Comments on: Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers

By: Cena To Gone? : Meal Assembly Watch

Cena To Gone? : Meal Assembly Watch — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:46:05 +0000

[...] happenstance I came across this article and was quite taken with the statistics. If you remember, Cena knew how to work the business and [...]

By: Kelly aka MM

Kelly aka MM — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:42:38 +0000

Question-How do you “expand ” a meal assembly business by removing the “meal assembly” part

By: sean

sean — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:43:56 +0000

…two teachers who were co-founder of Cena To Go Gourmet- “rushed this thing into franchising-so their future franchisees wouldn’t be left-out”
I’d imagine their franchisees are thanking their lucky stars that the teachers were looking out for them!

By: Kellyakamm

Kellyakamm — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:40:32 +0000

An article that talks about the Cena brand is found on their website, it says that two teachers who were co-founder of Cena To Go Gourmet- “rushed this thing into franchising-so their future franchisees wouldn’t be left-out”

By: Kellyakamm

Kellyakamm — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:35:39 +0000

I guess the numbers don’t look so GOOD now huh?

Cena expands meal-assembly business to include bistro

By My-Ly Nguyen
Press & Sun-Bulletin
JOHNSON CITY — Cena, which offers ready-to-cook meals at its site at 201 Oakdale Road, said it has expanded its business to include a bistro.

Cena Fresh Bistro offers lunch and dinner for dine in or take out. Owner Fran Cianciosi said it’s an upscale, affordable eatery featuring organic salads, gourmet sandwiches and soups, and other items.

Cena originally opened as a meal-prep business in Johnson City in October 2007. Cianciosi said he wasn’t getting enough customer traffic so he expanded the business to include the bistro.

Make and Take Gourmet, a meal-assembly business that opened in Vestal last August, closed in May, less than a year after opening. The reasons for the closing were undetermined; Make and Take representatives were unavailable for comment at the time.-I BET they were!!!

Because of the added in-house dining, Cena will no longer be offering public meal assembly sessions or private parties, the business said on its Web site. Gourmet to Go pre-assembled meals still are available for order and pick up.

By: Kelly aka MM

Kelly aka MM — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:46:06 +0000

IMP-I like that -in my opinion-
MAK’s fall in the hell no category-but you didn’t give me that option so I would say completely non-viable.

By: sean

sean — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:27:18 +0000

Kelly wrote: Here is my problem with the word “profitable” and maybe someone can give me the correct term so I quit using the term that is obviously wrong…How do you define the way that MAK store owners in VAST numbers can’t take a salary out of their store to pay themselves-they end up working for free? When I say “show us a way to make our store profitable,” that is what I mean…So what is the correct term for that?
Kelly: What you’re referring to could be called a “viable business model.” While it’s not the responsibility of a franchisor to “make a franchisee profitable,” it is their responsibility to provide an opportunity that is not fundamentally flawed, that is doomed from the start or is not based on a “viable business model.” Here’s the difference:
Zee buys a Buck-a-Burger franchise. While no one’s getting rich off a single store, stores that follow the system, have average locations, can pay a modest manager’s salary breakeven at $200K, show a profit of 15% at $300K and 20% at $500K.
The BAB franchisor has provided a business model that can be profitable under normal circumstances. If the Zee makes his Corvette payments through the business, or doesn’t manage his labor costs, gets ten new competitors or didn’t realize he opened in a vegetarian neighborhood, his unprofitability is not BAB’s fault. It is an “opportunity.”
However, if it turns out that each BuckaBurger costs the average owner $1.25 to make until they are doing $1M in sales and the only ones doing that are in airports or highway rest stops, the neighborhood BuckaBurger model isn’t viable.

Sometimes it can be a grey area. Even if a concept is viable in a high income, trendy neighborhood, it might not be in a middle class neighborhood or a small town.

Other concepts, like the eBay Drop-off stores, aren’t grey at all. Their cost structure makes profitability near impossible.

The question is, which is the MAK franchise?

By: Kelly aka MM

Kelly aka MM — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:41:23 +0000

I had a discussion with Mindy about Sean’s comment about “profitability” and whether a franchisee should be dependent on the ZOR to make them profitable…I keep using the word profitable and I think I need to clarify…no I don’t think that you should hold the Zor responsible for not becoming profitable. I truly understand what Sean and some others are saying…
Here is my problem with the word “profitable” and maybe someone can give me the correct term so I quit using the term that is obviously wrong…How do you define the way that MAK store owners in VAST numbers can’t take a salary out of their store to pay themselves-they end up working for free? When I say “show us a way to make our store profitable,” that is what I mean, show us how to get our stores in the position that they are grossing enough so that the that the store owners actually get fairly compensated for the time they work. I know I can hear the backlash now….”it takes 3-5 years before a business can” statistic. yeah, yeah yeah…Does that really mean that any and all franchisees and small business owners never see a paycheck for 1-5 years into a business? Have I somehow missed a vital piece of the puzzle? Or is this just a MAK phenomenon?
So what is the correct term for that?
I know one owner who sometimes grosses $500-1000 over her monthly costs on a inconsistent basis (she is the only one to date that I know who does this)
No one can make a nice little side income on that when you realize that she is not paying herself anything, that $500-1000 IS her pay in the months she is able to gross that much.
Store owners in the MAK business are growing poorer and poorer every month they are in business. The only ones getting paid consistently are the Franchisors.

By: sean

sean — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:50:18 +0000

David:
You’re trying too hard, man.
Defending the royalty and ad fee because it’s not as bad as income tax – which they have to pay too?
Why not compare it to, say, genocide? It’s not as bad as that, either.
I’ve been launching and marketing franchise companies for two decades. I’m a big believer in LSM, Guerilla Marketing, Four Walls Marketing, Neighborhood Marketing, Permission Marketing,1:1 marketing, Relentless Promotional Marketing and all variations in between. I believe that franchisees with good concepts are responsible for their own success, and need to conquer the 5-10 miles around their store.
That said, the best marketing in the world can’t help a concept that people don’t need. Guerilla marketing can get people in the door to try it. It can remind them of their experience and incentivize them to come back. But it can’t make them buy something they don’t need.
David: once your marketing gets people in the door, how many of them come back? How often do the come back? And how much do they spend?
My guess is that the real problem here is that your target customers just aren’t that into meal prep. They love the idea, but aren’t compelled to do it regularly.

By: Kelly aka MM

Kelly aka MM — Sat, 03 May 2008 21:52:44 +0000

Okay David you are obviously a marketing guy-How about YOU come up with a valid way of marketing the Meal Assembly Industry that works for the Zees and makes ZEES profitable?
I would venture to say there isn’t one-do you want to know why?? Well even if you don’t want to, I’ll tell ya.
I have LITTLE confidence in an industry that boasts several Franchisors that were Marketing Professionals BEFORE becoming ZORS.
UH WHAT??
If MARKETING professionals turned ZORS can’t find an effective way to make their ZEES profitable and not just themselves;(ZORS have ways of cutting costs to stay “profitable” that Zees do not-they just fire staff and move into a home, home office), then I would venture an educated guess that it can’t be done- and this with the summer season coming and Meal Assembly Zees are going to go through a blood bath of closures this summer and fall…
My ex-Zor has indicated his doubts that his franchise network will survive intact through the summer…what is he offering his remaining zees?
A website… BFD… I will guarantee you that he and his lovely wife won’t forgo their royalties anytime before each 5-year contract they have with their Zees are up.
Sean, a marketing guy indicates he thinks this industry is a dog…he is the smartest,savvy marketing guys, I have ever met. That makes me think that the marketing pprofessional who have started Meal Assembly companies as franchisors are either inept(my vote), egotistical(can I choose two?-because this one gets my vote too), or are just on the take-(bingo the tri-fecta)!
Where do you fit in the above?
Gorilla Marketing, WOMM, Field Of Dream Mentality or Positive Thinking crap are someone else’s ideas or concept, that MA’s franchisors have high-jacked and tried to pawn off on their Zees as viable ways to market their businesses; Here’s a novel idea, how about giving sotre owners something they can actually use to make this dog of a business profitable?
High tax rates for most Zees is not a high priority problem because they aren’t making the vast amounts of money that their Zors are to have taxed now are they??