Mrs. Fields Cookies Files for Bankruptcy

Just when I thought nothing else could shock me, I heard this news. Then, it hit me, well yeah…

I read the details, this last quarter the loss increased from $1.4million to $10.7 million. How does that happen in one year? Then, the headline read – A Mall Staple files for Bankruptcy and that’s when the ah ha moment came.

#1 – A Mall Staple??? Who goes to the mall anymore? Certainly not many folks who want to spend $12 on a dozen of cookies.

#2 – They sell cookies one by one… My favorite matrix details how to get to a million.
# of Customers Price
1 x 1,000,000
10 x 100,000
100 x 10,000
1000 x 1,000
10,000 x 100
100,000 x 10
1,000,000 x 1 The price of one cookie – you need to sell $1million (hard to do)

How many customers does it take to get to a million especially if you are selling cookies one by one

#3 – Franchise owners – that is a whole day of blogging to tell you what I feel about franchising. What works in Iowa does not work in Las Vegas – PERIOD

#4 – No special recognition for special clubs on their website. Get 10% off if you submit your email address. Why? Some people this means nothing. Assuming everyone is not buying because of price. Only having one reward for submitting my email address. Why not get full contact information and send a free basket?

What would Richelle Do? The first thing I would do is make sure that the Malls are working for me as a lead generator for larger priced products. I would implement a program to get all contact information from each one of my customers. Make sure that I can stay in contact with them frequently and by all means, make sure that I show up in their customers’ lives more than just to ask for money.

Since I filed bankrutpcy – I wish them GOOD LUCK!