Herman Cain, Businessman (thought, president, independence, million)

[robbobobbo]

Herman Cain has done well for himself, and I don't deny or begrudge him his successes nor the work he's undertaken to get where he is.

However, a lot of the acclaim for him refers to him as such an astute businessman, almost of superstar qualities. In fact, the truth behind Mr. Cain's main claim to business fame, Godfather's Pizza, isn't all that supporters make it out to be. For all the glowing talk about "pizza man" Cain who understands business and therefore is what this country needs for president, there hasn't been much detail about what, exactly were the results of Cain's reputed business acumen. The reality is more a story of humble, respectable, but not phenomenal business success.

Prior to being appointed by Pillsbury to head their Godfather's business, Mr. Cain had been successful in turning around the fortunes of a few Burger King stores in the Philadelphia region. That's it. A few burger joints started making money under Cain.

At the time, Godfather's Pizza was hurting - after experiencing great growth and success in the 1970s, by the mid-80s, with over 900 locations nationwide, it was in a slump and losing out to the competition.

Pillsbury recognized Cain's success with Philly's Burger Kings, and in 1986 put him in charge of Godfather's. Cain settled some lawsuits with franchise owners, closed some locations, came up with some menu items and marketing ideas, and Godfather's showed profits for the first time in three years. I have not found how much profit that was. But apparently it wasn't enough for Pillsbury, because two years later they decided to sell off many of their restaurant and fast-food properties, and Godfather's was one of the ones responsible for "a $150 million drain on operating revenues and about $20 million drain on profits." If Cain had been such a stellar success with Godfather's, you'd think Pillsbury would have kept it. But instead of ranking 3rd in nationwide pizza chains as it did in 1985, after two years of Cain running it Godfather's was at 5th place.

So Pillsbury arranged to have Cain (Gf's CEO) and Gf's COO buy the pizza chain. Under Cain's ownership, Godfather's fortunes did improve somewhat, moving from fifth in nation to fourth. Cain has said, "My next goal is for Godfather's to reach its goal of financial independence." He further stated, in reference to the company's heavily leveraged debt, "I want to retire debt in order to allow us to grow the way we want to."

Heavily-leveraged debt => ability to save and turn around a business. Hmmm. Kind of like a stimulus during tough times.

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to look into the actual details and look for proof of the claims about Cain, instead of just accepting them at face value.

Godfather's Pizza Incorporated -- Company History