UNLIMITED GOP 2012 PRIMARY CANDIDATE THREAD

[East Coast Hustle]

I was a general manager at one of the "flagship" stores for Godfather's Pizza when he was in charge.

Upper management was COMPLETELY out of touch with the reality of "the street", the corporate culture was fucked sideways and back, ambition and innovative thinking were VERY frowned-upon, and illegal/unethical practices regarding hiring, scheduling, and payroll were not only encouraged but insisted upon. And it was made clear by the regional managers that these practices were dictated from on-high directly from the corporate HQ in Omaha.

Results were completely predictable. Anyone with talent (or even a shred of competence) fled the company as soon as they could. When I was hired, Godfather's was 3rd on the hierarchy of national pizza chains with dreams of pulling even with Pizza hut and Dominos. When's the last time anyone here even SAW, let alone actually ate at, a Godfather's Pizza?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I was a general manager at one of the "flagship" stores for Godfather's Pizza when he was in charge.

Upper management was COMPLETELY out of touch with the reality of "the street", the corporate culture was fucked sideways and back, ambition and innovative thinking were VERY frowned-upon, and illegal/unethical practices regarding hiring, scheduling, and payroll were not only encouraged but insisted upon. And it was made clear by the regional managers that these practices were dictated from on-high directly from the corporate HQ in Omaha.

Results were completely predictable. Anyone with talent (or even a shred of competence) fled the company as soon as they could. When I was hired, Godfather's was 3rd on the hierarchy of national pizza chains with dreams of pulling even with Pizza hut and Dominos. When's the last time anyone here even SAW, let alone actually ate at, a Godfather's Pizza?

I didn't even know they were still in business, actually.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Herman Cain, the Foreign Policy Genius the GOP has demanded for so long

http://shanghaiist.com/2011/11/01/gop_presidential_candidate_herman_c.php

I do view China as a potential military threat to the United States... we already have superiority in terms of our military capability, and I plan to get away from making cutting our defense a priority and make investing in our military capability a priority, going back to my statement: peace through strength and clarity. So yes they're a military threat. They've indicated that they're trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat.

This is even better than not knowing who the President of Uzbekistan is.

The sad part is, is that a good portion of voters won't know what's wrong with that statement.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I was a general manager at one of the "flagship" stores for Godfather's Pizza when he was in charge.

Upper management was COMPLETELY out of touch with the reality of "the street", the corporate culture was fucked sideways and back, ambition and innovative thinking were VERY frowned-upon, and illegal/unethical practices regarding hiring, scheduling, and payroll were not only encouraged but insisted upon. And it was made clear by the regional managers that these practices were dictated from on-high directly from the corporate HQ in Omaha.

Results were completely predictable. Anyone with talent (or even a shred of competence) fled the company as soon as they could. When I was hired, Godfather's was 3rd on the hierarchy of national pizza chains with dreams of pulling even with Pizza hut and Dominos. When's the last time anyone here even SAW, let alone actually ate at, a Godfather's Pizza?

I didn't even know they were still in business, actually.

I've never even heard of them before.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I was a general manager at one of the "flagship" stores for Godfather's Pizza when he was in charge.

Upper management was COMPLETELY out of touch with the reality of "the street", the corporate culture was fucked sideways and back, ambition and innovative thinking were VERY frowned-upon, and illegal/unethical practices regarding hiring, scheduling, and payroll were not only encouraged but insisted upon. And it was made clear by the regional managers that these practices were dictated from on-high directly from the corporate HQ in Omaha.

Results were completely predictable. Anyone with talent (or even a shred of competence) fled the company as soon as they could. When I was hired, Godfather's was 3rd on the hierarchy of national pizza chains with dreams of pulling even with Pizza hut and Dominos. When's the last time anyone here even SAW, let alone actually ate at, a Godfather's Pizza?

I didn't even know they were still in business, actually.

I've never even heard of them before.

[Cramulus]

I had never heard of them before I'd heard of Cain. There aren't any in CT,  and there's only a couple of them in New York state.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=godfather's+pizza&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=57.249013,79.013672&vpsrc=0&hq=godfather's+pizza&t=m&z=4

[BabylonHoruv]

There's 4 in Ohio and none of them are in a major city.

[Juana]

There's four here, too. Nearest one to me is in Barstow. That's scraping the bottom of the barrel, I gotta say. And I hadn't heard of them, either, until all this.

[Luna]

For the Google challenged:

http://www.yankeesdaily.com/post/32751

They have the public sales figures for the years Cain was CEO.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

From what I understand, Godfather's was in serious trouble when he started, and he kept the company alive and returned it to profitability.  I got my information from here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/10/herman-cain/herman-cain-godfathers-pizza-turn-around/

A thorough review of business records and interviews with executives who worked with Cain show that the chain was widely considered troubled when he arrived. It's a slight exaggeration to say it was supposed to go bankrupt. But from all accounts, Cain's performance as CEO is widely considered a success. So we rate this statement Mostly True.

Luna, at your link I see total revenues going down, but sales per store going up.  From what I understand, part of how he restored profitability was by closing unprofitable locations, which that chart seems to confirm.

[Don Coyote]

I was a general manager at one of the "flagship" stores for Godfather's Pizza when he was in charge.

Upper management was COMPLETELY out of touch with the reality of "the street", the corporate culture was fucked sideways and back, ambition and innovative thinking were VERY frowned-upon, and illegal/unethical practices regarding hiring, scheduling, and payroll were not only encouraged but insisted upon. And it was made clear by the regional managers that these practices were dictated from on-high directly from the corporate HQ in Omaha.

Results were completely predictable. Anyone with talent (or even a shred of competence) fled the company as soon as they could. When I was hired, Godfather's was 3rd on the hierarchy of national pizza chains with dreams of pulling even with Pizza hut and Dominos. When's the last time anyone here even SAW, let alone actually ate at, a Godfather's Pizza?

Two years ago.

It was also the first time I ever heard of them. I thought they were some kind of local chain.

[CorbeauEtRenard]

Well, I'm in Nebraska... so I think it was a couple of months ago at a friend's party, since he's just down the street from one.

I, however, stopped getting pizza from them about 3 years ago though. I much prefer the other local chains.

[East Coast Hustle]

From what I understand, Godfather's was in serious trouble when he started, and he kept the company alive and returned it to profitability.  I got my information from here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/10/herman-cain/herman-cain-godfathers-pizza-turn-around/

A thorough review of business records and interviews with executives who worked with Cain show that the chain was widely considered troubled when he arrived. It's a slight exaggeration to say it was supposed to go bankrupt. But from all accounts, Cain's performance as CEO is widely considered a success. So we rate this statement Mostly True.

Luna, at your link I see total revenues going down, but sales per store going up.  From what I understand, part of how he restored profitability was by closing unprofitable locations, which that chart seems to confirm.

Easy to do when you close down 75% of your stores, refuse to pay overtime or give merit raises, try to squeeze 70-80 hours a week out of your salaried employees (who are told their salary is based on 45 hours a week), hire illegal immigrants for below minimum wage (and don't give "raises" to your employees who make minimum wage when the minimum wage goes up), refuse to pay for repairs and necessary safety-related upgrades to equipment, etc. Anyone can bestow the appearance of a return to profitability upon a business that was already floundering by cutting tons of corners and screwing over everyone who works for you, but it only works in the short-term, and only on paper. Like I said, how many Godfather's Pizzas are in YOUR neighborhood? And how many people do you know who work at one?

[Cain]

Heh, now that sounds familiar.  Yeah, in works in the very short term, but ultimately you just end up fucking up the company entirely.

Everyone worth keeping ends up leaving and working for your rivals, or else working independently.  The company is then left with undesirables, incompetents, bootlickers and plain stupid, and that then tends to make even less people want to purchase from them.  Company shrinkage sets in and by that point, it's too late.

[Luna]

From what I understand, Godfather's was in serious trouble when he started, and he kept the company alive and returned it to profitability.  I got my information from here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/10/herman-cain/herman-cain-godfathers-pizza-turn-around/

A thorough review of business records and interviews with executives who worked with Cain show that the chain was widely considered troubled when he arrived. It's a slight exaggeration to say it was supposed to go bankrupt. But from all accounts, Cain's performance as CEO is widely considered a success. So we rate this statement Mostly True.

Luna, at your link I see total revenues going down, but sales per store going up.  From what I understand, part of how he restored profitability was by closing unprofitable locations, which that chart seems to confirm.

Easy to do when you close down 75% of your stores, refuse to pay overtime or give merit raises, try to squeeze 70-80 hours a week out of your salaried employees (who are told their salary is based on 45 hours a week), hire illegal immigrants for below minimum wage (and don't give "raises" to your employees who make minimum wage when the minimum wage goes up), refuse to pay for repairs and necessary safety-related upgrades to equipment, etc. Anyone can bestow the appearance of a return to profitability upon a business that was already floundering by cutting tons of corners and screwing over everyone who works for you, but it only works in the short-term, and only on paper. Like I said, how many Godfather's Pizzas are in YOUR neighborhood? And how many people do you know who work at one?

Huh, I'll be darned.  There's one in Providence.  Of course, it's in Olneyville.  (For those unfamiliar with Providence, I wouldn't walk there at night, even with an armed bodyguard.)