Minibreak’s New Mission
Like after the Xindi attacked Earth and Enterprise had to alter its mission to save Earth, the economic downturn has cut a swath across some beloved businesses and my vacation must take on a new mission to save them.
Now granted I don’t expect to make quite the impact Enterprise did but imagine if Enterprise had a fleet of shuttles backing it up…might not have made a huge difference but it couldn’t have hurt.
The Colbert Report alerted me to the following article:
http://www.usnews.com/mobile/blogs/flowchart/2009/2/6/15-companies-that-might-not-survive-2009.html
Now there are some areas I agree with under the concept of creative destruction, or trimming the fat if you will. Claire’s, Chrysler, Dollar, Station, Loehmann’s, Sbarro, Blockbuster, Sirius, Trump, and BearingPoint can all go under with my blessing. They seem poorly run, not adapting to the changing markets and customer needs. From their ashes more efficient companies can emerge – its capitalist evolution.
However there are 3 companies that deserve to be saved.
From the article…
“Six Flags. (SIX; about 30,000 employees; stock down 84%). This theme-park operator has been losing money for several years, and selling off properties to try to pay down debt and get back into the black. But the ride may end prematurely. Moody’s expects cash flow to be negative in 2009, and if consumers aren’t spending during the peak summer season, that could imperil the company’s ability to pay debts coming due later this year and in 2010.”
Six Flags factors into all of my vacation planning. Marine World was the source of many fond memories of my Anaheim roadtrip. They cannot be allowed to fail.
From the article…
“Krispy Kreme. (KKD; about 4,000 employees; stock down 50%). The donuts might be good, but Krispy Kreme overestimated Americans’ appetite - and that’s saying something. This chain over expanded during the donut heyday of the 1990s - taking on a lot of debt - and now requires high volumes to meet expenses and interest payments. The company has cut costs and closed underperforming stores, but still hasn’t earned an operating profit in three years. And now that consumers are cutting back on everything, such improvements may fail to offset top-line declines, leading Krispy Kreme to seek some kind of relief from lenders over the next year.”
I love Krispy Kreme. Quite frankly they make the best donuts in the world. If they fold the world will have lost something very special. I want my son to grow up in a world with Krispy Kreme.
From the article…
“Landry’s Restaurants. (LNY; about 17,000 employees; stock down 66%). This restaurant chain, which operates Chart House, Rainforest Café, and other eateries, needs $400 million in new financing to finalize a buyout deal dating to last June. If lenders come through, the company should have enough cash to ride out the recession. But at least two banks have already balked, leading to downgrades of the company’s debt and the prospect of a cash-flow crunch.”
I admit when there was a Rainforest Café in my city it was great at first but quickly seemed to be an inefficient business model and promptly folded once the locals got tired of the gimmick. But last November I rediscovered the Rainforest Café care of their location in the MGM Grand. They’ve become much leaner than they used to be and now as a family man I can really appreciate their unique offerings. I want my son to grow up in a world with the Rainforest Café too.
