Passion’s overrated, says
architect of Embers’ overhaul,
at J.J. Hill Library confab
By Beth Ewen
“People make way too big a deal about passion,” said David Kristal, who left his law practice six years back to help his father fix Embers America. “It’s not about passion. It’s about obsession. It’s about manipulating every single detail of our businesses.”
Kristal was the keynote speaker for “If I Only Knew…,” the theme of a James J. Hill Reference Library conference in the fall at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. The conference was about small-business “survival in an increasingly competitive market.”
Kristal said when he joined Embers, the restaurant chain was losing a half-million dollars a month. By being an “ardent penny pincher,” they quickly cut that in half. He advocates a monthly executive summary about finances from your company’s CFO or controller. Then, every Monday morning he holds a meeting in which managers report on three or four key indicators. “It forces people around you to be accountable,” Kristal said.
But revenue still lagged, so Kristal looked for a new source. One was the launch of a buying club that now has 11,000 restaurant members. The other was the purchase of rights to bring a Canadian seafood restaurant chain into the United States.
Small-business stats: According to Kristal, small businesses employ 99.7 percent of all employees, and make up 44.5 percent of the U.S. private payroll. They generate 60 to 80 percent of new net jobs. They produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than their larger counterparts. And the kicker: In 2002, there were 550,100 company births, and 584,500 company deaths.
Bonus: The James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul offered conference attendees a free month’s trial of its excellent HillSearch database. Users can create targeted sales lead lists, conduct market research, and more.
Try to make it to: The James J. Hill Web site to check out HillSearch. Contact Dana DeMaster, membership coordinator: 651.265.5444; 651.265.5500; www.jjhill.org
People move, shake
at Predictive Profiles’
thank-you party
Mike Shrader of Buffets Inc. was there, talking about the 39 Old Country Buffets stores that his company has remodeled since September, including the Burnsville location in December.
Buffets will eventually change all 250-plus stores to the “Homestyle” brand, featuring separate food stations complete with carvers to replace the cafeteria line common to Old Country. Shrader said the privately held company is taking advantage of the 2003 federal tax act that allows larger deductions for capital equipment purchases.
He said two very tough years for Buffets improved in the fourth quarter of 2003, partly because of the general economy, and partly because of a return to home-cooked food.
Adam Soffer was there, too, taking a break from starting his law firm, Soffer Law Group, after becoming disillusioned with his former employer, a larger law firm that had gone national. He wants to help clients at the level of “big downtown firms,” he said, but with a “roll-up-your-sleeves mindset.”
They were two of many guests of Predictive Profiles, the Edina company that sells software to help managers select employees. CEO Carla Bainbridge throws the party every year to thank “friends, partners and customers who have helped us grow our business,” she said. Bainbridge said her fourth quarter had gone remarkably well, “17 times better” than when she talked with the Informer a month earlier.
Try to make it to: The party is an annual holiday event. Contact Carla Bainbridge of Predictive Profiles: 952.921.8813; cbainbridge@predictiveprofiles.com; www.predictiveprofiles.com
Wells Fargo economist
more bullish than state’s
business heads, survey says
Dr. Sung Won Sohn, senior economist, is more optimistic about the economy than the 900 companies Wells Fargo surveyed in December.
“Businesses have a tendency to expect more of the same — when times are good, they expect more good. When they’re bad, they expect more bad. Especially businesses are more cautious today about spending money on people and equipment,” Sohn says. “That’s why I added my own economic outlook. I believe the economy will do better than the survey says.”
The survey in question, released in December, queried 900 businesses in Minnesota about their economic outlook. This is the third semi-annual survey Wells Fargo has completed, and the first to show better conditions. Forty-three percent of the respondents reported improved business conditions, a 15 percentage point jump from surveys conducted in June 2003 and December 2002, Sohn said.
Minnesota businesses are also more optimistic about future demand, particularly for manufacturing and service industries, Sohn said. Thirty-eight percent expected much improved or improved demand for the next six months.
The construction sector is a holdout, with 31 percent of those firms expecting improved demand, a 7 percent decline since June.
Try to make it to: Wells Fargo’s next business conditions survey will be released in June. Contact Megan Reidy in communications: 612.667.9650; megan.l.reidy@wellsfargo.com
Goff Investment Group marks
10th anniversary of regular
women’s financial seminars
When Janel Goff started holding seminars to help teach women about investing 10 years ago, most left such matters to their husbands, she said at her monthly luncheon in December.
Today it’s much different. “In the last five years I’ve seen a tremendous change. It’s due to the success of women-owned businesses and in corporate America. We’re contributing wealth to our households,” Goff said. She’s senior vice president-investments for Goff Investment Group, her unit at PiperJaffray in Edina.
The Goff meetings started as quarterly events that drew maybe 10 people; now they’re monthly and she caps attendance at 60. “Visualize where it is you’re trying to get to,” Goff recommended.
Bonus: Sue Lindgren was the speaker in December, who offered a “pause” as a present to everyone in attendance — a gift-wrapped box apparently with nothing in it, but filled with a pause to use anytime it was needed. Sure, it’s corny, but nice too. Lindgren runs Y.E.S.S., Your Extraordinary Success Strategies Inc., in St. Louis Park.
Try to make it to: a Goff monthly meeting; 952.848.8076; janel.goff@13501.pjc.com; www.piperguides.com/goff-investment-group
