Twitter is becoming more popular everyday. If you are a new twitter fan then do not make these common mistakes.
1. Not setting up your Twitter page properly:
Make sure you have a decent photo that people can connect with. This is one of the first things I look for before engaging with a new person. Like you, my time is valuable and I scan photo’s because it’s easy and fast, if someone doesn’t have a decent photo I move on to the next one.
Use your name instead of your @twitter username in the name section. I like to use a persons name when sending out tweets. Having a name is a great way for people to connect with you on a first name bases.
When filing out your bio use quality words, these words are searchable through many of the 3rd party tools that integrate with Twitter. Focus more on key words then sentence structure will give others a greater chance of finding you.
2. Not following up:
Follow up with the people that tweet you and send them a tweet back. This only takes a few minutes a day and by doing this will help you build a strong following.
When someone retweets your tweet send them a thank you or compliment. Retweeting others that retweet you will help you spread quickly into other people’s followers.Check your @replies and DM’s at least once per day.
3. Trying to get a large number of followers:
When I first started using Twitter all I heard about was you need to get followers. This is true, however; I quickly discovered that the quality of followers was much more important then having huge numbers of followers.
With all the 3rd party tools out there that help you auto follow people, it’s hard to focus on the quality of followers you are following. Make sure you focus on keywords that will locate the type of people you want when using these types of programs or tools.
Using keywords and the hashtag is a great way to locate people in your niche. Use alerts and key word tracking to locate people and save time.
4. Self promoting:
I see many people sending out tweets with links that are trying to sell something. Remember, people hate to be sold but love to buy. Sometimes I see tweets with just a link with no description to what the link is, talk about a waste of time.
If you are going to send out links in your tweets you should send them out in moderation. Send out other tweets in between the tweets with links. Providing value in your tweets is the key to getting people to trust you. Don’t send out to many tweets per hour. When someone fills up my twitter page with tweets going out every 3-5 minutes it doesn’t take me long to un-follow them. Using your DM is a great way to keep the twitter stream from getting over crowded.
These are just a few of the Twitter mistakes I have either made myself or have seen others make on Twitter. Just use a little common sense and you will do just fine. Ask yourself, am I tweeting to others like I would like to be tweeted to?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Read this story and then I will tell you the truth
The Wal-Mart You Don't Know
By: Charles FishmanWed Dec 19, 2007
The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?
A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles.
Wal-Mart priced it at $2.97--a year's supply of pickles for less than $3! "They were using it as a 'statement' item," says Pat Hunn, who calls himself the "mad scientist" of Vlasic's gallon jar. "Wal-Mart was putting it before consumers, saying, This represents what Wal-Mart's about. You can buy a stinkin' gallon of pickles for $2.97. And it's the nation's number-one brand."
Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world's largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement.
Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices." It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric. The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of goods last year. It sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year. And in its own category of general merchandise and groceries, Wal-Mart no longer has any real rivals. It does more business than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Safeway, and Kroger combined. "Clearly," says Edward Fox, head of Southern Methodist University's J.C. Penney Center for Retailing Excellence, "Wal-Mart is more powerful than any retailer has ever been." It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to have become an entirely different order of corporate being.
Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.
Of course, U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American," has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to the United States.
One way to think of Wal-Mart is as a vast pipeline that gives non-U.S. companies direct access to the American market. "One of the things that limits or slows the growth of imports is the cost of establishing connections and networks," says Paul Krugman, the Princeton University economist. "Wal-Mart is so big and so centralized that it can all at once hook Chinese and other suppliers into its digital system. So--wham!--you have a large switch to overseas sourcing in a period quicker than under the old rules of retailing."
Steve Dobbins has been bearing the brunt of that switch. He's president and CEO of Carolina Mills, a 75-year-old North Carolina company that supplies thread, yarn, and textile finishing to apparel makers--half of which supply Wal-Mart. Carolina Mills grew steadily until 2000. But in the past three years, as its customers have gone either overseas or out of business, it has shrunk from 17 factories to 7, and from 2,600 employees to 1,200. Dobbins's customers have begun to face imported clothing sold so cheaply to Wal-Mart that they could not compete even if they paid their workers nothing.
"People ask, 'How can it be bad for things to come into the U.S. cheaply? How can it be bad to have a bargain at Wal-Mart?' Sure, it's held inflation down, and it's great to have bargains," says Dobbins. "But you can't buy anything if you're not employed. We are shopping ourselves out of jobs."
Ok, now the truth about WalMart............................
What the pickle story did not tell you is the top management at Vlastic Pickles was first greedy and second stupid. They were greedy because all they were thinking about was the multiple truck loads of pickles Walmart was going to buy and how much their bonus would increase from the relationship. Greed is a good thing in that it motivates people to increase business because of the rewards. Walmart buyers are masters at working the “psychology” of greed on vendors. That is their job and they do it very well.
Stupid because they should have known their business well enough to understand how selling Walmart a year’s crop of pickles would affect their profitability. Even I know the more a pickle is processed (cut, sliced, diced, etc) the more value you add thus the more you can sell it for. Vlastic is the pickle packer leader. Why did they not know this fact? Truth is they did but Vlastic management was looking for a short term gain and not looking at the long term results (very much the case for companies in the US). Again they were stupid and WalMart buyers are masters at taking advantage of stupid executives.
This is my point; you call on Walmart you are in control of what happens. You can say “no” in any meeting. You just have to be smart enough to know when to say it.
The #1 objective at Walmart today is to increase profits so their stock price will increase. Walmart’s current dilemma is sales growth has slowed and new store expansion will come in higher cost areas (bad for profits).
What is their plan? If I were President of Walmart I would be tapping into the major suppliers marketing/slotting funds which they use to buy shelf space with every retailer except Walmart. This money can go right to the bottom line for Walmart increasing their profits without additional capital investment.
How? Easy, just appeal to suppliers top managements greed by making a realistic projection of how much they can increase their sales and market share because there will be less product assortment in their category (read my blog about win/play/show).
Walmart controls over thirty percent of the grocery sales now. If a major vendor doubles sales at Walmart then their overall category share increases dramatically, which may result in savings thru less promotional spending with other customers. What is the down side for major suppliers? Stay tuned for my next blog post to see.
By: Charles FishmanWed Dec 19, 2007
The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?
A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles.
Wal-Mart priced it at $2.97--a year's supply of pickles for less than $3! "They were using it as a 'statement' item," says Pat Hunn, who calls himself the "mad scientist" of Vlasic's gallon jar. "Wal-Mart was putting it before consumers, saying, This represents what Wal-Mart's about. You can buy a stinkin' gallon of pickles for $2.97. And it's the nation's number-one brand."
Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world's largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement.
Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices." It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric. The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of goods last year. It sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year. And in its own category of general merchandise and groceries, Wal-Mart no longer has any real rivals. It does more business than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Safeway, and Kroger combined. "Clearly," says Edward Fox, head of Southern Methodist University's J.C. Penney Center for Retailing Excellence, "Wal-Mart is more powerful than any retailer has ever been." It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to have become an entirely different order of corporate being.
Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.
Of course, U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American," has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to the United States.
One way to think of Wal-Mart is as a vast pipeline that gives non-U.S. companies direct access to the American market. "One of the things that limits or slows the growth of imports is the cost of establishing connections and networks," says Paul Krugman, the Princeton University economist. "Wal-Mart is so big and so centralized that it can all at once hook Chinese and other suppliers into its digital system. So--wham!--you have a large switch to overseas sourcing in a period quicker than under the old rules of retailing."
Steve Dobbins has been bearing the brunt of that switch. He's president and CEO of Carolina Mills, a 75-year-old North Carolina company that supplies thread, yarn, and textile finishing to apparel makers--half of which supply Wal-Mart. Carolina Mills grew steadily until 2000. But in the past three years, as its customers have gone either overseas or out of business, it has shrunk from 17 factories to 7, and from 2,600 employees to 1,200. Dobbins's customers have begun to face imported clothing sold so cheaply to Wal-Mart that they could not compete even if they paid their workers nothing.
"People ask, 'How can it be bad for things to come into the U.S. cheaply? How can it be bad to have a bargain at Wal-Mart?' Sure, it's held inflation down, and it's great to have bargains," says Dobbins. "But you can't buy anything if you're not employed. We are shopping ourselves out of jobs."
Ok, now the truth about WalMart............................
What the pickle story did not tell you is the top management at Vlastic Pickles was first greedy and second stupid. They were greedy because all they were thinking about was the multiple truck loads of pickles Walmart was going to buy and how much their bonus would increase from the relationship. Greed is a good thing in that it motivates people to increase business because of the rewards. Walmart buyers are masters at working the “psychology” of greed on vendors. That is their job and they do it very well.
Stupid because they should have known their business well enough to understand how selling Walmart a year’s crop of pickles would affect their profitability. Even I know the more a pickle is processed (cut, sliced, diced, etc) the more value you add thus the more you can sell it for. Vlastic is the pickle packer leader. Why did they not know this fact? Truth is they did but Vlastic management was looking for a short term gain and not looking at the long term results (very much the case for companies in the US). Again they were stupid and WalMart buyers are masters at taking advantage of stupid executives.
This is my point; you call on Walmart you are in control of what happens. You can say “no” in any meeting. You just have to be smart enough to know when to say it.
The #1 objective at Walmart today is to increase profits so their stock price will increase. Walmart’s current dilemma is sales growth has slowed and new store expansion will come in higher cost areas (bad for profits).
What is their plan? If I were President of Walmart I would be tapping into the major suppliers marketing/slotting funds which they use to buy shelf space with every retailer except Walmart. This money can go right to the bottom line for Walmart increasing their profits without additional capital investment.
How? Easy, just appeal to suppliers top managements greed by making a realistic projection of how much they can increase their sales and market share because there will be less product assortment in their category (read my blog about win/play/show).
Walmart controls over thirty percent of the grocery sales now. If a major vendor doubles sales at Walmart then their overall category share increases dramatically, which may result in savings thru less promotional spending with other customers. What is the down side for major suppliers? Stay tuned for my next blog post to see.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Walmart shoppers noticing a difference on the grocery shelves
Consumers aren’t finding the variety of products they used to on Walmart shelves, as the retailer offers fewer flavors, sizes and forms of many grocery products.
Columbus, Ohio-based Retail Forward in its October WalMart World reports some indication of consumers shopping less at Walmart because they can’t find what they want. About 24 percent of shoppers reported going to Walmart less this year compared with a year ago, while 14 percent of shoppers reported going to Walmart more often, according to the WalMart World report by Jennifer Halterman, Retail Forward senior consultant. Those numbers are from Retail Forward’s Shopper-Scape surveys from December 2007 to August 2009. The Shopper Scrape survey asks 4,000 people each month about their shopping habits.
“WalMart’s SKU (stock keeping unit) rationalization and reduction efforts as part of Win, Play, Show may actually be a point of contention with shoppers; some report reduced inventory as a reason for shopping Walmart Supercenter less often,” the Wal-Mart World report stated. Shoppers filled in explanations for some reasons they go to Walmart less, including “too crowded, reduced inventory, no longer carries items I previously purchased” and “they’ve cut out a lot of items they used to carry,” according to Retail Forward’s WalMart World.
WalMart’s win, play, show strategy means it wants to be well-stocked in major brands and categories that sell well; and will play in other brands that shoppers want, but won’t offer as great a selection. WalMart will devote even less shelf space to the “show” products, items it carries because some shoppers buy those items but they aren’t the biggest sellers or perhaps aren’t national or dominate brands.
Consumers get cranky if they’re used to buying a certain item which gets discontinued. Sometimes, they will try another brand in its place, but if it’s important enough some will shop elsewhere to get what they want.
Time will tell if Win-Play-Show increases WalMart sales and profits.
Columbus, Ohio-based Retail Forward in its October WalMart World reports some indication of consumers shopping less at Walmart because they can’t find what they want. About 24 percent of shoppers reported going to Walmart less this year compared with a year ago, while 14 percent of shoppers reported going to Walmart more often, according to the WalMart World report by Jennifer Halterman, Retail Forward senior consultant. Those numbers are from Retail Forward’s Shopper-Scape surveys from December 2007 to August 2009. The Shopper Scrape survey asks 4,000 people each month about their shopping habits.
“WalMart’s SKU (stock keeping unit) rationalization and reduction efforts as part of Win, Play, Show may actually be a point of contention with shoppers; some report reduced inventory as a reason for shopping Walmart Supercenter less often,” the Wal-Mart World report stated. Shoppers filled in explanations for some reasons they go to Walmart less, including “too crowded, reduced inventory, no longer carries items I previously purchased” and “they’ve cut out a lot of items they used to carry,” according to Retail Forward’s WalMart World.
WalMart’s win, play, show strategy means it wants to be well-stocked in major brands and categories that sell well; and will play in other brands that shoppers want, but won’t offer as great a selection. WalMart will devote even less shelf space to the “show” products, items it carries because some shoppers buy those items but they aren’t the biggest sellers or perhaps aren’t national or dominate brands.
Consumers get cranky if they’re used to buying a certain item which gets discontinued. Sometimes, they will try another brand in its place, but if it’s important enough some will shop elsewhere to get what they want.
Time will tell if Win-Play-Show increases WalMart sales and profits.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Why Wal Mart Is Important to Food Companies
If you are in the food business and you do not have distribution with Wal Mart you are missing almost 40% of the consumer grocery traffic in the south. Wal Mart’s average market share in ten southern states is 38.3% and growing. Wal Mart has taken business from every retailer in the south except Publix. The only state Wal Mart is not ranked number one is Florida (Wal Mart now ranked a weak #2). Wal Mart’s highest market share is in states with the lowest average income and poorest level of competition. In the past fourteen months Wal Mart has grown to the number one market share position in North Carolina and Virginia which were dominated by Food Lion. Current grocery market share information is listed below. Wal Mart will control 50% of grocery sales in the next few years if the current trend continues.
Wal Mart’s management has taken a “less vendor – product assortment” direction in dry grocery categories which has hurt small companies. It is impossible to get shelf space in dry grocery categories unless you are a category leader nationwide. Wal Mart’s direction is now focused on private label and market leaders only. This move so far has resulted in increased sales with less item selection. I predict this marketing plan to spread to meat, deli, and dairy soon.
Shopping at Wal Mart you will notice that all private label packaging has changed to a standard white package. This makes private label products very visible on the shelf. Wal Mart’s newest supercenters are also merchandised without the “action alley” pallet displays. Action alley was the floor space between grocery and general merchandise and an equal area on the other end of the store thru general merchandise. Both action alleys are now gone in new supercenters. End cap displays have been re-designed to give Wal Mart equal display space lost to action alley. The result is a real improvement in store appearance.
Grocery Share Of Total Business
State Wal Mart
Mississippi 56.36
Louisiana 50.09
Alabama 48.18
Kentucky 40.00
Tennessee 40.27
S. Carolina 36.25
Georgia 32.82
N. Carolina 32.19
Florida 24.80
Virginia 22.00
Wal Mart’s management has taken a “less vendor – product assortment” direction in dry grocery categories which has hurt small companies. It is impossible to get shelf space in dry grocery categories unless you are a category leader nationwide. Wal Mart’s direction is now focused on private label and market leaders only. This move so far has resulted in increased sales with less item selection. I predict this marketing plan to spread to meat, deli, and dairy soon.
Shopping at Wal Mart you will notice that all private label packaging has changed to a standard white package. This makes private label products very visible on the shelf. Wal Mart’s newest supercenters are also merchandised without the “action alley” pallet displays. Action alley was the floor space between grocery and general merchandise and an equal area on the other end of the store thru general merchandise. Both action alleys are now gone in new supercenters. End cap displays have been re-designed to give Wal Mart equal display space lost to action alley. The result is a real improvement in store appearance.
Grocery Share Of Total Business
State Wal Mart
Mississippi 56.36
Louisiana 50.09
Alabama 48.18
Kentucky 40.00
Tennessee 40.27
S. Carolina 36.25
Georgia 32.82
N. Carolina 32.19
Florida 24.80
Virginia 22.00
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Grillzilla Story
What is Grillzilla? Grillzilla is a twenty four foot trailer equipped to cook the best smoked meats you have ever tasted!
How did the idea for Grillzilla start? People ask me that question all the time.
It happened after the Big Show Grilling Team won first place in a Memphis in May barbecue competition in Charlotte North Carolina. The team members were Carl Lewis, Fred Overman, Eric Krause and me. As usual the team celebrated hard after that win and stayed over Sunday night to share the win with John Boy and the Big Show radio audience. As he normally did John Boy made our win sound much larger than it really was by spending the entire Monday morning show talking about how The Big Show Team won first place. Looking back I think our ribs were good that day but I also think the association with the John Boy and Billy Big Show influenced the judge’s decision especially on the second team visit. Anyway, we won a first place!
I got to thinking how good John Boy made winning first place in ribs sound on the radio. It was especially good marketing for the John Boy and Billy Grilling sauces. That’s when the idea of cooking in more competitions came in our minds. If we were going to be competitive competition barbecue cookers we had to have the best equipment money could buy. By the way in those years we were making so much money with the Grilling Sauce success we needed something to spend it on that was business related anyway.
Since I was busy with the day to day business operation Carl took on the project of finding us the right equipment. Carl knows how to cook barbecue. He was interested in something custom made to his ideas based on his life long experiences with barbecue. At some point Carl had some experience with Southern Pride barbecue smokers. He contacted Southern Pride and got us a demo smoker we could play with. Unfortunately we could not work out an acceptable business relationship with Southern Pride. We were both disappointed because that type of barbecue smoker was perfect for what we had in mind to do.
We started looking for a replacement. That is how we discovered the Ole Hickory Barbecue Pit Company. Their pit was a very similar design to the Southern Pride. They did not give us a demo pit but did help us find some Ole Hickory Pit owners near us in North Carolina we could visit. The Ole Hickory management was also interested in the promotional value of having the Big Show Grilling team using their equipment. I liked the fact that the Ole Hickory Pit had heaver steel than Southern Pride. I was also impressed with the fact that almost all replacement parts could be purchased from Grainger or other local parts distributors. The pit was also easy to work on. I knew having a pit on a trailer bouncing up and down the road as much as we traveled had to be built good to take that punishment. It’s a big difference for a pit sitting on a restaurant kitchen floor and one riding a trailer every day!
We worked out a deal with Ole Hickory. Carl and Fred drove over to Cape Girardeau Missouri and picked up the trailer with the Ole Hickory Pit mounted. I met them back in Charlotte and we backed the trailer down the sidewalk to the front door of the Big Show studio. On their first break of the morning Billy walked out the door and saw the trailer and Ole Hickory Pit and the first word out of his mouth was “Grillzilla”. I said “you just named it” thanks!
It took almost a year to get Grillzilla built out the way it is today. We had several friends that built race cars and grills do the work. We also got another friend in the sign business to build the sides and put all the logos in place. All in we had maybe $60,000 in the total project. A big part of the expense was making mistakes. We had built on so many things that the weight over loaded the existing trailer suspension. That was a $3,000 fix in itself! The whole project was like a couple of red necks building something in their garage then discovering that it is too big to go out the door! I could build the next Grillzilla for half the money. Let me know if you want more details on a project like that.
Now keep in mind the entire project was started so we could be competitive in barbecue competitions. How did that work out? Not too good! The first competition we went to we finished third from last in total points. Ok, we would cut back on the party and really focus next time. At our second competition we finished bottom third (lot less partying too). As John Boy said “it’s hard to make this sound good if you guys finish last” and he was right. There is a lot more to competition cooking than the equipment. I would say the equipment is maybe 40% of the total picture.
We continued to competition cook without getting much better. I looked at the expense and decided maybe we should re-think this marketing strategy. We finally stopped competition cooking unless someone paid us to go.
The last few years we used Grillzilla for some Food City race night events around the two Bristol races and some big parties we had with radio stations but for the most part it stayed parked and was not used much. We were still doing a lot of grocery store events with our other grills but we found Grillzilla was just too big to fit in front of a grocery store. It also took lots of diesel fuel to pull it (8 MPG ).
When I sold my half of Big Show Foods to Carl we split the grills. Since Grillzilla was not used much by Big Show Foods it made more sense for me to take it so Carl could keep the “work horse” grills we called Grill #1 and Grill#2. For about a year Grillzilla was parked at my house. Every time I walked passed it I saw some new rust. I knew it was foolish not to be doing something with Grillzilla. That will start my next blog story about getting in trouble with the “food Police” (Wake County Health Department).
I have posted pictures of Grillzilla on my facebook page at http://facebook.com/tprice1 If we are not friends just ask. I am also publishing the pictures on my web site at http://bigtom.org.
How did the idea for Grillzilla start? People ask me that question all the time.
It happened after the Big Show Grilling Team won first place in a Memphis in May barbecue competition in Charlotte North Carolina. The team members were Carl Lewis, Fred Overman, Eric Krause and me. As usual the team celebrated hard after that win and stayed over Sunday night to share the win with John Boy and the Big Show radio audience. As he normally did John Boy made our win sound much larger than it really was by spending the entire Monday morning show talking about how The Big Show Team won first place. Looking back I think our ribs were good that day but I also think the association with the John Boy and Billy Big Show influenced the judge’s decision especially on the second team visit. Anyway, we won a first place!
I got to thinking how good John Boy made winning first place in ribs sound on the radio. It was especially good marketing for the John Boy and Billy Grilling sauces. That’s when the idea of cooking in more competitions came in our minds. If we were going to be competitive competition barbecue cookers we had to have the best equipment money could buy. By the way in those years we were making so much money with the Grilling Sauce success we needed something to spend it on that was business related anyway.
Since I was busy with the day to day business operation Carl took on the project of finding us the right equipment. Carl knows how to cook barbecue. He was interested in something custom made to his ideas based on his life long experiences with barbecue. At some point Carl had some experience with Southern Pride barbecue smokers. He contacted Southern Pride and got us a demo smoker we could play with. Unfortunately we could not work out an acceptable business relationship with Southern Pride. We were both disappointed because that type of barbecue smoker was perfect for what we had in mind to do.
We started looking for a replacement. That is how we discovered the Ole Hickory Barbecue Pit Company. Their pit was a very similar design to the Southern Pride. They did not give us a demo pit but did help us find some Ole Hickory Pit owners near us in North Carolina we could visit. The Ole Hickory management was also interested in the promotional value of having the Big Show Grilling team using their equipment. I liked the fact that the Ole Hickory Pit had heaver steel than Southern Pride. I was also impressed with the fact that almost all replacement parts could be purchased from Grainger or other local parts distributors. The pit was also easy to work on. I knew having a pit on a trailer bouncing up and down the road as much as we traveled had to be built good to take that punishment. It’s a big difference for a pit sitting on a restaurant kitchen floor and one riding a trailer every day!
We worked out a deal with Ole Hickory. Carl and Fred drove over to Cape Girardeau Missouri and picked up the trailer with the Ole Hickory Pit mounted. I met them back in Charlotte and we backed the trailer down the sidewalk to the front door of the Big Show studio. On their first break of the morning Billy walked out the door and saw the trailer and Ole Hickory Pit and the first word out of his mouth was “Grillzilla”. I said “you just named it” thanks!
It took almost a year to get Grillzilla built out the way it is today. We had several friends that built race cars and grills do the work. We also got another friend in the sign business to build the sides and put all the logos in place. All in we had maybe $60,000 in the total project. A big part of the expense was making mistakes. We had built on so many things that the weight over loaded the existing trailer suspension. That was a $3,000 fix in itself! The whole project was like a couple of red necks building something in their garage then discovering that it is too big to go out the door! I could build the next Grillzilla for half the money. Let me know if you want more details on a project like that.
Now keep in mind the entire project was started so we could be competitive in barbecue competitions. How did that work out? Not too good! The first competition we went to we finished third from last in total points. Ok, we would cut back on the party and really focus next time. At our second competition we finished bottom third (lot less partying too). As John Boy said “it’s hard to make this sound good if you guys finish last” and he was right. There is a lot more to competition cooking than the equipment. I would say the equipment is maybe 40% of the total picture.
We continued to competition cook without getting much better. I looked at the expense and decided maybe we should re-think this marketing strategy. We finally stopped competition cooking unless someone paid us to go.
The last few years we used Grillzilla for some Food City race night events around the two Bristol races and some big parties we had with radio stations but for the most part it stayed parked and was not used much. We were still doing a lot of grocery store events with our other grills but we found Grillzilla was just too big to fit in front of a grocery store. It also took lots of diesel fuel to pull it (8 MPG ).
When I sold my half of Big Show Foods to Carl we split the grills. Since Grillzilla was not used much by Big Show Foods it made more sense for me to take it so Carl could keep the “work horse” grills we called Grill #1 and Grill#2. For about a year Grillzilla was parked at my house. Every time I walked passed it I saw some new rust. I knew it was foolish not to be doing something with Grillzilla. That will start my next blog story about getting in trouble with the “food Police” (Wake County Health Department).
I have posted pictures of Grillzilla on my facebook page at http://facebook.com/tprice1 If we are not friends just ask. I am also publishing the pictures on my web site at http://bigtom.org.
Friday, July 31, 2009
I take the easy road
I get lots of questions about how I cook barbecue. The simple answer is I don’t! My ole Hickory barbecue pits do the work. I learned a long time ago that I am too old to stay up all night tending a wood barrel fire to keep a smoker slow cooking a pig. There is always plenty of work to do after the meat is cooked so why wear your self out actually smoking it?
For those of you that don’t know Ole Hickory, based in Cape Girardeau Missouri, makes a wide selection of smokers. I own a CTO model (holds about 150 pounds of meat) and an EL-ED model (on Grillzilla) which holds over 700 pounds of meat. Both smokers do an equal job smoking. The CTO is best for small loads because it’s easy to clean up. The EL-ED is the only way for big loads but takes longer to clean.
The ole Hickory secret is its automatic. You set the temperature, add charcoal or wood, and fifteen hours later you got perfect smoked meat. It even turns itself off and holds the load at a warm temperature. How easy is that?
On the EL-ED I put in about fifteen pounds of Kingsford charcoal, a few sticks of apple wood (when cooking pork for pulled barbecue) and set the thermostat at 225 degrees. A gas burner comes on and starts the charcoal and wood burning. When the temperature hits 225 the gas cuts off the burning wood/charcoal maintains the temperature. Pork only takes in so much smoke so that happens in the first two hours as the apple wood burns. The next twelve to thirteen hours the charcoal supplies most of the heat and some more smoke flavor. The gas will automatically turn on to maintain temperature especially on cold nights.
What comes out is tender, moist, pork with just the right amount of wood smoke. Then the real work starts which is pulling the pork and adding the spices.
Now you might think “Tom you are missing the fun of hanging out with friends and tending the fire”, well actually no, we still do that we just get to bed at a normal time.
Stay tune and I will tell you how the barbecue is perfected on my next post. If you would like to learn more about my new book “How to make $5,000 a month from your driveway” or just have questions about barbecue visit my web site at http://bigtom.org.
For those of you that don’t know Ole Hickory, based in Cape Girardeau Missouri, makes a wide selection of smokers. I own a CTO model (holds about 150 pounds of meat) and an EL-ED model (on Grillzilla) which holds over 700 pounds of meat. Both smokers do an equal job smoking. The CTO is best for small loads because it’s easy to clean up. The EL-ED is the only way for big loads but takes longer to clean.
The ole Hickory secret is its automatic. You set the temperature, add charcoal or wood, and fifteen hours later you got perfect smoked meat. It even turns itself off and holds the load at a warm temperature. How easy is that?
On the EL-ED I put in about fifteen pounds of Kingsford charcoal, a few sticks of apple wood (when cooking pork for pulled barbecue) and set the thermostat at 225 degrees. A gas burner comes on and starts the charcoal and wood burning. When the temperature hits 225 the gas cuts off the burning wood/charcoal maintains the temperature. Pork only takes in so much smoke so that happens in the first two hours as the apple wood burns. The next twelve to thirteen hours the charcoal supplies most of the heat and some more smoke flavor. The gas will automatically turn on to maintain temperature especially on cold nights.
What comes out is tender, moist, pork with just the right amount of wood smoke. Then the real work starts which is pulling the pork and adding the spices.
Now you might think “Tom you are missing the fun of hanging out with friends and tending the fire”, well actually no, we still do that we just get to bed at a normal time.
Stay tune and I will tell you how the barbecue is perfected on my next post. If you would like to learn more about my new book “How to make $5,000 a month from your driveway” or just have questions about barbecue visit my web site at http://bigtom.org.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wal*Mart Saves Money by going green
General Electric ran TV commercial a few years back in which a young executive pitches improved energy efficiency to his corporate board.
"Why should we care about this stuff," his boss demands.
"Because it can save us 40 percent on our energy costs," he replies.
With that, Disneyesque animated birds and rabbits appear to playfully nuzzle board members who suddenly discover the joys of going green.
Something very similar — absent the animated birds — may have taken place four years ago in Arkansas. At a two-day conference, America's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, committed to a greener course.
It's taking suppliers like GE, as well as competitors and retailers, along on the journey.
The latest evidence of Wal-Mart's eco-evolution is its work to develop a universal sustainability index.
Appliance buyers can now get information on energy efficiency before making a purchase. In the future, Wal-Mart hopes consumers will base buying decisions for everyday products on labels detailing their environmental and social sustainability.
That's quite a departure for a company that once was known for low prices and scorched-earth capitalism. But Wal-Mart has proven that it can do well by doing the right thing.
Last year, it earned $12.7 billion. Those profits come not only from its traditional cost-cutting, but by savings from reducing packaging and improving energy efficiency.
The changes aren't just good for Wal-Mart; they're good for the environment, too.
In 2007, Wal-Mart made a commitment to highlight sales of environmentally friendly compact fluorescent light bulbs that last longer and use less electricity. Doing so meant suppliers like GE had to ramp up production.
Wal-Mart still sells more traditional incandescent bulbs. But the potential energy savings from compact fluorescent bulbs are staggering, especially with sales juiced by Wal-Mart.
In 2008, it began selling only concentrated liquid laundry detergent. The giant retailer says customers have saved more than 400 million gallons of water as a result. The switch also saves 95 million pounds of plastic resin that would otherwise have been used in packaging. And, not coincidentally, Wal-Mart saves more than 500,000 gallons of diesel fuel by not having to transport heavier, bulkier products.
A universal sustainability index has the potential to be even more important. It would let consumers see the true costs of wasteful packaging and products; they then might make better buying decisions.
Not all customers will take that into account. But where Wal-Mart goes, other retailers will follow. It's showing them that there's real money in going green.
My advice to small Wal Mart vendors; Get on board and use environmental sustainability as a competitive advantage as soon as possible. Larger companies are going to be slower to act (because of their size) which gives smaller companies a short term advantage. With the current category management standards at Wal Mart a minor brand could keep their distribution with this edge.
"Why should we care about this stuff," his boss demands.
"Because it can save us 40 percent on our energy costs," he replies.
With that, Disneyesque animated birds and rabbits appear to playfully nuzzle board members who suddenly discover the joys of going green.
Something very similar — absent the animated birds — may have taken place four years ago in Arkansas. At a two-day conference, America's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, committed to a greener course.
It's taking suppliers like GE, as well as competitors and retailers, along on the journey.
The latest evidence of Wal-Mart's eco-evolution is its work to develop a universal sustainability index.
Appliance buyers can now get information on energy efficiency before making a purchase. In the future, Wal-Mart hopes consumers will base buying decisions for everyday products on labels detailing their environmental and social sustainability.
That's quite a departure for a company that once was known for low prices and scorched-earth capitalism. But Wal-Mart has proven that it can do well by doing the right thing.
Last year, it earned $12.7 billion. Those profits come not only from its traditional cost-cutting, but by savings from reducing packaging and improving energy efficiency.
The changes aren't just good for Wal-Mart; they're good for the environment, too.
In 2007, Wal-Mart made a commitment to highlight sales of environmentally friendly compact fluorescent light bulbs that last longer and use less electricity. Doing so meant suppliers like GE had to ramp up production.
Wal-Mart still sells more traditional incandescent bulbs. But the potential energy savings from compact fluorescent bulbs are staggering, especially with sales juiced by Wal-Mart.
In 2008, it began selling only concentrated liquid laundry detergent. The giant retailer says customers have saved more than 400 million gallons of water as a result. The switch also saves 95 million pounds of plastic resin that would otherwise have been used in packaging. And, not coincidentally, Wal-Mart saves more than 500,000 gallons of diesel fuel by not having to transport heavier, bulkier products.
A universal sustainability index has the potential to be even more important. It would let consumers see the true costs of wasteful packaging and products; they then might make better buying decisions.
Not all customers will take that into account. But where Wal-Mart goes, other retailers will follow. It's showing them that there's real money in going green.
My advice to small Wal Mart vendors; Get on board and use environmental sustainability as a competitive advantage as soon as possible. Larger companies are going to be slower to act (because of their size) which gives smaller companies a short term advantage. With the current category management standards at Wal Mart a minor brand could keep their distribution with this edge.
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