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OUCH! These numbers hurt just reading them.
Going from bad to worse.
Regarding the Santa Anita Mall area...I lived five minutes from the Santa Anita Mall for about six years. The mall is next to the Santa Anita Racetrack.
It's a good area with Pasadena (and it's well to do enclave San Marino), Arcadia, Monrovia, San Gabriel, and other cities around it. It's minutes away from the freeway and right by the mountains.
It's maybe 20 or so minutes east of the Glendale store by freeway (no traffic) and can pull from it's local area and by freeway from the east of it and south from Rosemead Blvd., a main north/south corridor.
So, access wise, surface road and freeway access is good.
But, that's all for naught as I don't see Parsi pulling that off.
It'd be nice for them to prove me wrong. But after seeing these numbers, Parsi is not capable of making this company profitable except for himself and the names he rented like Gay and the rest of the "rent a name" gang.
JC, so true. $GIGL has their very own Rainman!
"Giggles...34+28+32, yeah, if this, then that....celeb millions + this, if 100 give or take, then WOW, Yelp, Yelp, Yelp....demand, demand, demand, DEMAND...slam dunk, Yelp, slam dunk, sell your house, yeah, sell your house....140+kid's space....healthy food if that, then this....BOOM....6 cents, yeah 6 cents, if then 6 cents, that 6 cents...Yelp if Yelp, then Yelp..."
Moving along...
It's apparent that people who post these things have no clue how to do business valuations. It's pointless trying to explain it a tenth time.
But it's interesting how people who admit having zero restaurant or start up experience insisting that they found the Holy Grail of restaurant investment strategy. And....that the company or an outside "strategic investor" should actually adopt their strategy! What a hoot!
Imagination rebranded as due diligence. Love it!
If I'm not mistaken, they have started using a PR/investor relations firm of some kind. Maybe someone else can add to this?!?!
Really? Well, I'm an accredited investor and have friends in our business and social network who are considered "whales." Every single one of them spend money but they don't waste it.
One's net worth is not a variable when assessing a deal. For some reason you guys think that wasting money is something people who can afford it are willing to do. Who taught you guys this? Social media?
None of us say "Hey, I know this is a bad deal and we'll lose our investment, but let's throw some money at it because losing it will not put us in the poor house."
No, I've never had that conversation with them. NEVER EVER. But that is what you guys are proposing investors should do with $GIGL.
Maybe the people you know are open to wasting money, then why don't you hit them up for some "rounding error" money? Show them the Yelp reviews! Surely they will jump on this! According to your partner, it's a guaranteed investment with no risk. Why haven't all of Hollywood jumped on it?
Because it's not!
Better yet, ask one of your clients to walk you through how they analyze a deal. Have them show you where their net worth is a variable in their business valuation. Here's a clue...it isn't.
"But the demand is there! The demand is there! Hello? Anyone? The...demand is...anyone listening?....demand is....there....Yelp....demand...anyone????"
No JC, they're just pulling info out of thin air and if two people are on the same website or in the kid's space, they have them riding in on a white horse offering millions of dollars they found in their couch cushions to save $GIGL. You know, because high net worth folks have millions just laying around that they can throw away without regard to how it's spent.
Oh, any businessman located in L.A. is also interested in investing in $GIGL, because, you know, everyone in L.A. just throws millions around too, without any recent financial data to assess.
I haven't heard my daily..."The demand is there! Look at their Yelp reviews!"
Yelp has suddenly become vital financial due diligence in the business world. Who knew? Better than financials!
The demand is there! The demand is there! Ahhhhh, better.
This is really what you first thought of when you woke up? Parsi and Gay?
Damn, that's a horrible visual! LOL
Come on JC, give Honeycomb a break. Look at all the humor he brings to this board!
His daily, and sometimes hourly, random tidbits of completely unrelated data are a hoot!
Who else has the skills to make any entrepreneur or company sound like a $GIGL "strategic investor" with millions of dollars to throw at Parsi at a moments notice? I can't pull that comedy off, can you JC?
I mean, if someone is in L.A., and still has a heartbeat, he tells the best jokes about how they are saving $GIGL. I appreciate the daily laughter he brings. Don't discourage him.
Oh, and hey...I like the one about how going crazy on Google is considered due diligence! That's pure comedy genius stuff! Truly a laugh out loud moment!
He almost convinced me he was serious for a minute! LOL
And wait....wait until he goes through Parsi's friends list on Facebook! We are in for treat! Wahoooo!
And dedication? Who else was going to mortgage his house or sell his grandson to buy more $GIGL stock?
So JC, let Honeycomb slide. He has skills that should be recognized! Comedy Genius!
Oh, okay...you're talking about an increase in volume, not someone accumulating shares.
My mistake.
I get the "what." I was addressing the "who."I thought you had some info that someone was taking a position in the company, but that's not the case. But hey, maybe something will pop up that it is happening.
I can see $GIGL being "in play." (Okay, a little VC sarcasm, I couldn't help myself).
Regarding the catering...
I can't help but think "back up plan." A little parachute for someone if it looks like the plane is going to crash? Haha....
It's kind of a strange move for the brand at this stage, but hey, consider the source. I know they've had it for a while, but it was under the radar.
A children's playscape restaurant and catering business? Do they bring out inflatable bounce houses too? Those are pretty popular in L.A. (Well, they were when I lived there anyway).
So much fun, so little time!
Au contraire. Check my prior post #34523 (italics below) where I did address your accumulation theory.
I'm NOT saying it is or isn't happening (Argumentum ad Ignorantiam), The issue was, what evidence is there that there is a coordinated group or person accumulating? Otherwise it's just guessing and imagination.
But I will add that I don't think there is a Carl Ichan led hostile take over going on for this little unprofitable company. If someone wanted to dump money into this, they could have approached the company directly.
BTW, you posted that I didn't address accumulation. I don't have to address this topic, I didn't post that there is accumulation occurring (you did) so there's nothing for me to prove or address. You made the statement, then you prove that there is if you want proof.
Here's something nice and simple. Parsi is incompetent, it's nothing more complicated or X-Files than that. No government conspiracy. No secret cartel doing a hostile take over. This is what happens when a series of bad decisions are made. Including only looking out for oneself at the expense of the company. This is nothing rare for a penny stock.
Often the most obvious reason is correct.
It's all good though.
*********
ShortsFail Tuesday, 04/03/18 03:50:11 AM
Re: Honeycomb777 post# 34523 0
Post #
34544
of 34680
Regarding accumulation, you ask? I have not seen anything to indicate any one person or persons are in a coordinated effort accumulating shares. Are you just going by volume?
**********
"Argumentum ad Ignorantiam: (appeal to ignorance) the fallacy that a proposition is true simply on the basis that it has not been proved false or that it is false simply because it has not been proved true. This error in reasoning is often expressed with influential rhetoric."
CEO? Well, to answer your question...did Gay take over April 1st? We have no evidence that he did.
(LongTermGiggler, I addressed your question at the bottom of the post).
We do have Parsi announcing the extension and that was done after 4/1/18, when it was should have been the CEO or someone else down the ladder, certainly not the Chairman (Parsi).
So, with what little we have now, no, Gay did not start as the CEO.
Now, if I had to guess...which I hate to do because I don't want to add to the piles of speculation done here but what I posted in my last post is that Gay saw the poor offering results and is rethinking his future with $GIGL.
But with Gay's company/himself getting $5,000 a month, that is an insurance policy that he will stay on in some capacity but it will be in the same responsibility of being a part-timer, regardless of the job title. A part-time CEO will accomplish little.
If Gay didn't have that compensation package, I think he would have bailed out already or planning to in the near future. Of course no one would say that publicly.
To LongTermGiggler:
To answer your question...
The best thing for $GIGL would be to sell to someone with deep enough pockets to turn this around and the people with real business experience who are not ego driven, to turn it around.
But we all know Parsi won't do that. He would drive $GIGL (his baby) into the ground before selling outright.
$GIGL won't survive with him in charge (again, regardless of the job titles here). He has proven to be in over his head. The company went from three to two stores (in the red), have spent $9 million, and can't expand.
Again, they are on life support. This offering might get them out of the ICU but not out of the hospital. It will allow Gay and Parsi to siphon off more money from shareholders for a short time and that's it.
Again, I hope I'm 100% wrong. But my comments are based on what we have to go on today (except for the one speculative statement about Gay).
Good luck!
That's not happening as we discussed before. None of them are investing money of their own.
I know this really confounds you. Maybe if someone else tells you, you might be more open to accepting the answer.
If you can accept that a person's net worth is not a variable when assessing an investment you might understand why they aren't investing. One million dollars (or whatever large amount) is a lot of money to someone who is broke and someone who is a millionaire. You don't see it that way. Until you accept that, you will keep asking yourself the same question every day.
But the proof is in the results. They haven't done it. You think that they should just throw their money around even if the investment assessment doesn't make good financial sense.
Worded another way, smart people don't throw good money after bad. My VC partner is more of a penny pincher than I am and well, he could buy and sell me many, many times over. Many times over! LOL And he has friends who could do the same to him.
Do you think people amassed large fortunes by being frivolous with their money? And yes, a penny stock is not a slam dunk investment no matter how you toss the numbers around.
None of the "You mean to tell me if Joey and Phil put in $500,000 (or whatever amount) the stock wouldn't go up?"
Yes, it's not guaranteed to go up, that's EXACTLY what I am saying. Penny stocks don't react to catalysts like blue chips do. $GIGL has gone up and it's gone down on good news.
As for Jillian and Tia....one, the overall responsibility of promoting the company is not on them. Some of it, yes, but not the overall strategy of putting together a promotional campaign and executing it.
Two, let me tell you about Hollywood based on my swimming in that pool for a decade...$GIGL was hot and had buzz at one time....it had momentum. People in the entertainment industry come out of the woodwork trying to attach to something like that.
Now, $GIGL has no buzz nor any momentum...it's static and on life support. People in Hollywood run away from that to the next big thing...like a monkey swinging on vines, they will swing to the next vine and swing away.
Forget about those two, they are the least of the worries here.
Shareholders need to look at why Gay hasn't made any statements as the CEO and why he wasn't the one to announce or sign off on the extension. People who thought such a big change was going to happen because they switched around the letters on his name plate. Not happening yet and it's looking like it won't happen.
That offering announcement was the perfect time to get started as the new CEO. But guess what? My guess is Gay saw the low offering amount raised and didn't stand up to the plate.
That's my daily take on $GIGL. Love it or hate it.
Whenever I've done consults on smaller new business start ups (like the size of $GIGL, for example) one of the trickiest topics is the entrepreneur's desire to take a salary from day one.
As a general rule for small start ups, I don't think that investors should fund the entrepreneur's salary, I think the business profits itself should.
Of course there are exceptions with larger companies etc., but that's not what we are talking about here.
So, people respond with "If I don't get a salary right away, how am I supposed to live? Pay bills? Eat?" To which I say, if you don't have the means to survive without a salary until you're profitable, then you shouldn't expect someone else (the investor) to pay your bills for you.
I invested in $GIGL despite Parsi's $300,000 salary but it was a HUGE red flag for me. In fact, that's the most obscene penny stock salary I've seen.
My VC partner shook his head on it too and that's why he said "Parsi got his friends, family, and shareholders to fund a company to pay for his job." How can a CEO make more than the company itself?
That tells you everything you need to know about Parsi. He's willing to siphon money from the company, killing the bottom line, for his own benefit.
As I posted a while ago, a district manager for an 8-12+ location Target stores gets $150,000 plus performance bonuses. How can a two store, in the red company get TWICE as much as a district manager of 8-12+ profitable, established company?
As we know it right now, $GIGL is shuffling around chairs on the Titanic. There are two life preservers and Parsi and Gay got them. Parsi's salary and unwillingness to let go of "his baby" even though he's driving $GIGL into the ground is what's keeping him and Gay's $5,000 a month insider sweetheart deal is what's keeping him.
Everything else is just window dressing.
Again, as we know right now. I hope the offering raises its goal of $5 million, but my guess is they will be lucky to raise 1/10th as much.
Well, well, well....Parsi is doing shareholders another favor by giving them another chance to reconsider participating in the offering.
A topic by topic breakdown....
1) Offering
They had only 175 people jump in?
I'd say the average, at best, is about $3,000 per person. Yes, a few of the active people on this board might have put in more, but this is a penny stock we're talking about and penny stock investors.
That comes out to $525,000. Not enough to provide operating funds AND fund even one new store. Each of which would need that much or more so certainly both cannot be accomplished. Plus, first money in goes to the existing stores (and salaries).
Yes, we can all guess at larger participation amounts and an equal argument can be made for lesser amounts. Still a guess. But what we do know is they didn't extend because they were overwhelmed with too much cash.
2) Parsi, the slickest guy in the room? NOT!
The sad part is that Parsi, once again, tried to make it sound like he's doing shareholders a favor by saying it was shareholders who asked for the extension.
Really? Why would they do that? Hint...they didn't.
And $GIGL reported in their filings that there is no back stop.
3) Outcomes?
Well, Parsi will have to choose between keeping his salary flowing or expansion because, at least with the offering, he can't have both (based on his extending the offering).
You think he's going to stop that $300,000 a year money faucet? Hell no! He doesn't care if the company is financially healthy as long as he (and Gay) get PAID!
So, the lights stay on for a while longer, these two make money, and the company doesn't.
And shareholders get screwed!
He's got enough to ward off bankruptcy, for now, but he better just sell $GIGL instead of driving it into the ground.
At this rate, he has proved his incompetence and the failure of the "superstar" team around him.
4) What about Gay?
BTW, Gay wouldn't sign the previous financials because he wasn't the CEO during that time frame but he should have signed the offering extension as the CEO.
But here's the kicker....I think it's 50/50 if Gay to takes over as CEO. If he stays on board, it will only be to protect the $5,000 a month coming in to him/his company. If not for that, he would be bailing about now.
Sorry folks, this is a dead man walking if Parsi doesn't check his ego and either sell outright or find a non-toxic investor to partner with him. Seeing as he turned down some non-toxic investors already, that doesn't seem to be an option. Parsi is going to have to give up some of his shares AND any decision making authority in the company. His decisions are what got this company to this point, so he's not needed moving forward.
They need someone from the outside. Gay hasn't done anything either. I don't care if he walked on the moon ten years ago, he hasn't done anything these last three years (I don't care why, those are just excuses). He and his $5,000/month company would get booted to the curb pronto.
5) So???
You guys thought I was the negative one...but this is going down a deadly path to ZERO if they don't act fast, thoroughly, and in the best interest of the company for a change, no one will be giggling.
Or maybe all of this is wrong and they raised millions! I really want to see a new location announced and an 8-K filed before I declare what I posted as incorrect. Anything short of that, like more of Parsi's fluffy declarations, be it in a paid TV spot, a PR, or on stone tablets from Moses, don't count.
Good luck guys!
A nice spike up to $0.10 would be nice. :)
Great post! Good numbers!
Are you referring to my post? I've been one of Parsi's biggest critics and you guys initially fought me on it. How can you say:
"I think you paint Parsi as invincible"
I did that? Invincible? Remember it was me who brought up his bloated salary, obsession with celebrities/Hollywood/zero execution/etc.
I also pointed out that his recent title change along with Gay's new title mean nothing because both of their job responsibilities have not changed. Parsi is the the full-time person and Gay, as CEO, is still part-time.
Maybe you were thinking of someone else but it definitely wasn't me who painted a picture of Parsi being invincible.
But hey...it's all good. There's a lot of people on here with different opinions.
Regarding accumulation, you ask? I have not seen anything to indicate any one person or persons are in a coordinated effort accumulating shares. Are you just going by volume?
Same goes with voting control, annual meetings, etc. This is a penny stock on life support, I don't expect anything to go according to normal business practices. Whether it matters or not is irrelevant until they happen. $GIGL needs to keep the lights on (and the salaries flowing), I don't think they are worried about annual meetings, etc.
Regarding all these back door scenarios you've been proposing? I really don't see anyone of any means who would go through all this time, effort, and expense to back door $GIGL. We've run the numbers (my VC partner and I), and doing the share scenarios you have proposed isn't worth it.
I know you, as a shareholder, think it is. But us, as investors, do not. Not that route. That's why no one has done it. It's not financially responsible no matter how many different ways you manipulate the numbers, it's throwing good money after bad trying anything that way. The risk/reward doesn't balance right.
The only way this makes sense is to invest in it as a turn around project with a very specific business plan with this strategy. (No toxic financing either). However, Parsi doesn't see it that way. He's caught up in the Yelp reviews and celeb customers.
So it's really a waste of time ruminating on things that have not happened. There is:
1) no known strategic investor(s)
2) no known accumulators
3) no backstop (per their filings)
What we see is what we have as of right now which means nothing has changed and we don't know how much money has been raised.
Once again, we are in a holding pattern until the offering results come out. I hope $GIGL can pull a rabbit out of their hat. But the longer we don't hear about the offering amount, the more likely it is bad news.
Thanks. I'll check it out. I know they've been talking about it.
They have mentioned that. How far off do we think they are on accomplishing uplisting?
The reason the mall deals didn't get done is because they aren't rolling out the "red carpet" like Parsi claims they are.
(BTW, it's all good for us to agree, we both want the same thing here, we just track it differently).
Remember we found out afterwards that the malls didn't like $GIGL's financials and that's why they didn't move forward on funding them?
If Gay is the deal maker that everyone claims he is, why didn't he get anything done in three years? He had one job, one task since Feb. 2015...expand. He failed. What did he do for three years? NOTHING!
He even has a funding company! And he still couldn't swing it? How messed up is that? He didn't trust $GIGL enough to arrange funding for it?
That really says it all. If their own people who arrange funding wouldn't do it, why the hell would someone outside the company? Well, at least two parties tried and Parsi couldn't get that done either.
If there are 300 requests for franchises, are we to believe NOT ONE deal out of 300 could be done? Really?
See the pattern here? I don't believe anything that Parsi said. I can think of (and have closed on) numerous ways to structure a deal to get one store started under these circumstances. So why can't this superstar team do the same?
"Been there, done that?" Well, not this time.
To sum it up...inexperience, incompetence, and/or intentionally bilking this penny stock for the bloated salary that Parsi earns is what is happening here. Take your pick.
You want more proof? Look at how poorly executed this offering was. No deals to announce, then they attach another "advisor" at the end of the offering. That was a 100% waste of time, effort, and who knows how many shares that they will be giving this guy.
This offering is a joke. Gay failed. Parsi failed. The entire superstar team failed.
And we, the shareholders, are expected to bail them out by giving them MORE money with zero stipulations on how it's spent.
That's where we are at right now until proven otherwise.
(And it would be awesome if they do prove otherwise)
Rant complete.
Great post. Okay, let's run with those thoughts....
Could have the mall sales delayed or killed any negotiations they had with $GIGL?
Delayed it? Definitely. That's almost a given. Killed it? Two arguments can be made for this.
As we all know, it is common in business for pending deals during a sale to be shelved. Especially ones that incur expenses with no immediate return on the expense, like fronting construction money to a tenant. This outlay of money would be a long-term benefit but not short-term.
What about after the acquisition is completed?
As I mentioned, there are a couple ways to look at this.
1) The new company could pick up where the past company left off in the negotiations and implement the original plan of funding the $GIGL construction.
or
2) The new company doesn't buy into the idea of fronting construction costs and never revisits the deal and it's dead (dead, as in they won't front construction costs).
The concern here is that when a company takes over another one, they first look to cut expenses right off the bat. One of the advantages of combining companies is reduced operating costs and other expenses because you can eliminate duplicity of roles (fire redundant staff), reduce operational costs, etc.
At the same time or after that, they could look at how they can improve the management and physical aspects of the business. This is where they can either buy into paying for $GIGL to open in their mall(s) or not.
Okay, that's just the general way acquisitions work. Another thing to consider is if the person who was quarterbacking the deal before the acquisition is still with the company after the sale is complete. And, if they are, how confident do they feel about pushing the deal up the ladder with the new company management? That's a tricky dynamic. Careers can be built or destroyed on such topics.
There are other moving parts to consider as well but I probably put everyone to sleep already so I'll wrap this up.
Summary:
I think that for sure any prior deal the mall companies had with $GIGL before the sale would have at the very least been delayed. That we can say with very strong certainty. What happens if it is revisited, if they kill or or pick it up again and run with it, remains to be seen.
Until we have evidence indicating a direction, we are in another holding pattern on this topic.
New topic..regarding expansion
Since the $GIGL team is so small, they would be spreading themselves too thin if they expand outside of the L.A./SoCal area at this time. They don't have the manpower to place a completely new team in another state. I think they should open a new location in SoCal until they build up their team and operational efficiency.
Orange County would be a great area for an upscale healthy food option playscape store.
Nothing screams upscale/healthy/families/eating out more than the OC!
The advantages are:
1) It's close enough so that the current team can oversee the start up and managing of the location without sacrificing the L.A. stores.
2) It perfectly fits the $GIGL core demographic.
3) It's still close enough to L.A. to get Jillian and other celebrities involved (Although I think the celeb angle is overplayed, Jillian is the brand ambassador).
4) I think the bad weather issue is overplayed. You can't build a restaurant business hoping for bad weather. It should stand on its own in any reasonable area (not including the North Pole, for example).
I apologize for the long email. I have to cram all I can into one email/day.
"Last post from me (until Monday morning)...really, last one until then."
Awww, you missed us that much!?!?! LOL
Honeycomb777 Thursday, 03/29/18 10:39:49 PM
Re: None 0
Post #
34467
of 34495
Last post from me (until Monday morning)...really, last one until then.
So, let's review, you say? I like this game. You should do this weekly! I see a YouTube channel in your future!
What have any of these people done for $GIGL over the years?
Oh that's an easy one. NOTHING. ZERO. The fact that "they've been there, done that before" makes it even worse that they didn't do one darn thing for $GIGL but they have done things for other companies in their past.
So, inexperience doesn't excuse them.
As to the list of L.A. folks, two or more people living in L.A. doesn't mean anything. Until we have proof otherwise, we have nothing.
We need a real deal in writing. That's the only thing that matters here.
Was that sarcasm LTG? If not, then thank you. LOL
I waited to see if the company made any changes before I got rid of all but 5% of my original position. I'll ride my remaining house shares for a bit but I was going to hold on to the other house shares I had, but the company did absolutely nothing of substance to indicate they are moving forward so I sold my second tranche this week.
Maybe they will announce something in the next couple weeks but they totally botched this offering. In fact, it was almost a textbook case on how not to get shareholders interested in the company.
I make decision based on facts at hand and what we have now is, well, more of the same that has been there for three years that accomplished nothing.
When the founder is netting more per month than the company itself, there is a huge problem. As my VC friend/partner said:
"Parsi got his friends, family, and shareholders to fund an overpaid job for himself."
Once again, $300,000 a year to Parsi for an unprofitable penny stock is obscene.
And this offering is more of the same. Now, a part-time CEO who had one job to do for the last three years, expand the company. Hell, his own company could have arranged the funding! Gay accomplished neither.
I hope they prove me wrong and our shares skyrocket but they should have worked out a deal with at least one or two malls to start pre-construction the second the offering books the total they have to work with.
Parsi said they worked on this offering for a year. That is a year of leg work for at least one location they could have done already. I bet they haven't done a thing except some phone calls.
To Honeycomb, in response to your question about Gay hiring his own company to do the $GIGL accounting, yes, as I laid out in a previous post, the sweetheart deal with Gay and his company is definitely a conflict of interest.
He's overpaying his own company/him to do work for $GIGL. Even if $GIGL paid them market rates, it would be a conflict of interest. But $5,000 a month is obscene as well.
I can refer them to a large, well known tax firm down the street from their Glendale location (Glenoaks Blvd.) that would charge a fraction of what Gay is paying his own company. I used them when I had a couple companies in California and they are reasonable and good.
So it goes in OTC penny land. A good concept but the wrong people to execute it and they are profiting at the shareholders expense.
Since you asked...it's not too simple, (slotting fees) but $GIGL is only two stores so, unfortunately, it's not financially realistic in the current business landscape to charge what is called a "slotting fee."
"Slotting fees are common practice in regional and larger food chains."
For someone like $GIGL, they don't have the exposure to demand such a slotting fee (according to what manufacturers are looking for). Plus, they're not a supermarket, but that's another issue we'll let slide for now.
Of course $GIGL can offer to carry anyone's products and they arrange a sales split, return agreement, spoilage etc. but there is no way they will get any slotting fees, let alone $175,000-300,000. $GIGL is not there yet. One day, we hope (since I am a shareholder), but not now.
Reference:
A slotting fee, or slotting allowance, pay-to-stay, or fixed trade spending is a fee charged to produce companies or manufacturers by supermarket distributors (retailers) in order to have their product placed on their shelves. The fee varies greatly depending on the product, manufacturer, and market conditions. For a new product, the initial slotting fee may be approximately $25,000 per item in a regional cluster of stores, but may be as high as $250,000 in high-demand markets.
In addition to slotting fees, retailers may also charge promotional, advertising and stocking fees. According to an FTC study, the practice is "widespread" in the supermarket industry.
Many grocers earn more profit from agreeing to carry a manufacturer's product than they do from actually selling the product to retail consumers.
According to retailers, fees serve to efficiently allocate scarce retail shelf space, help balance the risk of new product failure between manufacturers and retailers, help manufacturers signal private information about potential success of new products, and serve to widen retail distribution for manufacturers by mitigating retail competition. Vendors charge that slotting fees are a move by the grocery industry to profit at their suppliers' expense.
Some companies argue that slotting fees are unethical as they create a barrier to entry for smaller businesses that do not have the cash flow to compete with large companies. The use of slotting fees can, in some instances, lead to abuse by retailers such as in the case where a bakery firm was asked for a six figure fee to carry its items for a specific period with no guarantee its products would be carried in future periods.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slotting_fee
PR out today: Petrogress, Inc. (PGAS) Expanding Downstream Crude Oil Processing in Ghana with its New Feedstock Supply and Processing Agreement;
Mar 28, 2018 09:00:00 (ET)
http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/03/28/1454724/0/en/Petrogress-Inc-PGAS-Expanding-Downstream-Crude-Oil-Processing-in-Ghana-with-its-New-Feedstock-Supply-and-Processing-Agreement.html
Petrogress, Inc. (PGAS) Expanding Downstream Crude Oil Processing in Ghana with its New Feedstock Supply and Processing Agreement;
-- Petrogress' Subsidiary Signs Partnership Agreement with a Ghanaian oil refinery and processing company
-- Forecasts indicate that the value of the Ghanaian oil and gas industry will triple to US$60 Billion by 2022
New York, March 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Petrogress, Inc. (OTC: PGAS) Petrogress, Inc.'s subsidiary, Petrogress Co., Ltd. (PGL), has entered into a Partnership Agreement with Platon Gas Oil Ghana. PGL anticipates delivery of 3,000-5,000 metric tons of crude oil each month to Platon's facilities for storage and processing into diverse petroleum products. Petrogress will participate in refinery expansion plans and, with Platon, will market and distribute the refined petroleum products in Ghana and neighboring countries.
Petrogress believes the partnership with Platon should
-- Grow sales and net profits for Petrogress, while providing assurances of continued transactions and secured sales
-- Provide for significant production upgrading at the refinery, going from current processing capacity of 75,000 barrels per month to 200,000 barrels per month
-- Widen Petrogress' presence in the refining oil sector, as production expands to meet the huge demand in West Africa for refined petroleum products Petrogress expects significant opportunities in West Africa. The Economist (http://nnw.fm/J9S3v), reports that Ghana holds special promise for long-term development prospects, noting that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) forecasts the value of the Ghanaian oil and gas industry will triple to US$60 Billion by 2022. The Jubilee production region remains active, and the Mahogany, Teak, and Akasa discovery regions in the nation's west are being developed by major international producers. The country's Petroleum Commission has allocated rights to develop 16 other fields (http://nnw.fm/Z9V9o), including the Saltpond Field, in which Petrogress has an interest.
Petrogress Principal and CEO, Mr. Christos P. Traios, stated, "We are excited about our partnership with Platon and believe it is an excellent opportunity for Petrogress to not only expand its West Africa supply operations but also to join with a strong, experienced refinery partner. The needs and demand for refined petroleum products in Ghana and neighboring countries already exceeds local capacity and grows consistently. Our companies' combined facilities, assets and services are not only expected to provide for enhanced revenue streams, but also strengthen our footprint in West Africa."
About Petrogress, Inc.
Petrogress, Inc. (OTC: PGAS) is a fully-integrated oil and gas company based in New York City. It trades, ships and refines crude oil in West Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, and is a global merchant of petroleum products The company operates chiefly as a holding company for its operating subsidiaries: Petrogres Co. Limited and Petronav Carriers LLC, which own and operate its tanker fleet; Petrogress Oil & Gas Energy, Inc., an oil and gas production company; and Petrogress Int'l, LLC, the owner and manager of Petrogres Africa Co. Limited, which operates service and shipping facilities at the Port of Tema, Greater Accra, in Ghana, and PG Cypyard & Offshore Terminal Services Ltd., which operates similar facilities at Limassol, in Cyprus. Petrogress connects producers and end-users of commodities, concentrating on the supply and trade of light petroleum fuel oil (LPFO), refined oil products, and other petrochemical products to local refineries, employing its market knowledge, logistics, and infrastructure to move physical commodities from places of abundance to where they are in demand.
About PGL
Petrogres Co. Limited, is a Marshall Islands corporation. PGL operates as an international merchant of petroleum products specializing in crude oil and refined products trade within West African and Mediterranean countries, with a focus on the supply and trade of light petroleum fuel oil, refined oil products and other petrochemical commodities. Such products are shipped and delivered by its four beneficially-owned affiliated vessels.
About PGO
Platon Gas Oil Ghana Limited, a limited liability company incorporated in Ghana, is the current owner and operator of storage tank and refinery facilities in Ghana, in which it stores and refines petroleum products and distributes such products to local customers. PGO presently has the capacity to refine up to 10,000 metric tons of petroleum products or 75,000 barrels per month.
I hope you're right about the $0.032. I'm not getting in the offering but it's a nice green position for another move for me.
We don't have anything solid, definitive, or specific from the company about any forward progress at this time. A few buzzword generalities doesn't count.
I'm sure they know to throw around "synergy," "healthy food options," and a few others to keep people on the edge of their seats.
Another option:
I would have handled this offering differently. I would have worked out a deal for my next location before the offering. I would make it "subject to funding" and announce the signed deal before or right after the offering began. (I'm sure they will be able to raise enough for one store, and if not, they can come up with the balance).
Can you imagine what would have happened to the stock price AND interest in the offering if they had a signed deal (not an LOI or MOU but an actual signed deal with a closing scheduled) for the next location before the offering started?
Both the price and interest in the offering would have skyrocketed.
A "subject to funding" clause?
BTW, a "subject to funding" clause is SOP. I put them in all my real estate and business deals. This is something everyone does who knows what they are doing. It allows you an "out clause' if you're not able to raise funding to close the deal. There is no penalty for this.
Critics say...
Wait for it...."Well Shorts, what if they don't raise enough money for one location? The stock will tank then!"
If between the offering and Gay, Parsi, and the rest kicking in some funds they still don't have enough to open one store, then guess what, the offering will be worse off if they aren't announcing one new store vs. announcing one new store.
In other words, if they don't raise enough to open one new store, then the company doesn't expand no matter what...announcing a new store or not announcing one, if the offering tanks so does the company. They are just keeping the lights on and pocketing their salaries/shares for a few more months. Either way, if they don't raise enough then they don't expand. But getting a deal ahead of time gives the offering a far better chance of raising more money.
Now we just have some of the same old rhetoric from 2015 onward but with the same people doing the same thing with different signs on their doors.
Conspiracy theory?
Some are suggesting they spent a year and who knows how much money doing this offering but intentionally wanting no one to be interested for some sinister conspiracy that is way more time, effort, and money than just doing a legitimate partnership or deal to begin with. I've never heard of a fake offering for whatever reason but to each his own.
Incompetence explains?
I think some people don't want to accept incompetence by $GIGL. But how many years and $9 million later and they have only two stores. I'm not sure what more evidence one needs to show that incompetence explains a lot. There is evidence for that.
Or you could call the funding company and see what they say about loaning $GIGL some money for expansion.
This is far more productive than yelping at Parsi.
They fund all kinds of companies small and large including franchisees and franchisors.
Make sure you tell them how much demand there is!
Let us know what they say!
For your convenience, here's the link again:
https://www.applepiecapital.com/
Disclaimer: I am NOT affiliated with this company in any way, shape, or form and do not receive compensation from them.
So did you contact the funding company? What did they say?
Contact these people and see what they say:
https://www.applepiecapital.com/
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LTG--Who needs the SEC and their silly laws when you can just make up stuff without any evidence to support it and repeat it on here daily (random guessing isn't evidence).
Desperation fuels the imagination. There is no grand behind the scenes Gordan Gekko takeover of $GIGL going on. All these people are getting free shares, they're not going to start buying them now no matter what percentage it gives them or how many free warrants they can get.
It's just not happening. Anyone who had the resources to do any of these grand schemes hasn't done it already so that potential well is dry.
I know, I know...."It's a great concept, the demand is there, read their Yelp reviews" we are reminded on a daily basis.
Guess what? The numbers are not there. Again showing that execution trumps everything.
Okay, well, let's walk through those three points and see what we come up with.
#1 Adding another title to Gay's door doesn't mean a thing. Actions/execution, not words, really is what gets a company built. He had the job title of Business Development, solely responsible for expanding the company since Feb. 2015 and didn't execute, so I'm not moved by a switch in titles but with the same EXACT responsibilities.
#2 I don't recall any confusion/uncertainty about Gay's compensation, it was spelled out as $5,000 a month (cash/stock). My point was for a company to do accounting for two locations should cost about $5,000 a year, not per month and the fact that he's paying his own company to do this is, by definition, a conflict of interest.
I have more than two companies, plus numerous holdings....exponentially more accounting/tax work than $GIGL and I don't pay anywhere near $5,000/month. In fact, I used a large, well known tax firm down the street from the $GIGL Glendale location (Glenoaks Blvd., you locals will know it). They were expensive but again, no where near what Gay is paying his own company.
#3 If Parsi wants to distance himself from the company, appointing himself Chairman is the opposite of that. Resigning from the company is distancing himself. Appointing himself chairman is nothing more than shuffling one title for another but changing nothing else.
If they were seriously trying to turn around this company, Parsi would have resigned immediately. Gay would have also resigned from his position at his company and became full-time CEO at $GIGL immediately so he could lead the offering. But it spells out in the filings that Gay will continue to work at his company while being $GIGL CEO.
What company tries to expand using one part-time CEO and little to no support staff? No successful companies do.
You know why you haven't heard of any? Because the companies failed and disappeared.
There is no backstop though. In one of their recent filings, they specifically made the update that there is no backstop.
I know some people (not you) said that $GIGL is lying and there is a backstop. But, until we see otherwise, I prefer written company documentation over an outsider's opinion.
"Page 27, The Rights Offering-Determination of Subscription Price: Deletion of reference to backstop purchaser. There is no backstop purchaser."
https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=76896414
Also, some suggested they have some deal(s) in the works but are intentionally withholding these deals from us. They cannot sit on that information and disclose it later for dramatic effect. Legally they have to report that material event(s) by 8-K within four days.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/8-k.asp
So, legally, what we see now (nothing) is what we get until we see proof otherwise.
True Todd. Plus, to be able to comment on the investment community, one should be an investor. Not on the sidelines flicking arrows at others.
Agreed, much better.
Total $ volume today? $17,370 WOW! Someone's getting rich!
Great post. I agree with the issues you raise and have posted them before.
Regarding Gay as the CEO, it states in the filings he will continue in his role working for his company while he does the $GIGL job. That's why I keep posting that nothing has changed in his job responsibilities with $GIGL.
The PR from Feb. 2015 lists the same EXACT responsibilities as his "CEO" position.
It's on record that he's still working for his company (that's where I learned this, not just opinion, but fact) and who do you think his first priority to is? His company or one that he's a part-timer with?
Why do you think that Gay pays his company/himself $5,000 a month to do accounting for two stores? What Gay/Gay's company gets per month I don't even pay per year for numerous companies and holdings.
Gay and Parsi are doing great at the expense of $GIGL and ultimately, us, the shareholders. This offering is more of the same...keep their money coming in.
That's why they wouldn't accept any investor money with stipulations that funding was only to be used for expansion, NOT salaries/operating costs.
That says everything right there.
This is a pretty common theme in penny stocks with less than ethical management. They make big money while the company bleeds.
You performed right on cue.
I wrote: "I know you will try to twist my words..."
And gosh darn, you did exactly that!
Bravo!
You don't prove a negative. That's Intro to Logic second week of class.
Absence of the event is proof it didn't happen.
I know you will try to twist my words but I'm not going to play that game. As of right now, split has been announced. There is your "proof."
Looks like that's it. The paid promo on Fox. Poof! When you have a one month window, you don't wait, you should have a full court press campaign going on, not a one hit wonder.
Yeah, it would be nice if it just reached it's true value. That's how penny land goes. LOL
Various values have been tossed about from $0.10 to $0.20+.