"Camille's empire copes with setbacks" and TW gets spanked

[zstyles]

Interesting story, and also interesting comments as usual..the unhappy franchisee website looks to have helped turned the PR spin machine the other way, which was the TW.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=46&articleid=20130217_46_E1_CUTLIN825794

"Today, Oklahoma has just six Camille's locations left. In addition to the Woodland Hills restaurant, high-profile locations on Cherry Street and in Bartlesville are among those that have disappeared. "

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/beautiful-brands-ugly-shams/

Sample of some comments..."The UnhappyFranchisee site spanked TW HARD and, to their credit, Kyle & Co. came back with a pretty good article. It's not easy to go negative on your local golden boy. I'm hopeful it was a wake-up call and they'll be more serious in the future."


So you don't have to dig for it: http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/tulsa-world-deceptive-or-lazy/

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/beautiful-brands-letter-tulsa-world/

[Teatownclown]

This clown chain claim to suck cess was so obviously misplaced. Which bank funded this guy?

Next up? TW sells to Anshutz in Denver?

Things are rough all over.

[DTowner]

Most franchisor/franchisee agreements are heavily tilted towards the franchisor and it is not uncommon to have a high failure rate and disgruntled franchisees.  Franchises are often used by people with too little money and experience to start a business.  Bad combination.  Beautiful Brands seemed to compound this inherent weakness by churning out one bad concept after another even as its flagship brand, Camille's, was starting to fade.

[Gaspar]

It seems David's problems are a bit deeper than TW has reported.
http://www.franchisepublicity.com/david-rutkauskas-bizarre-misrepresentations-of-beautiful-brands/

http://www.franchisepublicity.com/david-rutkauskas-are-his-500000-twitter-followers-fakes/

[zstyles]

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out...

[Townsend]

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out...

It's sounding like 8801 South Yale Avenue Tulsa, OK 74137 will be available for lease sometime in the near future.

[Conan71]

It seems David's problems are a bit deeper than TW has reported.
http://www.franchisepublicity.com/david-rutkauskas-bizarre-misrepresentations-of-beautiful-brands/

http://www.franchisepublicity.com/david-rutkauskas-are-his-500000-twitter-followers-fakes/

*long, slow whistle*

That boy has a bad case of megalomania.

[dbacks fan]

Would really like to hear what Mazzio's has to say about this.

[BKDotCom]

all these BBI articles on unhappyfranchisee.com and franchisepublicity.com are great.
I've always thought the non stop BBI PR machine (and the Tulsa World's BBI crush) was more than a little questionable.

Does BBI have anything to do with Top-That Pizza?

This isn't about franchisee's being upset... this is about BBI claiming they have franchisee's and business partners and "things in the works" when they clearly don't.

Bill Hyman, CEO of Tulsa-based KEO restaurant, wrote:
   I had no idea it was on their page.... They have nothing to do with us...   They do not represent us and they do not have our permission to use our logo

great stuff

[Conan71]

all these BBI articles on unhappyfranchisee.com and franchisepublicity.com are great.
I've always thought the non stop BBI PR machine (and the Tulsa World's BBI crush) was more than a little questionable.

Does BBI have anything to do with Top-That Pizza?

This isn't about franchisee's being upset... this is about BBI claiming they have franchisee's and business partners and "things in the works" when they clearly don't.

Bill Hyman, CEO of Tulsa-based KEO restaurant, wrote:
   I had no idea it was on their page.... They have nothing to do with us...   They do not represent us and they do not have our permission to use our logo

great stuff

I know Hyman through cycling.  He and his wife used to be Camille's franchisees and he told me unequivocally he would never work with BBI or Rutkauskas ever again that's what makes it more hilarious to see that.

[sgrizzle]

all these BBI articles on unhappyfranchisee.com and franchisepublicity.com are great.
I've always thought the non stop BBI PR machine (and the Tulsa World's BBI crush) was more than a little questionable.

Does BBI have anything to do with Top-That Pizza?

This isn't about franchisee's being upset... this is about BBI claiming they have franchisee's and business partners and "things in the works" when they clearly don't.

Bill Hyman, CEO of Tulsa-based KEO restaurant, wrote:
   I had no idea it was on their page.... They have nothing to do with us...   They do not represent us and they do not have our permission to use our logo

great stuff

They do, note my inference at how horrible an idea that was:
http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=16929.0

[Gaspar]

Top That! severed ties with BBI last year.

[zstyles]

[Conan71]

They do, note my inference at how horrible an idea that was:
http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=16929.0

And there's this gem from that thread a "FIFY" I did to a Gaspar post

BB has a franchise marketing agreement only, no operations.  BB can sell locations under the regional franchise manager.  BB does an excellent job at selling concepts at blowing smoke up unsuspecting investors asses, I however operations is not their gig.

[Gaspar]

And there's this gem from that thread a "FIFY" I did to a Gaspar post

I think Top That! made a wise decision in exiting when it became apparent that the BB relationship was not mutually advantageous.