Hi everyone. I posted a few weeks ago that I was going to Dallas on business, and I did. While I was there I met with Dana Verrill who is the CEO of Massimos. What follows are my personal assessments of Massimos. Just for background, My husband and I have held stock in this company since the first part of May. Our average share price is .16. This is not an attempt to attract new investors. My only purpose for this post is to inform those who hold stock in Massimos. Some of what follows will be the physical descriptions of the company from my point of view, my personal impressions, and of course my opinion.
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST.
First, I want to say that Dana Verrill was open and interested in my visit. In fact, I had to change the time of my visit because I became lost in North Dallas looking for a restaurant for a fellow investor (you know who you are):). Dana said he would stay and meet with me even if it would delay his return home at the end of the day.
When I arrived, Dana was dressed in shorts and a casual shirt. He had flower on his hands, so I assumed (I did not ask) that he was doing some of the baking. The exterior of the building was being painted. Dana told me they just signed a new lease and he seemed very proud of that fact. When I walked inside I thought I was back in the sixties! The paint was apparently very old and the colors were like navy blue in some rooms, orange in others. The furniture was seemingly old.
First Dana introduced me to Crawford Shaw Jr. Very young looking, very tall. We did not speak past introductions. Next, I had a tour of the bakery. There were about six bakers working at one station. The bread shift was finishing up for the day. The pastry people work the 2nd shift. I am not sure if there is a third shift.
The machines used to produce the different types of breads, cakes, cookies, etc. are very old also. They were operational. The freezer was full of product and so was the cooler. The shipping dock was FULL of bread from that days production. BTW, it smelled great in the place.
Next, after the tour we went into a conference room to chat. Dana appeared very open to anything I asked. I will list what we talked about in a numbered arrangement.
1. The Scoby deal is on. Apparently, Massimos does not want to package product in the normal way. When they ship to their coffee shops, they felt that the product was not fresh enough. I asked Dana if in his opinion did he think the competition had fresh cakes and cookies etc. He said its not fresh at all; And that Massimos has very high standards for quality. Massimos and Scoby are working on a new way to package where the air is removed and nitrogen is introduced. This way the food will stay fresh for months. IMO, not a bad idea. Also, Scoby is right down the street, which makes communication much easier. Dana said that Scoby and Massimos are very happy with the progress of their relationship and plan to increase the relationship.
2. Dana said that Massimos could do business with Kroger right now, it is not Kroger that does not want to do business with Massimos. It is a financial decision which I thought was very well thought out by Dana.
3. Massimos is expanding. A truck takes product once per week to Houston and Denver. Dana expects this to increase in volume and in areas that are served.
4. Massimos has satisfied the IRS. They have paid all most all of their fines and have negotiated the elimination of some of the fines. I do not have details. This is just how I understood it. I may not be stating this exactly as it is. I did not probe further.
5. Dana is interviewing individuals for the PR position. He said he had no problem with Jeff Brommer and would have him back, but he thinks that is probably not an option. He said the set up was not right from the beginning. He said he had absolutely nothing against Jeff.
6. And then the most interesting part. Dana told me that he had three hundred franchises in another industry and that he sold them to retire. A friend of his wanted him to invest in Massimos, and because the guy was a good friend, he did. And then he showed me a diagram of how Massimos was run by his friend and how it could never work that way. Then he showed me a diagram of how he became successful in growing his own business (the one he sold to retire). And then he showed me how he used the principles from his previous business and applied it to Massimos. BTW, he inherited the business by a sort of default (he invested millions of his own money and wanted to make the company work) of his friend. I didn't push here for details because it sounded personal to Dana.
7. My impression of Dana Verrill is that he is a very wise and careful business person. I am currently in a very successful business that uses Dana's principles. IMO, Massimos will be successful.
8. I met a line manager that seemed very interested in the success of the company. I think it helps when everyone wants to see success. I believe that Dana would be a very good manager of people as well as business. He is Very down to earth, friendly and open.
To close this very long post I want to invite anyone who would like more details to PM me and I will give you a phone number with which to reach me.
This post is my opinions and my perceptions of what I saw and heard. I may have left out a few details because there was a lot discussed. Frankly, I was worried about Massimos when the stock went to a sell price of .02, but I am not worried in any way now. And that is just my opinion.
Take care,
Kathy McCray |
