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You'd think a guy heading a company that took over Dunkin' Donuts and laid a gazillion dollars of debt onto the company would know the product line. Just a bit. Like, what is that round pastry with the hole in the middle. Heck, even the stuff cut from the middle is a product, meaning that Dunkin approaches the level of "selling the squeal," or "selling the moo" an old and well known advertising metaphor. After all, when selling meat, you sell the hide, the hoof/feet, the bones, the fat and of course, the meat. A company that can sell the hole in the middle of a donut knows this.
But, the guy that raked in megabucks as Dunkin got dunked into debt, had a hard time earlier this summer with a painfully obvious identification of a pastry with the hole in the middle, covered in chocolate icing. In other words, you have to watch.
Perhaps he needed more caffeine? Something else? I don't know. I do know anyone familiar with Dunkin knows Donuts, or should be able to identify the product class, even sitting at a 'competitor's' table.
Seriously.
Admittedly, the Dunkin Donuts Bain treatment occurred after Romney left Bain in 2002, but he's still getting a boatload of money from things Bain does/did with his various investments that were related to Bain activity. He's still friends with Bain people. He still talks to Bain people. I can't imagine any of them avoiding the topic of Dunkin, or treating it like the Top Secret Codes that operate NASA launches. I'm also pretty sure that Dunkin made enough press that any reader of the Wall Street Journal would know of the Bain activity, because even I, a non-investing, regular person, an unconcerned type that rarely sees Dunkin Donuts because I don't buy their coffee or pastries for the simple reason they are expensive on my budget, and I like real food I make myself. . . but, even I can recognize a flipping donut, Dunkin or otherwise.
Was this a Senior Moment? Should we be concerned?
This excerpt from an article posted as Dollars to Donuts...tells more.
Quote
Admittedly, the timing is problematic, as a P.R. rep for Bain was happy to inform me: The company has cut itself loose from Dunkin’, having just sold off the last of its shares a matter of weeks ago (it went public in July 2011), completing the private equity cycle of life. After growing the stock price, while hanging the company with $1.25 billion in debt, Bain sold its stake in the company on August 15, making a tidy $600 million. But one of the event organizers insisted to me that Bain’s sale of its stake does nothing to diminish their critique of Bain’s brand of management.
[. . .]Upon arrival, I’m quickly introduced to the three women headed down to Tampa, two of whom just quit the company in protest of their poor treatment at the recently Bain-owned company.
The women cite unreliable hours, unpaid breaks, deteriorating working conditions, a lack of paid sick days, and expanding responsibilities without raises. Some of their arguments are tendentious. Bain isn’t entirely, or even mostly to blame for the slew of problems facing low-wage workers in the United States right now, though it’s become a symbol of those unsavory realities. In fact, according to Jim Coen, the president of the Dunkin’ Donuts Independent Franchise Owners Association, franchises faired better in the Bain era than they did under previous ownership.
But workers are feeling squeezed, and some of the changes that happened at Dunkin’ in the Bain era seemingly have made it even harder to scrape by. The workers I talked with claimed that their hours were cut after they got raises—Katrina Fitzpatrick, in her mid-forties, the oldestof the three workers heading to Tampa, mentioned that because she was earning two dollars above minimum wage when Bain took over, she became responsible for opening the store only to be sent home once a lower-paid replacement could take over later in the morning. Source
At the end of the day, Bain and Romney are not, of themselves, responsible for lowered wages, the lowered value of paychecks, or the dearth of jobs that pay a living wage. They are just part of the problem, and failing to identify this treatment of workers as a problem is a problem in itself.
You can't fix anything until you identify what the problem, and parts of the problem, are. A culture that treats workers as ever replaceable with lower paid workers does not value work, skill, training, customer relationships or continuity of company culture that customers rely upon in making purchasing decisions.
A company, especially a service business, is dependent upon its customer relationships. Employees that know they'll be switched for a lower paid worker when management wants to plump up the bottom line. Those are workers that will, in fairly short time, project despondency that is unmistakable. And that too will be reflected in the bottom line of Dunkin. It's call goodwill, and Bain may have caused a lot of it to disappear from Dunkin, making repayment of the Bain induced debt even more difficult to repay.
Bain's out and they've already lined their pockets, moving on to the next 'target.' Only the companies they 'helped' will feel the pain of hooking up with Bain.
"I am young, whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy." ~~~ Kato Havas
Yeah, I have a big problem with Romney and his association with Bain, too. And I do not like his Big Corporation ties. The big Corps. will have free run in this country, even more so than what they have already. And I don't even want to think about the military industrial war machine. But I'm not voting for Obama either.
"be good and you will be lonesome, be lonesome and you will be free." MT/JB
Welcome beachshoes. I don't wear shoes because my beachshoes are still on the beach in Malibu. Many of us will not vote according to any political party. I've been writing in Ron Paul since Ross Perot quit.
Welcome beachshoe! We're glad you're here. Take a stroll along ReaderRant Beach. Seeing as it's Labor Day, you'll notice the beach here never closes.
I agree that his BIG Corp. ties will have free rein, and that does scare me. I also was astounded to realize that in Michigan, Romney has had a difficult time raising support, which should be easy considering his father's popularity. Or not, based on his own record. I found an article regarding Romney and his efforts in Michigan, dating from February 12, 2012. It wasn't looking good in the motor state, as of that date. Plus, Romney hasn't moved the needle much after the RNC Convention, so little 'bounce' there.
Glad you're here. Enjoy!
"I am young, whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy." ~~~ Kato Havas
