Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Me as well. Financials really can't lie, given the regulations in the US. Realistically, they can prove all of us this is the company we all invested once in. It really comes down to communicating to the marketplace!
If anyone at UPZS reads the board and gets upset, they really should consider what they've promised, and then they'll understand the shareholders frustrations. 180 stores by this years end was a big #, and probably shouldn't have been released (not to beat a dead horse). They now have to prove it.
In the end their product is really good, and if they get the stores built this company can still be a success. I'd love to see a PR on all the Fidler is doing to help grow this business as well, that would surely help investor confidence
IMO
PA- I'd be amazed if we saw anything over $2M in cash in the coffer at UPZS. They wouldn't need to sell shares currently if that was the case. It seems to me that their burn rate is fairly high, but we won't know until the financials come out. Here we are, May 7, no financials. It really is disheartening. They told me they'd be done in January, then on the February call, BV said "30 days," they don't seem to have a clue as to how the process works.
I want to see how much $$$ they've made via royalties on the few stores that they do have open. I want to see the salaries being paid to the top 2-3 officers. I want to see cash on hand. There is so much that will be displayed by these financials.
I'm just not terribly confident right now in the leadership of the company, though the food is very good... They need someone to intervene and take control of the operations of the firm, in my opinion. They seem to have a lot of talent within the firm, though...
Why no conference call??? Why no PR on the Milwaukee store opening (surely good news!)??? The lack of communication is so concerning to me as an investor. The 'blind trust' factor is gone in my book.
good luck, and all IMO
No problem. I also brought over half a pizza and shared it a day later with a bunch of family members, and they all marveled at it, said it was very good food. Some of them are also investors on my recommendation - so that's nice... Even though the stock is now at $.05 per share, they like the pie!
The food will create a nice reputation, I just hope the boys can remain solvent enough to break-even. I'm so concerned right now about that.
Good luck, let's hope for some communication this week.
All IMO
Visit to new Milwaukee Store.
This weekend I was able to visit the Milwaukee Brady Street location for a meal. It was a small shop, to say the least, but in a really good location, IMO. The food was very good, as expected, and a couple of items were tried.
I believe that Grace B (daughter of owner) was in there working as well as 3-4 other workers. They had a big sign "Drivers Wanted" on the window.
The food, again, was quite good, and the service was pretty acceptable. I think that they will do quite well, as they haven't even advertised yet and the store had OK traffic...
I know it's a quick update, but it is indeed open for business, and they seem to have gotten off to a good start. Next time I'm around I'll be stopping by again for dinner!
Good luck, all IMO
Not sure of the exact #, but last share cert we saw it was in the high hundreds of millions. They are selling shares now... That in itself doesn't increase the amt of authorized, but does increase the amount of outstanding which matters for valuation purposes.
R/S
Absolutely, in my opinion. We really aren't talking about minimum share prices for the BB here, folks. They have authorized yet more shares, they are indeed for sale, but who would buy restricted shares at $.05 when you can buy them on the market for the same price and have them liquid? They originally probably thought they could issue shares til the cows came home, and R/S around $1... Well. $1 is a long ways away now... A R/S anything under $.75 would be an absolute nightmare in my book. But... Now, @ $.75 we'd have a market cap of $450M or so, which is very frothy and the size of other very large and proven chain. I don't see this valuation anytime soon, but hope I'm wrong.
JV clearly (IMO) doesn't have a lot of insight into the capital structure of a business, or he'd be more cognizant of the affect of dilution on everyone's shares, including his. A big share game has been played here, first, and foremost, with FC. They obviously made out just fine. No financials, no confidence. No press release on the Milwaukee store. I know it is open cause I went there! Why on earth they wouldn't let the market know about this achievement is beyond me.
If they can't afford to put out a press release on a store opening, the most important event this company could ask for, then what is one to think?
Jim NEEDS to communicate when this next CC is going to be. Yet another thing he has promised but hasn't followed up on. Doesn't make him a bad guy, but just a typical salesguy with minimal follow-up skills.
The share structure is completely and utterly broken at this point in time. A R/S is all but guaranteed in my book. I've been in a lot of investments, and start-ups, and the abuse of the shares in this company is completely flagrant and will ultimately hurt the first shareholders more than anyone else...
Good luck. All IMO
Where is the press release on the Milwaukee store opening? Nothing under their public press releases to the market, and nothing on their website. I just got back into town and wanted to read the PR, but nothing there. Boy is that discouraging. Maybe they didn't want to cough up the cash to put the PR out?? Is Milwaukee really open?
I'm thinking about driving there this weekend to check it out, but we'll see how things go. Look forward to hearing more about the opening, but PO'd there is nothing publicly stated. How else will other potential investors know of their progress?
The beat goes on.
IMO
Milwaukee opens tomorrow!
I will be out of the country or would have been at the grand opening... I intend to head up there next weekend though, and will try to give detailed feedback to everyone. Wishing I could have gotten the chance to meet with mgmt but since it was pushed from the middle of April my schedule didn't allow.
Will loop back next weekend
all imo
We don't have a couple of years to get this figured out, they will deplete their cash long before that. This is not McDonald's where we have a few billion dollars in the bank. They realistically have until the end of this quarter, in my opinion, to show real growth and some revenues. They are supposed to open the Milwaukee store this week, what a shocker that they haven't communicated it out... I know a ton of folks that would attend the opening, but apparently it isn't happening... Maybe it is... Guess what, we don't know.
I love the optimism, but if operations don't improve I can't imagine how we can discuss a few years out at this rate... As for permits, they'd better figure it out. Excuses won't save the company nor make money appear on their balance sheet out of thin air... It sounds like folks trying to justify their investment and make other's 'believe' their point-of-view... At least that's what it seems like to me.
We'll see what tomorrow brings. All is my opinion...
FC is irrelevant now.
They took the money they made by dumping UPZS and clearly are putting it to work elsewhere. I give them no credit for anything. If they are working on an Austin store, so be it. I wish they'd cut ties altogether. Maybe we should all buy stock in GTP so when they pump it up we can make some $$ back. HA!
All IMO
Nope... Need to be a subscriber to the magazine... It's a highly recommended publication for any serious investor, IMO.
Nice snippet on Domino's pizza in Barron's this weekend. Reiterates that when pizza company's can scale, it is a wonderful and highly profitable business. Let's hope we get there someday, because as the big ones have shown, it's a very lucrative and dependable business.
Good luck. ALL IMO
Yup, you and me both. Worries me greatly. He took bad advice... I'm sure FC made out well on their advice, but the buck stops at Jim. He's the one that has 300+ friends and family invested here, he's gotta knock this off...
Only other thing that concerns me is the cash balance and revenues currently being generated by each store. I want to know how the locations are doing, but we don't know yet. Financials should have been out in January as promised. Once they get uplisted they'll have to be much quicker at getting financials out or they'll get sent back to the pink sheets...
Jim knows pizza, but he needs someone advising him on running a public company, issuance of shares vs. debt, burn rate vs cash in bank, etc...
Financials and a conference call could sniff out a lot of this, but communication is still terrible, and who knows when that'll change... I'm hoping for 20 operating locations by end of Q2, I'll see that as a marked success and a turning point...
Good luck... All is my speculation and opinion.
PKG-
You are correct. The #1 and #2 reason I put a lot of $$$ into this company, and brought a lot of other investors into it are:
1) Management / People
2) Superior Product
Given my continuous grumbles, you'd think I was negative overall... Not the case. I have concerns about the capital structure and us shareholders maximizing our potential returns, as well as cash... I do know that Jimmy knows Pizza very, very well. He has surrounded himself with high-end mgmt in just about each piece of the business. That's the key...
Q2 makes or breaks this firm... I still stand by it... Sounds like we're on a cusp of a bunch of stores popping open, man I hope so. We need the cash flow... It's about that time where Fidler should make his notice felt as well - in my opinion... It's been about 6 months since the announcement, so let's hope that is enough time to get a few things churning...
IMO
I agree, the communication is a big issue.
I'm giving them til the end of Q2 to prove themselves personally, that is more than enough time to show a lot of progress, get permits, etc... I stand by my thought that if things don't begin clicking earnestly soon, cash can become an issue... You are right though that if JV doesn't make this happen, he'll be hurt badly by the stock that he holds... I still HATE the share structure of this stock, such a good story, but I'm afraid the way they've done it is prohibitive to huge gains. Hopefully I'm wrong. Thanks Fountain Capital for the wonderful advice - hope you made out well pumping and dumping the stock!
All thoughts are just my opinion.
100% right Ordinary. Fidler is one of the single biggest events that has happened to UPZS! He has the cash to be self-sustainable wherever he deems is a good place to build.
I'm sure the mgmt of UPZS has been all over the world, and is not all that enamored with flying 5 hours to CA... Just guessing though!
Of all the things to poke at with the company, i'm shocked that building on the west coast is being scrutinized. IMO
A quizno's by my house just went under. I ate there a couple of times and it was never busy... Goes to show how important location is... Good luck
IMO
With all due respect RK, the investment community really doesn't care too much.
We've diluted the crap out of shareholders who may never reap the full rewards due to all the excuses that we get... And yet we still aren't out of baby phase. You can blame it on the war, the price of cheese, permits, Sinead O'Connor, whomever you want. If they are still cash rich and don't need to dilute my shares, we can speak about delays, the weather, whatever interests us in why the execution has been so slow.
The bottom line is there are 7 stores opened. And we don't yet know if they are performing well or not. I assume they should be doing decent as UPZS has a superior product, but we don't know just yet.
Everywhere i look there are fast-food restaurants, so while they may not be pizza shops on every corner, there is no lack of a multitude of fast food restaurants, dry cleaners, spa's, vitamin stores, fitness clubs - EVERYWHERE!
They all can harm you, require big insurance, and require approval...
I appreciate how hard it is to open a store, but I invested because I was told that they knew how to do it and make it 'cookie-cutter.' We may get there, and I believe that we will, but we haven't yet... You may think I just complain and complain, but I'll match investment success and the size of investment in UPZS with anyone here.
Everyone koom-bay-ya now... $.05 and ticking down... Think about it, there were 400M (or so) shares outstanding when I first bought shares. There are now around 600M. This would be 50% higher in price minus the dilution... Your shares are worth a lot less than they were at Christmas mainly because they keep selling them, not becuase they aren't opening stores (at least that isn't the only reason).
All of the above IMO
We all have our own opinions and our own methods of doing due diligence on a company. Mine is pretty simple and my points pretty much resonate consistent. Based on the info they gave us we are forced to speculate on other items. Thankfully in early Feb we had a conference call which answered a lot of my quesitons on their burn rate as far as cash goes. Quite simple. $32k/week. The financials will tell us what they've earned.
As for the race car? Didn't they say they paid for that in stock? I know someone on this board mentioned this. Can anyone confirm?
The race car seems like a pretty good idea to me. Again, I look at everything through a cost/benefit scope. The cost is minimal and the benefit is potentially huge... It's a slam dunk as it stands today IMO.
Hey, everyone has their own metrics by which to measure a company. Mine are mine, and should be construed as just that. I'm still amazed that we haven't seen the financials yet... Oh yeah, they're coming!
All IMO
I never said they were idiots, I merely pointed out that they are burning $32k/week. The reason I mention this so many times, is that they assumed (check their PR's) that they would be break-even by the end of 2007, as they projected aroudn 180 stores at the end of 2007. With start-up businesses, you have projections on operations, and you raise capital according to the business plan. Their plan obviously called for break-even sometime at the turn of this year, and it's obvious they may not even hit 50 stores, let along 180...
So... While I know the team is solid, and I put serious $$$ into them, I'm not so sure why no one else is concerned about the #1 reason small business fail: lack of cash.
Anyway, i suppose that I'm just being negative and hyper-ventilating.
All is just my opinion based on years of investment and business experience.
Anyone heard anything on Milwaukee store. It was supposed to have been opened this week originally, but I haven't seen anything firm or heard anything as to where we are...
I'm still hung up on that conference call where Bill V said they are spending $32K per week on expenses, and need somewhere around 180 stores to break-even. I mean, is that not significant to anybody else here??? Did I hear this information wrong?
We just aren't opening stores fast enough and the communication has all but shut down...
These are all just my observations from a lot of years in investment experience, am I that far off base?
All IMO
The good news is it should definitely be open by months-end, so at this point it's a move in the right direction...
I'm not a permit expert, and go back to the point that big-picture it doesn't matter if they have to dilute us to heck in order to stay solvent. I appreciate the difficulties honestly, and know what a pain the g'ment can be... In the end though, it won't matter if they don't cross-over into cash-flow positive...
It's kind of a moot point right now, which even I admit, though... Because they dont have their financials released yet. If they have $3M we should be able to weather this permit storm fine. My instinct tells me they don't have as much $$ though. Sorry to beat a dead horse.
IMO
30 Stores??
I agree this is a reasonable guess for what we may have by years end. Satisfactory though, no?! Remember, the #1 reason small businesses fail is cash. The company has stated their break-even amount of stores is around 170 overall. We'll know soon an average 'start-up' royalty cash-flow per store when the financials are released. How will they have the cash necessary to continue??? They planned to hit their break-even # at the end of 07, read the PR's from a year ago... 30 stores would be around 17% of their goal, give or take. They funded the company based on these assumptions, I have the memorandum of offering and the plan. Those that invested prior to the public offering all have this.
It's not an issue of good intentions, nor is it an issue of folks on this board being 'negative.' In the end we're all in the same boat, and I surely think we help each other understand differing perspectives in investments. I personally have had a lot of successful investments, and some not-so successful investments. I had high hopes for this, brought other investors in, and now I have just mediocre hopes for UPZS. Doesn't mean we're conspiracy theorists or negative though. Most of what is posted on this board is factual through info received through the company, so I see no problem.
It's obviously in all of our best interest to push the company to confront these issues and to move onto running the business they know: Pizza... They, IMO, don't understand capitalizing of a company worth a crap - at least if they care for their shareholders, that is... We'll see soon how well they operate financially... I'm thinking these audits are much harder than they ever anticipated... You can't fudge em, so we'll know very precisely what's up soon...
Still no word on the Milwaukee store. It won't be open on the 15th, I know that much b/c they would have told a lot of folks in that area and I certainly would've found out, as I know investors there... So... Perhaps by months end, but not next week IMO...
Good luck all, keep up the objective posts...
Well put. I also know some very ticked-off investors. They need to show us progress in expanding this business, NOT progress in increasing shares and raising more money to F around.
Your analogy is certainly correct. I hate to say it, but they are definitely not moving in the right direction. If they have, how the heck is the marketplace to know?
If I could sell ALL my shares and investors shares back at $.15 right now, I would do it and never look back again. How sad is that.
Anyway, maybe they'll communicate to us soon, maybe not. I'm starting to think they could CARE LESS about the folks that invested in their idea. They sure act that way.
IMO
RK-
I hope you don't own any of the stock if that is your outlook. They raised millions of dollars and sport a hearty market cap based on expectations of having over 100 stores open by years end! Imagine the royalties flooding in on 12 stores per month! They are burning through too much cash to survive without a major influx if this is the rate that they are going to grow.
If you haven't invested in this 'nationwide expansion' then I guess you are correct "there just isn't alot to talk about here." If you invested money in this team and the Vowlers to build this, I assure you that you 'should' feel differently. To each his own. I don't like losing $$$.
All IMO
Wyatt -
You are correct. Their actions are less than desirable. They haven't followed thru with the CC, and I still want to know why they issued more shares and authorized several hundred more. You don't authorize them without the intent to use them, in MY book. Think about it. Why create the tenseness if it isn't needed.
They'd better communicate soon, but what if there isn't anything to communicate? I don' t think we've given that as much thought as we should've. It's amazing when you listen to the CC, then look at the concrete news, simply amazing...
I'm hopeful for the company, but like the rest of you, getting very nervous
IMO
I hear ya, but it's still sporting a market cap of $29M today... Nothing to sneeze at given it's situation... They've added a lot of shares so the upside is limited for now in my opinion... Each share added makes the stock price move that much slower...
As of the end of this week, it will have been 2 months since we've heard anything material publicly from the company, or publicly opened a store. Hopefully the MKE store opens next week, that would be good.
IMO
Lots of volume this morning, eh?
Anyone else receive their shares? They should all be distributed by now, but still no press release... We shall wait another day!
I don't think I said it was being promoted, but call the company and ask if you can buy restricted shares or not...
Definitely we'll have 10 stores by year-end, probably closer to 30 if I were to wager a guess... My posts definitely aren't negativity, but posting real questions that an investor should pose with regards to operating a business, quite simple...
If you are inclined to buy, I can argue that the prices were seeing aren't advantageous, the stock seems to be capitulating a bit here, and I'd assume we HAVE to be close to some good news sooner rather than later... It's not as if this is a terrible story!! Good luck if you do buy... Hopefully they take note of some of our worries and keep them in the back of their head moving forward.
IMO
Just making a point at what you can get for your shares today. just b/c they paint the tape at $.08 with a couple hundred share trade means very little... The buyers are drying up and it's apparent there is still a big seller. 173k volume in the first 3 hours of trading today.
In the end I support the firm 100%, though i'm noticeably frustrated. When the financials come out we'll know, again, these three VERY important answers (to me):
1) How much cash on hand currently?
2) How much money have they MADE in royalties up to this point. Not promises, but actual cash. How are the stores performing. We will be able to extrapolate that reasonably well by looking at their income from stores.
3) What salaries are they paying the two guys listed on the stock certificates, JV and BV? They are most assuredly taking a salary, but how much? Since they are raising cash again I hope it isn't a big salary.
All my concerns and IMO. IMO also their food (I agree with Ordinary) is second to none - great... If they ever tell us when the Milwaukee store will open I'll try to figure out a way to get up there, but we haven't heard definitive's yet there, go figure...
Wanna know how liquid this is??
I've had a sell order in around $.07 for the better part of a week for 5000 shares, for the heck of it, to see if I can unload any shares whatsoever - it's still open. This is a prime example of what happens to the sale price of shares during a dilution phase such as the one we're in now...
The food is second to none, and it is really high-quality. I recommend you try it if you are near any of the locations that are currently open.
As you've probably read on this board by now, great idea and concept, just a few growing pains occurring now that we're in implementation mode... Still a good story though...
IMO
Of course they have the right to be paid a salary! Come on!
After all of these posts do you really take me for being so stupid as to insinuate they don't deserve to be paid for working hard?
I said I want to know HOW MUCH this salary is, very simple. If they are taking several hundred grand a year in salaries out it has a material impact on the cash they hold while we get thru this bumpy zone. You can focus on stores all day long, but the #1 reason small businesses fail is simple: CASH!
So... While I want to see a lot of new stores open, I want to see frugality until they figure out what's wrong with their strategy for growth - there indeed is something wrong I doubt you'd argue that.
To each his/her own... These are my concerns, and all IMO
Good luck once again. I assume they have to submit a PR soon about this merger. We'll see eh?
Skunk, don't forget, the business plan won't be a factor if they run out of cash for frivolous spending prior to getting it moving. I know you don't want to hear this cause you're stuffed full of shares (like me and others!), but the truth is the truth!
I have my own b-plan documents from Unique Pizza Factory way back when. I'll try to locate them and submit what they projected on a line-item basis for costs, then we'll compare that to the financials...
Right now i'm interested in them keeping a tab on spending until enough stores open that they can stay solvent. Their current burn rate is too high IMO. Why am I selecting just them? They are the top 2 people at the Company. Of course I'd be interested in hearing about the others, but first those two. #'s count for a lot in my book, and the audited financials will be very interesting.
Legally they have to disclose I believe the top 3 salaries, which is what I'm looking for. What type of pay are these folks drawing for themselves right now? In start-up mode it should be quite lean. I would freak if I were to see any salaries period over $150K today while the company struggles and is calling to raise cash... yet again.
You have your own interests, I have mine. This is the way I analyze struggling companies, and you are free to analyze in whichever way you'd like, free country.
My seemingly 'crazy' thoughts have a method, trust me. No PR's since early February folks, it's April now... Lots of promises since then in CC's though, eh? Man I hope for a barrage of openings 'all the sudden!'
IMO
Yeah, i'm sure they've issued shares, but they are burning thru $32k per week according to BV on the last CC I was on. This is a big chunk of change!
Big questions for financials are as follows:
1) How much cash is on hand today?
2) How much royalty revenue have they brought in as of the report (not what the promise, etc, but factual cash flow IN)
3) What are the salaries of the Vowlers?
This is what I want to know. They legally have to tell us what the top paid people at the company are making.
Good luck. Not much of anything is public here except hype at this point.
IMO
No one seems to care what the salary # is for JV and BV. I intend to search and ask them this question, and it should be public info now that they're public.
This is a huge question, as if they were running lean the salaries would be minimal to keep the business afloat. All the dilution and the notion that they are selling shares again begs the question where is the $$$ going to. Any comments on this subject would be great.
IMO
No doubt. The auditing process by most public companies is done every 3 months. This is just inexperience speaking. I hope they have a good accountant. I'll be looking so close at these financials. Again, how much cash do they HAVE CURRENTLY, and what royalties have they made SO FAR.
I don't give two hoots about the promises this mgmt team makes, I care what the # say at this point, it's the only government-monitored, factual, info we'll have to look at. I'm suggesting they won't be pretty at all. I also want to know:
WHAT SALARY IS JV and BV TAKING HOME RIGHT NOW????? THIS MUST BE IN THE AUDITED FINANCIALS, INCLUDING THE TOP 5 OWNERS OF THE COMPANY, AND AMOUNT OF SHARES. WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THEY ARE THE ONES SOAKING THE WELL DRY WITH FAT SALARIES??? It's speculation, but can anyone factually refute the possibility??
Again, even if the audit was ridiculously hard, they should have planned and got it done. They promised these to be done in January, on many occasions, but of course here we are mid-April with nothing to show. It's getting old...
The company is back at the bottom of the mountain, looking up, and IMO asking themselves, do I have the energy to begin climbing again?
We are at square one, or square two at best. If running a business were free I wouldn't post so many concerns. $32K/week represents a lot of expenses. Quick poll, what do you think JV's salary SHOULD BE? I vote $75K-100K/year given that he's got several hundred million shares. Doubt there's any performance provisions there either... This all smells fishy to me.
I'm off to my box to watch a ball game for the day. Have a happy easter with your families.
* * * All of the above, and every post I've written, are solely my opinion and speculation. Each is respsonsible for his/her own investment decisions, and my risk tolerance is much different than most.
* * *
We will see overall revenue. It may not be drilled down as much as I'd like, but I'm looking for an overall picture, with the understanding that some are more developed than otheres. In my opinion, the decent area stores should be doing somewhere around $5-$7K per week, which would make ZN's assumption pretty much on target.
I don't think this topic is a non-important one though, as we need to know how the stores are performing once we get through this terribly difficult process.
We can continue to write on this board and make excuses for upzs all day long, so be it if that's what floats your boat. I choose to actually analyze what company's that come to me with their hand out for investments are actually doing.
And all the while we have folks arguing about the doggone TOU or whatever that is and making these little playground rules for all of us investors who wish to utilize freedom of speech. Very silly and controlling...
If one has to try and paint a good picture as to hope that ones stock won't go down - it's a sad story.
I'd rather muddle through what the issues are and challenge mgmt to give us rebuttals on what we think. Most every large public company has to do this and we're no different. I've been involved with a lot of investments and trust me I have no problem questioning mgmt that is NOT performing at even a "D" level
IMO