AchieveMax® Blog

Chances 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.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Are 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.”

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

It 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 waterparks 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

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

It 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.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.