel or a dime, but these popular stores were a mainstay all across our nation. Stores such as Woolworth’s, Grant’s, Kresge’s (later K-Mart), McCrory’s, Newberry’s, and Ben Franklin were destinations for many families from coast to coast. Inflation eventually dictated that the stores were no longer able to sell any of their products for as little as five or ten cents so they soon became “variety stores.” In fact, Wal-Mart, the world’s #1 retailer today, can be traced back to its humble beginnings as “Walton’s 5-10 Store.” They grew from the original store in Arkansas to a world-wide chain of 6,722 stores in 14 countries employing 1.8 million employees and generating $348 billion in revenues! That’s a lot of DOLLARS!

The average “Dollar Store” today appears to carry just about everything under the sun. It’s indeed difficult to walk out of a Dollar Store having purchased just one bargain. I’ve heard many people point out that they really didn’t need what they bought — they just couldn’t pass up that price! By the way, don’t misjudge the success of these small operations. Consider the growing number of locations, the increasing customer count, our troubled economy, and the fact that many of these establishments are just as profitable, per square foot, as many of our much larger, well-known, very exclusive, franchise or brand-name chain stores that have a much greater overhead to contend with.

Many have wondered how in the world these stores could possibly afford to sell their products, many brand-name, for such a low price. There are several reasons they can do this:

  1. Many products you find in these stores are actually a generic or “knock-off” product. They’re actually manufactured specifically for such stores.
  2. A certain percentage of the products were manufactured to coincide with the promotion of a motion picture, special holiday, a television special, or special event (Olympics, World Series, Super Bowl, etc.) and are past their prime.
  3. Other products are purchased from another retail chain or distributor as overstock, closeout merchandise, or seasonal merchandise at the end of the season.
  4. Some products were manufactured inexpensively for a foreign market but were then imported by an unauthorized distributor.

It’s all good merchandise but can be sold for a lower cost for any of the above reasons. While many of us don’t even notice the actual name on the building we frequent for these great deals, we certainly enjoy the experience of browsing for bargains and especially saving money in the process at what we simply call “The Dollar Store.”

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Who’s Yer Daddy? – The Walt Disney Company

Who's Your DaddyIt used to be so simple. A logo on a baseball cap. A letterhead on corporate stationary. Corporate slogan on an employee shirt or blouse. It was easy to identify who you were dealing with. Not so today!

Mergers, acquisitions, buy-outs. Turmoil in the business world has taken away our ability to identify what we once thought was the “Parent Company.” Hence: Who’s yer daddy?”

From time to time in my seminars and keynote presentations, I find occasion to mention the fact that one particular organization is a subsidiary of a much larger entity. I’m always surprised at the fact that so many of those in the audience were not aware of the relationship I referred to. I’m even more astonished at how interested everyone seems to be in learning of these affiliations. For that reason, I thought it might be interesting to share some of those examples. There are far too many to list in one column so I’ll be updating this category on a regular basis.

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 in Burbank, California, by Walt and Roy Disney. The company currently employs 133,000 employees. Disney is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. It began as a small animation studio but today is one of the largest Hollywood studios and also owns eleven theme parks, two water parks and several television networks. Divisions include:

Studio Entertainment
Disney’s original business was motion picture production. Disney Studio Entertainment, also known as Walt Disney Studios, includes Disney’s movie and animation studios, record labels and Broadway-style stage shows.

TV Networks

  • ABC Television Network (10 local TV stations)
  • ABC Radio (26 local radio stations)
  • ABC Entertainment
  • ABC Family ABC Television Studio (formerly Touchstone TV)
  • A & E (37.5%)
  • Buena Vista Television
  • Disney Channel
  • E ! (40%)
  • ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN Classic
  • History Channel
  • Jetix Europe (74%)
  • Lifetime (50%)
  • SoapNet
  • Radio Disney
  • Toon Disney/Jetix
  • Walt Disney Television

Motion Pictures

The Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group is a collection of Disney’s main movie studios, made up of:

  • Walt Disney Pictures
  • Touchstone Pictures
  • Hollywood Pictures
  • Miramax Films

Record Labels

  • Buena Vista Music Group
  • Walt Disney Records
  • Mammoth Records
  • Lyric Street Records
  • Hollywood Records

Theatrical

  • Walt Disney Theatrical
  • Hyperion Theatrical (produces non-Disney-branded shows)

Animation

  • Walt Disney Feature Animation
  • Walt Disney Television Animation
  • DisneyToon Studios
  • Pixar Animation Studios

Parks and Resorts

  • DisneyLand
  • Disney World
  • Tokyo Disneyland
  • Tokyo DisneySea
  • Euro Disney Resort (Paris)
  • Magic Kingdom Park
  • Epcot Center
  • Disney’s Newport Bay Club
  • Disney’s Sequoia Lodge
  • Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne
  • Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe
  • Disney’s Davy Crockett RanchHong Kong Disneyland Resort
  • Disney MGM Studios
  • Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park
  • Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park
  • Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon water park
  • Downtown Disney Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
  • Disney’s Contemporary Resort
  • Disney’s Polynesian Resort
  • Disney’s Port Orleans Resort
  • Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
  • Disney’s Old Key West Resort
  • Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
  • Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
  • Disney’s Beach Club Resort
  • Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
  • Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
  • Disney’s Pop Century Resort
  • Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
  • Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
  • Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
  • Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
  • Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
  • Disney Regional Entertainment (ESPN Zone sports-themed restaurants)
  • Walt Disney Imagineering
  • Walt Disney Creative Entertainment
  • Anaheim Sports (operated Mighty Duck hockey team sold in 2005 and the Anaheim Angels sold in 2003)

Hyperion Publishing Co.

Walt Disney Internet Group

  • Go.com
  • Disney.com
  • ESPN.com
  • ABCNews.com
  • Movies.com

Consumer Products

  • Disney Store
  • Jim Henson’s Muppets
  • Disney Interactive Studios

Disney Cruise Line

  • Two ships: Disney Magic and Disney Wonder
  • Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Who’s Yer Daddy? – YUM! Brands

Who's Your DaddyIt used to be so simple. A logo on a baseball cap. A letterhead on corporate stationary. Corporate slogan on an employee shirt or blouse. It was easy to identify who you were dealing with. Not so today!

Mergers, acquisitions, buy-outs. Turmoil in the business world has taken away our ability to identify what we once thought was the “Parent Company.” Hence: “Who’s yer daddy?”

From time to time in my seminars and keynote presentations, I find occasion to mention the fact that one particular organization is a subsidiary of a much larger entity. I’m always surprised at the fact that so many of those in the audience were not aware of the relationship I referred to. I’m even more astonished at how interested everyone seems to be in learning of these affiliations. For that reason, I thought it might be interesting to share some of those examples. There are far too many to list in one column so I’ll be updating this category on a regular basis.

YUM! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system units with approximately 34,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries.

Their five brands include:

A & W All American Food Restaurants
Established in 1919, A & W is the longest running quick-service franchise chain in America. There are more than 600 A & W locations in 13 countries and territories around the world and nearly 600 additional points of distribution at Yum! Brands other multi-brand restaurants.

KFC Corp. (formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken)
KFC, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain. There are more than 14,000 KFC outlets in more than 80 countries and territories around the world.

Long John Silver’s, Inc.
Based in Louisville, Kentucky, this brand is the world’s most popular quick-service seafood chain. Today there are more than 1,200 locations worldwide, and more than 200 additional points of distribution in multi-brand restaurants.

Pizza Hut, Inc.
The legacy began in 1958, and today they are the world’s largest pizza restaurant. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, there are more than 6,600 locations in the U.S. and more than 4,000 in more than 80 countries and territories around the world.

Taco Bell, Inc.
Based in Irvine, California, Taco Bell is the leading Mexican-style quick-service restaurant chain in the nation with more than 5,800 locations in the U.S.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.