Too sweet a deal- Groupon horror
In UK, Groupon almost bankrupted a bakery.
@Yang Sui/ Foodbiznyc.com
Screenshot of Groupon iPhone app.
Rachel Brown, owner of Need a Cake, said her advertisement on Groupon “was her worst ever business decision.” during an interview with BBC.
Brown originally offered 75 percent off on cupcakes for those who bought a dozen, the $40 cupcakes suddenly cost $10.
People turned out to be crazy about the deals.
She ended up receiving 8,500 requests from customers using Groupon; Brown had to make 102,000 cakes, and the bakery usually produces 100 cupcakes a month. Brown had to hire temporary works through an employment agency to fulfill the orders, with a cost of $19,500, wiping out her profits of the year.
A Groupon spokeswoman said there was no limit to the number of vouchers that could be sold, according to an interview by Telegraph UK.
Groupon stock ticker chart. From Freestockcharts.com
It has been a tough holiday for Groupon. On Cyber Monday, the company’s shares saw a 42% decrease from their first-day closing price of 26.11.
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, who was worth $1.3 billion when the company went public, is now valued around $715 million.
Marriage Equality Brings in Money
@Yang Sui/Foodbiznyc.com
Lauri Ditunno, owner of Cake Alchemy, is making a ginger bread castle cake in her studio. Click here to watch a complete interview.
Same sex couples aren’t the only ones celebrating marriage equality.
Wedding planners, bakers, musicians, florists, and caterers chime glasses to the Marriage Equality Act passed on June 24 because, for them, marriage means business.
When Frank Jones started his same-sex wedding planning business in May, he had, “an instinct and the belief that same-sex marriage would be legalized in New York.”
Though Jones had previously planned traditional weddings for his heterosexual friends, he makes it very clear that his new wedding planning company, HiFidelityNY, is committed exclusively to the LGBT community. “We started marriage equality in New York… we’ve been fighting for this for so long,” Jones said. As a member of the gay community, he wanted to create a “new tradition” for gay couples.
“Marriage should be pure joy sharing with friends. It shouldn’t be ‘well I have to wear this dress… I have to invite the third cousin I haven’t seen for thirty years’,” Jones said, “Marriage should be celebration.”
Most of Jones’ clients have been together three to 25 years; many couples have wanted to get married for a long time, said Jones, which is what motivated him to start his business. “It’s a joy to work with same-sex couples.”
Jones has owned a meeting-planning company, MH8 Associates, for seven years, which he said helps his new venture: “It’s easy for me to reuse the sources I collected from meeting planning experience.”
According to a May report by the Independent Democratic Conference, marriage equality will bring in more than $310 million in revenue to New York in the next three years. More than $280 million of the total will come from wedding revenue and tourism. To boost the same-sex wedding business, NYC & Co., New York City’s official marketing, tourism, and partnership organization, has started to provide hotel packages called “NYC I DO”. Some of the packages provide private limo transportation to City Hall where couples can have wedding ceremonies.
Marriage equality not only brings in love, also brings in money.
Since the New York Senate passed Marriage Equality Act on June 24th, wedding ventures in New York have embraced a new market: marriage of same-sex couples.
This is an interview with Lauri Ditunno, owner of Cake Alchemy. Ditunno talks about her wedding cake business and importantly, how to make a yummy cake.
Produced by Yang Sui, Columbia Journalism School.
Numbers you need to know about 2011 Black Friday
Customers are not the only ones celebrating Black Friday; retailers also join the Friday party. Here are some data highlighting Black Friday, 2011.
$52.4 billion
According to National Retail Federation, shopper spent an estimated $52.4 billion during Black Friday four-day weekend, up from $45 billion last year.
$398.62
Shopper spent an average of $398.62 since the holiday season started on Black Friday.
227 million
About 227 million shoppers visited stores and website during the long weekend; the number was 212 million last year.
$2
A $2 waffle maker incited a riot at Walmart near Little Rock, Arkansas. It was recorded by a customer and uploaded on youtube.
Boycott and Lawsuit: Restaurant Workers Challenging the Hidden Rules
Listen to audio interview here.
“Boy-cott Sai-gon Grill… Boy-cott Sai-gon Grill…”
It’s a recent Sunday night. Seven people are gathered outside Saigon Grill, a Vietnamese restaurant on the Upper West Side. They are handing out yellow flyers that read, “Sweatshops Out of Our Community- Boycott Domino’s Pizza and Saigon Grill” in English and Spanish; their posters, in both English and Korean, carry the same message.
These protesters are members of the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, and some are former employees of Saigon Grill. Since November 2010, CSWA has been organizing such protests against Saigon Grill from Wednesday to Sunday, twice a day, three hours each time.
@Yang Sui/Foodbiznyc.com
Protesters gathered outside Saigon Grill.
They are members from the Chinese Stuff and Workers’ Association.
They have been protesting since Nov 2010.
One of the protesters, Ivan Lin, never worked at Saigon Grill, but joined the protest after he got laid off in December 2010 when his former employer, Peter Yeung, owner of Century Buffet in Clifton, N.J., closed that restaurant. The closing of Century Buffet came after Mr. Lin and other employees filed complaints and lawsuits against the restaurant owner regarding wages and working hours.
“The working conditions are really bad nowadays, and I want to make a difference,” said Lin in Chinese. He came to the U.S. after he graduated from high school at the age of 18. Originally from Fujian Province, Lin, who has been in the U.S. for 15 years, hasn’t had formal language education in English. “I can only speak restaurant English,” said Lin, 33.
Interview with Ivan Lin, former employee of Century Buffet. This is the audio part of labor story. Lin speaks very little English, and thus this conversation is basically in Chinese. Interviewed and produced by Yang Sui, Columbia Journalism School.
Herman Cain: What’s Behind the Grin?
Video from youtube.
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has been under spotlight these days. The former CEO of Godfather Pizza, former president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, has been drawing lots of attention since he started to run for 2012 President of the U.S.
In October, Cain’s campaign team launched two campaign ads, one of them titled “now is the time for action”, featuring a narrative by Mark Block, Cain’s chief of staff, blowing a cigarette smoke into the camera. At the end of the ad, Cain slowly shows his grin, which takes like 20 seconds to come on.
Just several days after the release of Cain’s campaign ad, another Republican presidential candidate, former governor of Taxes Rick Perry dig out sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain. Two women accused Cain of sexual harassment during Cain’s 1996-99 tenure at the association. One of the women received $35,000- a year’s salary as settlement to this case. The financial agreement was signed with a confidentially provision and it was signed in September 1999. The WSJ added in the article, that “We can’t help but note that’s 9-99”.
The heat of supporting Herman Cain didn’t cool down. A new survey among Republicans Oct.31 through Nov.3, after the exposure of Cain’s scandal, shows that Herman Cain still holds a tie with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
To Be or Not to Be, Two Family Owned Businesses
Two family-owned Italian restaurants in Manhattan are facing different fates.
Manganaro’s Grosseria Italiana, first open in 1893, witness the history of New York City
Manganaro’s Grosseria Italiana in midtown looks much like an old Italian grocery store. Standing at the door is a middle- aged woman, smoking a cigarette and observing passersby. Seline Dell’Orto, owner of Manganaro’s Grosseria Italiana for around 30 years, usually opens the store at 9 in the morning to bring in fresh pasta and ravioli she made earlier that day.
But Manganaro’s Grosseria Italiana is more than a grocery store; it’s also a restaurant.
First opened in 1893, Manganaro’s started as an italian oil and liquor shop. But after Prohibition went into effect, it was transformed into an Italian restaurant.
Manganaro’s has kept the original style and decoration since 1893.
Seline’s father, Salvatore Dell’Orto, handed over the restaurant to his five daughters in the 80s, and Manganaro’s hasn’t changed much since then. The Dell’Orto family has kept the original recipes, menus, cooking style and even business model.
Listeria outbreak caused by cantaloupes
Death toll caused by Listeria-tainted cantaloupes as of Oct. 11th, 2011
Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Visualized by Yang Sui.
Oct. 11th Updated. Listeria- tainted cantaloups have caused 23 death and sickened 116 people. Two new death cases are from Louisiana.
Oct. 10th- Listeria-tainted cantaloupes have caused 21 death and sickened 109 people in 23 states.
CDC official said the number could continue to rise due to the reporting lags and the fact that the disease can develop slowly in some people, for up to two months.
September 14th, the grower, Jensen Farms of Granada, Colorado issued a recall of its Rocky Ford brand cantaloupes.
These cantaloups were shipped to at least 17 states stretching from Utah to New York but not all of the melons are labeled.
By far, death cases were reported in Indiana, New York, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Commodity Price Rises Challenge a Small Restaurant
With the costs of dairy, beef and seafood rising, local restaurants owners are forced to strategize how to keep their businesses profitable. Kai Pettaway, owner of Freda’s Caribbean & Soul Cuisine in upper Manhattan, is one of those struggling restaurant owners.
Kai Pettaway and his mother, Ellie Pettaway work in the restaurant
“I am working from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. almost every day,” said the 36-year-old restaurant owner. He does employ four other people, but he has trimmed their hours by about 15 percent recently. “I have to cut workers’ hours. This can save me hundreds of dollars every week.”
As a result, Pettaway has been working as both waiter and cashier, along with managing the business.
Like many restaurant owners, Pettaway faces the pressure of rising commodity prices. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, beef and dairy products have risen about 17 percent in price in the past year, while eggs have gone up more than twice that much. Shortening and cooking oils price have risen 33% during the same time.
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