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 06, 2010
Posted by Mike Ferretti on Aug 6, 2010
Sometimes I struggle answering the question “What is the freedom franchise?” I normally go to defining it by what it isn’t, 
because it is a fairly unusual concept. We aren’t McDonalds. We aren’t Subway. There are four things we require in our franchise agreement that everyone has to do but beyond that, the business is yours to run as you want and see fit. Choose your own menu. Decorate your own store. Pick your hours. Hire the crew that works for you. Make your business about who you are and what you believe. We have some things that we feel strongly about as being essential to running a successful Great Harvest (over the top customer service, taste to go out of your way for, an incredibly fresh product and a whole grain, local focus) but, truly, the important decisions are yours.
That is a mouthful and not easily explained in a sound bite world. One phrase I have always liked to describe our business model is: “We are like a mom and pop business where mom and pop know what they are doing from the start.” I like that and think it is a very good description of who we are, what we do and how we think a business should be run…but we are into cookies, not a cookie cutter franchise has a vibe to it that I like and might just make my new answer to "What is the freedom franchise?"
Anyone interested in cookies?
Posted on Wed, Aug 04, 2010
Posted by Brittny Bird on August 4, 2010
Although not every fruit, vegetable and grain is ready this month, August is a perfect time to celebrate the harvest. If you have your own garden, you have enjoyed the fruits of your labor all summer long. Even the produce in the grocery store
and farmer’s markets are booming with freshness. We love fresh ingredients and this month we celebrate our key fresh ingredient -- wheat!
Appropriately named the Golden Triangle, the high plains of Montana produce some of the world’s best bread baking wheat. The cold winters rid the wheat of bugs and disease. The hot, arid summers give the wheat extra protein. Each fall, we test scores of wheat lots to make sure our bakeries get only the wheat that bakes the best bread. Our relationship with local farmers gives us the first pick of the harvest.
After wheat has been picked it is shipped to each b
akery where it is milled fresh everyday! The flour is used within 48 hours so it keeps all the nutrients found in the original grain. That is the Great Harvest difference.
Have any of you watched the wheat harvest in Montana?
Posted on Thu, Jul 29, 2010
Posted by Debbie Huber on July 29, 2010
Jerry and Janet Lecy joined the Great Harvest family in 2007 
when they purchased an existing Great Harvest franchise in Lafayette, IN. They moved their family from Florida back to their roots in Indiana to become small business owners.
Listen to this three minute interview with Jerry to hear their story:
Have you been into the Lecy's Lafayette, IN, Great Harvest? Any stories to share about your experience?
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 20, 2010
Posted by Bonnie Harry on July 20, 2010
I first experienced Great Harvest bread as a customer when the company opened its little test bakery in Dillon, MT
in the summer of 1988. When a job in customer service opened up, it was a no-brainer to apply because I already loved the whole grain products. Within a few years, I became a Field person and began traveling to all of our bakeries. Last week marked my 22nd anniversary with the company.
After covering almost 700,000 miles and visiting over 190 Great Harvest bakeries (most of them multiple times), I’m even more intrigued by this freedom-oriented, individually-owned, fresh whole-grain, neighborhood bakery concept that’s grown steadily over the past three decades. Watching the evolution from 20 stores to over 200 has been like an anthropological study. The franchise office has its own history and changing culture. Join that with all the individual characteristics of each bakery and owner, and you get a wonderful network of unique personalities and rich character.
Great Harvest has always been people-focused. This focus ranges from hiring people to work at the franchise office to approving new owners as franchisees. The most important criteria for both is that applicants are a good fit for the business. Sometimes they’re thrown by the question “If you were a car what would you be?” I think I surprised the interview panel when I replied black with Corvette Stingray. Trust me, looks can be deceiving.
Great Harvesters are really all a family, and like any family there are some that might be labeled a little “odd”, but that’s part of the fun. We all share a passion for great food and baked products we’ve made from scratch and a love for serving these delicious products up to people. The Great Harvest owners are hands-on. They relate to their employees and customers in a friendly atmosphere they’re created. It doesn’t get much better than that. At the Franchise office, we have the same “hands-on” approach to helping the bakery owners (our customers.)
Unlike the average franchise, no two Great Harvests are the same. I’ve been struck by how each store reflects the personalities of its owners, and often it’s through their crew. Their bakeries become a wonderful expression of their individuality. With customer expectation of what “franchise” means, this individual expression has its challenges. The stores are definitely not “cookie cutter”, but the whole freedom factor is a big attraction. How many opportunities are there for having support systems and a learning community… yet in the end you get to call the shots and create your own business?
Someday I’ll write a book with all the Great Harvest stories…for 
now I’ll suffice it to say it’s been a fun ride with a lot of wonderful friends. One of my college Profs told me I had an aptitude for applied cultural anthropology and I should consider a career in that field. When I step back and look at my career at Great Harvest, it seems to me that’s what I’ve done! What a fun and generous group of people to hang out with for all these years.
How about your organization? What would a cultural anthropologist say about you?
Posted on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
Posted by Kate Ord on July 9, 2010
Every year I’ll buy the latest, best-selling marketing books to see if Great Harvest is on the right track. I look to see if there’s something new, exciting, or innovative being pronounced. I love that strong marketing fundamentals never go out of style!
My latest read was John Jantsch’s book “The Referral Engine.” Jantsch is also the well-known blogger/author of “Duct Tape Marketing.”
In both books he emphasizes the importance of the fundamentals for a successful business.
Big picture – there are no short cuts!
1) The product you are selling must be incredible. Why else would someone return for more? Why else would anyone whole-heartedly recommend your product?
2) Customer service must be genuine and inspired by a desire to delight customers.
3) The shopping experience must connect with the target audience’s values through all touch points – staff, products, store ambiance, displays, promotional materials, community outreach and more.
Jantsch outlines the dynamics behind referrals, and they are:
1) People are hard-wired to make referrals…it’s part of our social nature.
2) Referrals involve risk, so educating customers about the emotional and logical uniqueness of your product is important.
3) Nobody talks about a boring business.
4) Consistent excellence builds trust and referrals.
5) Delighted customers love to provide testimonials.
6) Most businesses don’t have a systematic approach to encourage referrals.
Jantsch tells readers to stop crossing their fingers and hoping all will go well. He stresses the importance of meeting people’s expectations, keeping promises, and owning up to mistakes and correcting them.
My favorite part of the book discussed a business strategy focused on employees. We’ve all worked for employers who made us feel valued and who never doubted our potential to succeed. Those are the type of employers that nurture top performers.
Jantsch recommends treating your employees like a valued 
customer because, in turn, they will represent the brand in a positive manner.
Step one: hire the right people – “find people for fit, shared values and a passion for excellence,” and then train them correctly and create standards. Every employee should understand their performance is directly tied to the generation of referrals from customers by providing over-the-top awesome products and service.
There is a cool profile in the book about New Belgium Brewing Company, the third largest craft brewer in the United States. New Belgium’s CEO Kim Jordan created an open-book approach to employee management and offers employees an ownership stake in the company after one year of employment. She educates employees about ALL aspects of the business. She’s proud of the corporate culture because employees are empowered to care about the products, the costs and each other. As a result of her “open book” policy, Jordan’s employees became less wasteful, more efficient and inspired.
I did some research on New Belgium, and it is a truly remarkable company! I especially love that the brewery is powered by wind. That definitely fits in with my values. New Belgium also produces my favorite beer “Mothership Wit” -- an organic wheat beer infused with coriander. It tastes amazing, and I know the ingredients are excellent and inventive. My husband and I always make a special stop at the Good Food Store in Missoula, MT (a mere 175 miles away) for our favorite brew. I also proudly serve it and recommend it to friends.
This is referral marketing 101 – I find an interesting product, I try it and it exceeds my expectation, I now actively seek it out and tell others about it, and I feel the company shares my values and the values of my friends. Did I mention the product is a bargain? No. Because it isn’t. It’s priced as I feel it should be…as a premium, high-quality, enjoyable product. .
This brings me to the last take away from this outstanding book. People are not incredibly motivated to refer a business on price comparison, in fact prospects often anticipate paying more for a referred product. So a low-price strategy can actually reduce referrals.
Mothership Wit is not the least expensive micro-brew beer in the grocery store, but I just happen to think it’s a
cut above in taste and quality.
Similarly, Great Harvest breads and sweets are not priced to compete with Wonderbread and Hostess Ding Dongs for the same reason. Great Harvest attracts customers who LOVE the taste of scratch-made bread made with the freshest ingredients.
So is there a product out there that you will go out of your way to purchase and refer to others? I mentioned New Belgium. Another company I support and refer others to consistently is Aveda.
How about you? Share your stories about businesses that delighted you and motivated you to tell others about their products and/or services!
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 Tue, Jun 08, 2010
Posted by Bonnie Harry on June 8, 2010
Jim and Robin Condie took over the Clackamas Great Harvest in February 2006. The store was thirteen years old. Over the past seven years, they've nearly doubled the sales and have had a lot of fun in the process. Jim was an attorney is his prior life (still licensed) and Robin worked in the Biotech industry (immunology). Robin laughingly told me the bakery is much more fun than her prior work! They were tired of commuting and loved Great Harvest and the idea of doing their own business. They jumped at the chance to buy the Clackamas Great Harvest when they heard it was for sale.
As with any small family business, their secrets to success have included a lot of hard work and focus on the things that matter. Robin admits that part of their success is their great location - right next to a Nordstrom Rack in a shopping center with high identity. As we all know, potential doesn't always translate to success. It requires the right management.
Jim and Robin are hands-on. They don't have managers. They work with the crew and do the training. This keeps them in touch with the day-to-day workings of the business. In a bakery where everything is made daily from scratch (it's a production facility as well as retail), being in close touch with the business and the crew is critical for success.
What about their crew? It's an understatement to say when I 
visited them, I was impressed. Their people were attentive, enthusiastic, caring, really one of the best crews I've encountered in my 22 years with Great Harvest. I asked Robin about the crew. Her response was "I love them. We have an awesome crew." I've learned over the years that owners are not just "lucky" to have good people. It's a result of how they manage. I asked Robin what their secrets were in developing such a great crew. How do they empower them, encourage them?
Robin says it's based on trust and being open, vulnerable, flexible and teachable. She didn't just mean the crew - it applies to all of them, including Jim and her. They want people to express their opinions, to come up with new ideas. She says their crew is smart. The team training model is "to be open to what other people have to say."
They always give positive feedback when a crew member takes care of something, goes the extra mile. And they've developed a peer system where crew members call out their peers in a positive way. In essence, the crew holds each other accountable. Robin told me about exercises and games they play to show the importance of all supporting each other and being team players. She stopped at one point, concerned she might be embarrassing herself telling about the games! Quite the contrary. I was fascinated by how effective these exercises are in getting the point across - plus they're a fun bonding experience as well.
The team spirit extends to the customers. Getting to know customers' names and preferences and including them in the fun is stressed. Robin told me "Life is about connecting to everybody." It's no wonder customers enjoy coming to this store. Not only are the products outstanding, the atmosphere is inviting and fun with a wonderful friendly, positive group of people to meet you when you step in the door. Congrats to Jim and Robin and their crew for creating a great refreshing oasis in a hectic world.
Have you ever been to the Clackamas bakery? Do you have any favorite Great Harvest people stories to share?