John muldowney clarity marketing

And we expect more. The result is more and more purchasing power is being wielded by the larger entities, whether they be chains and their purchasing co-ops, foodservice management companies, group purchasing organizations or dealer buying groups. At the dealer level, the purchasing power of the leading buying groups is quite astounding.

Of the largest U. Given this power, you would think that the manufacturers would be wary of the groups. Oh, they complain about the significant cost of the rebate programs, but to my surprise, nearly all have been quite positive about the role the groups are playing in the marketplace. For one thing, they find group meetings efficient. They can communicate with a large group of dealers all at once, reaching not just the principals but folks in sales, purchasing and contract activities.

The one-on-one meetings with dealers allow them to effectively introduce new products, receive feedback on mutual issues and the like. The jobs numbers continue to be strong, gasoline prices continue to fall, and consumer confidence is up. Operators weathered a slight slowdown in the rate of sales and traffic growth late summer and early fall, but early indications are they have recovered.

The capital spending indicator tracking buying during the past three months hit its fourth record high in the October NRA survey. And the forward-looking Restaurant Performance cap-ex indicator remains very positive. It did so in the second and third quarters. Even with Manitowoc, the six have seen 4.

John muldowney clarity marketing

We think will see real growth just as strong or maybe a tad stronger than At worst, it will be only slightly slower. Technomic Inc. So, what to do with our 3. I argued we should take it down. I always like us to be conservative in our forecasts. No one ever yells at me if things turn out better than we predict. John, on the other hand, argued that we should leave our forecast alone.

As he pointed out, a forecast just signals trend and direction. And the trend is clearly for an improved market. CDT each day. Registration for the event, presented by webinar and recorded for future viewing, is open.