MMSTOCKPLAY's tour of the DC negates what you say and he is a trusted long that called AAPT in the sub penny levels. Read for yourself..
"A while back I had reached out to Company representatives to
see if they would be open to me touring the Distribution Center.
Immediately I received a response from the company inviting me to come by since I lived in the area. Now, I’ve seen several Distribution Centers in the past, and having worked in Operations my entire career,I knew that there just wouldn’t be much to see at the time since they had just moved in. I wanted to wait and tour the DC once I knew that they had begun handling Food related items. Last week we found out that the company was going to be producing 300,000 Nutra Bars on the 14th and 15th of August. They mentioned that they had sold these bars to what we’ve come to find out is WALGREENS. AAPT also has the intentions to produce 4 million more bars in the 4th quarter of 2012. THIS WAS and IS a HUGE development, one I needed and wanted to verify
with my own 2 eyes. Now I promised some followers that I would stop by. In the past, the company told me to come by whenever I felt like it. On Friday, I decided to make my unannounced visit.
Now let me start of by pointing out that AAPT management was so
confident in their Operations that they, knowing exactly who I was and how much impact my thoughts have on their investors, invited me to come by unannounced at any point and time. If this was a scam, their would be zero chance of me getting inside those doors. The company did inform me that I would not be able to take any photos, which is why they posted the 3 photos on their website. The reason being in my opinion, the Nutra Bar packaging process is PATENTED and they want ZERO competitors access to their Operations. In addition, its a commonly practiced Company policy to not allow photos taken inside their warehouse.
The first thing I noticed as I drove up to the Distribution Center was a rented Refrigerated 52 foot trailer sitting one of the Dock doors. I did take a photo of that, which I will post on IHUB. I knew immediately FOOD had to be there. When you walk into the DC, you come into an office area where you are greeted by an Administrative assistant. Mary, the Operations Manager came to the front to greet me once she was alerted. She showed me her office, and Barry’s traveling office as well (which had a Nutra Bar BOX sitting on his desk). After showing me her office, we walked through an area that is used for Product development and testing. Since they will be selling Dog food (MUTT and Chompions), bars (Nutra Bars – 3 types), and treats (All American Chewies – 8 flavors I believe) they needed an area where they
could test the product to make sure that it tests for everything they look for (ingredient makeup, lack of bacteria, ect.. I believe). Once we walked through that area, we walked out into the Distribution Center. Guys and Gals, I was immediately taken back by the smell of Dog FOOD!!!! Now, doing a rough calculation in my head, I saw storage racks for roughly 232 pallets. These racks were filled with Pawtizer and Nutra Bars!!! There were a few holes in the racks, but mostly every location was full and ready to go. I can assure you that they have more Pawtizer to sell, and unlike the POS bashers say, they did not sell all their product to the TJ Maxx group as a Clearance Discount
item. I didn’t get to look at every pallet by any means, so i don’t know what the percentage was or if they had any other products sitting in those racks. But Nutra Bars and Pawtizer were definitely there and ready to be shipped. Now, after viewing the Overstock area, she showed me the conveyor, pallet wrapper, and shipping area where they shipped product out by the Pallet or box. After viewing this area I asked to see the Production area. Now’s where things get interesting.
The company has purchased both NEW and USED equipment that will take the Nutra bar mix which is bought currently from a facility in Manhattan, create the bar, package the bar, Hole punch the package, and box the packages into it’s box. Now currently, since demand was VERY HIGH, and most companies want a PACKAGE deal with Pawtizer, Nutra Bars,and MUTT, the company has been forced to get the product mixed and created by their 3rd party in Manhattan, KS. Because of the LEAD timeof getting a Patent Pending machine built, they had to use a 3rd party to currently handle the demand. I will say that they are missing only a few parts of the process and that they have several machines currently in their production room to get the job done. In addition, the company has had to make several improvements to the facility to make it up to FDA standards, including adding a wash room, drains,re-Wall the room with I believe she said stucco or something, and also add electrical and Water pipes throughout the room. I would say that the Production room takes up 30% of their WH space, with product storage taking up the majority of the rest. Mary stated that all the changes were necessary for them to be allowed to produce and package the food in house. I know they got a good deal for moving in to the facility and they also have the ability to expand to almost double their current size. Now I must say, NUTRA BARS are ready to be sold!! They are currently hand packaging them, and the packages are designed to be HUNG IN CHECKOUT AISLES, where I believe they will be sold at Walgreen’s, and many more VENDORS, VERY, VERY SOON (not my
words). Like I said, the majority of the vendors want the PACKAGE
deal. They want the brand, not just the one Product. AL AMERICAN PET BRANDS will be a household name, their is absolutely no doubt in my mind.
Now, did I get any of the product. Yes, yes I did. I was given a bag full of unpackaged Nutra Bars, which I will post. The packaged Nutra Bars are already built to be sold, and the packaging supplies are limited. Mary suggested that I do a taste test with my dog Cooper. So, of course when I got home, and I 100% promise this to be true, I placed 1 Nutra Bar on the ground next to one Milkbone, his current treat of choice. After releasing him, he smelled the milkbone, grabbedit, then went and grabbed the Nutra Bar. He ran into the other room, dropped them both, and began eating… the NUTRA BAR! In fact, after he was done, which he actually milked it, since he licked it for a
while, he got up, leaving the milkbone on the floor.. later to be
eaten. He loves them. Now i must say that when I was at All
American’s DC, I told Mary that all you have to do is make a product that the animals will eat, and that you’re really selling them to the humans. I thought she would agree or comment. Instead she just kinda looked at me. I tell you this because after my dog ate the product, I WOULD 100% go back and buy him more because I 100% could tell he LOVED them. NUTRA Bars are legit. And they are big, and soft, feel moist, there are 4 nuggets in a bar, and they break off easy. I can see how they could truly take place of a dog’s meal.
Now I have to tell you, I drilled Mary with Operations questions. Before Stocks became a passion of mine, Operations was all i knew. I worked my way up from a part time loader for Carquest to Operations Manager over 70 people in a little over 4 years. Currently I’m an Industrial Engineer in the Beverage industry. I was thoroughly impressed with Mary. She has a background with 3 different food related companies including Kellogg’s, as well as other industries including Kohl’s. She knows about costs associated with inefficiencies. She wants to create a building with the Inbound dock doors on one side, storage in the middle, production after that, and Outbound shipping doors on the other side of the building. In on one
side, out on the other. The production line is comparable for
production lines (packaging related) that I have seen at Dean and
Deluca. She spoke to me about how they are utilizing grants set forth by the President for putting people to work. She spoke to me on the importance of negotiating with suppliers and equipment manufacturers to get coverage, maintenance, cheap contracts, ect.. I would work for her. She knows her stuff, and I could learn a thing or two from her. You can tell she’s driven to make this place succeed, and she has a good relationship with Barry as well. Making me feel he has been an influence in the Operations side of the business as well. Now,personally, she’s busy, so I wouldn’t suggest calling her and bombarding her with questions, but perhaps you can email and see if you get a response.
So, are Nutra Bars going to be ready, and will other foo related products go out as well. Nutra bars in my opinion will definitely be ready to ship in September. Their was one moment when I was there that a driver came and picked up the trailer from the DC. Mary introduced me to the Driver, and asked me to wait where I was. I am not sure what was on the truck, but it was definitely OUTBOUND and not INBOUND as the truck left before I did. Now does AAPT perhaps have another thing up their sleeve to be released? Perhaps MUTT dog food is on its way? I’m fairly confident they do, but am content if they don’t. After touring
this DC, I am 100% confident that every thing AAPT has said to date today is 100% true. They do want to be an industry player, and they are ready to make a splash and take over a part of the market no one has taken over. NUTRA BARS are unique, and they will be sold everywhere. There is a reason that they have already locked up 25% of the market before an initial launch. Their patented product is about to be mainstream. Their management team is what is going to execute this plan, and again, no doubt in my mind they achieve it. I’m longer than ever on AAPT and I look forward to the up and coming week, month,and year. See you all in Vegas when the PPS hit’s $.50+. The first
cocktails on me. For the technical side of AAPT, please visit the
website."
