Bud Hilton
Posts by Bud Hilton, President & CEO of Answers Systems.
by Bud Hilton
Our foodservice industry certainly has seen its share of business closings, due mainly to a poor performing economy that has redirected consumer dollars away from spending in our marketplace. Even in lesser volatile situations, many chain operators have had to at least revert to unit closings as a short-term cure to possible bankruptcy. What can you do?
There is an old adage that goes something like this . . . In times of prosperity you can hide a lot of your spend-sins; in tough economic times they meet you at your front door! Basically, your expenses have to...
by Bud Hilton
Yesterday, I sat through a very well presented Webinar on “SKU Rationalization”. The subject matter was presented by a great professional in our industry who was basically right-on about a subject matter that has become a big issue across most manufacturers. The presentation dealt with SKU Rationalization from a position of “surgery rather than preventative medicine.” I certainly understood the presenter’s approach because SKU rationalization, for the most part in our foodservice industry, occurs after the cart-is-in-the-ditch and decisions then need to be made as to the “longevity of a SKU.” But how does a manufacturer get into this...
by Bud Hilton
Easy opening, Easy to dispense, Easy monthly payments, So Easy, a Caveman can do it . . . We are all suckers for “life made easy” sales pitches. However, we also know that in many cases the end result of the Easy promise is the failure to deliver to expectation. You probably don’t believe that the “cheapest” product can perform as good as a more expensive one? So, why would you believe that the easy message fulfills expectations comparable to something that may require a little more effort? Most people know better than this but still fall for...
by Bud Hilton
I wish I had coined this phrase but I can’t take credit. My son, who has spent 16 years or so with our company and is now our President, made this statement one day when I said to him, “I wish we could get through the maze and find out who, at this particular company, can approve our project.” He simply directed me to not look for the one who can say “yes” . . . find the one that is saying “NO” and impeding the search. The more I thought of this the more I knew he...
Is spending in our foodservice industry on its way back? What could postpone the return of restaurant spending, once the economic conditions begin to loosen up? Can the really smart marketers help to promote the return of spending in foodservice locations? The answers lie in understanding what we did to initially promote spending in a more prosperous economy.
In much better times, when marketers pushed to redirect consumer dollars from retail grocery stores to eating out, we were successful
Among many pieces of information that manufacturers absolutely covet are:
Unit level data
P&L information (by contract, category, SKU, etc.)
Price Optimization capability
Market Share realization
I recently watched a television show featuring a Snowman. My mind’s eye began to conjure up our foodservice industry in relation to the 3 parts of the Snowman. Go ahead and say it . . . I don’t have a real life!!! Maybe so, but let me tell you more about my vision.
Bud Hilton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genesis Group, Inc., dba Answers Systems, the leading provider of foodservice trade promotion management solutions, announced the promotion of Greg Hilton to President of Genesis Group, Inc., dba Answers Systems. Bud Hilton, founder of Answers Systems in 1986 and whose career spans over 46 years in the foodservice industry, will continue in his role as Chairman of the Board and CEO. Bud will become even more involved in foodservice industry i
Posted by Bud Hilton
I recently complimented one of our managers at Answers Systems for stepping out on the edge and challenging a client on changing some of the practices they were doing in favor of a proven “best practice” way of accomplishing a task within their contract management system. After covering relentless arguing points and hovering in the “no change-safe zone”, the client agreed to make certain concessions and change their position and practice. I can’t express strongly enough h
Posted by Bud Hilton
Some of you may have been there calling on foodservice distributors and operators. If you were, you probably pulled on more “screen doors” than fancy glass or wood corporate doors. The business was basically in the streets. Chain accounts represented less than 30% of manufacturers and distributors volume. Most were even sensitive to that percent growing, out of concern that the potential loss of a big customer may harm their overall volume/profit structure. Distributors,
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