It's been a while...

Sorry to be so long between blogs....My goal is to commit atleast once per month. Anyway....coming soon to Just Jeff's is our new Senior's Meal Solutions. Single portion, oven ready meals. Details soon to follow.
Talk to you soon.
Jeff

Windsor Economy

I can't begin to tell you how sad it is to see all types of businesses closing down in the Windsor area. As a business owner, I can appreciate the amount of work, time and money put into a new business. No one wishes this type of fate to a business, even if they are a compeditor. We can only hope this economy will rebound sooner rather then later. It's depressing no matter which side of the fence you are on.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for there support and business. Thankfully, Just Jeff's is still going strong and has outlasted large food franchises in the area. We will continue to produce consistant quality products and impliment new services as time goes on.
Keeping your head up can be difficult at times....but it's one of the only things we have control of.

Eat Well... Without The Work!
See you soon.
Jeff

Holy Construction!!!!

A very special thanks to all who are dealing with the construction on your trip to our store. We have construction to the north of us and to the south. This is the reason why we have extended the experation date (to September 30th) of our latest coupon which expired August 31st.
On a different note....a very special thanks to Ted Whipp and the Windsor Star for our latest story on September 2nd. Visit our Media Page for the whole story.
Keep Cookin'.....or better yet...let me do it for you!
Jeff

Festival Epicure - 2009

Hi Everyone,
I just thought I'd take a sec to let you all know that I'm going to have a booth at Festival Epicure this year. Just in case you don't know about it, it is a wonderful Food and Drink Festival in front of the Casino July 10, 11 & 12. Our booth will have our popular Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya, Swedish Beef Meatballs over Smashed Potatoes, our New Chicken Fajita Handwich and our Famous Fried Wontons (we call "Nothings") Check out all the details at the Epicure Link located on the bottom left of our Home Page.
See you this weekend.
Jeff

twitter????

yup, i'm now joining the twitter club....i'm not sure why (marketing i guess) but i refuse to show my age by not doing so. Don't expect much right away....but as i learn the ways of twitter, perhaps i will share lots more then I do on my blog. (no promises though)...im best in the kitchen!

http://twitter.com/
my user name is JustJeffs .... go figure eh!
Happy cooking.

Food Franchising

As many of you already know we pitched our concept to 5 investors with the hopes of opening our first franchise in a major market (Toronto) which in turn would get the interest of future franchisees. We are now faced (due to today’s economic climate), with what seems like a much tougher task. Should we continue to look aggressively for investors or wait a while? How many potential investors are holding onto their money that much tighter…and might take a pass at this point…but might be more interested a year from now?

There’s two ways to look at it…ride out the storm and wait for calmer times before becoming more aggressive in seeking out franchisee’s and investors, or conversely, get very active in the market. The answer is actually fairly simple…we believe we should get aggressive, and get aggressive now. Why now? Because we still believe that being “first to market” is the key with this concept. There’s dozens of supper franchise’s out there that are all the rage, so let’s compare:

Just Jeff’s
Fresh With No Preservatives Meals
All Meals Ready In 8 Minutes!
No Pots and Plans to Clean
Buy as Much Or As Little As You Wish
No Appointment Necessary
In And Out Of The Store In 3 Minutes
Space Friendly Packaging
Tax Free
Free Delivery


Other Supper Franchises
Frozen With No Preservatives Meals
All Meals Ready In Up To 40 Minutes
Pots and Pans to Clean
Usually A Min of 1-2 Wks Worth of Meals
Have To Book Appt On Their Schedule
At Least 2 Hours Plus Travel Time
Bulky Containers
Add 13% Tax To Your Purchase
Delivery? I Don’t Think So…

With so many distinct differences between the two, we strongly feel that fresh well balanced no preservative meals will be commonplace in the next decade. Imagine someone today saying “I’m going to open a coffee/donut shop”….you’d laugh because you’d think Tim Horton’s has completely saturated the market. This is why I say “I’m going to open a “Fresh Meal Replacement/Catering Shop”…. Just Jeff’s is the only one that exists out there....First to Market!..... I hope to be the next Tim Horton!....(I even play hockey!) How many times have you heard someone say “I wish I bought a Tim Horton’s 10 years ago….”?

Home Meal Replacement is the largest growing food sector in the grocery business and with everyone more stressed for time than ever, it’s easy to see where the market is headed.

So wish us luck in the future, and if you know anyone who’s interested in a restaurant franchise, send them over to our Franchise Page for more detailed information. You’ll save them a lot of money, and we might just fill your fridge for finding us a franchisee! 

Keep Cookin’ On High….

Just Jeff’s Filming The Dragons’ Den

By now, you may or may not know, that CBC decided not to air my filming for Season 3 of Dragons' Den. I’d like to share my experience with all of those who have followed my Dragons’ Den Ride. First off… No the Dragons did not invest. Keep in mind the Dragons are already rich, and have no interest in investing in anything that can’t make them big bucks in 2 years or less. With that in mind, I don’t think I aired because the Dragon’s couldn’t “beat me up”… I knew my numbers, I have sales and profits and a growing history. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make for exciting TV when you’re competing against people presenting hemp laced macaroons and serving upscale dog food to the Dragon’s!

Anyhow, this is how the day went as I remember.

I had to be at CBC Toronto Studio at 6am. Once I arrived (along with about 10 other pitchers) we were brought back stage to unload our props and meet the producer. All pitchers then had to quickly describe how we were going to pitch (and use our props). Once everyone got the thumbs up, we were all brought onto the Dragons’ Den Set (the one you saw on TV) They told us all to do the same thing…”come down the steps, walk to the X on the floor in front of the Dragons and begin your pitch. Your props will be ready for you.
Then we all went into a waiting room (where they fed us snacks and beverages). As you waited, they had a few investment advisors to assist you with your pitch and a TV showing last year episodes of Dragons’ Den.
I think I was in that room for about 3 hours, then they called me. I went to makeup and within 10 minutes I was at the top of the stairs waiting to walk down to the Dragons. I remember the backstage gal asking me if I was nervous…….yup was my answer!......then she said go!......I can’t believe I didn’t fall down those steps (I was so nervous)….I walked to the X and delivered my pitch… as I pitched I was boiling the bagged food in water describing the concept, telling them about growing sales and talking current profits. I remember once the food was ready having difficulty with dividing my food up onto 5 tiny little side plates as CBC wanted me to do. A lot of this is a blur, but I do remember the clicking of the plates as I brought them all the samples (my nerves). They really enjoyed the food and Robert said I could cook for him any day! Jim seemed really interested. I think he walked up to my table twice checking out the packaged food.
The funniest thing was from Kevin (go figure)….I was asked about the shelf life of the product and I told them what consumers want is fresh, fresh….not 40 days out. When I mentioned I only have 10 days, Jim talked about injecting gas…and I voiced my concerns about using preservatives, but said I was open to other means of shelf life extensions….Kevin then said “So what you are saying is you would put Rat Poison in your food to make a buck” I said I wouldn’t go quite that far Kevin!
Brett was pretty boring. … I really think he was judging me more then my concept...he asked about whether or not I was drawing a salary… at which I told him I was (there was some confusion there)… he then said I over evaluated my company…he was out.
Kevin kept saying there was no money in it for him….he was out. Robert said I had a good little business and wanted me to convince Jim, but otherwise he was out. Arlene and Jim were left… and I knew they were the ones I needed to sell this too…(I must admit I was shocked)…..Arlene said my pricing was too high… I narrowed my market with my price point. That is what confused me…when is the last time she bought a pizza, or just went out to dinner? With Just Jeff’s you could have ribs, chicken, rice and pasta for the kids at the same price as a Boston Pizza…for a mother of 4, I don’t think she got it…or I did a poor job of pitching it... she was out. Anyway, Jim really liked it, he mentioned he already had his people doing something similar, but really liked what I was doing. He was out, but did say he would have his people get in touch with me. I sure hope he is a man of his word.
And that is that… I walked away stunned, not because they didn’t invest, but because they didn’t get it. Being first to market is key…look at Tim Hortons… if I’d pitched a coffee shop with donuts 20 years ago they’d laugh….but Tim is laughing now….why, cause he’s the first one to market.
You have no idea how pissed I am at myself for not doing a better job at getting my point across. They didn’t try to take more of my company… there was no negotiation about it… They loved the concept, loved the food, liked the numbers, but all said no without a fight?????????

Hindsight’s 20/20… after looking back on it all, I know I sold them on the concept and product… maybe I didn’t sell them on me. Overall, it was a great experience, but I think I’d do things a little differently the next time – especially the way the show seems to be going. Unfortunately, as the show’s viewership grows, it’s become more and more about clown suits, rather than business entrepreneurs.
I truly appreciate all of the well wishes received – maybe we’ll get’em next time!