Posted on Fri, Sep 03, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on Sept. 3, 2010
All you need to know about business you can learn from Colin Cowherd and Trading Places.
Not really because business school taught me some very specific skills that I need and use but there is some truth to that statement. What business school does not teach you is how to think and react. Life and the Dukes do that.
Trading Places kind of speaks for itself but every time the wheat market goes nuts, like it is as I write this, I long for a Mr. Beeks at my fingertips…
Colin is not quite as obvious. For those that don’t know him, he is a radio personality with a show from 11-1 EDT on ESPN Radio …sports talk with a football and NBA slant. To me a very good show for what it is. More than most, he knows his stuff but he is practical. He uses common sense instead of getting caught up in the emotion that is sports. Like his rant last week that when you consider TV’s, jewelry and cars to be great investments, you are going to be broke. The first question many newly drafted athletes get asked is what are you going to do with your
money and the answer is rarely invest it. Which is why so many aren’t as set for life as we would expect.
But there is one place where he is a great life instructor. His interview questions are awesome. No punches pulled. No angle. Great at what he does. But, if you ever see the show on TV (his show is simulcast on one of the ESPN TV networks) you realize he asks a great question, but then doesn’t listen to the answer. He has his head down prepping for how he will ask the next great question instead of listening to the answer to formulate the better ad hoc, follow up question. That has caused him to miss some great openings.
The lesson? Preparation and a plan can take you far in life but equally important is paying attention to how your markets react to your plan so that you don’t miss the opening that takes you from good to great. Or from great to awesome. And, be friends with Clarence if you need to buy commodities…
This is what the freedom franchise is all about. We help you prepare and put together your plan but you get to react as you build your bread store and get to know your customers better than anyone else ever could.
Any other fans of the Herd out there?
Posted on Fri, Aug 20, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on August 20, 2010
SMILE. Simple word and we all know its power. Marketers have used it for years, think of all of the smiles in Coke campaigns, but it remains the most effective tool for communicating good customer service.
I fly a lot and almost all of it is with Delta. To the point that I recognize some of their team members. The flight I am currently on is a milestone for me as I join the Million Mile Club somewhere over mid-America. I rarely get anywhere on direct flights, so my normal routine is to sleep for my first leg. That certainly was the plan today. I usually fly first class via complimentary upgrades because of all of my miles, which means breakfast. The woman greeting us as we boarded was one I recognized, but not for good reasons. I remember her because she wakes all sleepers in first class up to ask if we want breakfast. I once asked her why she did that instead of letting us sleep and either make the choice to miss cold cereal or have it later. According to her manual, she is supposed to get a direct yes or no from all of us. I doubt it says to wake us up and frown but that is exactly what she does….so, I settled in and decided to grab a quick nap before the inevitable.
Imagine my surprise when I woke up naturally some while later. Someone else was working this cabin today. I slept. I woke up. I looked around. And as soon as I was obviously awake and settled, the fight attendant smiled and asked me if I wanted anything. I really didn’t, but it made me think of the power of management styles. Sometime in her life, the person that wakes us up had something happen that told her she would always follow the rules, no matter what or how obviously wrong. While the attendant today felt empowered enough let me sleep.
I know I might be stretching things but in a world of Steven Slater, it is obvious how the two groups of people most likely to impact what I think of an airline are the flight attendants and the traffic controllers. Since ATC is a government function, airlines better make sure the flight attendants are good because they can’t control weather or what number I am in line for take off.
Service matters to me. I hope that shows when you visit a Great
Harvest. I hope we have created a culture where your experience is outstanding. If we haven’t, please let me know. If we have, smile back at the person that gives one to you. Little things do matter.
Thanks for reading.
Posted on Thu, Jul 22, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on July 22, 2010
When you join the Great Harvest family, you get the honor of coming to our world headquarters in beautiful (and I am not kidding) Dillon, MT for three weeks of school. Today was the beginning of our latest cycle of classes for new franchisees and we have an awesome group from all over the country.
I teach the opening session and it is called “Vision” but I am 
thinking of renaming it “Focus.” In our core business our greatest competition is the ability to stick your arm out in the bread aisle of your grocery store and pick up a loaf. We ask you to make an extra stop to come see us and tens of thousands of people do that every year.
Why? I am the only person in Great Harvest that I know of that pays for bread (all home office employees are given a pretty unlimited supply of bread and most bakery employees get a bread allowance as a job benefit) so I kind of feel qualified to answer that but probably not as much as you. I had to miss my class this morning (note to Delta…. thunder storms happen in the south in the summer….if you are going to make the busiest airport in the world live there, figure out how to work with the weather in a way that is more customer friendly than “deal with it”…Northwest never had these problems) and the woman that teaches it when I can’t is on vacation so I had to give a quality tutorial, quickly, to the next person up. I didn’t do it well because of time zone issues but it did make me come back to what matters. I have the first chance to frame the discussion of the training cycle so what is really important? Whatever it is that makes you walk by the grocery bread aisle without putting a loaf in your cart. But, what is that?
According to all of our research, I am a pretty normal customer. I buy our products because I get a tasty, fresh, whole grain product made by someone I know. Pretty simple but it requires a strong focus to do it well. Make something that tastes great, is incredibly fresh (that is why it tastes so great….), make it help me live longer and have it served by someone I can relate to. Done. I am in.
But it is so easy to get lost in the reality of our market. Everyone has an idea. There are diets du jour. People used to hate carbs. Now they hear bad things about gluten. We sell those for a living so it is important to not loose sight of what matters to you. I suspect the important things are: Taste. Freshness. Local ownership. Whole grains. Change things up but keep that focus and I will buy it…..
Is that it or am I not as typical as I think?
Posted on Tue, Jul 06, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on July 6, 2010
I read the news today, oh boy…..
We opened a Great Harvest store in South Pasadena, CA last winter and as we approached the big day, I saw more media coverage for it than any store I could remember. The buzz was amazing. One of the things we do for new stores is help spread the news about opening, but this was bigger than normal. And we are talking Los Angeles. Not Bluefield, West Virginia. In LA, you are competing with Lindsay and Brangelina for attention. To get some is a big deal. What was going on?
About a lucky (wo)man that made the grade.
The answer was actually pretty simple. As with most things in
life, the whole thing was driven by someone that cared, had an incredible story and an undying passion for what was going on.
And though the news was rather sad
Our bakery owners in South Pasadena, Patricia and Chris Diaz, went through more to get their store open than any other couple I have seen in my time in Great Harvest. Not many people would have had the drive to see that store through to opening. I admitted to our opening training team a couple of times I would have quit. Not Patricia and Chris. They kept moving forward against strong odds. That is a wow 
statement for me.
Well I just had to laugh
Then the day came. The store opened. I always call new stores on opening day to congratulate them but this store was so busy I got nothing. Just an answering machine. Move over Miley. Patricia and Chris were in town.
I saw the photograph
With all this store went through to get open, I promised myself that the next time I was in the LA area, I would go see them. I wanted to thank them in person for not giving up on their dream and to just see what the vibe was all about….
One of the hardest things I do is figure out when I can spend time in bakeries. With my dual role as location specialist and CEO I get to travel to every corner of the country. I am normally near stores. I am also normally being pulled home to be a dad or husband. Balancing that is hard and I rarely get it right. When I have the time to spend an extra day, like I did this week in the LA area, I do so. When I have to get home so the 18 year old isn’t doing what I did at age 18 when both mom and dad were out of town, like happened a couple of weeks ago when I was in Michigan, I don’t.
For me, spending time in bakeries is good. I always get something out of the visit that makes me a better CEO. This week, in addition to visiting Pasadena, I arranged a trip in August to our Thousand Oaks store and went to our Temecula store. I got some quality time in two stores and connected with a third. Some things I saw this week were awesome. The breakfast sandwiches in Temecula are incredible and will be tested soon to see if we can do them in other stores. But, selfishly, I got to read the news today. And I did it in LA with a good visit to a couple of really exciting stores…..Oh boy.
I am not even a Beatles fan but that song...
Thanks for singing along!
Posted on Wed, Jun 23, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on June 23, 2010
One of the things I do, in addition to my day job as CEO, is to select sites for new stores. I picked this function up a couple of years ago on an interim basis and can't seem to let go because I love doing it. I like seeing the neighborhoods. I like getting to know our new bakery owners while they make the most important decision they have in the start up phase of a bakery.
In the last year, I've traveled all over the U.S. on location hunts. The Northwest. The Rockies. The Midwest. The Northeast. Hmm... no Texas this year;-( When we look for new sites we already have
a signed franchise agreement. We get the people first and the location second. I can't remember us ever doing it the other way around. That is to say, I can't remember us ever finding a person to fit a location. We always look for the people first. The reason is that we are such a people focused business that we don't want to chance that we have to rush or compromise just because we have the "perfect" location. And, for the record, there is no such thing as a perfect location.
Once we have the right people and the right community, the new bakery owners spend a great deal of time doing homework on where the bakery should be located. When we are all comfortable that we have a list of our viable choices, I schedule a trip to town to look at the sites. Demographic data and Google Maps are wonderful tools, but there is no substitution for feet on the ground and eyes on the building. I normally spend part of 3 days looking at a market. During my first afternoon, the bakery owners drive me around and show me their town. I like to see it through their eyes and inject some of my experience into the view. The second day, we look at each potential site - the more variety, the better. 
Sometimes we have a strong feeling about where we want to be, but I like to see everything to make sure we haven't missed a diamond in the rough. The third day is spent focusing on our top choices from the day before.
By the time I leave town we have a very good idea where the bakery will be placed and how much it will cost. Then the hard work begins. Lease negotiations are rarely fun and always take longer than we expect. Frustrating, but a real part of the process. And, in the end, all of the work is worth it.
I would love to come visit you and your town if you are thinking about joining our family.
Thanks for reading.
Posted on Tue, Jun 15, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on June 15, 2010
Not by how much money it makes. That absolutely should be a part of the decision but not all of it. Most of us can get jobs that pay us more money than we can sometimes make by owning a small business. So, if it isn't money, what is it?
Passion. Owning a small business is never easy. Great Harvest is the fourth business I have been a part of and they are all hard. When I first joined our family, I kept hearing how hard this business was. Well, yeah, but they all are. I kept trying to understand why people here thought it was hard and came to the conclusion that it wasn't any harder than 2 of my previous three. Just different.
Owning a small business is the classic trade off of risk vs. reward. To get the reward, you really need to love what you do. If not, then the cost of the stress and long hours and financial risk becomes less attractive.
When I was in my search mode that ended in buying Great Harvest, I had a handy dandy 17 point checklist by which I scored all prospects. Sure, many of the points were financial since you have to have income to pay for the good stuff, but Great Harvest really stood out in the intangible areas and that is how I decided to buy a franchise business.
What where those things? A product I could really respect. 
People I could really embrace. A legacy that was rooted in the simple values of trust, honesty, and open communication. An opportunity to make a difference in our communities. In short, it gave me a platform to both make money and practice corporate responsibility.
Sure, I work hard, many would say too hard, but, I can look at myself in the mirror each morning and be proud of what I do. To me, that is the reason to buy a particular business. Find one that makes money and gives you pride, so that you can market it without thinking twice, and you are set.
What things do you think about when you consider buying a small business?
Thanks for reading.
Posted on Fri, May 28, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on May 28, 2010
One of the information sources I use to manage this franchise business is Bicycling Magazine. I know that sounds odd, but some of the most helpful lessons I have learned came from applying something I am passionate about (cycling) to my day job. Sometimes the best information comes from just living your life and being open to learning new things everyday.
In our business, nutrition, green issues and sustainable farming practices are a big deal. The last Bicycling I read had an article on nutrition claims on food labels -- what to believe and what is junk. It was absolutely the best piece I have read on the topic and it came in a life style magazine that is not a food expert authority. It put the whole issue in terms anyone could understand. I had been struggling with a related issue for the business and this article gave me an answer. It confirmed some other answers -- "organic" means different things to different people but it is a regulated term so you can trust it, whereas words like "natural," "green," "healthy," "local" and "sustainable" are unregulated and open to interpretation -- but it pointed me in the best direction I have yet found for addressing the challenge of communicating commitment to being local, supporting sustainable food sources and being open in those efforts to be real about what we can and can't do. A bike magazine did that. For a food business veteran.
A couple of years ago, the editor of Bicycling wrote a piece for their January issue that had his list of New Year's resolutions. First one was to hold your next meeting on a bike. No advance 
notice. Walk into the room. Tell everyone to get up, go get on the bikes, take off and have the meeting on two wheels. See what you can accomplish. I have never tried that, but ever since, I have walked into every meeting and spent the first bit reading body language to see if we should "get on the bike." Many times we should and I don't. Sometimes I rearrange the room to get better dynamics. Sometimes I make us go outside. Sometimes, I leave things alone. I almost always make a conscious decision of "should we be on the bike." Meetings are better on the bike if that is where you should be.
I have access to some pretty talented food minds. Where do I get most of the recipes that my family enjoys most? Bicycling and Inside Triathlon. If I am hosting a party and want something new, I have a couple of "go to" friends, cook books and web sites that I use. But, for Wednesday night when I am whipped, need to cook for my family, and am out of ideas? I go pull out my stash of Bicycling and Inside Triathlon. Seriously. They are great sources for food and nutrition ideas.
What lessons have you applied to your business, career or life that came from your hobbies and other interests?
Posted on Tue, May 18, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on May 18, 2010
Don't get fancy, just in one word, or phrase, what do we mean to you? That is the essence of branding. Michael. Madonna. Darth. When you reach the one word status, well....brands can rarely get there but they can have souls. 
Apple is innovative. Ferrari is Red and everything that color means. Goldman is, well, let's not go there. Dave Matthews is The Band. You get my point. Brands have meaning. It can be different for different people but they still have meaning.
What does Great Harvest mean to you?
The inspiration for this blog came from a simple trip to the iTunes store. I went looking for a movie and on the home page was this album cover with this dude with this wild hair. I immediately recognized him as the conductor for the LA Phil I blogged about a few weeks ago. I promise to not turn this into a music blog (although I will write about music frequently) but I just spent $13.99 at iTunes because I recognized a dude's hair. That is a brand.
So, in one phrase, what do you think of when you think of Great Harvest? What is meaningful enough about us to make you think of us at a glance?
Thanks for reading. And responding.
Posted on Fri, May 07, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on May 7, 2010
It is good to see Congress getting serious about a real dialogue regarding financial reform. In the interest of full disclosure, I live in a banking home in a big banking town with lots of friends that work in the Wall Street world. In my public accounting life, I worked with financial institutions. I am not an unbiased observer. But, I do firmly believe that we need reform in how Wall Street operates. No one can look at the last 20 years and say anything else unless they have a personal agenda.
This is not the right forum for discussing what reforms are needed but the process by which we see those reforms being developed is fair game. We have seen extremes. Many ideas have been debated. Goldman has been charged in a civil suit. A criminal investigation of their operating practices is underway. Many cases that we have long forgotten are still pending. Some stem from the Bank of America - Merrill Lynch merger. The investigations into the Countrywide loan processes are gaining momentum again. The same is true with WaMu (who I have a mortgage with) and Golden West. I don't think any of that is relevant to what we are seeing in Congress. The gap between Main Street and Wall Street has never seemed bigger in my life and I must admit that I actually feel closer to Main Street than the investment bankers today. That is hard for a fairly conservative, free market advocate to admit.
The process is what matters to me and is what I find fascinating and encouraging. Congress is just about the most beaten up institution in America today. They please no one as evidenced by their ratings from the public. But, in the case of financial reform, they are actually doing their job and doing it well. We aren't hearing much out of the House right now but the Senate is very visible on this issue. Bills are coming out of multiple committees and are all over the board in theory. I think that is good.
I don't see a single idea in Congress or lawsuit pending in the courts that is without merit for debate. I don't agree with all of them but in most cases where I disagree, they involve very complex issues that I think are being misrepresented. What is good is that our political system is working. Congress is having a reasonable debate on what is good for the future of our financial system and our economy. They are legitimately working to find a middle ground where reform is effective. The legal system is looking at what appear to be things that need a second look. I may not agree with the ideas or allegations but I am encouraged that the process is working.
Our current political environment is toxic and that is not good for anyone. The same is true with the press coverage of the Wall Street lawsuit of the day. For business to work in America, and without business working the country doesn't work, we need healthy debate and legal oversight like we are seeing today. The way Wall Street has operated for the last generation is not good for America or the world. They have moved from a business model based upon an advisory capacity to a player in the game. That can't come without conflicts of interest that need to be controlled. All of us have paid a dear price to learn that lesson but the fact that our society is working to control it and having a healthy debate on how to effect such control is the best example of democracy at work that we have seen out of our government in a long time. My hat goes off to all involved.
My faith in our government is coming back and I trust they will see this process through to a conclusion that allows small business owners to thrive.
Thanks for reading.
Posted on Fri, Apr 30, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti, April 30, 2010
Trapeze. Fly through the air. You know, the circus thing. Ever wanted to do it? Neither have I, but that might change. A few weeks ago, as they pulled up on their Harley's, I said hello to the owners of the Burke and Lorton, VA Great Harvest bakeries and we started talking about fun stuff we do outside of work.
A better way to put that is they started talking and I just kept picking my jaw up off of the floor. They are taking trapeze classes. As in, go up in the air 40 feet, stand on a small platform, grab a bar on two wires and jump. Then you have to rotate and get your legs on the bar so someone can grab you off and swing you to the other side. They actually do this for fun.
As we moved to something else, they asked me about the next time I would be in their area and made me promise to come in on a Sunday so I could go flying with them. I seriously wonder if I have the nerve or abs to do it, but I have to love a work environment where someone invites me to become a Flying Wallenda. I don't think I would have ever gotten that if I had stayed in public accounting or been on Wall Street. But, stories like this are every day gigs in Great Harvest.
We have an owner that leads gourmet food and wine tours in France. Three that hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon together each year. One that does 50k cross country skiing events. Some that surf. One that grows his own bees for the honey in his breads at the bakery. One that has survived a helicopter crash. We love how we can share stories like this and have them be real. And how we can encourage each other to try new things.
I can honestly say that I never expected to have the words "I am going to try flying on a trapeze" come out of my mouth. But they have. A work environment where we can trust each other enough to go try, and likely fall, on a trapeze is unusual. But, not at all uncommon for this Great Harvest tribe.
I can't quite get my head around the trapeze thing but it is actually starting to sound like fun. And I am being lead there by Jeanette and Jeffrey, a couple that rides bikes to work in pink Great Harvest shirts. That is cool...
What crazy things have you been talked into trying lately?