Michel de Guilhermier's Blog

Great Concept, Perfect Execution : Ted's Montana Grill !

As an individual, I very much fancy good food and great products. As a customer-driven entrepreneur, I pay attention and admire those concepts which are both well tought-over and perfectly executed to deliver a great experience with a flawless service to customers.

Thanks to my friend Fabrice Grinda I enjoyed a lunch a Ted's Montana Grill on 110W 51st St at 6th av which perfectly illustrates the above.

Fresh, good and tasty hamburgers, excellent service (quick, professional and friendly), spacy restaurant, inspirational design, and very decent prices ! When a hamburger at "l'Atelier Renault" on the Champs Elysées in Paris costs €18, ie $28, one will end up paying about 50% less here in the heart of Manhattan at Ted's Montana Grill 51st !

This 50-unit chain was co-founded and launched just 6 years ago by Ted Turner, the well known media entrepreneur, founder of CNN among other ventures and husband of Jane Fonda. In his Montana ranch, Ted Turner raises bisons whose meat you may eat at his restaurants (you will also find beef and chicken).

Have a look here at the founders' video where the roots and directions of the chain are thoroughly explicited. Pretty inspirational !

Concept looks right and execution just seems flawless ! Retail - which includes the restaurant business - is detail, and I could feel at Ted's Montana Grill that they have thoroughly thought over all issues. Well done, a great address in the crowded theather district where good and decently-priced restaurants are in extreme scarcity.

New York, by the Pictures (Part II, Inspirational Stores Biased) !

"Rain & Shine", 45th St, 45 East, claims to be "New York only umbrella and parasol shop". Truth be told, it's no competitor to Alexandra Sojfer's high end fashion umbrellas which simply are the best in the world. Nothing wrong about Rain & Shine, simply not in the same league.

Macaroons have become a hot and fashion product here in New York. Here's the recently opened "Cafe Macaron" on 36th St between 6th and 7th Av. Thruth be told, despite a hefty price tag ($1.75 each), it's no competitor to Laduree's fabulous macaroons. Dear New Yorkers, you may expect a Laduree store sometimes in 2009 !

Truth be told, the Noukies' department at FAO Schwarz on 59th St, just opposite the Apple "Cube" Store, yields one of the best $/sq  ft ratio !

New York, by the Pictures !

June 21st Yoga in Times Square !

Someone asleep in Bryant Park (9 AM) !

Another one asleep, at Herald Square (9:10AM) ! People work hard over here, sometimes with 2 jobs at once, no unemployment security as we have in France - with the abuses one may regret as I mentioned here, and employees seeking to be fired !

True piece of art isn't it (Apple Store Union Square) ?

It ain't a lipstock ad, just Belvedere Vodka's "glamorization" !

Inspirational Aide les Marques Haut de Gamme à se Développer Mondialement à travers l'E-commerce. Exemple d'Alexandra Sojfer, Bientôt en Ligne !

Bientôt, Inspirational Stores ouvrira une nouvelle boutique en ligne, celle des parapluies et ombrelles Alexandra Sojfer. Une artiste de talent qui conçoit de très beaux objets, des oeuvres d'art, véritablement uniques au monde.

Tellement uniques d'ailleurs que la clientèle d'Alexandra - souvent des célébrités du cinéma, de la politique ou des medias - est majoritairement internationale : des américains, des japonais, des australiens, des russes, des chinois, etc.

Je passais l'autre jour chez Alexandra et discutais avec un client américain venu acheter 3 parapluies (1 pour lui et 1 pour chacune de ses filles), qui me résumait tout simplement les choses "what she does is absolutely unique".

Pour Alexandra Sojfer, dont les créations ne sont pour l'instant écoulées que dans son unique boutique du Bd St Germain à Paris, l'e-commerce représente une superbe opportunité pour accroître sa notoriété et ses ventes sur un plan international.

C'est ainsi la mission d'Inspirational Stores qui, grâce à son expertise et son infrastructure e-commerce mondiale, se propose d'augmenter significativement, par le web, la diffusion et les ventes de marques de grande qualité, qu'elles soient dans l'univers de l'alimentaire haut de gamme, du parfum, de l'habillement, de l'accessoire, etc...

Au delà des emblématiques macarons Ladurée, je peux aujourd'hui fièrement annoncer qu'une quinzaine de marques haut de gamme font déja confiance à Inspirational Stores pour développer efficacement, dynamiquement et rapidement leur e-commerce mondial, dans le respect de leur univers, de leur charte et de leurs valeurs.

Fondamentalement, l'e-commerce est un canal de distribution très spécifique qui ne peut réellement être exploité convenablement qu'avec la parfaite maîtrise de 4 grandes compétences :

1) La technologie, création, hébergement et gestion d'un site internet, des bases de données, du back-office.

2) Le marketing online, la science de faire venir un trafic qualifié important sur un site, ce de la manière la moins coûteuse possible.

3) Le  "fulfilment", logistique, service client, gestion des retours, etc. Particulièrement important quand il s'agit de traiter des produits et une clientèle haut de gamme.

4) Le "commerce", c'est-à-dire l'art de vendre, l'art du merchandising, l'art de savoir parler et comprendre les consommateurs...

Tout cela demande une expertise, un mindset, une organisation et bien entendu des moyens financiers importants qu'Inspirational Stores possède et se propose de mettre à la disposition de belles marques.

Si vous aussi, comme Alexandra Sojfer, vous avez une marque de grande qualité et des produits à très forte valeur ajoutée, se démarquant dans leur univers par leur perfection et/ou leur originalité, je serais ravi de discuter et d'envisager un véritable partenariat e-commerce avec vous.

N'hésitez pas à me contacter directement

Democratic Nomination : so Costly !

Half a billion bucks, that's almost what Clinton and Obama have spent to run against each other !

The Primary season is now over (or so it seems, Clinton has "suspended" her campaign, she hasn't released her delegates to Obama - I suspect the 2 of them are negotiating), but for the Democratic Party it has been the longest, the closest and the most expensive nomination process ever. They'd better get their champion elected in November...

The "winner takes it all" process that Repblicans use at the State level for nominees leads to a much faster nomination. What's more, the Super Delegate system that was put in place 2 decades ago proved that in some circumstances it could be counter-productive.

Anyway, Obama's nomination is an historical moment for the US, Americans can be proud of it !

Stock Market Investing !

Some food for thought on this sunday morning...

Many people are trying to outsmart the stock markets, trying to guess how it should move in the future and trying to time it.

This will fail most of the time, leading to poor returns, as it is virtually impossible to predict how markets would move. Don't try to outsmart and time the stock market !

The only thing which is certain for me is that acquiring for a bargain price a company with a strong and sustainable competitive advantage will mechanically lead to higher returns overtime - if you have the patience to hold - no matter when you invest.

Buying cheap means buying companies with lower PEs, PEGs, EV/EBITDAs, etc, all the more than they yield higher returns on capital.

Bottom line : do your due diligence on companies, forget all the rest !

The major difficulty in stock market investing is to remain rationale and cold-blooded all the time (as Buffett would put it, the secret is in managing one's emotions, I fully agree). If in the short run the stock market may behave eratically and irrationnaly, in the long run it will always act as a "weighing machine" and behave rationnaly. So patience is also a pre-requisite to succeed (you may also call it guts).

The Secret of Warren Buffet : Manage your Emotions !

Buffett has said that his great success comes not because he has a talent for interpreting financial statements or identifying competitive advantages, nor because he can meet with management teams.

Rather, he claims the key to turning $10,000 into $50 billion, as he has done in
his investment career, has been managing his emotions !!

I have many times insisted on this blog that stock market investing has little to do with analytical skills but lots to do with guts !

Icahn Vows to Oust Yahoo Directors !

A few days ago, my take was that Jerry Yang and Yahoo had made a mistake not accepting the $47bn offer from Microsoft. But walking out suddenly from the Yahoo deal obviously was the best tactical move for Microsoft to ultimately reach its goal !

10 days after Microsoft dropped out, famous investor Carl Icahn is now vowing to oust Yahoo Inc.'s board of directors for "irresponsible" and "unconscionable" actions (his words) that led Microsoft Corp. to withdraw a $47.5 billion offer to buy the Internet pionneer.

Icahn has so far invested more than $1.3 billion to acquire 59 million Yahoo shares, ie a roughly 4 percent stake in the Sunnyvale-based company, and he's likely to double that investment, which gives him some leverage.

I'm convinced Yahoo's fate should change during summer. Not only its market position is by no mean sustainable as it is, but many shareholders, led by Icahn, feel that enough is enough and that the Yahoo Board has not worked in their best interest. There are lousy CEOs but there are also lousy Boards.

For his 4 and a half year tenure as Yahoo's CEO, Terry Semel received a total compensation of $258M, not including the same amount in non-exercised options, while creating no value.

Investment-wise, I feel it's a smart move by Carl Icahn : if successful, he could earn a few hundred millions bucks in a short time frame.

Rumor : Daimler Considering a Big Stake in Aston Martin ?!

About a year ago a group of investors led by David Richard of Prodrive, along with some other Middle East investors, took Aston Martin out of the hands of Ford, its owner for the last 20 years or so, for about a billion US $.

Aston's business has been flourishing since then : 2007 was another record year in terms of volume, profits are said to be very healthy, Aston won Le Mans in its category, a brand new design center was opened last december, they launched their new flagship, the DBS, the 4-door Rapide was confirmed with a production outsourcing partnership in Austria, new dealerships were opened in Russia and China, etc. Business has been so bullish that several Private Equity players were said to have tender offers to get a stake at a substantial multiple to what David Richard and the other investors paid in March 2007.

Now, rumor has it that Daimler Benz would offer a slice of its equity for a big stake in Aston Martin.

Would it make sense : definetly yes to my point of view, and its very different from a mainstream car maker such as Ford having bought Aston (though, as a matter of fact, under Ford ownership and Ulrich Bez management as from 2000, Aston went from strength to strength)

Daimler-Benz is in the upper car market and already has a good knowledge of the super car market with both the SL range and the McLaren SLR. Moreover, its AMG division knows how to turn decent cars into road beasts ! Put differently, Aston's DNA is not as far away from Mercedes' DNA as it was from Ford's.

Technologically and component-wise, Aston, which is a very small fish in a big pond, has lots to gain, but it could also be both ways as its aluminium VH platform could be of interest to Mercedes which will stop its McLaren SLR next year.

If one looks at the tremendous success Audi has enjoyed at Lamborghini which was dead only a few years ago, or the one of Volkswagen with Bentley, a 10-fold production increase in about 6 years, one may realize that a merger between a big name and a small niche-focused luxury car maker may yield strong benefit.

However, let's stress again that this supposed Aston-Daimler Benz is a mere rumor at this point.

Morning Fun : Jimmy Kimmel : I'm F... Ben Affleck !

Sarah Silverman's boyfriend and Ben Affleck, who happens to be a good friend of Matt Damon also have a great sense of humor ! Thks Hubert for the link !