Hats Off to Mazzios (Ken Selby)....!

[Rico]

Mazzio's creation, Zio's Italian Kitchen, has been sold to Food Management Partners Inc. a San Antonio based company...

Seems Zio's was seen as a very good concept and will be opened in other States.

Complete Story

"Everything in Tulsa can't be all that bad"

[}:)]

[sgrizzle]

I'm suprised Zios hadn't expanded more than it had. Supposedly they have a much larger profit margin than a Mazzios. It's nice to see them expand, but I wonder why they decided to sell. The story also makes it sound as if Mazzio's didn't actually own Mazzios.

[Conan71]

Zio's isn't really Mazzio's core business concept, and it was probably ripe for a spin-off.

One interesting twist to the Mazzio's/Zio's story is that Greg Lippert, long-time VP of marketing for Mazzio's, left here about four years ago and spent time working for Fazoli's in Louisville as chief of marketing before moving back here to become president and CEO of Mazzio's Corp.  Makes one wonder a little if that wasn't a planned educational journey to learn how to make Zio's more marketable.

Lippert is a sharp guy, he deserves a lot of the credit for why Mazzio's is where they are today.  Selby justifiably has a lot of trust in Greg.

[TheArtist]

Yea I dont see how this is a good thing?  Now the Zios profits will go some place else. The idea is to keep local companies owned by local individuals.  The people who work for companies dont make a lot of money, its the people who own the company that make the money. Plus the money made in other stores that arent in the city, if a business is locally owned, also comes to Tulsa.
But its a shame they  arent a local company anymore, I really liked them. I definitely wont eat there now. I try to support the local businesses, as should everyone here if you care about the city and its economy.

[tjay88]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

I definitely wont eat there now. I try to support the local businesses, as should everyone here if you care about the city and its economy.

Um, so are they bussing in out of state workers as well?  If not, isn't your money helping locally by paying the salaries of those who work there (who presumably live locally)?  Isn't the business paying local taxes?  Aren't the workers paying local taxes?

I guess I don't get it, unless you just really want it all.  Including the probably 10% profit they make.  Never mind they probably just paid the former owners (local owners) 5 to 10 times that amount for the business.  Which they will probably invest locally.  I guess all of that is bad for our local economy.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by tjay88

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

I definitely wont eat there now. I try to support the local businesses, as should everyone here if you care about the city and its economy.

Um, so are they bussing in out of state workers as well?  If not, isn't your money helping locally by paying the salaries of those who work there (who presumably live locally)?  Isn't the business paying local taxes?  Aren't the workers paying local taxes?

I guess I don't get it, unless you just really want it all.  Including the probably 10% profit they make.  Never mind they probably just paid the former owners (local owners) 5 to 10 times that amount for the business.  Which they will probably invest locally.  I guess all of that is bad for our local economy.

Zio's also likely had back office staff which are out of work and any growth of the franchise in other states will now provide no benefit to Tulsa.

[spoonbill]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Zio's isn't really Mazzio's core business concept, and it was probably ripe for a spin-off.

One interesting twist to the Mazzio's/Zio's story is that Greg Lippert, long-time VP of marketing for Mazzio's, left here about four years ago and spent time working for Fazoli's in Louisville as chief of marketing before moving back here to become president and CEO of Mazzio's Corp.  Makes one wonder a little if that wasn't a planned educational journey to learn how to make Zio's more marketable.

Lippert is a sharp guy, he deserves a lot of the credit for why Mazzio's is where they are today.  Selby justifiably has a lot of trust in Greg.

I think getting cancer not knowing how long he was going to live, and wanting to be back home with his family was Greg's motivator for moving back to Tulsa.  He's too honest to take a job just for research and then bail.

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

Yea I dont see how this is a good thing?  Now the Zios profits will go some place else. The idea is to keep local companies owned by local individuals.  The people who work for companies dont make a lot of money, its the people who own the company that make the money. Plus the money made in other stores that arent in the city, if a business is locally owned, also comes to Tulsa.
But its a shame they  arent a local company anymore, I really liked them. I definitely wont eat there now. I try to support the local businesses, as should everyone here if you care about the city and its economy.

Simply amazing how many could enter a financial managers field as though they were Warren Buffet......

Prodigies they are.... Or possibly savants.

[}:)]

[Rico]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

quote:Originally posted by tjay88

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

I definitely wont eat there now. I try to support the local businesses, as should everyone here if you care about the city and its economy.

Um, so are they bussing in out of state workers as well?  If not, isn't your money helping locally by paying the salaries of those who work there (who presumably live locally)?  Isn't the business paying local taxes?  Aren't the workers paying local taxes?

I guess I don't get it, unless you just really want it all.  Including the probably 10% profit they make.  Never mind they probably just paid the former owners (local owners) 5 to 10 times that amount for the business.  Which they will probably invest locally.  I guess all of that is bad for our local economy.

Zio's also likely had back office staff which are out of work and any growth of the franchise in other states will now provide no benefit to Tulsa.

I believe the "back office staff" will just be moved to another of Selby's operations...
This is not the end of the parent company.

[Conan71]

I don't think this is near as bad as it sounds.  What about ploughing back the capital from the sale into more Mazzio's operations which will ultimately impact Tulsa?  The local Zio's still hire local people, still provision locally, still pay local rent, taxes, etc.  I don't eat there often, but their sale to an out of state company certainly wouldn't prevent me from eating there in the future.

Just a guess, but I'd bet there weren't that many HQ jobs which were soley devoted to Zio's.  Based on the way the company has always been run, Selby and Lippert aren't going to hang anyone out to dry.

[Kenosha]

I expect that a) Zio's will still have a business presence in Tulsa and b) that another concept will emerge from Mazzio's in it's place.  Mazzio's is a good company, and they treat their employees, all down the line, very, very well.

[spoonbill]

We still have RibCrib!

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by tjay88

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

I definitely wont eat there now. I try to support the local businesses, as should everyone here if you care about the city and its economy.

Um, so are they bussing in out of state workers as well?  If not, isn't your money helping locally by paying the salaries of those who work there (who presumably live locally)?  Isn't the business paying local taxes?  Aren't the workers paying local taxes?

I guess I don't get it, unless you just really want it all.  Including the probably 10% profit they make.  Never mind they probably just paid the former owners (local owners) 5 to 10 times that amount for the business.  Which they will probably invest locally.  I guess all of that is bad for our local economy.

Yes but if I spend my money at a local restaurant and they do well, then they will be able to expand and hire more people etc. The same amount of people will be working regardless of where we spend our money, but if the business is local the profits, not just the pay, stays local.

Plus its also about helping good, local businesses thrive and possibly expand themselves. Supporting a good local business enables them to expand to other cities and when they do that the profits from those other places potentially come to Tulsa.

Its the generosity of "headquarters" companies that are located here, which can really make big contributions to the "extras" of the local community. Generous donors are often those who have prosperous businesses and live here. We need more companies headquartered here.  Working for a company does not generate real wealth, its owning a company that does. Those cities that have more companies headquartered in them, do better, have more wealth to spend, or get spent on them.  Look at what QT has started to do lately, and BOK, a lot of old oil businesses have left us with generous benefactors which have given us so many things, and continue to do so. Companies mostly donate where they are located, plus their back offices and higher waged upper level workers are in the "headquarter" city.

Basically the same amount of people will be working whether you are supporting a local company or one that isnt local. But by supporting a local company more of your money stays in the city and you enable a local company to possibly grow into other cities and bring even more profits to the area.

I dare say if you were a local business owner and were just as good as one that wasnt, you would see how helping you prosper does a lot more for the local economy than seeing the locals spend their money at a business that wasnt locally owned.

As for them putting the money back into the local economy that they are getting from the sale, that very well may be true. If they are say, opening another chain of restaurants, they will hire more people, but here again, if you have to choose between supporting their new local venture and supporting the one that is now owned by someone not local... which would you choose to support? (assuming they are just as good etc. lol) I dont eat out that often anymore, so if I can choose between a good local restaurant and a similar non locally owned one, I will choose to help out the local guy and his employees.

[safetyguy]

quote:Originally posted by spoonbill

We still have RibCrib!

Camille's is local too! Look how much it has expanded internationally!

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by safetyguy

quote:Originally posted by spoonbill

We still have RibCrib!

Camille's is local too! Look how much it has expanded internationally!

internationally?  I was not aware of a camilles outside of the US.