Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : RAINFOREST CAFE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Vail who wrote (3893)	1/22/1998 7:34:00 AM
From: SE	Respond to of 4704

Dennis, I have suggested to the BNGO thread organizing and telling management what we want. BNGO is having some management problems like RAIN so I reposted something you did on Yahoo over on the thread. Here is a response I got which you should read. exchange2000.com GO PACK GO! -Scott

To: Dennis Vail who wrote (3893)	1/22/1998 12:39:00 PM
From: J. Kittle	Respond to of 4704

Dennis: Thanks, I'll check it out and bookmark it. Jeff

To: Dennis Vail who wrote (3893)	1/25/1998 11:38:00 AM
From: Dennis Vail	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4704

Here's a repost of Woyanne's latest missive at MF RAIN (aol): Subject: Re: long term & management Date: Sun, Jan 25, 1998 11:13 EST From: Woyanne Message-id: <19980125161300.LAA19257@ladder02.news.aol.com> Rbrown, there's an outside chance that RAIN will announce a new Pres/COO or whatever by the early February earnings announcement, although I wouldn't bank or invest on it. Hopefully, any new leader would have significant control over RAIN including the ability to fire, if need be, Berman's pals. If no new leader is announced, I would propose that interested shareholders take steps to lean on and communicate with the board before the annual meeting. -- If nobody is indeed announced, I will proceed with my announced goal of drafting a proposed agenda for adding pressure on RAIN to hire a satisfactory management team, which I will post to the various BBs tracking RAIN for the consideration of interested shareholders. I would welcome anybody else's efforts on this front and then we can compare notes. My motive is not to rush the company into hiring a less than first class candidate for the Pres/COO position, although the collapse in the stock price likely has done that anyway even if shareholders fail to fire a shot. Rather, I don't think its safe anymore to assume--especially after the company's last weak statement on the issue--that Berman has been or will act to hire the best person for the job. Before the stock crash, he certainly had little external incentive to hire someone on anybody's terms but his own since he controls the entire board. Ideally, I would like to see some non-Berman pals added to the board to add some balance, but that's admittedly an uphill battle that likely will take longer than a few months to achieve--given the massive leg work needed to organize enough shareholders, the likely legal hurdles that would need to be overcome, and the need for support from one or more very large shareholders that I presume at this point are mostly financial institutions. But hey, why not get the ball rolling now. A little networking, and if some large shareholder steps into the fray, we might see changes to the board that are hard to dream about now. -- Speaking of dreaming, imagine, for now, if a couple individuals with strong marketing judgment like our own MF Edible, say from Disney or even Starbucks, had been on the RAIN board since at least early 1996. Its quite easy to imagine that such people might have insisted on a retail director who long ago would have begun to chart an independent course for RAIN's retail section, instead of allowing Ercu Ucan to blindly implement the apparel focused strategy of Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Cafe in RAIN's mall units until it stumbled. -- Its also easy to imagine, if there had been more balance on the board, another voice at least raising the risks to RAIN's credibility of the continued push to raise money without providing any compelling plans for using the funds and evidently with the primary intention of exploiting the willingness of new shareholders' to pay a premium for RAIN shares. I hope all this current mess is forgotten closer to the time RAIN really needs new shareholder funds, because who in their right mind now would pay a decent price for shares in an offering or even fail to consider selling shares in droves if the company were to announce another offering this year. At a minimum, all of us have the option at the annual meeting to vote the board down, and if that does nothing more than show Berman and his pals have little support beyond themselves and a handful of non-interested institutions, I would be satisfied for the short term. Right now, the major problem is a lack of a full-time and respected CEO, COO, or whatever. Oh, on another note, Tysons RAIN was packed yesterday with an 80 minute wait at 6:30. This company is far from being a fad and has found a major niche especially among families--all the more reason to have a top management team to most skillfully pursue this opportunity. Woyanne