Supermarkets and Retail

So which one is it?

What’s so odd about them?

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They identified opportunities, that doesn’t mean anyone got offered them…

That doesn’t even make sense, 40 is even. 41-odd makes sense or 43-odd.

Someone will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe “40 odd” means “approximately 40” - but they’ve also used “about 40”, which is essentially the same thing. It doesn’t refer to whether the number is odd or even.

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I believe “40 odd” means “40 something” or “40 plus”. So it could be 40, 41, 42, 43 etc.

Retail Food Group to close up to 200 stores as its bankers circle

Retail Food Group, will shut between 160 and 200 stores after it came under pressure from its bankers following a $138 million writedown on the value of its franchises.

This will affect Gloria Jean’s, Michel’s Patisserie, Donut King, Pizza Capers, Brumby’s Bakeries chains and Cafe2U mobile.

Cafe2U always seems to do extremely well overnights when they do the hospital visits. i’ve been in hospital too many nights with my kids and when the cafe2u van comes they put an announcement over and the staff seem to drop everything for coffee

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Sorry, yes it does, I was being facetious. Easy to do in person, much harder on the interwebs!

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I agree, Cafe2U are good. Unfortunately though Gloria Jean’s and Michel’s Patisserie have both deteriorated the past couple of years. Two good chains destroyed.

If Retail Food Group happens to go under, would someone try and get the rights to all those brands? Or would all the recent stories about their business practices and stuff be so off-putting for customers that any attempt to salvage even the more “famous” ones wouldn’t be worth it?

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That’s my job, thankyou very much.

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Crust Pizza is still ok but nowhere near as good as it was five ish years ago. The proper tasty gourmet pizzas they originally had have vanished and there is really not much difference between them and Pizza Hut and Domino’s.

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Could you pick it up a bit? I’ve been bored ever since Luke left us.

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I see your Perth Bunnings fire and raze you a Devonport Allgoods camping store fire.

This store burnt down last night, cause unknown but there were some fireworks let off by some kids (believed to be kids) a block or two away about 5-10 minutes before the fire call out. Could see this from our place and across most of Devonport last night, was quite eerie looking with the full moon and smoke and orange glow everywhere.

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Maybe you could go watch The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949) at 12.17pm on Gem. Ta.

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We became good friends with a local gloria jeans franchisor. In between rent, franchise fees and having to pay exorbitant amounts for supplies the model was unsustainable.

She ended up closing up at the end of the frachise agreement close to bankrupt becuase of it

This is why most of the Gloria Jean’s cafes and Michel’s Patisseries have shut up shop in the last few years.

That and the rubbish menu which the shop owners weren’t allowed to alter. I know a few who have opened new cafes in the same space or elsewhere nearby and are now doing very well.

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GJs has always had a relatively crappy food menu even under the existing ownership but it has somehow managed to get worse under RFG. It’s a market space where they were completely left behind as competitors like Coffee Club and Jamaica Blue took the route of offering full breakfast/lunch menus.

Neither franchise is really any big loss, though as I’ve commented before GJs still does the strongest blended ice drinks out there with their Voltage range… it’s really irritating that none of the other major chains (and most cafes overall for that matter) can manage to put more than a single shot of coffee (if that) in a blended drink without you having to add extra shots and making the thing absurdly expensive.

I’ve found that the recent introduction of cold brew at some local cafes is better than what GJs has had. The local cafes seem to make it fresh each day and it tastes fresh whereas GJs always had a manufactured taste to me. I had a local cold brew this morning, strong and icy cold.