I never suggested false operational announcements -- though at the end of the day investors get to choose between false announcement and inability to execute. I personally believe it is the latter. The questions become, why no execution and what does that mean for the company's prospects?
In the case of the NJ kiosk, announced in May, 2011 as expected to open within 120 days as the first of five planned Monmouth County locations, likely the company's franchisee has been unable to get appropriate permits and/or financing for opening. Obviously that challenges the premise of the business model, and would be concerning to potential franchisees. Worth noting that the new BMOC agreement excludes this territory, so one could think the prospective franchisee continues to work on it, which if true could be viewed as good or bad news: good that Mr. Pagano still believes in the concept, bad that it so hard to accomplish. But, the announcing PR is no longer on the BCCI website, so my guess is that exclusion of this territory is simply a legal exercise. Of some comfort might be the fact that Mr. Pagano had no stated experience in the restaurant or construction business, and I am sure there is LOTS of red tape in NJ.
The SW FL kiosk, announced in late January for early Q2 opening, was to be the third for the SW FL JV. The Q1 financials appear to show that the JV partner purchased equipment for the kiosk. The company has not announced why there has been a five month delay past an expected three month opening process. I have previously speculated that the JV partner was put off by the $8K/mo/kiosk losses being incurred by the first two kiosks in Q1, despite significant advertising and marketing expenditures (free coffee, etc.) in Q4 when the first two kiosks opened. It is important to BCCI franchising prospects that this JV be successful, as it is a 'proof point' for prospective partners. So far, not looking positive based on published information and the unexplained delay in opening this third store. Do any posters live in the area, perhaps see a unit under construction?
The Knoxville sports bar is the first project in the 8 state 'master franchise' deal announced by BMOC and BCCI on May 20, a key part of which was BMOC also spending $25K/month on national advertising to attract franchisees (PS. Has anyone seen these ads??). So, critical that this project be successful as a proof point for brand extension and BMOC confidence in financing franchising advertising and being a master franchiser. Late opening hopefully just construction delay, as opposed to construction and operations financing -- but now is 'prime time' for a sports bar in TN with football starting. Hopefully opening VERY soon -- any posters live nearby, see appropriate activity at the site?
The BMOC franchising and Knoxville sports bar PRs are NOT on the BCCI corporate website -- surprising, since these are important initiatives for the company, and logically prospective franchisees would go to the corporate website. There is also no 'mock up' of the sports bar on the locations portion of the website, although there is of the third SW FL kiosk. For me, not to suggest scam -- but more to question execution. Although, cynics may counter that the company does have a history of taking down PRs (example, the Oct 1 13 PR announcing procurement of $1.7M worth of advertising; the NJ franchise deal; Prime Equity Research report in early 2012). But again, this may simply be execution, as PRs that might logically be taken down (Tully's related; 5 store Phoenix deal; 10 store (+ options on 20 more) TX deal; opening of Tempe, AZ store, etc) are still up.
Caveat: I do have concerns about the appropriateness of PRs which have related to uplisting over the last couple of years, since the company does not come close to meeting published financial requirements. But that subject has been fully covered by others on this board.
